traditional. we will close and ask everybody to vote unanimously and support h.r. 3237 and pass it. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3237. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. . pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the house will stand in recess subject to

>> when he veto came back from this spevspev >> when the veto came back, what was the president's message to congress? >> he said he was vetoing the bill because it was unnecessary.

because it was superseded when the congress passed the bill that funds the government. he can't let legislation sent to him pass by without taking any action, so there was a pocket veto and a regular veto of the bill. >> what's the likely outcome of a vote in the house today? >> you know, first of all, it doesn't really matter because the legislation is meaningless, but the 2/3 to sustain, 2/3 to override the veto, so if you ask to sustain the veto, you need a majority so the democrats can have a majority. some republicans said yesterday they would vote with that as well, it's not an issue of any rule legislative substance, but it's more underlying constitutional questions. >> if it comes to a close in the house, what about the senate? will they have a say on the veto? >> the senate leaders haven't spoken about whether they'll take this up. but now that the house has

spoken, when the issue comes before the supreme court, i assume it's been unresolved since the constitution took effect, the congress can say, at least one part of the congress dealt with this veto. president george w. bush issued a similar veto in 2007 of a defense authorization bill, but that was a serious substantive issue about the fisa law and congress dealt with that and rewrote the bill. >> ed epstein of "congressional quarterly"," thanks for theup date. >> thanks for having me. >> he house will vote on the veto when they return, we expect that to be at about 2:00. the house plans to be out of session the rest of the week so democratic members can attend a

conference at the capitol members center. until then, remarks from president obama morning on action to deliver mue mantarian aid relief to haiti an earthquake that hit the country yesterday, this is about five minutes. >> good morning, everybody. i want to extend my deepest condolences to the people of haiti after the earthquake yesterday. the reports and images that we've seen of collapsed hospital, crumbled homes and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart wrenching. indeed for a country and a people who are no stranges to hardship and suffering, tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible.

our thoughts and prayers are also with the many haitian americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home. i have directed my administration to respond with a swift coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives. the people of haiti will have the full support of the united states in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief, the food, water, and medicine that haitians will need in the coming days. in that effort, our government, especially usaid and the departments of state and defense, are working closely together and with our partners in haiti, the region, and around the world. right now, our efforts are focused on several urgent priorities. first, we're working quickly to account for u.s. embassy personnel and their families in port-au-prince, swell the many american citizens who live and work in haiti.

americans trying to locate family members in haiti are encouraged to contact the state department at 888-407-4747. i'm going to repeat that. 888-407-4747. second, we've mobilized resources to help rescue efforts. military overflights have assessed the damage and by early afternoon our civilian disaster relief assistance teams are beginning to arrive. search and rescue teams from florida, virginia, and california will arrive throughout today and tomorrow. more rescue and medical equipment and personnel are being prepared. because in disasters such as this the first hours and days are absolutely critical to saving lives and avoiding even greater tragedy, i have directed my teams to be as forward-leaning as possible in getting the help on the ground and coordinating with our international partners as well.

third, given the many different resources that are needed, we are taking steps to ensure that our government acts in a unified way my national security team has led an interagency effort overnight and to ensure that we coordinate our effort going forward, i designated the administrator of the u.s. agency for international development to be our government's unified disaster coordinator. this effort will be complex and challenging as we move resources into haiti, we will be work closely with partners on the ground, including the many n.g.o.'s from haiti and across haiti. the united nations stabilization mission which appears to have suffered its own losses and our partners in the region and around the world this must truly be an international effort. finally, let me say this is a time when we are remind of the common humanity we all share with just a few miles of ocean between us and a long history

that binds us together. haitians are our neighbors in the americas and here at home we have to be there for them in their hour of need. despite the fact that we are experiencing tough times here at home, i would encourage those americans who want to support the urgent humanitarian efforts to go to whitewhite house.gov where you can learn how to contribute. we must be prepared for difficult hours and days ahead as we learn about the scope of the tragedy. we'll be resolution in our response and i pledge to the people of haiti you will have a friend and partner in the united states of america today and going forward. may god bless the people of haiti and those working on their behalf. thank you very much. >> president obama, from

shortly after 10:00 eastern this morning. the associated press writing that haitians are piling bodies along their devastated streets of their capital, port-au-prince, the president there saying he believes thousands of people are dead. shortly after the president made his comment the state department gave further details on u.s. relief, including comments about usaid participation. this briefing runs about 30 minutes. >> good morning and welcome to the department of state. as the president said earlier, we are committed to helping the people of haiti as well as looking after the welfare of the roughly 40,000 americans who live and work in haiti, including those who are part of our u.s. embassy family in port-au-prince. this is a whole government effort, as you'll see by the speakers who will be at the -- who will have a status report

and the way forward, representatives from the department of state, defense, and agency for international development. we are obviously supported by other agencies, including the department of homeland security as we go forward and as you'll hear, responding as rapidly and effectively as we can to the to the a difficult situation in haiti. we'll begin this morning's briefing with the counselor to the secretary of state and driving force behind haiti policy formulation here at the state department, followed by raj shah, the administrator of usaid, we're pleased to have the commander of u.s. southern command who will talk about the military response to this disaster. >> good morning. let me first start by saying that our thoughts and prayers are with the haiti people and

the international community. this is going to be a challenging and difficult time. we are looking forward to being able to provide all the support we can bring to bear to try and ameliorate the impact of this terrible situation. as you all know, shortly before 5:00 yesterday, an earthquake struck outside of port-au-prince and outside of the island of haiti and there were multiple aftershocks that had an impact on the island as well. according to our initial overnight there is -- overflights this morning, it appears most of the damage is in port-au-prince and the other areas have sustained less damage. the situation on the ground is frude, we have limited telecommunications and within the haitian community there's limited telecommunications. we have been fortunate, our u.s. ambassador has been able to reach president preval who is grateful to the outpouring of assistance he has been

receiving from the international community. as many people have already seen, there are numerous structures that have sustained substantial damage and we also know that there have been not insignificant numbers of casualties. we do not have estimates yet as to the number of those or to the number of those injured, but the situation is severe. in addition to the facilities that sustained discharge we know that the u.n. peacekeeping forces headquarters sustained damage. we'll be lending our assistance to provide search and rescue support in that area. i'm going to speak a little bit about our american citizens who are there, raj will be speaking about disaster assistance. we will then have general frazier speaking about you are military response. in that vein, there are approximately 45,000 american citizens in haiti. the embassy at hort awe prince

has activated early warning systems to communicate with those citizens to establish how they are doing and what they might immediate. we have received a number of reports of injured u.s. citizens and we are working through those to make sure we are getting everybody the assistance they need. there have been a number of calls coming into to our consular affairs seeking information about loved ones in haiti. the president gavepl autoout this number, i want to give it one more time, 1-888-407-4747. that's a number you can call into if you are seeking information or seeking to make a request with respect to someone who is -- that you were trying to connect with in haiti. in terms of embassy personnel on the ground there, we have about 172 personnel there. as of 8:00 a.m., we accounted for just about all of them. there were eight personnel wounded, four who had been seriously wounded. we have already had u.s. coast

guard helicopters on the ground to medevac them and get them care. we have beginning to see that happen as well. we have ordered the departure of approximately 80 embassy spouses, children, nonessential personnel, those will begin happening later today so we can ensure that resources there can be given to those who are in need. the coast guard will have planes arriving this afternoon, i'm sure the general will speak to that, to help in the process. the embassy structure has remained intact, it's become a point of support and it has been providing medicalport and other support for haitians and americans and others who have been table reach the embassy. we have reached out to the government of haiti to be able to assess what their needs are and to be able to understand what their priorities are. we have launched a multiagency effort to provide disaster assistance, which is being led

by ambassador shaw through the office of disaster assistance and so with that as a background, i'm going to turn it over to ambassador shaw to peek to those efforts. >> thank you. our first comment, of course is that our -- our thoughts and prayers are with the people of haiti who have, of course, suffered a tremendous tragedy with this evert quake that started last night just before sundown. we are working aggressively and in a highly coordinated way across the federal government to bring all of the assets and capacities we have to bear to quickly and effectively provide as much assistance as possible. the goal of the relief effort in the first 72 hours will be very focused on saving lives that it's the president's top priority and is what the president has directed us to do we will do that by first putting in place significant disaster assistance relief teams, we'll have by the end of today 15 members of that team

doing surveillance, collecting data, identifying priority sites and guiding the efforts of the larger search and response units that will be following their entry on -- into the country. we have two urban search and rescue units on their way, both are units with 72 individuals, people who have significant training and significant equipment and technical capacity to conduct search and rescue in urban settings to drill through and clear as much as is possible of rubble to try to identify individuals that can be saved and continue with the mission of saving lives. we are working aggressively across the various agencies of the federal government including fema and the department of homeland security to identify additional units we'll be able to deploy as rapidly as possible. we're working hand in hand with the department of defense and general frazier to make sure we have the transport logistics to

get these into the cubtry and operating as quickly as possible. the other comment i wanted to make is that as part of this, we are also thinking about critical needs in the area of health and food, water, transportation and infrastructure and other advanced planning that needs to take place now so that we can -- we know we ville quite a lot of work to do in the days and weeks ahead. we are committed to a significant effort and to do everything we can in those sectors so our team which includes members from every agency in the federal government that has the capacity to help is working to develop plans and put resources in place so that we can effectively respond to some of the requests that have come from the haitian leadership and from our teams on the ground. finally i'll point out that we do already have, of course, teams on the ground including our ambassador, usaid mission

director and other brave men and women who work for the u.s. government in that capacity, they've been providing guidance and support and information and are very much part of the effort just by having themselves gone through a very significant and challenging experience. we want to thank hem for that -- thank them for that effort. we will be pushing forward with an aggressive and coordinated effort focused on saving lives through aggressive search and rescue in the urban environment for the next 72 hours, that will be the primary focus of our engagement. i'll hand to it general frazier who can talk about the logistics support that they need and will continue to get from the armed forces to make sure we have every capacity in the government to be effective. thank you. >> thank you, raj. from the united states southern command and the department of defense, our prayers and condolences go out to the people of haiti also. in coordination with the usaid

and the entire u.s. government we have a significant effort to support this. from the time we found out about the earthquake, we started in motion. are there concerns about the airport in port-au-prince? it's still functional but the tower capacity is limited so we're pushing capacity there now to operate and secure that airport. we're also pushing command and control capability and communications. as you all know, communications have been hab very difficult in haiti so we're pushing that to not only support u.s. forces who are there, but because a lot of the communications from was in their headquarters, that was lost so we're looking to support the menusta effort as well. we have various ships in the region, u.s. coast guard ships as well as some department of

defense ships moving in that direction. they have limited humanitarian assistance supplies on them, but they have some vertical lift capability, some helicopters with them. in addition, we're moving the aircraft carrier carl vincent from norfolk to the vicinity. it will take on a complement of helicopters as it proceeds and we're hoping to have that in the vicinity of haiti tomorrow afternoon. so we continue to robustly move capability and support into the area to provide that life-saving assistance as well as do assessments of what the follow-on needs will be. we're already looking beyond the immediate needs to understand as we get those assessments in to provide the capability as quickly as we can to haiti system of significant effort across the board. thank you very much.

>> i'm wondering, considering the situation there right now and the fact that the u.n. appears to be not completely functional, the 100 people trapped, their communications out and the fact that this humanitarian are response can't really function unless there's law and order there, i'm wondering if there's been any thought given to sending troops to complement the u.n. forces you may or may not be able to secure the area? >> we're really looking at that capacity. as you heard from my standpoint, the destruction is very focused, at least it appears right now in port-au-prince. menusta has forces all around the island of haiti. we're working with them to get an assessment. as a matter of circumstance, my deputy commander happened to be in haiti during the earthquake,

he's working with menusta to coordinate those efforts. that's a significant concern we have, we're working with them and doing an assessment to understand what kind of follow-on capabilities -- >> so it's possible that american troops might be sent to help. >> we're seriously looking at that. we're looking at the possibility of sending a large amphibious ship that will have a marine expeditionary unit on it, that will be in support of menu stmbings a. >> i would also stress that the commander of menu stmbings a happened to be out of haiti, the coast guard provided him transportation back. >> he would get in early this afternoon. >> i have a kuhnle, maybe a few of you can take each one.

