spread. it's time for congress and the american people to wake up to the realities of the dangers we face. we must remember as members of congress that we have taken an oath to protect and defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. it should not be that difficult to distinguish the danger betweenen underwear bomber and a government that favors assassinating american citizens. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. garamendi: request permission to take mr. defazio's time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. .

mr. garamendi: tomorrow is a day in which the president will hold a summit on health care. the outcome of that meeting is of extraordinary importance to individuals, to families and to millions upon millions of americans. indeed, the entire nation. a successful outcome would be one in which we have bipartisan consensus on the critical issues of health care, on how we're going to provide coverage for all americans, how we deal with the pernicious and all too common insurance company practice of terminating policies when a person becomes ill or denying coverage because of some pre-existing condition. tomorrow's summit is extraordinary -- extraordinarily important because the outcome of that summit may give us insight into how we control the extraordinary increase of cost in health care, a cost that is not sustainable. either for individuals or for

this economy. we're currently spending somewhere in the range of 17% of our g.d.p. on health care. compared to the rest of the industrialized nations, that's nearly 60% to 70% more than they spend of their wealth. most every other industrialized nation spends 10% or less. we're giving away an extraordinary advantage to our competitors. now, if our health care actually produced extraordinary outcomes for all the population we might say it was worth it. but the fact of the matter is that our health care system does not. our population statistics, the statistics on how well we are, how long we live, how well our children thrive, how many of them die at birth and in early childhood, all of those statistics would indicate that nation's health care system is very, very poor.

in fact, we rank below colombia and other emerging nations around the world. so what are we going to do? this house passed a very important piece of legislation that goes to address many of these issues. the issue of how we contain our cost, how we improve our system, how we provide for wellness rather than just sick care. a very complex bill, but one that also provided a very, very important element, the element of a public option. now, i'm from california, and two weeks ago the largest insurance company providing policies, more than 80% of the single person policies, said, well, i think we are going to increase our rates by up to 39%. and that was on top of a similar rate increase in the previous year, some 60% increase for those individuals

that are not in a group that have to go out and buy their insurance on their own. a totally unaffordable situation and they also announced that in the intervening year, the year after these increases went into effect, they would willy-nilly and at their own will and their own desire increase the cost of those policies. an extraordinary and new event. those individuals, in fact every individual in america needs a public option, a place to go to get a competitive health insurance policy that provides real benefits at an affordable cost. this house passed such a public option. hopefully at tomorrow's summit that issue will be renewed. but the papers in this town say that issue is dead. i think not. because in america we do have public options. today they're not readily available to all of us unless

you happen to be 65 and that public option is medicare. if you happen to be a federal employee, like i and others in this room, you have a public option available. if you're in the military, you have a public option available to you. a military family. public options are widely available in america. we need to provide that option for every american. we need real competition. we need blue cross of california to have a competitor. they don't have none today. fortunately this house today took a step to end the monopoly, to end the antitrust exemption that the health insurance companies have. it will help but will not provide the solution that we need. we need that public option. we need the health care reform that this house passed and hopefully tomorrow at the president's summit the outcome will say, follow the lead of the house, give us a public option, give us the controls on prices, give us the steps towards staying healthy and

let's finally put this nation into a universally available health care system. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida rise? ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i'd like to claim my five minutes at this time. i ask unanimous consent. to claim mr. inglis' time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. this week i met with recreational fishermen of my congressional district of the florida keys. these men and women have taken time out of their busy season to travel up here to washington, d.c., to protest the latest round of onerous and unfair federal fishing regulations and closures. florida's recreational fishing industry is the largest in the nation. its economic impact to our state exceeds $5.3 billion, and

more than 54,000 jobs are generated by this industry. similarly, florida's commercial fishing industry is nearly 13,000 strong and contributes a staggering $1.2 billion to our economy. our fishermen understand that maintaining a robust healthy fishery through appropriate regulation is the key to their economic success. however, the recent fishing bans on red snapper and shallow water grouper enacted by the south atlantic fisheries council are devastating to our florida fishing industry. the bans not only threaten the jobs of recreational and commercial fishermen but also the small business owners that support the -- and economically benefit from these industries. local restaurants will look to carry more cost-affordable fish

from countries such as mexico and the dominican republic as opposed to featuring fresh florida-caught fish, crab and lobster. hotels, guide shops and other tourist attractions will continue to suffer as fishing enthusiasts decide to go elsewhere. this multibillion dollar industry cannot be overstated. and yet one by one these fishermen are being regulated out of business. i'm a co-sponsor of a bill known as the transparency and job loss from fishery closures act and this is bail that is introduced by my colleague, congressman henry brown. this bipartisan bill instructs noaa to reverse the harmful fishing closures and calls for stricter policies before implementing further closings. in particular, this bill requires that noaa conduct a

comprehensive review of recent fishery closures and provide sufficient updated research showing that a closure is the only option to maintain the fishery. in this review, noaa must consider the impact of each closure on the coastal communities being regulated, including the impact on their small businesses and the losses of the jobs that would entail these closures. i also support efforts to increase fisheries research, to improve enforcement systems and to reform the flawed fisheries act. i'm a co-sponsor introduced by congressman frank pallone that would amendment that act that would provide greater flexibility to state regulators and fishery managers. the process of collecting data utilized by federal regulators in determining fishing closures

also needs to be revisited. the scientific and statistics committee need to conduct their business in an open, transparent forum that also considers input from the fishing industry. what a concept. opening up this committee to stakeholder feedback and congressional oversight will go a long way in repairing the trust between regulators and local fishermen. in this stagnant economy, mr. speaker, it is imperative that we do all that we can to protect a historic and much-needed industry from economic disaster. our nation's fishermen deserve and require our immediate action. i thank the gentleman for the time, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. ms. kaptur of ohio.

mr. murphy of pennsylvania. mr. young of florida. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to claim my five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. young: mr. speaker, i rise this evening to speak to the memory of one of my close friends, one of my colleagues, my partner and a man with whom i have spent so many hours, so many days to so many years as we worked together on the national defense appropriations bill, and i'm speaking of the late chairman jack murtha. in keeping with his legislative management style, i'll be brief, because as we presented our defense appropriations bills, the last meeting that we would have somewhere in the chamber here would be, hey,

look, this is a good bill. it's not controversial, let's pass it quick. we ought to be able to get it done in eight or 10 minutes, which we normally did. jack was a good leader, a good chairman. when we had discussions on the hundreds and hundreds of issues in that bill, his concern always was, what is best to keep america safe, what is best to keep americans safe, and what is best to give our soldiers the tools that they need, the technology that they need to do their job, to carry out their mission and to protect themselves while they're doing that? i expressed my condolences and to my sadness to his wife, joyce, and their children. i know of the sadness that they experienced here a couple weeks ago as jack left the congress, left the family and left this

life. i really was saddened and regretted and felt extremely bad that i was not able to attend his funeral, but beverly and i had a tragic event of our own during that same period. i wanted to mention that beverly, my wife, knew jack murtha very well because we would all -- we'd oftentimes be at the same military hospital with him visiting troops, wounded troops and their families. i remember the first day that my wife ever ran into jack murtha at walter reed hospital and she had been talking to a wife of a soldier who had serious physical problems, but the family had financial problems. and she said, hey, mr. murtha, give me your wallet. jack murtha took out his wallet

and handed it to her and she took out all of the money and handed it to the soldier's wife and then gave jack back his empty wallet. and so she also had a special relationship. but we were not able to attend jack's funeral. during that same period of time, my son, billy, and his wife, ashley, had become pregnant sometime ago and everybody was excited about that. and then one day they picked us up at the airport coming back from washington, and we had lunch together and they announced that they had just been to the doctor and we were going to have twin granddaughters. you talk about being excited and cheers and tears, but it was not to be. 20 weeks into the pregnancy something happened, things went wrong. the two little girls were born

alive and lived only a couple of hours until their little hearts quit beating. and so we were going through that same grief at about the same time that joyce and her family were going through the grief of losing jack murtha. i lost a friend. congress lost a powerful legislator. he didn't speak on the floor very often, he was never boisterous, you never saw him -- well is selldom shouting and waving his arms but he knew whatches going on and he affected what was going on in the legislation. some of our colleagues used to joke that he would sit back in this corner while i sat back on that corner so that between the two of us we could watch everything that was happening in the house chamber at any given time. it was a good relationship. so i again, i express my

condolences, my own sadness of losing this friend, losing this great american and, mr. speaker, i think jack has left an emptiness that probably will not be filled for a long time if ever and i think those in the house floor, as we proceed with appropriations bills in the future, will recognize that without jack murtha here things were a lot different. so god bless the family and, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. kingston from georgia. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. kingston: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise as a friend and mourn and

share the loss not just to the murtha family and the state of pennsylvania but to the entire nation and certainly every man and woman wearing a uniform. i was proud to know jack murtha, proud to serve in the u.s. congress with jack murtha. he was a bipartisan guy, he was a knowledgeable guy, he was a hardworking guy. the military budget in appropriations is over $500 billion, it is a very thick bill. you have to know airplanes from submarines from tanks to battle ships. jack murtha knew that and he would study it very deeply. jack murtha, though, beyond being a professional congressman, taught this chamber many things. one thing i learned as a guy who came up through some partisan battles and some nonpartisan battles that the murtha-mcdade relationship almost cast a certain circle around the state of pennsylvania that made it a

special place, that the pennsylvania delegation had something that the other states did not have and that was two great leaders, republican and democrat, who kind of fit the tone not just for the entire state but for the rest of us to see how things could be. and indeed the pennsylvania delegation still has great fellowship because of that legacy. it was also reflected in his relationship with you bill young. i can't tell you what -- with bill young. i can't tell what you a joy it has been for all members of congress to come and often see the battles that are so epitomized on the top shows and the name calling and so forth and you think that's congress and then you go into a committee room and you see bill young and jack murtha working together, not always agreeing, but always fection ath and always have great respect for what the other one had to say. and indeed i can tell you for somebody who has served here 18 years, sometimes you couldn't tell who was chairman, they were

that close and that united and that focused on what was best for the troops. what a great relationship and again what a great example for the rest of us. jack murtha was an old school guy. he liked to have his bill done in a hurry. in fact, the chairman, mr. obey, knows as well as one of the largest bills was also one of the fastest bills to be passed so many times. he knew exactly where he wanted to go with his bill long before the hearings started. i remember i had an amendment, had to do with electronic verification of social security numbers for people working on federal contracts, the chairman didn't like it and i remember mr. murtha, i'd submitted it, i'd worked the committee, the subcommittee very carefully and he said, kingston, we're not going to do that. that was it. that was my -- kingston, we're not going to do that. when you said that, you knew that was it, the curtain was closed, the case was over and this same chairman could turn around and say to you, you got

to -- you got a problem in hinesville, georgia, little hinesville, georgia, a speck on the map that because it's the home of the third infantry that was expecting two moreberry grades, went out and build a lot more roads and infrastructure in preparation for another brigade and then the pentagon made in turn and decided not to send it to them and who stood up for hinesville, georgia? jack murtha. who said, look, we've got to do something to help these people because the pennsylvania has done them wrong, they stood tall for the military but now the military's let them down? jack murtha pulled through. not just on that issue but time and time again. jack murtha loved the united states of america. jack murtha loved the military. jack murtha loved the soldiers. he stood up not just for them but for their families over and over again.

congress has lost a great leader as has the state, the united states of america, but the american soldiers have lost a true friend and a passionate guy who would do anything for the man and woman in uniform. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time and i say god bless jack murtha in his memory and everything he has done for the united states of america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. thompson from pennsylvania. mr. shuster from pennsylvania. mr. frelinghuysen is recognized for five minutes. mr. frelinghuysen: thank you very much. mr. speaker, i echo the sentiments of my colleagues here this afternoon and want to add my voice and tribute to jack murtha, a colleague, my chairman of the defense house appropriations committee, and my friend. for nearly his entire adult life, jack murtha selflessly served his block ofed nation.

