collecting money around making a lot 06 profits and rnt even connected with the stea parties whatsoever. i think we could do that. as we develop these coalitions of group. my intention is to put most back in the state and little into the infrastructure. because we need to have things there locally, do town halls. and let's put, let's turn the battle around and put them on the run. i agree. i have not profitted from this. i've lost about $100,000-$200,000 because i've had to buy all these url's and these political parties were trying to yoo serp the movement. so i do understand people are profitting from it and i recently put t shirts on my site to try to generate some revenue to support what we're doing, but it's atroshese that they are doing that, but that's what they are doing and i can't

stop it. everything i stride from the beginning i provide all the material because i'm a christian. i believe you should be altruistic in what you're doing but the same time you can't feed an army on an empty stomach. and people are so desperate that they want to go to these events but don't have any money. the most i've gotten in donations is probably $2,000-$3,000. most to is out of my pocket. my retirement is the only thing i'm living off of now. so i lost my home and downsized as much as i possibly can a. so -- host: i hear you bemoaning the problems with our system but haven't heard many viable solutions. what do you say about that? guest: james town, the conscience ept of utopia

basically that we all work together and easily divide and it didn't work. so the free market structure was a an experiment that exploded. so i think government should be out of business. and so, i have actually worked in business. i'val worked in supplying and budgetting finance and worked as a financial advisor with a large sforn 100 companies, so i i have a lot of knowledge and experience to bring to the plate and i'll challenge testimony administration i can create more jobs than you can. give me 10% of what you have and i'll pillow your doors off because you surround yourself with people that just want to skim money off the surface. let's give it all back to who it's intended for and quit trying to profit off of it. caller: i like this tea party organization that's getting

started. i think we need a lot more of this going on. my statement was people have t the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 224, the nays are 201.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 228, the nays are 201. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the u unfinished business is th vote on the motion of the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen to suspend the rules and agree to h. resolution 905 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 905, resolution recognizing the 70th anniversary of the retirement of justice louis d. brandeis from the united states supreme court. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution.

members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 423, and the nays are one.

2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsi laid upon the table. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members will remove their conversations. members will remove their conversations from the floor.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, pursuant to house resolution 976, i call up h.r. 3326 with the senate amendment thereto ask for its immediate consideration in the house and offer the motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendment and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 3326, an act making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes. senate amendment, motion offered by mr. murtha of pennsylvania to concur in the senate amendment with an amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 3326 contains an emergency designation for the purposes of pay-as-you-go principles. accordingly, the chair must put the question of consideration under clause 10-c-3 of rule 21.

the question is, will the house now consider the motion to concur in the senate amendment with an amendment? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the question of consideration is decided in the affirmative. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to house resolution 976, the amendment printed in part a of house report 111-380, and the motion shall be considered as read. the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murtha, and the gentleman from florida, mr. young, will each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. murtha: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and

extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. murtha: and include tabular and extraneous material. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. murtha: madam speaker, members of the house. this is the largest appropriation bill that we've ever handled. it was completely bipartisan. we never did anything without working together. the bill is the same bill we voted on before we -- it went to the senate with a few minor changes. i'm pleased to say that we made some changes with the white house and also with the senate. as a matter of fact, this is $625 billion, house passed $636

billion. military personnel first class medical care -- and i have to say i don't usually talk on any one thing, but having been out of bethesda and in intensive care two days, i have to endorse the money we spent on the care at bethesda. they've done a marvelous job and i'm so pleased about the way the money is being handled out there. medical research, of course, the committee under my leadership, under the leadership of jerry lewis and bill young, has always been on the forefront. peer review programs which turned out to be as good of program we find anyplace. supporting military families, operation and maintenance, insourcing. we're trying to reduce the contractors, and we're struggling doing that. but the inspector general on oversight, we worked with that for two or three years. this bill includes mind

resistance program. in other words, this is as good a bill that we could come up with the amount of money that was apportioned to us. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. young: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. young: i want to thank all of the members of the subcommittee for working hard so long to get this bill to where we have final -- a final passage on the issue. the house passed this bill 4 1/2 months ago. the senate passed it in september. it's been a bit of a painful process along the way because a lot of suggestions, a lot of ideas were raised that we could agree to some, we could not agree to others. i think it's a good package. i may not be as enthusiastic as

well as i have been the past but it's a good bill. it provides what our soldiers, what our marines and what our airmen need to do their job and to protect themselves while they're at it. i would have said coast guard but we don't have the jurisdiction in the subcommittee for the coast guard, but we recognize the importance of the united states coast guard as well. the bill is not too much different from the house bill that we passed 4 1/2 months ago. there had to be some negotiation, obviously, but i think we provided what our soldiers need, what our country needs. there is a 3.4% pay raise for the members of our military. it wasn't quite that big when it came to us, but we increased it to give them a little more substantial pay raise to members of our military.

there is one point that i was requested about, and i need to make clear. there's no money in this bill to move detainees from guantanamo or to buy our build new facilities in the united states for detainee -- guantanamo detainees. there's no money in this bill for that purpose. all in all it's a good bill, one i can support enthusiastically, as i think most of the members know, madam speaker, a member of other temporary issues have been added to this bill at the leadership level. and we do not object to that. we think that that is perfectly acceptable. in fact, we think it's a good idea in some of the cases. >> will the gentleman yield? mr. young: the ranking member on the full committee, who chaired this subcommittee for a few years, i'd like to yield to him, mr. lewis of california,

who has been a major player in our defense appropriations for years. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. louis brandeis madam speaker, i very much -- mr. lewis: madam speaker, i very much appreciate my colleague for yielding. mr. murtha spent sometime at bethesda and the work he's done with mr. young, i reserve the balance of my time. mr. murtha: i'm prepared to yield back. mr. young: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from yields back. mr. murtha: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back his time. all time for debate having expired, pursuant to house resolution 976, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion by the gentleman from pennsylvania. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it.

the motion is agreed to. and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. young: madam speaker, i ask for a recorded vote, the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on adoption of the motion will be followed by five-minute votes on motions to suspend the rules with regard to h.r. 1110. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] 395.

the nays are 34. the motion is adopted. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspend the rules and passing h.r. 1110 as amended which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: h.r. 1110, a bill to amend title 18 united states code to prevent caller i.d. spoofing, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill 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 -- for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the house will be in order. members will take their conversatithe floor.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members will remove their conversations from the hall of the house. members will take their seats. for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise? mr. obey: madam speaker, pursuant to house resolution 976, i call up the joint resolution, h.j.res. 64 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the joint resolution. the clerk: house joint resolution 64, joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2010, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 976, the joint resolution is

considered as read. of the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. obey, and the gentleman from california, mr. lewis l. each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. obey: i thank the speaker. before i start, let me simply -- i don't see either one of them on the house floor now, but i just want to take this time to note that today is the birthday of the distinguished gentleman from florida, mr. young, the ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee. and also of the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, who is the second ranking democrat on the same subcommittee. so in their absence i think we wanted to wish them well. with that, mr. speaker, -- madam speaker, i would simply say this is a simple joint resolution. a continuing resolution which takes the congress to december

23, next wednesday. it is made necessary by the fact that it is just possible that the senate might not finish its work before the 18th. they have been known for their speed, but this may be an exception. it is also useful in order to give the president additional time to review the defense bill before he signs it. with that i would urge support and prepared to yield back after the gentleman has made his remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, a simple five-day c.r. and i happyly yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back his remaining time. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i would again urge support for the motion and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin yields back. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 976, the previous question is

ordered. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the joint resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: resolution making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2010, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the joint resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the aye vs. it. the joint resolution is passed. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the reconsider is laid upon the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise?

