advisers study predicted that only 10% of the total job impact of the recovery act would take place during calendar year 2009. given legs in spending and hiring, the peak impact of the stimulus on jobs was expected not to be achieved until the end of 2010. .

>> the unemployment rate over the recession has risen about one - 1/2 percentage points more than would normally be attributable to a contraction of gdp of this magnitude. to put this differently -- normally, in economic downturns, productivity decreases as firms keep workers employed, even as the amount of work to do declines. this pattern of deteriorating productivity has not been a feature of the current recession. in fact, productivity has increased as it did in the last. i do not think anyone fully understands this phenomenon. one potential explanation is the

greater financial pressure on firms in this recession has led them to do anything they can to shed cashflow commitments by laying off workers at a more rapid pace, or leaving jobs vacant when people leave. perhaps the expectation that the recession would be lengthy has also contributed to this behavior. i emphasize these points because they suggest the importance of the structural dimension of economic policy. if unemployment and a surprise part of the increase in unemployment reflexed more than just a week aggregate demand, the case for measures to increase the flow of credit and get banks lending again, as the administration has pursued, is reinforced. these facts speak to the importance of structural changes that restore long-term

confidence, including job- creating investments in education, infrastructure, renewable energy, and energy efficiency. substantial progress has been made in rescuing the economy from the risk of economic collapse that looked all too real six months ago. while employment continues to contract, the available indicators suggest that gdp is on a close to level path with prospects for positive growth to commence during this year. factors supporting growth include the growing impact of both fiscal stimulus and measures to support the financial system, the wealth of fact of markets, inventory replenishment, and the replacement cycle for automobiles and other consumable durables. a critical question for the next year will be whether or not gdp

growth accelerates to the point where employment growth kicks in, leading to a mutually reinforcing positive cycle of income and spending increases. towards this end, it will be essential to continue vigorous implementation of the recovery program and measures to support housing and financial markets. experienced during the great depression and japan during the 1990's, there were premature declaration of victory. for quite some time, the united states will be living with the consequences of an over-leverage our country. the common desire of households, businesses, and financial institutions to reduce their borrowing and improve their balance sheets will act as a drag on spending and growth. these adjustments are essential to laying a sound foundation for future growth.

it is appropriate that while the private sector suffers, government must cushion the adjustment process by providing public support for spending. if it is essential that stimulus policies be sustained for as long as necessary, it is equally essential that they be sustained no longer than necessary. that is why the president has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to containing the long run federal budget deficit and reining in the nation's debt to gdp ratio once the economy has recovered. the president paused budget contains numerous proposals on both the revenue and spending side directed at long run and discipline. containing growth and that is a central objective of the a

ministration's health care reform proposals. lustration has supported the federal reserve's desire to ensure that has the monetary policy tools necessary to manage an eventual decrease in the size of its balance sheet. a sound macro economic policy for more is necessary for the confidence on which economic recovery depends. it is not sufficient. the rebuilt the american economy must be more export- oriented and less consumption- oriented. more environmentally-oriented and less fossil-energy oriented. more bio and software oriented and less financial engineering oriented. more middle-class oriented and less oriented to income growth that disproportionate favors a smaller share of the population. the president has articulated his philosophy at georgetown two

months ago. a family makeup back on luxuries but will insist on spending money to get their children through college, so we as a country have to make career choices with an eye on the future. we do not -- if we do not invest in renewable energy now, the economy will not grow at that pace it needs to down the road. we'd -- if we do not lay this new foundation, it will not be long before we are right back where we are today. yes, the president has an ambitious agenda. it is an agenda comprised of measures that late foundation for future prosperity. i would suggest that to provide for the conference on which the current recovery depends. without comprehensive health reform, there is little prospect of convincing markets that the

long-term growth in federal debt is under control or convincing businesses that the united states is the most competitive place for them to invest. without financial regulatory reform, we run the risk that the next recovery will be distorted and perverted by asset market bubbles, just as were the last several. without an expanded and improved infrastructure, we risk having growth constrained by lack of capacity and by bottlenecks that exacerbate inflationary pressures. without a comprehensive energy policies, we increase our vulnerability to the energy price gyrations that have cost so much economic pain in the past. our economic challenges were not made in one month or one-year

or in a presidential term. recovery will take time. history suggests that there will be setbacks along the way. yet, the pervasive sense of fear of six months ago has receded as strong measures have taken hold. confidence and hope are returning as the program for rebuilding the economy moves forward. the american economy is again progressive. thank you very much. [applause] >> i know i am back home when a diet coke is provided.

i would be happy to respond to questions. >> i am from george washington university. thank you for that great presentation and for your excellent work last several my question is about trade policy. you did not say much in your talk about trade policy. i am wondering whether the administration thinks that trade policy is part of rescuing and rebuilding the u.s. economy. you said at the end of your speech that you want the u.s. economy to be more export- oriented. does the administration favor sending the pending free-trade agreements to the congress so they can be approved and promoted? >> somehow, i had a feeling that

i would not get in and out without that question. [laughter] the president has made it clear -- his commitment to an open trading system. he has made it clear with his insistence that the stimulus bill the wto compliant. he has made it clear in talking about climate legislation that he is very much aware of the dangers of protectionism. he joined the g-20 leaders and the g-eight leaders recently in making clear a commitment to maintaining and moving forward on open thus -- open nest during. .

there are issues with respect to each of the agreements that you referred to that need to be worked through. at the appropriate time on the political calendar. if the appropriate steps can be taken, we would very much like to see those agreements completed. we would also like to see dohau route brought to a conclusion. at the same time, it is very important to recognize what has to be top priority right now. this is resisting and there are reasons for concern in many parts of the world, steps back

toward economic nationalism. that is why the president has been very committed to increasing our efforts to enforce existing trade remedies and to pursue issues of violation at the wto. that is why we have been focused in supporting exports and assured that trade finance was a major subject in the context of the g-20 and the g-8 discussions. i think one has to look at the numbers. what you see when you look at the numbers is that there has

been a very substantial, almost unprecedented contraction in traded last six-9 months. it is substantially explained by the global macroeconomic contraction. for any friend of trade, the most important issue right now has to be achieving economic expansion and, as we achieve economic expansion, do so in a cooperative way. i think the president has made an important contribution in that regard by putting the growth strategy questions at the center of the g-20 agenda in london and in pittsburgh.

yes? >> thank you very much. i would like to bring about a couple of points that are related. you did not talk a lot about the death of foreclosures and the apparent unwillingness of the bank's to try to keep people in their homes. in addition to that -- do you have confidence that the banks who helped create the problem and that ceos and chairmen and cfo's who are still there are assuming a little bit of responsibility or at least self discipline to do what is right for the country and not only for their bottom line? there is a lot of suspicion that those banks that gave back the money so quickly did it so they would not have the fed looking over their shoulder. they might continue to do the

same hanky-panky, waiting for the regulations which will take a long time. those are really big issues for the american people. >> they certainly are. my philosophy on this is -- trust but verify and legislate. i think it is crucial to recognize that the increase to help of financial firms is a positive indicator -- health financial firms is a positive indicator for the economy. the ability for financial firms to pay back the resources they received from the government is a positive and a favorable sign. let me be absolutely clear -- there is no financial institution that would be

reporting the kind of positive results that we have seen in the last quarter but for extraordinary public support provided by the government. the tarp support was only one out -- element of that support. it was explicit, guaranteed, available by all major institutions. that was another element of that support. support was provided more generally to the system by taxpayers. that was an important source of confidence. no one should be confused about the extent to which the public sector has provided a foundation

for financial recovery. in that context, it is the obligation of the public sector to insist that reforms be put in place that assure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. that is why an ambitious financial regulatory reform has been a priority of secretary brightener and has been a priority of the president. -- secretary geithner and the president. eliminating regulatory gaps so the capital levels can be raised to appropriate levels. archimedes said that if you gave him a long enough lever, he could move the earth. with enough leverage, you can lose any amount of your own

money and that of your clients. something should and something will be done. resolution of authority is a technical subject. at another level, the system will not be safe unless it is safe for the failure of individual institutions. we need ways in which institutions can fail when they need to fail without it having substantial collateral consequences. this is so officials won't face the choice between collapse and bailout. we have faced that too often of last two years. finally, the consumer part of this is very important. that is why the ministration has proposed a separate consumer financial regulator. i think it is appropriate that at a moment like this the

compact, if you like, between the nation's financial systems and a broader national interest be carefully considered. i think it is very important that those in the financial system consider -- consider carefully their obligation to the public. yes? >> the u.s. government reported that the budget deficit in the u.s. has told more than $1 trillion. in china, many people and the government are deeply concerned with this huge deficit and worried about the safety of their investment in the united states. how will you sure the chinese government and also the people and also the world investors that their investment in the united states is safe?

>> let me say first first that i think the greatest risk for the future u.s. deficits would be uncontrolled economic contraction in the united states. containing this downturn and preventing the kind of debt dynamics you saw in japan, that you saw in the depression united states, has to be the first priority of anyone concerned with national credit-worthiness or an intellectually honest deficit hawk. rescuing the economy has to be the first priority. beyond that, it will be essential to take steps on both spending and revenue sites. i believe the president has made the right judgments in concluding that our health care

system cannot continue on current trends, that reform of health care system requires, -- a comprehensive approach that addresses coverage and insisting that a comprehensive approach that includes coverage also includes substantial steps to change the health care system and reduce the growth of cost. those are the debates that are going on on capitol hill right now. many of the administration's proposals have been included in the draft legislation. others, including reform of medicare reimbursement, need to be on the agenda. we need to rescue this economy

first but we are very focused and the president has made it clear his commitment to bringing down the rate of debt and the ratio of debt to income in the united states. yes? >> when the economy recovers, we expect inflation, for sure. what is the plan in preparation for that? >> when i was at the treasury, i went eight years without commenting on the activities of the federal reserve. i don't think since i've moved to the white house it would be a good time to start.

i think that goes to the issue i adjusted my speech and as i commented on the last question. getting the economy going again has to be the first priority. we cannot be -- it is necessary not to be stimulating any longer than necessary. that goes to the old policy. -- back to budget policy and the exit strategy -- that goes into budget policy and the exit strategy for the central bank. i would not argue with you about the inflation forecast. i would note that if you look at the experience of industrialized countries, inflation acceleration, typically, almost universally, have one or two predecessors.

either they have substantial supply shocks and that is white, -- comprehensive energies of supply sources are important or periods of below normal unemployment and an overheated economy. the prospect of an overheated economy from this point do not appear to be our most urgent problem. i would also note market indicators such as the spread between index bond yields and a nominal bond yields are not suggesting large alarm about inflation, even prospectively. we are very much aware of the lesson of the 1970's and it is a lesson that has been taught many times before that if you wait until the place and threats are

conclusively established, you have waited too long. that is why, we in the administration, are constantly monitoring the economy with an awareness of these risks and a recognition of the importance of long-term fiscal sustainability. yes? >> good afternoon. i am from "the national examiner." you had met with financial experts who said that 1500 bags with clothes in the united states by 2010. that was an estimate that they had. i'm wondering if you have any comments about the bank's closing in the united states by 2010. there was a couple of banks

closed in texas and six in illinois. do you have any response to that? >> i am not involved directly in the regulation of individual banks. i refer you to the statements of sheila bair at the fdic on the prospects of bank failures. i am sure we have not seen the last bank failure. during this cycle. the kind of systemic risks in the banking system that were a matter of widespread concern just six months ago have receded significantly. yes? >> there is a bipartisan legislation moving through the house currently that would

require the general accounting office to audit the fed pause balance sheet. -- fed's balance sheet. i am wondering if the white house supports that legislation? >> i don't know the details of the particular legislation you are referring to so i cannot comment. the president has long been a supporter of the independence of the federal reserve system and the need for a corporate transparency regarding the activities of the federal reserve system. measures which are directed at opprobrious transparency are measures that we would support. -- appropriate transparency are measures that we would support. measures that would compromise its independence or its ability to carry on normal kinds of

financial operations would not be measures that we would support. i am not familiar with the details of that legislation you refer to. david? >> the po reserve is audited at the present time by an outside -- the federal reserve is audited at the present time by an outside firm. thank you for your service, larry. you are right that we need to focus on the short term before we focus on the structure. you are also right that health care is the real thing we have to deal with. however, what would you say about the fact that we are in danger of creating a huge expectation gap for the american people on health care because you cannot reduce costs by expanding coverage. the cbo said yesterday concerns

about the cost of these packages beyond 10 years and a preliminary numbers are not great. >> we will leave the last few minutes of this event for live house coverage for you can see this event in its entirety anytime on c-span.org. legislative work starts at 2:00 p.m. a number of bills including the 40th anniversary of the moon landing are happening. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the washington, d.c., july 20, 2009. i hereby appoint the honorable donna f. edwards 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. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess, the chair declares the house in recess until 2:00 p.m. today.

more live house coverage at 2:00 p.m. eastern right here on c- span. the president of health care bill continues to make its way through various committees in congress. later today, more work is planned from the house commerce committee. we hope to have that live for you, pending the house schedule starting at 4:00 p.m., eastern.

now the republican national committee chairman michael steele -- he gave his perspective earlier today on president barack obama's plan to provide health care and discuss the republican alternative. this is one hour. >> will the world's leading

professional relation for journalists and we are committed by informing informative programming and journalism education. for more information about the press club, visit our web site. on behalf of our 3500 members worldwide, i would like to mention -- welcome our speaker and welcome those of you who are watching us on c-span. we are looking forward to today's speech and i will ask as many questions from the audience as time permits. please hold your applause during the speech so that we have time for as many questions as possible. for our broadcast audience, i would like to explain that if you hear a plus, it may be from the guests and members of the general public to attend some of our newsmakers and not necessarily from the working press. our guest today took a twisting path to politics. at johns hopkins university in baltimore, michael steele was

class president and a member of the fencing team for it he was nearly expelled when his social life akes eclipsed his academics for it later studied for the priesthood he then turned his attention to law at church -- georgetown university. a corporate finance attorney by profession, he founded his own company a business and legal consulting firm formerly the lieutenant governor of maryland, he mounted a strong challenge for the senate seat in 2006, losing to ben cardin. he was elected chairman of the republican national committee and a close-fought battle that went six rounds of balloting. he is the first african-american to hold that post. mr. steele has jostled for a prime spot in the conservative limelight with such figures as rush limbaugh and sarah palin.

he has the stage to himself today to talk about the republican alternative to the democratic plan regarding the critical subject of health care reform. raising the stakes of this debate, president barack obama as promised a health care bill by the end of the year. the nonpartisan congressional budget office has said the democratic plans do not reduce the spiraling cost of health care programs, as the president has said. this wednesday, the president will hold a prime-time news conference to try and take command of the health care agenda. mr. steele has the chance to get ahead of the president and seize the agenda for republicans by putting forward an alternative to what the democrats are proposing three please join me in welcoming michael steele to the national press club.

>> thank you very much. good morning. it is a pleasure to be here and i appreciate the national press club offering this opportunity to address one of the most fundamentally important issues in the generations that our country has to face. president barack obama is a good man. he cares deeply about this country. he is determined, with an unprecedented single-minded ness, to transform us into something that we can recognize. candidate obama promised change. president obama is conducting an experiment. he is conducting a dangerous experiment with their health care and the quality of our lives. he is conducting a reckless experiment with our economy. he is conducting an unnecessary current with our tax dollars, experiments that will transform the way of life of our country and its citizens. the president is rushing this experiment through congress so fast, so soon, that we have not had a moment to find out if it

can work. worse, we need to think about the consequences to our nation, our economy, and to our families. it doesn't work. the experiment is a risk our country can afford. it is too much, too fast, to sen. -- to send. --too soon. the strategy is to increase the deficit. in only his first six months of this president's first budget has sought to take on as much debt as we have had in the entire history of our country. the deficit for this year alone will be the highest in u.s. history, nearly five times as much as it was two years ago. his economic experiments have left all of us and the generations to come with a staggering bill. the obama experiments are not working. so far, his experiments in

congress have failed or blown up. president obama told us that the stimulus package would keep unemployment under 8%. it is now at 9.5%. now he tells us that unemployment will go to 10% anyway. that experiment cost us $787 billion. consider this -- the interest on the stimulus package, the interest alone, cost us nearly $100 million every day. president barack obama has committed to bar wing troy is from foreign creditors. in return, they get the lion's share of our future economic output our children will be working to build productive capacity and standard of living but not here in america. it will be for our foreign creditors. let me quantify that a bed -- in a typical year, the total

profits for all american businesses amount to 7% of gdp president barack obama's on budget projections acknowledge that our country will exceed one of the% of gdp in the next decade. that means that roughly 6% of our gdp will go to pay interest on our federal debt. that means capital roughly equal to all the business profits in the country, capital that historically has funded the expansion of our economy and enable us to improve our standard of living, will go instead to our creditors, largely china and opec. it will help their economy and improve their standard of living. mr. president, you are putting the government wish list on america's credit card. that card comes with a bill.

it is more debt that our children will have to pay because this reckless administration has an unrestrained will urge to splurge. whatever the problem of the president faces, he responded by spending, spending, and more spending. our president's is proposing more debt, more risk, more risk more experimentation. his next big ticket item is a multi trillion dollar item with our health care including a government-run health care plan. it not only risks are, but risks every american's health, too. he says he wants to reduce health-care costs of republicans agree. health-care costs way to much. health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages. health insurance is costing families and businesses to much and we have to fix that.

