college for 75 years of service. i yield back the balance of my time. the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time has been yielded back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1142. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- the gentleman from puerto rico. withdraws. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the resolution is agreed to and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. . for what purpose does the gentleman from puerto rico seek recognition? mr. beer louie cease see: i move that the house -- mr. peer lucie: i move that the house suspend the rules and adopt resolution 1091.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will designate the -- will report the title. the clerk: house resolution 1091, ex-bressing support for the designation of the week of february 28 through march 7, 2010, as school social work week. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico. >> i ask unanimous consent that members may have five days to revise and extend and insert extraneous material into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise today in support of house resolution 1091, to recognize the week of february 28 through march 6, 2010 as national schools social worker week. school social workers have long played a critical role in schools and the community as a whole. they're professionals with

training in social support and mental health intervention who work with youth to address the emotional, social, and developmental needs. for example, students in elementary school are just beginning to develop their skills and feelings of confidence. school social workers help students build their confidence as learners. in middle school, many new challenges arise. during this passage from childhood to adolescence, students have a need to explore a variety of interests connecting their learning in the classroom to its practical application in life. in middle schools, school social workers provide leadership to engage all stake holders in the delivery of programs and service it is to help students navigate the choofpblgs early adolescence, to achieve academic, social and behavioral success success. in high school, students begin

separating from parents to explore their independence and define their individuality. they face increased pressures to engage in risky behaviors involving sex, alcohol, and drugs and many students seek support in choosing acceptable behavior and establishing mature, meaningful relationships. school social workers help them make thoughtful and appropriate decisions. on top of this, school social workers must be responsive to a range of challenges that young people face every day such as poverty, disability, discrimination, abuse, addiction, bullying, divorce of parents, loss of a loved one, and other barriers to learning. school social workers are also on the front lines when disaster strikes, such as the suicide plane attack in austin, texas, that killed a number of people last month, hurricane katrina, as well as other

traumatic events such as 9/11 or school violence incidents like columbine. there's documentation of the growing need for school districts to expand mental health and student support services in schools. the numbers indicate that less than one in five of the 17.5 million children in need of mental health services actually receive any support from qualified professionals. many students go underserved primarily because the national average ratio of students to school social workers are far higher the -- than the 400 to one ratio recommended by the school social work association of america. mr. speaker this resolution serves to recognize the tremendous importance of school social workers and acknowledge the valuable role that they play in guiding our student success. i want to thank congressman kennedy for bringing this bill forward.

i urge my colleagues to resoundingly pass this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. petri: i yield myself such time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. petri: i rise in support of house resolution 1091, expressing support for the designation of the week now passed of february 28 through march 6, 2010, as school social work week. school social work is a specialized area of practice within the broad field of the social work profession. school social workers bring unique knowledge and skills to the school system and the student services team. school social workers are instrumental in furtherering the purposes of education, which is to provide a -- provide a setting for teaching, learning, and the attainment of competence and confidence. school social workers are hired

by school districts to educate -- tone hance the district's ability to meet its academic mission. within the school setting, school social workers are a link between the student the student's family, the school, and the community. the efficacy of this link is considerably dependent upon professional relationships developed with the student and the student's family as well as the other school personnel. school social workers are concerned with a student's education as well as their emotional and mental well-being. school social workers play an important part in the academic and emotional dwoment of schools. they provide services to students that face challenges that may be a barrier to learning, such as poverty, disability, abuse, loss of loved one or divorce. school social workers are critical to the identification of mental health problems and the provision of services when needed. today, we honor and recognize

the contributions of school social workers to the success of students in the schools throughout our nation. i ask my colleagues to support this resolution and having no requests for time, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from puerto rico. mr. pier lumbings isi: i urge my colleagues to join me in this resolution recognizing national school social worker week. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the yes que is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1091 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately

6:30 p.m. today.

twelve twf twive twelve sign up for our schedule alert emails at c-span.org. >> next, today's white house briefing with press secretary robert gibbs. this is 45 minutes. >> apologies for the delays, guys. mr. ballard, takes us away. >> [inaudible] >> the information i gave out last week was based on conversations with staff i had here in the building. i've been given nothing that

would change that advice i was given last week. >> majority leader hoyer apparently has a different opinion about that. have you talked to him about the deadline or timeline? >> i'm sure we've been in contact with members of congress and the leadership. i don't know anything about a specific conversation with him. >> is there a particular significance to the house taking action on that day before the president goes overseas? >> again, just if the president is scheduled to leave town on what we believe is an important trip to both indonesia and to australia. >> on the matter of what's happening with the visits here from the greek prime minister, does the white house support a bailout of -- in any form or fashion to help that country get out to have trouble? >> i think what the greeks have said what the europeans have said, what we've said from this

podium is this is an issue for the european union. we believe they have and possess the capabilities to solve that and the president has on a number of occasions prior to the meeting today been briefed on the situation. but again, belief that this is something the europeans can and should resolve on their own. >> the administration and white house doesn't have a role at all. >> obviously, i think the global economic recovery will be discussed in the meeting today. i think the -- i think it'll go out to the state after the meeting. you'll see the president this evening at the event in the east room. so there's no doubt that in addition to our cooperation on afghanistan through nato, that global economic recovery will no doubt come up.

>> is there any situation in which the u.s. would provide any help directly? i know you said that's something you're continuing to deal with -- >> that's not simply my statement, caren, that's what all the actors in europe have said as well. i think the europeans possess whatever ability they need to solve, or to help in solving this problem. >> are you ruling out any usaid? >> i do not believe they're here to talk to us about that. >> on health care, the president made an impassioned plea to democrats who are wavering to take a courageous vote and vote for the health care bill, even if they think it may not be politically popular for them to do it. what kind of outreach is he doing behind the scenes with democrats to help this along? >> he's had meetings, as we

talked about this last week he had meetings in this building with different members, i do not believe he's made any calls thus far this week, i was not an the trip yesterday but i'm sure he had an opportunity to talk to folks on the airplane and i will continue to push through public events, we've got one tomorrow in missouri to discuss health care reform. we may add more stops before the president leaves for indonesia and australia. and continue to make it a forceful case for what i think the american people saw the president talk about yesterday, we need a system that works for the american people, not just works for insurance companies. and he thinks the time to act is now. >> how -- is he going to be working on it this week? >> i think he'll meet with

members later on in the week. i think if calls need to be made to convince people of the benefits of supporting comprehensive health care reform, he'll do that as well. >> one question about tomorrow, what is he going to say different from what he said yesterday? is he message largely similar to that? >> some of it will be similar. we've been discussing the role of insurance companies for many, many months. i also believe the president will have additional things to say on aspects of waste, fraud, and abuse as it relates to health. >> asking about lobbying members of congress, i have to ask if you got a chance to talk to rahm emanuel about whether he lobbied congressman massa and the new democrat chairman? >> you're happy to email him,

i'm -- i have not asked him. >> can you address the story about congressman massa, what's the reason why he left, he's leveling charges that the white house democratic leaders wanted to push him out because he's a no on health care. can you deal with that? >> i addressed this largely this morning. keeping in mind that on wednesday, he announced he would not seek re-election because of a health problem he said was a recurrence of cancer, on thursday he said he wasn't running because, not because of cancer but because of his use of salty language. on friday he seemed to take some responsibility for his actions at a different event and we learned that the ethics committee was looking into his actions relating to sexual harassment. so i don't know why i would

give any weight to what he said on the fourth day, any more than i would on the previous three days. the notion that somehow the white house had anything to do with the series of events that have caused him to not seek re-election and ultimately leave the house -- the notion that somehow we were involved in that, i think, is, as i said this morning, silly and ridiculous. >> let me ask you about a different story, a couple of days ago, pakistani sources, and now they continue to say even today that they believe that the american al qaeda official has been captured. american officials say he has not. can you categorically say he has not? >> i will say we have not confirmation that that he's in custody. >> just broadly speaking about

u.s.-pakistani relations, we've heard for months that things are bright and u.s. and pakistani intelligence officials are working together cooperatively. this seems to suggest they may not be on the same page. how do you square that? >> i don't know the event that transpyred on saturday and sunday -- that transpired on saturday and sunday. we've always maintained we did not have independent confirmation that he was in custody. i would refer you to the pakistanis, you have further questions about that. >> last thing, last couple of days we've had two world leaders here, the leader from el sal rah vador and now the leader from greece. it's been traditional that when leaders are here, the president will take questions from the u.s. and international media.

