businesses fail when we send millions of dollars overseas. i am also offended with any official that any america first. to my independent brother from florida, right on, man. we need to get rid of these two parties. they need to be put out of office. we need to bring into a third party, and not fall for this tea party garbage, either. these two big parties do it every time they are not in office. we tried to be the independent, liberals, conservatives buddies. they're not our friends. they are our enemies that keep oppressing us. host: that will be the last voice this morning. in the stern, who for many years has been the president of the -- he has announced he will leave that position.

on a personal side, he is turning 60. the personal aspect is much involved in his decision to leave. that is it for our thursday morning. we go to the house of representatives for today's live coverage. gues. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, reverend clyde miles, lighthouse reform church, howard, pennsylvania. the chaplain: o lord, who call this nation into being, to the lives and sacrifice of those whose hearts are state upon you. they conduct the work of this great nation. grant them courage to stand for what is right. resistance when pressed to do wrong. compassion for the concerns of

your heart and the ability to preserve and protect the constitution of these united states of america. may the mind of christ be with them as they lay the next chapter of the legacy of this great land, that their plans may be upon which we stand, that their lives might reflect the calling to serve. and that this great nation may continue to embrace and support the work of greemed and democracy throughout the world. it is in the blessed name of our lord, jesus christ, that we lay these requests at your feet. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from wisconsin, congressman kagen. mr. kagen: would the members,

staff and gallery please join me? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania, congressman thompson, is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. it has been a rare privilege this day to have the minister from my church, the lighthouse reformed church in howard, pennsylvania, the reverend dr. clyde mighells, to lead the prayer. he followed his father into the ministry when he was ordained by the presbyterian church in 1985. he took his masters of theological seminary at new port university in 1996.

dr. mighells used magic tricks as teaching tools and found the magic tricks would peek the interest of his listeners. as over 20 years as a minister serving churches across new york and pennsylvania, he and his wife, sharon, took the message of escaping drugs into elementary, middle and high schools. in 2009, he was featured at the international fellowship of christian magicians. we are lucky enough to have pastor mighells as our minister. and, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise? mr. kagen: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. kagen: mr. speaker, i rise today to pay tribute to larry wires of green bay, wisconsin, as he enters his retirement. for 24 years, mr. wires has

served as northeast wisconsin's distinguished community leader. as his friends, family and colleagues will gather at the green bay packer stadium, lambeau field, on april 19 to pay tribute and to his service and dedicated service to our community, i respectfully request my colleagues join me in honoring this outstanding individual. among his many accomplishments, mr. wires has been presented with the rotary free enterprise award and received an golden apple award from green bay in communications. in 2009 he was a nominee for the platts lifetime achievement award. mr. wires has supported his community and we wish him well in his retirement. mr. speaker, as mr. wires celebrates his retirement, i ask all my colleagues to salute him and to remind him that retirement is simply reoccupation and he will be just too busy to go back to work. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore:

without objection. mr. poe: mr. speaker, for as long as i can remember, america has reached for the stars. nothing has gotten more kids to do their math and science home work than the dream of being an astronaut. all of america stood still huddled at their black and white tv sets when neil armstrong stepped out on the moon. america put a man on the moon, setting the imaginations of our children on fire. feeding that good old american desire to be the best, to achieve, to drome of things not yet -- to dream of things not yet done. but the administration says they're canceling nasa's project constellation. america is surrending their superiority to the russians. unilateral space abandonment is nonsense. so the next time our astronauts wants to go into space they have to hitch a ride with the russians or chinese. i'm sure our buddies, the chinese, will be glad to give us a lift. yeah, right.

our children, our future will suffer for this incompetent decision. this ought not to be. but that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? >> without objection. mr. heinrich: mr. speaker, i have often said that innovation is what america does best, and recently i had the honor of meeting one of our great current and future innovators, erica debenedictus. she is an 18-year-old albuquerque student who won the intel science search which recognizes our best and brightest young scientists. this long standing award has been characterized as the equivalent of winning a junior noble prize. she received the top prize because of her research in low energy orbit software, a program which would enable space vehicles to navigate the solar system using gravity's

pull and minimal fuel. on behalf of everyone in new mexico's first congressional district, i want to say how incredibly proud we are of ms. debenedictus and the hard work she put into her project. as i said, innovation is what america does best and it looks like innovation might be what she does best too. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: as kentuckians file their taxes today, americans want to know what they're getting in return. like jobs, maybe. congress has given america three things, a searees of bailouts, a failed stimulus package and a government takeover of health care each costing around $1 trillion or more. there are more than 225,000 kentuckians and 15 million americans out of work. everyone agrees that the economy and job creation have been at the top of the list, but what americans are saying is the most important thing to

be done. rightfully in my mind we hear over and over again, where are the jobs? well, we're going to focus on climate change or we're going to focus on other things that the americans don't care about when in fact we need a sound energy policy, a sound manufacturing policy and a sound trade policy. instead of focusing on the economy and job creation, the congress has led americans to uncertainty. when american feel their tax dollars are not being used rightly the people in congress say, just send more. well, americans want us to create jobs, build a future for our children. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. cohen: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. a great lion, a leader, a silver tongue order of the

gospel, a great civil rights icon, benjamin hooks, fell in memphis, tennessee, this morning. the remped benjamin hooks was a member of the naacp from 1966 to 1972. he served from 1972 to 1977 and the first african-american trial court judge in tennessee appointed by governor frank klemette in 1965 and elected in 196. the reverend hooks led this country during some of the most difficult times in civil rights. he joined with dr. king and the southern christian leadership conference in 1966 after being ordained as a minister in memphis at middle baptist church. he was an attorney, he was a businessman, he was a minister, he was a civil rights leader. he was awarded the medal of freedom by president bush in 2007 and recently was up here in congress and talked to many