>> multipart question. >> multipart we'll be right back famous for them. in terms of americans, we understand you've only heard from a couple dozen out of 45 40,000 american, do you think that's a factor of the lack of communication, or are you bracing yourselfs for serious american casualties, and what's being done about that? then on the -- if you can talk a little bit about the communications with the government to this point, it seems as if the government yourself, you have your own u.s. communications that are working well, but the restñi of the government doesn't necessarily have communications, so how are you working wem with them, not just on kind of talking but given the state of haiti even before the earthquake, they had a lack of capacity, a lack of infrastructure, you know, the government, while stable, certainly needed a lot of help to begin with.

so how are you dealing with this delicate balance of keeling with ethe haitian government that needed help to begin with and now, not try to be seen as taking over, but do you have the capability right now? >> in terms of u.s. casualties, we've activated our system there that's in communication with our folks on the ground there and american citizens there. we have not yet had reports of major u.s. casualties. we are obviously going to continue to monitor the situation. we do have -- we have relatively good communication in terms of being able to start doing assessments of where folks are. that's what we're going to continue to do and continue to be hopeful, it works out for everybody on the ground, haitian or american. with respect to communication, ambassador joseph from haiti has asked for communications support, that's something we'll be provide, usaid and d.o.d.

are providing support there today. i do believe one of the challenges is being able to communicate among themselves as a government and to their people and we'll do the best we can to provide that support to them. >> minister shah can you pick up on the point of the, even before the earthquake, the lack of development and infrastructure in the country puts haiti, this is a country that can afford it the least right now. how do you, you know, not be seen as taking over, but know that certainly the government doesn't have the resources to provide? >> well, it's without question haiti has had less capacity than we have here to administer these types of efforts and run these tips of emergency operations. we're working in close coordination with the haitian government. we are -- the principle of our assistance, whether humanitarian or development, is around deep partnership with those whom we work with and serve. so we are being responsive to

their stated requests for health and medical services, for example, by deploying specific assets to meet the needs they have there and exploring a range of other things we can do by standing up emergency medical services and emergency medical facilities in port awe 3ri7bs. we will continue to stay connected with them that's why we're sending the communications package to allow the leadership to have effective communications and we made that a priority and put that on the first plane down. we will continue to work with them to stand this up, but you're right, it's going to be a challenging operation for everyone involved, but we have the resources and the capacities to be effective so we're going to work that way. >> thank you. >> saving lives is the priority, but i wonder if you have any sense of where these teams, rescue teams are going to head first? are they going to the u.n.

headquarters? hospitals? talk about the priorities? >> sure. i may ask my colleagues to help address that. that's why we send the disaster assistance response team to do the assessment. we're getting information, of course, from our partner countries around the world from the u.n. system, and of course some of the challenging situations they're facing right now and from our various partners in haiti. we'll have a team on the ground that can survey firsthand. we have overflight data right now that's getting better by the moment that's allowing us to get a sense of where the destruction is and what the priorities ought to be. our goals will be to save as many lives as possible in the first 72 hours, that's the window in which that is a possible outcome. so we'll stay very focused on that while meeting the obvious priorities of supporting our american personnel there and the personnel of our partners. >> i will add one thing.

the u.n. is sending in a disaster team to help coordinate all the efforts coming in from different countries. we anticipate being in close partnership with them and providing whatever support we can. >> charlie wolfson with cbs. first of all, general fraser, can you tell us how many marines are on that ship, the vincent, i believe it is. >> on the first ship going down there, there are no marines down there. on the aircraft carrier going in it's to provide the support lift that ship happened to be out of port, it was training, it has a limited capacity onboard and so that's why as it gos south, we're going to put a complement of helicopters on it. we're providing and provisioning the carrier as it steams south. there's not a complement of marines on there right now. the ship that i was talking about where there may be is a large deck amphibious ship that's another day or two away, it will are have a standard

marine expeditionary unit, don't tie me to this precise numbers, roughly 2,000 marines potentially on there. but we're still determines that right now. >> margaret warner, the 3bs news hour. general fraser, under what circumstances would you feel it is necessary to deploy the marines there? in other words, is it a question of keeping civil order or is it just facilitating the disbursement of supplies? and what is the situation on the ground in terms of the degree of order or disorder? >> from what i've been told by general keane, my deputy commander, is the situation is calm, right now, and so we're anticipating going in being table provide that humanitarian assistance, that life-saving effort, that's going to be the focus get ought there it's going to be our assessments that are going to determine in conjunction with menusta how

best to deal with any situations that come up. >> are you saying the marines are being sent there as a -- for a security situation or simply that they may be needed to help facilitate the delivery? >> what i'm saying is, we don't know what the situation is on the ground. we're leaning forward to provide as much capability as quickly as we can to respond to whatever the need is when we get there. >> can i also address that? this is about having options and the president has asked us to make sure we look across the entire government, all of our capabilities and make sure we generate as many options as possible. we're doing that on the health side where we're standing up two or three different types of emergency medical service provision strategies asms we get real information on the ground about what is the best way to pursue the president's goal in saving lives in this critical time frame, we'll be able to far erowe the options and make critical decisions. we're trying to generate as

many potential options and put as many assets as we can into where they could be used quickly and efficiently to achieve the goal. >> you mentioned the marines but the army a also has the 82nd airborne brigade out there, have you given consideration to them assisting? >> we have given consideration to that. we have put various forces around the armed forces on alert. as soon as we get the assessments in, we are postured to move those forces in the next -- in an expeditious manner. we have put a brigade on alert just in the circumstance, we'll determine that as we get the assessment. >> and the employee of air resources flying in, you anticipate tomorrow c-17's coming in under regular pattern? >> i think it's an international effort, we're working with usaid and trying to understand what the other partners are doing there. i think it's also important to understand that there's really

one airfield, one runway, limited ramp space, the terminal is not functional right now, we're not certain what the status of it is, so it's a difficult environment we're going into. we're trying to understand that, we think that we're going to -- we're working our team in there to make sure we can operate that airfield as efficiently as we can to keep the flights moving in and out of there. we're also taking assessment at a port. in likelihood, the port of port-au-prince will be more important in being able to move a volume of goods through. we don't know what the status of that is. we're looking at all the option to try to make sure we have as much flexibility as possible. >> i know it's early on in the disaster but i'm wondering if there's a relevant disaster that this seems to compare to from experience, the american public maybe can get their minds around exactly what's going on there.

>> well, rather than comparing this to previous disasters, i would say this does present unique challenges because so many of our partners and many of our own people are in a position where we're still accounting for their safety and their security and certainly that's the case as was mentioned with the u.n. team out there. so of course these are people who have gone through a lot in the last day and now are also called upon to help protect and serve others and it will be challenging, they will need all of our support. that's why when the president asked us to be swift and aggressive and coordinated in doing this, we're bringing together the entire federal government to make sure we have as many options as we possibly can to provide that support as quickly as possible. >> administrator shah, you mentioned you were looking to deploy more urban search and rescue team. does the federal government

have that capability or are other country pledging to move those in? >> both. in particular, through our partnership with fema, we can expand our capacities and make sure that in addition to the teams the office of foreign disaster has ready to go we can explore using other teams and getting them ready and in place quickly. that's what we're doing to try to expand the search and rescue immediately. >> why was it two initially? >> two teams of 72 people each with significant equipment, training, with all of their visas and international training and status ready to go is a significant capability. in addition to that, and really in parallel, this was not something where we waited before we deployed, we have a partnership with fema and are deploying a third team and will look to get other teams on board as well. part of the tchadge will be getting information from the ground, which we will start to

do in a matter of hours, understanding the priorities and letting that guide the capabilities we have so that we can effect this work in a coordinated way. the third team is currently based in miami. >> if you go back, january 26, in india, thousands of people chied and millions were homeless. what can you learn from that and do you have for the people of haiti this time? >> well, that's a broader question. we're going to stay very focused in the short-term on the search and rescue and saving lives in the first 72 hours. the question does touch on when the rebuilding commences and it will commence, thinking in a smart and strategic way about building the right types of structures and building the right types of institutions

that can be more resilient in the future and of course our agencies and many other agencies that we are working with around the federal government have had a wealth of experience working in disaster environments and there are ways to be prepared, but right now, our focus is entirely on the search and rescue ifert and the effort to save lives in the first 72 hours. >> what sort of international help are you seeking from other countries, including india, maybe doctors and medical help and all that? >> there are a wide range of countries that have offered to provide support. those are coming in by the moment. weir working through that and trying to have a coordinated approach on the ground to make sure we execute that in the way that's most effective. i believe one is offering helicopter transport support and other capacities, those are partnerships we hope to have with a range of partners.

>> are you specifically coordinating the international assistance? is it done through the haitians? >> we're working with the haitian government, the u.s. government, the department of state and others. we have an embassy that's standing and with some communication so we'll do everything we possibly can with the capabilities we have to make sure that we're serving the haitian people and that we're serving american citizens in that environment and trying to save lives. if that means being more active and aggressive and fast about trying to secure commitments and support from other countries and trying to coordinate that effort, we're prepared to do that. >> one or two more. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2009] >> after that briefing in state department, u.s. southern command general douglas fraser headed to the pentagon for reporters' questions there he said a brigade that consists of between 3,500 and 5,000 troops is being put on alert, also the u.s.s. carl vincent is expected to arrive off the he's coast of haiti tomorrow. this is about 25 minutes. >> good afternoon. thank you for joining us. it's my privilege to have the opportunity to introduce to you general douglas fraser who is the commander of u.s. southern command and by circumstance, happened to be in washington, d.c. when the earthquake hit haiti. as most of you in this room know, as the commander of u.s. southern command, he will be the person in charge of the d.o.d. effort as we provide support and assistance to haiti and he has to get back to his

command to oversee that effort but before he left, he has offered to give us about 30 minutes to answer some of your questions. so with that, general, thank you for taking your time. i know you're busy, we appreciate it. >> thanks very much. it's a pleasure to be with you. first i want to reiterate just from the united states southern command standpoint and the department of defense standpoint, our prayers and condolences go out to the citizens of haiti and all the other partners who are there. it's a horrific event that they've suffered through and we're working every effort we can and pushing and leaning as far forward as we can to support the lifesaving measures initially, doing assessment, and then look beyond that into the humanitarian disaster relief support we can give as we work in a very integrated passion with usaid and the entire government. we have a very robust effort

headed in that direction. the initial requirements because there was very difficult communication last night, and so, we really only had a couple of landline capability, there wasn't a lot of ability to get around port-au-prince so it was difficult to understand what the situation was on the ground. we didn't understand what the the situation at the airport. we put together various contingencies as we work through the night to work and adjust to whatever situation we found as we got more information out today. we have really, principally, because we have small forces, about 60, just a little over 60 u.s. military personnel in haiti, primarily focused on the military liaison group and a small contingent supporting the u.n. mission there. so we're focused on getting command and control and mune cases there so that we can

really get a better understanding of what's going on. menusta, their headquarters partially collapsed, lost a lot of their communication. we're looking to robust that communication. also we're sending in assessment teams in conjunction with usaid, supporting their efforts as well as putting in some of our own to support their efforts. we're moving vare ships we've had in the region, they're small ships, coast guard cutters, destroyers, in that direction to provide whatever immediate assistance we can on the ground. we also have a u.s. navy aircraft carrier, the u.s.s. carl vincent moving in that direction. it was at sea off of norfolk, so it's going to take a couple of days for it to get there wal need to resupply it and give it the provisions it needs to support the effort as we look at haiti. then we're looking across the

internet, agencies, figure out how to support their efforts as well as our efforts. we're looking at a large deck amphibious ship with an embarked marine expeditionary unit on it that will be a couple of days behind the u.s.s. vincent. that gives us a broader range of capability to move supplies around, have lift capability to help support the effort there also. bottom line we don't have a clear assessment on the ground, what the needs in port awe pribs are, what the situation is. we also have a team headed into the airport from my understanding, because my deputy commander, happened to be in haiti when the situation happened on a previously ski jowled visit. hi has been to the airport, he says the runway is functional, but the tower doesn't have communications capability they

feel passenger terminal is -- has structural damage to it, we don't know what the stratus is. we have a group going in to make sure we can gain and secure the airfield and operate from it because that's one of those locations we think we'll have a lot of immediate effort from an international basis going into. then we're out conducting all the other assessments that you would consider appropriate as we go and work on this effort. we're also coordinating on the ground with menusta with the folks who are there, the commander for menusta happened to be in miami. he's traveling back through and should be arriving in port-au-prince in time so that will help coordinate our efforts there also because obviously the united nations suffered a significant loss there with the collapse, at least partial collapse of their headquarters. those are the initial efforts that we have ongoing.

as we get the assessments of what's coming next, we'll adjust as required. secretary of defense, the president have all stipulated that this is a significant effort and we're corraling all the resources within the department of defense to support this effort. >> how concerned are you that the security situation there might be deteriorating and u.s. troops might be needed to provide some sort of peacekeeping force in light of the looting and we heard a prison might have collapsed as we were coming in here. are you considering guantanamo bay as a possible place to house refugees or jail inmates from a prison that may have collapsed? >> right now, again, the assessment is very fluid there. from general keane on the ground there he says the situation is calm. so that's what we're expecting. i think it's also important to understand that the united nations mission was there primarily on a security role.

they have forces throughout the country, they have done a significant job in sustaining and maintaining stability and security within the country, that, i don't think, has changed to a significant amount. i don't know the answer to it directly, so we will work with menu stambings and get assessments and figure out what the security situation is and then decide what to do from there. i'm still trying to understand what the situation is on the ground, but i'm really going to rely on the support of menusta because they're familiar with the situation they've been dealing with for quite a while. >> is guantanamo bay a possibility? is it a resource available to you? >> it's a resource available if we need to take advantage of it for various reasons. so we're looking across the region to just understand what the possibilities are there. >> you talked about large deck amphibious ship, can we assume

that would be a marine expeditionary unit out of north carolina? >> it will be from the east coast, probably out of north carolina. >> also probably out of north carolina? >> i don't know the specifics of that right now. we're still working the details. >> the hospital ship? >> it's a consideration. as we look at our efforts to do humanitarian assistance throughout the region, we have traditionally run a shopt ship down there for about a four-month period, the comfort was down there, on the alternate years we use a large-deck amphibious ship because it has a similar capacity to what the comfort has so the fact that we're sending that down there will give us significant medical capability on the ground. we'll have to look at the future. >> you said the runway is intact but the tower lost communications. any time when you're going to start rolling in c-130's? >> that's what we're using

right now. what the weight of effort and what needs are there, that's what the assessment is going to be. that's in coordination with usaid, all the national and international organizations to figure that out. i don't have good answers for you right now. >> you mentioned that the state department that an army brigade had been put on alert. can you tell us who that is and what the conditions would be that you'd see they'd be actually called? >> there has been one, it's a brigade up at fort bragg. but the specific of what we're going to need and how we're going to need it and the evolving situation, i don't have a specific on that right now because we don't understand what the situation is on the ground. we don't understand where the capacity of the haitian government is, men sumbings ta. we're just putting and giving ourselves options for the future system of that will evolve.