my question is, how can the democrats' plan to save money costs us money? democrats say their plans cost only about $1 trillion. you need to consider the acerbate -- absurdism a bad idea. that assertion is based on a deliberate misreading of the data. the nonpartisan congressional budget office projects the next 10 years. the democrats' plan is only fully implemented for the end of that when the. according to the best guess, once this plan is fully implemented, it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year. in the case of the house bill, $202 billion in 2019 alone. but thousand + page house bill

was not released until less than 48 hours before and the cbo said they had not completed their analysis the cbo stated," we have not yet estimate the administrative cost to the federal government of implementing the specified policy." in other words, the staggering cost estimated by the cbo does not even include one of the biggest expenses in the bill. only washington could make saving money more expensive. it does not matter if your insurance charges and more through the front door in higher premiums or whether president barack obama charges in more at the back door in higher taxes. it is the same thing. under the obama/policy plan, costs are going up. the taxpayer will pay. when was the last time that washington never made anything cheaper or cost less? if you're a small-business

owner, you will see a tax hike on your income, your payroll, and your investments. all of this will not help you to grow and create more jobs. if you are a senior, you face $400 billion in medicaid and medicare cuts. if you are working, you face $600 billion in new taxes. they are just getting started, folks. some democrats are complaining that they are not raising taxes enough. if you get health coverage at work, they want to tax for health insurance. they are not finished. if you are thursday, they are considering a 10% cat attacks on a can of soda. if you need a stronger drink, after hearing that badness, i have more bad news for you -- they are thinking about raising the alcohol tax. they are considering a new tax on employers, equal to 3% of payroll. the also one of value added tax, a national sales tax of 1.5% or

more. all this time, i did not know that raising taxes on something made it cost less. that is like those commercials that promise you can use of all the cake you want -- you can eat all the 81 and lose weight. a good doctor make it through diagnosis and prescribes a remedy. that is targeted to what ails the patient. if you come with a sore knee but are otherwise healthy, the doctor does not remove your kidney, put your arm in a sling, and perform quadruple bypass surgery. above all, for thousands of years, physicians have pledged to adhere to one principle -- first, do no harm. we should approach health care reform in the same way. we must disagree target reforms at what ails our system, do no harm to what is right about much about our health care system is in very good shape. we should make sure that those aspects are strengthened and

model limited. 260 million americans currently have health coverage. the great majority is for private insurance. they are overwhelmingly pleased with our current coverage. america is on to the highest quality in the world. asked the saudi arabian is receiving care at johns hopkins and the canadians at the mayo clinic. asked the committee that awards the nobel prize for medicine for it over the past 25 years, the vast majority of honor researchers, have been americans. what is the diagnosis for what ails our health-care system? cost. we spend a colossal amount on health care, over 15% at our gdp. the next highest industrialized nations spend about 10% rate for that amount, we have similar

health outcomes with countries spending less. are uninsured are a symptom of the cost problem. it is a health-care cost disease. are uninsured -- our uninsured don't always purchase health- insurance but they vow not to get sick. others simply do not receive it. for most of the uninsured, the problem is easy to diagnose. they cannot afford the insurance. president barack obama's response is to make health care insurance more expensive. according to the latest cbo estimate, under the house democrats' version of the whole plant, after this is implemented, the cost of insuring each additional

individual would be $30,000. that is an amount far greater than the average annual cost of insuring an entire family. in fact, the average cost of an employer health plan for a family of four is about $12,800. to ed insult to injury, the cbo says that every person of the democrat helped plan, after spending trillions of dollars, will leave millions still uninsured. the democrat plan does not contain costs, it ships them to the taxpayer. , to our children and future generations. by implementing a huge premium subsidies and establishing a government-controlled health care plan. the president paused plant proscribes short-term pain relief instead of trying to fix the source of the pain grips if he was a doctor, that would be malpractice. this plan is likely to be worse than the ones americans have

now. believe president obama for it on his town hall a few weeks back, he refused to say he would limit his family to the same plan for the rest of us for it if the president does not have faith in the plan for its own family, how can we trust this plan for hours? the american health-care system should not be more like the european health care system where patients over 70 are told that they are too old for cancer screenings. this is where have sick people are told to wait in line. no thank you, mr. president. he tells us that he wants the government-run health care plan as another choice to compete with health care insurance you have now. he says he will not be forced to join but his plan does the opposite. in fact, the proposal presents another government czar.

who will push the government-run health care while dictating to your insurance company how they should operate? we all remembered harry and louise. they helped us save us from the hillary clinton health care experiments in 1994. this year, harry and louise have been replaced by another couple, harry reid and and nancy pelosi. harry and nancy are not doctors, they play one on capitol hill. they are experimenting with health care and insisting on a big government takeover. if you have a job in the grocery business or an office door or a hardware store, imagine if the u.s. government knocked on your door and offered to open up the business across the street.

they say they will lower prices because they are the government and they don't have to pay their bills. how do you think your store will survive? how long do you think you will stay in business? how long would you have your job? when bidding government competes, one congressman said, it is like an alligator competing for a chicken, the health care you have now is the chicken. experts tell us that president obama and the congressional plan could lead to 190 million americans being dumped out of their private coverage into a cheaper, government-run program. that is why they are forcing members of congress to vote on legislation to reshape the economy in a fundamental way before one single member of congress has read the bill. i do not know how you read or

understand over 1000 pages of legislative text and a few hours. democrats are determined to shove this bill through without permitting any meaningful scrutiny. that is why they are cutting republicans out of the process. the democrats have no intention of having a bipartisan bill. they never have. the president has taken care to arrange for a bottle opportunities but that is about it. back in 1994, when hillary clinton tried to jam i mass of health care bill down the throat congress, senator bob kerrey gave a speech on the senate floor in which he said he would not vote for a bill which did not have republican support. i am waiting for any democrat to show that short of courage today for it -- today. blue dogs have been nancy pelosi's photo opportunity.

to not on the the republicans are unwilling to support irresponsible proposal from a democrat read the very first major health care reform bill introduced this year was written by senator ron widen. his bill had some good ideas and has drawn almost as many republican co-sponsors as democrats. let me be clear -- republican support health care reform that address the biggest problems in our system, runaway cost. we do not need to spend more money on health care. we already spend far more than the rest of the industrialized world. what we need to do is to spend it better. we need to start by reforming a third-party payment system that promotes waste limits choice, and misallocates resources. we want the two of its 60 million americans who have health insurance coverage to keep it. we want people to choose their own doctors. we want them to make their own choices. we want to focus on health

outcomes, keeping pp -- people healthy through preventive care and promoting good physical conditions. under this plan, the vast majority of americans will pay more to get less. we will spell trillions -- we will spend trillions more. the 260 million americans who have insurance now, will have fewer options and worse care. we still will not cover all the uninsured. this is 1/6 of our economy we are talking about it if we screw this up, it could last a generation. congress is trying to do this in the next two weeks. they want to get a bill done in the next two weeks. this reckless approach is an ill-conceived attempt to push through an experiment and all of us should be scared to death slowdown, mr. president. we cannot afford to get health care wrong. your experiment promotes and

proposes to budge, too soon, too fast. your experiment could change everything we like about our health care. this will affect our economy, as well. it is time to stop this experiments with their future. if you will only slow down long enough to see a better way, a better way of helping our families and businesses get a hold up and bring down health- care costs. republicans than with a growing number of americans supporting the patient senate health care movement we believe this movement offers the best way to reduce health-care costs, bottom up. this is what patients and doctors in control, not the government. the old top-down senate system that the democrats propose will restrict the cures and treatments your doctors can prescribe for you. the president wants to make health care more affordable, so do we.

republicans have a completely different vision of how to do it. republicans support temple -- simple common-sense fixes. they want to start building a colossal close health care system where washington decides. republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions. mr. president, let's talk about some common sense reforms that the american people and their doctors can trust. let's have doctors and hospitals post pricing and outcomes. in this day and age, why are the costs of all tests and office visits as well as effective treatments posted openly on the internet? that will bring down the cost. how about if we make insurance companies compete with each other with simple understandable contracts and minimal benefit packages so insurance is simpler, cheaper, and more fair, like many banks

are doing with car or home loans. why not put in place a simple one-page reimbursement form so folks can navigate better. that will bring down costs. let's protect doctors from frivolous expense of losses so they can work together with other doctors and patients and their communities to reduce unnecessary and expensive test procedures and costs. i appreciate the president's barre briefed flirting with tort reform grid -- reform. we then change the law so you can take your health insurance with you if you have to change your job, eliminating expensive and unnecessary insurance turnover. that will bring down costs. we cut out the washington healthcare middleman. let's support new paperless

computer-age i t systems to reduce health-care management as well as reduce medical mistakes. that will really bring down costs. let's make sure every american has equal opportunity to get the best value and be able to buy the cheapest insurance the matter where they live or who they work for it let's change the law so that any american can buy lowest cost insurance available nationwide. groups like a r p provide insurance less expensively. that will bring down the cost as well. companies like target our best suited to bring down costs than any politician in washington let's use consumer buying power and group buying power, not washington price controls, to bring the cost of health care down. let's support a bipartisan idea,

effective prevention. , wellness, and prevention disease programs as they will improve our health. that will also bring down costs. let's support new incentives for companies to develop new treatments and cures because that is more than paying for chronic, long-term illnesses we cannot cure to that. that will bring down costs. every american should get a tax credit for their health insurance premium. certainly, that will bring down costs. under current law, employees not covered by a health-care plan, which includes the working poor, cannot deduct the cost of insurance premiums. rather than of remedying that injustice, the democrats make it illegal for anyone to purchase a new individual plan. we believe in bottom-up health- care savings for the middle class and the working poor. here's another idea -- how about we give small businesses the

same cost savings break that big businesses get having them form small business co-ops. that will bring down costs. let's support tough penalties for anyone reps off the health- care system whether they are corrupt insurance company executives, on ethical positions, or patients, or government and pushers. that will bring down costs, too. .

step of the wave that his health plan will not add to the deficit, but just last friday, cbo concluded that the obama-pelosi plan will add $239 billion to the deficit by 2019 and hundreds of billions of dollars there after. that means, according to cbo, not michael steele, the obama-pelosi plan does not do either of the two things the president swore they would do -- contain costs, and not add to the deficit. president obama justifies this spending by saying the devil made him do it. he doesn't want to spend trillions we can't afford, but he says he just can't help it, even though he says he believes in less spending, he says he has no choice but to spend even more. even though washington is on fire with spending, he said he's compelled to conduct this experiment with reckless spending and pour more gasoline on an already growing fire.

mr. president, the time to stand by your principles isn't just when it's easy. you need to stand by your principle with it is not easy. the time your character is tested is with doing the right thing is tough. : don't insult our intelligence by telling us washington has to spend more money to spend less or save more. i challenge the american people, when using the president's press conference, tell the president and his congress exactly how you feel. if you think his experiment with our health care is too much, too fast, too soon, pick up your phone and call the congress, called the white house. flood them with e-mail's.

let them know what you think and how you feel. you are important in this process. you should not sit on the sidelines and wait what happens to you. in short, yes, you can. show washington who is really in control of america's health care. in america, we don't allow one man to roll the dice with the entire nation. we do not allow one political leader to risk our health-care system in the economy. we do not allow one political group gamble with the fate of generations. we have never allowed one political party to experiment with the future of our country, that is, until now. it is time to hit the pause button on this administration's reckless experiment on the economy and our health-care system. this is not what america voted for, it is time to put this experiment on the shelf.

today, the republican national committee is it unveiling a multi platform. we are taking our message to you. the grass-roots mobilization for a new website, www.barackobamaexperiment.com. we want you to understand what is at stake and what this administration is about to do to you and your family and your community. we want you mobilize. voters may want health care reform, however, they don't want this kind of reform. today, we are faced with a lot of challenges. with increased costs, burton's

that some cannot bear. many democrats outside of the obama police a -- obama, pelosi, read, that's why we will do everything we can about telling americans about the risky experiment some -- experimentation going on in washington. this is a time of great economic uncertainty. this is a moment when the very structure of the global economy which is the depends on our economic might is challenge. we will get through this storm. then we will have to compete and win and a new global economy that will grow dramatically in size and complexity in the next few decades.

who will own the future? who will lead a world where health care is transformed and people live longer and healthier lives? building upon the vast resources of the planet, the human resources, to transform nations and continents? who will settle a new global frontier of peace, and progress? i say that we are. we, the american people. there isn't anything before us we cannot achieve, and the challenge we can't overcome. be a optimistic. there are new miracles of science to be found in america,

and we will find them. there are new jobs we cannot imagine, and americans will create them. there are new economic frontiers to be found. all of us today have a great and noble purpose. as our country calls on each of us to rise to this critical moment and keep america out the greatest, and healthiest country in the world. thank you. god bless america. we will go to some questions. is it morally acceptable for 30 million americans to go without health insurance? >> i don't know if that is a consideration for politicians. it is important and imperative that the political leadership get it right. it is morally wrong to saddle

future generations with a burden they cannot pay. it is morally wrong to stake a claim in the future in which the government controls or individually, the choices that you make, and how you lead your lives. this question is a very important one with respect to the 30 or so billion people who do not have health care. we as a nation have committed ourselves to doing it impossible to help them. we have to do it in such a way that we don't hurt others along the way. this opportunity to fix, if you will, the system to bring those 40 million people to insurance is an opportunity we cannot mess up. in a rush to get things done, our concern is we are losing greater opportunities to secure

that future, so that in five or 10 years when they may be facing something more catastrophic than just a 30 million people without insurance. >> why didn't the republicans when they held both houses and the white house do something substantial to address the health care issue? >> there were efforts along the way. the medicare part d passage that the republicans did get through. there has always been a debate about that always piece of legislation. the other reality is the will to do it. the pressures that have been mounting over the last two years have been so great, and i think

the will is there for the people to be involved in this. i think that there has been a general lack of focus on this issue by many in both parties. i have always believed that if you are going to do health care, you have to do it right. you cannot have a conversation with just lawyers and insurance companies. you have to include patients and doctors. you cannot have a conversation without including the pharmaceutical companies. you have to include everyone who is touched by the issue. in the past, that has not been the way we have approached it. i applaud the president with the desire to do this. my concern is the rush to do it, too fast and too soon. we will not get this done effectively and well in the next 10 days. i know the people in america don't believe that.

what will the bill look like? what kind of health care do you get for something that is done in 10 days? when it took a year and a half for them to put the medicare system in place in 1960. a year and a half to put medicare in place. and we are revamping the entire nation's health-care system in 10 days. amazing. i think we all need to stop and get serious about what we are confronting and stop playing this washington game of russian roulette, if you well, with the livelihood and the businesses and the health care of our community. >> wasn't this a litigated in the last election and your side loss? >> i don't know who got sued, but we lost in the last election. i get it.

we lose an election therefore we just sit back and let whatever happens pass? someone asked that question. the last time i checked, i was an american citizen. i think the question is little silly. i think it is important for all americans regardless of who lost and who want -- i know a lot of democrats who won last year are sitting there going what the heck is this? is this the change i was looking for? i know some who are voting against or walking out on this legislation. i know democrats who won last year course scratching their heads and saying, this is what i bargained for? are the americans? i think they are, and that is why they are concerned. we are not giving up our right to be concerned about our country.

>> when will the republicans proposed alternative legislation they have been saying since may that they have been drafting? >> there has been any number of efforts by members of the house and senate to put within the president's bill effective changes or accommodations, if you will come out to the totality of this process. the republicans can get out tomorrow and introduce its own bill. you and i know how washington works. the bill that matters is the one that the leadership puts in place. the democrats have the leadership. it is tough to do when you have been locked out of the process. it is tough to do when the leadership is not included in the discussion. you are given a bill at the 11th-hour the essence here, you have to vote on it this afternoon.

that is not a bipartisan process. the republicans have as i mentioned have been working with democrats since the beginning of the year to put in place and craft comprehensive, bipartisan health care reform. it has been stymied and set aside as the party of no. we are the party of sing in zero to expand government, and zero to an increase in taxes and spending. that is the no we are concerned about. we want to work with this president. we want to be at the table. they are making it difficult. they don't include the members of the leadership to and staff in the process.

>> do republicans still support senator mccain's plans to tax high-cost employer coverage to finance tax credits? >> that is something that the house and senate will work through. i know there are different points of view on that issue. i stated very clearly in my comments that the idea of taxing health insurance premiums to me is not the way to go. i don't think taxes were. i don't think that is how you solve this problem. we will see where they come out. >> do republican support an individual requirement to get coverage? >> an individual requirement?