first in the uniform as a decorated combat marine and later as an elected representative for my neighboring state of pennsylvania. we all know by now that he was the first vietnam war combat veteran elected to congress. and while many of us followed him to congress, he rose to become chairman of the house appropriations subcommittee on defense. i've had the honor of serving with him on the subcommittee for over 10 years. in our dealings over the years, we did not always agree on policy decisions, but i always respected his undenyble dedication and his refreshing candor. there's no doubt that he cared most deeply about the men and women of america, the military and their families. he understood their challenges and their anxieties. what he did not understand he actively sought to learn in trips to department of defense facilities and installations, forward operating bases and military medical centers around the world. he served our men and women in uniform diligently and daily in

countless ways. he worked each week to improve their quality of life. mr. speaker, jack murtha loved congress, he loved pennsylvania, he loved his constituents, he loved the military and he loved all these things with a passion that exceeded the most ardent enthusiast. but fundamentally jack murtha was a marine, with all the distinguished attributes and character statistics that brings. as a former -- characteristics that brings. i recall the statement of one army general and i quote, there are only two kinds of people that understand marines, marines and the enemy. everyone else has a secondhand opinion. my secondhand opinion is that i'm honored to have served with jack murtha. i'll never forget his enduring friendship, may the tributes and prayers of so many of our colleagues this afternoon here today be a source of strength to his wife, joyce, and to his family. semper fi, jack murtha.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kanjorski, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members be given five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, in and colleagues, i rise today -- mr. speaker and colleagues, i rise today to honor our friends and one of the standing members of this house, jack murtha. who represented opinion's -- pennsylvania's 12th district, and to remember his devotion to his work in this congress, his strength of character and his hard-fought efforts for his district in pennsylvania and our

country. additionally i feel privileged to have called jack my friend and i know that many other members in this chamber feel the same way. as first votes were called this week and members gathered on the house floor it was very apparent to most of us that someone was missing. i walked in on monday almost expecting to see jack seated in the chair in the pennsylvania corner. as i had since, i had seen since i first joined congress 25 years ago. while jack is no longer with us, his spirit will live in this chamber and in the halls of congress for now -- halls of congress. for now his chair will remain empty. jack left us too soon but his legacy will surely live as a symbol of the great work that one man can do and it's

something we can all strive to achieve. he will be missed by all his fellow colleagues, his friends and definitely the pennsylvania delegation. mr. chairman, i'd like to recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. holden. mr. holden: i thank my friend from pennsylvania for yielding. mr. speaker, today we pay tribute to our departed friend and colleague, jack murtha. over 17 years ago i heard jack say that his great grandmother told him he was put on this earth to make a difference and, boy, did he make a difference. he loved his country and served it with distinction at many levels, he served the united states marine corps stateside during the korean war, when the vietnam war broke out he

volunteered to to go back and served in vietnam and received two purple hearts. he was the first vietnam veteran elected to the united states congress. he is the longest serving in the history of the congress from pennsylvania to serve in the house of representatives. and as mr. young mentioned during his remarks, he never forgot the men and women in uniform and made sure that they had the tools to do the job that they do so well and our returning veterans as well, he was always at the forefront of making sure that they had the proper care and treatment and visited them so many times at our military hospitals. but he also cared so much about all of us. everybody in this body has an example where jack helped them. and he helped me so many times over the years, but there's just one that i want to share with everyone today. after the redistricting of -- after the 2002 election, i found myself serving in a district

that was 60% new to me and i inherited one of the best medical facilities in the commonwealth of pennsylvania and actually in the entire country, the penn state milton hershey medical center and after meeting with the leaders at the penn state facilities and saw the quality of care that they provide, i said, there's one thing that we're missing. we're missing a cancer research and treatment stoo institute. people -- treatment institute. people that we serve all too often have to go to philadelphia or pittsburgh or baltimore for care. we need to have a facility for literally millions of central pennsylvaniaans and we, penn state, are willing to put up more than our fair share or the majority of the cost but we are about $35 million short of getting there. i went to see jack, i brought him to hershey, he looked around at the quality of care that's provided, made an agreement and said it won't happen in one year or two years but it will happen. we, the federal government, will

be a partner and the people of central pennsylvania no longer will have to travel to philadelphia or pitburg or baltimore. and i'm proud to say today that as a result of jack's efforts and his desire to help me, we have a quality -- absolute the best quality cancer care in central pennsylvania. and all of us could cite incidents like that where jack cared about members and did things to set the quality of life for their constituents. so our thoughts and prayers continue to go to joyce and so many of jack's former staffers and current staffers with with us today. jack, we miss you dealer. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, i'd like to introduce mr. mike doyle and before he speaks a word, he was commissioned as the jokester of the pennsylvania corner, purposely to keep jack in good spirits during his presence there. mr. doyle.

mr. doyle: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise to honor the memory of my mentor and my dear friend, congressman jack murtha. this is a tough day for all of us in the pennsylvania delegation. our state has lost its 800-pound gorilla and our dear, dear friend. you know, jack murtha personified the people of western pennsylvania, tough, hard working, salt of the erth. he loved his family -- earth. he loved his family, they always came first. his beautiful wife who he was married to for over 50 years, his three children, his grandchildren, family always came first to jack murtha. he loved his country. and he most especially loved the men and women who wore the uniform for the united states of america. they were his champion. there wasn't any member in this body who fought harder for those troops than jack murtha did. he loved this institution too.

i remember he especially was helpful to new members. when i got elected in 1994, jack took me under his wing and one day he sat me right back there in pennsylvania corner, right next back to his chair and said i'll give pieces of advice. number one, sit here on the floor and maeser the rules and procedures. if you master the rules and procedures of the house someday you'll get a chance to bring a bill and they'll listen to you if you know the rules. be the best person you can be in that field. be the best person that people want to come to and ask advice on that issue. i never forgot that advice. 16 years later every day we still come to that corner and those of us who would smart enough would come over there and seek jack's council. he didn't just do it for the

members of the pennsylvania delegation. he did it for people who came back and sought his council. you know, much has been said about jack's -- sought his counsel. you know, when he chaired the defense appropriations committee, didn't matter to him what your party was. what mattered to him is that you had something that was going to be good for the troops and good for the country. and if you had a good idea, jack was willing to help you turn that idea into reality. when you think about the appropriation bills and how long it takes us sometimes to pass bills and how long that we go sometimes without passing bills and have to throw them on at the end of the year there was one bill we didn't have a problem passing. i can't remember in the 16 years that i've been here in the house of representatives ever taking more than 10 minutes to pass the defense appropriations bill. jack just had it all worked out from the beginning and he worked it out with both sides. that was the beauty of it.

you know, it was said when jack wasn't in the majority anymore and not the chairman of the committee, it was hard to tell who was the chairman of the committee because jack and his good friend, bill young, they worked together as a team. they were both the chairs of the committee every year regardless of what party was in control. it was his dear friend and it was a pleasure to see those two work and to sit on these opposite ends. you know, we hear so much ranker in america today about the division in our country and the division here in the house of representatives, how democrats and republicans can't work together. these two gentlemen worked together their entire careers. they were an example for the rest of us to follow. jack murtha's not with us anymore. it's hard to imagine coming to pennsylvania corner. i think the toughest thing for all of us this week was to stand in that corner and see that chair empty and know that our friend wasn't coming in. it's going to take us a while for that to sink in, that it's

really happened. but one thing lives on. jack would want us to move forward. jack wouldn't want us to spend a lot of time dwelling about him or how we feel because he's gone. jack would want us to get back to work. he wanted to make sure that we were working for this country and for our districts. he always told every member that came over there, vote for your district first. regardless what people tell you on this floor, vote for your district. i watched jack chase some of those members. jack, we're going to miss you. you've been a great teacher to those of us in the pennsylvania delegation. you were a great friend to many of us, a father figure. we stand here today to honor your memory and to pledge to you that we'll continue to work hard in your memory and make sure that the people of western pennsylvania and the great state of pennsylvania continue

the tradition that you set for all of us, the example that you set for this delegation. to his family, our deepest sympathies. jack murtha, god speed, god bless. i yield back. mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, jack's chairman, chairman of the appropriations committee, david obey. mr. obey: mr. speaker, this is a very human institution, and it's affected very much by our personal relationships with one another. very frankly, for the first 20 years that jack and i served on the appropriations committee we were often adversaries. there were some issues that we differed on. he was, as has already been said, very much old school. and i was more of a reformer.

and in fact when i ran for the chairmanship of the committee against the senior member of the committee, jack managed the campaign of my opponent. and unfortunately he did a pretty good job. but -- and after i was elected we had pretty much an arm's length relationship for a couple of years. but if you care about your country and you care about this institution, you swallow your differences and you learn to work with everybody. and jack and i soon developed a solid working relationship and we became allies on a host of issues. one of the most important was our view of the war in iraq and how to get out of it. and another was our concern about the dubiousness of our continued involvement in

afghanistan if we didn't have a better ally in that government to rely upon. and we often talked together and we traveled together. we went to the middle east together. and we shared something special as well in a different place on this globe. a few years ago he and i and dave hobson and our staff became concerned about the visitor's center at normandy. it was really a pretty much of a cracker box affair, and it was not at all fitting to the history of that place. and so we determined that there ought to be a new visitor center at normandy. and with the three of us working together with our staffs, that visitor center was

built. and today if you visit it, and it's truly beautiful, today if you visit it there is a little plaque behind that visitor's center in front of a small tree with the names of murtha, obey and hobson on it. i know i'm proud of that, and i know jack was proud of that. and i think it symbolizes what happens in this place. two people who started out as adversaries, became reasonably good friends. never fully agreeing because no two people in this place ever agree on everything. but we had a solid working relationship, and i learned one thing about jack a long time ago. he had the courage of his convictions and he fought hard everywhere he knew how for those convictions. and he cared deeply about the

welfare of the men and women who served in the armed forces and defend this country's freedom. and i am proud that at normandy there is that little note of the three of us having gotten together all for one purpose, to honor the people who did so much on those beaches to build and preserve america's freedom and the freedom of the world. mr. kanjorski: mr. chairman -- mr. speaker, we'd now like to yield to the gentleman from indiana, mr. visclosky. mr. visclosky: i thank the gentleman for yielding.

