you still satisfied that what you wound up with is going to the floor, it is the best you could have done for the environment, and for global warming? >> i am very proud of the legislation that we have. it is something that we commend mr. waxman and the other authors of the bill -- mr. waxman being the chairman of the committee. it was formed for this purpose. collin peterson, the chairman of the agriculture committee, was great and how he brought the priorities of the ag community to bear in a conversation. .

i am so pleased the have the strong support of the environmental community. >> you brought together the different factions which was a sort of house of representatives answer. my question was, is it the best ticket done for the environment? -- is it the best that you could have done for the environment? >> you have to look at this as a

piece of what we have done since we came in in january. the pass recovery act that had record investments in science and otherwise, as related to energy, a strong commitment to the grade. we took six steps of their on the environment and the energy issue. the bill has provisions. the budget has the energy issue as one of the key pillars of turning the rope -- for turning the economy around. it is a bill to reduce pollution and it will. it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

this bill accomplishes all of those things. the reason it will help the environment is because it will work. it will work. >> heidi ucd roadmap for comprehensive immigration reform -- how do you see the road map for comprehensive immigration reform? >> we have been ready for a long time. we had a principle of establishing our borders and unifying families and having a pass for legalization for people living in this country. the plan has always been for the senate to go first. senator reid has had positive statements for the prospect for that. but we are ready any time. >> he believes they can get a compromise in the house.

he says the issue is will you bring immigration reform to the floor -- >> i said that the senate would go first. we are ready to have this debate. we are interested in what will happen at the white house today. we believe is important that the president has called for this meeting. he has the economic summit and several other summits. now we have a meeting at the white house. we are ready to go. the congressman will encourage many republicans to join him. >> how committed are you to debated on the floor? >> absolutely.

immigration has been the constant reinvigoration of america. the commitment of making the future better for the next generation as a -- is a very american idea. i am very in touch -- i am very enthusiastic for the future. make america more american. >> this is bigger than the energy bill and the health care bill. how would you compare it to the opposition you have found? >> the process is a very dynamic one. what we came here to do is, frankly, what we enjoy. everyone agrees that we must have a healthier america how do we get from here to there?

it is about the substance. it is about the outside maneuvering. it is about the outside mobilization. it is about listening to people and what their concerns are. many ideas are improvements on what many already thought. it is to work closely with the white house. it is two of the president's top priorities. we do think the deficit, creating jobs, and lowering taxes -- if they do that, going for this month on energy and health care, education will be in the mix as well. they're all challenging. we want the best possible product, but we also want the most possible consensus. we want to pass a bill that can do the job that it sets out to

do. health care reform must work. energy and reform must work. -- energy reform must work. >> [unintelligible] >> today, john boehner spoke about unemployment rates and an energy bill skidded for debate in the house tomorrow. his weekly briefing is about 10 minutes. >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> washington has made plenty of promises of putting americans back to work. the question is where are the jobs? we all remember the $1 trillion

stimulus bill. the democrats in congress to talk about jobs, jobs, jobs. so far, it has been about spending, spending, and more spending. only 1% of the highway construction dollars have left washington and gone to the states. remember all the shovel-ready project? the question is about jobs and where are the jobs as a result of all the money that has been spent. this week, democrats continued to shut down debate on the house floor for a republican amendment on spending legislation. they cannot spend taxpayer funds fast enough. where are the jobs? we have lost 3 million jobs so far this year. with all the spending that is going on, where are the new jobs?

they just have not shown up. jobs and not come from government. they come from small businesses. -- jobs do not come from government. they come from small businesses. a real stimulus bill would help small businesses and we have not seen that yet. the robocalls -- the republican plan would cost half as much as the democrats' plan. the way -- they need to let small businesses and families keep more of what they earn to keep the economy were kaydin. -- to get the economy working again.