>> do we require individuals to get health coverage? this is one of the area's -- i don't do policy. my point in coming in here today was to set a tone and a theme -- an approach to addressing this issue that fits the bottom up, centered on real people who are struggling with this issue every single day. my hope and expectation is some very smart people we have elected in the house and senate will come together and recognize exactly what the american people need and want, because we are telling them, trust me this white house polling. this but -- this confuses me of

why it we are going down the road of more government taxation and spending, more government intrusion when the polls and people are saying they want as little of that as possible. we are hoping that the people on the hill are paying attention to the people in america while making very clear what they want. >> why haven't congressional republicans united behind a single approach to a prosed democratic bills? wouldn't that make your party more effective? >> that is a strategy that the leadership works out. i don't get to make that call. i have enough plate calls i have to worry about -- play calls. i help them get their message out to the american people, and

they make a decision about how closely they work with their colleagues and with each other. >> does present obama's health care plan result -- represent socialism? >> yes. next question. >> in 1965, republicans said medicare would lead to socialize medic -- medicine. how are you so sure a health- care overhaul will have the desired consequences you predict when your party was so wrong about medicare? >> i think that there is a legitimate debate that the fix medicare and medicaid are having on the overall fabric of our economy. look of the fact that you have to keep feeding this particular engine. in this case, unlike 1965, the level of spending, ball level of

government control and intrusion is far greater and much more expensive than anything we have ever seen. you are journalists. you scrutinize this stuff. you sit here and tell me that this is not an president proves that even you are not shocked at the degree to which this administration is bringing the government not just into our lives, but into the very relationship between the doctor and patient? between the patient and his insurance company? between the insurance company and the market? what we are talking about here is something far beyond anything we have seen since 1965. this is unprecedented government intrusion into the private sector. you can switch and that anyway you not -- you want, but it still tastes better.

the american people know that. >> how would your plan make the $12,800 affordable for those who cannot afford it. >> that is a good question. we need to look the fiscal as well as a relationship that is involved here. i am not proposing any quick fixes. i know this will take a hard worker -- take hard work and require real effort by both parties to come to the table. not just in the abstract, not just in the self interests of promoting one special interest

over another. in the interest of promoting what is best for the people. we are looking at how we will pay for it, how you take a 12,000, $800 cost to families -- $12,800 cost to families. we have not begun to do that by section yet. we are rushing to get a healthcare plan passed by the end of the month. without anyone answering that question. i can pontificate all day long on what we should do, but it is the legislators that write the bill. they have to put it into practice. we are not having that discussion. we can't even get in the room to ask a question of the legislators. capt. trade, a thousand page bill that came at 4:00 a.m. in the morning. everyone in the democratic party voted for it.

how crazy is that? " will you do with this bill? folks out there in america, can people to you it is in it? they cannot, because i have not read it yet and they will get it at the last minute. what they have done is put us on the road to ruin if they do that. i want to see it get to the table so people who need to address those questions can do that. they need to tell us what these costs are and what they're really mean come and how we will pay for it. who will pay? if you tax every wealthy person in this country, i don't care how you define it, you still don't cover the cost of the president's proposal. the 95% of you that were told that you get a tax cut, you will not get a tax cut. you'll get a win the of a tax

increase that will come in the form of a cold bunch of other taxes that you'll see coming out of your paychecks. cracks do republicans get to the table, do they have answers to those questions that were just posed? what will they bring to the table? >> you love me to go through them again? let's talk about portability. tort reform, let's talk about creating networks for small business and going to the marketplace to compete for the best insurance packages for their employees. there are a host of ideas are republicans have put on the table that have been ignored, not part of the discussion. all i am saying is, mr. president, nancy pelosi, harry reid, let us come to the table. we like coming down to the white house and having a beer and watching the game. someone will lose a health-care

opportunity here if we don't get this right, mainly the american people. i think that -- i just went through the list. i have laid out a very broad -- in a very broad terms, the specific pieces of legislation that has been proposed that should be part of the consideration. >> what will the political crisis -- price of the republican party be if they block the bill? >> i am not concerned about that. i am concerned about the price that the american people will pay if this passes. i am not worried about our political fortunes. i am not worried about the health care for my family. i am worried about what might 21 and 17 year-old son's will do if they get injured.

i am worried about my mother and father, trying to figure out how they will pay for their health care bills. that is a concern for every american. i just want them to do it right. i want to get it right. i think that the consequences will come for those who fail. those who settle this economy and our people with something they cannot afford, not just in this generation but for future generations. the price we pay, it is not a political price. it is an economic one. it is a community one. it is one that your families and your neighborhood will come to bear. i think this is a bear consideration right now than who is up and who is down politically. >> in light of the day, i have to ask this question. if we can put a man on the moon

40 years ago, why can't we give health care to more than 40 million americans a share? >> blagojevich. that's it. everybody is pulling. it doesn't matter. everybody is polling. the vast majority of americans like their health care coverage. the vast majority of americans like the quality of their health care. the vast majority of americans don't want uncle sam to touch their health care. what they are concerned about is the cost. if we can just deal with that issue, that will solve all lot of the opportunity that we have avoided in getting those people to the table. you have to look at that number carefully and realize that the number may not be as big as you think it is because it includes

in the case of some who do not qualify for health care, and others who have access to health care but have not access it because they didn't know they qualified, for medicare or medicaid. or like a lot of young folks who run around saying, i would like an sec, i don't want to pay for it and they opt out for eve. we have to do our level best to make sure that every single day they have quality health care at their fingertips when they are ready to access it, however they want to accept it. the government should have very little to do with it. >> we are almost out of time. before i ask the last question we have a couple of announcements. let me remind our members that future -- of future speakers. tomorrow, gail mcgovern, president and ceo of the american red cross will address the yen -- luncheon. on july 24th, representative

john conyers, a democrat from michigan will address the press club at luncheon. also, i would like to give you our national press club mud. the last -- the last 10 years the cbo scoring for direct war was -- are you worried with the cost of the war? why are you expecting those concerns yet? >> the cost of the war like the cost of everything else is of great concern to the american people, as i am sure it is to the administration. in a real sense, the cost of

health care is something that is up close and right here, something that people touch and have to deal with in a real way when they go to get their medicines, health services. they are either paying for seeing what the cost is in every way. it doesn't take away from the fact that engaging militarily is a cost like all other cost. when you are looking at the entire cost of health care, as a proportion of our gdp, i know in the state of maryland health care was 40% of our budget. 30% of the budget which education. 78% of our budget was tied up into two things.

with your talking at a micro level or a macro level, the cost of providing health care as a major peach -- piece of anyone's budget. this is something that is impacting our economy. we need to get it under control. our concern is that additional spending is just out of line. we are not driving the station into debt, trillions of dollars into debt by the spending that is going on right now with the war in iraq. healthcare is driving that number. look at what this administration is proposing. it is astronomical amounts of cash. we will have to pay that bill. it is a bill that is related to

the health care expenses that this administration wants to put into place. the federal government, the state government have been grappling with this issue and a real wealth -- way for some time. we need to do so smartly and with the sense of urgency, but with the right amount of topos to make sure we get it right. and right now, i don't think we are getting it right. we are getting it very wrong. in the long term, it will cost us more harm than the good that it is intended to do. thank you very much. >> i would like to thank you all for coming today. i would also like to thank the national press club staff members who helped organize this today. thank you to it the nbc library. the video archive of today's newsmaker and provided by the

broadcast center are available for download on itunes as well as on our website. non-members may purchase transcripts audio and videotapes by going to our website www.pressorg. thank you, we are adjourned.

the president's health care bill continues to make its way through the various committees in congress. later today, more work is planned by the house commerce committee. we hope to have that for you live pending the house schedule starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern he ought -- here on c-span. the house is in recess now before starting legislative work at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. a number of bills are being considered today, including one marking the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. any requested votes will be held at 6:30 p.m. eastern. later this week the house plans more work on fiscal year 2010 spending bills. more life out coverage -- more lhouse coverage at 2:00 p.m..

>> good afternoon and welcome to the department of state. secretary clinton has had a full schedule in india since her arrival on friday night. she just had a press availability with her car -- with your colleagues that were traveling with her. she and the external minister released the details of the strategic dialogue involving the united states and india going forward, which includes a number of working groups on non-

proliferation, counter- terrorism, military cooperation, energy and clement chang, education and development, economics, trade and agriculture, science, technology, health and innovation. they also released a detailed joint statement that the list to common security interests, cooperation, civilian nuclear cooperation, a global institution, sustainable growth and development, space, science , high technology cooperation, energy security, climate change and other global issues. we will have statement's release on those. with that i will take your questions.

a foundation was laid this weekend for a possible resolution that adheres to the principles of the democratic charter and the decisions taken within the organization of american states. and a variety of ways we have and continue to communicate with the parties to encourage them to stay focused on these negotiations, and to reach a peaceful negotiated restoration of honduras democratic constitutional order. over the weekend, both assistant secretary thomas shannon and our ambassador in honduras had a wide range of contacts and periodic updates from the president of honduras as well as contact with both of the

negotiating teams and the defect 0 regime. we have been consulting with counterparts from other countries. they have been communicating through the weekend with both parties. yesterday from new delhi, the secretary had a phone conversation with the leader of the regime, and she laid out during that call and encouraged him to have -- to focus on these negotiations and also helped him to understand the potential consequences of this failure to take advantage of these mediations. we have been in touch with representatives from both sides. >> to you know how firm she was in her conversation with him?

she has been very vocal from this podium saying that we want him return. he is planning to go back this weekend. even if there is a potential for some type of confrontation with the military. >> we are in a 72-hour suspension. negotiation teams have left costa rica to consult with each side. we expect these negotiations will continue later in the week. today, i think there is an assessment going on a current mediations. we hope there will be a reaffirmation between the member states of the oes. we have a need to can you to focus in on this kind of peaceful resolution. what she very clear that the u.s. does not recognize notde facto government and what ever

the talk, they need to make preparations for an elected government? it was a telephone call. she made it clear that the regime needed to be reminded that we seek restoration of democratic and constitutional order, a peaceful resolution. we do not think that anybody took any steps that would add to the risk of violence in honduras. we completely support the ongoing mediation. are you pressuring him to stay in nicaragua or wherever country who is giving him shelter for the time being is that leads to a lessening of tension? >> we have all made it clear to the president that we think mediation is a way to go. >> what are you planning to do

if tode facto doesn't do what you require? >> i will leave it to the president. through the weekend, you did of movement from the positions that both sides to coming into the negotiations. this is not to say that we are at a successful conclusion. we are not. the negotiations are still ongoing. i think his communications with us have communicated that we have some movement on both sides this weekend, which is why he thought it was useful to come

back later in the week. >> the aid to honduras, it is is something you can discuss? we have options that are available to us if our negotiations are not successful. >> your government indicated as today that they could not accept any arrangement whereby he can come back. have you seen any indication that they might be softening that? >> let's wait and see what happens. there is some posturing going on here. clearly, we believe that it is important throughout the situation that we need to have a restoration of democratic and constitutional order. we would like to see the president returned to honduras and a clear path that leads to an election.

>> you said that you told him that mediation is the way. have you told him specifically, do not go back? it is too dangerous for you? >> yes. >> directly? >> yes. >> what other options? >> in the secretary's phone call, she reminded him about the consequences for honduras if they fail to accept the principle that the president laid out. it has a significant impact as far as eight and consequences, potentially longer-term consequences. >> when was the last time anyone spoke to him? >> over the weekend the

ambassador spoke to him. >> and the issue of clement chang will between india and the u.s., -- on the issue of climate change. >> there are differing points of view. they did come up in the event the secretary had over the weekend. they were not as sharp as some of the reporting would have suggested. this is a subject of ongoing negotiations. what is encouraging is both the united states and india are committed to do whatever they can to reach a successful agreement in copenhagen later this year. of this week, negotiations are ongoing. i think the secretary fell --

and felt it was a constructive conversation. as we made clear and the secretary reflects on this, you saw her comments over the weekend. the united states and other developed countries have a special responsibility because up until now we have come in fact, generated many of the greenhouse gases that has brought us to where we are. we also have to recognize going forward, greenhouse gases will be committed in the future will come from countries like india and china. ultimately, for us to have successfully addressed the challenge of climate change in the world, you have to have meaningful steps down vote by developed countries like the united states and emerging company -- countries like india. >> assistant secretary campbell said the u.s. is willing to offer a comprehensive package for north korea for them to come back and take steps to disarm.

is this a step back for a pullback for action approach that the u.s. is looking for? are you looking for north korea to do the major steps before the u.s. does anything? >> as a senior official last week indicated, we are not looking for half measures. secretary gates said some time ago, we will not resell the same horse over and over again. we want to hopefully come back to negotiations, but we also won to see them come back to their obligations that they made in 2005. our long-term objective has not been realized, eight denuclearized peninsula. we want them to take meaningful steps to reduce that.

we do have a new situation. i think assistant secretary campbells comments reflect the fact that we do have a different reality at the present time. we are willing to do things if north korea themselves do their part, which obviously, coming back to a negotiating process, taking irreversible steps towards denuclearization. >> just to be clear, the basis for the last negotiations, can we now say that approach -- >> the ball is in north korea's court. we need to see north korea come back. if they come back to negotiations, -- that is a

difference reflecting the reality of the current situation. >> when she speaking, about the missiles threatening to launch or about north korea as a whole? >> i don't think so. currently, represents a threat to the united states -- infinitesimal threat to the united states. this provocative action represents a significant threat. these actions have been

unhelpful and potentially destabilizing. this is something that would precipitate among other things, an arms race in asia. we believe that we have a combination of capabilities that mitigates the threat to us, but we recognize that north korea does pose significant challenge to countries in the region. that is why we are permitted to ongoing collaboration's with countries like japan, south korea, to do whatever we can to bring north korea back to the negotiating process. >> on another subject, when you first came in you're talking

about the budget. the president apparently has asked his cabinet to find ways of cutting $100 million in the next five days. >> these are apples and oranges. they are building the budget that will be submitted for 2011. >> he said in the next 90 days find 100 million. where is that coming out of? >> i will defer to the white house. he may put out a directive to all cabinet officers to see if we can do something on that pierre >> three months ago he said that he ordered each cabinet agency, gathered the whole cabinet three months ago today and asked each agency to flush 100 men -- million in the 90 days.

today is a 90 day anniversary of that. can you take the question? >> this is a fine question to ask my colleague, robert gibbs. >> president obama asked each agency to/$100 million from their each agency. >> i will take the question. >> in mauritania, there were elections over the weekend. we wait, some irregularities were noted. somewhere over two hundred 50. there were embassy officials within our u.s. embassy that participated in those observances. i think it is a premature question.

as far as i know, the election results indicate -- has one. >> israel rejected a new demand from the u.s. to stop a project in east jerusalem. >> this is not a new issue. there have been issues involving construction and these issues have come up a number of times. we have made our views known to israel. our views are not new either.

that this kind of construction is the type of thing that should be -- the type of issue that should be subject to the status negotiations. we are concerned that these actions taken by the israelis cannot prejudge the outcome of these negotiations. that is one reason why we are working hard to create conditions so that you can have a resumption of negotiations that would lead the party to address these final status issues. george mitchell will be traveling to the region later this week. his itinerary is still not completely set, but he will be traveling to talk to israeli officials, palestinian officials, others in the region. i think he has a speech scheduled in bahrain later this week. he will have the opportunity to express once a check -- a once again our gratitude for his

message last week. >> what about ambassador pickering's meeting last week? >> ambassador pickering is a private citizen. >> are you concerned that the israeli ambassador was -- for the government? >> we have had conversations about this with the israeli ambassador on this and other subjects. >> when will ambassador holbrooke visited afghanistan and pakistan this week? >> i think he makes regular visits to both countries. he will also be traveling to

india and brussels on this particular trip. in afghanistan, he will be looking at the current situation and conferring with afghan officials both on the current military campaign, and also on progress in development of civil society issues. they will confer with a range of pakistan the officials. they will also check on the status since -- the status of pakistan citizens. his departure date will be sometime next week. >> do you have any lower level assessment of how the pakistan is -- has been going? >> it is a fair question.

i know there are media reports. as you get closer to the end of the year, you have great concerns about pakistan and the flight of these people. that is what he wants to go to check on. what is their status? what are the current numbers? when he was here talking last month, he has concerns. >> can we go back to india? why did secretary clinton wait until the third day of her visit to india to meet with the senior leadership of the indian government?

usually, obviously there other things that she wants to meet with business leaders. is she trying to send a sign that meeting with the people isn't as important as meeting with the government? >> i don't think there is a cookie cutter approach here. i recall 10 years ago, going to china with the president, and he did not go to beijing on day one. it might as well be the availability of senior officials within the indian government. but the schedule reflects is the senator's commitment to have a broad based engagement, but also with the civil society and the entrepreneurs as you did over the weekend. there is no message being sent here at all. i think what you are seeing is

that she and the external minister announced tonight, you have an expanding and signet of -- a significant agenda. i think also the secretary offered on behalf of the president an opportunity for the prime minister to -- and he accepted. what you are seeing in terms of the agenda is a very significant expansion of the relationship and the issues that will be subject to our bilateral going forward. >> [iunintelligible] >> recognize that right now,

north korea has rick declined to return to negotiations. as a consequence as we outlined last week, we are implementing u.n. security council resolution 1574. we are clearly doing things and taking actions in terms of sanctioning of people and sanctioning of -- if there remains north korea's position, there will be consequences for that position. at some point in the future, will no. 3 have a change of heart? we hope so. >> back to honduras. we are getting reports that there might be some sort of rift between the law at? is that something that can be leveraged as these negotiations move on? is chavez out of the way? does that make washington happy?

we certainly think that if we were choosing a model government and a mob leader for the countries of the regions to follow -- a model leader for the countries to follow, if that is the lesson that president is a lion has learned, that would be a good one. >> back to him. you're talking about the last time someone has spoken of him. you seem to be leaving yourself room for him not to be returning as the president. there doesn't seem to be all that much communication. >> we are leaving this to have live house coverage. house members are coming in now for legislative work. there are a number of bills being considered today including one marking the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

any requested votes will be held at 6:30 p.m. eastern time today. live coverage here on c-span. the house is coming in for legislative business in a moment or two. meanwhile, the senate is in today, continuing to work on 2010 defense programs, amendment

debate. votes are expected. senate votes are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. eastern. . . the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: lord god, when you speak your word, true servants stop and listen attentively.