we've had two leaders here and no questions taken, and today's event is closed to the media. >> the president has a media event later today. we didn't want to take time to do statements when the president will do questions in public. we made the determination based on time to handle these events as we did. >> is the president -- with the president hitting the road, what's his objective in getting out of washington, if he believes everything that needs to be said on health care has been said, what's he trying to add? >> i think the president has -- i think over the past several weeks we've seen in announcements that insurance companies have made that as rates have skyrocketed, as later -- letters have gone out that says your insurance is going up 39%, 60% or just in virginia, i think there was an article today, an additional

20% increase, the president wants to make the case again for what were if we walk away. what happens if we start over? if we walk away and start over, individuals continue to get letters watching their health insurance go up, again, 39%, 60%, 20%. the president believes it's important to demonstrate, again, for the american people, why health care reform is so important. >> he's made that case over the last year, isn't his time better spent here in washington trying to work on the hill? >> we've got phones that work quite well on air force one. >> [inaudible] it's not in their timeline? >> not that i can think of. >> you have a limited amount of time to get it passed.

it's a little bit like deja vu again. >> gerning i can only impart to you the information given to me based on conversations they had with capitol hill. i've got no better guidance on what mr. hoyer is saying to him. >> the president said his number one focus is going to be on jobs, he's working on health care, he's scheduled a meeting on immigration, he's scheduled a meeting on energy is there any concern about muddying the message that he started the year with? >> no, i think the senate has an important vote today on moving forward on the second piece of legislation that they will consider this year. that relates to creating an environment for renewed economic growth. the president will speak later

in the week on our export strategy and what that does to helping to create good paying jobs for the future. but look, the president also had a meeting this morning on haiti, the president will have -- has other national security meetings after he sees -- he's in his current meeting with greece. so, look, the president's going to have meetings on a number of different topics. throughout the day on any given day. but again, we talked about economics and jobs being most important, you're a small business owner and you're having to decide whether or not you can continue to provide benefits for somebody, that's an economic issue, that's a jobs issue. if you're getting that letter in the mail that says, your health insurance is going to go up 39% or 40%, that relates very directly to your own

economics. >> i think you said the president has not made any call this is week on health care. >> not that i'm aware of. i can go back and check. >> we're getting emails constantly from both sides about democrats who are wavering and on his signature issue, you would think he'd be calling them up constantly. is this an indication he think he is can't change their minds? >> no, i don't think we would have flown to philadelphia if we didn't think we would make danchese. i think the president laid out a forceful case for the need for health care reform and -- >> [inaudible] >> chip, i think more than just members and one geographic region watch the news. i think their constituents watch the news. >> it seem he is feels powerless to change their minds.

is the leaving of indonesia flexible at all? is it possible -- >> again, their information suggests that that vote could happen before we leave. >> meaning, though, that -- is there any flexibility there or are you going to leave as is? >> we're planning on, and have made plans to leave as scheduled. >> the lunch today for any significance to the fact that the c.e.o.'s are from the chicago area, are they all old friends? >> no, i think we've gotten different groups of people to come in at different times. >> they're all chicago c.o.e. -- c.e.o.'s. >> i think they were here on something separate and was added to the lunch today.

but i think it's -- nothing more than a good cross-section to get for the president to get feedback and an understanding from them on what they're seeing in our economy. he's been in the meeting, i have not gotten a read on that yet. >> is robin carnahan the likely democratic nominee in missouri going to be at tomorrow's fundraising events? >> it's my understanding that these are joint fundraising events in conjunction with the dscc, which would go to help. >> finally, the nobel money. >> i have not gotten a recent update on that. >> where is it? >> i assume it's somebody -- it's somewhere -- it's with the committee. >> he doesn't have the money?

>> not that i'm aware of. >> he hasn't asked for? >> no, then i guess we'd have it. >> is he going to give to it a charity? >> that's what we're working on. guys, this is a better question for the nobel committee's interest-bearing account. >> nobody in the president's circle has the money? >> he'll give the money. i thought that this was not as good as i hoped it would be. i don't have to respond to that because i haven't -- it's somebody's -- it's based on somebody's will. so i assume the committee with which the prize is named.

>> alfred nobel's will? >> can you guys get together, maybe you can find it. >> the chief reason the prime minister is having those hearings, he's trying to round up ways to go after short sellers, traders, is president obama going to become a member of the anti-short selling posse? >> we discussed this at the g-20 in pittsburgh, increased regulation of derivatives trading. certainly, i think you all well know the president's great interest in enacting financial reform this year. i have not seen the proposal that he's put forward and i haven't got an full readout. obviously, the meeting is ongoing. to the degree to which this was

discussed, i know there were -- the list of topic wuss likely to be include -- to include the economy but also be much broader than that. >> the prime minister spoke to the institution yesterday, he seems to think that the reason that the markets have lower interest rates is because short sellers are in the market. does the white house agree with that? >> i don't have guidance -- i'd have to check with the economic team. i know that greece has had to make some decisions about its spending. i don't believe that was going to be something that was addressed directly in this meeting, but i can wait and see what they say. >> robert, it's unusual for a president to comment about the internal communications of a corporation or business. i'm wondering what led to his comments yesterday about the

goldman sachs conference call and what the source was for that. he didn't attribute it to anyone. >> that's been on the internet and been in newspapers. and i think i had last week here a report by some on wall street saying specifically that wellpoint, anthem, was set to be a winner if health care reform didn't pass. >> do you expect him to continue to comment on communications, conference calls, and so forth in other businesss? >> i think you can believe that the president will continue to do that if -- there are those on wall street that believe that insurance companies stand to gain in a big way if health care reform doesn't pass. because i think that's in the interest of millions of

policyholders. that possess individual insurance on the individual market from these different companies and how it affects their bottom line. >> the president again went into a meeting secretary sebelius was having to discuss, as we read last week, a letter the president had received precisely by one of these companies and how that impacted a 50-year-old woman who was having to make a decision between whether or not to give up the house that had been in her family for several decades or continue to purchase health insurance, even though she had change herd dedubblingtable in order to try to -- changed her deductible in order to try to get a more affordable rate.

i think that's exactly what health care reform is all about. >> robert, do you have some questions about greece, the u.s. aid. what about i.m.f. raid to -- aid to greece. >> i'll get a readout of what their discussions have been. i don't know if this is going to come out or not. >> on a related point, the european commission president wants the g-20 to curb derivatives. chancellor her tell said she wants to go -- chancellor america el said she wants to go beyond -- chancellor merkel said she wants to go beyond that and crack down. will the president be willing to go beyond the agreements he's already inherited? >> i'm not schauer the president has had an opportunity to look at what the chancellor has proposed or has in mind. again, i know they discussed, as you mentioned, discussed

these topics in pittsburgh only a few months ago and we believe that the underpinnings of financial reform are setting about a new series of rules on how our economy can and should operate in order to prevent the type of collapse that we saw in september of 2008. i have not seen the specific recommendations. >> are they looking into this or anything? >> i will check with them and see. >> one last question, does the president have a standing invitation to join the broadcast of ncaa? >> i'm sorry? >> does the president have a standing invitation to join the broadcast at the ncaa tournament? >> i hope so. i don't -- chip is going to email somebody right now. somebody at h.q.

i know he greatly enjoyed a little play-by-play at the duke-georgetown game. but i don't -- >> [inaudible] >> absolutely. as you will. >> will he pick brackets before he leaves for nerve nerve nerve? -- for nearby nearby? >> of course -- indonesia. >> of course you pick your bracket before the first game. we can spell me -- smell the trick questions. >> i assume march 18 is as important not just for health action but for the senate to deal with whatever fixes need to deal with after that before the scheduled two-week recess. i believe that's why march 18 is important. i guess what i'm asking is, the

house leadership doesn't endorse march 18, doesn't feel it's practical. if the schedule slips, is the white house ok and open to the idea of this debate stretching into april or possibly into may? >> i don't want to get into a series of elongated hypotheticals except to say, again, the information i passed an last week about march 18 the day the president leaves for indonesia and ultimately australia was something that we gleaned from conversations had with capitol hill. in terms of -- >> on march 18, they're not pready, it's coming off the rails, it's no longer doable, is march 18 something that america should circle on its own calendars and say this is the moment of action as defined by the white house? >> i've watched graphics on

cable tv about this going on every third day for the last year. based on this, it's predicted. i still think -- i still think based on -- i have not been given any updated information that leads me to believe that march 18 is a doable date. >> [inaudible] >> i don't know the answer to that. it is weird to talk to you guys sometimes, no, i'm joking. >> there appears to be a disconnect. you don't deny that do you? >> there seems to be a disconnect but again, major, this is information i was given based on conversations people had in this building with capitol hill. >> is that information weeks old or is it fresh information?

