in economic proficiency and achievement that our children are getting in school today and we don't lose that. and all of a sudden it's gone. we shouldn't let that happen and vote against that happening today and vote for a jobs bill that works on main street. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: i recognize the gentleman from new jersey for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. . mr. fraying: since the start of this recession in 2007 6.9 million people have lost their jobs. a third of those without jobs have been unemployed for more than six months. that a post-world war ii high. clearly congress needs to find a way to spur private sector job

creation. a bipartisan way not one rammed through without public hearings. mr. chairman, a famous son of new jersey once said, and that's yogi berra, it's deja vu all over again. congress and the president acted in february a trillion dollar stimulus package with the promise of its shovel ready spend would go prevent unemployment from exceeding 8%. while the nation's official unemployment is about 10%, the real unemployment and underemployment now exceeds 17%. yet the majority suggests we double down on spending borrowed dollars in many of the same areas touched by the first stimulus. for example, only 7% of the $2 billion in the stimulus bill for the army corps of engineers, civil construction has been spent. yet this bill adds another $750 million. only 8% of the $1.billion for the stimulus for the bureau of

reclamation water projects has been spent. this legislation includes another $100 million. the stimulus contains $4 billion for energy innovation loans, just 10% has been spent since january. let's make sure to approve another billion dollars. of the $36 billion the department of energy's been given, about $955 million has been spent and only 17.5 billion has been obligated. if this wasn't bad enough, where's the funding coming from? it's coming from the tarp program. troubled assets relief program. that money when it's paid back is supposed to go down to reduce the deficit. here we are spending. i rise to oppose this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from georgia. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate you giving me a

minute to speak on this. this is the single most important issue facing the american people. jobs. you talk about troubled assets, what greater troubled assets do we have than jobs and homes? these are the troubled assets that the american people want us to respond to. throughout the breadth of this country, small towns, country towns from michigan, ohio, throughout wherever it is, people are concerned about jobs. the misery index is high. the depression index is high. do you know what a job means? here we've got $75 billion, what better place to put it than in small businesses? into the heart and soul of the american economy at the middle and at the bottom where people will spend it. ladies and gentlemen of this congress, this is christmastime. next week is christmas. what better christmas gift can we give to the american people than this jobs bill that will

put our people back to work, that will build our homes, that will help our families, that will give them hope when they need it. they deserve this christmas present this day. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, it's my honor to recognize the ranking member of the health and human services subcommittee, the gentleman from kansas, mr. tiahrt, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kansas is recognized for three minutes. mr. tiahrt: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from california. 10 months ago we stood here and told you the stimulus bill would not help the economy recover. we told you it would not work because the $787 billion--- plus interest would only grow the size of government. you can't grow the economy from the government down you have to grow from the ground up. now we have a news account of how the money was spent, mostly on government workers writing more government regulations. then there was the news about the pay raises for head start teachers and the buyouts for

university professors and unemployment is double digits. it's 10%. so today on floort we have the son of a stimulus bill. it's another $154 billion of failed economic policies that will only prolong the economic pain. this bill includes another $750 million for green jobs on top of the previous bill's $750 million. so far no green jobs have been created. the son of stimulus adds another $23 billion to state and local governments on top of the $53 billion in the stimulus bill. you can't isolate state and local governments from the recession. if you do, they will do nothing to help with the recovery. history tells us what works. when we have the opportunity in america, new ideas come into the marketplace and the economy will grow. when the economy grows, the federal revenue grows without raises taxes. here's how you create opportunity. stop spending. stop borrowing. you can't grow the government -- you can't grow the economy from

the government down. freeze regulations. audit every one of them. and only keep the ones where the benefit exceeds the cost. keep taxes low. when you do, people save. they invest. they spend. all of that's good for the economy. lower health care costs. not by taking over with the government but by addressing defensive medicine, by addressing tort reform, and by incorporating free market principles then become energy independent. that alone would solve your unemployment problem. now it's true that providing opportunity for the economy to grow does not pay back the government unions for all they have done for you in the last election. government unions should be pleased with this bill. but the american taxpayer should not. they should be angry. for those that are unemployed workers, we are sorry because this bill will not do anything for the unploiment -- unemployment rate. it's a failed economic policy that only pays back those who invested in the last election

for the majority party. madam speaker, i would ask my colleagues to vote no on this legislation and instead do something that will help the economy recover by providing opportunity for the unemployed workers. i yield back 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 yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. obey: madam speaker, when president bush left office, we were losing over 700,000 jobs a month. we passed the economic recovery package, and we have gotten that down to about 11,000 jobs a month. that's not enough, that's progress. i am somewhat bemused, however, by all of the comments about our friends on the minority side of the aisle denouncing the recovery package and saying that it didn't work. not a single one of them voted for it on this house floor. but if you check newspaper accounts around the country, you

will see, for instance, that the minority leader in a june 15 press statement said that he was, quote, pleased that federal officials stepped in and ordered ohio to use all of its construction dollars for shovel ready projects that will create much needed jobs. the minority whip vowed to, quote, shed partisan politics to help the economy and he met with transportation officials about how his home state of virginia could apply for stimulus grants to build a rail line. the minority chief deputy whip in his own press release outlined -- he outlined praised a courthouse in his district receiving funds from the recovery package to build a new courthouse. he said, i applaud funding for the bakersfield federal courthouse. my colleague from-er-republican colleague from new jersey, mr. lance, announced by press release that his district received $13 million from the

rye covery act for local flood control projects. this is outstanding news, he said. and even sent a letter to president obama asking for speedy release of those recovery funds. another of our colleagues from michigan on that side of the aisle, issued a press release saying he was pleased to announce that his international airport would receive $12.7 million from funds received from the recovery act. another of our colleagues on the minority side from illinois said -- i yield myself another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. obey: said there is no question these grants will be of assistance in creating jobs. i can go on and on and on. citing member after member who denounce the bill on the house floor and then went home to their districts and issued grandiose press releases expressing their support for the results of the recovery package.