>> the haitian government said on cnn a short time again that the death toll may be in the hundred os thousands. do you have an an initial sense from folks on the ground if that appears to be in the ballpark of what you think the death toll will be? >> i have no good sense. you've heard reports of collapsed buildings, but there's been limited communications, there haven't been assessment teams out there a lot of organizations are focused on recovering their own people and families. we don't have a good sense of what that equates to right now. i think there will be significant loss of life, though, but i can't tell you that for certain. >> in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, you had a bunch of other countries fairly quickly start rolling out their plans to begin relief flights and what their aid packages would be. it's taken the u.s. seemingly a bit longer to assess and say

what we'll do. what accounts for other countries doing it sooner and on this end doing it slower? >> from practice, we've found that the assessments are critical to making sure we get the right equipment in thereunder a make the recovery efforts and the life supporting efforts as efficient as possible. so the worst thing we can do is put a lot of equipment forward that we don't know whether or not we'll need. so that's what we're doing right now, focused on getting our assessment teams in there. we're moving assets to prepare for moving adecisional assets in there. that's where the focus of our effort is right now, the life-saving effort. >> two questions, one, has the diplomatic formalities of the request from haiti come up from the state department and then down to your command yet? secondly, can you go into more details about what capabilities the carl vincent brings to haiti. when it get there is, what will

it be used for? will there be additional ships that are normally part of its battle group when it arrives? or is it going alone? >> from the carl vincent standpoint, well, first, from the state department, i have not seen a formal request. i ask you to ask the state department if they've seen a formal request. question just understand it's a dire situation so we're leaning forward. i know that the president unofficially has -- the president of haiti has asked for assistance. official documentation, i have not seen that yet. >> not letting paperwork get in the way. >> exactly. >> from the u.s.s. carl vincent, it was a ship that was available with a small complement of aircraft on it when it was at sea, so we're going to as it passes through, by mayport, we'll provision it with as much capability as we can, primarily looking at helicopter capacity in that. we need to get around the

country and we don't understand what the needs of that are yet. then it will have whatever we can provision as we get better understanding of what the capabilities and capacities are and needs are, then we can use that as a staging base, if you will to move equipment, move resources in and around haiti. we're trying to give, again, ourselves options because the only airfield within port-au-prince is a single runway. it will have limited capacity. we're trying to give ourselves options to get as much capacity down there to be able to flex as we need to. >> will other ships in the battle group be with it? >> there could be another one. we're looking at how, where, what to do to replenish it. it's still a fluid situation right now. >> can you tell ewe more specificity when some of the teams are arriving, today.

>> teams are arriving this afternoon from our ability to manage the airfield, our command and control capability, our headquarters complement, our come gear that's come -- our comm gear that's coming this afternoon. then we're looking at assessments of what else is needed to go in there and working in conjunction with usaid. this is a multiple effort, not just the d.o.d. >> you said that the mission is going to be on an international level. have you had, so far, any contacts with military leaders, foreign military leaders to coordinate the efforts of the mission? >> i have not personally had those conversations. there's an organization within my command, joint interagency task force south, who has a lot of liaison officers who are represented in the u.n. mission in haiti and so they are coordinating all those efforts

right now. that's one of those things, as i get back to my headquarters, i'm looking to do, is contact those military leaders. >> general, what have you heard about how many americans may need to be evacuated? are you hear anything numbers there? is that a top priority for your mission? >> you heard from the state department that there are around 45,000 u.s. citizens in haiti. i don't have an answer for you on what the immediate needs are. the embassy has ordered a -- an evacuation of their families, dependents. that's an issue we're working right now to make sure -- >> is that something that you're -- >> it's a government issue. we're looking to try to figure out what's the right assets to do that. right now we're coordinating with u.s. coast guard c-130's. they look like they'll have the most immediate capacity. >> what's the assessment about what trouble they'll have

getting into the airport there? have any landed there? >> none have landed there, yet. i don't have a good assessment. roads are passable, it depends on where you are and what's going on. i really don't have a good assessment of where roads are pass nlable and where they're not and how people are moving around. >> can you clarify what the coast guard mission is down there. you said theñi ships are small but they'll offer any help possible. what can they offer? >> vertical lift, they have helicopters on a lot of medium endurance coast guard cutters. that's what the capacity we're looking for there. they have some small is stocks of humanitarian assistance relief. we're looking for whatever we can do and the coast guard mission that's been down there traditionally for us is focused on a counter drug mission, monitoring and detech of traffic through the caribbean.

that's where they are and just providing that normal assistance. we're orchestrating that, changing that and moving them toward haiti to support that effort. >> can you give me a sense of the number of people involved in the assessment teams and give us some sense of how they do their work? i assume they can prioritize or treeage the situation, but give us some sense of the number or scope of the teams but also what they will do. >> there are going to be various teams. from a department of defense standpoint, you move in a small headquarters element down there it's going to be about 25 people plus 10 to 15 additional experts from around the staff, engineers, medical professionals and so they're going to assist the usaid efforts in coordination as we get down there, there's a usaid rep on the ground, they're going to have the lead for this effort in conjunction with the

mission down there and so we're going to support the embassy's effort to go wherever they need us to go to do those assessments of where damage is so they can report out and understand what we need to get down there. >> their own transportation? >> this is very light, this is an immediate capability to get people and equipment in there, communications equipment, primarily, initially, relying on the assets there on the ground, for movement. >> you said the decision has not been made to send the comfort? >> we're looking at it as an option but we have similar capability as we put a large deck amphibious ship down there with the medical capacity it has. >> general if the numbers are right, the prime minister said possibly hundreds of thousands killed, are you also looking at helping out with more facilities so with the spread of disease which is going to come within days are you

looking at or supplying anything -- >> we're looking across the board of the humanitarian disaster relief needs that will be there and then working that in conjunction with usaid and afta to figure out what are the right capabilities to put in there. all the resources of the department of defense we're looking at to understand what's the best capability to put in there. so yes, are we looking at it? yes. do i know if it's a need yet? no. >> does the u.s. military have the capability for something that large? >> i can't answer your specific question. i've got to go back and ask to get the answer to that. >> whether they're from lejeune or fort bragg, it's going to take them time needed, wouldn't it make sense to deploy them now and then turn them back if you don't need them so they'll be there? >> we are looking at deploying

a large deck amphib now, so we have to understand what menusta has the on -- on the ground and because they're the experts on the ground there then we'll make the decision on how and who to move beyond that. >> if they're ready but haven't received deployment orders, wouldn't it make sense to get them now? >> we're working to push on the capabilities and capacities we have to go down there. we're working the capabilities and capacities we need to get there. >> you talk about trying to assess the situation. we've been told that fairfax, virginia, is send registration cue teams. do you have that capability, and are you sending those types of assets? >> we're supporting the lift of

those teams. >> but you don't have -- >> no specific capabilities, no, we don't have an ona routine basis. >> civilian rescue teams are heading that way. >> two teams heading that way, one from fairfax, virginia, one from california, there are 72-person teams with their equipment, each, and then there's another fema capacity down in miami that we're looking to push one of those, again, in supporting -- i don't know the answer to that. you'll have to ask usaid. >> if reports are correct and hundreds of thousands are dead and clearly tens if not hundreds of thousands are wounded, or trapped, do you expect to send support more rescue teams down there in the next 24 hours? >> we'll support whatever the requirements are to move in there. again, i just don't have -- it's a fluid situation, i don't have a good specific answer for you. but we are massing our forces

to provide as much support as we can as quickly as we can get it ready. >> we expect them to get on the ground today? >> yes, one of them today, one early tomorrow. it's a combination, u.s. military aircraft involved with supporting them, also commercial air that's being supporting them also to get them down there. again, it's a whole of government effort to support haiti. it's not just a department of defense. as we look at this and we look at the efforts ongoing, d.o.d. has a portion of it. that's being undertake ton support me. .

there is an initial assessment from the aircraft flying over that the damage seems to be centralized around port-au-prince. i don't know that for certain i don't know how much that aircraft went out and surveiled other parts of the country.

i'm hesitant to say what the situation is on the ground and what we'll find. that's why we are looking for all the options we can to put on the table. >> the haitian government, current haitian government, do you believe that it is as badly hurt as it is, stable? do you believe when this is over with the same government will still be in power? or are you worried that this could lead to some of the problems we have seen in the past? >> i'm not going to speculate on the future. we've got a very precise focus right now and that's the disaster that haiti has suffered. we are focused on the lifesaving measures we need to do there. the assessment, emergency response, and then looking at what the humanitarian disaster relief requirements are. and providing international support to haiti to help them through this significant disaster. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much.

>> we are waiting for the u.s. house to gavel back in. a number of votes to take care of when they return. including ones honoring the life of martin luther king jr. and disposing of the presidential veto of a short-term funding extension. we'll have house coverage when they gavel back in. members returned yesterday to begin the second session of the 111th congress. they already plan to be out of session the rest of the week so the democratic members can attend the conference at the capitol visitors center. we'll have live house coverage when they return. in the british house of commons today, prime minister question time. gordon brown started the session today talking about humanitarian relief to haiti in light of yesterday's earthquake. we'll show you what we can of this half-hour prime minister's questions until the house comes back in. >> questions to the prime minister, phil wiggins. >> before listing my engagements, i know the whole house will wish to join me in

paying trish beauty to captain daniel reed from 11 explosive ordnance disposal regiment, royal logistic corps. he died in afghanistan on monday undertaking the dangerous work of protecting his fellow soldiers and civilians from explosive devices. the courage and selflessness of this work is truly breathtaking. his sacrifice will not be forgotten. and we send our sincere condolences to his family and friends. i know the whole house will also wish to join me in paying tribute to rupert hall of famer who lost his life in afghanistan while reporting from the frontline. and to his colleague who was injured. and our thoughts are also with their families, friends, and colleagues. we are grateful to all those who put themselves in danger to ensure the world is aware of the bravery of those serving in afghanistan and the realities of life there. mr. speaker, because of the devastating earthquake overnight, haiti has moved to the center of the world's thoughts and the world's

compassion. the government will respond with emergency aid in firefighters, in emergency equipment and finance and will give further support to help the people of haiti recover from this devastating event. mr. speaker, this morning hi a meeting with minister and others in addition to my duties in this house i'll have further such meetings later today. >> i'm sure the whole house will agree with the prime minister's statements of condolence. looking back, our economy entered the recession with one of the largest budgetxd deficit on reflection, does the prime minister regret that? >> mr. speaker, no. mr. speaker, we -- we had the lowest debt, second lowest debt of the g-7. our debt was lower than america, lower than france and germany, lower than japan and italy. andç it is because we had a lo

debt that we have been able to take the measures that are necessary to help companies deal with the recession, to help the unemployed get work, and to help young people who are leaving school and help thousands of small businesses survive. we took the right actions in thç recession. the opposition advised the wrong action.xdq >> i associate myself with the tribute my friend has paid to those who lost their lives in afghanistan. marks the sixth anniversary of the death of tom horndoll the british photographer shot by an israeli sniperxd while trying t rescue children from dangerok i gaza? will he join me in payingñr tribute to theç family for the tireless efforts in cutting through so many smokescreens put forward by israeli military authorities to get to the truth billion his death. will he agree with me that as an

international community we have no less responsibility to uphold the principle of accountability for the 352 palestinian children whose names -- >> ok. prime minister -- >> mr. speaker, theq situation n gaza is serious. as i said last week the only way forward, the only solution to this is a peace settlement that will take place between an israel that needs security within its borders and palestinian that needs qto be a viable economic state. i have repeatedly urged the israeli government to improve access for humanitarian aid and workers. i should say in addition to what i said last week we have already spent overok 20 million on meetg urgent needs in gaza. the secretary of state for international development announced a total package of 53 million for palestinian on december 28. that was with a particular focus on gaza. weç willok meet the humanitari needs of the gaza people where we can. access is important. but everybody knows it is a