small businesses, workers, and families will have to pay more for products made in america. this bill will cost two $0.3 million -- this will cost two 0.3 million americans their jobs. there will not be located in the united states anymore. -- they will not be located in the united states anymore. these jobs will be shipped out abroad. this is how this process will work. with the epa being in the middle, look at these different agencies that are involved. this is the most elaborate thing that i have seen. i have been here a while. i have seen some pretty crazy things.

i have not seen anything this ridiculous. democrats and rural america will have to make some real decisions on whether they will stand with speaker pelosi and special interest or whether they will help their constituents who will be punished by this ridiculous tax. there's a big difference between san francisco and the heartland. some members still remember his btu tax from 1993 where he tried this idea of imposing this tax on all btu pros's used in the country. it is no surprise. it seems that he was disinvited rather quickly.

mark my words. the american people will remember this vote. this will be a defining moment and a dividing -- and a defining vote in the congress. house republicans have the better plan. it will produce more energy, more green energy, lower energy prices, and actually do more to clean up their than having the some giant government bureaucracy as suggested by our friends across the aisle. on health care, the president, again, last night, attended to sell the government takeover of our health-care system. he is backtracking on his claim that americans can keep the benefits that they have. the kennedy bill may clear that 33 million americans will lose coverage under his proposal. we have not seen that on the

studios were on how many americans will lose. i suspect it will be higher. an independent state shows they could be up to 100 million americans that will lose coverage. we do want to reform health care. we want to do with any bipartisan way. i don't think americans want a big government-run program. they clearly do not think they should be paying more. in all the proposals we have seen on health care, it will cost somewhere between $1 trillion and two dollars trillion in new tax dollars on the american people to spend more on health care. most americans already think they are spending too much on health care. even the president said that the problem is that we're spending

too much. i think the republicans have a common sense proposal that will help insure that all americans have access to affordable health insurance. [unintelligible] there are a lot of investments out there that say we could save $75 billion over the next five years if we had lawsuit reform as part of this. this is what the american people want, finding ways to make the system more efficient and more affordable for americans. yes, ma'am? >> [unintelligible]

>> i do know if it is good to come up or not. there are rumors. we will see. >> what are you telling gop moderates who are considering voting? >> i think mr. remembers -- i think most of our members or members on the other side have been talking about this for years. members have a pretty good feel as to where they are. i think there are very few members who are sitting on the fence. >> health care, emigration, with all of these priorities, when you come to an issue like this, and things happen like gov.

stanford, does that not distract? >> my job is to handle the job at hand. all we have seen is a lot of spending and an awful lot of dead and an attemptted government takeover of health care and an energy tax. so we have a lot of work to do. my job is to keep their members focused on the job in front of us. >> how can you stay focused on that? >> if you have noticed, i am not talking about it. [laughter] there are things that i have got to work on. >> i have not heard your response on the cbo estimate.

[unintelligible] what is your assessment of $170? >> if you look good cbo -- it is only one part of the bill. every american household is going to pay more. when you create this giant bureaucracy to impose this tax, it is good to cost a lot of money in. at the end of the day, when you look at everything that has happened this year, from the stimulus to the omnibus with all the it earmarks to the budget to the $1 trillion deficit, it is the middle american the gets -- is the american middle class ticket hit every time.

>> -- it is the american middle- class that get hit every time. >> [unintelligible] >> you will have to ask him. >> is he under some undue pressure of another kind? you made -- you took pains to make concessions for everything he mentioned yesterday. >> you have to ask him. think about this. we provided tens of billions of dollars to bail out the auto companies. we are telling the auto companies what kind of cars they're going to produce. frankly, i think they are the kinds of cars that most americans do not want to buy. for them to succeed, they will have to find every way they can to whittle their cost. one big cost of producing automobiles is still. -- is steal.

it they're looking -- is steele. if they are looking for the best costs, whether they want to do? it is 30% higher in america than what we can get from china or korea. >> they said it's not going to be more expensive. >> it is one to be more expensive. you cannot produce it without creating carbon monoxide -- carbon dioxide. it is not just about higher costs. this really is about shipping millions of american jobs overseas. the idea that we are going to control the amount of carbon monoxide into the air, by ourselves, i think is ridiculous. you have no environmental controls what we have today in india or china, our two biggest industrial competitors.