open our receptivity with new faith. practice in public speaking and surrounding by debate, all too often becomes difficult for us to truly listen to one another. in a world that prides itself in accelerated information and sophisticated communication systems, the art of asking deeper questions is often lost in noisy chatter. lord, help us all to be better skilled and honest dialogue and more patient in building consensus. no one of us holds on to the whole truth, but with your help we can admit our limitations and share what we have. that will prove enough to offer clarity and promise, enough to move forward just a bit both

now and forever. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. broun: mr. speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. mr. broun: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. broun: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will please rise. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from

new mexico, congressman lujan. mr. lujan: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, permission in the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on july 20, 2009, at 11:26 a.m. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 3114. with best wishes i am sincerely, signed, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches.

for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. broun: mr. speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. broun: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as we enter the fourth week of the appropriations process, i stand before you once again angry and frustrated that the democratic leaders continue to silence the voices of the american people by allowing -- by refusing to allow this body to debate legislation in an open and a transparent way. as the american people know by now, democratic leaders have limited the time of debate and the number of amendments to spending bills that the minority could bring up. this is an unprecedented practice that has not been done by either republican or democratic majorities in recent memory. mr. speaker, this is completely outrageous. the opposition party and the

american people deserve an opportunity to examine and criticize the majority's policies. and then we deserve the opportunity to offer alternatives when we disagree. but what speaker pelosi is doing now, not only goes against the practices of this house, it also goes against everything she promised the american people when democrats took control of the house in 2006. mr. speaker, this congress is passing nonstimulus stimulus policies, cap and tax boondoggles, and now we're silencing the voices of the american people. i ask, when is enough enough? it has to change. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas rise? mr. boozman: i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extd my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. boozman: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to the floor to bring my constituent's opposition to the

cap and trade bill recently passed in the house. at a time when this country faces the possibility of a double-digit unemployment rate, a tax that will lead to fewer jobs, force americans to pay more energy costs and raise the price of every manufactured good is unthinkable. my constituents as well as i wonder how we will afford the predicted $1,200 to $3,100 increase in annual energy costs. take for example one senior citizen in my district who lives on a fixed income and is no longer able to work. already living at a bare bones level, he cannot afford a $3,100 increase in his expenses. my constituent will not find himself alone in such a predicament. if a cap and trade were to become law it would amount the largest tax hike in united states history. and in our current economic climate it will leave many americans pinching pennies simply to turn on the lights. no one is opposed to clean air and water, but there are other methods of protecting our

environment that supports the best interest of our citizens. instead of legislation that would deepen our economic troubles, congress should prioritize legislation that will protect jobs, create jobs and stimulate our economy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. there being no requests for one-minute speeches, pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. recorded votes on postponed questions will be taken after 6:30 p.m. today. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 607, celebrating the 14th anniversary of apollo 11 moon landing. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 607, resolution celebrating the 40th anniversary of the apollo

11 moon landing. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new mexico, mr. hew lan, and the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h.res. 607, the resolution now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i want to rise in strong support of house resolution 607, which was introduced by ranking member hall, chairman gordon, chairwoman giffords and spare and aeronautics subcommittee chairman as the original co-sponsors. i want to thank mr. hall and the others for their initiative and introducing this legislation. the apollo 11 moon landing was one of the most significant events of the 21st century and it is only fitting thawe celebrate it today as we mark the 40th anniversary of that historic event. that landing was the culmination of eight years of

dedication by countless engineers, scientists and technicians and others that faced the challenges laid down by president john kennedy in 1961. at a time when it looked as though the soviet union had a lead in the space race. it took the efforts of many to make apollo success and they can all can take pride in what they've accomplished. what has seemed only a lofty centuries goal of humanity became a wonderful reality when mission commander neil armstrong announced on 1969, houston, tranquility base here, the eagle has landed. mr. speaker, the inspiration and hard work that undergerded the successfulness of apollo 11 laid the foundation of a host of technologies. they enthused generations of engineers and scientists who have contributed so much to our nation's well-being and the ensuing decades. in short, the apollo program continues to deliver benefits

to our country even today. yet the legacy of apollo is also the example of the brave astronauts who carried out those risky challenging missions. let us thus all honor the unforgettable accomplishments of the crew of apollo 11. mission commander neil armstrong, lunar module pilot buzz aldrin and michael collins who participated in the first expedition to step foot on another clestial body. their cool bravery captured the hearts of the american people and they remain genuine national heroes 40 years after they returned home from the moon. mr. speaker, in closing, i would again like to recognize and thank ranking member hall for introducing this resolution, along with chairman bart gordon, chairwoman giffords and subcommittee ranking member olson and i urge my colleagues to support this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i rise

today in support of house resolution 607 which honors and commemorates the 40th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. this event marked an extraordinary achievement in the history of mankind as we explored beyond the bounds of our own world and landed upon another. on may 25, 1961, in a speech to congress i remember hearing president john f. kennedy set the goal of landing americans on the moon and then returning them safely to earth. space program and nasa were in their infancy. this was an audacious goal, but from the point was not about accomplishing what was easy but that was very difficult. that it was extremely hard. kennedy knew that inspiring our nation to rise to the challenge would serve to organize and

measure the very best of american capabilities. the apollo program expanded on the knowledge and experience gained from the mercury and gemini space flight program as well as from precursor robotic and lunar activities prior apollo 11. four apollo missions were sent into space and around the moon, and together data, and on july 16, 1969, the apollo 11 crew, consisting of mission commander neil armstrong, lunar module pilot buzz aldrin, and command module pilot michael collins launched from the kennedy space center, florida, atop of saturn v rocket that would carry them bond the pull of earth's gravity to their historic four-day trip to the moon. as they left the earth they didn't know whether they would ever return. they were intrepid explorers.

ranking and taking their chance on their lives to explore the unknown for all of us. on july 20, 1969, after traveling 240,000 miles through space, the apollo 11 crew successfully landed the lunar module eagle on the moon and the sea of tranquility. during that moment us event, millions of people in america and around the world watched in awe as neil armstrong took his famous first step and became the first person to walk on the surface of another celestial body. the moon landing was the culmination of years experience and the combined efforts of tens of thousands of engineers, scientists and other devoted individuals and organizations that were committed to accomplishing the task that they've been set upon them eight years earlier. the succeed -- the very

successful landing was one of the most significant and important events of the 20th century. it inspired an entire generation to strive toward great accomplishments in space as well as on earth. it resulted in the greatest increases in science and engineering enrollments at all of our colleges and universities. it continues to inspire new generations as we prepare to journey back to the moon and beyond to other destinations in our solar system. . today as reflect on the future of our space program, we should re-examine the less -- lessons learned from apollo, america's economic, technical, and educational can learn from a goal of human space exploration t will take a national leadership at all levels f we succeed, we'll continue to lead the world in science and engineering. enrollments will be at our colleges and our universities and our technology and industry

will continue to be the envy of the world. as president kennedy knew, the difficult challenges of space exploration served to organize and measure our abilities with the -- but they also lead to unanticipated spinoffs in areas such as health care, material science, and microcomputing that can be harnessed for other pressing national needs. on this anniversary of the apollo 11 mission, i hope we heed the lessons of the past and push forward into the future. i urge members to fully support our nation's space program and i urge them to support house resolution 607 celebrating and commemorating the 40th anniversary of this extraordinary achievement. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: we have no further mr. speakerers. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas.

mr. hall: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. lujan: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to so many as are in favor say aye. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the gentleman from georgia. mr. broun: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking a vote by the yeas and nays will a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? mr. lujan: i move to suspend the

rules and pass h.r. 2729, to authorize the designation of the national environmental research parks by the secretary of energy, and for other purposes, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2729, a bill to authorize the designation of national environmental research parks by the secretary of energy, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new mexico, mr. lujan, and the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 2729, the bill now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lujan: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, i'm pleased that today the house will consider h.r. 2729, a bill that formally authorize the national environmental and research parks at department of energy sites across the country, including one in my district.

the los alamos national laboratory includes landscapes of canyons, maceas, mountains, and reon grand. providing a diverse ranges of -- range of ecosystems. it studies everything from containment transport to woodland productivity to long-term climate change effects on the land. these parks have been a critical rye source to the -- resource to the national and environmental research community for decades yet they never had a clearly defined source of support in the department before this. bill finally addresses this issue and provides important items for research, development, education, and outreach to -- on the parks. h.r. 2729 was developed through a collaborative process that took into accounts comments and concerns from each of the d.o.e. sites as well as amendments from both minority and majority members. i'm happy to present a bill with bipartisan co-sponsorship and i look forward to working with our senate colleagues to send this to the president's desk as soon

as possible. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise today in support of h.r. 2729, to authorize the designation of national environmental research parks by the secretary of energy, and for other purposes. h.r. 2729 introduced by the gentleman from new mexico, mr. lujan, authorizes sectionisting parks located within major ecoregions of the united states. these regions cover more than half of the nation and some cases the research parks are the only ecological sanctuaries in the entire region. the parks provide secure settings for scientists to conduct research on a broad range of subjects such as plant succession, biomass production, environmental behaveor of radio nuclides, and revenge tration of

disturbed lands and thermal effects on freshwater ecosystems. the parks also provide rich environments for training researchers and introducing the public to ecological sciences. the parks have been around in concept since 1969 and in reality actually since 1972 when the atomic energy commission, the predecessors to the department of energy, established the first research park at the savannah river site in south carolina. under this bill the parks will continue to serve their intended purpose but will now be able to do so under their own authorization. mr. speaker, i thank mr. lujan for his work on this bill and his staff, and i would reserve the balance of my time. first i want to ask for unanimous consent to insert into the record a statement by the honorable congressman hastings at his request. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hall: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance

of his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, we have no further speakers. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2729 as amended. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- the gentleman from georgia. mr. browne: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? ploo lujan: i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1622 to provide for a program of research, development, and demonstration on natural gas vehicles as amended. so the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 112, h.r. 1622, a bill to provide for a program of research, development, and demonstration on natural gas vehicles. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new mexico, mr. lujan, and the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to exclude extraneous material on h.r. 1622, the bill now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. h.r. 1622 was introduced by mr. sullivan of oklahoma and co-sponsored by myself, my friends from texas, mr. hall and mr. green, my colleague from

oklahoma, mr. boren, and a number of other members that recognize the potential of natural gas as an alternative transportation fuel. this bill re-authorizes the department of energy's research, development, and demonstration program in natural gas powered vehicles and related infrastructure. the vehicle fleet of the future will include a diverse range of fuels and vehicle technologies. and since it's both cleaner than petroleum and domestically available, natural gas will play an important role in a more sustainable transportation sector. moreover, the estimated domestic reserves continue to grow indicating that natural gas could play a long-term role in helping-to-leaveate our dependence on foreign oil. i support h.r. 1622 and urge its passage. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i ris today in support of h.r. 1622, to provide for a program of research, development, and demonstration on natural gas

vehicles. i thank my good friend, congressman john sullivan, from oklahoma for introducing this bill and i'm very proud to be a co-sponsor. h.r. 1622 authorizes the department of energy to fund natural gas vehicles research, their development, and demonstration needs on natural gas vehicles to make them even cleaner, even more efficient, and ease their widespread integration into our current transportation system. approximately 98% of the natural gas we use in america comes from the united states and canada and the energy information agency forecast set by 2030 over 98% of the natural gas used in america will come from the u.s. alone. because of recent advancements in technology, the economically recoverable u.s. natural gas resource base has nearly doubled in just the last few years. a recent study concludes we now have 118 years of natural gas resources right here in america. doesn't it make sense that we

should be using this abundant domestic resource to help fuel our transportation needs? renewable natural gas can also be produced from any organic waste of energy crop such as switch grass, it's been conservatively estimated that america could produce 1.2 quadrillion b.t.u.'s of renewable natural gas, also called biomethane, that's the equivalent of 10 billion gallons of gasoline. if making biomethane from cellulosicic energy crops. it's potential is almost limitless t has affordable, it has an existing distribution structure, a proven vehicle fuel, and is clean. i urge my colleagues to support this that will help increase our energy independence by serving to increase the amount of vehicles on our roads that run on domestic natural gas. with that i reserve the balance

of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. sullivan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for three minutes. mr. sullivan: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 1622, my legislation to re-authorize the natural gas vehicles research, development, and demonstration and employment program within the department of energy for five years. i would like to thank ranking member hall and chairman gordan and also my colleagues from -- gordon and also my colleague from oklahoma, dan boren, for bringing this important legislation to the floor today. natural gas is the bridge fuel for decreasing our dependence on foreign sources of oil and putting our nation on a path to energy security. it is critical that we make a strong effort to incorporate more natural gas vehicles into our transportation fleet. there are more than 150,000

natural gas vehicles on the u.s. roads today and over 10 million worldwide. increased u.s. natural gas vehicle research, development, and demonstration, and employment -- deployment will only increase these numbers if we make the proper investments as my bill does. natural gas vehicles are an important part of our national transportation infrastructure. in 2008 alone, natural gas vehicles displaced almost 300 million gallons of petroleum in the united states. in fact, nearly one in five new transit buses on order today is specified to be natural gas powered. proof we are moving in the right direction. we also have a proven reserve of natural gas right here in the united states. we have enough known natural gas reserves to last more than a century. as a matter of fact, 98% of the natural gas we consume is produced right here in north america. natural gas is american made

energy. in addition to our vast supply, we already have a wait to get natural gas to the consumer with over 1.5 million miles of natural gas pipeline distribution across the united states. natural gas vehicles are also better for the environment. greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel, 30% lower than gasoline. natural gas vehicles also produce virtually no particulate emissions. to meet our nation's energy needs, we must continue to develop alternative and renewable energy sources. however we can't shoot the horse until we find a new horse. natural gas is a bridge fuel for decreasing our dependence on foreign sources of oil and putting our nation on a path to energy security. i encourage passage of h.r. 1622 today and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new mexico.

mr. lujan: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to mr. olson, the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. . mr. olson: mr. speaker, i'd like to thank my ranking member and friend from texas for yielding me time to express my support for h.res. 607, the 40th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. like all members of my generation, i remember very well where i w when neil armstrong stepped out of the eagle and into history. but when today as we look back i offer this question, where will we be when those next steps are taken on the moon? for millions of americans those steps will be their first

chance to witness history. it is right and fitting that we take this time to honor the men and women of apollo 11, and i say men and women because of the three brave men who were willing to strap themselves on top of a saturn v rocket, it took the support of thousands of men and women their success. the question is, why should we go back to the moon? we can't replace apollo but we should try. i don't mean simply at nasa. first, it boggles the mind that those apollo journeys, which should be the beginning of lunar exploration were the end of them. budget cuts forced the cancellation of apollo 18, 19 and 20. and we've been endorsing those cuts ever since. nasa is on a path to return to the moon and on to mars and beyond. but we need to support both

here in congress and among the general public for these worthy goals. by exploring we create jobs, we inspire our youth to grow to the math and science fields and we assure that the aerospace center when is american centered and american dominated remains that way. but the lessons of apollo should not be limited to nasa. it's become cliched for poll significances -- politicians to reference apollo for the need to create domestic alternatives to solve our energy solutions. our nation wants to rally around a worthy goal to achieve great things. this is what apollo showed us, and we should look to that in this chamber as we debate the issues of the day that will impact the generations to come. apollo won't be replicated because you can't replicate neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and mike collins. they've become icons in american culture exhibting

those uniquely traits, boldness, courageousness and excellence. those individuals were the finest in their field. but as a crew and as an extension of the nasa family that made apollo such a success and as representatives of this great nation that sent them forward through the havens they became heroes worthy of a praise that will be offered over the next few days. may the example they set as individuals drive us personally. may the success of the lessons of the apollo program guide us collectively and may the knowledge of what they achieve as a nation inspire us to do bold things going forward. i yield back my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hall: mr. speaker, i yield to the congressman from georgia, dr. broun, the balance

of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. broun: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, as we discuss this bill about natural gas i think we need to go beyond that one issue. republicans have introduced legislation called the american energy act. it's an all-of-the-above solution. we are buying oil from countries that hate us, and they're utilizing our dollars to fight us, to kill our men and women in serve. the only way we're going to bring an end to that is to not only look to natural gas but to look to nuclear energy, look to alternative sources of energy, look to things such as wind, solar, biomass. we need to find ways of having clean coal technology, and a

lot of people find that to be an oxymoron, but in actuality there is technology today that will lead to clean coal technology. mr. speaker, we have to be good stewards of our environment. that tax and trade bill, some call it cap and trade, i call it tax and trade or cap and tax because it's about revenue. that's not going to do anything about our environment. all it's going to do is create more revenue for the federal government to pay for this obama care plan that we're going to be debating in committees here in the house this week and possibly voting before we leave for the august break. but, mr. speaker, america's suffering. we're suffering from high energy cost. certainly the gasoline prices have been lowered from $4 as it was not many months ago. just recently i saw gas as i

drove to the airport this morning in wal mutt grove, georgia, was $2.16 9:10 but it's still too high -- $2.16 9/10 but it's still too high. it's hard for georgia power to get the permit for the two new reactors that they want to put in south of my district, just south of augusta, georgia. it's treeksleem difficult for people to do the -- it's extremely difficult for people to do the research to look for alternative sources of fuel. natural gas is being shut out as a means of powering our vehicles, powering many things that it can power. mr. speaker, we need an all-of the above energy plan. i hope that this u.s. senate will defeat the tax and frayed bill that we passed here because it will be disastrous.

it will raise the cost of all goods and services here in america. it will raise the cost of health care, medicines in the drugstore, doctor bills, hospital bills. it will raise the cost of food. it will cost every single individual in this country more money. i hope the american people will stand up and say no to the tax and trade bill that this house passed and that the senate is considering, will consider this fall. i hope they'll stand up and say no to obama care which will increase the time it takes for people to get x-rays and surgeries. and the necessary medical evaluation and treatment that they need. people who have cancer will be denied the life-saving drugs that they so desperately need or the surgeries that they need. mr. speaker, we're heading down the wrong road in this country.