>> i've not been given any information today based on anything anybody's seen that's different. >> another hypothetical. let's say for the sake of argument, how fast the senate bill, something derails in reconciliation. would the president sign the senate bill passed by the house and that be it? or will it work through the reconciliation process? >> the president has outlined a series of -- and put on the internet a series of fixes to that legislation that i think are important for health care reform. >> nothing short of that -- >> i think we'll get all that done. >> the jerusalem settlement question. there are palestinian officials speaking on behalf of those negotiations saying this is a -- this undermines the trust they were hoping was being

rebuilt by the indirect talks. i'd like your comments on that. >> i believe that as you know, as you said, the vice president is in the region. thing vice president will have a longer statement on this shortly. i would say this, that the united states condemns the decision today by the government of israel on advance planning for new housing units in east jerusalem. >> you don't consider that a slap in the face? >> i do not believe that it is -- either the substance or the timing is particularly helpful. and i think it runs counter to the very productive talks the vice president was having in the region. >> was it communicated in any way, shape, or form before the vice president arrived in the region? >> not that i'm apair of.

i can check -- aware of. i can check on this. the viewpoint on, the viewpoint of the united states going back decades, i believe is well known throughout the world. again, the vice president will have a longer statement on this , it may even come while i'm standing up here. >> on the sestak issue, our inspector said on another show this afternoon sestak needs to prove it needs to back it up and claims the accusation is hurting the white house, damaging its reputation. you've told us a couple of times -- >> let me check and see if i have -- >> do you have any reaction to the comments on that? >> no, i don't. >> with the lun -- was the luncheon with the chicago folks

in any way coincidental with his presence here today? >> no. obviously he knows david from chicago. i don't know whether he's going to meet with patrick while he's here. alexi is the democratic nominee for the united states senate and has the support and backing of the white house. >> just a quick question on the negotiation, russian foreign minister said today he expects it in the next two or three weeks. do you agree with that? >> i know the negotiations started again in geneva. i have not seen from our guys a timeline on that.

obviously, they are the -- working on the last few remaining issues, we are certainly hopeful that can get done in short order. >> do you think it needs to get done before the president's nonproliferation treaty? >> i think they're of the mindset that if it would only take a day to get a deal in our interest, we hope it doesn't take longer than that, but if it takes, quite frankly, many more weeks past april to get something that we believe is in our best interest, then we're not looking to rush the negotiations in order to meet -- to have a signing ceremony prior to that important meeting with countries throughout the world. >> thank you, robert. on friday and sard, the "new york times" and "the washington post" respectively wrote front page stories about the recent

events involving congressman massa, former chairman rain gell, governor paterson, this was -- former chairman raengel, governor paterson, is this something the president is concerned about oar is it in any way related to the mid term elections? >> this is -- this has been a hallmark of an initiative that the president has worked on, as i said, i think last week, as a state senator, as a united states senator, and as president. so -- the president doesn't work on ethics reform because it may or may not be a strategy for the mid term elections. the president has believed since coming to elected office in illinois that, as i've said here, that rules are in place for a reason, that everyone must follow those rules

regardless of who you are or what your name is and if those rules are reached -- broached or broken, each -- are breeched or broken, each person who breaks those rules should be and can be dealt by with -- dealt with by whatever body they belong to whether it's a governor or a member of the house or senate. this is, again, an issue the president has taken seriously for a long, long time. >> the other thing is, right now on capitol hill, rumors swirl that congressman rangel will soon announce he will not seek re-election. has he had any private conversations with the president over the last week? >> no, he has not. >> around the hotel where the insurance industry executives are meeting, a group of demonstrators who support the president on health care reform surrounded the building, threatened to make citizens' arrest of the executives and many other matters to get

arrested. is that kind of civil disobedience helping the president's message on health care reform? >> i don't know the public relations value of that, i will say this, i think that the last many weeks have highlighted the developments in and for individuals in dealing with a very uneven insurance market. secretary sebelius has asked to speak to the insurers tomorrow morning. >> why didn't she accept their invitation when they first asked her. >> i don't know where -- i don't know when they first asked her. >> she said no, now she's writing to them to ask to speak to them. >> i know she's anxious to speak to them about the type of

rate increases we've seen over the past many weeks. i think, again, many people are become far more aware of the struggles of individuals and small businesses have in the fluctuating costs and price of health insurance. and the real-life ramifications it has. the letter the president read to the executive last week about having to make that decision about whether to keep your house or even if you changed the amount of money, even as you change your co-pay and deductible, watching your premiums skyrocket to the point where you have to make that decision. i think the president believes that as you heard him say i think quite passionately yesterday, the time for us to act on this is now. >> but the -- what's the response if they do not allow her to come speak tomorrow. >> i hope it doesn't have anything to do with the fact

that yesterday she released a letter asking many of these executives to justify the type of rate increases that we've seen even as, by all accounts, their companies are doing quite well profit-wise. i hope that it isn't related to that. i hope it doesn't mean that, as they send letters to individuals and increase their insurance by 39% that they won't take also the time to act ewe warlely -- to actuarially justify those increases fir their policyholders and the american people. >> you said the president will talk in the next meeting? >> i believe there's a speech on thursday on -- a little bit about what the president spoke about in the sta state of the union on exports. >> robert, do you know when we

can expect a conclusion on the trial? >> i don't expect a decision on that for several or many weeks. >> and the president's decision? >> the president obviously has gotten involved because congress has actively been involved in vetting options for any trial involving khalid sheikh mohammed. the president's obviously strong equity in this is seeing that after many long years that justice is brought. >> robert, obviously the highest ranking official that's traveled to the middle east, is the president planning to travel there this year? >> there's nothing that's been announced and nothing i can recall from memory in the next couple of months? >> will he do it this year?

>> let me check and see. >> robert, at the nevpbt philadelphia yesterday, reporters were prevented from talking to the people. they set up barriers six feet wide to keep us from the people. >> that is for the benefit of the people. i was not on the trip, i don't know why. >> after the president left, security guards kept reporters from talking to anyone in the room. what does the white house think of that and will you work to stop that from happening at future events. zil work to find out -- >> i'll work to find out more about this. >> you should know the white house policy, you don't want security preventing that -- >> hold on, hold on. let me find out, i don't know whether that has to do with transportation, i don't know what that has to do with. i'm certainly, i'm willing to

look into, willing to look into what surrounded that and what -- >> you don't -- >> if the reports are true. i know you've got a show at 9:00 a.m. and we might want to do a segment on this, but let me get an answer before we get into a series of discussions. >> what is the purpose of the energy meeting and what are the real prospects of cap and trade given the political problems on the hill? >> the president, as he's going to do, had hoped to do yesterday and then a a flight got canceled, the president wants to get an update from bipartisan lawmakers in the house and senate on a series of proposals and get an idea of where those are. as it leads to cap and trade, obviously the house has passed

legislation relating to cap and trade and the president's strong belief is that in order to transition ourselves away from our dependence on foreign oil and into a clean energy economy, that we need a strong incentive to do that. senator gramm, senator kerry, senator lieberman are all working on a proposal like that in the senate and i know the president is hopeful to get an update not just from them but again from others in the house and senate. >> is cap and trade doable this year? >> i think putting together a coalition of somebody like senator kerry and senator gramm who represent obviously different political philosophies demonstrates that, yes, it is certainly possible to do that. >> robert, the president didn't

go to the gridiron dinner last year and he's not going this year, is there any message he's sending to the media or the gridiron club? >> he's going to indonesia. >> is it just scheduling? >> i think he went to the radio correspondent's dinner last year and will go to the white house correspondents dinner as well. >> the energy meeting today, if health care passes, we shouldn't expect the president to pivot and really start pushing cap and trade in the coming months? >> let me not get ahead of the oath that the president gives from the -- from those involved in these negotiations. i know the president believes strongly that we need to get something done. i think you've seen the president has already demonstrated a willingness to, with his announcement on an