members of the congress in the rayburn building just two months ago. he leaves his wife, frances, and many, many millions who benefited from his leadership and his courage. his was a life well lived. thank you for coming our way, benjamin hooks. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, a grassroots group in akon, south carolina, is holding a meeting about the principles of our founding fathers. coordinated by debbie nix, it's called we the people akin. and i'm proud to have attended one of the weekly constitution classes recently at the activity center. during my recent visit to the group meeting i highlighted my concerns about the government takeover of health care and discussed how simply repealing

it is not stuff. we believe we must swap it with a more affordable solution that is centered around the patient and not the government. that is why i introduced h.r. 4944, the siding with patient swap act to continue covering pre-existing condition and to help the unaffordable mandates on small business owners. i want to thank the we the people of akin and promoting america's founding principles in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. wilson: thank you. mr. speaker, as this country's economy was about to fall off the cliff, congress acted. we strengthened and improved our economy by helping working families. on tax day it's important to note that 99% of the working families in my state of ohio

have benefited from 25 different tax cuts through the american recovery and reinvestment act. mr. speaker, according to the citizens for tax justice, working people in ohio received on average $1,046 from these breaks. that includes an average of $496 from one of the most widely shared tax cut, the making work pay tax cut. social security recipients received a one-time recovery payment of $250, and more than 879,000 families in ohio were protected from paying higher taxes under the alternative minimum tax. more must be done as we put america back to work, but i'm proud to have supported the recovery act and am pleased to see the tax cuts helping so many americans. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama rise? >> ask permission to address

the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bonner: mr. speaker, spring break just ended but if you thought washington tax and spenders were taking vacation from their money grabbing ways, you're badly mistaken. it seems another headline is proclaiming the administration's latest plans to dramatically increase your taxes in order to pay for its $1 trillion spending bin g. now there are -- binge. now there are some close to the president who are throwing out the possibility that after the election they are going to throw out a value added tax, not in place of our current system but in addition to it. mr. speaker, this isn't the latest video of spring breakers gone wild. this is a real-life example of government going wild. the president, backed by the largest democrat majority of congress since the 1970's, has doubled the federal deficit in just one year and has forced down our throat a government takeover of health care that, mark my word, the american

people don't want and we cannot afford. ironically hardworking taxpayers will have until midnight tonight to file their tax returns. they worked four long months just to pay their federal tax bill, and soon they will be working even longer to feed this addiction. this has got to end. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. . mr. klein: i rise today to honor my veterans around the country. they answered the call of duty and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice. many of our vietnam veterans didn't get the welcome home they deserve. that is why this saturday, one of our local commanders is having a welcome home event. it may be late but i say better late than never. every man and whom who has worn the uniform of our country has

access to the full range of benefits they have earned, access to cool ledge education and more. i look forward this weekend to honoring the service of our local vietnam veterans and every day as we work together to stand with those who served our country. i thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. pitts: permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, tax day. today is a grim day for many americans. it was only last week that the average american taxpayer had worked enough days to pay their annual bill. and the current congress is looking to add even more days to that burden. in the present congress alone, taxes have been increased by $670 billion. and at least 14 new taxes will hit middle income americans. at the end of the year the death tax will snap back up to its 2001 level, gobbling up family farms and small businesses. marginal tax rates will snap back up to previous levels,

reducing america's take-home pay, and now we hear that the administration may consider a new value-added tax to pay for the entitlements and increased government spending. the simple fact is that more money in the pocket of the government is less in the bank accounts of our families and businesses. today is a grim tax day, but i worry that 2011 will look much worse for the american taxpayer. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. sires: mr. speaker, today is tax day, it is important that american people are aware of the savings and tax cuts brought to them over the past year. in conjunction with president obama, we have ensured that tax breaks no longer focus on the wealthy. but rather on the hardworking americans. with the enactment of the recovery act, we are able to provide tax breaks for many aspects of the american life. from investment and small business, to investment in energy efficiency, to sending your child to college, to buying

a new car. these tax reductions are helping families and businesses across america get back on their feet while spurring business investment and job creation. all total, congress has enacted over $800 billion in tax cuts, including 25 within the recovery act. perhaps one of the most critical provisions of the past year was the making work pay tax credit which is dedicated to providing 95% of all american workers with a tax break, including 254,000 residents in my district alone. through the reduction in tax withholdings by their employer. as america returns their tax forms today, a majority will find that a portion of the burden has been lifted through swift action of this chamber. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. fleming: mr. speaker, as millions of americans and the people in my state of louisiana

file their income taxes today, they are reminded how they labor under a tax scheme that discourages hard work, investment, and savings. federal, state, and local taxes claim almost 27% of the average american's income. this means the average taxpayer worked until april 9 this year just to make enough money to pay their taxes. meanwhile our budget deficit this year is a record $1.5 trillion, three times the highest bush deficit. this tax increase equates to more than $2,100 for every person in the united states, and ex-- exposes the president's pledge not to raise taxes on americans earning less than $200,000. now we hear that the administration is considering a value-added tax which taxes goods and services at every point in the process. mr. speaker, when it comes to taxes and our budget, let me suggest that americans are not

undertaxed. washington is overspending. it is time for congress to cut taxes across the board and stop the wasteful spending program. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maryland rise? ms. edwards: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. edwards: mr. speaker, today as americans put the finishing touches on their tax returns, they'll see congress and this president have enacted tax cuts that benefit middle class and working class families. despite the ecochamber of right wing this information, some we have heard today, we can finally set the record state. for eight long years the republicans put the interest of the wealthy few above the interest of middle class families. and they gave massive tax cuts to only a few americans. since the national debt soaring, and had no way to pay for it. in this last year we have cut $800 billion in taxes focused on helping middle class families and small businesses. americans are getting jobs, they are buying homes, and they are

sending their children to college. as bruce bartlett, advisor under president reagan and george h.w. bush, federal taxes are considerably lower by every measure since obama became president. we'll continue to stand on the side of working families. with that i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. jordan: mr. speaker, who would have ever imagined the greatest country in history we would have seen the things we have had over the last year from the democratic congress and obama administration. who would have thought we would see a $12 trillion national debt. who would have ever imagined we would have $670 billion and counting in new taxes imposed this year on american taxpayers, including taxes on the middle class. and now who would have ever imagined coming soon to you and your family a value-added tax? how bad does it have to get