this house is taking this country down the wrong road of higher deficits. and i hear people on the other side blame president bush for the deficits he's created, but president bush's deficits are piker levels compared to the deficits being created by this congress, since this administration took over six months ago. this president has presented a budget that was passed by this house that will he create more debt in the next five years than every president, including george bush, from george w. bush all the way back to george washington, more deficit, more debt than has been created by every single president. we cannot continue to spend our grandchildren's future. our grandchildren are going to live at a lower standard of living than we do today because of this tremendous debt that we've created. mr. speaker, it has to stop. i hope the american people rise up and say no to obama care.

i hope they will stand up and say no to this tax and cap, tax and trade, tax and cap bill that the senate's considering. i hope they'll say no to a new stimulus package, nonstimulus bill that the president talks about that he wants to bring forward. mr. speaker, we've got to stop spending the money of our children's future. it has to stop. it's outrageous. and the american people need to understand that they are the key to rising up and telling their member of congress in the house and the senate no, no to cap and trade, no to obama care, no to any more stimulus, no to any more wall street bailout, no to taking over any banking institution. mr. speaker, we cannot tax and

spend our way to prosperity. it never has worked. it was tried during the great depression. it didn't work then. it's not going to work today. we seem to have elitists that think they can do it better, but socialism never has worked, never will work and it's time for the american people to stand up and say no to it. mr. speaker, we need to have natural gas as an alternative source of fuel for our automobiles and buses and trucks. we need to have all these energy sources. we need the american energy act passed into law. we need to cut taxes on small business and leave dollars in their pockets so they can create jobs, so they can buy inventory, so we can get our economy back on track. mr. speaker, the republicans is charged by the democratic folks on the other side of being the party of no, but it's actually the democratic party that's been the party of no.

we are as republicans the party of k-n-o-w. we know how to stimulate the economy. we know how to lower the cost of health care. we know how to fix the problem that we have with energy. and, mr. speaker, it's time for the american people to stand up and say no to this steam roll of socialism being driven by nancy pelosi and hairy reid, fueled by barack obama -- bihari reid, fueled by -- by harry reid, fueled by barack obama. we need to get people back to work and stop this killing jobs and killing our economy. so the american people, mr. speaker, need to stand up and say no to the democratic plan and yes to the republican plan. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time.

mr. hall: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back the baffle his time. the gentleman from new mexico. mr. lujan: mr. speaker, as we look to see how we can truly work together in the chamber, i think that the legislation before us, h.r. 1622, which directly addresses some of our concerns when it comes to energy in our great nation. h.r. 1622 is a bipartisan piece of legislation that looks to see how we can come together and work together to be able to alleviate our dependence own foreign oil. and, mr. speaker, i certainly agree with my colleague that we have to look to diversify when it comes to energy, we need to be good stewards of the environment. that's why i -- when we talk about what we have to do to invest in our future, mr. speaker, as we look out to future generations and as we as a nation have to come together, how our leaders have to come together, how we have to work anywhere we possibly can to be

able to address these deep concerns. it's with honor that i come before you, mr. speaker, to be able to work on these issues as a new member of congress, as a member of congress that's ready to work and as a member of congress to look for new ideas. h.r. 1622 is a continuation on how to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1622 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- mr. broun: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the rules are suspended. the gentleman from georgia. mr. broun: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays have been requested. all those in favor of taking the vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. type for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. scott: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the resolution house resolution 507 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 507, resolution supporting the goals of national dairy month. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott, and the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, each will control 20 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, it is timely that the house considers this resolution, this very important resolution in support of the goals of national dairy month today because our nation's dairy farmers are providing healthy, nutritious milk and dairy products to millions of american families. even as their own families of dairy farmers are facing very tough economic times, very challenging times, mr. speaker. . the dairy industry is an important contributor to our nation's agricultural economy. the united states leads the world in cow's milk production, accounting for more than $284 million in farm receipts in

2007. dairy farmers across the country are producing the milk and dairy products that we give to our children and our grandchildren. knowing that they are getting the nutrients that they need for strong bones and growing bodies. mr. speaker, unfortunately our nation's dairy farmers are feeling severe pain, difficulties of a very difficult and trying economic time that they are experiencing right now. we are committed to doing everything we possibly can to help our dairy farmers through this very challenging time as quickly as we can. dairy prices remain at historically low levels. many farmers cannot even get the credit that they need to stay in

business. we must help our dairy farmers. and as chairman of the subcommittee on livestock, dairy, and poultry, and food security i have scheduled the second in a series of three hearings this week to take a very thorough look at the difficult economic conditions facing the dairy industry and to look at the options that we have to help our nation's dairy farmers. and help them we must and help them we will to weather these financial difficulties until the economy can recover. mr. speaker, we must get our dairy farmers back on their beat where they rightfull belong. mr. speaker, i urge passage of this resolution that will in

some small way give new recognition to the hard work and the sacrifices of our nation's dairy farmers and also to highlight the importance of dairy products in healthy and balanced diets for the american people and the people of the world. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.res. 507, a resolution supporting the goals of national dairy month and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you. mr. speaker, for the past 70 years we have celebrated the month of june as national dairy month. while there's been some years during this time where dairy men have had cause for celebration, i think we would be hard-pressed

this year to find a dairyman who is much of a mood for celebration. as dairy prices start to rise in 2007 reaching record levels by june of last year, prices start to decline this past september and october, ultimately reaching a devastatingly low price by february. while there has been some slight rebounding in prices, dairymen across the country are still suffering from extremely low prices received in the marketplace and extremely high prices for input such as feed and fuel. in fact, while the average uniform price in the northeast federal milk marketing order for june of 2009 is $11.93 per 100 weight of milk, the usda estimates that it costs dairymen in my home state of pennsylvania $27.15 per 100 weight of milk just to produce. mr. speaker, i recognize that adoption of this resolution is a

bit late this year, but as we honor national dairy month for the 70th incentive year, i ask all my colleagues -- consecutive year, i ask all my colleagues to consider how these actions reflect on the small family farming businesses around the country. farmers do their best in keeping us well-fed and keeping us clothed and keeping us housed. we can at the very least consider the financial burdens we place on these men and women when we contemplate legislation that would dramatically increase their costs of production. i want to thank my good friend from georgia for the hearing that he was -- held last week and the two hearings that we are going to conduct on behalf of the dairy industry. i really appreciate that. i know the dairy farmers of pennsylvania's 5th congressional district appreciate that as well. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i now yield as much time as he may need, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut is recognized. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank chairman scott for bringing this resolution which i sponsored along with over 70 other members and bringing it to the floor. his leadership in the farm bill last year that extended the milk subsidy program that was probably the number one priority of dairy farmers was critical in terms of trying to keep farms that are hanging on by a thread afloat. and also he changed the system of the milk subsidy program to include input costs into the formula for the first time, which again is a critical benefit for, again, folks going through a very challenging and difficult time as the chairman described and as mr. thompson described. usually, mr. speaker, these types of resolutions, let's face it, are kind of fluffy. they are here to sort of put the

spotlight on a product or segment of the economy. everyone kind of gets up and does a little boosterism for their region of the country, a voice vote is taken, and it's probably forgotten quickly. but this year there is an urgency surrounding the crisis that exists in dairy all across america that i think makes this resolution which is an opportunity to put the spotlight on the challenges that dairy farmers are facing, important for all of us in the congress and certainly all of us in the country. as has been said earlier, we have seen a collapse of dairy prices over the last year. back in june, 2008, when the farm bill passed, the price per 100 weight across america was roughly about $20. today that is literally fallen in half. exports have fallen by 57% which many experts believe was one of the reasons why prices had reached a level where sustainable economics existed for dairy farmers across the

country. that export market along with the world recession has made it impossible for the normal market forces to keep prices at a level which farms can sustain their overhead and their input costs. in the northeast, particularly in new england, we are seeing the effects of this drastic dramatic collapse. 10% of farms in eastern -- in connecticut, particularly eastern connecticut which i represent, have gone out of business. that number has been reflected in other parts of new england. and the one thing about a dairy farm going out of business, it's not like a down and up cycle. when they go out, they go out for good. you lose a characteristic of a state's look and its economy that you can never recover again. that is why it is so important for chairman scott to be holding the hearings that he's holding at the agriculture committee and to make sure that we do everything we possibly can in this emergency right now to provide immediate support and

relief. the ideas are out there in terms of whether or not we need an emergency boost to the milk subsidy program. whether or not we need to have the department of agriculture to use its administrative powers to raise the base price for dairy. it is imperative that, again, we pass this resolution but we also do everything we can as a congress to keep the pressure on. recently i was home in connecticut and myself and congresswoman delauro, the chairman of the subcommittee on agriculture and appropriations, met with a number of farms, greenbacker farms, these are farms that go back literal to colonial days in our country who are now facing a death spiral in terms of having to borrow to pay operating costs just to keep the bills paid and their work force going to work every day and with paychecks. if we do not intervene, we are going to lose a part of our economy that we can really never recover again. there is a bumper sticker out there that some of you may have

seen, some of you may have on your cars like i do, which says no farms, no food. and at some point we as a nation have to recognize if we do not come up with agriculture policies that allow for sustainable farms in our country, then we are going to lose not just those wonderful families and parts of our economy, but we are also going to lose critical parts of our food supply which you only have to look at recent events in terms of the damage that's been done to american citizens from unsafe food imported into this country that the stakes could not be higher. so again i applaud the chairman for bringing out this committee. i appreciate the bipartisan support for this resolution. obviously it's a resolution which deserves our support, but we need to follow up on it with real acts and real action by the congress to make sure that we deal with this emergency crisis which exists here today. and i hope again the strong support that we are going to see around this resolution will be reflected in those efforts. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: thank you very much, mr. speaker. as the gentleman from connecticut just spoke, he has been putting in a tremendous amount of energy coming before our committee, giving us expert testimony as he did last week. i just want to commend you, mr. courtney, on what you're doing and your constituents are certainly proud of that endeavor. i join with you in making sure that we adequately respond to the pressing needs. now, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield to another distinguished gentleman, one of my colleagues who also came before our committee, and has been putting in tireless hours on this great, great crisis in our dairy industry that we are facing, and

that is the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch, with whom i yield as much time as he may need. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from vermont is recognized. mr. welch: thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. thompson. it's a pleasure to work with you on this important legislation. this important resolution. as my friend and colleague from connecticut, mr. courtney, said, our dairy farms face a crisis they have never, ever seen. the crisis they face is not of their own making. farmers have to live within uncertainty of nature. they have to live with the uncertainty of a collapse of an export market. that's what happened here when there was a scare in china. they have to live with the uncertainty of an economy where prices in the purchasing of cheese and secondary nonfluid milk products has come down with the recession. yet the importance of us to have local agricultural activities in all of our districts has never

been more important. people want and need local agriculture. in my state it's dairy. that's the backbone of our agricultural industry. in your state it may be wheat, potatoes. in states across the country where there is local agriculture it serves not just the needs of our farmers who make a very good, very decent, very honest living from working the land, it serves the health needs of our citizens. it serves the environmental needs of our countryside. the farmers are the custodians of our landscape, that's certainly true in vermont to the benefit of all of us. to the benefit of our tourism industry. mr. speaker, the crisis that the farmers face right now, particularly in dairy, where there's that disparate between what it costs them to produce milk and what they are being paid, is not survivable unless we do two things. one, provide short-term relief. we must find a way to increase

the milk support payments on a temporary basis to help them get through the fall. if we fail to do that, they will fail themselves. and that would be a tragedy because these farms us, once gone r. gone forever. and with it the environmental values, the land values, the benefit to all of us to have local food production, the average distance that farm to table is for food product that is we eat is about 1,500 miles. think about the energy consumption we are wasting and what we can preserve if we keep production local. the second thing we have to do is what we have known since the era of the depression. that is we have to have stable pricing and adjustments so that farmers can weather the ups and downs in the cycle over which they have no control. now, i want to remind folks of something that mr. courtney said when we were before mr. scott's

committee. we bailed out the financial industry with billions and billions of dollars. and the reason was because they were too big to fail. it was not because they had been responsible and done everything within their power to avoid the catastrophe, in fact they caused the catastrophe. yet because they were too big to fail n. order to mitigate the impact on innocent people, the taxpayer came to the rescue. is it the case that with our farmers they are too small to matter? . what kind of congress are we -- unlike wall street, who through no fault of their own find themselves in a real jam? mr. speaker, we have to take extraordinary action because this is compreard time and it's deserved because these are extraordinary people. this resolution is allowing us to focus attention where it

needs to be, on some of the best people among us in this country and that's our dairy farmers, the folks who work the land day in and day out, year in and year out, generation to generation. thank you very much, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from vermont yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: thank you very much, mr. speaker. as we close out on this bill, i just cannot think of more -- a more appropriate words at this time than those words that were said by one of our great founders. it might be very appropriate now as we look at the crisis facing the dairy industry and that founder was alexander hamilton, mr. speaker. when alexander hamilton said these words, he said that the greatness of our nation and the

federal government of our nation shines at its brightest at our moment of crisis. well, this is a crisis, mr. speaker. it is a very special, unique crisis that is facing a very special and beloved industry, ice cream, milk, our cheeses, our butters. our dairy farmers all across this country, from the atlantic coast to the pacific ocean, from texas to vermont and connecticut, there is no industry that represents the grandor and the greatness of america as our dairy industry. and it is time for this federal government to do precisely what

alexander hamilton spoke when he said at the time of crisis is when our nation shines at its most brilliant. let this nation, let this federal government shine on the dairy industry now. now, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the resolution just considered. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. does the gentleman yield back? mr. scott: yes. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time has been yielded back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 507 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is -- the gentleman from

pennsylvania. -- georgia. mr. gingrey: mr. speaker, on that i would request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman ask for the yeas and nays? mr. gingrey: i do, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. scott: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the resolution house resolution 270. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 270, resolution recognizing the establishment of hunters for the hungry programs across the united states and the contributions of those programs efforts to decrease hunger and help feed those in need. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr.

scott, and the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. scott: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i come before the house today to encourage the passage of house resolution 270 which recognizes the establishment of hunters for the hungry programs across the united states and recognize the contributions these programs make to decrease hunger and help feed those in need. hunters for the hungry is a unique and innovative program that addresses hunger in communities nationwide all across this country. hunters can donate their game and their fowl for hunters for the hungry which processes the meat and provides it to food banks and other feeding programs.

this cooperative effort between hunters, processors and the hunger community is an innovative example of how groups can work together towards one single worthy goal, working to make sure that no american goes hungry. when the house agriculture committee considered this resolution in the 110th congress it received unanimous support, and i strongly encourage the passage of this resolution. and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of house resolution 270 which recognizes the collaborative efforts of hunters, sportsmen, associations, meat processors, state meat inspectors and hunger relief organizations to establish hunters for hungry programs across the united states. i would yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: such programs, mr. speaker, have brought hundreds of thousands of pounds of venison to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and food banks. since 1991, pennsylvania's hunters sharing the harvest program has provided hundreds of thousands of meals to needy pennsylvaniaans. last year, the program coordinated the delivery of nearly 200,000 meals that included venison. americans are generous people, and many individuals work through private organizations to donate food to help needy families. given our economic climate, more and more people are turning to soup kitchens and food banks for food assistance. and that is where programs like hunters for the hungry make a valuable contribution and difference. great strides are being taken -- are being made to provide nutritious, high-quality venison to those experiencing hunger in our communities. i commend the generosity of

america's hunters and all who participate in the hunters for the hungry program. the contributions of these individuals are a step in the right direction in the fight against hunger, and i urge my colleagues to support house resolution 270, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: yes, mr. speaker. i now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from courtney is recognized for two minutes. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you, again, to the chairman for bringing this resolution out. there is probably not a more difficult and challenging enterprise to operate today than running a food bank. we're obviously at a time when our economy is extremely weak, the demand for food bank help is up and the ability of people to provide donations for food bank services are down. in connecticut we are at a

situation where over 350 thoubd people --,000 -- 350,000 people were served at the food bank. as recently reported in the new london day, the largest paper in southeastern connecticut, while there was a growing need for food assistance in 2008 and 2009, tratigsal donations are way down -- traditional donations are way down. there is one area where we've seen an increase, and that is in the area of wild game, that is donated by hunters part of this program which is being given accolades with this resolution. in my district, hunters and constituents like warren spay and bob gene have donated more than 10,000 pounds of deer meat that were hunted in groton alone. it's part in an effort to manage the deer population and also donated that food to the new london area. they are a perfect example of what this program is about. and, again, i strongly support this resolution's effort to put

the spotlight on the great work that these people are doing and urge adoption by the full membership, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers -- yes, i do. i recognize my good friend, mr. gingrey, for as much time -- for the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia, mr. gingrey, is recognized for the balance of the time. mr. gingrey: mr. speaker, i want to thank one of our newest and hardworking members of the republican conference, mr. thompson of pennsylvania, for generously yielding me the time on this resolution today. as a member of the congressional sportsman caucus and author of this resolution, i rise in strong support of h.res. 270, a resolution recognizing the contribution made by hunters for the hungry programs across this country. i'd like to thank chairman peterson, ranking member lucas, my colleague from georgia, mr. scott, and all of my colleagues

on the agriculture committee for bringing this resolution to the floor today in a bipartisan manner. i also want to thank the congressional sportsman caucus, especially its co-chairs, dan boren and paul ryan, for their support. this bipartisan organization comprises of close to 300 members of the house and the senate, focuses on protecting the interests of our nation's sportsman. mr. speaker, as a proud member of this caucus, i know it works diligently for our sportsmen who have historically shaped the character and the quality of america's calt rale heritage, natural resources and our economic vitality. and i first introduced the hunters for the hungry resolution in the 108th congress back in 2003 as well as in each subsequent congress. the purpose of this resolution is to praise the work for hunters of the hungry programs across our country. these programs provide a unique

way in way to address our nation's hunger problem. although these organizations are called by different names in 45 states where they are located, hunters for the hungry organization show the humanitarian and the kind -hearted spirit of our nation's hunting community. these programs are volunteer and they are cooperative efforts among hunters, meat processors, state meat inspectors and hunger relief organizations. over the past three years, these programs have brought hundreds of thousands of pounds of excess venison to homeless shelters, to soup kitchens and to food banks. each year, donations have multiplied and many programs now cannot even cover the cost of processing, of packaging and storing and distributing the abundance supply of donated venison. hunters for the hungry organization serves as a great example of how our nation can address issues like hunger without government intervention.