i have a little difficulty following that ping-pong ball when it's bouncing on both sides of the table. i have a little difficulty following the folks on that side of the aisle when they decide to fall off both sides of the same horse. i wish you would make up your mind. which do we believe? your statements you make at home or the statements and votes you cast on this house floor? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: i thank my speaker for yielding. i would yield two minutes to the gentlelady from missouri who is the ranking member on the financial services committee, jo ann emerson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. mrs. emerson: thank you, mr. chairman. madam speaker, i want to say a couple of things first. number one, i don't know if the american people realize that since 2007 this congress has

increased spending on nondefense, nondeference discretionary spending, including the stimulus in that, by 85%. 85%. and in so doing we still have 30% unemployment in the construction trades in the state of missouri and there is no excuse for that. this bill does very little to help that. very, very little. as a matter of fact some of the stimulus money that went to create new jobs in my congressional district actually our job training people were told that anybody who is in job training can't get a new job. that's disengine with us at best. it's not fair to that person who has been counted as a job when they don't have one and one is not there waiting for them when they graduate. but i really want to talk today about my concerns with the use of tarp funds to offset

additional government spending. when we debated this legislation, we were told the funds were going to be repaid and that in the long term the federal government could make money on the tarp program. but here today we are debating whether to use tarp funds which the administration really had no plans to spend as an offset for yet more government spending. and this is a gimmick extraordinary. -- extraordinaire. we just debate add bill to increase the debt limit to $12.4 trillion and using this budget gimmick as an offset is for $75 billion in new spending is not going to reduce the debt one bit. every economist in america says if we don't reduce our debt in this country, then our economy will go away. and it is going to ensure, this bill does, that our government debt is going to continue to grow, increasing our dependence on china, on other foreign

investors, and increasing the financial burden on our children and grandchildren. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: could i inquire how much time is left on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin controls 17 1/2 minutes. and the gentleman from california controls 14 minutes. mr. obey: i yield three minutes to the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee, mr. rangel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for three 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: chairman obey, let me thank you for not just saying what we've got to do about jobs, but bringing this all together and doing something about it. one of our great president's, jack kennedy, once said that sometimes your party just asks too much of you. and i know that's what my republican friends must be

feeling today because there is no question in my mind that they have just as much compassion in their heart for those jobless people as we do. they know as we do that those who have lost their homes, lost their dignity, and lost their job didn't do it by being democrats or being be republicans. and i recognize that when you go in a room and make a decision to say no, you kind of stuck with it. so we are not naive enough to believe that i can change your mind about what you already decided. but i do hope that when you go back to your home districts and you recognize what is happening to people who are jobless, many of whom are -- whom are hopeless, many of whom have lost their skills, and many and i hope soon it will not continue have lost what it's like to believe that in this great country there is no limit to how far that you can go. so maybe next year will be

different. maybe the guys in the street will be following you around. as we find people grabbing members of the congress saying, hey, my dad needs a job. congressman, congresswoman can you help? we are trying to help. it's a big crisis. and a lot of blame to go around. but collectively someone thought that tarp would work. well, it had some successes. one thing is concern, we are not going back there. this time it's not the banks, it's not wall street in my area, it's now going to be main street so that once again you have an opportunity to explain what are you doing in the congress? well, i know it didn't go over big to say you were bailing out bangs. it certainly didn't go over in my district. how about we are trying to bail out our people? we are trying to restore the hope and confidence they had. we are trying to keep kids in

school. we are trying to put food on the table. sure, we talk about food stamps and food pantry, but we are trying to restore that dignity that makes americans so much different from other people. .5 in the ways and means committee where we have jurisdiction over cobra, this is another step to -- worse still if there are stick people in your family and you don't have health insurance but the federal government says, can we give you a hand with your responsibility to pay for health care? and that's what we've done our committee. we've taken unemployment benefits. you know, you can get enough checks for the -- the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired.

the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. rangel: thank you, mr. chairman. it's not just to make certain we have a place for our kids to learn, to become the leaders of tomorrow. but also that people can get bricks and mortar and rebuild those schools and renovate those schools and that's what we're doing. we've been able to make certain that at least the ways and means committee can join in with the other committees under the leadership of our great speaker and dave obey to be able to say, this is not all we want to do, this is all we can do. maybe over the holidays you might get back to your leadership and say, we've been faithful, but we found out that many in our districts have lost jobs, lost their home, lost their health insurance and really lost hope. just say no is not going to work. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i

recognize the ranking member of the ways and means committee for two minutes, mr. camp. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. camp: i thank the gentleman for yielding. albert einstein once said, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." even though their stimulus bill hasn't created a single job and has resulted in 10% unemployment, house democrats have brought to the floor a stimulus 2 bill that continues to expand numerous provisions of their failed stimulus 1 bill. and here's a graphic depiction of this insanity. how does spending more on the bureau of reclamation create more jobs? how does transit capital assistance now create jobs now than it didn't before? and how did loan guarantees create jobs now when they didn't before? this is a son of stimulus bill.

let's stop the insanity. vote no. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: who seeks recognition? the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, the chairman of the banking committee, mr. frank. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts for three minutes. mr. frank: madam speaker, the assertion that the economic recovery bill, the stimulus bill, has created no jobs is i must say one of the least intellectually unsupportable statements i have heafered on the house floor and i have -- i have heard on the house floor and i have been here for a long time. here's where we are. the fact is that the obama recovery from the bush recession has been going more slowly than any of us would like, but it is undeniable. by every statistic it is going for. now, if you listen to my

republican colleagues, you learn that the third worse day in american history was january 21, 2009, the worse is pearl harbor and then we had the mass murders of september 11, 2001. what was the worse day, january 21, 2009, because according to this debate, guess what happened on january 21, 2009? the federal budget, which was apparently in surplus, all of a sudden plunged into deficit. unemployment suddenly appeared. the war in afghanistan, by the way, was going wonder flee until january 2 -- wonderfully until january 21, 2009. no, it all started on january 21, 2009. and not only that -- i am quoting my partner here -- it was the worst outbreaks in disease, mass amnesia seized the republican party on january

21, 2009. they forgot that it started under the bush administration in january, 2007, where they had control of the congress and white house for the longest period of time. they forgot that trying to pay for two wars with tax cuts was a bad idea and one that surprised in a deficit. so what we are now doing is trying to undo that. and adults understand that you cannot go from a terrible decline to rapid increase without passing through a transitional period. we are passing through it by every economic statistic. now i agree, the situation is worse than we thought and getting better more slowly than we hoped but it's clearly getting better. again, if you listen to my republican colleagues, the world began on january 21, 2009. i know some thought it started 4,000 years ago. i don't believe they all started when barack obama became president. we do try here to help.

i was astounded to hear the gentleman from michigan say it hasn't created one job. madam speaker, tell that to the cops and firefighters in my districts who were rehired because of this. tell that to the people now working to clean up a superfund site in my district which was funded by this bill. this denial of reality to avade responsibility for the dilemma -- evade responsibility for the dilemma we are in is breathtaking. i thank the gentleman from wisconsin -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. frank: for a wonderful bill. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, it's my privilege to introduce chairman franks, a -- chairman frank, a chairman from the committee, mr. hensarling from texas, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. hensarling: i thank the

gentleman for yielding. now, repeating failure over and over might be amusing if it wasn't for the fact that so many of our countrymen are suffering. i heard the distinguished chairman of the financial services committee share with us a history lesson. but i also might add, if we look at press reports, clearly democrats have trouble counting jobs in america. what we do know that the department of labor says that we still have double-digit unemployment under this president and this democratic congress. what we know is that the department of labor says since the first stimulus bill was passed to add an extra $1 trillion of spending and debt for future generations to pick up that 3.6 million of our fellow countrymen have lost their jobs. the history lesson that i hope my friends on the other side of the aisle would learn is that

