never hear from them again. i think things like that had given progressives some solidarity in this situation. host: how has a blue dog played out in this situation? guest: the only one to come out to say who will vote for this is jim cooper of tennessee. it will be a problem for him because he is proud of the fact that he will not add any fear marks in 2009. he is mr. fiscal responsibility who thinks we need to cut social security benefits. suddenly he is voting for this pork-ridden bill in order to try to buy everyone's votes. he will have to explain how he squares this with the fact that he will not try to get money for hospitals in nash bill that are closing down because they cannot get funds. he says i don't believe in

earmarks. >> we are living as recorded segment because the house is coming in for morning hours set aside for general speeches on any topic. legislative work begins today at noon. $106 billion for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. this includes $5 billion to help the international monetary fund increase its lending capacity. there is also $1 billion included to fight the flua dn $.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., june 16, 2009. i hereby appoint the honorable ed perlmutter to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 6, 2009, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to 30 minutes and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes. the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan, is recognized for five minutes. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, i request permission to address the house and to revise and extend my remarks.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman may proceed. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, we have now spent approximately $200 billion, $200 billion on the war in afghanistan against a foe that has almost no money and equipment especially in comparison to ours. now we are about to take up a supplemental appropriations bill later today that will provide many billions more. all this in a place where even general petraeus says we should remember that this has been the graveyard of empires. this comes on top of approximately $800 billion on the war in iraq and hundreds of billions more in indirect costs for these two cars. then in the supplemental bill that we will take up later today we have $5 billion for the international monetary fund, and in this bill there is a guarantee for $100 billion in loans made by the i.m.f., loans being made to other countries. all this money will have to be borrowed because we are so many

trillions in debt already that it is not even humanly comprehensible. the bill also contains $7.7 billion, $7,700,000,000 for swine flu vaccines. i heard a speech our colleague of the gentleman from texas, dr. paul, made recently in which he said during his first stay in the house in -- i think it was 1976 that there was another swine flu scare and that only he and one other person, probably the only other medical doctor in the house at that time voted against the money for the swine flu scare and one person died from swine flu that year and more died from the vacksine -- vaccine -- many more died from the vaccine from dying from the flu. this is a great overreaction in this area as well.

many others are dying from diseases that we are not paying attention to. this supplemental appropriations bill started out at $85 billion. then it went to $91 billion. then $95 billion. and now today $106 billion. and i ask you, are there no fiscal conservatives around here? there are cost overruns on just their 72 largest weapons system. now that didn't count all of the cost overruns that they might have had in all of their other large, medium and small-sized contracts. we are having a hearing today -- in fact, it is going right now, i was there earlier, in the government oversight and reform committee in which they said the private contracts that the federal government gives out are given out by the pentagon. are there no fiscal

conservatives at the pentagon? i know everybody is trying to prove how patriotic they are today, and everybody feels that we shouldn't question anything the defense department wants. but to allow $295 billion in cost overruns on just these 72 largest weapons systems in my opinion it's unpatriotic not to question that. and i ask again, are no fiscal conservatives at the pentagon? in fact, we've turned the defense department primarily into the department of foreign aid now, and i believe very strongly in national defense. but we cannot afford to run the whole world and we cannot afford to have the department of defense be the department of foreign aid. all of this comes at a -- not long after we have raised our national debt limit to over $13 trillion. nobody can comprehend a figure like that. no one. that is an astounding figure. and yet on top of this debt that we already have, the

president's budget in this year and the next two years will add over $4 trillion of debt to that debt? $4 trillion in the next year and two. $4 trillion added to our national debt. and then this year if i had told people two or three years ago that we would have a budget this year of $3,600,000,000,000 , nobody would believe that. they would have thought i was ridiculous or crazy in saying that. i used to say, my colleagues, that it was terrible what we were doing to our children and grandchildren. now i'm saying it's terrible what we're doing to ourselves because it's not going to be

five or 10 years if that long before we're not able to pay all of our social security and veterans' pensions and all of the things we promised our own people. we have to stop trying to run the whole world. it's not isolationist to say that because i believe in trade and tourism and cultural and educational exchanges and i believe we should help out during humanitarian crisis but we can't keep spending hundreds of billions of dollars in other countries, whether it's done by the defense department and of course it's also being done by every other department and agency in the entire federal government because the liberals found out -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. duncan: i ask permission to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from iowa, mr. boswell, for five minutes. mr. boswell: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. boswell: well, thank you, madam speaker. if i can get my chart.