these organizations receive no federal funding. they operate from donations and volunteer services. so we must raise the awareness of these organizations so that they can have the resources and the volunteers to serve america's underprivileged. mr. speaker, i am proud to say that my home state of georgia, over 28,000 pounds of venison was donated as a result of this program just last year, raising the overall total in the state to over 200,000 pounds since this program was initiated back in 1993. and i commend the kind-hearted hunters of my state, along with those across the country, who donate their time and their money for those people in need. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this resolution so the house can show its gratitude to these selfless hunters across the country to honor their great community service. and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: yes, mr. speaker. i also would like to take a moment to extend my commendations to my distinguished friend from georgia, mr. gingrey, for this very worthy, worthy resolution. thank you. mr. speaker, i'd like to recognize a distinguished gentleman who has a sterling reputation for working to make sure that no american goes to bed hungry in our country and that is my distinguished friend and colleague from the great state of massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, for two minutes. mr. mcgovern: i want to thank my -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. mcgovern: i want to thank my friend for yielding and for his leadership on these and so many other important issues. i wanted to rise as well in support of the resolution by my colleague from georgia, mr. gingrey. i think it's an important resolution and i think the hunters for the hungry organization deserve praise for their work in trying to respond

to a real need in this country and that is the -- that is the issue of people who are food insecure or are hungry. this is a problem that is getting worse in the united states of america. i am sad to say. and this is an issue that we need to talk more about on this house floor. and while i appreciate and i support the efforts of hunters and a whole bunch of other volunteer organizations across the country in their efforts to respond to this crisis, and we need to do everything we can to congratulate them, express our appreciation and urge them to do more. i would also add that i think we have a moral imperative to do more as a country and as a government to respond to this need. .1 and hungry. every one of us should be ashamed. we need to do more than we are doing now. i'm the co-chair of the house

hunger caucus and urging all members of congress to take only one hour, at least one hour out of their busy schedules during the august recess and visit a hunger relief organization, visit a food bank and see firsthand what is happening. and what people are going to see, what my colleagues will see is not only the work that is going on to respond to this crisis, but these food banks are choke full. they are at capacity and cannot respond to the need they are faced with. as we debate other legislation down the road, i hope we will keep these people in mind. i did want to rise to congratulate and thank my friend, mr. gingrey, for his leadership on this issue. i think it is important that we do what we can to acknowledge the good work of people who are the forefront who are fighting on behalf of people who are food insecure and hungry.

i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson. mr. thompson: i yield the balance of the time to dr. broun. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. broun: mr. speaker, i started my political activism by being a vice president of soroity and feeding hungry people and it is something that is critical for us to promote this idea. i congratulate my colleague, dear friend from georgia, dr. gingrey, for bringing this legislation to the floor. mr. speaker, hunters all over this country are willing to provide some of their deer and elk meat to feed the hungry. and i think it's a proper role for us as members of congress to promote this type of philosophy

of letting the private sector take care of the poor the widowless as we are charged to do. i believe the private sector can provide for the needs of those disadvantaged in this country a whole lot better than government can. mr. speaker, i just wanted to rise and speak for a minute in behalf of this bill. i fully support it. i congratulate dr. gingrey for bringing this important legislation. and i congratulate my other colleague from georgia for speaking in favor of the bill. and i look forward to its passage and look forward to promoting other kinds of ideas, mr. speaker, where we can stimulate the private sector and provide for those things that are desperately needed by those that are disadvantaged around this country. they really need some help. they need help in feeding themselves and providing jobs. and the private sector is the best way to do that. we on our side introduce

legislation that would stimulate the economy, create jobs, instead of robbing our grandchildren of their future, as we see going on here in this congress. so, mr. speaker, i do rise in support of this bill and i hope that we will pass it unanimously once it comes for a vote. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and as has been mentioned by each of our speakers, we certainly applaud the hunters for the hungry program for the great job that they're doing. but this should serve as also a wake-up call and a challenge of more americans and more organizations whereas the gentleman from massachusetts pointed out with his statistics, there is so much more that we must do to reach that goal that

we have no american, no american child, no one in this country going to bed hungry at night. but we are the wealthiest country in the world. and so the hunters for the hungry program and h. resolution 270 presentences not only an opportunity to celebrate the hunters for the hungry program but for us to accept the challenge to do more to make sure no american goes to bed hungry. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has the right to close. the gentleman from pennsylvania still has time remaining. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my colleagues for supporting this legislation. it truly fulfills the spirit that makes america great where neighbors assist neighbors. and with that, i don't believe i have any additional speakers.

and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time has been yielded back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 270. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to -- the gentleman from georgia. mr. broun: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking a vote by a vote will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8, rule 20, and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. scott: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the resolution just considered. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from

georgia rise? mr. scott: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the resolution h.con. resolution 164. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: concurrent resolution recognizing the 40th anniversary of the food and nutrition service of the department of agriculture. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott and the gentleman from pennsylvania plrks thompson each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, it is my pleasure to pay tribute to the outstanding and important work of usda's food and nutrition program by supporting h.con.res. 164. mr. speaker, since 1969, fns has

provided children and needy children with better access to food and a more healthy diet through the food assistance program and comprehensive nutrition education efforts. in its time of great economic recession, the employees of f.n.s. have demonstrated their extraordinary commitment to public service by serving a record number of americans in need through the supplemental nutrition assistance program. in recent months, nearly 35 million people have found it necessary to make use of this safety net program. in addition, f.n.s. serves specific sectors of our population by providing school males, funding and commodities -- meals, funding and commodities to food banks and specialized programs for native americans, infants, children and

pregnant women. for their efforts on behalf of america in need, i congratulate the employees of the food and nutrition services of the united states agriculture department and encourage the speedy passage of h.con.res. 164. and i yield back -- i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of house concurrent resolution 164 and yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: house concurrent resolution 164 wecknies he the 40th anniversary of the food and nutrition service of the u.s. department of agriculture. the mission of the food and nutrition service is to provide children and low-income families better access to food and more healthful diet through food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition and education efforts.

f.n.s. administers the most important federal nutrition programs such as the supplemental nutrition assistance program, formerly known as the food stamps program. the school lunch and school breakfast programs, the special suppmental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as the w.i.c. program, the emergency food assistance program which provides various commodities to our nation' food banks as well as our children and adult food care programs. f.n.s. is better able to serve our nation's hungry because of the bounty of america's food and ranchers. it is able to use surplus commodities in various feeding programs thus ensuring those in need receive foods produced by the american farmer and rancher. many people do not realize that funding for domestic food assistance programs represents 2/3 of the united states

department of agriculture's budget. for fiscal year 2009, the enacted omnibus appropriations measure included $76.2 billion for the programs administered by f.n.s. with the economy continuing to struggle, f.n.s. has seen enrollment of 38.3 million food stamp programs. the food and nutrition service working cooperatively with the states has a large and important role in serving those in need. and again, i want to recognize the 40th anniversary of usda food and nutrition program and urge my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: i would like to recognize the co-chairman of the congressional hunger caucus and outstanding leader in this congress, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts -- mr. scott: i yield to the gentleman six minutes. mr. mcgovern: i thank the gentleman from georgia for yielding the time and kind words and i thank steny hoyer and chairman peterson tore scheduling this bipartisan resolution for consideration today. mr. speaker, this resolution honors the usda's food and nutrition service for 40 years of fighting hunger in the united states. there are more than 36 million food insecure or hungry people living in america. the food and nutrition service or f.n.s. is a lifeline for the hungry in our country. the mission is to provide children and needy families better access to food and a more healthful diet through food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition and education efforts. f.n.s. does this by administering the food stamp

program and child new tration programs that include the school and summer meal programs. without these programs and without the dedicated staff at f.n.s., millions of people in this country will be facing hunger and malnutrition. their work and dedication should be commended and i am pleased to be the lead sponsor of this resolution honoring the 40th anniversary of the food and nutrition service. and i'm pleased that my good friend and colleague, the gentlelady from missouri, ms. emerson is a co-sponsor of this resolution. unfortunately, my good friend cannot be here, but she is a strong supporter of f.n.s. and i ask unanimous consent to insert her statement into the record following my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: we have seen a major expansion in our nation's anti-hunger program. nap has been expanded twice, first in the farm bill which expanded the eligibility and purchasing power and second in the recovery act where the snap

program benefits were ack sell rated to -- accelerated to help families. this year, we expect to see the re-authorization of the child new tration programs, w.i.c., the school child care, after school and summer meal programs and f.n.s. is in the forefront of these programs. i'm pleased with the work they have done for the past 0 years, but this is also an opportunity to look to the future and i'm encouraged by the new administration and leadership and secretary vilsack. they are exploring ways to destroy hunger and i am pleased that usda and f.n.s. has implemented the anti--hunger programs authorized in the farm bill and recovery act, i'm very concerned there hasn't been more done on president obama's pledge

to end childhood hunger by 2015. i encourage the secretary to use this 40th anniversary recognition to rededicate usda not only to end child hunger in the united states but to start working with members with congress to improve the federal anti-hunger programs. there should be a working group consisting not only of members of congressional leaders to brainstorm ways that congress and the administration can work together to combat hunger in our country. we need to show the goal of ending hunger by 2015 is something this administration is committed to achieving. i encourage to look into using regulatory authority to make it easier for eligible families and individuals to sign up or be recertified for snap and other federal anti-hunger programs. in massachusetts, we are seeing

backlogs of new applications that last upwards of several weeks between submission of the application and approval or denial of that application. the issue is increasing number of people who are becoming -- the issue is the increasing number of people who are becoming eligible for snap at the same time that the snap participate pants need to be recertified in order to continue participating in the program. there is a backlog for state administrators that result in denial of food to hungry people. . finally, i encourage the white house to bring together our nation's leaders and stake holders. we need to put into place a strategy, a comprehensive strategy to end all hunger in this country, and we need to do so while improving the availability of nutritious food. that will take presidential leadership, and i hope president obama will convene this conference soon.

mr. speaker, i congratulate f.n.s. on 40 years of great work. once again, i thank chairman peterson for his willingness to move this resolution through the process quickly, and i want to thank my friend, mr. scott, for all of his leadership. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers, so i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. in closing, mr. speaker, i could not be more eloquent than my good friend from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, our distinguished co-chair of the congressional hunger caucus, because he spoke so well. but one fact shows a significance of the food and nutrition services and the work of our united states agriculture department in this area is the fact that when we look at child nutrition and

specifically our school lunch program, it has been documented in all too many cases that all too often that meal, that one meal from our school lunch program is the most nutrient meal that all too many of our young people receive each day. that shows the value of what the food and nutrition service is doing. and we certainly commend the resolution, commend the work of mr. mcgovern of massachusetts and our united states agriculture department. and with that, mr. speaker, i yooled i yield to. -- i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 164. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- mr. broun: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia. mr. broun: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays have been requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. the gentleman from georgia. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the resolution just considered. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise?

mr. courtney: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to senate concurrent resolution 30. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 30, concurrent resolution recognizing the bureau of labor statistics for its 125th anniversary. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney, and the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: mr. speaker, i request five legislative days during which members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on senate concurrent resolution 30 into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. courtney: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. courtney: mr. speaker, i rise today in senate concurrent resolution 30 which commends the work of the bureau of labor statistics as they celebrate its 125th anniversary. since the founding in 1884, the bureau of labor statistics has served as the principle fact finding agency for the federal government for all matters in

the fields of labor, economics and statistics. in this capacity it has collected, analyzed and disseminated data to all levels of government, various agencies and the public. the bureau of labor statistics has evolved throughout its 125 years. originally serving as a broad fact finding mandate, the bureau has since developed into many specialized arms that studies a multitude of labor issues, including wages and prices, unemployment, demographic shifts and workplace safety conditions. the bureau has stringent criteria for its data and analyses to ensure that it is not only accurate but relevant to society. as a result of rapidly changing economics, they've developed a reputation for responsiveness, providing individuals with high quality statistical data. in its commitment to disseminate this valuable information, the bureau of labor statistics has

established a website -- established a website in 1995. since that time, a variety of data access tools have been developed providing increased access to the statistical data it analyzes and develops. today, the use of the website is over 1,000 times it was when it began with more than 20 million users in the months of this year alone. the data and analyses provided by the bureau is invaluable, contributing to policy development process as well as the allocation of federal funds and private payments . i commend the work of the bureau's many economists, mathematical statas citieses, administrative specialists as they celebrate an impressive 125-year legacy. mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to join me in support of this important resolution, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of senate concurrent resolution 30, commending the bureau of labor statistics in its 125th anniversary. in our current economic climate, there is a lot of discussion about the economic data and what the data means for our refer could hey and more important -- recovery and more importantly, how many of our fellow citizens have gone back to work. what's not talked about is the government agency that's responsible for gathering this data. for over 125 years, the bureau of labor statistics, b.l.s., has been charmingd with collecting and examining -- charged with collecting and examining our economic health. according to the b.l.s. mission statement, the agency is the principle fact finding body for the federal government. the survey of any economic analysis demonstrates that this information is widely used by academics, federal and state governments, private companies and news reporters. the agency is more than 2,000 economists in its headquarters and eight regional offices. gathering unemployment data,

wage data, safety and health statistics and a whole host of information to provide us with a clear picture of the state of the economy across this country. congress relies on the statistics produced by the bureau for a variety of programs and for guiding a mirrored -- a myriad of policy decisions. they examine payroll data and various demographics so we have detailed information about employment, by hours, by industry and by geographic areas. b.l.s. also provides a snap shop of labor productivity. when your children ask if they will ever use anything they learn in school in real life you can point to the economists and the employees at b.l.s. as a result of putting math and science to work. when your children complain about how much time they spend in school, you can tell them according to the american time use survey developed by b.l.s., 9% of the population is engaged

in educational activities daily. i doubt if it brings them any comfort, though. that 9% spends on an average of 4.5 hours in class and 2.4 hours engaged in home work. i rise today to commend to the staff of the bureau of labor statistics for 125 years of dedicated service and urge the passage of s.con.res. 30, commending their service to the nation, and i ask my colleagues to support this resolution, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. we have no further speakers. does the gentleman from pennsylvania have any further speakers? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scalise: i want to thank my friend from pennsylvania for yielding me time, mr. speaker.

as we're talking about the bureau of labor statistics, it's an interesting period in our country's history because just in the last few months since president obama's taken office, our country has lost two million more jobs, two million more americans are out of work, are part of those statistics. and i think it's much more than statistics. it's policies by this administration that have caused those two million americans to lose their jobs since january. and if you go back to the stimulus bill, that was the bill that was touted at stopping the bleeding. all of us on this side that opposed that bill, that opposed spending $800 billion of money that we don't have said back then that that bill would actually make matters worse because it was adding mountains of debt to our children and grandchildren, but also it wasn't addressing the problems in our economy. and in fact, now we're seeing unemployment at 9.5%, approaching 10% with two

million more americans having lost their jobs since president obama took office. and what's this administration saying? are they finally admitting that the stimulus was a failure? no. in fact, some in the white house are calling for another stimulus bill, more spending. in fact, just last week at a convention of the aarp, vice president joe biden said, and i quote, we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt. those are words the vice president actually said just last week. and so as this mountain of debt is piling up on the backs of our children and grandchildren, as the president is running car companies and running banks and running all of these other institutions with over 30 zars and it's not working, -- czars and it's not working, their own vice president said we need to spend money to keep from going bankrupt. these are ludicrous policies. we have to go back to common sense. we have to go back to fiscal discipline and start balancing our budget like every other state is dealing with their

budgets, like american families are dealing with these tough economic times as they're pulling back and living with their own means -- within their own means. it's the federal government here in washington that seems to be out of control on a spending frenzy. and then just a few weeks ago they brought this cap and trade national energy tax where they're literally proposing a policy that would run million more american jobs out of this country to places like china and india where they'll actually emit more carbon than we do here in america doing the same thing while raising utility bills on every single american. the cap and tax bill will add $1,200 every year to every american utility bills. so as they think about turning on their air conditioning in the summer they have to think about whether they have to pay these higher electricity rates. these policies are leading to these rapid unemployment that is approaching the double digits. we have a debate over the

president and speaker pelosi and others' proposal to have a government takeover of our health care system where the estimates are that we would have millions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars, i'm sorry, in new taxes. over -- about $580 in new taxes on the backs of small businesses. you would have $240 billion in fines in their approach on the backs of american families, including, get this, this is according to the congressional budget office, in the president's takeover, proposal to take over a health care system by the government, they have $29 billion in penalties against people who are uninsured. it's in the bill. they have the ability for this health care czar, a health care czar that would literally be able to tell americans whether or not they can see a doctor and which doctor they can see. it actually gives the authority to this bureaucrat in washington to disqualify a company's entire health benefits plan. so if you like the health care you have, this health care czar in their bill allows the health

care czar to take care of your health care benefits away. if i can -- mr. thompson: i yield the gentleman another 60 seconds. mr. scalise: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania again. if you look at these policies and the american people out there across the country are looking at these policies, and that's a good thing because as they look at these policies and they hear the leadership here in washington, the people running congress saying they need to run these policies -- they niece to run these policies through in the next two weeks, they're saying, many of those that voted for the cap and tax didn't read the bill because they dropped 300 pages of amendments down on the day of the vote. people are sick and tired of it. people are saying enough is enough. control spending and these czars, stop running car companies, stop running banks, and surely don't try to have some government bureaucrat take over our health care system. and so hopefully we won't add

millions of americans to these statistics that we're talking about today by the bureau of labor statistics. i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, just inquire of the time remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 12 1/2 minutes remaining. and the gentleman from connecticut has 18 minutes remaining. mr. thompson: ok. i'd yield as much time as he requires or consumes to dr. broun from georgia. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. broun: i thank my friend from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for yielding some time to me. mr. speaker, i'd like to tell you and the american people of labor statistics that just came out from c.b.o. last week in testimony before the u.s. house , the c.b.o. director said that the obama care, washington

bureaucratic run, socialized medicine health care bill that's being considered here in the house is going to cost americans $-- 750,000 jobs. i think that's a minimum. . we keep hearing various figures in obama care of the cost of $1 trillion, $2 trillion, but c.b.o. has not released off-budget figures. we are getting a paltry amount of budget figures. this is going to be extremely costly to the american people. c.b.o. last week also said this is not going to lower the cost of health care delivery. mr. speaker, i'm a medical doctor. i practiced medicine for 3 1/2 decades.