before we stop the madness, before we stop the excessive spending, the excessive borrowing and excessive taxation. mr. speaker, today on tax day, the american people get it. hopefully soon the democratic congress will. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. inslee: mr. speaker, we have been doing a lot of work here in the house to try to lead the country forward on energy independence and energy security, but there's been great local leadership as well. i want to honor today one of those great local leaders, mr. steve johnson, one of my constituents, who for 23 years has served with distinction as the executive director of the washington public utility districts. steve has had an incredible career leading this group forward which represents 27 public utility districts. it's over 1.7 million citizens. i want to note three of his local -- this local leader's

achievements. first he has led to reforms which have been fitted washingtonians who have not had access to high-speed telecommunications available to them. truly a visionary action by steve. second, steve's leadership has always helped to obtain funding for more energy efficiency and conservation projects. he's been ahead of his time. third, he's been a real leader in municipal water systems. steve's career has really been notable for moving the p.o.d.'s forward. he's been a great local leader. we hope the country follows his leadership. congratligses to steve and vick -- congratulations to steve and vicki and their next great pursuit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. smith: american workers have just won a great and historic victory. employees of mohawk industries will share the $18 million that the company agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit accusing it of

hiring illegal immigrants in order to hold down wages. the settlement comes on the heels of the obama administration's decision to largely abandon enforcement of our immigration laws at america's workplaces. this legal victory gives a valuable tool to other workers who suffer at the hands of employers who want to keep wages low by hiring illegal immigrants. if the obama administration won't act to protect american workers, american workers now have the power to protect themselves by filing lawsuits against employers who hire cheap and illegal labor. mr. speaker, if employers continue to break immigration laws, may there be many more such lawsuits. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from arizona rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

ms. giffords: i rise today to pay tribute to rob, a ranch e. who has been in southeast arizona since 1907. on march 27th, rob was shot and murdered on his ranch. this senseless act is a stark reminder why the federal government must do more to protect citizens who live and work along the southern arizona border. law enforcement officials believe the killer may have been a drug smuggler who definitely escaped to mexico. he was a pillar of the ranching community. he had a heart as big as the land he loved. many who spoke at his funeral said he was the nicest guy you will ever meet. he was a humanitarian who provided food and water to the people that he found in distress and was likely doing just that when he was murdered. rob will be known for his work with the mouth high border lands group, a rancher dedicated to conservation. rob was a husband, a brother, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, and friend to so many. we grieve his loss and send our

prayers to his wife and children, andy, frank, kyley, and all that knew this great man. he will deeply be missed but he'll never be forgotten. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can you not have employment without employers. one year after the enactment of the $787 billion stimulus package, unemployment continues to whoever near 10%, yet congressional democrats just keep on spending. against the will of the american people, this congress has tacted a $2 trillion takeover of our nation's health care system and pushed the nation's debt limit to an astounding $14.2 trillion. the burden of this massive spending falls on the shoulders of the american taxpayer. government-run health care alone raises $569 billion to new taxes, regulations, and costly mandates on individuals, employers, and health care providers. mr. thompson: furthermore, the administration proposes to increase taxes by $2 trillion by

allowing vital cuts to benefit small businesses to expire, increasing tax rates on capital gains and reinstating the dreaded death tax. as the economy struggles to recover, congress must halt its reckless spending and end its assault on american job creators. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. murphy: in new britain, connecticut, on sunday, over a thousand people came together to mourn the 96 public servants, diplomats, and military leaders who died in the tragic plane crash in poland. this tragedy shocked the entire world but it's hit my district particularly hard. the polish american community in connecticut has deep roots and remain strongly connected to their homeland. it is visible throughout the commute and surrounding suburbs. broad street in that town has been named little poland by the city council.

there are people grieving today, at the poe last can i school in maryland -- polaski school, and a festival where the poland brought to the united states. the american people with deep roots we together mourn this tragedy and send our sincere condolences to the people of poe lan. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maine rise? ms. pingree: mr. speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 1248 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 184, house resolution 1248, resolved, that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for

consideration of the bill h.r. 4715, to amend the federal water pollution control act to re-authorize the national estuary program, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on transportation and infrastructure. after general debate, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. the bill shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. notwithstanding clause 11 of rule 18, no amendment to the bill shall be in order except those printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution. each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be

debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to demand for division of the question. all points of order against such amendments are waived except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted. in the case of sundry amendments reported from the committee, the question of their adoption shall be put to the house engross without division of the question. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. . section 2, the chair may entertain a motion that the committee rise only if offered by the chair of the committee on transportation and infrastructure or his designee. the chair may not entertain a motion to strike out the

enacting words of the bill as described in clause 9 of rule 18. section 3, the requirement of clause 6-a of rule 13 for a 2/3 vote to consider a report from the committee on rules on the same day it is presented to the house is waived with respect to any resolution reported through the legislative day of april 16, 2010, providing for consideration of a measure relating to the extension of unemployment insurance. section 4, it shall be in order at any time through the legislative day of april 16, 2010, for the speaker to entertain motions that the house suspend the rules relating to a measure addressing the extension of unemployment insurance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from maine is recognized for one hour. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. for the purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from

north carolina, dr. foxx. all time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. and to insert extraneous materials into the congressional record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. pingree: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the resolution provides a structured rule for consideration of h.r. 4715, the cleanest wears act of -- the cleanest wears act of 2010 -- the clean estuaries act of 2010. it provides that the bill shall be considered as read. the rule waives all points of order against the bill itself. the rule makes in order seven amendments printed in the rules committee report and waives all points of order against those amendments except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule

11. the question of their adoption shall be put engross without division of the question. it provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions. it provides that the chair may entertain a motion that the committee rise only if offered by the chair of the committee on transportation and infrastructure or a designee. the chair may not entertain a motion to strike out the enacting words of the bill. the requirement of clause 6-a of rule 13 for a 2/3 vote to consider a report from the can he on rules the same day it is presented in the house is waived with respect to any resolution reported through the legislative day of april 16, 2010. providing for consideration of a measure relating to the extension of unemployment insurance. finally, it should be in order at any time through the legislative day of april 16, 2010, for the speaker to entertain motions that the house suspend the rules relating to the measure addressing the extension of unemployment insurance. mr. speaker, many of the

nations estuaries are in poor environmental health. an impaired estuary not only impairs commercial and recreational fishing, it hurts those who relies on clean water and reduces the number of tourists coming to the state. degraded coastal wetlands results in shoreline erosion and damaged infrastructure. they are unique places where freshwater mixes with saltwater from the ocean. the mixing water provides a productive habitat for a wide variety of fish and wildlife. lobsters, clam and striped bass all depend on the estuary for a habitat. it has breeding areas for hundreds of species of birds and other wildlife. we're here to discuss a bill by providing comprehensive planning efforts in nationally significant estuaries such as cass could he -- casco bay in

my state. many of these estuaries are part of the national estuary program and has a good example of how a stakeholder driven collaborative program can address water quality problems. estuaries provide habitat for 75% of the u.s. commercial fish catch in 80% to 90% of the recreational fish catch. it helps drives the nation's economy. in carsco bay in my state alone, in a good year of just one species of shellfish is estimated to be between $11.6 to $15.6 million annually. without the clean water, the men and women who depend on these resources lose their jobs. we cannot let that happen. we owe it to the hardworking individuals to invest in meese precious areas. invest -- in these precious areas. investing the n.e.p.'s is a good investment in our communities and the n.e.p.'s make good use of their federal

funds. between 2003 and 2009, n.e.p.'s leveraged $1.98 billion from $140 million in e.p.a. grants. the casco bay partnership works with our local towns in the state of maine. the estuary partnership in brunswick, bass and state and federal agencies working together in the new meadows watershed partnership. the partnerships works on coastal protection related to water quality. this effort has been largely funded by the estuary partnership. beyond providing habitat in a place for commercial communities, estuaries is a great place to kayak, boat, swim or go bird watching. it's important to note that much of the value of estuaries declines if people, if the public cannot access them. the under lying bill requires the consideration of sustainable commercial businesses and the management -- in the management planning process and it's important for

them to recognize the role of working water fronts that they play in providing jobs and access to our estuaries. without working water fronts we lose access to the estuary and the economic and cultural heart of many coastal communities. as an organization with strong ties to its community, the casco bay estuary partnership relies on the participation of a whole range of stakeholders, local governments, state and federal agencies, environmental groups, business, schools -- businesses, schools and local universities. these stakeholders come together to develop a comprehensive conservation and management plan. the management plan provides the framework for protect restoring the estuary and identifies discreet activities to identify problems, such as water quality, nutrient loading and habitat restoration. with the casco bay partnership, the partnership works closely

with the portland water sdrict, local land trust and those who share the common interest of a healthy watershed. these partnerships pay off when they come together and tackle multle issues with the same solution. it helps create good jobs through the restoring of the health of our estuaries. the casco bay estuary is working with the city of brunswick. the existing covert is in need of replacement for purely engineering reasons. it funds a design work of developing a vision of how replacing the structure with a larger one would increase tidal flow and fish access to the salt marsh area of adam road. it helps the town to raise additional money to support the effort. the success of these and other projects can show how much we

can achieve when we work together. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from maine for yielding time. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i stand here very troubled with the legislation the democrats in charge have chosen to bring forward today. while the goal of having good water quality in our nation's estuaries indeed has its merits, i'm distraught that we are not debating something today which will address the dire challenges that are keeping my constituents up every night wondering how they will continue to feed their children and find work. i'm concerned that this legislation does not reflect the economic challenges confronting our nation. our national debt stands at $12.8 trillion and is growing every day. yet, this bill increases funding levels for the national estuary program under the

e.p.a. to $50 million per year, a 43% increase. actions speak louder than words, mr. speaker, and this action suggests the democrats in charge act best are in denial or at worse are simply indifferent to the economic situation our country is facing. at a time of record budget deficits, it's crucial we hold the line on spending. the obama administration likes to talk about fiscal restraint but we have yet to see these words put into action. this bill is a classic example of legislation that can be trimmed back by keeping the authorization levels static rather than increasing them. but the democrats refuse to allow such restraint and instead continue to appear to be oblivious of the fact that our federal deficit is growing each day. this bill is also being brought forth today under a structured rule, adding to the record number of structured and closed rules the democrats have arbitrarily used since they've

been in the majority. democrats have chosen to stifle and control the debate today presenting the congress with another structured rule, eliminating both democrats and republicans giving important amendments to serve their constituents. why is the speaker consistently gone back on her word? why are the democrats shutting off debate and lensing their colleagues from both -- and silencing their colleagues from both sides of the aisle? are they protecting members from tough vonets? regardless of the motives, it's clear, the democrats in charge are doing the american people an injustice by refusing to allow their representatives to offer amendments on the floor of the people's house. finally, mr. speaker, according to expectmore.gov, a watchdog for performance, the national estuary program is only performing adequately. this performance level states

they need to improve accountability and/or strengthen its management practices. as usual, the democrats in charming have decided that the best way to fix a problem is simply to throw more money at it. money which we do not have, money which we have to borrow and hope the program performs more effectively. this is a wrong-headed fiscally irresponsible policy, and i urge my colleagues to reject this rule and vote no. and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlewoman from maine. ms. pingree: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i appreciate the thoughts from my good friend from north carolina, but i have to disagree with her. first, i want to remind her that we are here today to debate and talk about the rule for the national estuary program, and as someone from north carolina also represents a lot of coastal communities, i am sure that your fishermen and your tourism industry depends just as much on clean waters