you cannot spend your way into more jobs. you cannot borrow your way into more jobs. and you cannot bail out your way into more jobs. and, madam speaker, the legislation they bring before us does exactly that. it's more the same. it is son of stimulus. spend another $150 billion of taxpayer money. how many more jobs have to be lost? it wasn't an hour ago that this body just voted for $290 billion more of debt ceiling. borrowing the money from the chinese, sending the bill to our children and grandchildren. how many more jobs has to be lost? bailout funds, bailout funds for the states, bailout funds for the municipalities. how many more bailouts, how many more jobs has to be lost? take away your $1 trillion takeover of health care, take

away your national energy tax, take away your perpetual wall street bill and jobs will come back to america. those are the policies that we need, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for two minutes. ms. delauro: madam speaker, i rise in support of this jobs bill. we have seen 23 straight months of job losses. what does this mean? it means that families are under huge stress. it means there are hungry children in the united states of america. it means a lost generation of american workers. we owe a response to those families, contending with joblessness and the financial

havoc it wreaks on their lives. it is not only the moral thing to do. it is our obligation as legislators and as citizens. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. it redirects $75 billion of tarp funds, money that was spent on wall street, and it moves it toward key infrastructure investment which will provide jobs now. it provides a foundation for long-term prosperity. it helps to stabilize our public sector work force. it supports teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public servants. and as important, it cuts taxes for 16 million struggling families by making the child tax credit available to working families with children. they lost their jobs, they lost their health benefits, their

workhours were cut short and, yes, their child tax credit was decreased. refundable tax credits are the most fiscally stimulative policy that we can put into place. don't listen to me. listen to economists. and it puts money into the hands of families who are living to date paycheck to paycheck. let's put that tarp money to work where it always belonged, in the hands of the american people. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. we need to get america back to work, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, it's my privilege to call upon the republican whip, the gentleman from virginia, mr. cantor. the speaker pro tempore: for how much time? mr. lewis: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for two minutes. mr. cantor: i thank the

gentleman from california. madam speaker, winston churchill once said that all men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes. today, it is apparent that congress has not learned anything. the bill on the floor today is just another round of spending that doubles down the failure of last february's so-called stimulus plan while ballooning the deficit. the first stimulus plan and bill failed to hold down unemployment. but it successfully increased our reliance on borrowed money. worse, allow the money designated for infrastructure, those shovel ready projects we all heard about, hasn't even gotten out of washington yet. why is it still here if it was designed to create jobs? sadly, pouring billions into the very same programs will meet a similar dismal fate.

just as bad, this legislation continues to fall hopelessly short of providing real relief to small businesses so they can resume hiring, investing and expanding. now is not the time to spend an additional $150 billion we don't have. it's time to come together to ease the burden on small businesses and to start giving them a sense of certainty so they can go about the business of creating jobs and prosperity. madam speaker, i urge a no vote on this so-called jobs bill, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i yield one minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is

recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: i ask to address the house and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered, the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: only the lack of clarity and poor eyesight can call this the so-called jobs bill because as we looked over the last year, the american recovery and reinvestment act helps save 3.5 million jobs. they named chairman bernanke as the person of the year, but his twin was the work that was done on this floor by the democratic leadership to invest in america. my district has a 9% unemployment. on the saturdays "washington post" three parents were seen with lights out and children who are hungry. oh, yes, this sounds like spend, spend, spend. but i tell you is we can invest $1 billion in infrastructure. we create 27,800 jobs, and i'm

proud to invest $35 billion of those dollars in fixing the highways and the roads of america. . i am glad that we are working on a metro system that will create jobs in our district. vote for this bill. it's jobs, jobs, jobs. get good glasses and you'll see that. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, by way of inquiry of my chairman, mr. chairman -- by way of inquiry of my chairman, aside, mr. chairman, from the unprecedented and secretive process by which this bill was put together and is being brought to the floor, the rule before us contains a most unusual provision to allow the chairman to submit a report

explaining the legislation. it would be very helpful to all members before we vote on over $154 billion in spending to actually have the benefit of the chairman's explanation. i, for one, have not only not seen this report, i didn't even know he was writing one. therefore i ask the chairman, is there a copy of this report and will you make it available now so that members will have a chance to see it before we vote on this bill? mr. obey: i find it very interesting that the gentleman has not raised this point with respect to the defense appropriations bill, but let me simply say that the explanatory statement for this bill is very short. it is on our website. it was posted there this morning. mr. lewis: the chairman certainly might have given us the courtesy of communicating that that was his intention ahead of time. and it's very clearly stated within the report that we would

-- the members would have it available to them. obviously the chairman has chosen to ignore that side of the responsibility. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: could i inquire how much time is remaining on both size? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin controls 7 1/2 minutes. and the gentleman from california controls eight minutes. mr. obey: i yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. fattah: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of this legislation. the republican minority has been fairly consistent when we focused on health care, he said, well, 85% of the people in this country have health care. so let's not turn things upside-down, let's not sacrifice too much to try to deal with the tens of millions who don't have it. 85% have it. on the jobs front 90% of the

people in the country have jobs. so i can see the lack of empathy for the 10% who don't, and they don't see a need for us to act. but as we come to this holiday season, as we look and see many of our citizens who not only have not a job at this moment, mainly because of policies enacted this unwarranted war in iraq, and fiscal policies that have had a double-digit national debt in the trillions before barack obama was sworn into office, they don't really see the need to try to put americans back to work. i want to thank the chairman for offering this legislation which is bifurcated both if he cussed on jobs but -- focused on jobs but also helping people in a difficult moment. that's what i think america ought to be about.

i rise in support of this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. who seeks recognition? the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. obey: how many speakers do you have remaining? mr. lewis: we have no speakers remaining. mr. obey: i am the last speaker, since i have the right to close, i suggest you use your time. then we'll use ours. mr. lewis: how much of your time you intend to take? mr. obey: the remainder of the time. mr. lewis: 10 minutes? mr. obey: no, we don't have 10 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin controls 6 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from california, eight minutes. mr. lewis: i think it would be important for the members to know, madam speaker, that up to this point only about 15% of the first piece of this package has been spent. so stimulus one is a long ways away from being spent. and i think we all know that the agencies are awash in money

coming through the pipeline and they wonder where it's going to go from here. it's significant to know that as we spend the people's money in this process with very, very little information available to our members, the majority is choosing to push another $150 billion down that pipeline regardless of what has been spent already. it seems to me that one of the lessons to be learned here is that the american people are much smarter than we give them credit for. they know that just throwing money at every perceived problem out there is the way to solve such a problem. in the meantime, i will listen with interest to my chairman's closing remarks. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman reserves? the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: madam speaker, we have heard three times at least now our friends on the minority side

indicate that only 12% of the original stimulus funding has, quote, left the treasury. that's a very slippery way to put it. because the fact is that what left the treasury means is that after funds are obligated to those who will actually spend it and after the bills have been paid by those recipients, then the money has indeed left the treasury. the real term to focus on is what has been obligated. the fact is that for the programs in this bill, 70% of the funds previously appropriated to those programs have already been obligated. so much for that argument. example. the minority press release states, no funds out of the $1 billion provided for cops has left the treasury.