and what is happening to the american people and you need to understand, the obama care is going to insert a washington bureaucrat between the patient and doctors. not going to be made by the patient or doctor, but by a washington bureaucrat that is going to ration their care. they are going to tell all patients in this country whether private insurance or public insurance where they can have a procedure, such as a surgery that is very needed to be performed. this washington bureaucrat is going to tell the american patients whether they can have an m.r.i. that is desperately needed to evaluate a cough, pain in the chest, pain in the knee or low back. washington bureaucrat is going to make those decisions, mr. speaker. and i hope the american people are listening today so they can

understand what's going to happen if we have obama care. the bureau of labor statistics is going to give us more bleak news if this goes into law about how peoples' income is going to go down, literally go down because the health care commissioner, health czar, as mr. scalise was talking about, is going to dictate their health care policy plan to them even if it is privately paid for, privately administered. there aren't going to be any more private insurance plans because the health care commissioner is going to dictate all the plans in this country, every single one of them. we hear over and over if you like your private health insurance plan, keep it. but, mr. speaker, not one single person in this country unless they are extremely wealthy, and

i mean extremely wealthy, is going to keep their private health care plan. the reason for that is because most people are dependent upon their employer to provide the health insurance. but a government bureaucrat is going to tell every single employer in this country what kind of health care plan, what kind of limits, what kind of coverage, what doctor, what -- everything that plan offers. so that plan that they have today is going to be obsolete. it's not going to be available anymore. what is even more unfortunate, every single employee worker that does not accept the government-mandated plan is going to be fined by the federal government. fined, for not accepting a government-mandated plan. mr. speaker, that's not freedom, that's socialism. we're in this congress going to

dictate to employers, employees, to those that are buying their own insurance what kind of health insurance that they can have. and it's going to be disastrous. the cost is going to skyrocket. c.b.o. has already said that. it's going to cost millions of jobs. mr. speaker, people are going to have long waiting times to get the surgery they need and x-rays they need and m.r.i.'s and maybe even plain x-rays. mr. speaker, folks in canada and great britain are coming to this country now to get health care because we have the best health care in the world and won't have any place to go because our quality of health care is going to be destroyed by the obama care plan. mr. speaker, the american people need to understand where we are heading. i hope the american people will tell members of congress in the house and senate no to obama care. republicans are offering many

alternatives that will literally lower the cost of health insurance, literally lower the cost of medicines in the drug store, literally empower the doctor-patient relationship into how health care decisions are made. and will stop the government from dictating things. mr. speaker, practicing medicine, i have seen how government intrusion into my practice has increased the cost to my patients. two good examples. congress passed the health insurance port built and privacy act. that has cost the health care industry billions of dollars and not paid for the first aspirin and was totally unneeded legislation. it ran up the costs of simple labs i used to do in my office to extraordinary high costs to patients, thus decreasing the cost of insurance to every

person. we are being offered an expansion of medicare and expansion of medicaid. we see tremendous problems in both of those programs. mr. speaker, obama care is going to expand those and we will have more fraud, waste and abuse and higher costs because of government intrusion into the health care system. mr. speaker, obama care is going to put the u.s. department of labor statistics into overtime providing more statistics of more job losses, of lower wages, of more people out of work, of higher costs for all goods and services in this country. mr. speaker, they're going to give us data in the future of a poor economy. mr. speaker, stealing our grandchildren's future has to stop. and i hope the american people

stand up and say no to the cap and tax or tax and trade bill that's in the senate and obama care. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. thompson: i have no additional speakers, so i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. again, the resolution which we are focused on is celebrating 125 years of great work by the people of the bureau of labor statistics. it went off into different areas, the debate. i would like to note two things. the bureau of labor statistics would demonstrate or would show we have had serious job losses over the last six months but would show that the final quarter of 2008, the g.d.p. of this country dropped by 6%, the biggest drop since the great depression and obviously it was policies which preceded that

downturn, which created the situation and the environment we are in right now. given the fact as the bureau would show, we have exhausted every tool in the monetary tool box in terms of lowering interest rates. it was critical for our country to step in and use fiscal policy as a way of turning this country around. and look at the bipartisan governors' conference which met this past weekend, republican and democratic governors all acknowledge that the fiscal relief that came from medicaid payment boosts and increases in education spending and increased spending in title 1 and special education, literally made the difference whether dozens of states were able to balance their budgets in this critical downturn. ask a realityor if the stimulus which provides a first-time-home-buyer tax credit stimulated the economy and they will answer yes. in my district, there was

increase in home sales and the reporting that came out from the government, attributed the stimulus package the fact of seeing that turnaround and the dollars are fill tering their way through the bidding process which every state must conduct for surface transportation projects we will see an uptick from the stimulus package. second point i want to make, i respect dr. broun for his profession and many of the doctors who serve in the house of representatives, but as we listen to some of the hysterical statements about the health care reform initiative, i would point out that the american medical association, the largest trade group which represents doctors all across this country came out four square in support of the house health care reform bill -- i will not yield because i sat and listened in terms about representations of that health care plan which are inaccurate.

and more importantly, how priors will be treated because the a.m.a. and american college of surgeons came out loud and clear in support of this measure and for good reason because they know we have a system which is in desperate need of reform. in conclusion regarding this resolution before us, when we make choices both as policy makers in the legislative branch and executive branch, the key is we need good data and need to see where we're going as a nation and the people who work at the bureau of labor statistics provide decision makers and policy makers with the great work that they do. and it's wonderful on a bipartisan basis we're able to come together and recognize the great work they do. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. im the speaker pro tempore: will the house suspend the rules and agree to senate concurrent resolution 30. those in favor say aye. in the opinion of the chair, the rules

are suspended and the ressluelings is -- the gentleman from georgia. mr. broun: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor say aye. in taking a vote by the yeas and nays will remain standing. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise? mr. courtney: i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 123 the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: concurrent resolution

recognizing the historical and national significance of the many contributions of john william heisman to the sport of football. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney, and the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: mr. speaker, i request five legislative days during which members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on house resolution 123 into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. courtney: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the resolution filed by the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, to recognize the significance of john heisman and tremendous influence on american football. john heisman grew up and learned the game of football at titusville high school. he completed his playing years

as a lineman ti university of pennsylvania. he began his career after graduating from the university of pennsylvania. he coached at akron, auburn, clemson, georgia tech, university of pennsylvania, washington and jefferson and rice university. with his innovative coaching style, he posted 71% winning percentage. most notably he won 33 straight games when he coached georgia tech. it is one of the longest winning streaks in college football history. he led his team to 222-0 victory over couple beerland college. . he instituted game divisions broken up into quarters, center snap, and t&i-back field formations. he established the forward pass. american football would not be the same game we experienced today. late in his life he became the first athletic director of new

york's downtown athletic club. in 1933 john heisman helped to organize the first touchdown club of new york and in 1935 he inaugurated the first downtown athletic club trophy for the best college football player east of the mississippi. two months after his death, on october 3, 1936, the trophy was renamed the heisman memorial trophy in his honor. it is now one of the most prestigious athletic awards in the nation. mr. speaker, once again i want to express my support for house concurrent resolution 123 and thank representative tomorrowson for bringing this resolution forward. i urge -- thompson for bringing this resolution forward. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania is now recognized. mr. thompson: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of house concurrent resolution 123, recognizing the historic and and national significance of the many contributions of john

william heisman to the sport of football. john william heisman was one of the single most influential individuals in the sport of football. the most watched sport in the united states. john heisman was born in cleveland, ohio, on october 23, 1869. he began his football career at the titusville high school and introduced football through the titusville rockets. and continued at brown university and university of pennsylvania where he received his law degree in 1892. he served as the head coach for a total of eight university football teams, including 16 years at georgia tech and three years at the university of pennsylvania. he coached georgia tech to -- in the most one-sided football game ever played with a fine score of 222-0. and led them in a 33-game winning streak. of the 271 games john heisman coached and only 68 of those games did the opponents finish the game with a win.

he retired in 1927 and passed away in 1936. john heisman's influence on football is undeniable but the history of football itself began before john heisman's birth. american football was started sometime in the mid 19th century and was a divergence from the game of rugby. college students in the late 19th century took the lead in turning the evolving game of football into an organized sport. in 1920, the american professional football association was formed and two years later became the national football league. the game of football has continued to evolve from that time to today with the influence of various coaches and rule makers and organization heads. john william heisman's influence on the game of football helped to make the game what it is today. his invention included the fourth quarter game, the hike, center snap, and forward pass. in the addition he created many

ways that led to some of the basic formation used in today's games. he was a nationally recognized collegiate coach and influential innovator. in the time before and after his dth, his accomplishments were recognized by many nationwide. john heisman had several articles published in magazines such as the american liberty and was the football editor of the sporting goods journal. he served as director of the downtown athletic club in manhattan and in 1935 helped to create the award that would later be renamed the heisman memorial trophy. john heisman's accomplishments and contributions to the sport of football are many in number. his ideas in coaching helped to create the game that has become so embedded in the culture of our nation. i ask my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney. mr. courtney: i reserve my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. thompson: i have no further speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. courtney. mr. courtney: we have no further speakers. i salute mr. thompson for bringing this resolution forward. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 123. those in favor will say aye. those posed, no. -- opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise. and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. johnson: yes, mr. speaker. i send to the desk a resolution and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 661, resolution instructing the managers on the part of the house of representatives in the impeachment proceedings now pending against samuel b. kent to advise the senate that the house of representatives does not desire further to urge the articles of impeachment against samuel b. kent. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the resolution? without objection, the resolution is agreed to. and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1933.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1933, a bill to direct the attorney general to make an annual grant to the a child is missing alert and recovery center, to assist law enforcement agencies in the rapid recovery of missing children, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, h.r. 1933, the "a child is missing alert recovery center act" helps

address the terrifying experience of when a family member or friend goes missing. under current law there are programs such as amber alert to help missing children who are abducted or victims of foul play. but these programs do not extend to situations where a child or elderly person becomes missing in other, more innocent ways. h.r. 1933 fills this gap by authorizing money for annual grants to the, a child is missing alert and recovery center. this national nonprofit program provides assistance to local law enforcement throughout the country in all situations of missing persons, not only those involving criminal activity. mr. speaker, the center helps with when a small child fails to come home after school or a

grandmother suffering from alzheimer's disease walks out of her home in the middle of the night. when a terrifying event of a missing person is reported to the police, the responding police officer can call the center which operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. based on information from the call, the center quickly prepares a recorded message that includes a description of the missing person along with the location where the person was last seen. and within minutes the center sends this recording to thousands of phones within a radius of the last known location. this activity could save lives as well as conserve critically needed enforcement resources that would otherwise be spent in extended searches for missing persons. the bill before us today will make a significant contribution to the protection of children

and vulnerable adults throughout the united states. i thank the sponsor of this bill, my good friend, john klein, of florida for his -- ron klein of florida for his leadership on this important legislative issue. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, every 40 seconds a child goes missing in this country. over 2,100 every day of each year. at least 800,000 children are reported missing each year and another 500,000 go missing without ever being reported. the amber alert system is activated when there is evidence that a missing child has been abducted and the police have

sufficient information about the abductor or vehicle to warrant use of that system. that being the amber alert system. but without evidence of an abduction, law enforcement cannot issue an amber alert. this is where a child is missing steps in. a child is missing assists police in the first crucial hours of searches for missing children, elderly, and disabled. the first six hours after an alert are the most crucial in finding someone that is missing. to date more than 12 million calls have been made to a child is missing system, resulting in over 8,000 missing person cases nationwide. these efforts have led to the recovery of 530 missing persons since the inception of this wonderful program. the technology is particularly useful in rural communities with small police forces assigned to patrol large geographic areas. these law enforcement agencies often lack the manpower to

launch a full-scale search for a missing child. a child is missing compensates for this reduced manpower by notifying thousands of area residents within minutes that a child has gone missing in their community. the a child is missing system can launch 1,000 calls in 60 seconds to rest dents, citizens, and businesses in the area where the child was last seen. law enforcement officials around the country have successfully used this system to quickly distribute valuable information about the child while launching full-scale searches in a matterer of minutes. over 2,000 of the nation's law enforcement agencies currently use this alert system. h.r. 1933, the a child is missing alert and recovery center act, expands the availability a system that helps locate a child as soon as he or she goes missing, often before the amber alert can even take

effect. the bill authorizes $5 million for fiscal years 2010 through 2015 for grants to increase the use of this alert system. this simple system can mean the difference between life and death for a child and give peace of mind to so many parents whose children go missing every day. children are the greatest natural resource that we have in this country and this legislation deals with the health of our kids. there's nothing that scares a parent or even a child more than for a child to be missing and fearful of not ever being recovered. as founder and co-chair of the victims rights caucus, i'd like to thank mr. klein for his leadership in this issue and i urge all my colleagues to support this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. may i inquire how many more -- i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. mr. poe: i yield to the gentlelady from florida, the ranking member on the foreign affairs committee, as much time as she wishes to use. i yield to her at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman from texas for yielding me the time. i congratulate our florida colleague, congressman ron klein, for the foresight of proposing this legislation and i hope that our colleagues will join us in adopting this. and i rise today in support of mr. klein's bill, h.r. 1933, a child is missing alert and recovery center act. god forbid that parents would be forced to suffer the horror of their child going missing or even worse, hear the news that their child has been abducted. as parents that possibility is a fear that we have known since

our children are born. and certainly we must do everything in our power to avoid tragedy, but when it does strike, we must be organized, we must be coordinated, and we must be ready to respond. this bill does precisely that. grants distributed to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies through this act will aid in the recovery of so many children who are reported missing each and every year. let us make sure that every parent is secure in the knowledge that local and national law enforcement agencies are prepared to coordinate an effective response to any missing child. . as a brand new grandmother just four days ago, and i know that this is a problem and a shock to every parent and new grand

parent, the possibilities of the dangers out in the world. but when we pass this bill, we will know that our law enforcement agencies are ready to coordinate with other state, local and federal agencies to make sure we have a rapid response and one that is coordinated. so i thank my good friend from florida, ron klein to its introduction. and i thank the gentleman from texas for his time and i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves? the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson is recognized. mr. johnson: may i inquire as to how many more speakers my colleague on the other side -- mr. poe: no other speakers other than to close. mr. johnson: with that being the case, mr. speaker, i will close when my friend, judge poe, closes.

by the way, before i do that, i would like to extend my humble congratulations to congresswoman ros-lehtinen for the birth of her first grandchild. that's great. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. mr. poe: this legislation is important as has been stated by the ranking member whose granddaughter was born on ms. ros-lehtinen's birthday. i have seven grandkids and worst thing that could ever happen is for one of those kids to disappear. and we are judged as a society, not by the way we treat the rich, the famous, the powerful but by the way we treat the innocent, that includes kids and the elderly. this legislation will help find

the kids, elderly and disabled if they have the misfortune to disappear from home. and the amount of money being spent is almost nothing considering how much money congress has been spending lately, but $5 million. but that $5 million law enforcement can use to help find those kids. so i would urge the adoption of this resolution. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson is recognized. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, i agree with the comments of my good friend from texas, judge poe. and he knows from practical experience what it means to a family when their loved one goes missing and then there is a positive outcome.

and he is also aware of those situations that do not end on a positive note. i also have the same experience in life, but fortunately, it's not due to a personal experience, but i just can't imagine how traumatic it must be for a mother or father to be waiting at the bus stop for their child to disembark and then that child is not on that bus. i can imagine the horror of waking up one morning and my dear grandmother has -- who is mentally declining has apparently been able to open the door and exit.