additional -- on a loan for the first nuclear reactor built in this country in three decades that we have to look at how we address and tackle the problems of our dependence on foreign oil with a broad approach that includes, as i said, a strong incentive to move toward a clean energy economy. >> two health care questions, first, congressman stupak said he felt more optimistic yesterday about the process of negotiation with abortion language. does the white house share that optimism and can you enlighten us about the kind of legislative language that's being crafted. >> we took our optimism in many ways from the same article that you. >> my second question is, there's a lot of distrust

between the house that the senate democrats will be able to pass it, there's an informal count about which senators have agreed to do reconciliation with the 50th being mark bagech over the weekend. does the white house view that as a -- >> say the last part again. i didn't catch -- >> they've got the 50th vote. >> does that signal to the house that the senate will act? ok, i didn't hear the last word. obviously i think the commitments from the 50 you mentioned demonstrate what we believed all along, which was obviously these two pieces of legislation needed to work largely in tandem is a correction to the bill that previously passed the senate

and we are hopeful passes in the next few days in the house. i believe it does demonstrate the senate's willingness to move that proposal forward and enact those correction into law. thanks, guys, let me address that in the next couple of kays -- days after the president has his meeting. thanks. >> tomorrow mortgage, we'll address -- announce the 75 winners of c-span's student cam documentary contest. nearly 2,000 middle and high school students entered a short video on one of our country's greatest strengths or a problem the country faces. view the winning videos at studentcam.org. >> a poll released today shows the attitude of the public about whether the supreme court proceedings should be

televised. we'll hear from peter woolley about the results. t about a new poll that shows that three in five u.s. voters think that televising the supreme court proceedings would be good for democracy. joining us on the phone is professor peter woolly. professor, block us through this poll -- walk us through this poll. guest: this is a national telephone poll of randomly selected people across the country. the main goal was to find out whether people thought that tv was not just something they favored or did not favor, but whether it would aid in democracy or not.

we asked the question several different ways. for example, we ask them whether they thought that televising arguments in front of the supreme court would be good for democracy, or whether they thought it might undermine the authority and the dignity of the court. in that case, by a margin of better than two to one, voters said it would be good for democracy. host: what did you find out about whether or not they would watch the proceedings on camera? guest: we did ask them later in the series, if they were televised, how much they thought they might watch. 50% said they would watch regularly or sometimes. that is a clear indication that people are very interested in this question. or it made available to them, they would be curious enough

where they would watch it. host: how would you go about asking that question? our viewers will know that c- span going back to 1981 has asked for cameras in the court. if you go to our website, c- span.org/camerasincourt, you can find everything that we have requested. you asked about whether or not you would watch, based on whether or not people watch congress on c-span. guest: that is right. we did look at the work that c- span had done on this project. knowing that c-span was an interested party, we did not consult with c-span. we went on our own to try to validate some of the work that had already been done. we did ask a different series of questions. we constructed the series on our

own. i will have to say that we ride largely at the same results. the first thing we asked people -- i will say that we arrived largely of the same results. we asked how much they watched any proceedings on tv, mainly on c-span. we went back and ask, if it were televised, how regularly do you think you might watch those proceedings? in between, we phrased the question about the court and cameras intruding in the court a couple different ways. by the leg, we asked them -- by the way, we asked that question as it impinges on public opinion. one of the concerns would be the question of whether it would be too much democracy. that is to say, when you have tv cameras in the accord, if people in the living room are watching the justices at work,

would it make the justice is too sensitive to public opinion. -- that is to say, when you have tv cameras in the court, would it change the way they make decisions? if it changed the way they behaved, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? in that case, i think tv has won out. 45% said that the cameras, even under those circumstances, would be a good thing. 31% said it would not be a good thing under those circumstances. host: how does it break down along party lines on that question? guest: that is very interesting. generally there is a partisan split. democrats are more in favor of tv cameras than republicans. liberals are more likely to be in favor of it than conservatives. it has to be said that even under those conditions, the

majorities of republicans and majorities of self identified conservatives favor of the proposition. host: professor, where do the judges come down on this issue? on our website, we have synopsises of what the judges say on this issue. could you talk about that? guest: the justices are largely against this. some of them have spoken out very strongly against the notion of cameras in court. sotomayor probably had the most welcoming attitude about this. specter is a way out in front of this issue, pressing cameras on the court.

in the confirmation hearings, she was the one justice who seemed to be willing to accommodate the notion, and said that her experiences have been very positive, and that she would share those experiences with her new colleagues on the court. host: there's an article this morning in "the new york times" that talks about a few times a year, supreme court justices go out of their way to emphasize their unhappiness by reading a dissent from the bench out loud. the practice is on the rise and is suggesting an increasingly polarized court. what is your take on this? guest: it would be more interesting for the american public and for political scientists like myself if it were possible to see the justices read those decisions,

especially when they are expressing ayer against the majority of the court. would the novelty wears off sooner, or with the novelty we're off later, or maybe not at all? the court's language is not the language of everyday discourse in america. as exciting as it might be to have the cameras there, one of the questions might be -- at what point is it simply interest group lobbyists glued to the tv watching that? even if that were true, is that a good thing? even if it were a narrow audience, do you want them to be able to watch the court? host: professor, you know that we have asked the court several times to release the oral

arguments, the majority opinion, and the dissent, on different cases over the years. we've joined with other media to get those oral arguments released. two recent requests were recently turned down. when you did this survey, did you take a look at whether or not people listened to oral arguments? guest: no, because we know from our own observations that people are not really well informed about the court. they're not well informed about the proceedings of the court. as you are well aware, and your viewers are probably well aware, the arguments are held in the public room, but the public room is relatively small. if you want to get at the arguments of the court, then it

is a matter of doing some serious dating. -- serious digging. if you had the time and skills, you could do that. most people do not have the time and skills. to be informed of the oral arguments of the court, you really have to be dedicated. host: our website >> the house is gaveled out. members today debated several bills including one that recognizes the victims in last week's earthquake in chile. votes on that measure and others later today at 6:30 eastern. tomorrow members plan to take up congressman kucinich's war powers resolution which questions whether or not to continue the war in afghanistan. also this week a resolution to impeach a louisiana judge who's accused of accepting gifts in exchange for official actions and falsifying information in a

bankruptcy case. live coverage of the u.s. house continues here on c-span at 6:30 eastern. >> according to a new report, african-americans and hispanics are more likely to develop alzheimer's and other forms of dimensiona. we hear more about the report from a woman from the alzheimer's association. from today's "washington journal." this 40 minutes. " continues. host: maria carrillo is the medical director for the alzheimer's association. a new report out that african- americans are two times more likely and hispanics are 1.5 times more likely than white counterparts to have alzheimer's or other dementia. how did you find this out? what are the factors here? guest: every year, the alzheimer's association

publishes the report where we attempt to compile information on alzheimer's at how it affects our communities. each year we see rising trend in the numbers. this year we really focused on these two diverse populations, and that is because we know to in our studies, a compilation of several studies, actually, that we examined, and found that african-americans and hispanics are more likely, as you mentioned, to have alzheimer's. we looked at the reasons behind that, the research, and noted that were not -- there were not any conclusive genetic risk factors that could be attributed, but what we really focused on was to look at the risk factors involved. we found that hypertension, high blood pressure, specifically, and diabetes were the main contributors to those numbers in terms of the increases. host: what causes high blood pressure and diabetes?

guest: in these populations, african-americans and hispanic americans, they just have a tendency to have a higher risk factors. we don't know much about how race and ethnicity contributes to those factors, but we note that those are risk factors that very specifically contradict to an increased risk of -- contribute to an increased risk of alzheimer's disease. african-americans and hispanics are naturally at higher risk for alzheimer's. host: at what age? guest: generally, we know to that hypertension and high blood pressure in middle age contributes to alzheimer's disease at a later age. but research shows us that the good news is that modifying those factors early on, and perhaps avoiding them altogether early in life, or middle age, you can see a difference in delaying cognitive declines, or maybe even prevent alzheimer's

disease and the venture. that is the good news, that you can do something about and modify those risk factors. it is important, because these two populations are rapidly growing in the united states. we want to make sure we get the word out, because awareness of these is factors, modifying these risk factors, can have an impact on alzheimer's disease. host: what about across the board, the rise of alzheimer's? guest: we find that it is on the rise in the general population. 5.3 million americans are living with alzheimer's in the united states, by our calculations . every 70 seconds, somebody is diagnosed with alzheimer's disease in the united states. additionally, we know that by 2050, that number will rise to 60 million, if we do not find a way to stop the disease with medical treatment. we know that that would translate to an american beat agnes -- being and i guess every