>> madam speaker, pursuant to house resolution 976, i call up the bill h.r. 4314 an ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4314, a bill to perfect minute continuing financing of government operations. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 976, the bill is considered as read. the gentleman from california, mr. stark, and the gentleman from nevada, mr. heller, will each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. stark: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. this bill -- the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. stark: thank you. this bill is necessary to allow the government to keep operating past the new year so that we can adjourn for the year. the treasury department hags told us we will reach -- has

told us we will reach our credit limit on the national debt on december 31, happy new year. unlike past years, the treasury department has informed us they don't have the ability to maneuver and buy more time. so the united states would begin to default on its debt if we do not act. the bill would raise the debt limit by $290 billion, enough to last through february 11. unfortunately we'll have to revisit this issue early next year. i wish we could have avoided that, but to do so we would have had to resolve differences with the senate over a budget commission and a statutory pay-go. with the senate preoccupied on other matters, that would be impossible for the holidays. even if the senate were to pass the larger debt limit increase, we sent over to them, we would still have to act again next year. .

i don't like to raise the debt limit but i do like being in the majority. and i do like seeing us pay our bills because we have an international obligation to many of our creditors. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. here we go again, christmas is a week away and congress is scrambling at the last minute just so that we can go home while americans are doing last-minute holiday shopping, the majority is doing its last-minute spending. this year americans are cutting back on their holiday shopping. the average holiday spending by americans this year has dropped to $343 per person from $372 a

year ago. you would think that during these tough times and most americans are forced to tight their belts, congress would do the same. no chance under this majority. this majority stumbled into 2009 with a budget that raised the deficit by $1.8 trillion. then, congress decided to pass an $800 billion stimulus bill. $3 billion on cash for clunkers. $1.3 trillion on the trattic health care bill. $-- democratic health care bill. $1 trillion on cap and trade. and recently more billions was spent on washington, d.c., bureaucrats. after all this spending, the national debt is now $12 trillion. every american citizen will now owe more than $39,000 to pay for washington's spending. now, democrats want to raise the debt limit to allow even more spending in 2010. the rule fat cat is the federal government which spends, spends, spends while the

american public gets stuck with the bill. i urge my colleagues to reject raising the debt limit, give the gift that america deserves, a responsible federal budget. merry christmas to everyone. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. stark: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the distinguished committee member of the ways and means, mr. neal from massachusetts, be allowed to control the time for our side. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, i rise in support of the debt limit legislation we are considering today, and i want to thank mr. rangel for his hard work on the bill in the waning days of the congress in this first session. let me talk about what this

bill does. this bill is simply about continuing operations for the federal government. that's the title of the legislation. continuing operations means getting the social security checks out on time, an almost sacred duty that we have. this means providing support for our troops and keeping our museums and our parks open. that is what an increase in the debt limit will allow. simply stated, this is about bills that have already been incurred. now, i will during my time here resist the temptation to become overly partisan and speak specifically to the issue that's in front of us until there is a misstatement of the facts in opposition. what this bill does not do is to increase or decrease spending. that is a key consideration.

those decisions have already been made through the regular order. let me emphasize the following -- this bill does not raise nor does it cut taxes. that is different legislation. i respect the opinion of all members here who, by the way, hasn't been on all sides of the issue during my time in the congress. but we all desire the same, and that is to bring our budget into balance in the future. upon that, there is broad agreement. but this bill is simply paying the check after the items have already been ordered. this bill would raise the limit by $290 billion, which is estimated to allow the government to operate through february 11, and allow us to adjourn for the year. despite what some might say,

the treasury department will reach the current limit on the national debt by december 31, and they have told us that there is no ability to do extraordinary measures that will indeed stretch that out. now, i hope that the offering that i made to resist demagoguery on this issue will be met. if not, we certainly will have an opportunity during the course of the next hour to slug it out based upon the facts. and i hope that we will regard social security and veterans bills that have already been incurred to be paid. we certainly can have moments of instruction here. we are all indeed prepared for that on all sides, but i hope the opportunity to resist the temptation to dismiss the reality of what we're doing here will be before all of us. i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves his time. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. herger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. mr. herger: thank you. madam speaker, president obama and congressional democrats have maxed out the national credit card and reckless -- with reckless spending and they're back for more. the american people are tired of overspending and tired of policies that have done nothing to lift us out of this economic downturn. democrats ram through a so-called stimulus that left us asking, where are the jobs? now congressional democrats are asking for more money that they will turn around later this afternoon and spend on another stimulus bill that spends even more on failed policy. madam speaker, it's time for congress to say no to endless debt that is around the neck of

our nation's economy and future generations. vote no on this increased debt limit. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. with that i'd like to voice a -- to a voice of fiscal responsibility to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> i thank my friend, mr. neal, for yielding. i think all of us here today, certainly in this game of inside baseball, understand that we have to raise the debt limit. we don't have a choice to let our nation go into default on its bonds. but i do come today to ask you to support it. i come reluctantly. and i am glad to hear that my friends on both sides of the aisle now offer fiscal

responsibility. i think many of us over here have been saying for years, and particularly for the last eight, nine years, that the policies that we were pursuing starting in 2001 of spending more than we were taking in on an annual basis had to stop. we found ourselves in pretty good shape in 2001, and then we changed the policies and you know the rest of the story, the history of that. many of us have been working all of during that eight-year period to try to re-install the stools that we can use to return fiscal discipline to our government. the tools -- reinstall the tools that we can use to return fiscal discipline to our government. the tools such as pay as you go. discretionary spending limits. there are lots of tools that we can use but in the last eight or nine years the congress and

the administration has rejected those tools and it's time for us to put those back into place. we don't have the will here in the united states congress to discipline ourselves. i think both parties have proven that over the years. so we have to come back with those tools such as pay-as-you-go, sequestration, spending caps, whatever it takes. there is a good deal going on around here called the safe commission. mr. neal: i yield the gentleman one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. boyd: what we're trying to do is press the pause button for less than 60 days and we'll move forward, break for the christmas holiday and then come back, and we have to focus on this issue of fiscal responsibility. i have said to my party leaders as i've said to the other party leaders over the last eight

years, we have to look beyond the ends of our nose and we have to focus on fiscal responsibility. and the first step we have to do, of course, is to keep our country from going into default on its -- on its bonds. and then we have to move forward to reinstall such tools as pay-go, commissions, whatever it takes to get us focused on getting our government back to the point of acting in a responsible way when it comes to fiscal matters. i thank the gentleman for yielding and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield three minutes to the republican conference chair, the gentleman from indiana, mr. pence. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for three minutes. mr. pence: i thank the chairman for yielding and would ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized. mr. pence: madam speaker, i

rise today in opposition to h.r. 4314. it is a bill that will increase the statutory limit on the national debt by $290 billion. now, my distinguished colleague and friend just called it hitting the pause button, and that was evidence of his characteristic candor, because as everybody in this body knows, this $290 billion increase in the statutory limit on the national debt is simply a down payment on the nearly $2 trillion increase in the national debt that this democratic majority intends to move in this congress after the first of the year. increasing the national debt. you know, it's moments like this that i really got to say that the american people have had it. i mean, at a time of economic difficulty for working families, small businesses and family farmers all across this country, a time when families are sitting down at kitchen tables, around aluminum desks,

in basements with small lights hanging, they're figuring out where to cut back. they are just figuring out how to make it from one month to the next. and those families and those small businesses don't have the ability to walk down to the bank and just increase their debt limit with the wave of a hand. i mean, they got to make hard choices. and to their undying credits, the american people are making those hard choices. and the reason they're so frustrated looking to washington, d.c., today is they see a national government that is completely out of step with the character and the values and the sacrifice that the american people are practicing every day. not that it's anything new. as the distinguished chairman just said a few moments ago, when the republicans were in control, we did our share of spending and overspending. the republicans doubled the national debt in the eight