political settlement that we need in this area. >> mr. david cameron. >> thankmy you, mr. speaker. can i join the prime minister in paying tribute to captain cannel reed who died in afghanistan serving our country. as the prime minister said the work of bomb disposal experts is truly inspiring when we hear what they do to protect their comrades. i also join him in sending our sincere condolences to the friends and family of rupert. he and photographer phil remind us of the bravery andt( professionalism of journalists who put their lives at risk to make sure they report to the work on our armed services overseas. totally with his records about the terror events in haiti and send my support to those involved in the humanitarian effort. and obviously we look forward to a full statement in this house by the international development secretary when that is appropriate.ç the whole country will want to praise the work of emergency services and the way they dealt with unexpected long spell of cold weather. we have seen and heard

incredible stories as well about neighbor helpingç neighbor.ç can the prime minister assure us that everything that can be done is being done to make sure we have sufficient supplies and it's being properlyç distribut so we can keep our country moving at this time? >> mr. speaker, i'm grateful that he gives me the chanceç t tell the countryq the most updated situation on the transporter network and protection of our roads. virtually all main transport networks have remained operational throughout the period. for the work of highway and other maintenance workers and for those who are running the emergency services and for thousands of people who are volunteering, and i can pay tribute to organizations in a whole range of areas around the country, the country remains deeply grateful t shows when there are difficulties the country comes together as one to meet these difficulties. at five airports in the south and mid lans will be closed for a period this morning, but i believe they will be opened later today. we are working with the highways

agency, that represented local government, to manage salt supplies. it is important every road remains safe. it is also important that we have sustainable ply splies of salt for what is the longest period of bad weather and ofç course the worst bad weather for 30 years in the history of our country. as for salt, i can say oneç ha announced this morning they will producing more.ç we expect imports of salt coming into the countryok in the next w days as a result of arrangements entered ioúo two weeks ago. we are confident with the measures announced yesterday by the transport secretary, we are able to maintain the road network and working closely with local authorities. i hope that people will continue to be able to work together for the common good. it does prove that britain works best when britain works together. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i'm grateful to the prime minister for that answer. the pressure on supplies and the steps taken to ration salt in the last week clearly shows

there are some lessons to learn for the future. can the prime minister tell us what steps he's going to take to hold a review to involve those in local government and make sure that we do learn the lessons for the future? >> i think he's absolutely right to sayç that each time there ia winter weather probe, it is right to learn -- problem, it i( right to learn every lesson from it. last winter we set up the u.k. roads liaisonç group. they recommended three things we implemented. that is to ask local authorities to hold six days of salt supply. to ask the highway agency to have a bigger reserve. to ask the -- that transport workers be allowed to work longer hours to deliver the salt. and to create a salt cell where we could have a fair distribution ofxd salt. we will review all these arrangements after this winter period. the one thing i can say to him is that highway agencyq at the beginning of this difficult

winter spell had 13 weeks -- 13 days of supplies and we are now building on that with orders from abroad as well as with additional production from u.k. mines. everything we can. i believe that the transport department has made every effort to consult every local authority. >> gary taylor. >> my right honorable friends will know that today, 80,000 children are living in care.ç of that 80,000, 80% will live in care until they are 16. not in a loving, stable family home. i would ask my right honorable friend isn't it time this house consider the life of looked after children again and consider that if they are not living in a stable, loving home in the first 18 months of their lives thatç adoption and long-term fostering mustç be their right to enter a loving,

stable home? >> mr. speaker, this is a real challenge for all authorities but for all people. and the number of children in care is a number we must pay attention to but also make sure that they have the chances that every other child has for education, for jobs, and for stability in their lives as they leave care. we published in 2007, the white paper, care matters. we set out to reform the prospects of children and young people in camplete we have made some progress with placement stability. there is an increase in educational attainment. we have better outcome for care levers. but at the same time we must move faster to close the gap. that's why it's important to recognize that public expenditure has been necessary in this and it is double since 2000 on the needs of children in care. that is what we are trying to do to help those children.

>> my own sympathy goes to the family and friends from captain daniel reed. who practicely lost his life serving in afghanistan on monday. and would add my condolence to the family and friends of rupert the distinguished defense editor of sunday mirror who died in an explosion on saturday. all families and friends of his injured colleague. as the prime minister said, news is coming in of the earthquake in haiti, all our hearts go out to the many people who will be so terribly affected by that natural disaster. i'm grateful for what he said about the government's humanitarian response. mr. speaker, given everything that's come to light in the iraq war, will the prime minister now do the decent thing and volunteer to give evidence to the inquiry before people decide how to vote -- >> mr. speaker, the inquiry has

drawn up a list of those people they wish to interview. they have invited the people on the dates they have done. i will follow the recommendations of the committee. i have nothing toçó hide on thi matter. i'm happy to give evidence equally at this time. i thought that the debate in the house was that the chill cot inquiry should decide when people were heard. >> the point isous a question for john chillcot, it's a question for the prime minister's own conscience. when the decisions were taken, the wards of the legal ward, he was the one who signed the check. he should insist on going to the inquiry now. people are entitled to know before they decide how to vote for the general election what his role was in this government's most disastrous decision. what has he got to hide? >> nothing. he was the one that wanted chillcot to make the decision about who he called. and he can't on one day say

chillcotç should decide and th say he or someone else should decide what happened mr. speaker, on the iraq war we have given every single document to theç iraq inquirery. we have given them the opportunity to look at every document and ask for which document they want to be declassified. the only documents that will be withheld will be those that directly affect national security and international relations. this is a full inquiry being run by john chillcot. people being interviewed rightly so but it is for the committee to decide how they proceed. that is what he proposed. >> question number two, mr. speaker. >> mr. speaker, i have visited his constituency to look at early intervention programs. i'm vep happy -- very happy that cross party discussions on these matters take place. everybody knows the importance of early intervention to help young children. >> there are also tremendous economic consequences of early

intervention. early intervention bonds social impact, and many other financial instruments that raise money from the capital markets rather than from the taxpayer. would the prime minister please encourage the treasury to look at these imaginative and creative ways of raising money so we not only help individuals, we also find a long-term way of write riting down the national debt and reducing the burden on u.k. taxpayers. >> mr. speaker, i'm grateful he raised social bonds. that is being looked at by the justice secretary. i have to say to him, what is -- if the first 48 months after child's life is more important than the next years because of what is land or not land, then we have to do more to help children under 5. that's why we introduced shore stop. that's why we introduced the child tax credit. that's why we doubled the child tax credit for children at their earlier years. that's why we have given

maternity leave. all these are important ways to help young children in their earliest years. i believe there should be a cross party consensus on keeping these. i hope there will be. >> given that the select committee yesterday heard powerful evidence that one of the courses of crime is poor parenting and dysfunctional families what, more can this government do to bring forward effective policies on early  children stumble on to the conveyor belt of crime? >> if i may say so, the proposal that we are putting forward, the family intervention programs that i saw in my honorable friends' constituency, there are about 50,000 families in this country, let's be honest, who lead such lives that we need to intervene and turn them around. we need to make it -- we need to make it a contract with them that a no nonsense approach is aconted both by them and us. that's what lies behind the

family intervention program. and we are investing heavily in that and in the parenting situation that is necessary as part of that. i hope he'll agree that is a way forward. i pay say that it is a better expenditure of money to help the children he wants to help than return to the married couples' allowance. >> question three. >> thank you, mr. speaker. in the past 12 months people have turned out in unprecedented numbers for remembrance day, armed forces day, and give civic welcomes returning trooms from afghanistan. people recognize the sacrifice being given by those who risk their lives daily. can i ask the prime minister to underline the fact that the government will continue its resolute action against any extremist groups wherever they come from who seek, disrupt, and dishonor that support? >> i praise that blackpool for hosting the first armed forces

veterans day. i know thatç bookpool has lost soldiers both in iraq and afghanistan as he says. and he's right that we must commemorate all those who have served and given sacrificeçmk oduá!u3n2/rñzççç extremist who use freedom of  division and insight hatred and some cases inw3site people to kill. an organization was yesterday prescribed as a result of our determination to do throughç legal process what is absolutely necessary to do. it is also about standing up for our sharedi] values. it's showingç young people in muslimç col]unities in particur that weç stand for justice and dignity and fairness. i believe the more that our preventive strategy which is to talk to people in their schools and churches in their faith groups, it is a very important way of building interreligious consensus and a belief that[x' can solve all our problems together. >> david cameron. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

after the events of lasti] week the prime minister told his colleagues he would change the way he governs. can he tell us how he'll be different? ççd start by saying, he looks very different from the poster we it's pretty difficult to get your policies right as well. mr. speaker, weççó announced l week firstç of all plans for britain, secondly plans to improve education in our community, thirdly, plans for 70,000 jobs of offshoreç power growth strategy. this is the government that's moving forwardç with policy.ç he can have the process. >> the prime minister asked,

what are we doing marketok research? when it comes to their election addresses, hands up who is going to put him on the front. hands up. four, four. that's what i call. want him in the cabinet and four who will put his picture on. he's been air brushed out of the whole campaign. let's see if the prime minister let's see if he'sñr prepared tod something he has neverç done before and that is listenxd to people and admit his mistakes. straight question,ç when brita went into recession with one of the largest deficits in the industrialized world, that was

because this prime minister thought it abolishedç -- that claim was wrong, wasn't it? >> we went into the recession, i keep telling him, with one of the lowest debts in the g-7. and the reason we had one of the lowest debts in the g-7 is that we had taken action over theok previous years to run down the debt that had been run up by the conservative government. mr. speaker, i think the country would prefer our policies to a person who has three policies in one day. mr. speaker, we need three television election debates because he's got three versions of the same policy. >> the prime minister talks about his policies. we now know what his own election coordinator thinks of his policies. yes, the development secretary, i don't know whether he's the chairman of the campaign or the coordinator of the campaign, he got three people coordinating his campaign. this is what he said.

labour don't have any policies. for god's sake harriet's helping to write the manifest. i must say, i think that's -- i think that's completely unfair. after all, the she only took five hours and 32 minutes to support the prime minister. the international development secretary, he took six hours. here comes the question. let's try something else to see if this prime minister has changed. will he now admit the truth about spending cuts? he has stoot there week after week and denied what everyone knows to be true that there will be spending cuts. the chancellor now says these cuts will be the deepest for 20 years. will the prime minister repeat those words? >> mr. speaker, it is getting even much redder than he is on his photograph.

i have to say what you seexd is not what you get. and i have to say to him also we are coming out, i wish that he could talk about politics, we are coming out of the most difficult recession that countries have faced. every country around the world is facing the difficult spending decisions. i agree exactly what -- with what he said. one way to face up to is our reduction plan. another way is not knowing what he wants to do on married couples or national insurance or not knowing what he wants to do on the top rated tax. it's a don't no rather than yes or no. the only policy he has that is not going to change is his policy onç inheritance tax tha help the richest persons in our society.

>> if you want to know how people are going to vorkts why not find some courage for once and call the election. he talks about policies. the country's fed up with his policies. his colleagues weren't complaining about the policies, they are complaining about the weakness, the dithering, backbiting, that's what they were complaining about. everyone can see he won't change the way he governs. everyone can see he won't answer the question. he won't be straight with people. isn't the conclusion of the last week that the cabinet and the labour party are too disloyal to support him but too incompetent to support him. shouldn't he cast the verdict of the british people soç we can t rid of the lots of them? >> mr. speaker, i must say it's airbrushed poster has better lines on it than the lines he's giving today. he would get -- >> order.ç order. the prime minister must beç heard. the prime minister mustç be heard. >> i messed up and there is no

thinking of all sorts of different things, and i misdescribed our policy, that's what the leader said. he misdescribed what he is doing because we know that on the health service there is no guarantee for cancer patients. we know on police there is no guarantee of neighborhood policing. we know on education there is no guarantee of education to 18. we know onç the recession they would have done nothing to take us out of the recession and they would have been back to the policies of the 1980's. when heç finally wakes up that policy matters more than posters, he'll know his policies are actually those of the 1980's and not those for 2010.w3ç >> will the government be backing my amendment to the constitutional reform bill next week that will rid parliament of pair sitic noncome? >> mr. speaker, we'll look at his amendment and review it in

the house at the right time. >> mr. speaker, we heard already why the prime minister won't give evidence to the chillcot inquiry before the general election. can i ask him a question he can answer right now because i'm simply asking his opinion. campbell made it clear yesterday that this prime minister was incontinuesically involved in alt decision making in the could i ask you, does he personally regret any of the decisions that were taken in the preparation for or the conduct of the war in iraq? is he personally sorry? >> mr. speaker, i have already said the reconstruction done after the war effort in iraq was insufficient. that is the general view that is being held by many people who look to the insufficient preparations being made from that. i was part of the cabinet that made the decisions in iraq and i stand by the decisions we make. >> this week has been the resignation of a member of the

cast with mental illness factor. i make no comments about individual cases, but as the law stands any member of this house who suffers a bout of serious mental illness can be automatically disqualified from office no matter what the prospects of recovery. this is wrong andç would nevere tolerated for a physical illnesç no matter how debilitating. will the prime minister take the opportunity of the constitutional reform billok to implement the conference recommendation that this wrong should be righted? >> my friend has raised a very important issue. the justice secretary and the health secretary are giving careful consideration as to the appropriate way forward. i understand that the recommendation to the speak's conversation report that is published on monday is one we will also respond to in due course. >> the first duty of any government is to keep our nation