and healthy estuaries as we do in the state of maine. and i don't want to understatement the ports of -- underestimates the importance of jobs that the estuary programs have in a coastal state. i also want to say that this merely increases the authorization for the funding. this isn't spending the money today, and decisions can be made down the line. but important decisions do need to be made to protect more estuaries in our country to make sure that these vibrant areas that produce much of our fishing stock and are critical to our tourism industry continue to thrive and are vibrant. estuary counties om make up about 13% of the nation's land -- only make up about 13% of the nation's land area. so if you want to talk about jobs, and you're from a coastal state and you're going to neglect taking care of our estuaries, i think you need to go home and talk to the people of those coastal districts. commercial fishermen, people who depend upon the tourism

industry and know what a critical bill we are talking about today. but if you want to side track the debate and you want to get into daye bait about the deficit, i want -- into a debate about the deficit, i want to remind you when your -- our party left office we had a surplus. but for eight years we had a tremendous amount of unpaid bills in this country. the majority of our deficit came from two wars that weren't paid for, many of which we have people who disagree with our involvement in those wars today, tax cuts for some of the wealthiest people in this country who didn't need those tax cuts but those tax cuts were not funded, a prescription drug program that was not paid for and when the republicans passed the bill they wouldn't require that we negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry so in fact we pay the highest prices in the world. and you wonder why our economy and deficit is in bad shape? i think you have to look at the last party in power when you're looking at where to place the

blame. now, look, people in my state are hurting. we have a tough economy. we've lost a lot of our manufacturing industry to jobs overseas, to a tremendous change in our economy. i want to say for one minute that the people in my state are comfortable with the job situation, they're hurting, and they want more help. but unlike the republicans, the democrats put forward the recovery act. much of that money has come to my state and yours, and while we're not there yet, it's had an effect. it's helped us rebuild some of our roads and bridges. it helped keep teachers and firefighters and policemen in their jobs. it's funded research and development. it's gone through a whole host of necessary cleanwater, infrastructure development. we have $35 million to extend our train service, which is very important, extending amtrak in the northeast has been a great boom and will be

very helpful to our economy. . to say the democrats aren't, one, paying attention to the deficit, and two, doing all they can to assist in the job creation in this country is to negligent exactly what those facts are. i again will not say that we are where we want to be in this economy, but last month the u.s. economy gained more jobs than any other month over the last three years, an increase in 162,000 jobs. that is a sign that the labor market is at least moving in the right direction to stabilize. let's remember, though, when president obama took over, when i was first elected as a freshman, the economy was losing 700,000 jobs a month and the previous president had already had to go in and bail out the banks because of the lack of oversight of our financial services industry. so we took over an economy in very tough shape.

and at least it is moving in the right direction. there are other numbers that while they don't give us all that we need, they are a positive sign. in the last month the manufacturing industry added 17,000 jobs. retailers added 15,000 jobs. and leisure and hospitality accounted for another 22,000 jobs. we are moving in the right direction. when i go home to my district, i ask the people who work in the tourism industry, tourism is now the largest industry in our state, and i'm sure it's a big industry in north carolina, i asked them how they are doing, they say, well, we are getting positive signs. we have more bookings. more people are coming in this spring. people are feeling a little bit more comfortable about the economy. while that's not where we need to be, at least we have people moving in the right direction. and we also have gained the confidence of people who say, thank goodness you passed some health care reform. health care reform that will cut the deficit in the long run. stabilize medicare, and i can tell you from my small

businesses, what i hear more than anything else is from people who say how am i going to cover my employees? how am i going to cover myself as an individual? and i can now go back home to my state and say if you have 25 employees or less, you'll get a 35% tax credit this year. you'll get real assistance in providing your employees with health care. we are doing it with also cutting the deficit and cut the instability of the medicare system. so i think if you want to talk about -- i won't yield. but i will be done here in a minute and i will let you take back your time. i just want to say that, a, we are here to talk about estuaries which in my opinion and from my coastal state is a very important job creator and revenue enhancer and critical to our fishing industry, which is very important in our state. and i think you have to look at where you are laying the blame when you talk about this tough economy. nobody likes the situation we are in.

but nobody's working harder to change it than the democrats. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i am tempted to say so much to say so little time. my colleague, i was going to ask her to yield so she could say in front of me her comment we are cutting the deficit. this is a classic example of the democrats saying one thing and doing another. it just happens over and over and over again. the american people, mr. speaker, are waking up to this issue. my colleague wants to talk about how when president obama came to office what a sorry state the economy was in. she never, along with her other colleagues, ever acknowledged

the fact that democrats were in charge of the congress for two years before president obama came into office and put this economy in this -- on the skids. it's the democrats who were in charge of congress who have the fault laid directly at their feet. before the democrats took over the congress, we had 54 straight months of job growth in this country. under president bush, and with a republican-led congress. they bash -- they talk about unpaid bills. they created the unpaid bills when they came in in january of 2007. they have increased spending in the past two years 84%. and what has it accomplished? more government jobs. count the 162,000 jobs all you want, those are primarily government jobs, short-term jobs

with the census. my colleagues call things something that they are not. the recovery act? that is the bailout that occurred in february last year. that was supposed to keep the trillion dollar spending that was supposed to keep unemployment below 8%, that was supposed to create three trillion jobs. please. the american people aren't buying it anymore. they know that the democrats are the ones who are in control and they know that the democrats are the ones who are responsible for the disaster that we are seeing in this economy. unemployment is over 11% in my state. yes, we want the estuaries to be protected. they are vital to many jobs in north carolina. but spending more money is not the answer.