i just might respond to the previous speaker. he forgot to mention that it was handed over to this new president a few months ago and had years of borrowing and spending and i hope people will take that with a grain of salt. i want to highlight a great importance to our national security and to myself, the u.s. army command and general staff college located at fort leavenworth, kansas. most americans are probably unaware of the role this fine institution plays in training our future military leaders. the command general staff college plays a vital role while giving our national army commanders advanced and tactical education they need in order to effectively lead soldiers in battle. it's been doing so since the founding in 1881 and during the past 128 years has provided a first rate military education to thousands of accomplish men

and women who have defended our freedom. i'd like to commend the college on its commitment to excellence throughout history in support of our military. i'd like now to draw your attention, if i may, to a particularly distinguished group of alumni. the five war heroes you see beside me. generals george marshall, douglas mcarthur, dwight eisenhower, henry arnold and omar bradley who served our country with valor and distinction during the second world war and became household names through their renowned accomplishments. it's a little known fact of which we are all proud that these great men were all graduates of the command general staff college where they received their unique training and education needed to excell in leading our brave service members into battle. since then the college has continued to improve and adapt its training to response to the ever evolving challenges of war. through the specifics the structure may have changed. the honorable mission has not.

i, too, am a graduate of and former instruct -- instructor at the college. they received the best military leadership education our nation has to offer and stood in the footsteps of these great men. general george marshall was the army chief of staff under president roosevelt and one of the chief architects of victory for our greatest generation and later served as the third secretary of defense. general douglas macarthur led our forces to victory in the pacific theater. general dwight eisenhower, our past president, was a supreme allied commander in europe. and directed the d-day operation whose anniversary was just recently celebrated. before going on to lead our nation through some of the most trying times during the cold war, general arnold commanded the army air corps in europe and remains the only person to held the title general of the air force.

last but certainly not least, general omar bradley commanded the allied forces in africa and became first to hold the position of chairman of the joint chiefs. at this point i'd like to make mention of an organization that provides invaluable support to the u.s. command general army staff college which is the college foundation. this organization is funded by private donations and its mission is to enrich the academic experience of the college and providing resources not covered by appropriations. since its inception, this foundation has established a number of awards for academic excellence for stuents of the college in recognition of their achievements in the field of tactics, logistics and military arts. it has supported the harvard factuality members. it is the sponsor of the colin powell academic lecture series which began in april of 2008. general powell is also an alumni of the college. indeed, it is hard to overstate the degree of which the

foundation has enriched the experience of both students and staff at the college. its board of directors comprise of retired officers, business and community leaders, all of whom have a keen interest in improving the quality of the education provided to the college. i would like to commend the foundation's board and in particular its c.e.o., colonel robert hulen, u.s. army retired for the invabble work that he does to enhance the -- invaluable work that he does to enhance the college. he's a graduate and instructor of the college. i'd like to mention the five five star general commemorative coin act. this bill would authorize the u.s. treasury to mint five commemorative $1 and half dollar coins bearing these generals. these coins would honor the historic contributions these men have made in defense of

justice and freedom they can collect. could i extend for 10 seconds? the speaker pro tempore: please complete your sentence. mr. boswell: thank you. americans young and old can collect them and the stories through popular imagination. perhaps inspiring some to follow their lead. this bill will honor the great soldiers of the past. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. boswell: thank you. please sponsor h.r. 1177. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta, for five minutes. mr. latta: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. latta: thank you. thank you, madam speaker. one of the issues we have been talking a lot on this floor and across the country is the cap

and tax. cap and tax is nothing more than is going to be a national energy tax. i have a have you unique district in the fifth congressional district of ohio. it's interesting in that i represent not only the largest manufacturing district in the state of ohio but i also represent the largest agricultural district in the state of ohio. and as we have been talking about this, there's been a lot of information that's been put out there by a lot of different groups but i think it's interesting to point out the heritage foundation and the brookings institute has put out how many jobs we will be lost about this. the heritage foundation says you will look at 1.5 million jobs being lost. carry out to the end date of the brookings institute about 2.5%. and we can't afford to have this happen in the united states. .