i'd like to take a bit different tact because i met chairman murtha for the first time in 1977 when i was an associate staff on appropriations. my mentor, adam benjamin jr., was a member of the appropriations committee that year. mr. murtha, mr. carney, mr. benjamin and others were instrumental in that year, not only in that appropriations process but in also establishing the steel caucus because they were very concerned about people who worked in their district. what i took away as a staffer from that relationship with mr. murtha is the fact that he always treated me and every other staff he came into contact with with respect. he always heard what i had to say and what other staff had to

say. whether, as mr. obey implied, he agreed with you or not. and he always treated you very professionally. i had no conception during those six years working as a staff member that the time would come or i would serve as a colleague on the committee with mr. murtha, would serve on the subcommittee and would be blessed enough to call him a friend. he was a friend to every person he encountered. he was a good friend to the people he represented because he was most concerned with those who worked hard, who needed a job or who needed a hand up. our country is much richer because of that attitude that mr. murtha carried with him every day. and the world is certainly a much better place than it would have been had he not walked

among us. the fact is, as far as his activities on the defense subcommittee, and my member was a former marine as well, i was always struck that while some people are very focused on weapons systems, mr. murtha, while never losing sight of the big picture, was most concerned about that individual man or woman who was in the field, who was risking their life and who was serving our country. and as he would suggest, operation and maintenance, how you train, how you provide for their safety, how you equip that person and their family and those children was the most important thing for him. he taught me many valuable life lessons. i am a better person, and we are all better people because of mr. murtha. he will be greatly missed, and

i deeply appreciate the gentleman from pennsylvania yielding us this time. mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, i now yield time to the gentleman from western pennsylvania, one of jack's prodigies, jason. >> i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania and thank everyone who was spoken tonight. i want to talk about western pennsylvania and what jack meant to western pennsylvania, his home region and my home region. a lot has been said over the past few weeks and certainly tonight about the impact that this giant of the congress made on this institution, that he made on this country, and certainly the impact that he had on the american military. and there's nobody here that supported them more than jack murtha. i wanted to talk about the impact he had to his home region. i'm fortunate enough to represent a district that is intertwined due to gerrymandering with mr. murtha's district, a district

he represented so many years. i was born in a hospital that's in the district that he represented. i grew up in a town that's in the district that he represented. and i can tell you that we have lost a giant in this congress and we've lost a giant in this country, but we've lost a giant in western pennsylvania. and he will not be forgotten in his home region and it should not be forgotten that this is somebody, and we talk about the work that he did as a member of the appropriations committee, he put over the course of his career a billion, with a b, a billion and a half dollars into breast cancer research. he put nearly $1 billion into diabetes research as a member of the appropriations committee. i don't think that there's anybody in this congress that has a record that ask match what he has done in promoting health and promoting wellness. yes, in our military, but across all segments of society. and, again, this is somebody, as congressman doyle talked

earlier, that epitomizes the work ethic that represents western pennsylvania and the constituency that we represent. i'm fortunate to have known mr. murtha. i count him as a true champion of the region that i grew up in and somebody who will never be forgotten. there will never be his like again in western pennsylvania, in the congress or in the country. and i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for the time. mr. kanjorski: thank you very much. and now i'd like to yield to our -- part of our leadership, mr. larson. mr. larson: i want to thank the gentleman for having this opportunity for members to speak about a great american and someone who was so near and dear to all of us. i want to commend mike doyle,

bob brady, paul kanjorski, the entire delegation, for last week making sure that aside from the services that were held, formal services held for mr. murtha in johnstown, pennsylvania, that there was an opportunity for an irish wake afterwards. jack, i know, would have been very proud of that and i'm sure he got quite a chuckle with o'neal up in a higher place at the coming together of so many members and regaling in so many stories of jack murtha. america's lost a great patriot, congress has lost one of its giants, one of the most knowledgeable members on national defense ever to serve here, whose service spanned four

decades and eight presidents and members of both chambers and on both sides of the aisle. our hearts go out to joyce and the family. we in this body have lost a person that makes the very essence and fabric of being here so rich and rewarding. it was evident in listening to our colleagues, listening to rodney and bill and jack kingston, talk about mr. murtha, his death is a reminder to us all that our time here and all that we hope to accomplish is fleeting and as he would say, make the most of it while you're here, become expert in a field

and most of all stand up for what you believe. jack reminded me in so many ways of my grandfather, with that shocked white hair and piercing blue eyes and his way of questioning but also his incredible irish wit. he loved congress. he was the epitome of what so often is talked about in terms of bipartisan cooperation, as so often demonstrated between he and -- he and bill young or dave hobson. when he gave his word he kept it . he was a member's member. ever cognizant of what he could do to help you and while he was a tough questioner and firm in his convictions, he had an incredible heart and a deep love

of history. he loved to talk about tip o'neal and the good old days here. i was fortunate to travel overseas with mr. murtha four times. sometimes i thought i drew the short straw in the pennsylvania corner because jack, when he took a trip it was all work. up at 6:00, he was in bed by 7:00. there was no power points and he looked people dead in the eye and he always made sure that he spoke to the enlisted men. because he cared most about them . a decorated hero, two purple hearts and a brown star in vietnam, the first -- the first member from that conflict and veteran elected to the united

states congress. personally a young man from east hartford in my hometown was wounded in fallujah. he was in bad shape, he was sent back here and his brother who was fighting alongside of him, a fellow marine, was back there. jack murtha got on the phone and made sure that those brothers were united at bethesda along with their parents. i remember him counseling a father and his teen age son who were at the -- teenage son who were at the hospital in germany. they had just lost a son. i don't know where jack got the strength or that reservoir of

courage to comfort and con sole -- console the father and son, but he did in almost father o'malley quality. he cared so deeply about the troops that served this great nation and as bill young pointed out, he and bill made more trips out to bethesda and walter reid with no publicity. they did it out of duty and honor and respect for those who served. he wrote a book, and on these flights i was privileged to, as he would go through it with me, his favorite book of all time was "war and peace". he cared as deeply about peace as he did about making sure that

we protected our troops when they're in the field and took care of them when they came home. he will ever stand out in the minds of america for standing up and speaking out against the war in iraq. an that he struggled deeply with. but as so many great americans on this floor and in this chamber and around this nation, he found that profile and courage to stand up and speak out. democrats, i dare say, would not be in the majority if it were not for jack murtha leading the way in speaking out because he is a soldier's soldier and he was respected on both sides of

the aisle, as you've heard this evening. but as one commentator said, when jack murtha speaks, he speaks for america. and he did. how proud he was to receive the john fitzgerald kennedy profiles in courage award. but his commitment, his life wasn't only about speaking out. it was about the day to day work and belief that he had in the men and women who serve and the people that he was sworn to serve from his district and about the men and women who work here. he loved this institution.

how everyone liked to come over to the corner, it seemed as though people were going there either to hear confessions, seek advice and most often to check in on how their projects were doing. but he did it with wit, determination and guile and a deep love and abiding respect for his country. for me personally one of the great honors of being a member of the united states congress will always be to say, i had the opportunity to serve with jack murtha. a great american. god bless you, jack. god bless joyce and your family. mr. kanjorski: thank you very much, mr. larson. and now i yield to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. carney. mr. carnahan: thank you, mr. kanjorski --

mr. carney: thank you, mr. kanjorski, the new dean, a title hard to accept under these new circumstances. it's interesting, i was listening to mr. larson speak and i truly wish that every american had the opportunity to be in johnstown on monday night last to be part of the wake we had. because it was truly a celebration of a man who deserves to be celebrated, but it was very striking in that the bipartisanship that was displayed there. that friends on both sides of the aisle came to honor a man who was and the word is not overused in this case, a giant. who knew how to fight for what he believed in, but also knew the art of the possible. and one thing jack taught me a long time ago was that we are judged on this earth not by what we don't do but by what we do and that's how i think we all

have to proceed as members of congress in this body. that we are privileged to be elected to serve. and here's a man who fought for everything he believed in. back in 2006 a number of us had the privilege of meeting jack and he became our mentor when we came into power as a majority party again. and it was his leadership, his tutelage and his guidance that got us here and the fact of the matter is, when you came to jack with a problem, especially one that dealt with the troops, he was going to take care of it. before my tenure here in congress i was a professor at penn state and i had a student who was deployed to iraq in the first wave of the invasion and he came back from iraq and told me that when we were there -- told me that, when we were there we had to go through iraqi junk yards to find scrap metal to put onto our trucks for more protection. when i told jack that story,

that irish face of his hardened, those blue eyes didn't twinkle quite as much and that grin firmed up. he said, by god, we're going to fix that. and by god, he fixed that. but, jack, we're going to miss you. we're going to look back in that corner, we're going to know that we are not whole just yet. but we will remember the lessons you taught us and the leadership you provided. god speed, soldier. mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, i recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. patrick murphy. mr. murphy: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania and now the team and the delegation and i want to echo the comments of comments made by mr. carney, also from pennsylvania, that when he can came in together he was really our mentor -- when we

came in together he was really our mentor, he was a great man. we heard earlier republicans talk about the honor to serve with a great patriot like jack murtha, the fact that he always reached across the aisle and that as the paul bearers at the service last week, there were both democrats and republicans coming together to be those paul bearers in that final service. and in that service last week we heard about how mrs. bell told a young jack patrick murtha that one person can make a difference , that one person can change the world and whether it was the marine corps and the congress of the united states was a family, jack patrick murtha certainly did make quite a difference. in the military he was proud of his over three decades in the

corps. he was proud that he was a first combat marine to serve in the united states congress. he was proud when he had given the marine corps and general conaway talked in the service last week about having that knife. he was also proud to go down the street at walter reed military hospital to see the men and women, our country's heroes, when they came back, when they gave their all to the battlefield and they came home and he was there for them. his time in the congress he was proud of the family that made up team murtha, the folks that served with great honor and distinction not just theer to be

-- to the constituents of the 12th district of pennsylvania but also to the citizens of the united states of america. i'm a person that often says that budgets are more a document. if you want to see someone's priorities, you look at their budgets, whether it's a family budget or a country's budget, well, the fact is that jack murtha made sure that our troops had everything that they need, that if our war fighters were going to put their life on the line and if they were going to be willing to take a bullet to keep our families and our country safe, jack murtha did not want a fair fight. he didn't want a fair fight. jack murtha wanted to make sure that our troops had a tactical and technical advantage on that battlefield. jack murtha also wanted to make

sure that the congress of the united states and our country's policymakers also had the right war policy for those troops. as john larson said earlier, when jack murtha spoke about a timeline to bring our troops home from iraq, it sent shock waves not just around our country but around the world that he was going to stand up for principle to do the right thing. that's kind of marine, that's the kind of leader, that jack murtha was. it was no surprise to many of us who watched him throughout the years when he was awarded the john kennedy profile in courage. he was so proud of that award because he knew what that award represented. the fact that he a guy who grew

up in johnstown, pennsylvania, finally did make a difference. lastly, we all know jack to be the family man that he was. the fact is, he was most proud of his wife, joyce, his kids, and his grandchildren. he'd be here at the capitol by 6:00 in the morning at least, then when we had late votes at 7:00 or 7:30, he'd get fidgety, he said, i have to get home. he wanted to be sure he was home with his family to have a meal. i believe that john patrick murtha, and the service that go he gave to our country as a

marine, as the chairman, and as a family man is a testament to his life's work, that one man can make a difference. god bless you, jack murtha. >> thank you, mr. murphy. mr. speaker, i yield to the last of the pennsylvania delegation, representative dahlkemper of erie. mrs. dahlkemper: i thank the gentleman. our new dean of the -- i'm our new dean of the delegation and i join my fellow pennsylvania members and all those who are here to honor jack murtha, we are deeply honored and equally saddened to stand here in tribute to our colleague and my

friend the late jack murtha. i'm the newest member of the pennsylvania delegation, i've been here just 14 months, but from the first day i set foot on this floor, jack murtha was a friend, he was a mentor he welcomed me into the corner, the famous pennsylvania corner which i had heard so much about he welcomed me, graciously sharing his wisdom, sharing his intellect, his wit, his humor. he would say, hey, kid, how you doing? jack and i, i think quickly developed a very special relationship, i saw him sort of as my father on the floor, the person i could turn to. he was a mentor, always offering me that advice, and jack murtha made sure that as a new member i knew that my constituents had to come first. you represent the people who brought you here in every vote. he was enormously helpful to

all of us here, certainly if i had a question or concern in my district, i'd first turn to jack murtha and get his advice of how i should proceed forward. in november, i'm so grateful that i was given the privilege to travel with jack murtha to afghanistan over the thanksgiving work period. we went to visit our troops abroad and to be with him and see how he interacted with our troops was just a wonderful experience to be part of. to see his questioning of those in charge and i learned a lot from him over that trip and how to do a trip like this right and come back with the information you need. there was no better person to take that journey with than jack murtha. his mere presence on the trip

garnered respect from everyone we encountered. he had one interest and that was to take care of those who were there serving our country. jack murtha was a true patriot. he loved his country he believed in the value of public service and his passing is a great loss to the united states of america. it's a great loss to the commonwealth of pennsylvania. it's a great loss to his district and it's a great loss to all of us who serve with him in the house. i'm grateful to have served with him, god bless jack murtha, god bless his wife, his family, his children and grandchildren. >> now we'll hear from he gentlelady from michigan, ms. carolyn kilpatrick. ms. kilpatrick: thank you, mr. speaker. i, too, come to pay homage to a giant.