having the federal government live beyond its means is simply not the answer. this year the federal budget deficit is projected to be between $1.3 trillion and $1.5 trillion. again my colleague mentioned cutting the deficit? when we hear even from president obama's own appointees at the c.b.o. and chairman bernanke that we cannot maintain our status as the greatest country in the world with this horrible debt and deficit. that the democrats are placing on our backs, on the backs of our children and our grandchildren. and i love the way my colleagues talk about this prescription drug program that was passed under a republican president and republican congress that was not, quote, paid for. they hate it. and yet what are they going to do in their health care bill? they are going to close the doughnut hole. sure, they are going to add to the spending on the prescription

drug plan, the one that they hate so much. they hate it on the floor here when they want to use it as an excuse, but then they love it when they want to put more money into it. come on, folks, let's have a little consistency here in the approach that you take. most of your consistency does involve putting the government in control of our lives and spending, spending, spending. the mesh people -- american people know that in these tough times they should save not spend money. and last but not least, let me say my colleagues always say, this is not spending. this is only authorizing. and then when it comes to the appropriations they'll say, well, we have to appropriate because this was already authorized. this is another gimmick that they put in place simply to spend more money. again the american people are waking up, they understand it, and they don't like it anymore. with that i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlewoman from the state of maine. ms. pingree: i reserve, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: reserves. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, my colleague mentioned that this bill is a bill that's important because it creates jobs. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle along with the president have done such a poor job of creating jobs in the past with all the spending that they have done and yet everything that comes up is a jobs bill. i want to quote from a march 3 "washington times" editorial. from immigration to clean energy to expanding the social safety net, there's no better way to grease the skids for new government programs in washington nowadays than declare them job producing bills. than watch supporters line up and potential opposition

crumble. end quote. you know, mr. speaker, when i was home in north carolina the past two weeks for our easter break, numerous constituents shared with me their concerns that the federal government's borrowing and spending too much. the american people know that in these tough economic times they should save not spend money. but the federal government doesn't reflect the common sense that i see throughout the fifth district of north carolina. instead, the democrats in charge continue to borrow more and spend more, increasing our federal deficit on the backs of our children and grandchildren. my colleagues can no longer blame the deficit and economic difficulties today on the previous administration. although they continue to try. the democrats in charge of -- have shown they don't care about the deficit by continuing to dig america into a bigger and bigger hole with more reckless spending. all of this borrowed money is being spent by the ruling democrats while the unemployment rate continues to rise and the

deficit continues to grow. i think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have -- are so in love with their power that they believe that they can overrule the laws of economics. since the democrats took control of congress, mr. speaker, in january, 2007, they have raised the debt limit five times and the national debt has increased by 42.4%, or $3.68 trillion. democrats enacted a debt increase in february of 2009 promising that borrowing another $1 trillion would create jobs immediately and unemployment would not rise above 8%. however there were still 85,000 job losses this past january and unemployment has consistency -- contiss tently been hovering around -- contiss -- consistently been around 10% around the country.

the white house projects 10.6 trillion in new deficits over the next decade. this is nearly $80,000 per household in new borrowing. it's beyond time to stop digging. the new budget estimates, including an estimated total national debt of $24.5 trillion in 2019 under the president obama's budget are alarming and unsustainable. the result would be the highest level of spending and debt in american history. and we hear now also that our colleagues across the aisle don't even want to present a new budget. and why don't they want to present a new budget? because they would have to reveal again these really distressing numbers to the american people and have to respond to them. this is an irresponsible lack of fiscal restraint carried on the backs of our children and grandchildren. my constituents at home and americans across the nation are

not operating their family budgets as recklessly as this congress is spending taxpayer dollars. and we have to point out all the time this is not government money, this is money earned by hardworking taxpayers, more and more of whom are losing their jobs every day and losing the opportunity to work and pay their taxes, not money that's created by the government. except of course when they print it, which is going to result in inflation. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from indiana, mr. pence. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for such time he may consume. mr. pence: i thank the distinguished gentlelady for yielding and her outstanding leadership on behalf of taxpayers. i would ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pence: well, i rise in

opposition to the rule. follow order protocol but it's impossible to come to the floor today and not talk about what hundreds of millions of americans are thinking about today, some of whom will be driving late to the post office, heavy laden with an envelope they hope they got right. file their taxes. it is tax day in america. april 15. it is a tough, tough day for working families, small businesses, and family farms. will rogers said famously, the only difference between death and taxes, is death doesn't get worse when congress is in session. that's probably never been as true in my 10 years here on capitol hill than it's been in the last year and a half. under this administration and this majority in congress. now, we heard a lot yesterday here on the floor of the

congress about tax cuts that have within passed -- been passed into law, and i really rise this morning, mr. speaker, to really set the record straight. because the american people have a choice to make this fall and they deserve to know the facts. . yesterday, i enjoyed a number of speakers boasting having cut taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars. i even heard one speaker say that this congress had cut taxes more than any congress in american history. that one -- that one elicited a chuckle yesterday and i can't help but respond the same today. here are the facts -- first and foremost, this congress has voted and this president has signed into law $670 billion in tax increases in the last year

and half. $670 billion. and the list includes 14 tax hikes signed into law totaling $316 billion on middle-class families. in direct violation of the pledge that president obama made not to raise taxes on individuals that make less than $200,000 or families filing jointly that make less than $250,000 a year. it really is astonishing. and thanks to the great work of the committee on ways and means, the republican minority there led by the distinguished gentleman from michigan, david camp, people can go to the website, they can go to gop.gov. they can go to the website of the ways and means committee and look at this list under the health care bill, public law 111-149, new taxes on individuals who don't purchase depoft-approved health

insurance, $17 billion over 10. a new tax on employers who fail to comply with government insurance mandates, $52 million in tax increases, a new $42,000 excise tax. that's $42 million in tax increases. under schip, public law 113-3, tobacco tax increase and expanded enforcement authority, $64.515 billion in tax increases. so-called stimulus bill, losses of a corporation. that's a $6.9 billion tax increase. and on the list goes. it's a $670.341 billion and counting. and i say again, not only has this congress increased taxes by $670 billion since president