years of the last administration, but this democratic majority just passed a bill that will double it in the next five years and triple it in 10. after three years of democratic control of the house, the national debt has increased by 39%. the national deficit hit a record of $1.4 trillion and this fiscal year is expected to reach a new record of $1.8 trillion, millions of americans are asking, madam speaker, when will it stop? when will washington get the message that we can't borrow and spend? that we got to begin, republicans and democrats, to practice what we so love to preach when we're home, fiscal discipline, fiscal responsibility. and then we come here right before the christmas break on the day we'll probably head out

of this building and we're going to pass a $290 billion increase in the statutory limit on the national debt. the american people don't want more debt for christmas. this congress ought to be sticking around, making the hard choices -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. pence: and reform these entitlements. do our work the way the american people are doing the work. so help us god. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, before i come to my friend's comments, i want to yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i spoke with chairman rangel earlier, and it is our intention, as we did this month in passing the tax extenders act of 2009 to make sure that those provisions hold. that bill contains a one-year extension of dozens of important expiring provisions, including the popular r&d credit, the sales tax deduction, the college tuition

deduction among many others. we are now hearing that the senate may not take up this provision or provisions and pass the bill before they expire on december 31. . these provisions are crucial for both american businesses and individual taxpayers and i am pleased we are able to get the house to pass this bill before the year concluded but it's disappointing the other body will not be able to take it up this year. it is our goal, however, to ensure that this bill will provide a seamless extension if enacted based upon the house measure. madam speaker, i want to thank mr. pence because i thought that the tone of what he offered was entirely reasonable. because he didn't pass out partisan blame in the instance that brings us here at this time. but a gentle reminder, i don't know how you could have voted for the war in iraq and not vote now to pay the bill. because that's part of what we are being asked to do today. i understand how difficult this

is. why it causes heartburn. but having said that, how can you say that you are willing to commit 160,000 soldiers to iraq and when the bill comes due not pay it? that essentially is the argument that's in front of us today. and i understand the arguments about those american families who are having a difficult time as we proceed to this holiday season. we want to be as helpful to them as we can. if they gather around the kitchen table to talk the problems they have, we understand if we want to provide as much support for them as we can. let's not forget the social security recipients who are currently sitting around the table as they watch this debate wondering if their checks are going to be mailed to them on time at the first of the year. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized.

mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield such time as he may consume to the ranking member of the ways and means, the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: thank you. i thank the gentleman from nevada for yielding and also want to thank him for his leadership on the ways and means committee this year. the bill before us is a candid admission by the majority that their tax, borrow, and spend ways have driven america deeper and deeper into debt. in fact, because of the failed trillion dollar stimulus spending bill, america's unemployment is higher than predicted and revenues are lower. but that hasn't stopped the majority from continuing to spend, spend, spend. just last week the majority rolled six major spending bills into one omnibus bill that increased on average federal spending by 11%. now the bill before us asks to increase the debt limit another $290 billion.

the american people are asking where are the jobs? but all they have been shown is more deficits and more debt. let's be honest with the american people. it really isn't $290 billion the majority wants to increase the debt limit by, it's more like $1.8 trillion. in a few short months we'll be right back here voting on another bill to increase the debt limit probably by another $1.5 trillion. at the end of of twetch, the public debt eke -- of 2007, the public debt equal 65% of the g.d.p. by the end of 2009 the figure will exceed 83%. according to president obama's own budget projections, it will exceed 100% of g.d.p. by 2011. think about it. at that rate the majority is spending the federal debt in 2011 will exceed the value of goods and services produced by the economy that year.

this isn't just a democrat or republican problem. it's a huge problem for every single american. it threatens our economic recovery and our future prosperity. so let's remember the words of then senator obama in 2006 who warned of the dangers of raising the debt limit without addressing the underlying cause. here's what he said. and i quote. the fact that we are here today to debate raising america's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. it is a sign that the u.s. government can't pay its own bills. it is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government's reckless fiscal policies. increasing america's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. leadership means that the buck stops here. instead washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today on to the backs of our children and grandchildren. america has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. americans deserve better. americans do indeed deserve

better than what they have received this year, but rather than heed the warning appropriations committee chairman obey recently said, and i'm quoting again, we don't really have a choice. the bill's already been run up. credit card has already been used. when you get the bill in the mail, you need to pay it. the gentleman from wisconsin was correct. the credit card has been used. but this legislation doesn't pay the bill. it doesn't even make the minimum monthly payment. it simply asks for more credit. after going on a $1.4 trillion deficit spending binge and maxing out the taxpayers' credit card, democrats are now asking to increase the credit limit. we should not be asking for more credit. we should be developing a plan to control federal spending that future -- so that future generations are not trapped under this mountain of debt. until we see a plan to actually address this underlying problem, as then senator obama

warned, we must, and can i not in good conscience, vote for this legislation. i urge my colleagues to vote no. i reserve the balance of my time. -- i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts virginia tech. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, at this time i would like to yield four minutes to my friend, the gentleman from tennessee, who was my classmate here, 21 years ago, and who is in my judgment been as thoughtful as any member of this house on the issues of the national debt. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee for four minutes. mr. tanner: thank you very much, madam speaker. thank you, mr. neal. what we are seeing today is a culmination of a decades long -- decade long mismanagement of our nation's finances. in the year 2000, the revenue and expenditure coming to washington were both around 19% of g.d.p. in other words, we were breaking even. the second worse thing that happened in 2001 after of course 9/11 happened in february when the congressional

budget office said that they forecast there would be a $5 trillion surplus over the next 10 years. people around here became euphoric. we're filthy rich. we can cut taxes. we can do everything. and we are going to be fine. in fact, the first bush secretary of the treasury came before the ways and means committee and said he was concerned we would pay off the national debt so quickly that we would have to pay a premium to get our paper back. well, in june of 2001 we embarked on a new economic game plan for this country. 2 1/2 months later, 9/11. every assumption that went into the conclusion there would be a $5 trillion surplus over the next 10 years was no longer valid. but what did congress do? kept right on going. by 2003, if you look at the treasury record, by 2003 income coming into washington was down to 16.3% of g.d.p.,

expenditures were over 20% because we had gone to war in afghanistan and iraq, among other reasons. what we do, we borrowed the gap. we started borrowing in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. a decade-long mismanagement by both parties. and for the people who just last week stripped out the pay-for and added another $70 billion on a motion to recommit to talk about debt and deficits now, when they ought to be trying to help us, what we are doing as allen boyd said earlier, we are putting the pause button on this. we must have statutory pay-go that was allowed to lapse in 2002 so that you didn't have to pay for anything. you could just blindly pass tax cuts, increase spending, and borrow the difference because you know something, the people we are borrowing it from aren't here. they don't have a vote. however one time they said will

you vote for a supermajority to raise taxes? i said no. there's plenty of pressure in the system not to raise taxes. i will vote not to borrow money, because there's nobody here protesting what we are doing to the children of this country and the children yet to be born here. so, madam speaker, we have to -- this is the response thing to do today, but i tell you, when we come back, this is a very short term, i think 60 days, when we come back, we are -- we've got to insist on a commission, or statutory pay-go, on something to break this business as usual gridlock that's been going on here this entire decade. 8 -- i defy anybody to argue honestly that it has -- it is not a decade old problem. the last time we broke even basically was the fiscal year 2

000 -- 2001. so we have to do this, but when we get back here, when the final chapter is written of this book, i hope we have the ability to come together and we need the help. we need the help of the republicans to help us put in statutory pay-go and some of these things that will do it. it's not -- the problem is not what we are doing. we have a structural deficit. income right now is about 17.5% of g.d.p. expenditures are over 20. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. mr. tanner: when one considers that social security, medicare, medicaid, interest on the debt, and the national defense account for 85 cents out of every dollar, you can't cut enough out of the 15% to take care of this problem. it's not what we are doing. it's not what we are spending.