the fact is all of that funding has been awarded. the minority press release states, only $235 million out of the $6.4 billion for e.p.a. water, wastewater grants has left the treasury. the fact is 99% of that funding has already been provided to the states. so much for that strawman. let me, madam speaker, simply make this observation. we have before us a bill that determines to redirect $75 billion which had initially been directed to help wall street and we want to instead redirect that money to help main street. so we provide $27 billion, for instance, for highway infrastructure projects to put people back in construction. you are either for it or you're against it. we provided enough funding in this legislation to assist more than $670 communities address

their growing backlog of water and sewer repairs and put people to work in the process. you are either for it or against it. we provided $27 billion to try -- from wall street to main street to try to stabilize public service jobs. we are trying to preserve $250,000 teaching jobs over the next two years, for instance. you are either for doing that or you are against it. we are trying to use $500 million to preserve thousands of -- the jobs of thousands of firefighters all across the country. you are either going to help or you're not. well, we are trying to provide $250,000 disadvantaged youth with summer -- 250,000 disadvantaged youth with summer employment opportunities. you are either going to help them or you're not. we are trying to pro250,000

students with additional college work study funds so they can stay in school. you are either going to help those students or you're not. we are trying to provide funding for approximately 150,000 individuals in high growth and emergency -- emerging industry sectors where we know that our job growth possibilities. you are either going to help support that or not. we are trying to provide unemployment insurance for six months rather than two months, extension that was in the previous bill today. you are either going to help those people or not. you are going to provide -- we are trying to provide $23 billion to extent the higher federal match for payments to doctors. or we are not. so basically it's about time to decide where you're coming from. an article in "the new york times" today describe what happens when you lose your job. it pointed out that more than half of the nation's unemployed workers have had to borrow money

from friends or relatives since losing their jobs. they have had to cut back on doctor visits that save article indicates a quarter of those polled have said they lost their home or threatened with foreclosure. they also noted that half of the adults surveyed admitted to feeling embarrassed or ashamed as a result of being out of work and nearly have of the respondents said they no longer had health insurance. the question is, are you going to help those people or not? we can argue what our economic philosophy is until the cows come home as they say in my area, but it seems to me that the question simply is, we've got a problem. what are you going to do about it? and with that i yield to the speaker to conclude my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: i certainly would not

object, but i asked the chairman about additional speakers and clearly i would never, ever detract from our speaker, but in the meantime, a little straightforward discussion would be helpful. mr. obey: if the gentleman would simply -- if the gentleman would yield. he doesn't have the time i'm simply take the time to say that if i had known the speaker had been able to come to the floor i would have -- i certainly would have told the gentleman. i simply didn't know. i trthat he believes me. mr. lewis: i certainly do. the speaker pro tempore: the speaker is recognized. the speaker:: thank you very much, madam speaker. i thank the distinguished chairman for yielding. for his unyielding work on behalf of america's working families. and in this case today for the creation of jobs. to grow our economy and to help those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. i am grateful to the distinguished ranking member, mr. lewis, for his courtesy. yes, my apology. i did not -- i didn't realize

the debate would go to this point. i did want to take the opportunity to talk about jobs to our colleagues and to this congress in general. just to put it in perspective, one year ago in january the job loss was 740,000 jobs for that one month alone. this -- fast forward to now and the job loss for november is 11,000 jobs. 74010 months ago, 11,000 jobs this month. we don't want to lose any jobs. but we are on the road to recovery and we are there because this congress made some very important and difficult decisions to take us there. we are on the road to recovery because of the leadership of

president barack obama who stood on the steps of the capitol in his inauguration and asked for swift, bold action now. so that we could take the country in a new direction and create jobs and grow our economy. one week and one day from the president's inaugural address, this house of representatives passed the recovery act. we were able to do so because we were ready. we had been ready with job creation packages, but we couldn't have the resources until we had a new president to make the investments that took us from 740,000 jobs in january lost in the first month of this year, the president and i remind inaugurated on january 20, toward the end of that month, and then 11,000 jobs. i also want to call to our colleagues' attention that you go back to the first quarter of

2009 and the g.d.p. rate of growth was a negative, it was a minus 6.4%. a result of the failed economic policies of the previous administration. as of november 24, 2009, the g.d.p. has a positive 2.8 and growing. a swing of 9.2% in the g.d.p. from negative minus to positive 2.8. . because of this new direction to deprow our economy, the stock -- grow our economy, the stock market was the first of

the 2009 we are at 7000, we're over 10,000, an increase of over 3,000 points in the stock market. economists tell us that some of this change is directly related to the recovery package that we passed in january. a fiscally sound budget that we passed 100 days after the president's inauguration, which was a blueprint for the future, a statement of our national values that talked about how we could create jobs, lower taxes for the middle class. over 95% of the american people got a tax cut. and how we could reduce the deficit. all of that, job creation and reducing the deficit. the terms of changing in that

budget was in health care, in climate change and energy, to create new innovation. it begins in the classroom. andi sention to our competitive -- and essential to our competitiveness with that innovation is to reduce the cost of health care. to families, to businesses, to our budget and through our economy. to make us competitive and keep us number one in the world economy. all of this was passed by the house of representatives. energy, climate change, education and health care. and then finally, this past week, we passed the regulatory reform legislation. mr. frank is here, our chairman. the work of many people in this congress. we passed regulatory reform to hold wall street accountable, to say the party is over, to say we are creating jobs for

main street, not just wealth for wall street. we respect the creation of wealth and what it means to an economy and how it relates to the creation of jobs. but we cannot have the creation of -- well, at the exploitation of the american worker. we did pass this regulatory reform without one republican vote to hold wall street accountable, without one republican vote. so here we are today after this plan that started on the steps of the capitol, the inauguration of our new president, what we had tried to do before we had a democratic administration but what we had been working for. so we were ready. we were ready. and now, today we are going to pass this legislation which does two things. it creates jobs and saves jobs by investments in the

infrastructure of america. it doesn't do everything we would want, but what we do in this is paid for and building the infrastructure of america. and what it invests in, also, is to help states and cities and localities to keep their fiscal soundness so they don't have to lay off teachers and firefighters and police officers and people who deal -- who meet the health needs of the people in our community. and this is important not only for public safety, that's self-evident. it's not only important because we don't want to lose our teachers. it's about the education of our children and how seriously that can be undermined with the layoff and uncertainty in local and state budgets. but on top of all of that, while we're concerned about what this does to working families and how important it is for people to have their jobs, they are also consumers.