safe. given the tens of thousands of abuses -- visa, work visas, and other visas how confident is the prime minister that he has a firm grip on this nation's national security? >> mr. speaker, at every point we try to be as vigilant as possible in the way we run the service that is are necessary for our national security. immediately after thew3 attempt -- detroit attempted bomb on christmas day, it was for us also toç make sure our arrangements, the security of our people coming into the country, wasw3 satisfactory. arrangements as i said to the house last week. equally we decided also that the coordination of our different services is an important issue and facing new technology and new methods being used by terrorist groups, we had to do more to ensure the full coordination of all our services to deal with potential incidents. that is another southwest work. so four times we seem to be

vigilant. the introduction of biometric visas and the eborder system will be great benefit to us to be able to identify people coming in and out of the country. i hope there will be all party support for that. >> mr. speaker, employments in the public sector is very important to the economy of wails and cuts in the short-term would impede the recovery of the private sector. has my right honorable friend made an assessment on the difference of the impact of the tough but long-term approach that he is taking and the demands for precipitous, immediate, and unband demanded by the leader of the opposition. >> mr. speaker, can i say from the work that is being done if we had pursued the same policies as the 1980's and 1990's, 1.7 million less people would be employed than they are today. it is because we took action to help young people into work, it is because we took action to help small businesses that

unemployment is 10% or higher than some of the recession in the 1980's and 1990's has remained half that today. and we are determined to do more we can to help young people into work and help those adults looking for work. the difference i've got to say is this. when it came to the recession, other parties were prepared to walk by on the other side we decided to act. >> what is the prime minister's attitude to the current situation in the western a hara? -- sahara? >> mr. speaker, i'm thinking of all the issues that he wishes me to talk about in relation to the western sahara. the one thing i have been wore road about is the growth of ethnic violence in these areas. the one thing we have tried to do is to increase, indeed double our aid to these areas. the one thing we have been worried about is the growth of terrorist groups in these areas. that's why we are taking the

action that is necessary to dissuade people from terrorism and take the action that's necessary. i have had numerous conversations with leaders in these areas. if he wishes to direct me to specific points, i will take it up. >> does the prime minister recall in september, 2008, a of claiming the success of the 16th air assault brigade and 2,000 british soldiers in delivering to the dam a turbine. will he tell the house why that turbine which cost lives has not been installed? who makesçt( these decisions i civil military and so-called strategic decisions? this was deliffed at a high price. >> i have investigated this issue. and rightfully it is asked of us why the turbine is not working with it. it was delivered at a great cost in terms of lives and terms of

the issue here is that other sources of power have been found for the areas that was supposed to be served. it is still our intention that that turbine be used to create the power that is necessary for the economic advance that is possible. >> teenage being sent to sensitive area by he section council without any consultatioç whatsoever, they are terrorizing elderly frail peopleç with extreme badm2ç behavior. çç+ alwaysçó beç properly consulted the location of the establishment should be very sensitive and carefully crrd. and he section counsel should be -- >> prime minister. >> no one should be expected to suffer from anti-social behavior. that is why we have created neighborhood policing units that have a responsibility for anti-social behavior as well as

for dealing with crime. it is why also we are targeting those families that he is mentioning whose livesç are so chaotic they are disrupting the lives of people around them. no pensioner in particular should be selected to suffer from that. that's why next month we'll be announcing new measures to help those people who are victims of anti-social behavior so we can get quick action to them. i hope he can be assured we are taking what action is necessary but recognize this is a problem for many people in thew3 countr >> demonstrating 10 years of remarkable achievement, and a decade of investment in dip lap dated schools has formed them into modern learning centers for the whole community. why is it that the hardworking, and efforts are constantly talked down by party officers?

>> mr. speaker, they can try to shut down good news. we'll tell people what has actually happened is 10 years ago, 12 years ago there were 1,600 underperforming schools in our country when we came into power. today the figure announced is less than 250. this is a huge change that is being met by the national educational challenge. we should continue to ensure that by 2011 there is not one underperforming school in our country. we ought to offer the best education to every child. and i am afraid even if conservative members feel t. we will continue to finance the education of every young person in this country. >> thank you for payingç extra time. can i ask the prime minister what he is doing to prevent the population in this country reaching 70 million? >> mr. speaker, we have introduced the points system for immigration. the points system is workingç because where we need no unskilled workersi] and need workers that have got specialist

skills but not other workers with skills, they will not now be invited into the country. of course when people come into the country, they have got to have aç contribution to make t this contry. the point system is ensuring that that migration is falling, it is also ensuring that where we do not need workers to come into the country they do not come in. >> order. >> legislators here in the u.s. meanwhile, the house has gaveled out but they will return shortly for a series of votes, four votes expected today. martin luther king honoring the life of martin luther king jr. and also taking care of a presidential veto on short-term funding. and the u.s. house expected back in shortly. we'll have coverage when they do gavel back in. until then a defense department briefing on operations in northern iraq. we'll hear from major general anthony dr. ucolo. topics include tensions in northern iraq and the upcoming elections. this is just over a half-hour.

>> good morning. we are privileged to have with us today major general anthony cucolo commander of u.s. forces division north. he assumed his current duties in iraq in november of 2009. this is his first time in this format. he joins us today from contingency operating base stryker near tikrit, iraq. he'll be happy to take your questions. thank you for joining us. over to you, sir. >> thanks. good morning, everybody, back in washington, d.c. wish i could see you. i'm sure i would recognize a couple faces. i'm fortunate right now to command 21,000 of the finest americans in iraq right now. i've got brigades from fort bliss, texas, fort riley, kansas, fort lewis, washington, two brigades from hawaii, an

aviation brigade and engineer brigade. one brigade from my home state of georgia and fort stewart. my division headquarters is here. that makes up the 21,000 soldiers. it's an example of the modular army at work. no question about that. what we are doing right now in northern iraq essentially partnered full spectrum operations. that means all types of operations from combat when necessary to stability operations, the full spectrum partnered. we don't do anything unilateral. it's all with our iraqi partners. and probably the most demographically complex battle space in iraq. we've got a little bit of everything here, and obviously the what we have here that doesn't exist in other parts of iraq is the kurd-arab fault line. that's what i mean by the demographically complex area. it is about the size of the

state of georgia. about 250,000 square miles.ç our current operations could be characterized as supporting reconstruction teams. moving to police primacy in the cities as best we can. and then outside the cities establishing a capacity in our partner iraqi army force that is will allow them to assume our battle space completely as we continually draw down throughout this year. our focus operations right now has been on -- with our partners tammping down the violent extremist networks. they still exist. they have been knocked back pretty hard lately. but still because they are cellular in nature, still can pack a punch with a high-profile attack. besides tammping down the violent extrd]ist networks,

keeping as good a lid as we can on kurd-arab tensions, then also prepping for the elections. so that's a carkization of what we are doing here -- characterization of what we are doing here. happy to open it up to questions. back to you. >> i would like to ask you two questions, sir. first, if you could address or if you could give us an update about the arab-çkurds relation and how they are facing now the problems over the disputed areas . and second, if you also give us an update about the relationship between the government of baghdad and the north. >> sure. those are great questions. they are occupying a good bit of our time. first the status of kurd-arab

relations. everything right now is colored, if you will, by the upcoming elections. and so there is a natural tension that requires confidence building measures in the areas where kurds and arabs exist together. or where peshmerga forces exist across the line from iraqi army forces. natural tension there. political rhetoric does not help. as we move into the -- move towards the elections. so we are watching that very carefully. i havet( to admit, though, i amn the ground with the iraqi army forces and the pesh forces. i talk to the commanders of each side. we are very fortunate to have rational actors on both sides of the line who will pause when

something happens, perhaps a bomb goes off in an area. and tensions rise. or if there's a troop movement that is unexplained or uncoordinated. no one leaps to conclusions, no one mobilizes forces, no one goes to guns. these are rational actors and we are, quite frankly, partnered with them and talking to them daily. so that's the good news stories. i believe we can keep the tensions down. r(uát fighting between the two forces. unfortunately because the political rhetoric exists, the extremist groups want to capitalize and throw fuel on the fire of that tension. and so i'll give you an example. ive an i.e.d., improvised

explosive device will go off in an area that has mutual interest. and one side might blame another. one side, the kurdish population might say, look, seeç this, i need more pesh forces here. perhaps a minority population might say, might be concerned that that a force would come in and deny them their rights. that exists and we are tryingço keep the tensions down in that vain. also you asked about baghdad. right now there's -- i think you are aware there's significant move afoot to combine the p.u.k. and the k.d.p.-pesh. it's already happened at the minister of pesh level, the equivalent of the minister of defense, if you will in the k.r.g.

that's already happened at that level and now the desire and the actual action and movement is to combine the p.u.k. and k.d.p.-pesh forces. that is significant. it is a natural step in the evolution. pesh-merga being integrated into the iraqi army at some point in theç future. it has support from baghdad. there's progress in that. small steps, but there's progress in that. let me toss it back to you in case i didn't answer the question properly for you. or if you have a follow-on. >> just follow up. could you give us -- do you have any figures, any numbers about the size of the pesh right now? do you believe that the k.r.g. would agree to have the pesh integrated within the iraqi army?

>> i can't give you this. i can give you the size of units that i'm -- that i sit across from or deal with their commanders. and i can't shoot from the hip on it.i] i deal with brigade size units and there are a handful of brigades. if you like we can try to get you actual pesh numbers that we are aware of by email, perhaps, or in a follow-up after this press conference. forgive me, the second part? >> do you believe that the k.r.g. would agree to have the pesh integrated in the iraqi army? >> i believe so. from what i'm seeing from the senior k.r.g. leadership, yes.

everybody's attitude is, this is one iraq. it's very positive. since i have been here, i have been impretsed -- impressed by many things. i have been impressed by the quality of the iraqi security forces, particularly the iraqi army. i can give you vignettes on that if anyone is interested. i'm very impressed with the quality. very impressed with the desire for unity. and that goes to the k.r.g. i could tell you right now that the current k.r.g. leadership sees on the who are riseon an integration of the pesh into the iraqi army, yes. >> good to see you again. peter siegel of the "wall street journal." good to see you out there with a proper job for a change.q let me ask you to look forward to the drawdown, spring and summer. obviously we are receiving a huge number of troops disappear

and you mentioned in your opening comments, perhaps the most complex and most on edge, when you look forward to the spring and summer, what are your two or three biggest risk factors, your biggest concerns that you are worried about as the drawdown begins in your region?ç >> sure. i would say,ç peter, it's goodo hear your voice. peter, i'd say the biggest concernsç are theç kurd-arab tension and any desire to interrupt the seating of the governmentç andç then as we d down the ability of the iraqi security forcest(ç to assume t battle space with some of the niche capabilities that we provide right now. we do a lot of route clearance. the iraqi army has a route clearance. that is--that's driving down the

road with mine rollers and certain types of technology that helps you find improvised explosive device and mines and that sort of thing. we do route clearance right now. the iraqi army has a route clearance capability. it's growing. we want to see thatç grow they are beginning to conduct intelligence driven operations. and we'd like to see that continue and improve and expand] there's just some niche capabilities that they need to acquire to properly assume the battle space. the way we would like to leave them with the greatest capability possible for what they have to do, defend their nation, and secure the population. and then the last part is -- the subset of the iraqi security forces being ready to do that. that is building -- you asked me

what my concerns are. adding to that concern would be building the institution that is the iraqi army and building the i.n.s. dution that is the iraqi -- institution that is the iraqi police. right now i have iraqi units that are capable of independent operations at low level. at brigade and below. some iraqi divisions are capable of independent operations. but the institution that gets them spare parts, that gets them bullets, that gets them the things they need to sustain routine operations, that is still growing. all the right folks are working on it. it's happening. it's just not there yet. so those would be the concerns that i have and i just add one more, the borders are getting a very significant focus right

now. that is most appropriate. perhaps one of the last things besides kurd-arab tensions that we'll be focusing on as we draw down is the capability at the borders. right now we could use some increased capability at the borders. i'll pass it back, go ahead. >> just follow up. as you dialogue with the general about what it looks like end of august, again given you are in a bit of the country everyone will focus on, give kurd-arab conflict, last home of some these extremist groups. do you have recommendations, i know you can't share most, this may be where some of the most residual forces may reside post-august. we have 50,000er would allowed to keep in there. are you discussing at all what

bit might reside in your part of the world? >> absolutely -- we are absolutely having those discussions right now. weeks ago we had a significant planning effort and conference with lieutenant general jacoby and the force, u.s. forces iraq folks on what we will look like over the months and where the forces should go. where's the medical capability. where are the helpers. where are the ground forces. excruciating detail. to answer your question, yes. when the dust settles and the number is 50,000 or it's conditions based, when the dust settles and the number is 50,000, i see because of thexdt kurd-arabq tensions in particular, and because of the complexity of the battle space in the north, and because of the

fact that a lot. provinces in the south have actually been on their own for a while now, i do see that when the dust settles on 50,000, perhaps more will be in the north, yes. >> general, the last time you got a chance to talk to allç o us back here in d.c. was about the inclusion of pregnancy in general order number one. i know that we have shifted to u.s. forces iraq and t's changed. i doí', know what the fallout for us, if you have still gotten a chance to talk about those issues of personal responsibility with yourç troo. where things stand with the folks you are talking to. >> i understand exactly -- first of all it's a good move. it's a good move to consolidate

the general order number one into just one single general order. that'szç bbçç good thing. my commanders and my sergeants majors know exactly what the intent of my original g.o. one was. we have fallen in on the new g o-1. it's all about maintaining the tea].ç and i think if anything, i feel like we missed an opportunity to talk about several things. we missed an opportunity to talk about the incredible value and role female soldiers have in a 21st century united states army. we failed to talk about what it's like for commanders now

with 12 to 18 months of dwell time to prepare for a 12-month deployment, what it's like to build teams, and how -- all the things that go into building teams and keeping teams together. there's a lot of great stuff to talk about there and we just missed the opportunity because we got caught up in other things. but as far as my formation and the intent, my intent being interstood by the soldiers. i don't have any second -- i don't have any issues with it at all. i think we are ok. >> american forces press service. from that to a little more mundane thing. what's the situation in and around mosul right now? and what specifically are your troops going to do on the election for the election?