it's what we are not doing. that is we are not addressing the structural deficit. and the only way we are going to get at that is through either statutory pay-go or anonymity commission and hopefully both. it's not what we are doing, it's what we are not doing. and it is a decade-old problem that is getting worse every year. and until this congress can come together, democrats and republicans, what we have around here is too many republican americans or too many democratic americans instead of american democrats and american republicans. i'm telling you the time is now for american democrats and american republicans to get together over the next 60 days and figure out what we are going to do because we are on an unsustainable financial course. thank you, mr. neal. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the

gentleman from texas, a colleague of mine on ways and means, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. brady: thank you, madam speaker. it is interesting to hear our democrat friend's newfound interest in paying for the war. that hasn't always been the case. here's what the current majority leader said on this house floor in 2004 when the debt limit was proposed to be raised and we were at war. now majority leader mr. hoyer said, raising the debt limit is immoral. this is disastrous consequence will cripple our future prosperity and hock future generations. this policy of sorrow and spend is not only irresponsible, it is immore and it -- immoral and it must stop. we are literally mortgaging our future. this is their words. not ours. the truth of the matter is, what we are voting on today is a down payment.

a $2 trillion increase in our debt. two-step, $2 trillion increase in our debt. what it means for american families is that the day nancy pelosi took the gavel to become speaker of this house, every man, woman, and child in america owed $29,000 in debt. today as a result of this vote and next year's debt limit, every person in america will owe $45,000. in public debt. three years, we have increased to $45,000 in public debt. it is responsible to pay our bills. it's irresponsible to keep going into debt and asking for more credit while we do it. it's time to stop spending. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from nevada reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: with that i'd like to yield three minutes to my friend, the gentleman from in new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized. mr. andrews: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my friend for yielding. a tired old tradition is being carried out on the house floor today. when it comes time to extend the national debt ceiling, the members in the minority get up and express outrage and enough members in the majority get up and show responsibility and vote to do what needs to be done to pay the nation's bills. madam speaker, i know a lot of people watching this are scratching their heads and saying how did we get to such a terrible predicament, whose fault is it? i think they are tired of hearing whose fault it is because, frankly, when the other side's in the majority we say it's their fault, we say it's their fault. when they are in the minority they say it's our fault. i think a history lesson is in order. .

in 2001, as mr. tanner said, we were looking at a projected $5 trillion surplus over the decade that we're now closing out. we're going to take in $5 trillion more than we spend. there were three things that happened in that decade that injured that prospect. the first was horrific, unavoidable and the fault of no one in this room. it was the terrorist attack on the country on september 11 of 2001, which had and still has negative economic consequences as well as security consequences for the country. second thing that happened, in my view, two disastrous choices were made. the first was to launch two wars by borrowing the money to pay for those wars. in iraq and in afghanistan. we certainly can disagree and we have around here a lot as to whether or not those wars were or were not in the national interest. but i think we should have understood that it was absolutely not in the national

interest to defy historic tradition and finance those wars by borrowing money unlike more responsible predecessors have done in responsible times. the second disastrous decision was a fax cut, the huge majority of which benefited the wealthiest 5% or 10% people in this country. that created a mountain of debt that shifted us from a projected $5 trillion surplus to a projected deficit instead. then followed the financial meltdown of the fall of 2008. the treasury secretary told us under no uncertain times that he felt that we were perhaps a few days away from the collapse of the global economy. so to this floor came a $700 billion bailout bill for the banking industry. now, a lot of members on both sides voted for it.

i think it was the right vote because i do think it staved off that calamity from happening, and that added to the national debt. yes, there were decisions made since the new administration came in to do a stimulus bill on a way that was not -- the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. andrews: i respectfully ask for one more minute. mr. neal: i yield the gentleman one more minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. andrews: i think it was absolutely the right thing to do because it stimulated between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs thus far being saved or created. let me say, to irrespect how we discount history is to how we got here. here we are. to me there is it three inescapeable things we have to do. the first is to get entitlement spending under control. frankly, our side believes the health care reform bill does exactly that. and the congressional budget office would concur nearly $500

billion in entitlement reductions over a 10-year period. second, you have to get revenue back on track. our budget calls for a repeal of the tax reductions for those that are in the top 5% or so of the country. i think that's the responsible thing to do. no one on the other side voted for that. and finally, we have to stop spending $300 billion or $400 billion a year to buy oil from other parts of the world. we had legislation here that would put us on that path and build american jobs. almost no one, single digits on the other side voted for that. so this is a day when the minority expresses outrage. there ought to be some other days when the minority express some ideas. vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield two minutes to the gentleman from maryland, mr. bartlett.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. mr. bartlett: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered, the gentleman from maryland is recognized for two minutes. mr. bartlett: washington was telling america that we had a budget surplus and we were parind down the debt. and while we were telling america that we had the necessity to raise the debt ceiling. why would you raise down -- raise the debt ceiling if you were paying down the debt? surprise, surprise, washington was not being truthful. what we were doing is taking money from lock boxes, social security and medicare, and paying down the public debt. $1 more in the trust fund, one less in the debt. without the trust fund, surpluses for which there was no lock box, we took and spent that money. there never was a moment in time when we in fact reduced the national debt. now, talking about accounting methods. our company keeps enron-type of

books. all of the smallest businesses to keep their books, we would be using the acruel method, we would be showing about $60 trillion of debt. that's $200,000 of debt for every man, woman and child. clearly, clearly unmanageable. we should be ashamed that we're here today talking about raising the debt limit ceiling once again. we should talk about how we should balance the budget and pay down the debt because our two great grandkids, we already mortgaged their future. we don't need to do more. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to yield two minutes to the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized.

mr. rangel: let me first thank chairman neal for the great job that he's done over the years in terms of presenting legislation that is so sorely needed. this house -- and let me speculate in terms of how far it's going to go that we're going to have this partisanship in the house of representatives. you know, we have a saying that once we oversee -- once we leave overseas that we leave the republicanic and democratic label behind us -- whether it's the chinese or japanese or the european union, it seems to me that the pride we once had in terms of being the leader of the world, not only in fiscal policy but in foreign policy is on the line. no one out there in our communities are going to look at this as a republican issue or a democratic issue. they are going to look at it as an american issue. and they're going to look at the congress. why? because we have the full faith and credit of the united states of america in our hands. people have political problems

with raising the debt limit, but our country has a fiscal problem. and treasury has assured us as they have the minority that they don't have the fiscal gimmicks to play around with it. i know a lot of people know it's going to pass and so, therefore, they're not going to vote for it. but somebody, maybe our kids and grandkids, are going to ask, did the united states of america ever forfeit and didn't pay its debts? and some historian teacher will say, yes, they did. and they'll want to know what congress did it and who did it. they are not going to ask if you are a democrat or republican. so we got plenty of time to fight. we have at least a year. but, please, when the credibility of the united states son -- is on the line, don't ask which side you are on. be with your country. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam

speaker. i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from florida, ms. brown-waite. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for two minutes. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman. madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to h.r. 4314, which, according to the majority, quote, permits continued funding for government operations, end of quote. that sure sounds a lot better than h.r. 4314, a bill to borrow another $300 billion from china or we could also entitle it h.r. 4314, a license to keep spending like a teenager with a credit card. madam speaker, the united states is already paying $250 billion per year in interest payments alone on the debt. we are paying more for that interest by borrowing more. that just doesn't make sense. the argument that we've already spent the money and when the bill comes in the mail we have to pay it is misleading. every american with a maxed out credit card would love to be able to pay his bills by simply raising his limit. and that's what we're doing

here today, ladies and gentlemen. that includes the 15 million unemployed americans who are still wondering when the so-called stimulus is going to, quote, create or save their jobs. i urge my colleagues to vote against more borrowing and to vote against this bill. america does not want more debt. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. might i inquire as to how much time remains on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: yes, the gentleman from massachusetts controls nine minutes, and the gentleman from nevada controls 16 minutes. mr. neal: with that i'd like to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. hensarling. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. hensarling: thank you,

madam speaker. never in the history have so few acted so fast to indebt so many. so since the democrats have taken control of congress, this is the fifth, fifth time they have come here to raise the debt ceiling to date $290 billion more. under their watch, the national watch has increased $3.4 trillion or almost $30,000 for every household in america. under their fiscal policy, we now have a $1.4 trillion, our nation's first. they passed a budget that will triple, triple the national debt in just 10 years, and they are causing us to borrow 40 cents on the dollar from the chinese and send the bill to our children and grandchildren. now, when the republicans controlled this body and the deficit was $300 billion and falling, the now majority leader said that's fiscal child abuse. and the now speaker called it immoral. and now under their watch it's five times greater and all we hear is a course of is a are a is a -- sera sera.