and to the extent that we -- they lose their jobs, our economy loses consumers. when our economy loses consumers, we're in big trouble, economic trouble. we cannot let that happen. and so today we have before us that package for job creation and job retention which is fiscally sound and which is paid for by using tarp funds. the unused tarp funds, which were subject of great debate of which i do believe saved us, pulled us from the brink of the financial crisis we were in as our recovery package later pulled us from the brink of economic disaster. in addition to that, we have some safety net provisions about the extension of unemployment insurance, of cobra to meet the health needs of those who are unemployed which will all expire at the end of december and other issues that relate to the

well-being of america's working families. to address the concerns of the unemployed but in addition to that to create jobs in a fiscally sound way. fiscal responsibility is very important to us. it is our responsibility to our children, -- it is our responsibility to our children not to increase the deficit. and that's this bill does not add one dime to the deficit. it decreases the deficit. i see chairman rangel shaking his head. it's an important part of paying for that legislation, as mr. miller and mr. waxman were so much a part of that health care bill. so here we are today with an opportunity to modestly and in a pay-for way address the issues of jobs. it's a four letter word. let's use that four-letter word every why we go, jobs, jobs, jobs -- everywhere we go, jobs,

jobs, jobs, jobs. i urge my colleagues while some of your districts and states may be doing better than other parts of the country, this is the time for us to recognize that we are a national economy and that the -- what happens in one state has an impact on other national recovery. i thank chairman obey for his great leadership in putting this package together, and i urge our colleagues to act on behalf of america's working families and the creation of jobs in a fiscally sound way, to honor our responsibility of public safety by protecting our first responders and our responsibility to our children to make sure that their education does not have a gap because we have a budget gap. and understanding the role that consumers play in our economy. i hope we will have a strong

yes vote on this legislation, and with that, mr. chairman, i commend you again and yield back the balance of my time. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. all time for debate has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise? mr. obey: pursuant to clause 7 of rule 20, i move to the call of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the chair notes the absence of a quorum in accordance with clause 7-c of rule 20 and chooses to entertain a motion for a call of the house pursuant to clause 7-b of rule 20. without objection, a call of the house is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. -- members will record their presence by electronic device. members will have 15-minute minutes to record their presence. -- members will have 15 minutes to record their presence. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation witith the united states house representatives.

any uany use of the closed-capt coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: although some of the amber

lights in the display over the south gallery are not operational, the other system displays confirm that all of the members listed in the effective column have recorded their presence. 429 members have recorded their presence, a quorum is present. pursuant to house resolution 976, the previous is ordered. -- the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion of the gentleman from wisconsin. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. and without objection the -- >> madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. lewis: 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, members will record their votes by electronic device.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on the motion to concur will be followed by a five-minute vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4194 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

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 217, the nays are 212. the motion is adopted. 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. 4194, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: h.r. 4194, a bill to amend title 18, united states code to exempt qualifying law school students or externships from application of the conflict of interest under such title. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the aaffirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without

objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on the -- on the question of suspending the rules and passing h.r. 1147 as amended. the clerk will report the title. the clerk: a bill to implement the recommendations regarding low power and f.m. service. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to section 1238 sub b,

sub 3 of the floyd d. spence national authorization act for scal year 2001, and the order of the house of january 6, 2009, the chair announces the speaker's reappointment of the following members on the part of the house to the united states-china economic review commission, effective january 1, 2010. the speaker pro tempore: mr. jeffrey fiedler, great falls, virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following communication. the clerk: the honorable, the speaker, house of representatives, madam, this is to formally notify you that on october 26, 2009, i sent a letter to charlie crist of florida that i will be resigning as united states representative from the 19th congressional district of

florida at the end they have day on january 31, 2010. i have been honored to serb the united states house of representatives for 19 years. and i will be grateful to my constituents for giving me the opportunity to be their representative in washington. i will be part of the center for middle east peace where i will take on the critical challenge of facing the middle east. israel, palestinian and other leaders will be faced with decisions that will affect the entire world for decades. i am confident that it's time for me to dedicate myself fully to those issues. while i'm deeply saddened to leave this august body, i'm looking forward to continuing my work in congress in a new role. i want to thank you personally, speaker pelosi, for our extraordinary leadership in

these difficult times for our nation, as well as the kindness and courtesy you have extended to me. i have particularly admired the dig fied manner and deep sense of dwick -- dignified manner and deep sense of conviction you have shown. i hope to continue the friendships i have made here for many years to come. with warm regards, signed, robert wexler. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. radmanovic of florida today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. cake your -- take your conversations to the back of the room. the house will be in order.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order.

the speaker pro tempore: think house will be in order. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: wok, the gentleman has one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to honor a remarkable woman. ms. pat seshoo is my office manager -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend, the house will be in order.

the gentleman from new york will please continue. >> she's retiring next week after 33 years on the hill. she said, you know, i've been thinking about it, i served 11 years with your predecessor, mr. flake and will 11 years with his predecessor, and 11 years with you. now it's time for me to go home to my family. she has done it with such grace and style, she is a treasure. she came here with her father who served here for 50 year they love this place. pat fisher is a time-honored treasure that will be truly missed. she's been the gate keeper for the 16th congressional district of new york for 33 years. not only will washington and the house meet but, but the 640,000 people that comprises the fifth congressional district of new york will miss

her dearly. our loss will be her husband joe's gain and the rest of her father, her daughter, her son, and her grandchild. thank you for your service to this great nathes and the sixth congressional district. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, you have one minute. >> i rise today to honor the life of one of america's fallen heroes, army staff sergeant den sis hanson. born in salt lake city, sergeant hanson was assigned to the 36th infantry regiment, 10th mountain division. he spent 10 years in the marine corps before join neg army he was served deployments in africa, kosovo, iraq, after gap -- afghanistan and the mediterranean he died on

december 11, 2009, as a result of injuries in afghanistan. dennis is survived by his loving family, including his wife jennifer, their children, and his parents dwight and bonnie. it was clear that he had a positive impact on the lives of everyone around him. he was a lead eark family man, an accomplished wrestler in his youth and a champion in every sense of the word. he bravely stood up, volunteered to serve and gave his life in defense of his family, community, state and nation. for this, we owe him and his family a great debt of gratitude. the strength of his character and the courage he demonstrated lew through his service will live on. thank you, mr. speaker. .he gentleman from tennessee rise snr >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cohen: today ends the first year of the 110th congress, a

congress tried to prove its place among the nations of the world, work toward against the global warming problems we have and protect our planet. so much we have has been a group effort. congressman robert wexler of florida, i was privileged to sit next to him in the judiciary committee. he was 13 years in this years. i watched him, i was sad to see him leave because he was an outstanding member of congress who are dedicated to making this country better, working hard, speaking his opinion to try to make this country a better place. i'm proud to have served with robert wexler and proud to have been a member of congress and you have been an outstanding member of congress. we'll miss you. the speaker pro tempore: does what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise?

