the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 213. the nays are 174. the speaker pro tempore: all members need to vote.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 288, the nays are 183 with zero members voting present. the resolution is adopted. without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the

vote on the motion of the gentleman from new york, flonko, to suspend the rules and fwre to house resolution 453 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 453, resolution recognizing the significant accomplishments of the americorps and encouraging all citizens to join in a national effort to salute americorps members and alumni, and raise awareness about the importance of national and community service. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] u÷[vwl

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 361, the nays are 57.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 359, the nays are 60 with zero recorded as present. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection , the motion to reconsider is

laid on the table. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.res. 454. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 454, resolution recognizing the 25th anniversary of the national center for missing and exploited children. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 419, the nays are zero, zero recordeds as present. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 2410. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise?

mr. berman: i ask unanimous consent that during proceedings today in the house and the committee of the whole, the chair be authorized to reduce to two minutes the minimum time for electronic voting on any question that otherwise could be subjected to five-minute voting under clause 8 or 9 of rule 20 or under clause 6 of rule 18. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 522 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 2410. the chair appoints the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. holden to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2410 which the clerk will report by

title. the clerk: h.r. 2410, a bill to authorize appropriationers in department of state and peace corps for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, to modernize the foreign service, and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered aide for the first time. the gentleman from california, mr. berman and the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen will each control 30 minutes. the house will be in order. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. chairman, the united states now confronts the most complex array of threats in many decades, if not the entire history of our nation. afghanistan and pakistan, iran, north korea, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, drug trafficking and climate change all pose major challenges to our national security. we must confront these threats

in the midst of a global financial crisis with enormous ramifications both at home and around the world. our brave men and women in uniform are making unbelievable sacrifices to protect our security interests around the globe. they and their families deserve our deepest respect and gratitude. we should not expect the military to shoulder the entire burden. the state department and our other civilian foreign affairs agencies have a critical role to play in protecting u.s. national security. diplomacy development and -- diplomacy, development, and defense are the three key pillars of our national security policy. by wisely investing resources to strengthen our diplomatic capabilities, we can help prevent conflicts before they start and help prevent conditions that lead to failed states. for years, we have failed to provide the state department with resources its desperately needs to pursue its core

missions. with the expansion of u.s. diplomatic responsibilities in the 1990's and the more recent needs in afghanistan and pakistan, the department has been stretched to the breaking points. 16 of every 100 positions is unfilled, as secretary of defense robert gates has recently stated, quote, it's become clear that american civilian institutions of diplomacy and un-- and development have been chronically undermanned an underfunded for too long. this bill supports president obama's request for fund to hire 100 new staff, including 750 foreign service officers. 352 of these positions will be used to expand our diplomatic presence in afghanistan, pakistan and other areas.

a further 213 positions will be dedicated to improving and expanding training in critical needs language such as arabic, hindi and urku -- urdu. it provides significant numbers of new diplomacy officers, counterterrorism specialists and the bill has important provisions to promote more strategic thinking in the state department and help the foreign service transition from traditional diplomatic framework to a more expeditionary one. to help ensure the department can continue to attract the best and brightest and retain these professionals over the long term, h.r. 2410 closes the gap in pay when junior foreign officers leave washington on assignment. it also authorizes funds to pay our full dues and all recognized arrearages to the

united nations. the legislation supports a significant expansion of the peace corps, an increase in international broadcasting activities, a vigorous public diplomacy effort and a strengthened arms control and nonproliferation bureau at the state department which will soon be under the head of our deer colleague, mrs. tauscher. in addition, the bill creates a newfoundation to cig cavently increase the number of american students studying abroad and answers -- enhances u.s. efforts to help mexico and other latin american countries redeuce violence and addresses a number of key human rights and democracy issues around the world. h.r. 2410 also reforms our system of export controls for military technology, improves oversight of u.s. security assistance, and requires a report to congress on actions taken by the united states to maintain israel's qualitative military edge.

this legislation is supported by a wide range of organization from the united states chamber of commerce and national association of manufacturers on one hand to human rights watch and amnesty international on the other. from the aerospace industry's association, the satellite industry association, on one hand to care, oxfam, the peace corps association, refugees international and the genocide intervention network on the other. the save darfur council, church world service and american council on education, a coalition of all the major public and private universities in this country all strongly support this legislation. i urge all my colleague on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- the chair: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i would like to take our time in opposition of this bill.

the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: some dear colleague letters sent out earlier this week to express their -- express their support on the bill tended to focus on the few attractive features of the bill, such as the improvements it would make on the initiative to assist mexico and other central american countries to fight the dangerous drug cartels. unfortunately, supporters of this bill have remained silent or ignored its fundamental problems and the fundamental problems on this bill are that the bill calls for intor by tant -- exorbitant spending in the absence of true reform and it does not take the difficult but necessary step of setting priorities, either with out of control spending or important international issues facing our country. by our best estimate, the bill before us represents an estimated 12% increase in planned expenditures above the

levels of fiscal year 2009. it create 20's new government entities, offices, foundations, program, and the like. these new programs and these new initiatives that are funded in this bill constitute expenditures that go beyond even this 12% increase to accounts previously funded in fiscal year 2009. the bill also represents a 35% increase in state departments main salary and operating accounts. we have to ask ourselves, where is the money coming from to support the additional funding? in the coming fiscal year alone, mr. chairman, fiscal year 2010, we are expected to have to pay almost $285 billion in interest costs, just interest, not payment on the debt itself. by fiscal year 2014, our costs for interest on the debt will likely have risen to about $560

billion, again, that's with a b, in that year alone. again for interest payments alone, not for the debt payments that will have to be made. our deficit in the coming fiscal year 2010 is now projected to total an estimates $1.3 trillion dollars. yet the funding level pross posed by this bill seems oddly detached from the reality that our families are facing today and that our nation is facing, both in committee markup and at the rules committee i offered amendments that would have capped increases for next year at 3.7% a 2008 annual rate of inflation. this amendment would have saved taxpayer dollars more than -- more than $2.8 billion in authorized funds. that amendment again would have saved american taxpayers more than $2.8 billion with a b