and these are things that none of us wish on anyone. and this bill, 1933, h.r. 1933 will hopefully add to the positive results that we have as we look for our missing children and our missing adults and the elderly. and so, with that, mr. speaker, and having emphasized that i fully support this bill, i will yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1933. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed .

without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: i call for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8, rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, rise? mr. johnson: mr. speaker, i rise to move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2632. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2632, a bill to amend title 4, united states code to encourage the display of the flag of the united states on a national korean war veterans

armistice day. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, h.r. 2632, the korean war veterans recognition act, would amend the flag code to include korean war veterans day among the times and occasions for display. section 6-d of title 4, united states code, states that the flag should be displayed on all days, but singles out a number of dayfor special recognition.

among those days are the birthdays of president washington, president lincoln, martin luther king junior and armed forces day, memorial day and veterans day to name a few. it is more appropriate -- it is more than appropriate that we add to this list korean war veterans day. doing so will provide a fitting reminder for all of us to remember and to honor the men and women who served so honorably in the korean war. the korean war has been referred to as america's forgotten war because it came on the heels of world war ii and was later overshadowed by vietnam. but low fighting between the democratic peoples republic of korea and the republic of korea lasted a mere three years from

june, 1950 until july, 1953, it was ferocious. at least 2.5 million people lost their lives. the war brought the united states into battle with the soviet union and the peoples republic of china. and with the soviet union recently having joined the united states in developing nuclear weapons, there was a very real concern that the war -- it might escalate into -- would be a nuclear conflict. the korean war cost more than 54,000 american lives in that three-year period, almost as many as who died in the 16 years of the vietnam war. in addition, more than 103,000

american soldiers were wounded in korea. it is more than fitting that we honor the service of our korean war veterans and this legislation will provide a poignant reminder of that service. i especially want to commend my colleague, the gentleman from new york, the honorable charles rangel for introducing this legislation. he is himself a veteran of the korean conflict, having served in the army from 1948 through 1952 and also the united states civil war which ended in 1865 -- he served in that war as well. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. and i believe my humor has gone over the heads of those who

occupy the chamber at this particular time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from reserves his time. the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, is now recognized. mr. poe: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. poe: i notice that the gentleman from new york was a little concerned when he was informed that he served in the civil war in 1865, but be that as it may, mr. speaker, h.r. 2632, the korean war veterans recognition act amends the official flag code to add national korean war veterans armistice day, which is july 27 to the list of days on which the american flag should be displayed. in 1950, the north korean military with the aid of the chinese crossed the 38th parallel and invaded south korea. this act of communist aggression was met by 22 countries who joined together to challenge one of the many threats that

developed during the cold war challenge. mostly a united united nations' endeavor but most of the troops were from the united states. americans comprised the majority and almost two million members of the united states military successfully drove back the north korean forces in places such as pork chop hill. and during that war, 34,000 americans never came home. 92,000 others were wounded. were it not for the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who served in korea during those cold winters, even more of the world would have been denied prosperity and freedom behind the iron curtain. today, as we once again confront a nuclear armed north korea, once again backed by the chinese, we owe it to the

veterans of the korean war and their families to honor their service by adding july 27 national korean war veterans day to the list of days in which the flag code encourages displaying the stars and stripes. as a co-sponsor of this resolution, i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting h.r. 2632. and i resevere the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, is recognized. mr. johnson: i yield to my colleague and my mentor, representative rangel, as much time as he may consume. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. rangel: i thank chairman conyors and mr. smith for allowing this bill to come on the floor. i congratulate chairman conyers and chairman johnson for making

this becoming a reality and representative ros-lehtinen and representative watson and representative peter king. millions of young people throughout these united states in 1948 joined the military. some of us were sent to for the dix and from there we went to fort lewis, washington to join the 2nd infantry division, the only division that was trained all over the world in order to be the one combat-ready division. sometime in june of 1950, we were learning that the north koreans had invaded south korea. most of us didn't know where korea was, but we were prepared to fulfill our responsibility as infantry people. the 24th and 25th divisions were stationed in japan and they were

immediately sent to south korea and the truth was that the north koreans had driven them to the tip of the peninsula to such an extent that when we arrived in july, there was some question as to whether or not we could land, but we did in what they call the pusan per imetter. we fought from that to the 38th parallel and as most of you know, general mcartur landed at inchan and we completely surrounded the enemy and moved up far beyond north korea until we reached the tip of that peninsula, which was the river that separated south korea and north korea from china. it was then that the chinese entered and completely surrounded us and the entire 8th

army and we lost so many, so many american lives, so many americans were captured, so much pain was caused to so many families and to so many communities. . there are now only two million of theet veterans left. thousands of us die every day. and it just appears to me that notwithstanding the ft that in my lifetime for most of it i have known nothing but wars that this one, which is referred to as the forgotten war, this is the most painful because so many veterans have never really received the accolades for the sacrifices that they have made, their families have suffered so much. so this is just a small way for

america to be able to say that we don't know how many conflicts we will be able to call on our young people to defend our great nation or the principles in which we stand, but i think this is the least that we can do to have our flag to commemorate the so-called armistice that took place on july 27 so that we would know that in the hearts of all americans that there were people that made these sacrifices and america is thankful for it. mr. johnson, i appreciate the fact that we brought this to the floor and i do hope that for the veterans who are left, fought in korea, and more importantly for their families and communities that a nation is saying thank you. i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves the balance of his time. mr. johnson: yes, i do, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. mr. poe: i inquire as to the number of speakers the majority has. mr. johnson: we have no other speakers. i'll close once you present your last speaker and close. mr. poe: i yield to the gentleman from georgia, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. broun: i thank my friend, judge poe, for yielding a couple of minutes to me. i want to rise in absolute support of this bill. the korean war has been called a forgotten war. the vietnam war is the war of forgotten veterans. i served in the marine corps. i actually had a commission in the navy and later on in the air force. and as one who believes in the constitution as our founding fathers meant it when they wrote it, i know the national defense is the number one issue that

this congress should focus upon, more so than anything else. we ought to give, it's right to give, it's due to give recognition to these brave men and women who were engaged in the conflict in korea. we signed an armistice with the koreans and technically we are still at war there. we still have veterans that are missing in action from many wars. we still have veterans that are stationed all over this world. in the effort to maintain freedom in america. it's critical that we recognize our veterans. not only the korean war, but of all wars whether it's world war ii, korea, vietnam, desert

storm, iraqi freedom, or the war that's ongoing in afghanistan. i hope that america will pause and thank the service men and women who have put on a uniform, who have given of their time, their efforts, their limbs, their eyes, their lives to protect freedom in america. so i congratulate the members who have brought this very important legislation to the floor. i thank my friend, mr. rangel, from new york for his service to the nation. i thank all members of the military for serving this nation. and i very ardently support this. i appreciate judge poe, your yielding me some time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back the remainder of his time. mr. poe: i continue to reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve his time. the gentleman from georgia. mr. johnson: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, the korean war is an odd sort of name. in that it was first never called a war. back when men went to korea, for some reason somebody in the press decided to call it a conflict like it's a street fight or something. and because of that i don't think that the korean war veterans have received the recognition that they deserve. this was a hard fought, bloody, cold war. 34,000 americans died. 92,000 others were wounded. because of history those folks that served and as my friend from georgia's pointed out, we still have men and women in korea protecting those borders

between north and south korea. and still technically those two countries are at war with each other because there's never a treaty. there's just an armistice. we should give those people the recognition they rightfully deserve because that was the first battle, the first war where the west, the free west, met the communist and was successful in defeating communism in korea. to let people know we will fight wherever we need to go throughout the world to prevent communism from spreading. and men and women that served in korea rightfully did that, honorably did that, should be recognized. i'm glad to see we have finally built a memorial on the mall, the korean war veterans memorial, a great tribute with the other memorials we have. the world war ii memorial that we have and the vietnam memorial. this legislation is important. it's important that we as americans remember our history

and rise to a level where we understand that all of those veterans, all of those men and women that served deserve rightful recognition for what they did for america when they were called to do so. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back the remainder of his time. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, is recognized. mr. johnson: yes, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. johnson: i want to thank my dear colleagues, chairman rangel, and judge poe out of houston, texas, and also my friend from georgia, dr. browne -- dr. broun. i call him congressman, but we have a great relationship and i enjoy his fellowship. i wish to associate myself with the comments of all three of

these gentlemen. and it's rather ironic that 56 years after the korean war ended we are on the verge of perhaps another korean war. i don't think that the times have been more tense in south korea than it is now. i had the opportunity to visit about six months ago and the mood and the heavy feeling of impending war will remain heavily etched on my heart. and i am hopeful that this administration can lead us and lead the world out of this conflict.

this is just one of many, but i will tell you my personal experience as a young boy i didn't get challenged too much, but whenever anyone did step to me, i would have to take defensive action. if i had my hands tied behind me, that would not be a fair fight. if i had not been working out a little bit and my muscles were in shape, i would not have been able to handle the conflict or deter it. mr. speaker, i would report to you that i only had about 10 fights and lost only one and i'll tell you that was -- those were the things that helped me to ward off any future bye lidge rens.

-- ba lidge rens. -- belligerent, certainly in this country and world, we would be remiss as a congress, as a legislative branch if we did not prepare for the worst. and that means with respect to our defense it means that we've got to have a strong military and one that is well equipped to meet whatever the challenge may be. we cannot assume that there will not be another cold war because you could not assume at the end of world war ii that the chinese and the russians would get together and gang up, did not know that for sure, and then, boom, it happened. and things are unexpected, seems

like every 50 years there is something big that happens, and we are 56 years now, we simply cannot afford as a nation to be caught without our defenses as tight as they can be. and that means our firepower, our sea power, our power in outer space, our cyberspace, our infantry all of of these aspects of our defense have to be up to par. so i'm happy to serve on the armed services committee where i can be a spokesperson and a proponent of making sure that this country remains strong.

i want to thank all of the veterans, my dad served in world war ii and today he's 86 years old. not doing too well, but i'm proud of him serving his country and i'm proud of every other service man and woman who have served their country and look forward to a peaceful world, but if not we got to do what we have to do. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2632. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3

of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended. the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman ask for the yeas and nays? mr. poe: ask for the yeas and nays and recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1675. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1675, a bill to amend section 811 of the cranston gonzalez national affordable housing act to improve the program under such

section for supportive housing for persons with disabilities. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson, and the gentleman from florida, mr. posey, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson. mr. grayson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation, and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. grayson: i yield myself one minute. i rise to bring h.r. 1675, the frank melville supportive housing investment act of 2009 up for consideration. i'm happy to support 1675 which would re-authorize and reform section 811 of the department of housing and urban development bill and doing so this bill will allow for federal funds to be used to leverage additional funding to build more housing units for low income, disabled individuals.

mr. speaker, i yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from connecticut. i ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control that time. . the speaker pro tempore: the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from connecticut. mr. murphy: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. murphy: i thank representative grayson for his graciousness in allowing this bill to come before us today. as he mentioned, this bill is the frank melville supportive housing investment act of 2009 and is an improvement of our nation's existing section 811 supportive housing program. this house passed a nearly identical bill last year and unfortunately it didn't get passed the united states senate and we re-introduced it and hope to see it pass this year. before i talk about the issue which it addresses, let me thank a few people.

first, chairman frank and subcommittee chairwoman waters have been instrumental in helping us bring this very important bill to the floor as well as ranking member capito on the republican side. but really, the largest thanks is to my co-sponsor on this legislation, representative biggert from illinois. she has been a supporter of supportive housing, which as i will describe is our nation's most important housing programs for individuals with disbilities. i'm proud to co-sponsor this legislation with representative biggert and pleased it is back before the house today. what is the 811 program? it's this nation's supportive housing that many that allows for federal funds to be used to build supportive housing for individuals with physical and mental disabilities. it is a program which has meant a great deal to an unfortunately

limited number of individuals that have benefited from it. what is supportive housing? supportive housing is housing for individuals that have certain disabilities that allows them to live independently on their own, leading full and productive lives in the communities with a small amount of community support around them. a unit of supportive housing either onsite or in the community will have connected to it the job skills, the social work, the medication adherence, individuals and support services that are necessary for people that have complex physical or complex metropolitanal illness to be able to live on their own. these people can live in the community, but they need help to do it. the measure of this government, the measure of this nation is how we treat those amongst us through no fault of their own have been born with a certain illness, whether it be mental or physical that doesn't give them

the apparatus or access to the apparatus of opportunity that the rest of us have. supportive housing gives the fundamental life-building block, gives a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in is one of the things we can do as a compassionate nation. over the course of the last five to 10 years, the 811 program has not been working. h.u.d. tells us there are 1.3 million individuals with disabilities in this country who are living in substandard housing. the 811 program has only built about 1,000 new units despite all the resources that it has. and it is taking right now upwards of six years for a supportive housing project funded with 811 dollars to move from the application stage to the completion stage. this is unacceptable. representative biggert has been a spokesman for this for years and the culmination of her work

is this legislation. this bill fixes the 811 program as well as re-authorizes it. it does it in a number of ways. it takes all of the vouchers that have been used to fund individuals who are looking for supportive housing. it takes those vouchers, which have been inefficiently administered by the 811 program and moves them to the broader section 8 program. section 8 program is much better equipped to track these vouchers and making sure these vouchers are being used by individuals with disabilities. that has been a big problem. that money that is now freed up by moving the vouchers over into the section 8 program is going to be used to build new units. we need to build more capacity in the system. 1.3 million living in inappropriate housing. it will use the money in creative ways. instead of building a full apartment complex with

supportive housing in it, it's now going to work with developers who might have affordable housing projects currently under way to have them build into that complex two, three, four or five units to allow for scattered site housing throughout the community, leveraging existing affordable housing projects to build in scattered site supportive housing projects and it cuts the red tape and bureaucracy that has restrained applications from moving forward. chiefly by allowing states affordable housing agencies to do the bureaucratic work that is being performed by housing and urban development here in washington, d.c. we think through the passage of this act, we can triple the number of supportive housing units that are built across the country with the 811 program. by doing so, we will do justice

by the individual whose name is on this act. mr. speaker, this act is called the frank melville supportive housing investment act. he was a constituent of mine. he and his widowed wife started the melville charitable trust, which funds much of the affordable housing and supportive housing advocacy work in the northeast and throughout this country. frank melville is no longer with us, but this bill which we hope to pass today and bring to the senate for its consideration does justice to his legacy. i commend this bill to the house floor for passage. i think it is going to do so much to live up to the initial promise of this nation's commitment to individuals with physical and metropolitanal disabilities. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut reserves.

the gentleman from florida, mr. posey, is now recognized. mr. posey: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. posey: congresswoman biggert is unable to be here today, but i would like to take this opportunity to recognize her work on this legislation. as an orange co-sponsor, i know she has worked hard to ensure that section 811 program continues to be an effective solution to the housing needs of very low-income persons with disabilities. there are nearly four million nonelderly disabled adults in the united states that are in need of housing assistance. the section 811 program is the only federal program that allows persons with disabilities to live independently in the community by increasing the supply of affordable rental housing with the availability of supportive services. house resolution 1675 restructures the section 811 program in a way that provides for continued creation of permanent supportive housing and

provides rental assistance that would make housing affordable for very low-income people with disabilities. this bill will improve the section 811 housing program by streamlining and simplifying the development of h.u.d. section 811 properties and makes changes to the program to encourage -- encourage house credits and low-program funds. this is identical to house resolution 5772, which passed the house during the 110th congress. thank you, mr. speaker. and i reserve the balance of my time the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from connecticut, mr. murphy. mr. murphy: we don't have any more speakers on this side. so i resevere. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. posey: i yield back the balance of my time the speaker pro tempore: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut is

recognized. mr. murphy: just briefly to close. in connecticut, during the course of my work in the state legislature, a lot of us would don a button that said keep the promise. that was a reminder to us that we deinstitution nationalize those with mental illness that they have humane and responsible housing in the community. this bill i think does just that, it helps us keep that promise to those people living with physical and metropolitanal disabilities that we are going to find them supportive housing in the community. i thank representative biggert for her advocacy and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1675. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed. and without objection, the

motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the gentleman from florida. mr. posey: i would like to request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson rise? mr. grayson: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2245. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: a bill to authorize the president in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the historic and lunar landing by humans in 1969 to award gold medals on behalf of the united states congress to neil armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon and the pilot of the lunar

module and second person to walk on the moon, michael comins the pilot of the command module and the first american to orbit the earth, john glenn junior. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson and the gentleman from florida, mr. posey, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes mr. grayson. mr. grayson: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. grayson: i yield myself such time as i may consume. today we mark and sell bait the 40th anniversary of the apoll apollo landing on the moon. on that day, an 11-year-old boy was in a hotel room all day long while his parents went to st.

thomas with his sister and walked on the moon. and that boy was me. and we would be celebrating this day, i would have said what every other 11-year-old boy would say, come on. that's ridiculous. here wer celebrating this day, marking this day explaining what it means to all of us to convey a congressional gold medal to the first america and third human being to orbit the earth. this was the greatest technological achievement of any time anywhere on this planet by human beings. for many of us it what was more than that. it was the most important moment in our lives. what were would you choose? some of us it would be the fall of the berlin wall or nelson mandela to lead south africa and

for others, it would mean the election of brahm as the first black president of the -- president obama. and the only time in our history visited our neighbor. that's exciting. and it's good to look back on that time and ask us what led to that moment. everyone attributes that moment to president kennedy, the leader of the new frontier. president kennedy used these words to spur us to take this action. he said as follows. we choose to go to the moon in this decade and to do other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal which serve to organ measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one we were willing to accept one we are unwilling to postponeand one which we intend to win.