mr. coffman: the democratic majority voted to raise our debt limit. that vote we took today to raise the debt limit, roll call 988, served as a terrible reminder of all of the votes we didn't take. the debt limit increase vote is the direct opposite of the votes we should have cast earlier this year. the votes to curb spending, the votes to cut pork, the votes for real economic stimulus, the votes for meaningful fiscal discipline. today our national debt is 12.13 trillion. more exactly, it is $12 trillion -- since january 6, 2009, the start of this 111th congress, the national debt has increased

by $1.4 trillion. i'm familiar with these numbers because i begin to place the amount of the national debt in the congressional record on a daily basis since last month. as a reminder to all of us, we need to stop this borrowing and spending. i urge all of my colleagues to embrace fiscal discipline. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what reason does the gentlelady from texas arise. ms. jackson lee: address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. one minute. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise today to indicate there are jobs being created in our community. if anyone thinks that the loss of 109,000 jobs in my community in harris community has not hurt

families during this season, then they need to be aware of the necessity of the various people who need work. i'm very proud that in the defense bill that was passed, we have created jobs, we have created a number of jobs and those jobs have been the kind of jobs that will serve the entire community, solar jobs, 800,000. technology jobs, $1 million. post-traumatic stress disorder for the riverside general hospital that will help our local soldiers. that is $1 million. $4.8 million has been secured by the 18th congressional district to provide jobs in houston to ensure minority research and research on health issues, to ensure green technology jobs, to put people to work. mr. speaker, this is the beginning of a great day when we provide jobs for the 18th congressional district and all

of america. merry christmas to my constituents and merry christmas to our first family and all they have done for america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what reason does the gentleman from louisiana rise? mr. cao: the new orleans saints are having a historic season. it is giving our citizens so much hope. today's statement is from a constituent of new orleans. michael writes, i believe finally it's been 40 or so years of hope and disappointment, much more disappointment. as i bask in the glow of another victory, i have let my heart believe that this could be the year. they have the spirit, talent and determination. they support one another. the success is not a process of stardom but a positive team.

they lift up the whole community. we can all learn from them. long suffering, the story of the saints' past could be the story of our city government. our team has been transformed into bright shining stars. new orleans can share in that transformation. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina arise? fok foxx mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material, mr. cassidy today for five minutes, mr. mccotter today for five minutes, mr. royce today for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permit todd address the house for five minutes revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material, mr. conyers of michigan for five minutes. ms. woolsey of california for five minutes, mr. polis of colorado for five minutes. mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes, mr. grayson for five minutes and mr. spratt of south carolina for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes

each. mr. conyers of michigan. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? ms. kaptur: permission to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. ms. kaptur: mr. speaker, the job market is bleak. a major reason is that bank credit is frozen in this country still. business can't get loans to hire and function. the federal deposit insurance corporation reports that lending has declined for the last five consecutive quarters. this chart demonstrates that.

it was in the "washington post" yesterday, because credit in the real banking sector has dried up. i'm not talking about the political tarp bailout fund banking sector being managed by treasury. i'm talking about the impact of that on the rest of the banking system where credit is simply not being lent across this country. businesses are clammering to get loans only to be rejected from coast to coast. the normal banking sector is not functioning. tarp destroyed over $600 billion of real bank capital as the treasury moved itself into the driver's seat of picking winners and losers. wall street banks literally and the way they have been handled have blunted real economic recovery as businesses cannot get loans to conduct their affairs to hire new employees to pay current employees or buy equipment because they don't have access to credit.

sadly what's happened over this period of time is our local banks and the nonbig five banks in thep country have tried to compete in this economy. the big five -- the ones that got the tarp funds from the taxpayers have gone from holding 30% of the deposits in this country to 40%. they're getting bigger, which means it's even harder for the other thousands of banks across this country to compete. our financial system started seizing up after tarp was passed when normal banks refused to lend to each other and has gotten worse ever since. they lost confidence in the banking system itself. so, where does small business go to get operating loans? the "washington post" gave us a little insight on that yesterday and i wish to place that article in the record. some of what it says is, the administration's options continue to be constrained by

the belief of many officials that meddling in the banks are counterproductive. what is tarp? it is total meddling? and in fact prevents normal lending from being restored as banks across this country see that some banks get a special deal if they go to the treasury and others get thrown aside or merged. a lot of those big banks have met it less competitive and more con traited. the white house has raised its rhetoric but the policy measures have not followed and they extended the tarp for another year. there are some activists across this country calling on the president to do much more. one of them, reverend jesse jackson left a meeting on monday

with ministers who are facing foreclosure on their churches and homes and the reverend called on president obama to use future federal fair lending laws to force the banks to help struggling communities. he said, and i quote, banks got federal money at zero interest, but homeowners and churches are paying pre-tarp prices for their losses. the banking system must be made accountable and the attorney general should have been made in that meeting as well. i agree. 9 banking industry has reduced lending as this chart demonstrates for five consecutive quarters even as it has regaineds profit battle. the amount of money on loan from banks fell by about $600 billion or 7.2% from september, 2008 to sept, 2009, according to the

federal deposit insurance corporation. this is not a recipe for economic recovery, not in the real economy. this is the second time the president has convened bank executives to urge their increased lending. the first was in march. do you know what the article says? it did little to slow the slide. there are two actions that immediately could make a difference. one deals with the president meeting with the securities and exchange commission and the fair accounting standards board and look at mark-to-market accounting which has $600 billion of capital in our financial system. credit is frozen. the very banks we have bailed out have decreased their lending over these five quarters that i've talked about and treasury who's in charge of the tarp literally is picking winners and losers. we need reform of mark-to-market accounting and we need to make sure that we allow people to

remain in their homes so we don't have increase in foreclosureses particularly over the winter months. the problem is they can't see the forest because the big five are blocking their view of what is happening across this country. and i yield back my remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized for five minutes. . ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. at the close of 2009 as we prepare for a new year, i'm prompted to call attention to the remarkable american people who have once again weathered a difficult year with dignity and toughness. sometimes the washington establishment forgets that the solutions to america's problems lie outside this capital city. yes, americans from almost every walk of life are tightening their belts and making do with less this year,

but americans continue to be an extraordinarily resourceful people who inspire me in my work every day. as we prepare to celebrate christmas entering into a new year, i hope we all draw inspiration from the people. ely -- we live in a nation of innovators and hardworking entrepreneurs. their resourcefulness is unlimitled. the spirit of american opportunity lives and thrives among them. let's not forget the north carolinians, who with their characteristic generosity and work ethic, illustrate the greatness at work in america, even in seasons of considerable difficulty. i look to them as a source of inspiration and hope. people like those who call north carolina home have always been the best hope for the preservation of our tradition of individual liberty and government by and for the people.

whether in good times or bad. mr. speaker, washington would do well to stop and watch, listen and learn from everyday americans as they go about their lives and do the things that helped make our nation great. may god continue to bless us all. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: ms. woolsey of california. the gentleman from north carolina. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> mr. speaker, i request permission to take mr. jones' five-minute special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. as yeahened -- as we end the month, the year, the decade this session of congress, some observations. 15 million americans are unemployed.