30 seconds and 2050. those are numbers -- an american being diagnosed every 30 seconds in 2050. host: how much in research dollars does the association needed to put forth its efforts? guest: we have launched a bill, we have introduced to congress, and that bill calls for $2 billion in research. currently, the federal government contributes about $460 million towards alzheimer's research through the national institutes of health, specifically the national institute on aging. we feel that the national parks are packed -- the national bricks or act -- national breakthrough act should really give us that push. we know today that there are five drugs and three clinical

trials for alzheimer's disease, and we are pleased with the five, but when you think of the epidemic proportions we are facing of people who are facing alzheimer's disease, that is clearly not enough, that is acceptable. that -- is unacceptable. host: you what the projected changes between 2000 and 2025 in alzheimer's prevalence by state. guest: there are more people that are aging, and we project out of the population so that we can no to where -- note where the changes in aging are by state. we want to make sure they have information for the future plans. we also want to make sure they noted that the increase by state can vary, as you see by

the map. also ensure the federal government and the state governments are aware of the changes so that they can make decisions by state. host: in what part of the country will it become more prevalent? guest: currently, florida, places that are much more populated, like california, the east coast states. host: first phone call for maria carrillo -- we are talking about alzheimer's disease and dementia, and a new report showing that african-americans or two times more likely and hispanics 1.5 times more likely to get the disease. first call from the independent line and connecticut. caller: hi, how are you? i am calling because i think there is misunderstanding in the statistics come because if you compare the population to

populations of african-american populations, and general country like south america or africa, the cases are very rare. the agency has the most people that are white. many of my friends, at least three or four have one family or relatives or friends that have alzheimer's disease, and they are white. i think it has to do with other kinds of signs that we see, or fruits or -- guest: great, thank you for the question, greta. i want to make sure that we clarify that when we talk about hispanic and african-americans, we're talking about americans.

we're not referring to people outside the country, although we do prefer to hispanics who come here from other countries. -- refer to hispanics who come here from other countries. these are people from many different countries, in south america and central america, mexico, the caribbean. but when we talk about the differences in statistics, you are absolutely right. the numbers seem to indicate that in the united states, hispanic-americans are more prevalent than when they would be living in their own countries. a lot of that has to do with the increase in diabetes that happens here, and keep in mind that many of these people are over 65 today. that means they have perhaps lived in this country for many years. that changes that happened in your health, when you come to the country and have a different lifestyle and perhaps different eating habits, really contribute to the rise in cardiovascular

diseases in the hispanic population in the united states. the main driver of that is diabetes. i will tell you that also these statistics come from members that we gather from medicare and medicaid, and many other cities across the country. they are not simply projections, they are actually counts of people. thank you very much for the question. host: our twitter page, of you are asked this -- a viewer says this -- maryland, austin, democratic line. caller: when you ask a question, what is the cause of alzheimer's, high blood pressure and diabetes -- i did

not get it. host: that caller and the twitter, or referring to -- guest: when the moderator asked if the question about the causes of the disease, -- asked me the question about the causes of the disease, it was referring to the increases in the disease in the african-american and hispanic population. the actual cause and the general population, for anyone, because it is a global disease, is actually not known. we know that there are several contributing factors, because there are many studies that indicated that if you have cardiovascular risk factors, like high pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, you are three or four times at an increased risk. if you add in stroke or obesity, that increases your risk factor even more. we have that type of data, and we know that those are contributing risk factors. but the actual cause of the disease is not known. there are lots of dramatic risk factors that are being

investigated because there seems to be some type of genetic link in the general population. not specifically linked at this time to afghan-americans or hispanics, but the general population -- not specifically linked at this time to african- americans or hispanics, but the general population. host: sara on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wish i knew these things before my husband passed away. he was diagnosed with dementia. he lived for two years, and years after that, they never did name it alzheimer's. years before he passed away, he had chronic leukemia. that is what i was wondering about this disease. i wish i could study more on it. do you think isolation --

people, when you don't get out or whatever -- that that contributes to a high risk of you being this way? guest: that is such a great question. that is absolutely very true. many studies have actually look at, for example, depression and isolation, and its link to alzheimer's disease. i am not sure that depression itself causes alzheimer's or the beginnings of alzheimer's disease causes a subsequent isolation, depression, possible with a drawl from social situations. it is understandable when you think of the early symptoms of alzheimer's disease -- short- term memory loss, the inability to remember your friends' names or where you have been for any given period of time did we stress that the association that we need to continue research in this area to find out more about isolation and depression and alzheimer's disease, and also is

stressing the fact that once a person receives a diagnosis of the disease, make sure that person stays socially engaged, active, mentally active. we have noted that that does help in the symptoms of alzheimer's disease. that is a very good question. host: what is the difference between demint and alzheimer's -- dementia and alzheimer's? guest: that is a very good question, too. dementia is an umbrella term. you need to think about what type of dementia. alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, but after that, a vascular to mention it exists, and several other types of dementia. host: what is the overall cost of alzheimer's and dementia? guest: about hundred $72 billion overall in total care, specifically medicare -- about

$170 billion overall in total care, specifically medicare. unlike other diseases, and you actually require 24-hour care, and perhaps even hospice, because alzheimer's disease does not allow a person to remember when they eat, took the medication, or take care of themselves. the ability to take care of themselves on a daily basis is gone. host: michael on the independent line. caller: good morning, greta, good morning, ms. carlo. it seems that the main focus of your study is on the african american and hispanic populations, which are really the most downtrodden -- i will use that term. i would like you to give your opinion on stress. stress, as we know, causes many, many problems in the human population, and it seems like -- i hate this term -- caucasian people or more well off than

african-american and hispanic. maybe you should focus on, with the economic downturn in the whole world, it's stress is the major cause of alzheimer's. guest: that is a very good question an interesting point. certainly there is a lot of research on stress and alzheimer's disease. we know that stress is not great for our bodies. i am a narrow scientist by training, so studying -- a neuroscientist by training, so studying stress has great interest the scientific community. we do need to put more research dollars into that. the alzheimer's association does sponsor much research. we are the largest private a founder of research, and to date have done it about $360 million to that. not only the biological side, but the social side, in terms of the stress. but i will also tell you that

the socio-economic factors you mentioned that perhaps work contributors in the african- american and hispanic population may not just be due to the stress, although that could be a part of it. we see indicators that in social economically -- so economic -- socioeconomoically disadvantaged communities in general, there is less likelihood to have access to good health care. going to the doctor and not having to worry about paying the doctor or approaching a medical institution, for example, if you are hispanic american, having a language barrier may be a problem but we feel that in terms of health care and access to health care, perhaps even awareness of the disease, being disadvantaged socio-economic

ally is a contributor. and many surveys and studies have indicated that african- americans and hispanic americans are in the lower socio-economic bracket, especially in that age group. these are wrapped up in complicated issues. host: another tweet -- guest: that is a very good question. certainly, inflammation is one of the leading avenues of research that we also fund, and the federal government does as well. inflation has been studied in several trials ibuprofen, which have been put for clinical trials for alzheimer's disease. they have not yet been successful, but there is quite a bit of research on anti- inflammatory research. it is not good for us in our body, certainly not good in the

brain, and it seems that where the protein deposits that happened in alzheimer's disease in the brain actually promote inflammation. we are trying to focus a lot of research on that, and in addition to that, recent findings show that people who suffer from general information in the rest of their bodies, systemic inflammation, people with the dow -- with gout, perhaps have an increased risk of alzheimer's. the disease may be a heterogeneous disease, meaning that there could be many causes of it, and it could very well be that in certain people, the perfect combination of causes come together to lead to alzheimer's disease. it's a very complicated question. host: do you see alzheimer's dementia happening at earlier ages of the years? guest: absolutely, very good

point. it is the increased age of our community, as well as an increase in the awareness of the disease, and in particular, we also look african-americans and hispanic americans, died last up to six years earlier than their white counterparts -- diagnosed up to six years earlier than their white counterparts. african-americans are twice as likely to have high blood pressure and diabetes. hispanic americans are twice as likely to have diabetes. those are very strong risk factors that drive those numbers. host: and because if you have high blood pressure or diabetes, you have to go to the doctor and deal with those issues first. is that a contributing factor? guest: absolutely. many times, in those populations, african-americans, hispanic americans, they don't treat those conditions. they leave it and treated for many years, whether it is from

access to community health care, knowledge of the condition and how it will affect them in the future -- we feel it is a contributing factor. host: westchester county, new york, and nathan on the democratic line. caller: good morning. maria, thank you for giving me a chance to comment on alzheimer's. you see, my wife has alzheimer's, and she is at a facility and i this occur each and every day -- a visit her each and every day, i want to tell you something, area, that despite all these theories they have about alzheimer's, almost everybody in that facility, including my wife -- it runs in the family. it is the genes that causes alzheimer's. it is the basic, general cause of alzheimer's. i have investigated, spoken to