we oppose this tax on high and energy use in the nine states, ship the jobs overseas, and then they're going to import more american gold. they would put -- they will bring it to produce energy. then they will produce five times of the amount of carbon dioxide as they do this and then we burn in the united states. this is why our proposal to do more renewals, more american- made oil and gas, more nuclear, take the money from the royalties of the oil and gas and pump it back into renewals, solar, geothermal, wind, and actually speed up the development of these, it will clean the air and reduce the dependence we have on energy

from overseas. it is the most common sense way to approach this issue. >> do you feel as though the republicans will slow down the democrats or are they running every? >> they are running over us. they are in such a rush to spend the american's money, they are not reducing money in these bills. that is where they have to guess. they want to spend this money and they want to spend it as fast as they can. nobody has probably read this pull hundred 1-page bill yet --

this 1201-page bill yet. i do not think anyone in agriculture it is buying the deal. -- in agriculture is buying the deal. >> if you are getting run over on these things, how -- >> i am suggesting that there is not a bipartisan plan moving through congress. it is not likely to happen this year. i did tonight think -- i just do not think you can get a bill through the united states senate on a bipartisan basis that the americans will support. they can run over us here in the house. we have reached out and offered better solutions. it is unfortunate. the american people want this

done in a bipartisan way. >> if there was a building came to the floor now, with any republican votes for it? >> i will leave the vote counting to the whip. i would have to stretch my imagination to think of one who would vote for the most bizarre plan i have seen. i cannot wait for the cost figures to come out. >> will your side doing it can to slow down -- to slow it down? >> i do not know what course of action we are to take. there's a lot of time between now and then forced to do everything we can to protect the american people's wallet. they want to raise taxes, spend more money, and increase the debt. i came here to fight against that.

>> [unintelligible] [laughter] >> there is still time to get your copy of c-span's 2009 congressional directory. it has district maps and how to contact committees and congress'caucuses. >> as this year's supreme court term comes to an end, chief justice robert talks about how the court works.

many review the decisions handed down this past year. live coverage on c-span saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern. the white house briefing included energy, immigration policy, and the president as a meeting tomorrow. this is about 45 minutes. >> good afternoon. [unintelligible] my only concern is that the water get a little warmer.

i would be more than happy if i get the same number of -- i will see if 6 is available this afternoon. i am ready to go. how many people are in here? i like my chances. >> [unintelligible] >> of the dunk tank? unclear. i just agreed to do it appeared i have not -- i just agreed to do it. i have not said that the pool for it. -- i have not set up the pool for it. i cannot imagine that this is going to get a lot of money.

>> [unintelligible] >> this is apparently off the beaten path. i brought some clothes to go to the gym in. i think i will do that. >> [unintelligible] >> what is he going for? >> $5 or $10 a head for charity? >> you got to collect the money and you could have a shot at it. and i will be in the video. >> deal. >> sounds good. thank you. [laughter] >> [unintelligible] >> there is no evidence yet of visiting the gen. let me do when quick

announcement and get back into the rails. i am in the tank at 7:20 p.m. we can do the warm-up earlier. i have one quick announcement. for the upcoming trip to russia, the president will give a speech to the commencement of the new economic school in moscow. this will be an opportunity for president obama tubes because but mutual interest in economic growth. >> is the white house confident that you have the vote? >> the present has spent time talking with members of congress. -- the president has spent time talking with members of congress. i think this is an historic and poverty to take specific action

to reduce our dependence on energy, to reduce greenhouse gases, and, most importantly, to create a firm market place for clean energy jobs. we like where we are now. i would bet on the president. >> [unintelligible] >> i do not know how many members he has talked to. the energy team and congressional team have been talking for quite some time. i think that others in the white house have made calls, too. >> [unintelligible] >> i have not talked to him about the outcome yet. carol, obviously, is the head of that inside.