our leader, our chairman, epitome of a public servant. all of -- all of us feel like he was our best friend. as the newest member of the defense appropriations committee, i was in awe as i watched the chairman yield, educate, speak and do what he did that all the members on our subcommittee on both sides of the aisle could participate in the process. chairman murtha held 42 hearings before we got to the appropriations bill last year. i was in every one of them. to watch him and the prestige and honor he reseeped as well as gave to those who came before the subcommittee was astounding. chairman murtha welcomed me into the group. it's a prestigious group and in my 32 years of public service, none like it.

i honor you, jack murtha, for your wisdom, your courage, the redundancy needs to be said over and over again. our country has lost a giant this institution will never be the same. we will strive to carry the torch and passion of jack murtha. those of us on the committee, on the full committee and on both sides of the aisle. we love you, jack murtha, and as i do my work here in the united states house of representatives, it is because of you and others like you who showed me and helped me to become that defense protege, if you will who will speak out, who will protect our men and women in uniform and our entire united states of america. so rest in peace, my great warrior. to his family, to his children and grandchildren, know that you have a friend in all of us.

we have adopted you into our family. let us speak and serve and reach and grow and build a new united states of america as jack murtha has led us to do. god bless you, jack. we will never forget you. >> thank you, ms. kilpatrick. now we'll hear from the gentleman from new york. >> i want to express my deep sense of sadness for the loss of a very dear friend, someone for whom i had a great deal of respect and admiration. i know that sense is not unique. it's shared and expressed by a great many of other people. and of course the reasons for that is the interaction that

he's had with so many other people. the involvement that he's had and the way in which he's provided leadership and direction for a great many. and i've known him for now a little more than 17 years but not very closely until the last year and a half or so. and that was because i now served on the committee that he chaired, the subcommittee, rather, that he chaired, subcommittee on defense. and i felt a great sense of admiration for him for the focus he had on the work he had to do and the way in which he did it so very, very effectively. and i could understand why because that was the simple nature of the man. and it's the kind of thing he's done all his life he served in the military and he served with great exemplary activities, with strength and honor and

courage. and he has done the same thing during his tenure here in the house of representatives. served with strength and honor and courage. he's done a great many things for the district he represented, a great many things for pennsylvania, but also a great many things for many places across this country. and i know that he's done a great many things in helping me. and so i, again, want to express my deep sense of gratitude for jack murtha, my deep respect for him, and this deep, unexpected sadness in his leaving us. i had thought he would be here for a long, long time. nevertheless, we will continue to have the strength that we

have had as a result of our interaction with him, we will be much more effective, much more knowledgeable, and there will be a continuation of positive things done here and a lot of those positive things will have the direct result from the leadership, the examples set by jack murtha. thank you, jack, for everything that you've done. >> now we'll hear from the gentleman from georgia. >> i thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate in this tribute to a great friend.

we can make our life intlime and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. jack murtha was a great man and he indeed left indelible footprints. he left footprints on his beloved district in pennsylvania with all of the projects and all the things he did for his constituents there over the 36 years of service he gave, he left footprints on the department of defense and the men and women who served in our military and their families. with all the care and the concern that he put into making sure that they had everything that was needed to carry out the mission and that they got what they needed when they returned home. he left a footprint on this

institution with the leadership and the example that he set for all of us as a bipartisan, collegial representative. to watch the interaction between mr. murtha and mr. young and to be able to hear and see the genuine friendship and mutual respect that they had for each other was a lesson every day in the collegiality and civility that members of this institution should carry and the traditions of this institution. jack murtha made and left indelible footprints on the united states of america. he made an imprellings of -- an impression on all of us, on his family, joyce, who was a mentor to my wife in the congressional club as jack was a mentor to me

in this house. i can remember my very first trip to murtha's corner. seeking sage advice. and i can remember the last trip, on his last day on the floor, a thousand visits later. jack made a lasting impression on us, he was a friend, he was a mentor, he was a member's member. the world is better because jack murtha was here this institution and our country is better because jack murtha was here. someone said, you make your living by what you get, you make your life by what you give. jack murtha indeed made a life

and he made our lives better for his service. thank you, jack, thank you to the murtha family, thank you, god, for allowing us to know, love, and share the life of this very exceptional and remarkable man. . mr. kanjorski: mr. speaker, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. holt. mr. holt: we will miss jack murtha, strong-willed, plain spoken, fearless, dedicated, honorable and remarkably

generous with his time, wisdom and his advice. we will not see the like of him. the veterans of the american war of independence and the civil war, he was the champion of the marine, the soldier, the sailor, the flyer. he was mag nan mouse. when the speaker selected the intelligence panel and asked me to take the chair, jack murtha embraced the panel and gave it strength, even though it might have appeared to have lessen his authority. of course, nothing ever diminished the authority of jack murtha. he embodied authority. more than that, he was kind and sharing. we express our sympathy to the family, the friends and all of those who jack murtha championed

who don't know what he did for them and what he did for america. what a loss. mr. kanjorski: madam speaker, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pascrell. mr. pascrell: we who worked with jack murtha day in and day out real appreciated his deep respect for this institution. in a time when we see the demise of institutional respect and

ritual, he enjoyed the ritual of this house, just as he enjoyed the ritual of serving his country as a marine. he enjoyed the ritual of marriage. he was honorable. he was devoted. and he was faithful. this faithful brother served this country and asked nothing in return. man, that is different in this city. but jack and i, seven years ago, came together in two different paths in order to respond to our soldiers, our brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and fathers and mothers who were

coming back from iraq and afghanistan with the signature injury of those two wars, traumatic brain injury, no contusion, no blood, misdiagnosed, never diagnosed. post-traumatic stress disorder. as part of my official family, i knew it firsthand. when jack said, why don't we bring the civilian research and the military research together. and so we set out -- can you imagine going into a war without having ready how we would help those soldiers coming back? jack couldn't.

and he did something about it. when you go to walter reed hospital, a hospital that was supposed to be closed four years ago, you see the state of the art. he did not give up on those soldiers, many of them would be dead were it not for what he did in getting the resources so that the state of the art treatment would be there for our soldiers. to his friends on both sides of the aisle, let us remember when jack would come to the microphone, and it wasn't often, but he came to the microphone during appropriations time and he would say many times to me, billy, watch how quick i'm there and i'll be gone. and you would think the chairman

would want to give a long speech. but he had done his homework. there were no speeches that were necessary. he did not mention platitudes. it was honor, duty and then a nonpresent tensionous exit. good friend, you are not gone. we will remember you and we love you. mr. kanjorski: thank you very much, bill. and the gentleman from illinois, mr. lipinksi is recognized for five minutes. mr. lipinski: i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for yielding. i know a lot of people have talked about jack murtha as a

giant, and i really think that this institution probably will not see another man like jack murtha in many ways. but i really think what stands out most to me and what comes through here is that jack murtha had a heart of gold. he really cared about people. he cared about the men and women in our armed forces. he cared about his colleagues. he cared about his constituents greatly, especially in his hometown of johnstown, pennsylvania. i really didn't get to meet jack murtha until i was elected in 2004, but i feel like i started to get to know him before that. in 2000, i started dating judy, who is now my wife and she is from his hometown. so i go to visit judy's family

in johnstown and i would hear people talk about jack murtha. i would see what jack murtha did for his district. and i knew that his constituents, especially the people of johnstown loved jack murtha. when i was elected, i would often go and say hello to jack over in the pennsylvania corner, just come over to say hello and so many times he would give me that smile and he tapped his colleague next to him on the shoulder and say this guy married a gal from johnstown, and i felt a close connection to jack because of that. i feel very blessed to have had the opportunity in these five years to get to know jack murtha and what he did for johnstown.

i saw people suffer through floods, economic turmoil. and he really cared about the people and doing all he could for them meant a lot to him. i really miss jack and what he meant to so many of us. i really think that jack loved his job because he knew it gave him the great opportunity to do what he believed and that is to take care of people and help people out. and this job gave him the opportunity to do that and he did it throughout all of his life. and because of that, i'll greatly miss jack murtha. god bless jack murtha, to joyce and his entire family.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. kanjorski: as i understand it, we now have the ability -- we have the speaker who will be arriving and we have seven additional members. they will be allowed to make requests to speak for five minutes. is that correct? the speaker pro tempore: does any member seek recognition for five minutes? special? >> seek recognition to speak for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. without objection. >> thank you very much. mr. farr: when the phone range and i heard that jack murtha had

died, i couldn't believe it. i broke into tears. i just couldn't believe it. it was like when i heard my father died. and i did the same thing when my father died, i sat down and wrote a letter to jack murtha. here it is. dear, jack. i can't believe you're gone, gone from the pennsylvania corner, from your chair where all would come to see you, each checking in during floor session on your opinion on military issues and pennsylvania politics. and we talked about other issues, base closure progress, about programs that were working and programs that had problems, always thanking you for your help, thanking you for your earmarks. i never forget what you did for breast cancer research and child care centers at military bases, for military education. more than anything else, you were concerned about the welfare of our troops, and especially

their families. remember when you got me to go to walter reed hospital to visit the war wounded and how we worked to get golf carts for disabled soldiers by insisting that each of the 177 golf courses have carts for the disabled. you always asked me, how is that university doing? i thank you for the help in getting the $65 million to get it started. jack, cal. state is doing well with growing enrollment and faculty, you can be played in converting it. you got excited when i showed you what i had done to bring all the missions together to form team monterey and showing you the brochure to show that $1 billion was spent for the d.o.d. efforts there. you were going to see that this team effort could be done for the state of pennsylvania.

jack, you are quite the zeus. everyone loved you, your loyalty, friendship, lour laugh and wisdom. remember you would bet how long the debate would take on the defense appropriations bills? you always won. i was shocked that the biggest appropriations account in the federal government could be enacted with the shortest debate. you laughed and said, all the problems were worked out in committee. we don't need floor debate. at first i thought it was a fluke, but over the years, i learned you made it so. jack, thanks for coming out to visit the naval post-graduate school. you were a good listener and insisted no power points, no b.s., just the problems. no one cuts to the issues faster than you. i remember your delight in hearing from an i.e. mpt d. specialist who asked you why do we figure out what makes culture sets these things off in the first place. you loved that thinking.

thanks for allowing me to ride back to d.c. and by the way, jack, paul is now the assistant secretary of defense for homeland security and american security affairs. i know how much you respected his insight. thanks jack for asking me for photos i took, not of you but of your staff. i remember your district direct for. you insisted that i give it to you for him. remember the time you hung up on a president when he called you? you had guts. i remember going to your district and being in a meeting with the area economic development folks. you were giving them the washington update. it was cold and wet, but full of people. i remember how you devoted you were and i took pictures that you wanted to pass on, seeing the countryside and seeing the poverty of the area made me

realize how lucky i am. you helped people in need. you are loved in your district and here on the floor of the house of representatives. the house chambers has a lot of famous pictures, paintings, but you're going to stand out as one of our greats. you showed your profile in courage in taking a nationally profiled lead against the war in iraq that you originally supported and you were attacked by everyone, except the military. they knew that you knew it couldn't be sustained. when they attacked you with big campaign expenditures, your friends responded. the word was out, jack was in trouble and we responded. jack, you shouldn't have died. it's a real shock, not only you, your friends and this institution, but your beloved family. you joy a special partnership. i will submit the rest for the record and i yield back the remainder of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. . for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of turn for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the speaker: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i rise to join my colleagues to sing the praises of a great man, jack murtha. many of us had the honor of calling him colleague in this chamber, and some of us had the privilege of calling him friend and when he was your friend, you had a true friend. last week, many of us traveled to johnstown, pennsylvania, to see jack put to rest. it was wonderful to hear the stories of the thousands of people who show toupped pay their last respects to him in johnstown, the people he knew so well. cared about so much.

