mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , i would like to read the first paragraph , because there has been a lot of mention around here about delay and the cost of the ocean commission report . 
i want to read the first paragraph of the ocean commission report : america 's oceans and coasts are priceless assets , indispensable to life itself . 
they also contribute significantly to our prosperity and overall quality of life . 
too often , however , we take these gifts for granted , underestimating their value and ignoring our impact on them . 
then our use of the oceans becomes abuse and the productive capacity of our marine resources is diminished . 
in 6 months , june 30 , this bipartisan task force , made up as a reflection of the ratio of democrats and republicans in the house , which is standard practice for all committees , will issue its comprehensive report , legislative recommendations , so that each one of the fragmented committees will not have to deal with these issues that they have very little expertise with in any way . 
this is a bipartisan task force that is funded with its own staff separate from any other committee or influences from any other committee to deal with the issue of oceans , which determine the climate , determine the weather , determine the air we breathe , the food source for billions of people . 
this is an issue that we can get together on , have a bipartisan working relationship and put aside our partisan bickering , because the oceans are priceless . 
we have some work to do , and we can accomplish that by june 30 . 