obama took office, but the list includes 14 tax increases totaling over $316 billion on middle-class families. it is truly astonishing to think that arriving on the scene during the worst economy in 25 years that the response of this administration and this congress has been to take what in my judgment was excessive spending under republican control and put it on steroids. and pay for it with hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes and, of course, enacting more government. now, taking directly on the assertion of my democrat colleagues in the time i have remaining the suggestion that democrats have passed the largest tax cuts in history, you know, the american people got to be asking, you know, are they kidding? but, no, they're not. in fact, the president in

remarks while signing the government takeover of health care with a $570 billion in tax increases in it actually said, quote, and when this exchange is up and running, millions of people will get tax breaks to help them afford coverage which represents the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history, closed quote. and i was on a television show just right after the distinguished senator from illinois, senator dirk durbin, where he made the same assertion, and even politifact took a look at what senator durbin said suggesting that obamacare was the largest middle-class tax cut in history and they gave it a false the next day. here are the facts and here's where the stretch comes from. and it is the assertion presumably by democrats that the $466 billion in subsidies paid directly to insurance companies in the health care

takeover represents tax cuts. if i could just say for the record from my heart, paying insurance companies isn't a tax cut to me. ok. i think -- you know, i was raised south of highway 40. if this anyone wants to cut my taxes, writing checks to insurance companies that you're paying for with tax cuts isn't a tax cut to me. a tax cut to me is reduce my taxes so i can keep more of my hard-earned money. but that's where i think -- nickel dime things in the stimulus bill, the refundable tax payments they're pointing to. but the biggest chunk of their claim of having cut taxes is $466 billion in subsidies paid directly to insurance companies in the health care takeover. and i think that's why politifact referred to senator

durbin's assertion as false, as an independent analysis, and why independent observers have also rejected that. look, it's a serious day in the life of the nation. the truth is the american people are hurting. this government is running about a $1.3 trillion deficit. we ought to get serious about fiscal discipline in washington, d.c., and we ought to get real about giving the american people across the board tax relief. only cutting taxes across the board, like john f. kennedy did, like ronald reagan did, like george w. bush did after the towers fell, only by cutting taxing across the board for working families, small businesses and family farms can we hope to ignite the entrepreneurial energy of this country to lift americans and to create jobs once again. so i appreciate the time the gentlelady has yielded. it's important to set the record straight and the american people deserve to know on tax day that this

administration and this congress have increased taxes by $670 billion and counting. because in just a few months after congress has made its decision, the american people are going to get a chance to make theirs. i yield back to the gentlelady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from maine. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. and we can go back and forth all day about he said, she said, who's lowered taxes more, who's cut the deficit, who's done what. but let us recall when the republicans were in office they cut taxes for the wealthiest people in this country that contributed to the deficit. and while the democrats did not -- the republicans did not vote for the american recovery and reinvestment act, 1/3 of that is for tax cuts for the middle class. and he said that this is the largest tax cut ever enacted, it may or may not have been, but this is the largest tax cut

for the middle class and the largest working group that need it the most. from bruce bartlett, the domestic policy advisor under president reagan and treasury department economist under president george h.w. bush, he said on 3/19/2010, federal taxes are very considerably lower by every measure since obama became president, according to the j.c.t., last year's $787 billion stimulus bill enacted with no republican support reduced federal taxes by almost $100 billion in 2009 and another $222 billion this year. let's just talk about a little bit of what's in there, because people love to talk about these abstract notions of did you or didn't you lower taxes. well, here's what's in the american recovery and reinvestment act, 1/3 of which was tax cuts. congress enacted more than $800 billion in tax cuts with

another $285 billion working its way through congress, and this recovery act had 25 different tax cuts for americans in this country. the making work pay tax cut provided immediate and sustained tax relief to about 95% of all american workers and their families. it's a refundable tax credit up to $400 per worker or $800 per couple filing jointly. that has already been enacted. provides over $110 -- 110 million working families, that's about 95% of americans now getting the tax relief they need now. the child tax credit, i hear from so many people saying it's hard to pay for childcare. the republicans voted against the child tax credit, which would cut the taxes of more than 16 million children through the expansion of the child tax credit. very important thing i think we

enacted this year. the earned income tax credit, fighting tax relief to family with three or more children. now, that's for working class families. those are tax credits for the wealthiest in this country, which is what the republicans did in their time making sure that the rich got richer. we went for the earned income tax credit. the college opportunity tax credit. how often do we hear from families struggling to pay for tuition for their children? a $2,500 tax credit for families which is partially refundable. already been enacted. the alternative minimum tax relief protecting 26 million middle-class families being hit by the alternative minimum tax. we know about the firsttime homebuyers credit. it's been extended. now, i know maybe you don't hear this in your district, but you wouldn't be listening if

you didn't hear from real estate agents who talk about how beneficial that has been in moving the stagnant housing market. i hear about it all the time. i hear about it from them that they want to extend that tax credit that went directly to working families, to those people who needed the benefit, who wanted to invest in a new home, who wanted to have that opportunity. i hear all the time what a great benefit that has been. incentives to buy new cars were in there to provide a state sales taxes paid on the purchase of new cars. we know we had to do everything we could to get detroit working again, to help american manufacturing. now, that's just what individuals ben fritted from. let me tell you what the business tax incentives to create jobs. that was $10 billion over 10 years, supported by the chamber of commerce and the national association of manufacturers that was in the american recovery and reinvestment act, that was voted by the democrats and opposed by the republicans. and i'm sorry to see that

because this was an important issue for the chamber of commerce. certainly important for our businesses. that included bonus depreciation, helping businesses to quickly recover the costs of new capital investments by increasing the bill. i know we're anxious to have new capital investments in our plants and equipment. and so i was very proud to stand behind that. small business expensing. spur small business investment by extending small business expensing. doubling the amount that small businesses can immediately write off on their businesses for capital investment and purchase of new equipment. the write-off has helped many of the businesses in all of our districts. buying back debt. providing for assistance helping delay their burden. it will help those companies strengthen their balance sheets. so they can invest in job creation. small business loss carrybacks, which increased the cash flow for small businesses by