merry christmas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. crowley. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. crowley: i thank my good friend from massachusetts for yielding me time. the republicans keep claiming that the deficits are growing under the democrats. but let's look at the facts. republican conference chairman, mike pence, said just a few minutes ago, they, the republicans, doubled the national debt in eight years to almost $12 trillion. and you know what, mike is right. about an hour or so ago republican jeff flake said spending watt out of control when the prps -- was out of control when the republicans were in control and the white house. you know what, he's right as well. the funny thing, when president george bush was voted into office, he had a $5 trillion surplus from president clinton and the democrats. so the party who borrowed and

spent and squandered surplus is now standing in the way of moving forward in the right path. the very republicans who refused to run the country like our constituents have to run their households, buying only what they can afford, are opposed to legislation which would make sure all spending is paid for. this would prevent us from adding to the deficit. yet, rpts are opposed -- republicans are opposed saying they should tax and borrow from the chinese at will but only for their priorities. so the hangover from president bush and the republican-controlled congress still lingers. it's the republicans that forced this bailout package for the banks, a package that democrats and president obama are demanding be paid back. and with interest from those very same banks. tax cuts for the wealthiest in america with no assistance to the middle class, and their refusal to funds the wars in iraq and afghanistan. democrats are trying to help this. the only -- they have hypocrisy

on this issue, of their own out-of-control spending and legacy of deficits. and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from louisiana for one minute. mr. scalise: i want to thank the gentleman from nevada for yielding. madam speaker, this is my congressional voting card. unfortunately, some of the liberals in this congress thinks this is a credit card that has an unlimited balance. and today they stand before us trying to add another $290 billion of limit onto their credit cards because they've maxed out the previous $12 trillion. and the american people are saying enough is enough. they want us to cap the debt, and we need to. we filed legislation that has 70 co-sponsors that would just -- do just that, cap the debt. the first rule says when you find yourself in a hole the

first thing you do is you stop digging. and the american people are saying, stop the massive spending, stop adding to our debt, stop throwing more and more spending and debt onto the backs of our children and grandchildren and let's rein in fiscal responsibility. and that's why we're opposing this legislation. we propose responsible alternatives like the cap the debt act. they don't want to bring it up because they want to walk around like santa claus at christmas time borrowing more money we don't have. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: it wasn't a liberal sitting in the white house that decided to invade iraq. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: i yield two minutes to mr. roscoe. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognize plsmed roscoe: it's the holiday season and the majority is saying, cheers.

here we are and it's really been an unbelievable party, hasn't it? here we are, and you have all these folks that have come together, doubling the national debt as was described other a five-year period, the majority will now trip they will national debt, and it is as if all they can do is keep serving. no discipline. hey, cheers, here you go, enjoy. here's what happened at the end of that bing. here's what happened at the end of the degreer. ultimately the old man -- at the end of the kegger. ultimately the old man drives up and looks around and the party is going to be over. who's going to be there to clean it up? our children and grandchildren, madam speaker. they're going to be the ones taking care of this mess over a long period of time. we ought not be continuing to serve a government that's been overserved time and time and time again. instead, what we ought to do is avoid the generational theft,

do what's right by our children and grandchildren, and don't increase this debt. i yield pack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: this is not a cheery time for the american people, the legislation in front of us now is to pay for the war in iraq to pay they are war in afghanistan to pay for our veterans' hospitals and to pay for next month's social security recipients to receive their check on time. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. gohmert: we were asked, how can we vote to have troops go to iraq and not be willing to pay for them, the problem is,

we keep having things added to the bills that will pay for these things. adding things. like gitmo language, like we're going to move the people from gitmo, spends tens or hundreds of millions of dollars unnecessarily just to make some political point. we hear people across ethis aisle say, gee we can't afford to lose respect around the world if we forfeit on the debt. don't forfeit on the debt. you don't gain respect when you keep calling the credit card company and saying, i know i'm not make anything payments but if you'll just keep increasing my debt limit, i know you'll have more respect for me. that's in the how it works. we're told aross the aisle, we have no solutions. go look at the bills waiting to come to the floor. i've got a zero baseline budget that doesn't allow automatic increases that would make a huge contribution. we could bring down the debt. but there are no indications,

nothing to indicate that the spending is going to be controlled. it is outrageous what we're doing to the future generations. any parent that came in and kept telling the bank, keep loaning to me, i promise my kids will repay it, would be considered an unfit parent. the people in america were promised change and what they've gotten is exponential more spending than republicans had done before. it's time for a change. vote this town. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: i yield myself 30 seconds. the war in iraq is going to cost more than $1 trillion. the v.a. hospital commitment we're going to make for the next 30 years is going to cost an additional $1 trillion. that's the issue before us this afternoon. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: i yield one minute to the gentleman from indiana, mr. burton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one

minute. mr. burton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i was thinking about the people back home who may be watching this, they hear the democrats blaming the republicans for all these things that are costing so much money and that's the reason we have to raise the national debt. you know, i look at a $1.4 trillion deficit last year, we're already ahead of that this year. we're not in charge. you folks are. the health care bill that you're trying to ram through is going to cost $1 trillion to $3 trillion and the stimulus bill is going to cost over $1 trillion when you add interest. the bottom line is, we've got to stop spending. we're spending too much money. whether you're a democrat or the republican. the american people back home are saying, get your house in order, quit spending so much money and live within your means like we have to. we have 10% unemployment and the people back home don't want us wasting money to will end up with us having to raise taxes, which we don't want to do and i

won't vote for, and have inflation that's going to affect our kids in the future. we have to quit spending instead of just raising the debt. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. stearns. the speaker pro tempore: chair recognizes the gentleman for two minutes. mr. starns: let me say to my colleague from massachusetts, we came in together, back in 1988, we were both elected. he was mayor of springfield, as i recollect you balanced your budget as mayor. you had to balance the budget. we've been up here trying to balance the budget for 21 years. i supported a balanced budget, both a constitutional amendment as well as a legislative budget. i don't believe you or your colleagues did. i say this because, frankly, we have been talking about deficit

as long as you and i have been in congress. we can blame republicans, we can blame democrats. but let's look at the record. remember the deficits of $250 million and we lamented about it, complained about it. well, that's what happens. it exploded now. now we're looking at deficits that are a lot larger. as my colleagues mentioned $1.4 trillion. when you look at bush 2, george w. bush, he had deficits of $1. df orb $600 billion. now we're talking two or three times that. when you look at when ronald reagan was president, critics called great criticism to him they said the deficit is out of control in this company, it was about $250 billion. the deficit under republican presidents and even under republican control of the house and the senate was small, very

small to what we have today. you can say that there's good reason for this vote today because they support our troops and our wars and you also support veterans. i think that's true. but there's been no effort by your side to hold the appropriations bill. i have been on the house floor. i say to my colleague, your appropriations bills are 13% of last year, almost every one of them are 13%, 18%, one was almost 20%. how can you justify bills that are so large. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, mr. stearns is indeed my friend, we are classmates. he conveniently left out the four years when bill clinton left a balanced budget to america. when the deficits were eliminated and the debt was coming down. that's the key consideration in this debate. this is about paying for our

veterans' hospitals, paying for the war in iraq, paying for the war in afghanistan and making sure the social security checks get out on january 1. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: may i inquire about the time remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada controls 8 1/2 minutes, the gentleman from massachusetts 5 3/4 minutes. mr. heller: thank you, madam chair. if i may yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mccotter: i thank the gentlelady. a quick point raised by our esteemed colleague from massachusetts about how president clinton left four years of balanced budgets, it was with the assistance of a republican majority in the congress, which was an exceptional thing to remember when we head to the polls in 2010. as we address the issue of raising the debt ceiling, let us be charitable in this, the giving season.