what type of energy it was. in my case in the state of ohio we received 87% of our energy is coal generated. next store to us to my west indiana. they get 94%. so they ranged all thee districts together -- ranked all these districts together. they said, where do you stand? this is one rft times you don't want -- this is one of the times you don't want to be at the top of the list. the top 16 of the top 20 were from ohio and indiana. unfortunately in my case i came in at number three. number three. what's that going to mean? it's going to mean tough to get jobs in northwest ohio, north central ohio and people -- it's going to have -- we're a heavy manufacturing district. if we don't have those jobs and the electricity we can turn on in the morning to make those plants run we are not going to have people working. it's not going to affect the

work on the manufacturing side, the industrial side, because as i said, i have the largest agricultural district in the state of ohio. . there are a lot of farmers in my district that not only farm full-time but they also full-time off the farm and they have to balance the two together. they are working long, long hours. especially if they are in the agriculture and livestock side. these folks are worried about not only having to turn on the energy at their workplace but also the workplace on the farm. as we have seen some of these numbers being calculated what it might cost for a family of four with cap and tax, you're talking about in some cases right off the bat $1,500 additional for a family of four and all the way out in the out years being calculated up to $4,800. let's put this in context what it's going to do on the farm income side. it's estimated by the heritage foundation by the year 2012 you'll see a drop of about $8 billion in farm income.

in 2024, $25 billion. and in 2035, $50 billion. you are seeing decreases in farm income of, 28, 60, and 94% respective. you are going to see a total decrease from 2010 to 2035 a 57% and total decrease for baseline farm income. the question is how are farmers going to survive in this country? it will be tufment cap and tax will go up 10% by the year 2034. by 2035, here's a road toughened for farmers because everything are you doing is there in the field. gas and diesel price will go up 58%. electricity costs on the farm, 90%. 90%. so when you are already out there struggling right there to make a living on the farm, it will be very difficult with these numbers to do t then you have to think about these. where are these young farmers going to do? we were trying to get younger people out on these farms.

equipment costs are high, land prices are high. when you add these costs up and you put these electricity costs and energy costs in, you put the federallizer costs in all are given by energy costs t. will hit home real quick, we'll have fewer and fewer people on the farm. it's estimated we have less than 2% of americans farming today, less than 2%. in ohio it's under 1%. they are feeding us all. we should be thankful for them. the co-ops in my district and across -- not only my district but the state and country are very fearful about these. these electric co-ops out there, if they have to buy more green energy, those cost also have to be passed on to the end user. that's the farmer, manufacturer, senior, the family. they are all worried about it. who is our competition? last week we had the ag secretary before us and the agriculture committee and we asked a question about china. china is not going to abide by cap and tax. the day we had that hearing,

they said they were not going to abide by cap and tax. i ask that this legislation be defeated. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, is recognized for five minutes. mr. connolly: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. connolly: i thank you, madam speaker. i rise in strong support of long overdue health care reform. we have been talking about health care reform since the administration of harry truman. it's time for action. among the everysewnian rights -- everysown yan -- jeffersonian rights the first was right to ly. yet today with health costs spiraling out of control for millions of americans, that right to life becomes more and more difficult to manage. while the need for some level of reform is clear, whatever reform the nation agrees upon must respect the right of individuals to continue to select their own physician. assisting some americans in accessing health care must not come at the expense of restricting health care access

for others. we cannot have a government imposed regime. we must respect people's right to maintain control over their current health care access and health care insurance. having said that, america currently has the most expensive health care system in the world. in 2006, we ranked first at 15.3% of our gross domestic product in expenditures for health care. runner up was sweden with a socialized health care system it was at 113st%. on a per capita basis we spend the most in the world, $5,267 for every man, woman, and child in america. if you look at our outcomes we are in the middling ranks of industrialized countries in terms of outcomes. we rank 50th out of 224 nations in the world in terms of life expectancy. as a nation, we are spending more on health care than everybody else but we are not necessarily getting the outcomes we need. our challenge is to make health

care costs obviously more affordable. a recent "usa today" poll showed 21% of americans struggling with health care costs being able to manage it. significantly up from what it would have been a decade or two decades ago. those who currently have and like their existing health care coverage still nonetheless often lament the rapidly increasing costs of premiums and recognize we all pay a cost for emergency room treatment for those without health care coverage. in fact it's estimated that cost to everybody, $1,000 per capita per year because o our fellow 46 million americans who lack health care coverage. as we debate the various proposals, madam speaker, for reforming health care, i'd like to propose five principle that is certainly will guide me and i think many others as we move forward various proposals. the first sever child in america should have access to health care. no child should go in this country without having access to health care. we know that for example a child without health care who develops

appendicitis has five times a probable -- negative outcome in terms of losing his or her life than a child with health insurance. that's unacceptable it seems to me as americans. secondly, nobody should be financially destroyed due to a catastrophic illness. it's challenging enough to combat a deadly medical condition, but tremendous expenses incurred can wipe out a family's savings and indeed cost them their livelihood and their home. third, insurance companies should not be allowed to cherry pick. i'm a proud co-sponsor of a bill that would proscribe that. the whole point of having health care insurance is to share the risk. previous existing conditions affect 45% of all americans today. and indeed if we all live long enough, every one of us is going to end up with a previous existing medical condition. the health insurance companies shouldn't be be aproduced to disqualify people in that case. fourth, we must respect the right of our fellow citizens to choose the health care insurance and provider they want.