39 different people. i have spoken to their families and such. let me tell you something, maybe diabetes and so forth causes a more advanced case of alzheimer's, but basically, it's got to start with the jeans, it is hereditary. host: may think, before you go, are you still there? caller: yes. host: before your wife was put in this facility or had access to it, what was your situation like at home taking care of her? caller: well, of course it was very difficult. i thought i could easily do it, but the alzheimer's association warned me that it was the most difficult thing and it will, and you know what, they underestimated. it is even more difficult. this facility, assisted living,

i call it, with an alzheimer's unit. i visit my wife every day. believe me, i think i am quite right. i don't know what scientists are coming up with, but there is a basic, absolutely basic cause of alzheimer's. you cannot get alzheimer's, in my humble judgment, it is not hereditary -- if it is not hereditary. guest: thank you. genetic causes are being investigated to the fullest. genetic causes are strong indicators of alzheimer's disease. the first, biggest factor is age. as we get older, we have an increased risk to the general population. newmont -- no matter what else you have, what is going on, whether it is diabetes, heart disease, or aging. the second great contributor is

having a relative with alzheimer's disease. it seems to be a little bit stronger. if it is the maternal relative, that seems to be a factor as well. however, we do have people with a genetic link to alzheimer's disease by a first-degree relative that never come down with the disease. it is not quite certain that if you have a relative or are connected genetically to alzheimer's disease, a hereditary or otherwise, he would contract the disease. but it increases your risk. once you add to that additional risk factors like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, then you increase your risk even more. it is a combination of factors that could end up giving us the perfect storm, so to speak. host: los angeles, republican line. caller: good morning, how are you this morning? host: doing well. bill ahead -- go ahead.

caller: i heard our guest made reference to diabetes being part of the problem. in the african-american community and hispanic community, they have a tendency to eat poorly. things like high blood pressure, diabetes, all of these medical issues, they are highly related to poor diets. i'm thinking is that each a plant-based diet, remove foods like white rice, remove alcohol , that all these kinds of bad foods from our diet, then we would see improvement. guest: that is a great question, i think inherent in discussions about high blood pressure and diabetes is the fact that the

risk factors are modifiable mainly through diets, and certainly through medicational intervention. inherent in the discussion is that a healthy diet is always one of the best things to do to combat not only those factors, but alzheimer's disease. there's a lot of research that tells us that a healthy lifestyle by it, and to exercise, believe it or not, and the late your risk of -- can delay your risk of alzheimer's disease. thank you very much, because it is a very important point, that these are things that we can change, we can modify them with our lifestyle. host: new orleans, independent line. caller: i want to mention two things that our government has put in our food chain that has been documented, and i can bring up the scientific studies if you

wish to show the direct correlation between the introduction of these ingredients into our food chain, and the alarming rise in neurological diseases, specifically alzheimer's and other diseases. the first one is aspertame, a genetically modified bacteria. it is an artificial bacteria. it is the excrement from that bacteria -- in other words, aspertame, when you take it, because it is in 80% of our clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany hous resolution 1146, resolution providing for consideration of the concurrent resolution, house concurrent resolution 248, directing the

president pursuant to section 5c of the war powers resolution, to remove the united states armed forces from afghanistan. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order, h r. 3650 by the yeas and nays, house resolution 1069 by the yeas and nays and house resolution 935 de novo. remaining postponed votes will be taken later in the week. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote, the remaining votes will be conducted as five-minute voights. the unfinished business is on the motion of the gentleman from washington to pass h.r. 3650 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. clerk will report the title of the bill.

the clerk: h.r. 3650, a bill to establish a harmful algial blooms and hypoxia research and control program and to provide for the development and implementation of comprehensive regional action plans to reduce harmful algial blooms and hypoxia. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 263, the nays are 142. 2/3 not being in the affirmative, the rules are not suspended, h.r. 3650 is not passed. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from washington, mr.

baird, to suspend the rules and agree to h.r. 1069 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1069, resolution congratulating willard s. boyle and gorgie smith for being awarded the nobel prize in physics. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 402, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and agreeing to h.res. 935, which the clerk will

report by title. the clerk: house resolution 935, resolution honoring john e. warnock, charles m. geschke, forrest m. bird,est ler sans takeuchi and i.b.m. corporation for receiving the 2008 national dead medal of technology and innovation. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative -- >> mr. speaker, i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california, for what purpose do you rise? >> i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or

commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 402, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> i ask unus consent to have my name removed as a co-sponsor of h.r. 872. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order. the house will come to order. take your conversations off the floor. 6 c13 floor. take them into the cloakroom, or home.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minutes. anyone wish to give one-minutes? for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gingrey: i would like to take a moment to honor a

distinguished individual from the 11th district from georgia, terry lindsey. he is a friend and member of the poke county. he is retiring this march after 31 years of employment with geared fabrics. engineer fabrics engineers fuel bladders for the black hawk helicopter. his hard work with the company has ensured the safety of our pilots and soldiers who are in harm's way. terry started with engineering fabrics as the manager of contract mabblingment and 10 years later was made vice president of business development. i know he will be deeply missed by the company. terry is a volunteer in the poke county community serving in the rotary club and committed to the youth leadership committee speaking to graduation classes. he married his college sweetheart jean and wonderful

father of two and grandfather of four. i'm proud to call terry a friend and thank him for his hard work on behalf of our community and the military and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from iowa rise? >> i rise in recognition of the ohio national guard recently dispatched to haiti. the 179th airlift wing was among the first units to land in haiti, ready to improve the communication at the airport and dispatch search and rescue crews. as a former member and pilot of the 179th airlift wing, i flew omissions with them around the globe and i know their dedications. the conditions in haiti are horrific. i'm proud that my home state of ohio symbolizes what so many

already know, no matter where devastation occurs, there are men and women willing to respond to the call of duty. to the members of the 179th airlift wing of the ohio national guard, i commend you for rising to the call of duty in this desperate time of need. thank you for your service to our country. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> i honor the life of c. woods. woody as he was known was a veteran of the vietnam war and served as a police officer in long meadows massachusetts. serving fellow veterans was his passion. for more than 15 years, he served as chairman of the martin county veterans council and was in the american legion and the elks and co-established and

vietnam veterans of america. woody was proud of his role in creating the honor flight program. this program honors american veterans and raises money to fly them to the nation's capital so they can visit and reflect at their memorials. he leaves behind his wife of 25 years, joyce and sons, two daughters. and the nation forever grateful for his service. on behalf of the people of the 16th district of florida, god speed, mr. woods. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? mr. paulsen: i call attention to the month of march being national women's history month. i'm happy to stand here not only as a proud husband but a proud

father to four daughters. national women's history month started in march of 1980, as national history women's week. in 1987, the celebration was expanded to a full month. this month, we mark 30 years of shining a bright light on the importance that women have played in shaping the great nation that we live in today. this year's theme is writing women back into history. through events, celebrations and many additional measures, 2010, will help ensure the historical and ground-breaking achievements made thousands of women that they found that right place in our history books. today i'm proud to recognize the grandmothers, mothers and daughters who have given us reasons to celebrate national women's history month and i look forward to witnessing other young women to being future history makers. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from arkansas rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. boozman: i rise today in honor of a brave american soldier who sacrificed his life for freedom, sergeant owens from fort smith, arkansas. he was a decorated soldier, assigned to the third ba tallian, 187th infantry regularment, division station nd fort campbell, kentucky and he was a recipient of many awards, including two army commendation medals, an iraq campaign medal and global war on terrorism service medal. on march 1, 2010, he died of injuries sustained when the vehicle he occupied received direct fire. he was only 21. vincent was an accomplished young man known for his work

ethic, drive and desire to be the best and most importantly his commitment to his family. vincent made the ultimate sacrifice and his family, his wife, mother and father. mr. speaker, vincent is a true american hero. i ask that my colleagues keep their family and friends in their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i'm pleased tonight to acknowledge that there is a lot of energy behind the engine of nasa and the constellation program. there is a lot of interest across america, not so much for the individual states that are impacted, but for the research enbegin of the international

space station and the importance of space exploration. i will introduce along with 16 co-sponsors, h. res. 1650 that declares nasa a national asset, which emphasizes the importance of the work of nasa and as well indicates that the elimination of the constellation program will in fact create a national security risk to the united states and diminish the efforts to advance scientific research in space. we are asking and indicating there should be partnerships between universities and nasa centers should be established toll conduct research on behalf of the united states at the international space station. in addition, the legislation will ask for the full funding of the constellation program. we must save nasa and jobs. this is an american imperative. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired.