fought for in this chamber. his family was gathered and surrounded by their loved ones and people the former president of the united states, bill clinton, was there. secretary of defense was there, the chairman of the national security council was there. representatives of the president's cabinet and plane loads of his colleagues who came from washington or drove from home. at that time, we laughed and we cried and we tried to understand why this had happened. jack's wife joyce was very strong, she said to me, jack would have wanted it this way. he went out at the top of his game. joyce is very strong and we went there to console and we came back consoled by jack's

strong family. i told them that my remarks about my remarks hold -- about jack holding court in the pennsylvania corner in this chamber. there isn't another corner i know of that has its own name and its own pro pre-siding officer. members from across the country and across the aisle came to visit him to ask his blessing on their endeavors and to just be encouraged and sometimes supported by him. 24e cluster around him were pennsylvanians and others, but he was never alone. he was a magnet. a personal magnet. people were drawn to him he had this wonderful smile and cheerful, twinkling eyes. to see him operate in the appropriations committee, many of us served there, was to see a master at work. but really to understand his

character, it was more important to see him with our troops, whether it was just off the battlefield or in a military hospital. bethesda naval medical center, walter reed, germany, afghanistan, iraq, the hospitals where our troops were taken. from his own military experience he would ask them questions knowledgeably about their unit and what they had encountered and what they had seen. they all loved seeing him. they knew he was a friend. so to visit on the occasions when hade -- when i had the privilege of visiting with jack murtha was to receive a special welcome from the troops and their families. one time, i remember -- one time i remember in particular, we were visiting this young man, a second visit, and he managed somehow when he knew jack was coming to get out of

his bed and as we went in the door, there he was, standing at attention, saluting jack murtha in a steeler's jersey. pennsylvania, how he loved that state, how he worked for it. how we will miss him here. he had a special way about him, as i've said, by dint of his knowledge, his courage, imagine the courage it took for jack murtha to come to our caucus, to come to the leader's office and tell me that day, we have to begin removing our troops from iraq. he went alone to the press to tell them that. it was like an earthquake. in terms of opinion. people who had questions about the war felt validated. people who respected jack began

to question. one thing was for sure, he was respected by the military and when he spoke, they knew it was with no agenda except the national security of our country and the safety of our men and women in uniform. force protection. he was always talking about that. when we would travel to the war zones, whether it was the trucks or the better radios or whatever up-armored cars, body armor, you name it, as soon as he saw the need he came back and delivered. so when he did speak out against the war in iraq, it was a real -- it was quite a stunning thing for our country. i think it was really historic. it wasn't just that episode. it was that event of national

significance, historic significance. he received, as has been mentioned, the john f. kennedy profiles in courage award. can you imagine for people of our generation, someone to receive the john f. kennedy profiles in courage award? never forget that night, the kennedy library, he and joyce, black tie, beautiful joyce, proud jack standing tall like a marine. coming down those steps, being cheered by democrats and republicans alike. it wasn't about any partisanship. it was about patriotism. he was a proud marine, as we all know. semper fi was their motto. semper fidelis, always faithful. that was he motto of his life, faithful to god, faithful to country, faithful to his family, faithful to his

district. i can't talk about jack, just one more moment, madam speaker, without talking about the funny stories he told us about tip o'neill. as he min tored us, tip was his mentor. he would tell us the stories of how it was to go to a baseball game with tip and this and that and the rest. i won't go into the stories now about those kinds of appropriations matters but tip instilled in him, perhaps he had it innately, but still, tip strengthened in him a pride in this institution. that he took very seriously. and he, in mentoring others, passed that pride on to others as well he loved this congress he loved this institution, he

left us at the top of his game. we'll miss you, jack murtha. next week, we'll gatt for the statuary hall with many more friends who can join in, to once again pay tribute to this man. it's hard to believe he's gone but as he said, the soldiers can't speak for themselves we sent them to war and by god, we're the ones who have to speak out. his wife joyce wants us to have the music "god bless america" at the closing of his ceremony next week. god truly blessed america by giving us jack murtha. i hope it's a comfort to joyce and the children and grandchildren of whom he was so proud, so many people mourn their loss and are praying for them at this sad time. i yield back the balance of my time. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia rise? >> to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. rahall: i rise today to talk about principled leadership that makes a difference. that best describes the dean of the pennsylvania delegation and its longest-serving member, jack murtha. yes, jack murtha was a member ose member. he was a soldier's soldier. always straight-shooting, courageous, willing to defend this institution and all of us that work herein. during my 33 years of service in this body and with jack murtha, very few individuals would i turn to for advice and council -- and counsel like i would jack murtha. like so many of my colleagues, i have traveled to troubled spots of this world with jack murtha. i have read and learned from him. not only on these hardworking,

hard-hitting codels, but also from his book, from vietnam to 9/11. words of wisdom for all of us here today and for the future. many of my strongest memories of jack murtha are from our congressional travels together. we traveled to lebanon in the fall of 1982, following the deployment of u.s. forces as peace keepers to that country. we stayed in the very same marine barracks that six months later were blown to smithereens. during our trip in june of 1987 to geen la, it was chairman -- to angola, it was chairman murtha successful of securing the release of a downed u.s. pilot from his congressional district. later that august, that same year we traveled to the perg gulf in the u.s. reflagging

operation of kuwaiti ships. a few years later we traveled to somalia, following george herbert walker bush, december of 1992, dispatch of u.s. troop there is in order to establish order and ensure the success of our humanitarian relief efforts. the bottom line in all these travels, of course, as so many of my colleagues can attest is that around this world, our service men and women, young women and men, know the true character, knew the true character of jack murtha. they knew the back bone of jack murtha. a veteran a dedicated public servant, an individual who was never too busy or never too velfish -- selfish to take time to regularly visit our military installations, our military hospitals to visit our brave, wounded service personnel.

from chairman murtha's station atop our defense appropriations subcommittee, our soldiers knew they were secure in the knowledge that their sacrifices and their dedications were in the best hands in the united states congress. i'll miss you, jack, i will miss our true leader. i will miss his courage and his dedication. our courageous american troops will miss you, jack murtha. our veterans will miss you. all of america will miss you. your family, joyce, and your children and grandchildren. to them, i extend my thoughts and prayers and know that the memories of jack murtha will always instill in his family the inspiration, the pride, the strength, and the love that will carry you on to carry on the brave torch of jack murtha.

god bless you, friend. the speaker pro tempore: who seeks recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? >> to address -- unanimous consent tie dress the house for five minutes and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. moran: i want to make note that the speaker of the house is here and the chairman of the appropriations committee has been here the entire time of this tribute, out of respect. that's old school. jack was old school. you'd never see him with a blackberry. i'm sure he never used the internet once in his life. . we -- when we learned of jack's

passing, we blurted out the same thing, he was like a father to me. he kind of was. he sort of taught us in his own ways by his conduct the way we should conduct ourselves in this institution. that's why he is here. he's here. he left his mark on each one of us individually and collectively. he has done so much to shape this institution. family comes first. recall his daughter donna who is a teacher in fairfax every night. regardless of the issues he was dealing with in iraq and afghanistan, he would want to know how her kids were doing in

class. he adored joyce. joyce was the queen. joyce would sometimes acknowledge that i know i have to share him with you, nancy, speaker, but he had that kind of reference that was so important to this institution for individuals. and he knew how to be a friend. everyone who walked up to that, he knew their name and made them feel welcome. if you had a letter, he would say, come on. sit down beside me. he also was strong enough that he could afford to be gentle. we know how he reached out to

all of the soldiers, the men and women in uniform, really cared about them. he would go over to walter reed. he would could stand with them. hold their hand at times. he also did other things that if i didn't mention it, i doubt anyone would know and some people would think it seems a little silly perhaps. long time aide heard that the army-navy country club had a problem with cats. they were all over. and so they decided they got too many cats. we're going to kill them all. jack found that out -- it's true, isn't it -- when jack found that out, he called a general and he says, don't you go killing any of those kitty

cats at army-navy country club, and they didn't. they all survived. i just wants to share an experience, 9/11. we were debating whether to put money into missile defense or into counterterrorism because richard clark told us that was the real threat. the morning of 9/11 we were debating it. and jack had decided that the real threat is counterterrorism. and then norm had seen the tv and the planes going into the world trade center and then we could hear this herd of people running down the corridor outside, the capitol vacated immediately. but there wasn't a sign of anxiety, let alone fear in jack's face. i walked out with him. we stood there in the driveway

and all the police were trying to clear everyone. jack didn't feel any need to move, and he told me the story. he said, while i was in vietnam, i was in a fox hole and we were taking fire, and a young private jumped in the fox hole. there was only room for one person. so i had to get out. and i ran into the line of fire looking for a fox hole and found one. a few minutes later, a grenade landed in that fox hole that i had been in and blew the soldier up. this is a soldier that forced him into the line of fire and jack said i have always felt so bad for that young soldier. i wish i had stayed there and not seen him blown up. that was the kind of guy he was. he was bigger than life, but his life was really about other

people and about this institution and this country. so, jack, thank you for being who you were and who you are to this institution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio rise? ms. kaptur: address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman will be acknowledged for five minutes. ms. kaptur: man of the house. the passing from this life of legend dear pennsylvania congressman and defense appropriation chairman and marine colonel john p. "jack" murtha represents a seismic shift in this congress and our nation's history, his brass-tax style and man of his word reputation are so rare. as the longest serving woman in the current u.s. house, i came

to know jack murtha well, serving with him for 28 years. in early february, he became the longest serving member of the pennsylvania delegation in u.s. history. no one had his grasp of our nation's defense or his decks tert at ushering the complicated defense appropriations bill, the largest in congress, with largely unanimous bipartisan support. jack put the soldier first. each branch of the service, first the guard and reserve, owe jack great gratitude. he was behind their cause. jack murtha respected the awesome power of the u.s. military, but he also knew its limits. i have never served in this congress when jack murtha wasn't

here. properly, the u.s. flag flown over this capitol has been placed on his chair in the pennsylvania corner, where he anchored his work on the floor of this house that he loved. his knowledge, leadership, measure remain timeless gifts to those who shared his past. as the first democratic woman to serve on the defense subcommittee of appropriations, i can attest it never would have happened but for his support and encouragement, for his faith in me, i shall always be in his debt. as i try to emulate his accuity, his range and his concerns. we, his subcommittee colleagues, who had the privilege of serving

closely with this giant of a man, shall miss him greatly. when my constituents asked me to describe him, here is what i tried to say in his cadence. man of the house, marine, chairman, colonel, dean, authentic, patriotic, see him per fi, fearless, keen, optimistic, jovial, with an unforgettable glint in his eyes, alive, devoted husband to joyce and proud and caring father and grandfather. to his family, we send our deepest sympathy and our abiding prayers and friendship. son of johnstown, battle-tested,