let us recall that it's the -- that as the democrats' argument today is, the same but more. let's look at what they've given the american people over the course of the last year as stocking stuffers. first, americans got higher unemployment, higher spending, higher deficits and higher taxes. secondly, senior citizens got a $500 trillion -- a half a trillion cut in medicare. terrorists got new rights, new trials, and new cells on american soil. and federal government bureaucrats got raises. i think that we should question our priorities and the direction we're taking ourselves before we decide to spend more money on this. it strikes me that it is very justifiable for the american people to watch this debate, to watch the debt ceil being raised and to come to the distinct conclusion that the democratic majority in congress

has proven itself too costly too crazy, too quickly. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: i yield one minute to the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognized the gentleman from utah for one minute. mr. chaffetz: i'm a freshman in this body, i didn't help create this mess, but i'm here to help clean it up. the fact of the matter is, we have to spend less than we're spending now. we have to be reresponsible stewards of the american people's money. we're $12 trillion in debt. if you spend a million dollars a day every day, it would take you 120 years to get to $12 trillion. the democrats in control have refused to find a solution to

things that doesn't cost literally hundreds of billions of dollars. we can be the be all things to all people. we have to learn to say no. at what point will there be a cap? at what point will there be a ceiling? i see no help on the horizon for that. we have got to be responsible stewards of the american people's money. we cannot be all things to all people. we're spending nearly $600 million a day just in interest on our debt. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 4314. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. neal: i would like to, pursuant to clause 7 of rule 20 , i ask for a call of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the

chair note the absence of a quorum and chooses to entertain a motion for a call of the house pursuant to clause 7-b of rule 20678 without objection, a call of the house is ordered. members will record their presence by electronic device. members will have 15 minutes to record their presence. by electronic device. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: 415 members have recorded their presence. a quorum is present. the house will be in order. members will remove their conversations from the chambers. members will take seats. the house will be in order.

the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to the republican leader, the gentleman from ohio, mr. boehner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boehner: my colleagues, there's been a lot of lecturing on the house floor from my democratic colleagues about fiscal responsibility. i don't know about fiscal responsibility in 2005 and 2006 when the then minority wanted to take majority. i think it's time for those in the room needs to take their fair share of the blame of fiscal irresponsibility that's

been gone on for so long. we've spent more than what we've taken in. there's not a household in america that can get by with this. there's not a company in america that can get by it. and certainly, this government can't get by with it. and so for the last three years, the democratic majority or so, after running on this mantra of fiscal responsibility has done nothing more than spend, spend and spend. now, we did our best. in 2007 and 2008 to put the brakes on all that spending and succeeded somewhat. but after this year for you to criticize us about fiscal responsibility and to lecture us about fiscal responsibility after spending $1 trillion on a stimulus bill that was supposed to be about creating jobs, what have we done? we've created more unemployment. we've not put anyone back to

work and we're asking our kids and grandkids to pay $1 trillion in principal and interest for a bill that's not doing anything other than increasing spending. but you know what? you know what makes this bill on the floor today to increase the debt limit by $290 billion a real joke? soon as this vote is over, we're going to take up stimulus 2, or as we like to call it, son of stimulus. we're going to pick up son of stimulus which is going to spend $150 billion on the same kind of failed spending programs that we passed earlier this year. and what are we going to do? we're going to use that tarp money that those banks and those financial institutions have paid back. where did that money come from? we had to go borrow it. everybody knows, everybody that voted for or against tarp in this chamber knows that money was intended to be paid back,

to pay down the deficit. and to take that $150 billion and to spend it on more wasteful washington spending is putting it right on the backs of our kids and grandkids. that's going to happen right after in vote. who are we kidding? we're not kidding anybody. i just think it's time to put the brakes on all of it. let's get really serious about cutting spending, and the way we start is by saying no to increasing the debt limit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. let me recognize one minute the majority leader, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, a leader in fiscal responsibility in this institution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. a little over a year ago, mr. boehner and i spoke on a bill

that i said would be noted as a day of consequence in the house of representatives. that bill was to at the request of president bush and secretary paulsen and ben bernanke give some $700 billion to the treasury to try to stabilize the financial sector of our economy. mr. boehner voted for that. my friend, mr. blunt, voted for that. i believe mr. cantor voted for that. others of you voted for that, and many on our side voted for that bill. it failed. and we came back here a few days later on friday, and that bill was called up again. it was called up again because we knew that there really wasn't an option. mr. bernanke, president bush's appointee as chairman of the federal reserve, said that we

were at risk of going into a depression if we did not vote for that bill. nobody wanted to vote for that bill on either side of the aisle. but it was a bill that we openly concluded on that friday, approximately half of the republican side of the aisle, a little more than half on our side of the aisle was a bill we needed to pass to avoid the risk of depression. since that time over the last four months we saw an erosion in the economy, not a depression, but the worst recession we have seen in eight years. now, i have a speech here that we prepared. i'm not going to give it because it to some degree points the finger at one another. and i agree with mr. boehner. there's blame to go around. we have been concerned about

cutting revenues and increasing spending during the first part of this decade. you have been concerned about the spending that we believed was necessary to make to try to create jobs and bring our economy back. now, mr. boehner and i disagree on the impact of the recovery and reinvestment act. since its passage, the stock market has gone from 6500 to 10,500. anybody who opens up their 401-k or thrift savings plan believes that we made progress on that because their value has gone up about 60%. that's progress but not success. we want to get back to where it was in terms of the value of those plans. in addition, in the last month of the bush administration, we lost 741,000 jobs. after adopting a policy that many believed on your side of

the aisle would lift our economy. and in fact, it did for a while, but it did not create the kind of jobs you wanted. in fact, on average over the last eight years of the bush administration, it produced approximately 4,200 jobs per month on average. in comparison with the 216,000 on average per month that the clinton administration saw during its term. but we could point fingers, but that would not be particularly useful. i have listened to this debate, and i am chagrined, and i want to claim -- i want to plead guilty because i've demagogued this issue as well. we had a quote presented about the morality of incurring debt. that was taken out of context but we all say things that we

look back on, and i voted against increasing the debt. it was a demagoguey vote. i voted four times against raising the debt. i want to admit that and tell people. why? because i don't believe then nor do i believe now that not paying america's bill is an option that americans expect of us. americans expect us to pay our bills. some americans would like us not to incur some bills for war, but if we do incur bills for war they'd like us to pay for it. some americans would not like us to incur bills for knew frigsal programs or education -- nutritional programs or education or whatever, too much, too little, but if we do incur those bills, americans expect us to pay the bill. and i have a list here of everybody who spoke, who was here who voted to increase the

debt limit four times during the time that you were in charge of the house and of the presidency. and we didn't support it. my suspicion is that we will find ourselves in the same place today. you all are not responsible for the running of government or the passing of policy. we are. i understand that. and so my presumption is perhaps to a person as we did on this side of the aisle you will vote against this bill. and so i say to my friends on this side of the aisle, the american people have given us a responsibility. the american people have reposed in us a trust. and this year in meeting that confidence and trust we have taken some very tough votes.