>> great question. your first question was about mosul. the second one was the election. mosul -- mosul's got two elements of two iraqi divisions, iraqi army divisions. we do not have police, iraqi police primacy in mosul yet because the iraqi police strength is not sufficient. to get out and do significant rule of law law enforcement operations. so the iraqi army under the operational command of nineva operations command, who has a solid iraqi two-star commanding it, is basically knocking back the violent extremist groups in mosul. what is the situation in mosul? what i see is in mosul is a weak yield back the balance of my timed -- weakened a.q.i. trying

their best to stay relevant. weakened as in we have knocked back their financial capabilities. we have knocked back their acks is to -- access to weapons, ammunitions, and explosives. how do we know this? we know this because the a.q.i. and i.s.i. elements are now resorting to extortion and kidnapping. to get their funds. we know this because the i.e.d.'s they are using are much smaller than we have seen in the past. they are trying to rustle up what they can. and so that's what we are seeing there. however, they are down but they are not out. and we have to keep the pressure on them. so on election day there's freedom of movement. voters do not feel harassed or intimidated. the candidates en route to the election, weeks before the election do not feel threatened.

so we are working on that. it is primarily my partnered iraqi armyç units doing that. we have absolutely outstanding, incredible, incredibly adepressive iraqi army division commander in mosul. very, very strong. what are we doing for the elections? right now, a lot of planning and prep going on with that. we are joined at the hip, if you will, with the ihec, the independent high elktorial -- electoral commission here in iraq. we are going to their meetings. we are sitting in the backi] listening to their meet wgs our provincial reconstruction team partners in each province. so at the provincial level we are listening to the planning and seeing where we can help with things like barrier material for polling sites. coordinating outer ring security. obviously there will not be a u.s. soldier in and i do not

think p.e.o. soldier near a polling site. this is an iraqi show. they can handle it.a actually the iraqis have a wonderful reputation for handling the big events like elections. i have great confidence they can handle this one themselves. and so we'll be doing some outer ring security with our partners with the army. in most of my other cities, the police will be doing the inner ring security by themselves. the other thing we'll be doing to help with the elections is there will be international observers. .çóççç

looking to -- looking to rock the vote here, we are looking to get as many iraqis out to vote as we can so we want to set the security conditions that will allow that. >> you're -- thank you. my question is that many iraqis now feel free and freedom and safer. but what is your assessment now ? how do you feel comparing to afghanistan, and what can you do or what can the [inaudible] because iraqi is the view, not

afghanistan, in my point? >> and i want to make sure i got that right, sir. it might have been the microphone. could you repeat the beginning of it? i understand afghanistan is the focus. iraq is not. absolutely. understand that. could you just repeat the beginning, please? >> yes, sir. many iraqis feel they are safe now and they are free. and they are very thankful to the u.s. for their freedom. what do you think and what do you feel, how do you feel as far as iraq is concerned today safety-wise? >> i hope i got it right. i'll give it a shot. the iraqis that -- the iraqis are wonderful people that want

what you and i want. they want a safe and secure environment for their children. they would like -- they would like a job. they would like a source of income. they would like to feel valid. and these are things that u.s. soldiers have seen in other parts of the world and it's not new to us. it's so different in each province what i see the iraqis feeling and what i'm hearing from them. in some provinces it's essential services. in some provinces it's concern about a corrupt provential government because either the government is -- the provential government is not delivering what they promised or they're not seeing the progress they thought. and what i'm detecting overall is that there is a thirst for

change and a desire to go out and exercise their freedoms. and the freedom to vote. the freedom to have -- to make a choice and have a government that is accountable to them. so it's really hard because i got -- it's hard to explain in simple -- simple terms in short burst, short sentences because, gosh, of the seven provinces that i have some degree of u.s. force responsibility for each province is so different. kirkuk is different from soladen. and nadallah is different from anyplace else. it's a hard question to answer succinctly for you and i apologize. i tell you the iraqis watched what happened in afghanistan in

their elections. they watched what happened in iran in their elections. and there's also a at the sire not to have that happen here -- also a desire not to have that happen here. incredible national pride to do this right. and i see that in the security forces through. i'd like to tell you about the security forces. i had a provential governor who was voted out by the council which the council's allowed to do by the provential powers law. and we see real u.s. constitutional reference, real marbury versus madison stuff here. it's a great thing to watch. they are trying to flex their muscles, trying to understand what they can do and where does the central government responsibility go, etc.? well, i had a governor voted out. he did not want to leave. i'm going to fast forward the story for you.

at one point -- at one point the council was frustrated with the speed of the resolution. the resolution of the issue was going slow. having the governor who was voted out leave office. and they turned to their iraqi army division commander and they turned to their chief of police and said, that's it, we can't wait any longer, you must arrest him. and the division commander said, i will not arrest him. and the chief of police said, i will not arrest him because there's -- >> we'll leave this recorded briefing now as the u.s. house has gaveled back in. a series of four votes next, including the life of martin luther king jr. and the presidential veto. live coverage of the house now on c-span.xd 1002, house resolution 860, house resolution 3892. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute

votes. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfished business is

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 142, the nays are 243, with one voting present.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 143rk the nays are 245, one vote present. the joint resolution is reject the veto message and the joint resolution are referred to the committee on appropriations, the clerk will notify the senate of the action of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the members will please come to order. the members will clear the well. if the members of the house

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. boehner: mr. speaker and my colleagues, first i'd like to thank speaker pelosi and the jord leader, mr. hoyer, for their graciousness over the last couple of days. i want to say thanks to all of the members on both sides of the aisle who offered their condolences to me personally and to my staff, a special thank you to president obama and former president bush for their calls of condolence. i think all of us know that this institution couldn't

operate without staff. just couldn't function. and this last week we lost one of the best. i was fortunate enough to have a great leader of my team, and we rise today and remember paula nowakoski. she was no picnic, she was as tough as nails and any of you that worked with her, george, you remember. she was as tough as nails. a brilliant strategist and had a wicked sense of humor. haley barbour, whom she once worked for, say she was smart as a whip but you have to visualize that coming from hey lee. but there was a softer side of pau la as well. she made a difference in thousands of lives around the hill and around this town. she loved all things detroit.

especially her beloved detroit red wings. so you'll see that i and a lot of my staff have a detroit wed i think -- red wing pin on for the balance of this year. she loved her country. she was a warrior for redom. two of her biggest heroes were ronald reagan and pope john paul ii, who workledled -- who worked together to brink soviet communism to its knees. she loved this institution and she loved all the members and the staff and had friends on both sides of the aisle. but most of all, she loved her saturday. her mother, theo and her brother gary with with us today. please accept our condolences and thank you for the shining light that was your daughter. for 46 years that light shined brightly and touched countless lives and she'll never be

replaced in this institution, nor will she be forgotten. with that, i'd be happy to yield to my friend, the speaker of the house. the speaker: i thank the gentleman, the distinguished leader, for yielding and express to him on behalf of all members of the house of representatives and the congress, the condolences that we all feel. we extend them to you on pau la's passing. as the leader has said we all were aware of her brilliance and effectiveness when the leader was chairman of the education work force committee, mr. miller, that's why he's presiding in the chair, became a fan of paula, as john lawrence, her counterpart as well. this is a very special person a devoted conservative, as the leader has said, loved ronald reagan and john paul ii. had a strong perspective, very

innovative in her orientation in terms of solutions and a beautiful, beautiful smile. it is with great sadness that all of us received the news of her passing, and to her mother, i said, we were shocked by it in a state of disbelief and especially for someone so vibrant and full of life, with brilliant intellect again and this strong personality and -- to leave us so young. she left us but she has made her mark. she's a person we will never forget because of her leadership skills and because of her friendship. so it is with a great respect, admiration, sadness, and affection that i extend to pau la's family -- to paula's family the sympathy and

condolence of the congress and i join the distinguished lead for the doing system of i extend condolences to you, mr. leader, i know what a great partner she was to you as you lead the republicans in congress. she was here for everyone because as the leader said she loved this institution. so we're all shocked by our loss, her belief in john paul ii enables the rest of us to be comforted by the fact that now she has joined him and so many others in heaven and just to express the gratitude of a grateful congress to all who knew her, her family, michael, to her mother, to all of you, i hope it is a comfort to you that with the greatest sadness, so many people mourn your loss and are praying for your family

at this very, very difficult time. with that, i am in sorrow. i yield back to the distinguished leader. mr. boehner: i yield to the gentleman from virginia, mr. cannon. mr. cannon: i thank the gentleman and i, too, stand with much respect as we, too, -- we today commemorate the life of paula. to her family that is here with us, we stand here to salute a dedicated friend, an indy spenceable member of our conferences team. paula had an unshakeable devotion to our country and its principle. she had a very innovative spirit about her and about the commonsense solutions that we are trying to arrive at here to address the challenges of the people that we represent. her sage advice and counsel made her an invaluable resource

to our members each and every day and frankly to this institution. she'll be in our thoughts every day as we pass legislation that empowers individuals and lifts the american spirit. paula was particularly concerned about the working families in her beloved state of michigan. almost daily, we would hear in leadership meetings and conference meetings about the plight of the manufacturing workers who would see nothing but closed up factories and question their future. paula was there for them. paula's life was cut way -- cut short way too soon. we will, mr. leader, all miss her terribly, but we will find strength, determination, and inspiration in the example she set for all of us. all of us, i guess, can learn

for from this when it's all said and done, what's most important is not when you die, but how you lived. everyone who knew paula knows, as the leader said, she was tough as nails. but she lived every day to the fullest, giving her heart and her soul to help make america a better, more prosperous place. we will all remember her each day, we will remember her when we do the work on this floor, we'll remember her in our places of worship and we will smile and think of her the next time that her beloved detroit red wings win another stanley cup. our party and nation owe paula a tremendous debt of gratitude. mr. speaker, i would now like to read a letter from senator mitch mcconnell, the distinguished senate minority leader. dear leader boehner, i share

your sorrow over the untimely passing of pau la nowakoski. i, too, considered paula a trusted confidant. i came to deeply value her friendly council and her warm good humor. she was unafraid to speak the truth. her loyalty helped to lay a foundation of open trust on both sides of the capitol dome. my staff and i will miss her tremendously. it is a testament to the respect and admiration she enjoyed on this side of the capitol that if any of us started a conversation with, i just talked to paula, or paula said, everyone from senators to staffers not only knew who you were talking about, but that whatever she said carried an implicit guarantee, you could take it to the bank. she was regarded by everyone here as a professional, a tremendous asset to our party and the congress and sharp as

they come, an extraordinary woman. all of those qualities aren't easy to find in one place but that's what made paula stand out. and that's why her prompted expressed so many heartfelt expressions of grief across both siles. a true advisor who can finish her boss's sentences and she's the one that could and often did, i might add. it is also a rare staffer who could be so intensely focused on the business of the house even as she succeeded in building such a strong sense of teamwork with the senate. so on behalf of the entire senate family, please accept our condolences on this loss to you, your staff, to congress and indeed to our country. hopefully the memory of her spirit and example will provide some measure of consolation at this difficult time.

yours sincerely, mitch mcconnell, republican leader. at this time i yield to -- i thank my friend for yielding. mr. hoyer: there are times when you get a call and you're shocked and saddened and stunned. that was such a call for i'm sure all of us when we learned that paula nowakowski had passed away. shakespeare said she should have died year after. there was time for such a word. tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. paula will not see those tomorrows, and we are sad, and we share the sadness and loss that her family has experienced. and, john, we share the loss that you've experienced. all of us who have staff know that they've become family, not just staff, not just

bureaucrats or somebody that we rely on to do that, this or the other. they become alter egos in many respects. particularly those who leave our offices. paula nowakowski had that relationship to john boehner, and indeed to others as well. since 1995, paula was an important and positive part of leader boehner's team. and in that time she earned respect throughout the congress for her political skill, for her work ethic, and her dedication to her ideals. i particularly remember her kindness and cooperation during the transition from a republican majority to a democratic one in november and december of 2006. clearly a difficult time for those who were moving from the majority to the minority. i've been there. i understand how it feels. it was a disappointing time for her and for mr. boehner.