two purple hearts, a bronze star , not blow dried, not cosmetic, fiercely loyal to his district and pennsylvania, in command, extraordinarily hard working, kept marine hours, rising early, arriving early, always building others, trusted, never gave a word he would break. if he said, i'll talk to you about it later, the subject was closed before you knew it. acute judge of character, revered counselor to dozens and dozens and dozens of members and friends. he advised, cry teeked, led -- crit he can'sed and led. absolutely loved politics. a ticket maker and analyzer,

lots of real friends, some really cruel enemies, always had a good word. and author, well traveled, too, often to war zones, visited the wounded, and borrow that -- bore that pain close to his heart, razor-sharpped mind. don't tangle with him unless you know your subject. memory that could recall 10 years ago. master of the rules and wielded the gavel, attendant to the floor at all times even when you thought he wasn't paying attention. didn't hail from a financial or government enclave. madam speaker, he knew how to build a majority, he lived war

and his heart was always with the soldier, a giant tree has fallen in the forest. a lion is now at rest. how fortunate we are who cherish his friendship and service. he is the best in the world because chairman jack murtha lived. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman rise? mrs. lowey: i rise to pay tribute to the life of our dear friend and colleague, chairman jack murtha. jack was truly an all-american, a committed public servant, decorated veteran of war, small businessman, devoted husband and father and grandfather. many have recalled tonight and in recent weeks his service on

the front lines of combat, his experience in the military made a life-long advocate for our men and women in uniform and he made some of the toughest issues we face those related to the defense of the united states. jack murtha exercised his power to protect the country he loved, taking seriously the trust of his constituents and his responsibility to the american people. i learned so much from jack murtha. i witnessed firsthand and benefited from his expertise on military strategy on intelligence and foreign policy. his compassion and commitment to do what was right were equally impressive. on his broad shoulders he carried a great burden to not

only provide for our troops and our security, but to ensure that we had made this world a better place. a safer place, including for innocent civilians in war zones and vulnerable societies around the world and with a heavy heart, he regularly gave his time to lift the spirits of men and women recovering from injuries in battles, sharing with them the appreciation of a grateful nation. finally, i would like to note his dedication to a goal we shared, alleviating cancer, especially those unique to women. he not only worked to help the military technology to aid in the treatment of cancer, he and his loving wife joyce have supported initiatives to directly assist breast cancer patients and survivors. jack was a giant among men.

he was tough, he was smart, he was committed to this great institution. his life-long service to our country will be missed. rest in peace, my dear friend. i will miss him. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i've been in congress, this is my 14th year. a lot of people don't know about the quality of some of the people who are here in the congress a lot of people in this country find it funny to ridicule elected officials in general, members of congress in particular. i'm going to talk to you about

a great american a great human being, but there are many others like him in a sense with the patriotism and grace and greatness. -- and greatness that he possessed. grace, generosity, and greatness. jack murtha. he served -- this was my fourth year serving on mr. murtha's defense subcommittee. i was wondering how this giant of a man, physical giant, powerful, legislatively powerful man, would accept this guy from jersey on his subcommittee. but he had such grace. he welcomed me with great civility, gentility, he was tough.

he was so generous to me. he was generous to everyone on the committee. he believed in bipartisanship, absolutely, completely, and totally. especially when it came to the security of our beloved country, the united states of america. and so he took the best ideas from wherever they came, democrat and republican, liberal or conservative. he just wanted what was best for america. he even let me, to talk about generosity he even let me a new jersey guy, into the pennsylvania corner. i was tickled by it. i was honored. for most of my years here, when i was not on his subcommittee, i would see him over there in this corner and i would see the people flocking around him, from pennsylvania and elsewhere, coming as if to duly just to get an audience with a

great man a great human being, to get advice to get direction, get support. he always made you feel as if he was interested in your point of view. he asked me what books i read. when i told him he wanted them. i want to read that book, and he did. he made you feel like you were making a contribution. the greatness of jack murtha, aside from being a great husband and father and war hero and devoted representative of the people of johnstown and his congressional district, part of his greatness was his -- were his expectations. his expectations about what it meant to be an american. someone committed to equal

justice. equal opportunity. and integrity. his integrity was unquestioned and unquestionable. when i -- i just hope we remember, madam speaker, when we think of the -- of this great, gracious, generous, gentle giant jack murtha, we remember not only his expectations for himself, but we remember his expectations for each of us. he had it of his staff he had it of his committee member he had it of all his colleagues in the house that we behave as true american patriots and leave america stronger, freer, more just, around a greater nation -- and a greater nation,

as great as he believed america to be he demanded greatness from all of us and that we pass on that legacy for our country. our fellow countrymen and women for generations to come. thank you, mr. murtha , for all you've done for us, and we hope to repay your -- all that you've done for us by giving back to our country and creating the kind of country that you fought so hard to make. we'll never forget you, sir. thank you. god bless you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from iowa rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. >> some people may wonder why i'm standing here tonight, because almost everyone who spoke before me knew jack murtha longer and better than i

did, but one thing i want to share with everyone who cares about jack is my first meeting in his office. because jack came to the door and greeted me and was earp bucking in, i looked up on the wall of his office and i saw that famous photograph that joe rosenthal took of the flag raising on iwo jima and it was signed by joe rosenthal and i stopped the chairman and pointed it out to him and i told him that my father landed on iwoe gee ma the same day those flags were raised and in that instant, jack murtha became my friend for life. and we talked about the photograph and i showed him that over the shoulder of those marines, you could see down on the shoreline on green beach lst-808, the landing ship tank that dropped my dad off on iwo jima 65 years ago yesterday.

after that moment, any time i had a question or a concern or problem that affected the men and women in my district or my state that served this country in uniform, i knew where to go and i went to jack murtha. one of the amazing things about how this all unfolded is jack and i had talked about this year being the 65th anniversary of the invasion of iwo jima and we talked about going there together. unfortunately, because of his tragic loss of life, we never had that opportunity. and i think about that because my dad died 29 years ago and so many things about him were like jack. he landed as an 18-year-old farm boy from iowa and he saw horrible things in war, like jack, he saw one of his good friends vaporized by a shell

burst. i've read the story of that account by the commanding officer of the corps artillery that my father served under, colonel john lecher. one of the things i did recently was i got a chance to take the -- tape the veterans' history interview of my cousin, richard braley, who like my dad was a marine and served just like jack murtha. one of the things so special about people like my dad and my cousin and jack murtha is you never forget and you're always faithful. so when my dad died 29 years ago, one of the most emotional things that happened was when my cousin flew all the way back from hawaii so someone would be at that small, rural cemetery where he was buried to play taps. and he played it on his trumpet. then he came up to me at the very end with tears in his eyes and he said, i wonder if you could help, i brought this with

me and i would like to put it in the casket. i looked down and in his hand he had a small silver medallion with the words semper fidelis on it. when i heard the stories about jack murtha all afternoon long, one of the other things it reminded me of was how mad my mother used to get when my dad was stop and pick up hitchhikers because she didn't think it was safe for him to do that. i think my dad and jack murtha realized that after the hell they'd been through on the battlefield, the rest of their lives were gravy. as i was listening to all these amazing stories about jack, i was thinking to myself, i wish my father had lived to meet jack. and then it suddenly dawned on me that he probably has. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from maryland rise?

ms. edwards: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. ms. edwards: madam speaker, i rise today to express my condolences to the family of jack murtha and to pay tribute to him. as a relatively new member of this body, i knew jack murtha only briefly, but i am so grateful even for that. one day, very early in my tenure here in congress, i needed some guidance on a military issue and everyone told me i needed to speak directly with mr. murtha. i have to admit, i was just a little bit intimidated. it wasn't just his size and the boom of his voice and his jupe right carriage. but i knew he knew stuff and that he could guide me. but to my great surprise, mr. murtha was so wonderful to me. his advice was sage, his

generosity was unlimited, his inquiry was precise and his kindness and gentleness were truly genuine. from that moment forward, i am honored to have been guided by his good counsel. i can still see on occasion when i sit in the speaker's chair, a twinkle from his eye and when it got a little rough a little bit of a nod from that back corner. on a personal note, jack murtha remembered that i grew up in a military family and he asked me about my father and my brothers' service and my experiences growing up and i talked to him about being a candy striper and reading to our service men and women at veterans' hospitals. and i know that he cared deeply about our service members and about their families and about the special obligation we owe to them. he understood more than so many the call to service and the importance for political

leaders to carry that at the forefront of all of our decisions on questions of war and peace. in his passion -- his passion was so evident and i know that my family and all our service members and their family members are so much better off because of jack murtha's service in this body, his service to our nation, his commitment to them and to their service. and so i am really grateful, jack, to have just had even just a moment in time with you and i only hope that in my service here in the united states congress i can carry myself forward with the kind of honor and duty and courage with which you served, and with that, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> i seek unanimous con sent to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes.

>> my heart ached so much when i heard the chairman has passed on. my father served for 15 years and i have been here for years and for 41 years jack murtha has been part of our family. i could not go to bed last night knowing this memorial would be held today. i have the honor of representing camp lejeune marine base. to the chairman, the marines were part of his heart because he was a marine system of many times i would go to that corner and i would stand in line because i'm a republican. that didn't matter to him, what mattered was i was a person like the chairman who cared and it's been said many times

before me tonight, it didn't matter which party you were in. what was good for america, what was good for the military. that's what he stood for. and i would stand and wait my time and he would say, walter, what do you need? and i'd go up and take my turn and say, mr. chairman, our marines down in camp lejeune are having problems with ptsd and other problems and there are not enough psychiatrists to help. they was last time i spoke to him. he said, why don't we get together and have a meeting. in the little room downstairs on the first floor, the basement, of his room, we would go in and i'd talk to him about the needs of the marines and the marines loved him. i had a couple in my room tonight when this started and they were saying, we've lost a great friend. tonight for me personally, it was to come down here and say, mr. chairman, thank you.

thank you for having the time for a person that's no more than a foot soldier in the coonk, i'm talking about myself. it didn't matter who you were or what position you held in the republican party or the democratic party. it was a matter of his heart. his heart was, what can i do to help you? what does your district need? what do your marines need? he'd always find time to talk to you. so tonight, i wanted to come down for just a few minutes to say to the family that are here tonight that he was a great man, he was a patriot, and he's the kind of man that america needs to remember with great respect and also to thank him for being a man of humility. i've always said that christ was a man of humility and he got so much accomplished because he was a man of humility. chairman murtha was a man of

humility he had great power but he did not flex the muscles of power, he walked and worked with humility. so tonight, i close by saying, mr. chairman, thank you for taking the time for all of us, you were a man that probably slept well at night because you overworked, but you are in a better place now and i'm sure god is listening to whatever advice you might have to make america a bitter country. i thank you for giving me this time to say, thank you and good-bye, and america will miss you, and the jones family will miss you also. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida rise? without objection, the gentlewoman will be recognized for five minutes.