we have 10% unemployment and higher throughout the united states. spending is totally out of control. the country is broke, so we borrow money from china and japan and it seems they own our nation. the cacks contracts -- the taxocrats have not seen a tax bill they didn't believe in. domestic policy is simple, spend money. spend money we don't have, then borrow it and then raise taxes on the american people. the government financial system is also simple. if it moves, tax it. if it keeps moving, regulate it. if it stops moving, subsidize it. today, we raised the debt ceiling so more money can be spent as soon as we get back in january. now we're over $12 trillion in debt. the house has turned our nation's health care over to the government. you know, the government who tried to run a health care vaccine program that was a total failure, where school

kids didn't get the vaccine while wall street fat cats did. yet the federal government now wants to run america's health. the house voted on a cap and trade tax bill that will add a tax on energy consumption for all americans and punish energy consumption and encourage domestic oil producers to go somewhere else. congress has given more money away to foreign countries that hate us and left more at home. many many have -- many more have left on a plane to denmark talking about how we must control the climate. the al gore warmers have been caught hiding data that show the facts don't disagree with global warming. plus they want to force america to spend billions of dollars on their yet-unproven theory. the government in essence has

taken over wall street, the financial industry, the automobile industry. general motors needs to change its name to government motors. the federal government has taken over the mortgage industry, the banks, and the salaries of some executives. more american freedom and liberty has been stolen from us an more assaults on the constitution have occurred than any time in our history. today the radical open border crowd has announced new legislation, arrogantly demanding amnesty for millions of illegals in this country, with also visa preference for those nations with the most foreigners in the united states. so much for border security. we have a new military strategy that's implemented. it's tchailed surge and retreat plan. that strategy is in afghanistan, where we're going to surge, send a bunch of troops in, yet in 18 month, according to the administration, they're coming home. no strategy has ever been used in military history before.

of course, gitmo down there in cuba, it's getting a new zip code, we're moving it to the united states and putting in it illinois. the country has seen we prosecuted our navy seals and given rights to terrorists. what an odd year it's been. it is the arrogance of power that says government is the answer to everything. our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor have been turned over to government on for -- opportunists. reagan said government is the problem, not the answer, and i agree with him. but mr. speaker, not all is gloom, doom, and despair. there is great hope. the american people are not fooled. people now fear the government and people are mad. people are involved. and even though the d.c. crowd pays no attention to them, i've got news for the elites. think people are not going away in the darkness of the night. they will not give up without a fight because the american cause is righteous and the

people's actions are just. government should in the underestimate the american soul and the american spirit. they are a force to be reckoned with. mr. speaker, the people want their country back. they will get it back. after all, the constitution says, we the people, not we the subjects. that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: mr. polis of colorado. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: you have five minutes. >> mr. speaker, this may be the last address given to -- on the floor of the house of representatives for this year. it is fitting that it is a tribute to michael coat, specialist who gave his life

while fighting to defend us in iraq. he was from louisiana. after graduating, from denman springs high school he met his wife ashley when they were in basic training. they passed notice back and forth in their training and snuck off to church services to be together on weekends. today -- two days after basic training ended, they were married. michael was serving in iraq when his daughter brooke was born in march but he was on the phone as ashley delivered, she delivered in baton rouge. ashley tells me michael liked to fish and hunt, he was an all-around country boy who liked to goof around but always knew when it was time to be a soldier. michael is serving as a crew chief when his blackhawk helicopter went down in balad, iraq, in september. on the day of his memorial service, the people of denman

springs lined the streets to wave american flags as the procession went by. families brought their children and grandchildren. to honor specialist cote. a tribute to a man, friends and family in denman springs say they knew would grow up to be a soldier. his mother, carol, tells me she visits the grave daily. mr. speaker, we mourn with ashley, brooke, and carol. the loss of specialist cote. let us celebrate the patriotism, the dedication to country, and sacrifice on behalf of our security.

we are forever indebted to the men and women of our armed services, soldiers like michael cote who put themselves in harm's way so we may have freedom and peace. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: mr. deal of georgia. mr. defazio of oregon. for what purpose does the gentlelady of texas rise? >> mr. speaker, i'd like to address the house for five minutes and speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. you have five minutes. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker in the rush of the debate earlier, it's not -- the earlier one-minute is not able to

capture the somberness of the moment. as our colleagues have finished their work and have in fact recognized the need of this nation and think it is important to summarize how important it is to keep our minds focused as we return back in the new year. we know that this country is a resilient country. people are tough. and they've gotten tougher. we're blessed by the fact that we have a country of law. we're a democratic nation. if there's oppression in our nation, we have the court system to seek to be redeemed. we have the amenities of life, technology, transportation,

clean water, but in every country comes a time when things are not as good as they need to be. i think we should clarify what has been done over these last couple of months. i was here during the past two presidential terms, when i say two presidential terms, the past and former presidents. i vote nerd 1997 budget reconciliation act that generate an enormous surplus and created opportunity for millions of our children to be insured. that was 1997. we had a surplus. the previous administration, the clinton administration, left office. we had a tragedy in 9/11. and we had to respond to that enormous tragedy a terrorist act. i join with my colleagues to respond to that by allowing our

nation to defend itself by going into afghanistan. i did not support the detour into iraq. however, i support the men and women and i mourn for those families who have lost loved ones. so what have we done over this year? we have fought for america. that is why there was the political sacrifice and some people say that's your job, to vote for the tarp, not willingly. we didn't want a fat cat bill. we didn't want a bill that paid people to stuff their pockets. we wanted to ensure that businesses stayed open. that we had the opportunity for small businesses, my friends and neighbors, my constituents, to get money to keep those jobs. all right, it wasn't perfect. but the numbers don't fib. we did create jobs. we kept businesses open.

the president has gone to the mat by saying to these fat cats, and look, we are in a capitalistic system. i understand that. but he's gone to them and said, you have to lend to small businesses. mr. speaker, we have done a lot and in doing a lot we have provided the opportunity for the kinds of dollars coming to the district so let me just say this. $48 billion in highways, transit and other infrastructure. we are going to be able to stop the bleeding by keeping our teachers, our police, our firefighters and job training. that's $27 billion. we're going to guarantee the loan, guarantee loans to ensure we will have the opportunity to loan money to our small businesses. that's an important statement. and i want to be sure, by looking at what i have to let my constituents know of the

kind of projects that come out of a defense bill because someone would make the argument, why support a defense bill? let me tell you. i've already spoken about the first post-traumatic stress disorder center in an african-american hospital for $1 million. $800,000 for the center for research on minority health prostate cancer research project jobs. $800,000 for high efficiency solar energy generation and storage. jobs. $1.6 million for science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiative. jobs. then $1 million with a private collaborator, independent of federal dollar that will give $1 million to one of the poorest school districts in my community. public and private partnership, mr. speaker. let us not leave this place in shame.

we came from the deep darkness of an economic recession, we've saved jobs, we're creating jobs, we're moving forward. i want to stop reading articles about mothers on the front pages of our newspapers who cannot turn on the lights and cannot feed their children. let me wish everyone again, as i have done a happy holiday and say that this congress deserves the recognition for those who have put themselveses on the line to be able to help the needy. i look forward to us cominging back, passing health care and going on with the jobs effort. i thank the speaker and i yield back my time. . burton of indiana. mr. holt of new jersey.