and for her party as well. however, throughout that time she maintained a professionalism, a courtesy and a kindness that i will always remember. paula's premature passing reminds us all of the uncertainty of our future and the importance of today and now and how important it is to be nice to one another, respectful of one another so that we do not lament tomorrow what we did not do today. the absence she leaves behind reminds us that congress is not simply a branch of government. but a living and vibrant community of public servants and quite often friends, a place where very talented americans who love their

country and seek to serve it well. paula nowakowski was seven a person, such a fellow citizen, such an american. she was a valued friend of many, a loyal and effective leader of congressman boehner's staff and an outstanding example of the dedication and hard work displayed by so many who serve this house and our country. paula's absence will be felt in this community and especially in leader boehner's office for years and years to come. so my thoughts are with you, mr. leader. our thoughts are with her family as well. we're pleased that they're here. they loved her. it is important for them to know that although paula was a partisan, as all of us for the

most part are on this floor, she rose above partisanship. we rise above partisanship in our respect and love and sense of loss. and i yield back my time to the republican leader. mr. boehner: let me thank my fellow leaders for their kind words. and, mr. speaker, i ask -- the house observe a moment of silence. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will ask all present to rise for a moment of silence.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from michigan, mr. kildee, to suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1002, on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1002, resolution honoring the life and work of dr. martin luther king jr. and encouraging the continued commitment to the martin luther king jr. day as a national day of service. 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 379, the nays are zero. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is

the speaker: the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> thank you, madam speaker. i ask for unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute. the speaker: without objection. the house will be in order. without objection. ms. jackson lee: madam speaker, and members, i rise to ask for a moment of silence for the people of haiti, for the american citizens in haiti or the haitian-american community and for all of those who, family and friends, have been injured or killed in this devastating hurricane. excuse me, albuquerque. of course, haiti has -- earthquake. of course, haiti has suffered through many challenges and

crisis. earthquakes, hurricanes, food insecurities, hunger, poverty. haiti needs increased attention and resources from the united states and the international community to help it recover during this difficult period. of course at this moment our priority is search and rescue. we have been in touch with the administration and the president is quickly deploying all available assets and resources to assist. we ask the global humanitarian community to help us in this massive, massive undertaking. our commitment to haiti must extend beyond this emergency period to recovery and to rebuilding efforts. our thoughts and our prayers go out to all of those who have been impacted by this catastrophe of enormous

proportions. the speaker: members present, please rise for a moment of the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continual. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from michigan, mr. kildee, to suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 860 as amended on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution.

the clerk: house resolution 860, resolution supporting the initiatives of chicago wilderness and children's outdoor bill of rights. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution as amended. 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 369, the nays are one. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3892 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3892, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 101 west highway by pass in griever, north carolina, as the wilkins post office. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. 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 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 356. the nays are one. 2/3 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.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from colorado rise? ms. degette: i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to

meet on 9:00 a.m. friday, january 15, 2010. and when the house adjourns on that day it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on tuesday, january 19, 2010, for morning hour debate. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house is not in order. will the house please come to order? the chair recognizes the gentlelady from texas. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i want to join my colleagues, so many of whom i've heard discussing on the floor of the

house the overwhelming tragedy, catastrophic incident that's occurred in our neighboring country of haiti. but i particularly want to offer my deepest sympathy to my constituents, my haitian american constituents in houston, texas, many of whom are suffering because their relatives are in haiti and they cannot find them. i want to acknowledge a delegation of rotary club members who houston, texas, who came to haiti just yesterday, and their family members are expressing concern of their location and status. it makes it relevant to know that this hurricane-like earthquake is the largest earthquake that we've seen in the western hemisphere over the last number of years. we know that all resources have to be pointed toward haiti, to the united nations, for the losses they're experiencing, my

sympathy. to the haitian government, my sympathy. and my commitment is that you will never walk alone. we will stand with you in this battle to recover haiti. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. are there any further one-minute requests? for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, yesterday i addressed the demand of governor schwartz nager for federal aid -- federal aid that his increase in taxes that has been had in the state of california, taxes have instead crushed california's brutal economy and cost $10 billion in lost revenues in just nine months. california's revenue problem isn't the only thing that was made in sacramento. her spending problem is also

self-inflicted. when the governor took office, california was spending $78 billion a year. instead of hitting the brakes, he hit the accelerator, and in just 4 1/2 years increased spending by a stunning 40%. when state revenues peaked at their all-time high in july of 2008 and $97 billion, california was already running a $9 billion deficit. mr. speaker, budget deficits that are made in california need to stay in california. and that goes for the 49 other states as well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. are there any additional one-minute requests? for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? ms. watson: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. ms. watson: mr. speaker, democrats in congress have been devoted to job creation as a top priority to help put people back to work and to refuel our

economy ravaged by the economic policies of the former administration. the republican recession is the worst economic crisis the country has experienced since the great depression. the recovery act is not enough by itself to restore the economy, but it is helping put america back to work. so the recovery act has created more than 640,000 jobs since it was enacted in february, and could produce as many as 1.6 million jobs. the recovery act has reduced job losses, reduced the unemployment rate and increased the gross domestic product. we should continue to support jobs and jobs now. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? mr. burton: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into -- i ask unanimous consent that

members may have five legislative on the subject of leader boehner's one-minute today? the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. burton: mr. speaker, i ask 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. poe on january 20 for five minutes. mr. jones on january 20 for five minutes. mr. burton on january 19 and 20 for five minutes each. mr. moran on january 20 for five minutes. mr. thompson today for five minutes. and mr. wolf today for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? mr. defazio: today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to

address the house. mr. spratt, south carolina, mr. woolsy, california. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. crenshaw of florida and mr. poe of january 2010. the sp 2010. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy january 6, 2009 and under a previous order of the house the following members are recognized for five minutes each. the chair recognizes ms. woolsey from california for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, mr. speaker. when a president decides to go to war, his or her plan must have clarity.

the american people need to know exactly where the president stands and what are the goals. the president's original proposal was to begin withdrawing from afghanistan american troops 18 months from now, in july, 2011. when the president first announced the plan, it sounded like a pretty clear timetable. but then the picture started to get really fuzzy when american and afghan officials began to back track. national security adviser james jones said the withdrawal date is not a cliff, it's a ramp. secretary of state clinton said the withdrawal would continue for the foreseeable future. defense secretary gates called

the withdrawal plan the beginning of a process and infleck shon point. and depending upon conditions on the ground. he also said that the actual withdrawal would probably take two or three years. and then president karzai really threw cold water on things when he said that afghanistan would not be able to provide for its own security for 15 to 20 years let alone 18 months. so the question is this, when july, 2011 rolls around, will we be at the beginning of the troop withdrawal or just in the middle of it? will we be standing on the cliff or going down the ramp? and will we be at the inflection or point of no return in an open-ended war.

the american people and our troops deserve a solid plan. we have the right to know exactly what we're getting into before we start spending billions of dollars more and more and more of our troops' blood. that's why congress must ask the administration some tough questions and demand better answers. you know that's our responsibility, that's our job. especially before we authorize another dime for this foreign occupation. we must make sure that the next appropriation has a much better balance between military and civilian need, a balance that will be considerbly better than the last appropriation. we must make sure it includes sufficient funds for economic development, humanitarian aid, infrastructure, education and other elements of smart security.

and the house must have a full and open debate about the administration's escalation plan and an up or down vote on whether we support it. we have a solemn obligation, mr. speaker, to let the american people know where each one of us stands. i have made it clear that i'm opposed to the escalation and proposed a clear alternative, house resolution 363, the smart security platform for the 21st century. mr. speaker, after the catastrophe of iraq, we can't march blindly into another war that will drag on for years and years. the time to change and to choose a better path is right now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. mr. poe of texas. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for five

minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, if you were in harrisburg, pennsylvania, you could be taking part of the annual event of what reminds us what is whole some. pennsylvania farm show, one person remembers the hours it takes to sew the stitches on a wedding quilt. another recalls the time and dedication required to raise a california into a dairy cow and throwing out recipes that produces the best angel food cake ever. 400,000 people attend and that is 400,000 memories from horse shoe pitching contest to a ride on the merry-go-round. the sticky bun contest, the weird food in the food court, potato doughnuts, which is my

favorite and odor from diesel from the dancing tractor contest, two callers and 14 drivers. somehow the smells are all tied up with the memories. i'm talking about the largest indoor agricultural event in america with 270 commercial vendors. the 24-acre site of the pennsylvania farm show complex and expo center in harrisburg, pennsylvania, houses 11 buildings and three arenas. the show started on january 9 and continues until saturday, january 16. to give you one example of the breath of this show there are more than 6,000 head of sheep, swine, poultry and rabbits in competition for the best of the best. young rodeo champions compete in the high school rodeo, bull riding and the list goes on. both members of h-h and future

farmers of america participate. there are young people who learn values and a possible vocation from their participation in this huge event. here's an exhibit and competition that bass new to me, sheep to shaw that features adult teams and spin the wool into yarn and create a shawl. they consist of three spinners and a weaver. they sell it at auction with proceeds going to the team and one sold for more than $3,000. this 94-year-old show was begun in 1917 and it was called the pennsylvania corn, fruit vegetables and dairy products and wool show. it has grown and expanded and grown again from 5,000 visitors in 1917 to 400,000 this year. it has come through war conditions that nearly canceled the show in 1918 because the federal government seized control of the railroads,

tropical storm agnes in 1981 which put 91 inches of water that left an inch of mud. this shares knowledge and experience. the bee keeping exhibits have drawn attention and the plight of the honey bee. this disorder is characterized by sudden colonny death. it is the honey bee that is responsible for pollen ating fruits, vegetables and nuts. scientists and researchers are getting closer to finding the cause of the disorder. sharing awareness such as the farm show is key to finding the cure. agriculture remains pennsylvania's number one industry with 63,000 farms statewide. farm products range from dairy production, cattle, mushrooms, corn, various greenhouse crops. timber harvesting continues to be a major job source throughout

the commonwealth of pennsylvania, particularly in my district because of our hardwoods. having come from a family of dairy farmers, i'm happy to meet and talk with those who work on the farm and provide our nation's supply. this event is one of the best opportunities to do just that because of the diverse mix of farmers. state and local government officials and agriculture associations, all of which have great agriculture expertise. . i hope i have peeked your interest enough to have you attend this year or next and experience it for yourself. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. connelly of virginia. without objection, the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. defazio: i thank the chair. this week two so-called reporters from associated press,

a matt and a brett, did a supposed analysis of the investment in transportation and infrastructure projects from the so-called stimulus legislation. they came to the conclusion that there was no affect on local unemployment and had barely helped the beleaguered construction industry. that's a pretty interesting conclusion when we can document the jobs created, the hours worked, 250,000 direct jobs were created and when you look at the secondary employment impact, you're up to about 3/4 of a million jobs, 8,587 highway and transit projects under construction and it had no affect on local unemployment? what they're saying is, because

of the hemorrhaging in other parts of industry and business in america, the unemployment rate's going up, now what if we had just not made the investment in transit and infrastructure and had walked away from those 750,000 jobs? would they have written a story saying that unemployment increased by nearly a million jobs because the federal government failed to invest in transportation infrastructure? this is a totally perverse and bizarre conclusion reached by these two individuals. now, if they wanted to write about the tax cuts in the stimulus, i'd say they were right. remember, the total investment, total, in hard jobs, in transportation infrastructure this in this bill was about 5% of the stimulus bill. 5%. yet it created 25% of the measurable jobs.