one of the things i said that was quoted that was immoral and if you take out the whole quote, which a lot of times none of us do. we take part of the quote that we like. i said that not to pay for what we buy and to jettison pay-go was not right. one of the reasons we find ourselves in this position is because we haven't adopted statutory pay-go, and we should adopt statutory pay-go. i understand my friends on this side of the aisle are not clapping, and the reason you're not clapping is because you believe correctly that that will constrain you in affecting tax cuts. the tragedy is during the eight years that president bush was president and you were in charge, because we couldn't

pass any economic policy, you incurred $2 trillion of debt as you cut revenues and increased spending at a greater rate than was increased under the clinton administration, and you were in charge of everything. but mr. boehner is correct, my grandchildren and his don't care whether you did it, we did it or we did it together. but my colleagues on this side of the aisle, if we take seriously that oath to protect and preserve this nation there is no one on either side of the aisle, republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, who will rationalize that america's not paying its debt is a good policy. because all of us know it is a disastrous policy. and that the quentses -- consequences of not passing this bill in the stock market,

globally, with our creditors and, yes, with mom and pop running that store in my town and your town, will be very substantial. and unacceptable. and so we come as i said on the tarp vote to a day of consequence. not every day is a day of consequence in this house, the people's house. we vote on suspension bills and post office and this, that and the other and even the bills that we've considered -- will consider next, we'll send it to the senate or we won't send it to the senate and the world will no longer remember as abraham lincoln said. but if america and its dual elected representatives -- duly elected representatives say to the rest rled world, we will not pay our bills -- to the rest of the world, we will not pay our bills that will be of consequence. it is not about pointing

fingers, it is about taking responsibility, it is about showing courage to do what all of us know, whatever the rhetoric on this floor has been today, what all of us know is the home option for a responsible country, for a country that is perceived around the world as the wealthiest country on the face of the earth. and for us to say this day we will not pay our bills that the consequences -- bills, that the consequences in january to the person who receives social security, a consequence to the defense department, not that they won't pay their bills, they're going to have to under the emergency clause, but the fact of the matter is, my friends, this is absolutely essential to do. and therefore on my side of the aisle i ask us to do it. and don't point fingers at their

side if they don't do it. because we didn't do it and very frankly, my friends, we have to stop that. we have to stop it for whoever it is that's in charge because americans expect better of us. i ask you therefore as we consider this we ought to vote on it, not because we agreed with policy a or policy b or tax cut y or tax increase z. but because we know and i tell my young friend who spoke on the floor about fiscal responsibility who's here for the first time, as we debate these issues on spending and cutting, they are legitimate to debate, discuss and vote however one believes is necessary, but

in the final analysis, when the roll is called as to whether america will be a responsible debtor, whether we incurred that debt as a result of decreasing taxes, which we did, or increase spending, which we have, it matters not. what matters is that america pays its bills. vote for this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. >> madam speaker, is the gentleman from nevada prepared to yield back the balance of his time? >> yes. mr. neal: i urge adoption of the resolution and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 976 the previous question is ordered on the bill.bill. the question is on engrossment

and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: h.r. 4314, a bill to prevent continued financing of government operations. the speaker pro tempore: the -- for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada rise? >> i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman seeking a vote on passage? >> yes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. mr. heller: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the ayes have it. a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this is a

15-minute vote on passage of h.r. 4314 and it will be followed by a five-minute vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3714 if ordered. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of ekqpvote, the yeas are 218, thes

are 214. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules

and passing h.r. 3714 as amended, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: h.r. 3714, a bill to amend the florida business act of 1961 to include the report on human rights practices, information about freedom of the press in foreign countries, establishing a combrant program to promote freedom of the press worldwide and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. so many in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative -- for what purpose does the gentlewoman from colorado rise? >> i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes

by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 403, the nays are 12. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection the title is amended. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members will take their conversations from the chamber. members will take their seats.

for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise? mr. obey: madam speaker, pursuant to house resolution 976 i call up h.r. 2847 with a senate thereto and offer the motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendment and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 2847, an act making appropriations for the departments of commerce and justice and science and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes. senate amendment, motion to offer by mr. obey of wisconsin to concur in the senate amendment with an amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the house amendment to the senate

amendment to the bill h.r. 2847 contains an emergency designation for purposes of pay as you go principles. accordingly, the chair must put the question of consideration under clause 10-c-3 of rule 21. the question is, will the house now consider the motion to concur in the senate amendment with an amendment? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the question of consideration is decided in the affirmative. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to house resolution 976 the senate amendment printed in part b of house report 111-380 and the motion shall be considered as read. the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations.

the the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. obey, and the gentleman from california, mr. lewis, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. obey: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the pending legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: madam speaker, i think people understand what this legislation is. it is an effort to redirect some $75 billion from tarp funds that in the past have been directed to help wall street, instead direct them to main street to try to help americans who are struggling to hang onto their jobs, their houses and their health care. i think the need for it is obvious. i urge passage and i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, chairman obey calls this legislation the jobs for main street act. i call it economic insanity. truly this is one of those rare occasions when i hardly, hardly know where to begin. it's because of legislation like this and the manner in which it was produced that the public has lost faith in this congress -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the gentleman will suspend. the house is not in order. members will take their conversations off the floor. members will take their seats. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i certainly want to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i certainly want everyone paying attention to every word and i

appreciate my colleague caring for that. it's because of legislation like this and the manner in which it was produced that the public has lost faith in this congress and why confidence in washington is at an all-time low. this legislation repeats the failures of the so-called recovery act by pouring another $150 billion into programs included in the original stimulus package that have so far failed to produce real results or real jobs. secondly, this legislation adds an additional $150 billion to a budget deficit that has already tripled in the last year. the democrat majority claims that this spending is offset with funds from tarp, the tarp program, but under present law these dollars are already dedicated to reducing our debt. the public should not be fooled.

every dollar will come out of the treasury and taxpayers will be footing the bill. further, this legislation is a virtual mystery to almost every single member of the house. i think we got the basic material at 11:00 last night, i think. its contents were at least just shy of midnight last night for most and there's no way for anyone to have read or understood it completely. how much thought or member input really went into it? i dare say very, very little. ironically it was chairman obey who said on december 11, 2006, and i quote, we will work to restore an accountable, above board, transparent process for funding decisions and put an end

to the abuses that have harmed the credibility of the congress. this is a demonstration project of just how serious mr. obey was about that. let me take just a moment to outline the transparent process by which this legislation comes before us today. chairman obey instructed his majority staff not to share any details or information with the minority staff about the bill. chairman obey's staff sent the bill to the rules committee at 11:00 last night. it has had no hearings, no markup and is prevented from being amended on the house floor today. mr. speaker, marshall law in the house of representatives is hardly change that we can believe in. yet another irony in today's debate is that the democrat majority has suddenly found religion by championing so-called pay-go rules.