ms. brown: thank you, madam speaker. we are truly blessed that we've had the opportunity to work and serve with mr. murtha. now, i have my mr. murtha story. i was able to get mr. murtha to come to my district, jacksonville, florida, the third congressional district, which is a military district, but i knew that when he came that it would only have one shot. so i wanted to make sure i covered everything he needed to see in my district. so we started out at the marine base, we went to the port, we went to see a hospital where we had to -- well, they had tried to get one in his area and i took the doctor in my area, so he was very shocked when he came to jacksonville and found out that not only did i have one in

jacksonville, i had his doctor from his area. and i had a reception scheduled for him. and of course he said, i don't work this hard. you have shown me everything that you want to develop in your district and of course the point is, he came, he saw and we was able to get the services that the military people needed in my area. and i will never forget when i went to normandy and we had a visitor center and they had just opened the visitor center there. it was a tribute to all of the people that had served and died in normandy. and they had no place to go, it was all across but it was a sent that are mr. murtha and the chairman of the appropriations had got funding and, yes, it was the earmark, it was the earmark in a tribute to the people that had served this country and i

will never forget how proud i was to go to that visitor center and, you know, that should be mr. murtha's name on that visitor center in normandy because he did so much. in closing i want to say, we always sing the song, "god bless america" and yes, god bless america because of mr. murtha and in closing, the scripture paul, he has fought a good fight and he has finished a course but it is left up to us now to continue to work, to continue to work for our veterans, continue to work for the military, this is the kind of tribute that we should pay to mr. murtha, the work is not finished. so, god did bless america with giving us the example of mr. murtha. and i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: who seeks recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? >> address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam speaker. out of respect to jack, i will be very brief. great american, great patriot, but for me he was a friend. he was my buddy. and the truth is, he was my buddy not because we shared a philosophical view. we probably disagreed on more than we agreed on. because we respected each other, because in my role, the best thing you can say about anybody is he didn't forget where he came from. jack never forgot. he represented working men and women to the utmost. even when we disagreed, his motivation was pure. he was the epitome of a politician. he liked helping people. and i disdain politicians who

think that we don't or we shouldn't help people. that's what we're here for. jack knew that. from the day he got here to the day he level. he was my friend -- left. he was my friend. i'm going to miss him. i think america will miss him. but i will miss him. and, jack, i'll tell you that not looking forward to it but when my day comes i'll be looking you up. my hope is you'll be up there with a whole bunch of these -- good old boys and hopefully you'll welcome me then as you welcomed me when i got here. we'll miss you jack. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman's time has expired will be recognized for five mibs -- minutes -- the gentleman will be recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam speaker. i just wanted to join all of my colleagues. as we give our thanks to jack and jack's family. i'm a new member of congress and i didn't get to know jack murtha

until the fall of 2008 when i was running for congress. jack came down to cincinnati, we visited the v.a. hospital and we sat down and we sat down with some veterans and we sat down with the staff of the v.a. hospital and started talking about ptsd and the ptsd program that we had in cincinnati. and jack had such a sincere interest and you could -- he exuded care for those veterans and he wanted to see that what we were doing in cincinnati was recommend cated across the country. but -- replicated across the country. but every time i went to jack and asked for something, every time i -- i approached him, he was open. and as i talked to -- or as i listened to the members here tonight, you know, there seems to be an underlying theme. we didn't go, you know, and jack asked us for things. every time you approached jack murtha, he was asking, what he

could do for you. what a great congressman. what a great dad. because you know jack was the type of guy that in his district he was always asking that question. what can i do for you? and that's the right question. we had perhaps the greatest challenge that we faced in cincinnati this year on a jobs program. it was the joint strike fighter, the competitive engine program. i happened to be the congressman for the district for g.e. aviation where that engine is made. and we were worried, we were worried that we were going to lose 1,000 jobs. now i know it to be a good program, i know it to be a cost saving program, but the president, the administration sometimes thinks a little differently about that program. so i went to jack. i said, jack, i'm really worried about this. this is a lot of jobs in since

the nat -- cincinnati. i believe this is the right thing to do for the country. and without hesitation he just looked me in the eye and he said, steve, don't worry about it, we'll take care of it. and i knew that it was taken care of. because i had jack's word. he was that type of guy. he had that kind of strength and that kind of authority. and every time you approached him he was always asking what he could do for you. this house was a great place because of jack murtha. and we are a lesser body because of his loss. but i lost my father a little over a year ago and he was a lot like jack so i hope the two of them have gotten to know each other since jack's passing. because he reminded me a lot of my dad. so, you will be greatly missed, jack, and i thank your family and i thank your community for sharing you with us and the

american people for so long. madam chair, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> address the house for five minutes, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. i will be brief. riveb been tied up most of the afternoon and never thought i'd have an opportunity to come down and join in this special order to our friend and our colleague, jack murtha. so i'm very pleased and heartened by all the outpouring of members who have come down here for the last few hours and it's also given me an opportunity to say a few things about my friend, jack murtha. jack would be embarrassed by all the attention being shown to him tonight. but for those of us who knew and loved and respected jack murtha, it's been an especially hard week, especially those of us who hang out, as we say nrkts pennsylvania corner, when we also look on the corner to see jack there, we see a folded american flag and i guess it's appropriate for jack's service

to his country not only as a soldier but also as a member of this house of representatives. if you want to know more about jack murtha and his courage and love for this country i'd urming you to read the book that he wrote from -- urge to you read the book that he wrote entitled "from vietnam to 9/11." he traces the history of this country, policy and military involvement of this country since vietnam to september 11. and written by a true patriot who lived it and urged awful us to also see the world and our commitment and our dedication to the men and women in uniform through the eyes of jack murtha in a book. it's been a hard week and i think everyone -- everything that needs to be said about jack murtha has probably been said. i'm thankful for having known him, i'm thankful for the opportunity of being able to come down here tonight and just say a few words and to express our love and condolences for joyce and the entire murtha family. and with that, madam speaker, i

yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont rise? mr. welch: to address the house, revise and extend for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be recognized for five minutes. mr. welch: one of the qualities i think of a great person is that they don't see themselves as great, they really see themselves as ordinary and if they value something about themselves it's that being ordinary allows them to do generous and good things for other people. jack murtha was a huge figure for those of us who were in my class, the class of 2006. people may remember that the big debate that year was about the war in iraq and i ran as a person who was opposed to that war and i remember during the campaign being very dispiritted wondering where we were going and then a voice rothe rose out of washington and it was a vietnam veteran who was a combat decorated marine, it was the chair of the defense

appropriations subcommittee, it was a man who had the highest credentials as an advocate for the military and that voice of course was jack murtha and he stood up and he said that this war woss wrong, he said that his vote was a mistake. what attracted me, i think, my classmates and all of my colleagues who have been speaking to this man, jack murtha, was generosity. he was always wondering what could he do for you today? his integrity. but he also had a quality of incredible strength. you gravitated to jack because he was a strong man, strong in his convictions, strong in his will to carry on and yet with the strength of a person who had an open mind and was willing to

experience and analyze what was going on. and when he came to his conclusion about iraq it was through the eyes of the soldier on the ground in assessing what was going on there and why. and even as he changed his policy position on iraq no one was the stronger supporter of the troops getting what they needed to be safe, getting what they needed to be taken care of when they got home. and what he understood and he began to teach this congress and this country was that if we're going to respect the valor of these men and women who are willing to sboord nate their own judgment -- subordinate their own judgment, to take an oath and allegiance to the flag and the commander in chief and report for duty when and where ordered by the president, then congress and he, jack murtha,

had a solemn responsibility to do everything every single thing -- every single thing in his body, mind and heart and soul to provide those soldiers with the policy that was worthy of the sacrifice they were willing to make. like i think everybody here in congress when jack asked me what i could do or what he could do for me, i often times had an answer but the first time he asked me that question was the first day of my experience here in congress and i said to jack, i understand that you go out and visit troops often, at bethesda and at walter reed and he told me he did. he usually went alone, always quietly, never any press, and i asked him if in the course of my two years in congress

sometime he'd take me to go with him. it turned out that the next day he did. i'll never forget going through the bethesda naval hospital with jack murtha and seeing how, when he talked to our troops who suffered incredible injuries, he had that same directness, that same pride, that same confidence in engaging these soldiers. what happened, how did it happen? was it an i.e.d.? was it trip wire? was it pressure-act visited -- activated? he knew everything about the experience of the soldiers. he wasn't sentimental, he was direct, he was blunt, and in that strength he was warmed and encouraging and respectful to the experience of the soldiers. it's something only a person with jack's strength of character could do. we all know that jack was endlessly challenged by the

press for the so-called earmarks and i remember he took the criticism as though it was a grain of salt and when asked, he would hold up a document saying, this is my power, it's in the constitution and i take care of my people. we lost a great man. i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? >> to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be recognized for five minutes. mr. gordon: thank you, madam speaker. many speakers have preceded me today speaking about mr. murtha. i'll always call him mr. murtha, that's how i referred to him in the house and that's how i think of him in memory. i only had the opportunity to serve with him for three years and i feel inadequate being the

last person to speak. when i was running for congress, i came up to view congress, i wasn't sure if i wanted to run and i looked at the floor and whether or not i wanted to run. coming up, i was in reburn and walked up by the train that runs from rayburn to the capitol, this man came up, put his arm around me, he said, young man, this is going to be like 1974, it's going to be a great year for democrats. and we got up the elevator and i was so proud to be in this building and we got to the top and he went to the left where you enter the speak ears lobby to enter the floor, he said, next time you come up here, i hope you can come up here with me. it was the next time irk got to come in there with him. i was so proud, i read about

murtha's corner in "the new york times" and find myself over there, mostly with folks from pennsylvania also but also different people fond of mr. murtha and i was standing there and i say, i remember reading about murtha's corner and now i'm in murtha's corner. i was in his corner, he was in mine. when i needed help in the community and learning about defense appropriations and how they could benefit my community and my universities, he helped me. he always helped me and i helped him when he was in need in his last election. i made the trip to johnstown for his funeral. i'm so glad i did and i'm so happy to be here, i couldn't let the opportunity pass to speak about this great american. he was a great man and he received the profiles in courage award, but the bottom line is he was a good human being. avuncular is a word i learned

in high school, uncle-like, and he was an uncle-like figure. i'm just fortunate i passed this way the same time dehe did and got to meet him. thank you, madam speaker and thank you, jack murtha. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? >> to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam speaker. i'm here to honor one of america's heroes, jeremiah whitman was killed on saturday, he was from montana. his worth -- his wife, karen, is from the chesney area in spartanburg county, south carolina. sergeant whitman and karen have a beautiful 3-year-old daughter maimed maya. i got to play in maya's doll house when i visited her

grandparents' home recently -- more on that in a minute. sergeant whitman was doing what america's best do, he was protecting freedom and protecting us when an improvised explosive device was detonated near him when he was on a foot patrol in afghanistan. i wonder what it means to a 3-year-old, madam speaker to hear that her daddy is one of our heros? i said that to maya the other night at her house. i know she heard it from others because we're very patriotic people in the state of south carolina, madam speaker. still, i wonder what it means to a 3-year-old. maya's mom karen knows what it means. she knew what it meant when representatives of the u.s. army showed up at her parents' front door dressed in class a's. she knows that this saturday an army officer will neil beside her and say the president of the -- will kneel beside her and say the president of the

united states and the grateful nation thank her for the honorable and faithful nature of her husbandiermy. they know that servicemens -- means the possibility of not coming home safe and sound. the possibility that the last full measure of devotion will be given on a battlefield far from home. the people of the upstate of south carolina and montana know what it means. it means we must give our thanks to those who serb our country, those who come home with scars and those who come home with honor. what does it mean to maya? i'll try to say what it means in a letter to maya, if you'll indulge me. maya, that's an awesome doll house you have in the living room at your grandma and grandpa's house. thank you for letting me see

the cool things you've got in there. i like the computer a lot and the lights over the door to your doll tent are awesome. thank you for showing me the pictures of you and your daddy. i guess you noticed by now that grownups like us cry sometimes when we hear you say that your daddy is in heaven. it's not that we're not happy for him, you know better than us grownups that your daddy can trust god to dry every tear. it's just we're overwhelmed by the gift you've given. you and your mom and your grandparents have given the rest of us the gift of your dad's life. he was in afghanistan protecting you and your mom mostly but he's also protecting me and my family and all american families. if you see a lot of people crying, it's the only way we know to show how much we care, how much your dad's sacrifice, how much your sacrifice means to us. a sergeant told me recently,

when i see good things at risk, i'm inclined to fight for it. that's why i'm in the army. that's a sergeant from texas. i don't know if he knew youred dad but i bet that's what your dad thought too. your dad saw your future at risk, maya. so he went to fight for you and for me and for all of us. when i was leaving your house the other night, there was a beautiful moon hanging low in the west over the mountains you can see from the top of your driveway. it was brilliant orange, looked like a bowl that could hold something. i thought of the pictures of you and your dad. i thought of god holding the moon up there, holding your dad and holding you and your mom and holding this whole big world. it seem liked the moon was doing something else, it seemed it was holding the hope of a lot of tomorrows. you see, as the moon falls, the sun rises on a new day. when your dad fell, it was so you could have many more tomorrows in peace and freedom.