now the tax cuts which totaled eight times more, eight times as much money, was spent on tax cuts, something which mimiced the failed bush policy that president obama wanted to do to have a bipartisan bill and kind of deal with three republican senators, we have $300 billion of tax cuts for three republican votes for that bill which have not created a single job or prevented the loss of a single job. ask any american who's still working what they did with their tax cut last week? they'll say, what tax cut? tell them, oh, that big tax cut, president obama has promised tax cuts, the ones the republicans in the senate insisted on. you got one. there was a slight reduction in your with holding and you're not getting sent a check this time, you're paying a tiny bit more. i got a lot of people in my district who can use that $12 a week but they will also say to me, congressman, that isn't going to put a single person back to work, it's not going to help my neighbor down the

street, and these two turkies have the temerity to come up with a so-called study which is now being quoted by the likes of "the wall street journal" and other right wing institutions in proving that it doesn't create jobs. it both arguably did create jobs but it was way too small. we have 160,000 bridges in our national system that are weight limited or function alley obsolete. what if we had a plan to replace those bridges? what about the plans in the steal industry to produce the steal -- steel industry to produce the steel? what about the injury -- jobs? this stimulus was too small and too short-term in terms of transportation infrastructure. it was a one-time thing. it did create a lot of jobs, kept a lot of people off the unemployment rolls but it didn't get the maximum affect you would get with a long-term investment in transportation infrastructure where you'd get people ordering new rock crushing machinery,

happens to be some made in my district, or new street cars, we're making some of those in oregon, too, or buses that are manufactured in the midwest with components from all around america. those sorts of things will put a heck of a lot of people back to work, will revive our manufacturing, so we actually need not less, which would be the conclusion of these guys, but more investment in our crumbling transportation network in america. the city of chicago, i hope they're listening down at the white house, got a grand total of $350 million toward its $6 billion back log on the chicago transit authority. they're holding up some of the l with two by fours and other sorts of braces. they spent that money in 30 days. they ordered buses, they ordered steel, they put people back to work immediately. they could have spent $1 billion, they could have spent $2 billion in a that time period but the money wasn't there -- in that time period but the money wasn't there. it was too small but it did

create a heck of a lot of good jobs and made needed investments in this country. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does -- i'm sorry, for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? mr. burton: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: would the gentleman like to claim the time for mr. jones of north carolina? mr. burton: sure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized without objection for five minutes. mr. burton: you know, i really get a big kick out of listening to my democrat colleagues when they talk about spending all this money on infrastructure and how we're not spending enough and how we need to come up with another stimulus bill. the fact of the matter is, since they took control of congress, the national debt has gone up by almost $4 trillion. you can't spend your way out of debt. you can't create jobs by digging yourselves into a bigger and bigger hole. and that's exactly what they're

talking about doing. now they say they've created jobs. they said that unemployment would not go above 8%. and they say they've created or saved two million jobs or there abouts. the fact of the matter is, seven million jobs have been lost, lost. seven million jobs have been lost. now, even if you said that -- and accepted their premise that that they saved or created two million jobs, you'd still be five million jobs in the hole and the unemployment rate isn't 8%, it's 10%, it was up above that. and i believe it probably will get there again. you know, i just can't understand why they don't get it. john f. kennedy, a democrat, he got it, and he said time and again when he was president, if you give people more disposable income, they will spend it to buy more products.

and if you give more income back to business and industry through tax cuts, as i was just talking about with individuals, that will give them more money for investment and to hire employees. and if people and industry go out and spend that tax cut, then they're going to have to were you more -- produce more product. more refrigerators, more cars, more vacuum sweepers, whatever it is. and if people buy more because they have more money to spend collectively across the country, 300 million people, then you're going to see employment rise. employment rise, not unemployment. and so john f. kennedy understood that. and that's why early in his administration he put through tax cuts and then when ronald reagan came in after the debacle called the carter administration, where we had unemployment at 12% and inflation at 14%, worse than what we have today even, reagan

came in and he said, we're going to cut taxes, and i think he even mentioned john f. kennedy. so reagan, yeah, well, we're going to cut taxes instead of raising taxesment and so they cut taxes -- taxes. and so they cut taxes. and we worked our way out of a very severe recession. and we created millions of jobs and had an economic expansion that lasted 20 years because we cut taxes and gave people their money back to them, some of it, and we gave business and industry some of their money back so they could make investment. that's the way you do it. and yet the democrats and the obama administration are talking about the tax cuts that were put into place early in the bush administration, they want to let them expire this year. which is going to be a drain on the economy, take more money out of people's pockets, more money out of business and industry, and exacerbate the economy, the economic problems we're facing. and so when i hear my colleagues

come down, i love to listen to their rhetoric, their logic alludes me, though, because you're not going to solve the unemployment problems with economic problem -- or the economic problems in this country by loading more debt and more taxes on the backs of the american people. you're going to cause the future generations to look back at us and say, why did you do that to us? because you're going to have inflation and you're going to have higher taxes and you're going to have a deteriorating economy and you're going to have the government taking over more and more responsibility which is what a lot of socialists in this administration would like to see. they believe government could do the job better than the private sector. obviously most americans don't agree with that, if you look at the polls lately, just on the health care bill alone. so i would just like to say to my colleagues, mr. speaker, that if we're serious about solving the economic problems, let's take a look at history. let's look at what they did in the kennedy administration. let's look at what they did in

the reagan administration. and let's say we're going to extend the tax cuts, we're going to cut taxes further right now because it will give people more disposable income, give more money for business and industry to invest and people in industry will buy more, therefore they'll produce more products and more people will go back to work and you lower the unemployment rate. the unemployment rate today is not 10%, there's a lot of people who have been getting unemployment checks that aren't included anymore. it's more like 15% to 17%, and this administration is responsible for it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. kaptur of ohio. for what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio rise? ms. kaptur: address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from ohio is recognized for five minutes. ms. kaptur: thank you. mr. speaker, the conventional wisdom flowing through the media to our nation is that without the wall street bailout america

would have gone into economic depression and many banks would have failed. well, the bailout passed. but think about it, then america fell into depression. unemployment skyrocketed and since january of last year 141 banks have failed and been resolved through the federal deposit insurance corporation with more to come. yet the biggest banks that did the damage were rescued rather than broken up. and held accountable. these big banks gambled wildly taking huge risks with our money and our mortgages and now they're transferring their trillions of dollars of mistakes to our taxpayers for generations to come. what's wrong with this picture? the public's anger is rising rightly. that can make a difference. because that will affect elections. yet the powerhouses of wall

street who took tarp money within a year are earning the strongest profits in america compared to every other business and they're handing themselves exorbitant bonuses, over $150 billion, that's with a b, and counting. clearly what congress did was incorrect. . with rising trade deficits, which weren't supposed to happen because of the value of the dollar. why? because the financial crisis was resolved in the wrong way. but those who created this house of cards are rewarding themselves, taking from others to reward the privileged few. that doesn't sound like the america i know. credit remains frozen across our country. credit being frozen means no more jobs.

it means jobless recovery, because businesses cannot make payroll, they cannot buy supplies or maintain their inventories. when five mega banks control nearly half of the deposits of the american people, that's too concentrated, too unaccountable and too much of a transfer of power from the many to the few. that isn't what america's about. alone or joined together in groups, these big banks successfully lobbied congress to weaken financial regulatory reform, rebuilding the protective wall between regular prudent commercial banking and speculation. financial reform should have deconstructed the too big to fail firms that caused the economic crisis, but the bill that went through this congress a few weeks ago did the exact opposite. it grandfathered them. i have introduced h.r. 4773 to

call the return to prudent banking act, which would restore the protections which were overturned a decade ago in graham-leach, bliley that sailed through congress. our bill would restore the barriers between commercial banking and speculation, not allowing the transfer of power to the abusers. i look forward to working with my colleagues to combine our bills and return our financial system to a prudent bampinging system, one in which credit is no longer seized up because we fixed what is wrong with the fundamentals. we need a banking system that is less concentrated and without the systemic roncentrated and w the systemic risk. the momentum is building for real change and i'm glad there's an election this year because despite the work of the mega banks, we still have hope

because more americans are paying attention. there's an article in the "wall street journal" today by thomas frank entitled "bring back glass seigel. he's right. the regulatory reform bill that moved through congress last year has a bottom line. the house bill grandfathered the mega banks which set the stage for a future meltdown in our economy because the federal government becomes the open arm for wall street's high risk future behavior. the big banks will fight any effort to reform the current system, but speculators shouldn't be given free rein. if they are high risk, you are on your own. but those firms should not be allowed to gamble with regular commercial banking. the american people should think about how to restore normal

credit flows because until we do that, this economy is not going to heal. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mr. paul of texas. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. wolf: address the house for five minutes. i rise and extend also. mr. speaker, earlier week co-chairs of the 9/11 commission in an op ed for "usa today" wrote that national security is too important to become a partisan issue and i couldn't agree more. i wrote president obama yesterday with three specific actions that i recommend he could take immediately with strong bipartisan support to help prevent future attacks against america. first i recommended that he immediately bring back the two co-chairs of the 9/11 commission for a six-month period to conduct a formal review and followup to the 9/11 report.

mr. hamilton and mr. kane will be charged evaluating which of the commission's original recommendations have been implemented and to what end and which have failed to be implemented and at what cost. i urged the creation of a team concept separate from the review that would be conducted by the 9/11 commission co-chairs. historically, the team b refers to a group of outside experts brought together to analyze the threats posed by the soviet union to the united states and countered the opinions. the team b concept has been successful in previous administrations when fresh eyes were needed to provide the commander in chief with objective information to make informed policy decisions. i believe it can work now. third, i urged the president to support the legislation that i introduced today to establish a 10-year term of office for the

administrator of the transportation and security administration, t.s.a. similar to what the congress has done in the past in the appointment process for the director of the f.b.i. bob mueller has done an outstanding job and that process has worked well. since t.s.a.'s creation, it has had six administrators averaging terms of just 1.5 years. the attempted bombing of the u.s. airliner points to the need for capable and strong leadership that is outside of the political process. in a separate letter to john brennan i posed a series of pointed questions concerning the security situation in yemen and the circumstances surrounding the christmas day failed attack. how does it plan to deal with the possible radicalization of some 55,000 americans, 55,000

americans that are currently visiting, living or studying in yemen. pointing out that these individuals can fly back to the united states with american passports. the dangers of radicalization in yemen are troubling. the alleged shooter at fort hood was radicalized. and now we have learned that the alleged christmas day terrorist was reportedly also in contact with the cleric in yemen. convicted terrorist john walker lind was radicalized, leading to his collaboration with the taliban in afghanistan. last week, president obama said now is not the time for partisanship but time for citizenship and come together and work together with the

seriousness and purpose that our national security demands. working together demands that this administration work with congress, both republicans and democrats in good faith to provide information and answer questions, consider solutions and develop a strategy to defeat al qaeda whenever and however we can. the administration must live up to the present challenge to involve congress in the active participation on counterterrorism matters. this can only happen if the legislative branch, republicans and democrats, are included in the process. in closing, i urge my colleagues in the house to support bringing back the 9/11 team kane and hamilton for six months, create a team b to create solutions to disrupt and defeat al qaeda and to make the t.s.a. administrator position independent, nonpartisan that will go for long-term, similar to what we currently do with regard to the f.b.i. these are good bipartisan steps to protect the homeland and

defeat al qaeda. with that, mr. speaker, i thank you for your courtesy and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. spratt of south carolina. mr. moran of kansas. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy january 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from california, ms. lee, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. ms. lee: thank you very much. as chair of the 42-member

congressional black caucus, let me begin by saying that our thoughts and our prayers go out to the people of haiti and the haitian american community. those americans and others in haiti affected by this devastating earthquake. members of the congressional black caucus are monitoring the situation in haiti and are committed to providing whatever emergency humanitarian assistance is needed. the congressional black caucus has a long history of working with the haitian people and the haitian american community on a variety of issues. we share a close and long-standing relationship. many members of the congressional blalk caucus, including myself, have visited haiti many, many times. since learning of the earthquake, my staff and i have been in contact with the state department and other officials to assess the situation on a regular basis. congressman donald payne of new jersey chairs the international

affairs task force of the congressional black caucus and held several meetings today to coordinate our legislative and humanitarian assistance efforts. the c.b.c. is working to help ensure that the united states can and will continue to do everything it can to provide emergency humanitarian assistance. the president has quickly deployed all available assets and resources to respond to this emergency. over the last several years, haiti has experienced an extraordinary set of challenges from high food prices and food shortages to natural disasters. haiti will need increased attention and resources from the international community to help it recover during this very difficult time. united nations reports say thousands of people may have died in this earthquake. at least 100 people are believed to be buried in the rubble of the united nations headquarters

building in port-au-prince. the head of the united nations mission is among the missing. search and rescue teams have been sent to haiti from several countries. a united states military official says tentative plans are under way for the hospital ship to dock off the coast of haiti to assist the sick and wounded. we are asking the global community to help us with these efforts. in response to the earthquake in haiti, the u.s. international -- u.s. agency for international development is dispatching a disaster assistance response team and has activated its partners, the fairfax county urban search and ress sue team and the los angeles county search and rescue team. now more than ever, haiti needs our help. haiti is the poorest, least developed country in the western hemisphere with an average per

capita income of $500 per year. but the haitian people are resilient and proud people. the country ranked 146th out of 177, lower than bangladesh and even the sudan on this nution united nations human index and one in eight children will die before the age of five. one in eight. and over the last two years, haiti has been devastated by a triple blow of rising food and energy prices, the succession of hurricanes, tropical storms and the economic downturn. in may, 2008, former chair of the congressional black caucus and i led a congressional delegation to haiti to examine the conditions on the ground. we were joined then by 10 members of the congressional black caucus and one member of

the congressional hispanic caucus. later that month, the house passed an emergency supplemental that included funding for international food aid and also other food security initiatives. as a member of the appropriations committee, we worked to ensure that haiti's needs were addressed in the context of the global food crisis. thanks in large part to the leadership of many members in the congressional black caucus, in september of 2008, president bush signed h.r. 2638 into law which amended the department of homeland security act to include $100 million in additional disaster relief to the caribbean of which $96 million was appropriated to haiti. during haiti's time of need then, congress stepped up to lend support. and of course we expect no less this time around. as we deliver urgent and immediate support to the people of haiti and all of those who