fifth, we must move toward universality of health care coverage. everyone in america should have access to health care in this wonderful country of ours. ultimately we must address health care reform for a number of reasons, to provide broader coverage, for those currently uninsured, to bring down the increasingly difficult cost of businesses, especially small businesses, families, and sole proprietors, and reduce the growing strain of health care cost in our nation's deficit and improve the overall health of our nation. 50th place is nothing to be proud of, madam speaker. and i hope all of my colleagues would join me in supporting a health care reform program that will reposition america as a competitive wucksessful and healthy society. i yield back. -- successful and healthy society. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx, is recognized for five minutes. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. this recession has been tough on my state of north carolina. with high unemployment haunting our state, it's easy to lose

sight of the inspiring stories of many who continue to work hard at doing good. one of those who committed to doing just that is doc henley, the founder of a north carolina nonprofit called wine to water based in boon -- boone in the heart of the high country. doc's vision for this organization is nothing short of inspiring. as a person who grew up carrying water, i'm particularly sensitive to this issue. doc started wine to water after doing some water sanitation work in darfur, sudan, with samaritans first, another exceptional relief works located in boone, north carolina. wine to water was founded on the premise of giving the nor fortunate members of our society -- more fortunate members of our society the opportunity to bring life giving water to people without access to clean drinking water around the world. wine to water which takes its name from the first miracle performed by jesus during his earthly ministry took an

otherwise everyday event like a wine tasting and turned it on its head. by using wine events to raise money and awareness about the lack of of clean drinking water in the developing world, doc has harness add powerful social force and multiplied the against ross it of many, including a core of dedicated a.s.u. students who volunteer with wine to water. doc is in essence turning wine to water for some of the neediest people on the planet. the work of wine to water in places like sudan and cambodia has already brought clean water to more than 25,000 people. today doc's entrepreneurial spirit and dedication is helping to tap sustainable sources of clean water for communities beyond the reach of many traditional aid organizations. doc is setting a compelling example of the value of hard work and a vision to help others. he's taken a commonplace object and used it to mobilize

communities in america to help suffering communities around the world. he's truly an exceptional north carolinian and i want to praise him for his dedication to serving needy and suffering people. he's taken personal risks to do the hard work of providing water and clean water education in far-flung locations around the globe. thank you, doc, and all those who work with wine to water for your inspiring example during these difficult times. madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. klein, for five minutes. mr. klein: thank you, madam speaker. by the end of this year we hope to pass a comprehensive energy bill which will help this country move forward on clean renewable american energy and certainly will help fuel our economic recovery. as co-chair of the new democratic coalition on energy, i believe now is the time for a

robust, mark-driven based approach to approach our energy's needs. we have to pass legislation that will make smart investments in alternative energy. i think every american understands the common sense behind that. these are the kinds ever things that will make us more viable and competitive not only here in the united states but abroad for our american companies. it's also clear as we know as we get into this energy debate this is about our national security, the fact that we continue to import 60% of our oil plus from countries outside the united states. many of which particularly in the middle east are not our friends and our enemies and funding our enemies. we also know it's about, as i said, about job creation. it's about good environmental policy. now, you have heard a lot about this energy bill so far. you may continue to hear a lot about it. you hear studies on one side that say we are going to lose jobs. other side says we are going to create jobs. i think there is a remarkable thing going on right now. i worked with many members on

both the democrat and republican side. there is a coalition of people out there, interested groups that have come together and said we support the energy bill that is currently being presented by congress. and i just want to name some of the companies and some of the groups because it just doesn't sound like the normal groups that would come together. b.p., big oil company, dow chemical, conocophillips, general electric, you got the entire labor union movement supporting this, you've got the league of conservation voters and the sierra club. now, i know not everybody is familiar with every one of these organizations, but suffice it to say you have some very large corporate business that is have their view of the world, and certainly the necessity of having an efficient energy polcy, you've got some environmental groups that have come together and said we like this, this makes sense to us. you got labor which doesn't always necessarily but sometimes agrees with the other two groups. what i like to this -- think wh h