when i see a waxing moon glowing orange and hanging low in the west, stretching its light from south carolina to that farm your dad loved in montana, i'll think of you, maya and i'll think of your dad and i'll pray for many tomorrows for you and the country your dad loved. thank you, maya. your friend, bob. p.s., keep an eye on those dinosaurs in your doll tent you know, they scare me. thank you, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> madam speaker, i send to the desk a privilege red port from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 1105, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 2701 to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2010 for intelligence and intelligence-relatedtivities of

the united states government, the community management account, and the central intelligence agency retirement and disabilities system and for other purposes. waiving a requirement of clause 6-a of rule 13 with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the committee on rules and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: madam speaker a message from the senate. the secretary: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been instructed to inform the house the senate has passed h.r. 3561, the physician payment reform act of 2009 in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announce poledcy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from missouri, mr.

akin, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. akin: thank you, madam chair. this evening, we stand just before a day, tomorrow, of great political drama. i'm trained as an engineer, and not much of an expert on drama or plays, but i have at least one theory about acting and plays and drama and that is, usually it's very good or very bad. the question tonight the -- the question tonight, as we take a

look at the drama that faces people who will be watching tomorrow is what drama are they liable to watch? are they going to watch the olympics, the last part of the olympics, a very exciting -- or the political drama of six hours of discussion or debate but i think it's more drama that will take place tomorrow on the health care bill. now we have been talking about this health care bill for more than a year and the subject has a tendency to get a little bit stale. but tomorrow is an attempt to revive that discussion. now, one of the things that's required in good drama is the theme, or the major topic and the different parts of that drama have to be believable. and i think that's one of the things that may make the drama tomorrow more difficult in

terms of its success. and let's just talk about what really is believable. the president claimed about a year or so ago, i guess it was in a state of the union message, that this new health care was going to save money, it wouldn't cost us a dime. well, i guess that's true, it's going to cost more like $1 trillion. is that believable? the president repeatedly said that republicans had no ideas and yet at baltimore, just a month or two ago he said, not that the republicans had no ideas but that he'd read the good number of bills that had been introduced by republicans. is that believable? the president also pledged transparency and openness in the process of developing a health care bill. what we've seen has been that

bills are developed behind closed doors and for tomorrow, the bill that has been created behind closed doors is going to be revealed only for 24 hours. and so, is the transparency and openness pledge believable? the president in baltimore talked about the fact that he had a lot of economic experts scoring the bill and taking a look at whether it works financially or not, whether or not the different component parts come together and achieves the exick results he wanted, and yet the congressional budget office, which is supposedly and to a large degree politically neutral, when they scored the bill, they said the republican bill actually reduces premiums by 10% while the democrat bill makes them more expensive. then there's the question about whether or not the meeting tomorrow which is attempting to be billed as bipartisan and

bipartisanship, it doesn't make sense because if you write a bill behind closed doors, unveiling it at the last minute within 24 hours and then you demand that the republicans agree to it, is that really bipartisanship? i wonder if that is believable. the president promised us that the bill that he was going to present when he was in baltimore, that it included tort reform and yet the bill that we've seen did the exact opposite. the states that had already enacted tort reform were forbidden from using those tort reform laws so in effect it would reverse tort reform and go the exact opposite direction. is that believable? we were told that the special deals have been taken out and yet in a few minutes we will take a look at those special deals that remain in the bill.

and then last of all, and the one i find most amazing, is that the republicans are obstructionists. i find that hard to believe how anybody could even repeat that, let alone believe it. i wish it were true. i sorely wish it were true. but the republicans here in this chamber, my republican colleagues, are 40 votes short of a majority. there is nothing that we could obstruct if our lives depended on it. the democrats could lose 20 voters and still pass anything that they choose to pass. so how we could be, as republicans, obstructionists again seems to be very hard to pass the old sniff test. now, it seems that the president in setting up this great drama, six hours of televised discussion on health care, has

made a major assumption and that is if people just knew what was in this bill they would really like it. but probably the opposite is true. what we have seen is our constituents, my constituents, call in and they've read portions of these bills, they know what's in the bill and, guess what? they don't like it. in fact, this bill that's being proposed is ugly, it's so ugly it has to sneak up on a glass of water just to get a drink. well, let's take a look specifically at why it is that we're going to have this great health care political drama tomorrow and yet we're not really passing the believable test. and first of all let's just take a look at if anything has really changed at all.

first of all this bill imposes half a trillion in medicare cuts. that's a whole lot of money, half a trillion dollars is going to be taken out of medicare. the old democrat bill took half a trillion dollars out of medicare. the president's new bill takes half a trillion dollars out of medicare. the republican alternative takes nothing out of medicare. well, nothing seems to have changed here. this bill enacts job killing tax hikes and government regulations costing hundreds of billions of dollars. the old democrat bill, yes, that was true for it, the president's new plan that's online likewise enacts a lot of job killing tax hikes and government regulations that cost billions of dollars and yet the republican alternative dozen not. it spends -- does not. it spends a trillion on

government takeover of the health care system. this is something that people are really conscious of. this is a government takeover of an entire sector of the u.s. economy, a trillion dollars and i think that number is short because it's not counting the unfunded mandates to states. the old democrat bill does that. the president's new bill does it. the republican bill does not. so what's changed here? it benefits trial lawyers by failing to enact legal lawsuit reform. well, the old democrat bill did not have any real tort reform in it. in fact it went the opposite way. the president's new bill is not different. the republican alternative is the opposite. it protects backroom deals with washington special interests. we've been told these deals have been taken out but they've not been taken out. the old bill had special deals, the new bill does. the republican bill does not. it puts government bureaucrats in charge of personal health care decisions.

this is something a lot of americans are very concerned with. it's bad enough if some insurance company is getting between you and your doctor. but it's even worse if a government bureaucrat it does because if you don't like the insurance company, you can change companies. you can't change government. and so, again, the new proposal is no different than the democrat proposal and the republicans are not doing that. it breaks president obama's pledge not to raise taxes and those who -- on those who make less than $250,000. well, certainly the old democrat bill certainly did raise taxes on people making less than $250,000. the new proposal still taxes people more who make less than $250,000, the republican proposal does not. it forces individuals to purchase government approved health insurance. that's something that people are pretty sensitive to. the government telling you you must buy health insurance.

the old democrat bill does that, the president's proposal still does it, republicans reject that idea. and it forces employers to choose government approved health insurance or they're going to have to pay a new tax. so the government is going to tell you what kind of insurance you've got to purchase or you're going to pay a new kind of tax. the old democrat bill did that, what the president's proposing continues to do it, the republicans don't. so, is this great drama that's supposed to take place tomorrow really something new? i'm not so sure that it is and that it seems to follow the same pattern. now, if we take a look at the proposal, the proposal is still pretty much the same thing. here is a picture of what this bill looks like. you got a 2,000-page bill and it's pretty complicated and to

try and read 2,000 pages in 24 hours is quite an undertaking. the only advantage that some of us have is that it's so much like the other proposal that it's not really that different so you don't have to know -- read all 2,000 pages of it to know what's in there. now, as i mentioned, the president -- the president makes an assumption and that is if people just understand the bill better, now that's obviously something that he could talk about for six hours, i think, if it's this complicated, if people just understand the bill better, they're going to like it. what i would propose is that the president ises had in -- mistaken in that regard. and what i would like to talk about for just a few minutes are the people who are not going to like this bill when they see what it's got in it. because there are a lot of groups of americans, various

groups and i will tell what you the groups are and why they're not going to like this bill. so i think the more that this bill is talked about, the more people read it and see how it works, i think what's going to happen is -- what's going to happen is you're depg to see these numbers change. right now -- is you're going to see these numbers change. right now the public opinion of health care, 38% of voters oppose the health care plan. 50% of voters strongly oppose the plan. and 78% of voters expect the plan to cost more than projected. so it's not very popular now. the question is, if they see six more hours of drama, are they going to like the plan any more? i would suggest that there are all kinds of groups of people who are not going to like this plan. let me just talk to you about who some of those groups of

people are. the first is a category that i'm increasingly putting myself in and that's people who are older. i just hit 62 years old so i'm feeling a little bit older. and older people aren't going it like this plan for a couple reasons. the first reason they won't like it is something we mentioned just a minute ago and that is, this is going to take $500 billion out of medicare. now that was something that for years when i was first getting started in politics years ago the democrats always accused republicans of taking money away from medicare and yet ironically this bill that's being proposed by the president is taking $500 billion out of medicare. so, if you're an older person you probably wouldn't like it for that reason. but there is a bigger and more serious reason if you're an older person that you would not like this bill. and that is because if you're older you go to see the doctor

more. and if you go to see the doctor more what this bill is going to do is going to harm the quality of american health care. it will harm the quality. this has been the experience of every nation that has had the government take over health care. it's also been the experience of two states, massachusetts and tennessee, that have had their state governments try to take over health care. in every one of those experiences the quality of health care has gone down, the cost of health care has gone up. so if you're an older person and you see the doctor a little bit more, first of all you're not going to like that great big cut to medicare and second of all the quality of your health care is going to go down. now, let's say instead of getting older that you're young. now, certainly then you would like the bill, if the older people don't like it. no? wrong. if you're young you won't like the bill because this bill forces to you pay for government insurance which is written the way the government says you have

to buy the insurance, that way and if you don't buy that insurance you're going to be penalized and you're going to have to pay a penalty. if you're a young person and you like freedom and you don't want the government telling you what kind of insurance to buy or if you have to buy insurance, you won't like this bill. if you're a young person. the next group of people that will probably not like this bill and that's people who are married. because what this bill does to married people is, it says, if you're married you're going to have to pay more money for your health insurance than it if you're single. so -- than if you're singingle. so there's a marriage penalty -- single. so there's a marriage penalty in this bill. if you have two individuals each making the same amount of money, two individuals making $32,000 a year, and if you take a look at what those two single individuals have to pay because they get all the subsidies under this bill, they're going to have to pay a lot less than the two

people as husband and wife making the same amount of money, those people have to pay a couple thousand dollars more. so this bill contains for that example $2,000 of penalties for people who are married. so if you're married you probably won't like this bill. now, if you happen to fall in the category of being pro-life or at least of you fall in the category that you don't want government money, your tax money, to pay for abortions, you won't like this bill. because the bill that's being proposed is the senate bill and it allows for these insurance policies which are government funded, it allows those policies for people to get abortions through the policies. and so there is not a strict and clean line in the bill the way the house version of the bill was passed which says that

there's absolutely no using these government policies to do abortions. and so if you're pro-life you will not like the senate version of this bill and you will hear people who are involved in the pro-life cause standing and arguing vigorously that the senate version is unacceptable. now, if you own a small business you're not going to like this bill. if you own a small business, this is going to cause you trouble in a number of different ways. first of all you're going to be taxed a tremendous amount of money to help pay for this whole thing. if you think about small business in america as being speech who have 500 employees or less, that is 80% of the jobs in america are small business people, those companies are not going to like this bill, the people that run those companies, because of the fact that it requires those