mr. paul of texas. mr. franks of arizona. mr. grayson of florida. mr. spratt of south carolina. mr. mccotter of minnesota. mr. royce of california. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from missouri, mr. akin, is recognized for 60 minutes. he is the designee of the minority leader. mr. akin: thank you, mr. speaker, it is a treat to join

you, my colleagues and fellow americans that might possibly be tuned in. this is the last day of school. the voting is done and yet the work is not done. in fact, america, among other things, is suffering from a considerbly high level of unemployment. and that was going to be the topic for this evening. i want to talk a little bit about employment, spending and the different ways, different theories that different people have as to how do you create jobs. and there are some theories out there that don't work very well and there are some that do work well and history tells us the difference between the two. i thought what i might do this evening is to start with something that which, in a way may seem fairly basic because most americans have plenty of

common sense and it's important to start at the basic level and start defining terms as we talk about the problem of unemployment. now there are a certain theory of things. i have identified six. there may be other ways that economists look at it differently, six things that are job killers. to start with, we need to understand where jobs come from. jobs come from businesses. what sort of businesses? well, if you take a look at businesses that have 500 employees or less, those businesses employ about 90% of the americans that have jobs in the private sector. 500 or less employees. those many people would say are small businesses. well, what are the things that these small businesses need in order to create these jobs, 90% of the jobs in america? well, the first thing is there are certain things that are killers of jobs, the first is

economic uncertainty. economic uncertainty. put yourself in charge of a business. say you have 100 employees. you are manufacturing some product and you just really don't know what's going to happen with the economy. so there is a level of uncertainty. maybe political things are going on, which increase your level of uncertainty. you don't know whether or not -- perhaps we will go into some kind of economic slump, so what are you going to do if you are a president of a small business? well, what you are eye going to do is, we call it honkering down. i'm not going to take a lot of risk and prepare for some sort of economic storm and at least be prepared. i don't want to take a lot of risk when there is economic uncertainty and what sort of risks might those be? to add a wing on your building, to buy a new machine, to patent

a new invention and try to produce it and sell it on the market. all of those things create jobs but you won't take a high risk position if there is economic uncertainty. economic uncertainty is a job killer. next thing is consumption reduction. that's a fancy word for saying you have a business slowdown. everybody's worried. people are having a hard time economically. they aren't spending as much money, people aren't making investments. so your business going along with all the businesses around you when you are in a time when there is a recession going on, it's economic uncertainty, a form of economic uncertainty, i suppose. and you're thinking, hey, used to be last year we had orders for 100 rig et cetera, this this year, orders for 50.

you aren't thinking about a machine or making investments in adding to the building so you can increase production because you are expecting that you are going to sell less this year because of the fact there is a slowdown in the economy. a slowdown in the economy affects businesses and jobs. pretty much common sense, i think. excessive taxation, how does that hurt jobs? well, here's the deal. you are the president of a business. maybe you have 100 employees and you find out all of a sudden that your taxes are really going up. now if you have a lot of taxes, that means you don't have much commoice and you are going to have to pay those taxes. it will be paid with from the profits and proceeds of the company that you have. and hopefully you have 100 employees and paying them and selling product and selling

product for more than it costs you and making some profits and you are pocketting those profits. now, you understand there is going to be a lot of taxation coming down the pike. it will take money away from the guy that owns the bits. and when you do that, he doesn't have the money to spend on adding additions to the business or introducing new products or maybe inventing different ways of doing things. and so the taxation takes the place of investment that would normally be made in the company. when that investment is made, that usually results in hiring more people. but the hiring more people isn't going to happen if you have excessive taxation. in fact, we found historically that if you drive the business owners with enough taxation, you can not only stop job creation, you can stop the whole business and bring it into bankruptcy and destroy the engine that creates

jobs. excessive taxation is a big factor. another thing is, insufficient liquidity. the fact is that businesses need money to run on, just like the engine in your car needs oil. and wants is, the business, let's say it's a machine shop decides they want to buy a new piece of equipment. that new piece of equipment is going to cost them $5 million. you have your machinist there in your company, but you don't have $5 million to buy this new piece of equipment. but if you had that piece of equipment, that in a matter of 2 1/2, three years, you could pay for the piece of equipment just by the products you could make on it. you say, this is a great investment and i could pay this off relatively quickly, but i don't have the money to buy this

new piece of equipment. what do you do? you go out and get a loan and when you take a loan, you are going to pay interest and you get that equipment in and it's running beautifully and you get the orders and make the parts and pretty soon you pay off the piece of equipment. how did that happen? you were able to borrow money, which people call liquidity. you could borrow money. when you did it, you hired people to run the new piece of equipment and created jobs. if you did not have that liquidity, if you can't borrow money that you need, then what happens? you can't buy the new pieces of equipment and then you are killing the potential for creating jobs. excessive government spending. wait a minute, how could the government spending affect jobs in america? well, it turns out that there is an effect indeed. when the government spends a lot

of money, it has to get that money from somewhere? guess where the money comes from? the private sector. the money comes from taxes. as the government tries to collect more and more money to appeasse it's money. and the government does a whole lot of spending and it kills jobs. now it may not appear to kill jobs in the short-term. if the government does a whole lot of spending, let's say the government decides to spend $150 million. we decided to do that a few hours ago, $150 billion. this is stimulus junior, mini stimulus, $150 billion, still real money to most people and real money to the u.s. government, although you

wouldn't know it by the way we spend it. today, by the way, we did a good job of spending money, $1.1 trillion today. but mini stimulus was $150 billion. and that government spending, let's say you hire a whole lot of people. wouldn't you create jobs? well, you would in a temporary sense. you could put people on a government payroll, but when you temporarily hire someone from the government, what you're doing is you are taking money out of the economy through this government spending. and in fact, what happens is for every one job you create in government, you are faking 2.2 jobs out of the private sector. it's one of these things where it may seem you are doing well. you are getting a drink, but the salt makes you more thirsty. it is a losing proposition when you get into excessive

government spending and the other thing is excessive government mandates and red tape. we have a picture here that my staffer found of some poor c.e.o. buried in red tape, all kinds of memos and all kinds of regulations. your common sense will show why this is a problem. let's say you are a small business. well, you have a certain number of employees. those employees, you have them working right away making product that you can sell because you have a lean and efficient process and you don't have many people that are management people, just a few people try to organize things and get orders in the door and somebody from the government knocks on your door and says, hey, you didn't fill out this form and somebody knocks and calls and says you didn't fill out this form, did you do this? have you applied for this? did you get this? and pretty soon, you have all kinds of employees.

and what do they produce? they produce paper woork? paperwork for who? the government. when you get more red tape and excessive mandates, obviously it may seem like you are creating jobs, but you are making the business less efficient and not putting those good prutioning jobs onto the payroll. and that is like the excessive government spending because they are government jobs that in fact tind to get rid of this. all of these things, all of these conditions kill jobs. so if the federal government wants to create jobs, first of all, we have to understand something. the federal government can't create jobs. the whole concept of stimulus is a false assumption. the only thing the federal government can do is create the conditions so that the people in the private sector can create the jobs.