for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> revise and extend my remarks. mr. culberson: i rise to join my colleague and fellow colleague in expressing our strong support for the fine men and women at nasa. our manned space program has preserved our leadership in space which has led to technology in scientific advancement. great men and women of nasa have created in so many ways technological advancements. we must preserve america's ability to protect the high ground unavoidbly the outer space just as military hill and there is strong bipartisan support in this congress to preserve manned space program and oppose the recommendation and that is, of the obama administration to close down america's space program.

that is unacceptable. america will not surrender our leadership in the world and we are proud of our men and women in nasa. and we will be working together in a bipartisan way to preserve, protect and defend america's manned space program. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for ms. kilpatrick of michigan for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? >> pursuant to clause 2 of rule 9, i hereby give notice of my intent to offer a question of the privileges of the house. the form of the resolution is as follows. whereas the committee on standards of official conduct

initiated an investigation into allegations related to earmarks and campaign contributions in the spring of 2009, whereas on december 2, 2009, reports and findings of seven separate matters involving the alleged connection between earmarks and campaign contributions were forwarded by the office of con fwregsal ethics to the standards committee, whereas on february 26, 2010, the standards committee made public its report on the matter wherein the committee found, foe though a widespread perception exists that campaign contributions provide a greater chance of obtaining earmarks, there was no evidence that members or their staff considered contributions when requesting earmarks. whereas the committee indicated that with respect to the matters forwarded by the office of congressional evidence, neither the evidence cited in the o.c.e. fight -- findings or the evidence found by the committee had reason to believe

that violations had occur. whereas the office of congressional ethics is prohibited from reviewing activities prior to march of 2008 and lacks the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents, whereas, for example, the office of congressional ethics noted that in some instances documented were redacted or specific information was not provided and that in at least one instance, they had reason to believe a witness withheld information requested and did not identify what was being withheld. whereas the office of congressional ethics also noted they were able to interview only six former members of the p.m.a. group with many former employees refusing to consent to interviews and the o.c.e. unable to obtain evidence within their possession, whereas "roll call" noted the report was five pages long and contained no evidence of -- no

statement of evidence collected beyond the note that it included extensive document reviews and interviews with numerous witnesses, that's from "roll call," march 8, 2010, whereas it's unclear that the standards committee included in their investigation any matter prior to 2008, whereas it's unclear whether the standards committee interviewed any members in the course of their investigation, whereas it is unclear if the standards committee initiated their own subpoenas or followed office of congressional ethic's recommendations to issue subpoenas, therefore be it resolved that not later than seven days after the adoption of this resolution, the committee on standards of official conduct shall report to the house of representatives with respect to the activities addressed in its report of february 26, 2010, one, what witnesses were interviewed, two, what, if any, subpoenas were issued in the course of their investigation, and three, what documents were reviewed and their availability for public review.

the speaker pro tempore: under rule 9, a resolution offered from the floor by a member other than the minority leader or majority leader as a question of privileges of the house has immediate precedence only at a time designated by the chair within two days after the resolution is noticed. pending that, the resolution will appear in the record at this point. the chair will not determine whether it constitutes a question of privilege. that determination will be made at the time designated for consideration of the resolution. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? mr. flake: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material.

mr. poe, march 12, 15, and 16, five minutes each. mr. jones, march 12, 15, and 16, five minutes each. mr. burton, today and march 10, 11, and 12, five minutes each. mr. moran, march 15 and 16, five minutes each. mr. flake, today, five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. ms. woolsey of california, mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes, mr. grayson of florida for five minutes, ms. jackson lee of texas for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, under a previoused orer of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each, starting with mr. poe of texas. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? mr. flake: i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman may proceed. mr. flake: just minutes ago, i introduced a privileges resolution that would require the house committee on standards of official conduct to make public information gathered for its probe into the relation between earmarks and campaign contributions. in a report released earl -- earlier this month, the committee concluded it could find no evidence of quid pro

quo between the donations and earmarks. they released its own summary of findings. according to one media source, the committee report was five pages long, included no documentation of any evidence collected or any interviews conducted by the committee. beyond a statement that the invest included extensive document reviews and interviews with numerous witnesses. i think it's fair to ask what the standards committee did regarding this investigation. we know the standards committee reviewed documents gathered by the office on congressional ethics. what were these documents. we're also told the standards committee interviewed numerous witnesses, who were they? we know the o.c.e. has no subpoena power and can cannot compel cooperation from those it investigates. let me say where it might have been useful. page 7 of the report says they had reason to believe a witness

withheld information and many p.m.a. former employees refused to cooperate with interviews and they were unable to obtain any evidence within p.m.a.'s possession. i think it's fair to ask if they issued subpoenas or sought cooperation from these reluctant witnesses. it appears they did not. perhaps most troubling about the investigation is that the standards committee concludes while they could find no evidence of a quid pro quo between campaign contributions and earmarks, there's a widespread belief that such exists. it should be noted that perception or appearance has been sufficient grounds for admonishment for a member of congress by the standards committee as recently as 2004. yet despite find there's a widespread appearance of impropriety here, the standards committee provides no guidance to members of congress as to

how to avoid such an appearance. the existence of such a perception -- i've long asked for more guidance and have introduced legislation to this effect. house rules require members who earmark funds to certify they and their families have no financial interest in the organization receiving earmark dollars, yet the standards committee states that campaign contributions do not constitute financial interest. classifying campaign contributions as financial interests would go a long way to dispeling the widespread perception of quid pro quo and do much to lift the ethical cloud hang thovering the body. we should certainly update the recent guidance implying that members of congress who, for example, earmark money far

freeway off ramp next to property they own, inflating the value of the property are not in violation of the house rules as long as they are not the sole beneficiary of the rise in value. such a standard does not pass the test of smell or laughter. when behavior condoned by this body lends itself to widespread perception of impro pryity, we have an a duty to not only change the behavior but change the rules that police and govern such behaviors. we owe this institution more than we're giving it. the widespread perception of a dependent relationship carries no partisan advantage. the cloud that hangs over this body rains on republicans and democrats alike and we will all benefit when this cloud is lifted. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california, ms. woolsey.

ms. woolsey: i ask unanimous consent to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentlelady from texas. ms. jackson lee: just a few minutes ago, mr. speaker, i stood on the floor of ethis -- of the house to introduce h.res. 1150 which addresses the national aeronautic space administration as a national security asset and interest. i served for 12 years on the science committee and as a member of the space and aeronautic subcommittee. i visited almost every nasa center around the country. i visited our science laboratories. i am very engaged with the

science, technology, engineering, and math program to help educate america's children to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of science and technology and inventiveness and as well to be able to build jobs for the 21st century. we're in that century now and having interacted with nasa and many of the astronauts over the years, watching them as they have launched into space, experiencing the tragedies of challenger and columbia, the los of life for those brave souls who were willing to risk their lives to explore on behalf of the american people. i want to work with the administration because i believe that they are knowledgeable about the value of human space flight. however, the approach to commercialize this important national security interest is not appropriate for now.

