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When taking stock of the health of the Patuxent River and our stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay, theres no index more important than Bernies Sneaker Index, which has been our leading non-scientific measure of the rivers health for 25 years. I want to thank Bernie for his dedication and moral leadership on the issue of water conservation in Maryland. We have a special responsibility to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and I join Bernie in fighting on behalf of its clean-up and conservation.

I rise today in support of the amendment offered by Mr. Runyan and Mr. Kissell and others, which seeks to ensure that our nations fire stations areadequately staffed and that firefighters have the tools they need to protect our communities safely and effectively. Specifically, this amendment willrestore the successful FIRE and SAFER grant programs to last years funding level of $337.5 million each.

Today is a very proud day for our students, their families, and our community. I am honored to recognize these outstanding students and I thank them for choosing to serve our nation. Each of these individuals have an incredibly bright future ahead, and I have great faith that they will make our nation stronger. Congratulations to them and their families, and I wish them the best of luck as they begin their course of study and the careers that will follow.

While our economy has seen twenty-seven consecutive months of private sector job growth, far too many Marylanders remain out of work. Im proud to partner with these organizations to bring together Maryland businesses with potential hires, and provide our business community with networking opportunities and professional development workshops that will help grow their businesses.

While we continued to see the private sector add jobs for the twenty-seventh straight month, our unemployment rate has slipped back up to 8.2 percent from the three-year record low of 8.1 percent last month. While the President and Democrats in Congress have been promoting a jobs-first agenda to provide certainty to American businesses and workers, Republicans continue to avoid addressing serious job creation in favor of ideological bills.

Our nations veterans and military families deserve the best support and resources we can provide. Im pleased the University of Maryland Center on Aging has received this critical funding to help provide that support, and I thank the AmeriCorps members participating in this program for their continued service to our country as they assist fellow veterans and military families in our communities.

am extremely disappointed that Republicans are asking federal employees to take a freeze in pay for a third year in a row. Federal employees have already accepted two consecutive pay freezes with the knowledge that the savings would be applied toward meeting our nations fiscal challenges. At the same time Republicans were asking federal employees to contribute, they refused to ask the same of millionaires and billionaires.

I was honored to join the President today as he signed into law a bipartisan bill that I helped negotiate to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. The bill, which passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 330-93, is an important part of House Democrats' Make It In America plan for job creation and long-termeconomic competitiveness.