this is occurring at the very same time they are proposing to spend another $150 billion and even as they have voted it to increase the debt limit. we passed the debt limit, spend another $150 billion. not long ago small business in america was the backbone and the life blood of our national economy. today higher taxes and excessive government regulations have small business in a strangle hold and that's even before congress puts its stamp of approval on government-run health care. with all this reliance on uncle sam why don't we just put everyone in the united states on the federal government payroll and call it a day? in essence, that's what this fatally flawed process attempts to do. according to transportation weekly, even if you -- "transportation weekly," even if you only count title 1 as an

appropriations bill it would still be the third largest f.y. 2010 discretionary appropriations bill, bigger than agriculture, bigger than commerce justice, energy and water, financial services, homeland security, environment, the legislative branch and state foreign operations. and imagine what ranking member david obey's reaction would have been had a g.o.p. majority moved a supplement of this size to the house floor with less than 24 hours notice and with no committee markup. you can imagine the screaming from the rooftops? we've seen that before. . the majority leader says we are

the party of no. we are the party of no more spending beyond our means. we are the party of no more increases in the historic debt limit. republicans in the house are the party of no, no more busing the spending cap and calling it emergency spending. our country's economy will never recover as long as congress continues making the same mistakes over and over again. spending by this house majority is unconstrained and unsustainable. billions and billions and billions spent on the continued expansion of government will only exacerbate our financial troubles and bring little or no relief to those without a job. through this legislation, congress is demonstrating once again that it is both unwilling and incapable of restraining its appetite to spend.

this is nothing short of a christmas shopping spree with money financed borrowed from the chinese. i appeal to the blue dogs to take a stand on this legislation. if you are serious about making a statement, this is your chance. are the blue dogs serious about deficit reduction? if so, then vote no. mr. speaker, simply put, this is an awful bill produced through a dreadful process. i strongly urge a no vote. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: madam speaker, i thank the gentleman for his support. could i now recognize the distinguished the gentleman from minnesota, mr. oberstar for four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. oberstar: i thank my good friend from across the waters in wisconsin, mr. obey. and applaud him for his extraordinary persistence and leadership in bringing to us this jobs for main street act. he has been consistent and persistent and forceful and vocal and very laser-beam oriented on creating jobs. in this jobs for main street, $39 billion are allocated to additional transportation and infrastructure investment to create and sustain family wage construction jobs at the same time rebuilding the nation's highways and bridges and wastewater treatment systems. we extend in this provision the highway and highway safety and transit programs through september 30, 2010. $27.5 billion, $8.4 billion for

transit, $800 million for amtrak, $500 million for airports where an extraordinary success was achieved with nearly all the airport projects either completed or under contract on the job, improving our airport capacity and $1 billion for the clean water state revolving loan funds to improve wastewater treatment facilities and build new ones where they don't exist today. $750 million for the corps of engineers and $100 million for ship construction to help our maritime interests. we have a highly successful record on that portion of the stimulus that comes from the committee on transportation and infrastructure from which both mr. obey and the distinguished

republican leader are graduates. 220,000 direct jobs on over 8,000 projects. 630,000 direct jobs and jobs in the supply chain supplying asphalt, cement, pipe, concrete and culverts for this program. $10 billion paid in payroll checks, $179 million in unemployment insurance compensation checks avoided. and $230 million in taxes paid to the federal government by those on these jobs and more to come. the results, 28,000 miles of highway pavement improved, widened, expanded under way right now. that's what we have achieved to this day and we have more to

come. 1,200 bridges restored, repaired and replaced and with this addition in the jobs for main street act, we will have 56,000 miles of pavement rebuilt in the coming year and that will be 10,000 miles more than the entire interstate highway system just in this one bill. that is an investment in america. and i assure my colleagues that this committee on transportation and infrastructure will continue its vigorous oversight, accountability and transparency. every member has received this report from our committee, 14 categories of progress for each state under these key programs. you can track how many funds are associated projects are completed, how many are under way, total job hours create and sustained and total payroll created and sustained for every

state, every month. we're making this clear that we are investing in america and we will continue to do this under the jobs for main street program. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. who seeks recognition? the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: i recognize the gentleman from georgia, let's see, jack kingston, i think it is, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. kingston: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker in january, the president rushed through a massive stimulus bill, $787 billion that was supposed to be targeted for shovel-ready projects and had to do this to keep unemployment from going to 8%. now it's at 10% and rather than go back into the stimulus program and do major surgery, we are adding another spending bill

from a different account. the stimulus bill to begin with only had about 27% in public works-type projects. most of it went to plug up political projects of congress and to create 31 brand new federal government programs. and even then, 12% of the money is all that has left town. most of it is still in washington, d.c. an example, a smart grid program, none of the funds have been spent. $2.2 billion alternative fuel program, none of those have been spent. $4 billion energy innovative technology program,. there is an $8 billion high-speed rail project with zero funds been spent and funds for the cops program and no funds have left for washington, d.c. before we spend additional money, wouldn't it make sense to figure out what the logjam is.

you go to the web site and you see the jobs created in the 99th district of virgin islands. there are no such districts. or go to augusta, georgia and look at the housing projects, 317 jobs were created. it was a bonus for the existing employees or again from the administration's website, 937 million was spent on $10,000 projects in which no jobs were created. the stimulus program is not working. we need to revamp it. another reason why we don't have jobs under this administration is because of the cap and trade policy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. kingston: could i have an additional minute? mr. lewis: mr. kingston would like another 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. kingston: cap and trade proposal, incidentally, i don't

recommend al gore's point to anybody, but it's going to launch jobs overseas and we need to look at it and it needs to be based on real numbers, not funny numbers. 8% tax on businesses with new rules and regulations and the banking bill which is going to crunch credit all over america and i yield back. this is not the right thing to do at the last minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i yield three minutes to mr. miller, chairman of the education and labor committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. miller: i thank the gentleman for yielding and for all of his work on this legislation. today, the congress has the opportunity to continue the effort to rebuild the american economy.

we have made significant progress since january when more than 600,000 people were losing their jobs. last month, 11,000. dramatic improvement. in november a year ago, it was over 700,000 people were losing their jobs. i don't know what the figure has to be before the republicans decide they ought to help americans keep their jobs, find new jobs and get a job so they can support their families. the fact is, the recovery act, which they want to continue to lampoon and every day, more and more fiscal analysts in this country are telling us that the recovery act is the reason that we have moved from a negative g.d.p. to a positive g.d.p. and the reason we have created more than 1.6 million jobs. those aren't our words but words of the people in the private sector talking about this market. what are they warning us about now? not just tra dirk jobs. and this comes from private

analysts, whether or not local government, there is up to $300 billion under water because of the economy, recession and loss of receipts in revenues, whether or not they can create a wave of unemployment that will swamp the good news that is taking place and we hope will get better, but it can overwhelm the positive job numbers that we're starting to see and create that. it also means that once again we can see -- and with this legislation, prevent that wave of layoffs in teachers and fire people and police and first responders, because we know that's about keeping our communities healthy and safe and to make sure that our kids do not become the victims of this economy because of the layoffs, the shorter school days, the larger classes that are taking place, the shorter school years. the states are struggling with this. we know that for the private sector, if you look around

what's taking place, the leaders in the private sector decided in this kind of economy, this is when you want to invest in your future and that's what we are doing. we are investing in the future of our children, young people going to college, creating additional spots to get into community colleges and have job training, have teachers and decent class sizes. that's what this legislation is about. trying to hold on to job opportunities for the american family and make sure that children do not lose a year of educational opportunity and do not slide back from the progress we're seeing all across this country as the test scores are getting better and proficiency is getting better among fourth graders and eighth gaders. this recession can wreck it all. we have seen all across the country, texas lay off 15% of its teachers. dearborn, michigan laid off teachers. you can stop that from

happening. you can stop that from happening by voting for this legislation. this is about our future and this is about a jobs program that is paid for. this is about taking the money that was dedicated toward working on wall street and making sure it works for main street. this is your opportunity so you can go home and say you did everything you could to try to maintain the positive delecks that the economy is starting to indicate. we're not there yet. but again, if you listen to the analysts, it can be overwhelmed by the loss of jobs and the wave of unemployment that could take place at state and local government. and our children's educational opportunity can be overwhelmed. mr. oberstar laid out the infrastructure piece that is so important in terms of the investment not only in jobs but the investment in the future of this country, highways and transit. this is about human capital and about whether or not we can retain first responders, retain