we live in a world that has changed. i chair the subcommittee on homeland security dealing with transportation security and the protection of our infrastructure. our infrastructure includes the buildings that we are in today, hospitals and schools, private sector buildings, mass assets of the federal government, and, yes, the nasa centers and nasa shuttles and all of the equipment that goes into providing for human space flight. lending that space technology to commercial exploration and private sector businesses on the basis of profit is not appropriate now. it will put us in a noncompetitive position with china, india, and russia. this resolution is simple. it declares the national aeronautic space administration as a national security interest

and asset. it indicates the united states has invested in human space program since may 5, 1961, and we all can remember the words of our president, john f. kennedy, that challenged this nation and asked the question, not why, but why not? although those words came from his brother he captured it in the early 1960's when he asked and demanded what we could do not for ourselves, but what we could do for our country. at that time, we established the united states as a leader in the role of space exploration. and as well in the advancement of scientific research and therefore that equals a national security interest. it does so because science provides security. and the penetration of the scientific knowledge we have lowers the security of this nation. my committee on homeland

security deals with protecting the infrastructure. infrastructure cybersecurity, infrastructure involves the science labs, infrastructure involves the many space centers we have around the nation. states involved are florida, huntsville, alabama, texas, the various sites in california as well. and so i would ask that this legislation be moved quickly in the united states congress and in this house, because the 2010 nasa budget funded a program of space-based research that supports the administration's commitment to deploy a global climate change research and monitoring system that research can be done better on the international spaceation. -- space station. that international space station needs to be supported, it needs to be able to carry astronauts and scientist there is to continue research to make the quality of life for americans and the world better. in the early stages of the international space station, research was done involving

h.i.v.-aids, heart disease, stroke and cancer. that presented opportunities for a better quality of life and it saved lives. let's not miss the opportunity and treasure of being able to explore in space, the genius of america to be to the allow us to be at the cutting edge of science and yes to protect a national security interest which is the national aeronautics space administration and all its assets. soy look forward to working with general bolden, an astronaut and very able appointee of the president to see how we can save nasa and the program to allow us to be at the cutting edge of science, not only in america but around the world. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: mr. jones of north carolina. . mr. defazio from oregon. >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five

minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from florida. >> mr. speaker, i just introduced a simple four-page bill that allows any medicare to buy into medicare at cost. i have five children. when one of my children was born, i found out from the insurance company that the insurance company would not pay for the birth of my child. i thought what i thought was excellent health care from this insurance company about i found out other wise and i had to pay $10,000 for the birth of my child. it could have been worse. maybe i wouldn't have that $10,000. many americans face the same thing. it could have been worse. i had twins who were born afterwards, born a month premature, spent weeks in the hospital, god only knows what

those bills would have looked like, i probably would have been broke. i felt like many americans feel that i had an adversarial relationship with my insurance company and every penny spent on my care was a penny for their profits and that is an unfair situation that causes untold health care needs around this country that go unmet and frankly untold debt. that's why we need another option, we need a public option. we will be seeing a senate bill that doesn't have a public option, but america needs a public option. that's why i have introduced this bill. there are other reasons as well. another reason is that all across this country there are areas, including florida, where one or two private insurance companies dominate the market to the extent that they have 80% of

all the insured in the area. there is no competition. it's a monopoly in the case of one. either way, these insurance companies do whatever they want. they can offer you care or deny you care, cut you off if you already have care and charge you anything they want. a public option would change that. in an area where one company had 80%, there would be an alternative. and that alternative is an alternative that is already used by 1/8 of our population and that alternative is medicare. the simple bill would allow any american, any permanent resident to buy into medicare at cost. and what it does is it takes this enormously valuable public resource called the medicare provider network and makes it available to all americans. we have spent billions putting together a network that stretches from alaska all the

way to key west, florida. we spent billions doing that, and only 1/8 of the population can use it. the most expensive part of preparing a health care plan is to set up the provider network. hundreds of hundreds of networks, hospitals, nurses, testing companies, all these things have to be done before you actually serve the first patient. well, we have a system like that called medicare and it is open to 1/8 of the population. it's like saying senior citizens can drive on federal highways. that is how important the network is and we have to open it to everybody. this is not a plan for subsidies. everyone would have to pay their own costs. this is not a plan that is not meant to help everybody or people like me who simply continue trust the insurance companies anymore because of the raw treatment we have received.

let's face it, it's never going to be any different. the insurance companies are going to look for ways to chintz you and charge you more and give you less. and a lot of people can't accept that anymore and don't want it anymore. for those people who have it in their minds there vib some government death panels, what about those who exist in this country already, the insurance companies, the ones that look for you when you are sick and top you out when you have a terminally ill conditions. these are the real death panels in this country and that's why we need a public option. i'm asking the speaker and the leadership if we have to vote on this senate bill, and vote on this reconciliation amendment that doesn't have a public option on it, isn't it time we did something good for america? isn't it time we gave all

americans the right to buy into a public plan like this? isn't it time we did something like that? and what's the harm? i say to those people on the other side of the aisle, if you don't want to buy into the public option, that's fine. but don't prevent me from doing the same. let's have our alternative. and remember, remember what you said so many times before, you said the government can't do anything right. let's see. let's see right now. let's have people buy into this public option and we'll give it a shot. thank you very much. and i yield the rest of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kansas. mr. burton: i ask unanimous consent to take his time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana, mr. burton. mr. burton: i wasn't going to come down here and speak tonight, but i saw my colleague, who's a trial lawyer coming down here to talk. and the trial lawyers have been

doing very well over the years suing doctors and driving up the cost of medical care because of the suits that have to be paid and the insurance that the doctors have to buy to protect themselves against malpractice claims is astronomical. some states, doctors are leaving the state or retiring from their practices because they can't afford to pay those premiums and/or they are worried to death they are going to lose everything they worked sa whole lifetime to attain through a lawsuit. it's not a surprise to me, my colleague, who is a trial lawyer, would be down here talking to the changes that he thinks ought to be made in health care. we have an alternative. our alternative is to allow small businesses to buy insurance for their employees at the same rates as a muy jor corporation, to allow small businesses and individuals to buy insurance across state lines

so there is more competition in the system, to come up with tort reform which will limit these astounding settlements that these trial lawyers get. there is a whole host of things we talked about putting into legislation that will solve the problems of health care, but they don't want to talk about it. in fact, they say we are the party of no and don't want to solve the health care problems. we do want to solve the health care problems and we can without destroying the free enterprise system. they are for government takeover of medicine. that is socialized medicine and they want to see the government telling all of us what kind of care we get, who we get it from, when we get it and what rationing might take place. and there will be rationing of health care if their plan passes and that's something i don't think the american people want. they want to take $500 billion

out of medicare and medicare advantage. what is that going to do? that's going to add to the problem that they say is going to solve. putting the government in complete control of health care is not going to be the answer. we have problems that need to be solved. they can be solved. they can be solved within the free enterprise system. we don't want to destroy free enterprise in america. there are those on that side -- and i believe the white house believes government should run everything, they should run health care. they should run energy like the cap and trade bill. they should run the auto industry. they want to run the finance industry. and the crown jewel is health care because health care is 1/6 of our economy. they get that and they're on their way to the government controlling every part of our lives, at least in large part. this is something we don't believe in in america.

we believe in the free enterprise system and the ability of the people to succeed, and people who come from no where to make the system works and we don't want the government telling us what we can and can't do. if their health care bill passes, make no mistake about it, there will be rationing of health care and bureaucrats coming between people and their doctors and government here in washington will be making decisions for people's health care. are they taking care of the other problems we are facing in this country? are they solving problems? their program is going to cost at least $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion that we don't have and our kids and grand kids will have to pay for that. that's unbelievable we pass to the next generation all the problems we face today. we could solve the problem if they'll sit down and work with us. they keep saying we aren't working with them.

they have an 80 i-vote majority. they can pass anything they want. you, the american people, don't want it, don't want government control over our lives and socialized medicine. we need to sit down pwe need to job done. let their be competition in the medicine system and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: ms. kaptur from ohio. under the speaker's announced policy january 6, 2009, the gentleman from texas, mr. carter, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. carter: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm honored to be here and i thank you for recognizing me.

i think some in this body for the last, about a year, year and a half i have been up here talking about the rule of law and how the basic foundation of american society is based upon a set of rules, set of laws. and that without those -- without that foundation, that surrender of sovreignty of the american people to pieces of paper that describe how we will behave in this world, we would be an uncivilized nation and we wouldn't be the great nation of liberty and freedom that we are today. and i have talked about the fact that when we talk about the rule of law, we aren't just talking about abiding by the laws of this country, but talking about abiding by the rules that we

have in this count tr try. i'm re-- country. when my oldest son was in the seventh or eighth grade, he played football and he was the best punter and he was also the center. one time he didn't snap the ball was when he was a punter. and he did a pretty good job of it. and i won't mention where it is, but if he is listening, he'll know what i'm talking about, 9, the first time he kicked the ball, they didn't throw the flag. young kids playing and not the most professional referees. next time, he punted the ball and someone knocked him flat again. i was concerned about it. third time, he punted the ball, somebody came in and knocked him flat again and he turned to the