providing a five-year carry back of net operating losses. i know i heard about this frequently and was proud to support it and help those businesses in my district who felt this was essential. sorry to see that the republicans didn't want to vote for yet another small business and business tax investment. we had the small business investment spurring investments by small businesses by cutting capital gains tax on investors and small business who buy stock in the next two years and hold it more than five years. we had a tax credit for jobs, for recently discharged unemployed veterans and disconnected youth. now, how often do we hear about those people who served our country, many of whom are unemployed? how important is that to make sure that we give more jobs to recently discharged unemployed veterans? that's just a few of the tax measures that were enacted under the recovery act. for a party, the republicans, who say they want to cut taxes, they seem to only want to do it on the wealthiest people in this country or big

corporations who ship jobs offshore. i guess it's ok to cut taxes there, but when it comes to the middle class, when it comes to helping people with tuition, when it comes to childcare tax credits, the very difficult price that working moms and working families pay to keep their children in childcare, which we know is a growing expense for young families giving them a tax credit, that's where i think our tax credits should go. and what about the renewable energy and energy efficiency tax incentives to spur energy savings and create jobs? i don't know how people feel in your district, but i know in mine they want to end their dependence on foreign oil. they want to invest in making their homes more efficient, and those energy efficient tax credits have been very helpful in my state. i meet up with people all the time who say, i'm so glad i had the opportunity to invest in winterizing my home. i don't it gets as cold in north carolina, but in maine we're a cold state. we're about the most dependent state in the country on oil. so for us in maine where we

have some of the oldest housing stock in the nation, it's new england, we may have the oldest housing stock in the nation. we have the greatest percentage of seniors in this country. so we have a perfect storm. you have a lot of very old people without much income living in very old houses and our state is basically 80% dependent on oil. so when the cost of oil rise, people are left struggling in their homes unable to pay those bills, many of them have to decide whether to heat their home, buy their prescription drugs or put food on the table. so for them having energy-efficient home tax credits that was great. it's allowed a lot of people to put on new storm windows, to add that layer of insulation, to tighten up the home, to really find ways to reduce the cost of getting through the winter and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. we had the plug-in hybrid tax credit which spurs the next generation of cars by providing a tax credit for people who

purchase a plug-in hybrid and all elect trick vehicles. and what -- electric vehicles. and what more could you ask for in this country by spurring on innovation and new technology and helping out our ailing automobile manufacturing industry? tax credits for renewable energy. easing the credit crunch for renewable energy. i am in a state that wants to develop our wind power capacity, that wants to have solar power, that wants to have tidal industry, and these tax credits are helping our individuals and businesses to do it. now, this is just a beginning, and as we talked about earlier, we also enacted health insurance reform. so i think this is the party that's thinking first of the middle class, of small businesses, that is very worried about how people get through tax day and has done a variety of things to help that along and hope that we can find some republican votes to do more in the future, to continue to spur our job creation and cut the tax for our middle class. .

i just want to -- i'm going to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. my colleague from maine failed to mention her own state and what it is doing. i find it very interesting. i have an article from june 24, 2009, from the "wall street journal" called "the maine miracle." it says, mr. speaker, i'd like to put this in the entire article in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i'll just quote a couple of things from the article. at last there is a place in america where tax cutting to promote growth and attract jobs is back in fashion. who would have thought it would be maine. this month the democratic legislature and governor broke with obama-nomics that is almost

a flat tax. this is a big income tax cut, especially given so many other states in the northeast have been increasing rates. at the end it says, one person is now democrats and augusta were able to withstand the cries of interest groups by, quote, tax cuts for the rich. without employers you don't have employees, he adds, the best social services program is a job. wise and timely advice for both democrats and republicans as recession moves on and budgets get squeezed. my colleague leaves out so cleverly the fact that her own state has gone against the grain of the federal government. i want to say that i'm quite interested in hearing her list all of these supposed tax cuts that are being made. but she never mentions the tax increases that are going into effect that offset these tax

cuts. mr. speaker, there's an arrogance across the aisle that is almost palpable. it is that the federal government should be picking winners and losers in this country. what i was struck by was the very targeted tax cuts that my colleague is bragging about. as my colleague from indiana said, what we should be having in this country is an across-the-board tax cut. that's what republicans believe in. we believe the money that hardworking americans earned is their money not the government's money. it's not our right to decide how they spend their money. what republicans did, yes, taxes were cut for wealthy individuals, but we cut taxes for everyone. what do the democrats do over and over and over again? again it comes from an arrogance that says, a hue russ that says we are -- hubris that says we are smarter than the american people.

we know how to spend your money better than you know how to spend your money. therefore we are going to tell you where you can get tax cuts. and if these tax cuts that were so horrible by george bush, why is it that president obama is going to continue some of those? he is going to let some expire, but he's going to continue some. so my colleagues across the aisle obviously are bashing their own president when they say these were horrible, horrible tax cuts that were put into effect by the bush administration. the motto of the state of north carolina is to be rather than to seem. that hits me so often when we are on the floor and i'm listening to my colleagues across the aisle because they are always trying to seem rather than to be. they are trying to say to the american people, look at the wonderful things we are doing for you. the american people have had about all they can stand of the

good things that the democrats are trying to do for them. and i think today is a great example of that. it is ironic that this is tax day and they are going to probably be a million or so people out on the mall this afternoon near the washington monument. these are folks who have said i have had it up to here with the federal government. these people are involved with the tea party movement and i welcome them to washington. i welcome the fact that they are everywhere today, all over the country. having these meetings where they are saying, it's time for us to take back our country. it's time for us to tell the federal government we just about had enough of you in terms of your taking away our money and deciding where to spend it. and i think it's a wonderful movement and that we should encourage it at every opportunity. because this is what this country's about. the first three words of the

constitution are written larger than the rest of the words, and they are "we the people." and we need to be honoring those people who are coming here and who are demonstrating all over the country that they have had it with the democratic party. they have had it with government spending. they have had it with debt. and i want to encourage them to do more and more and more and send a message to our colleagues, they don't care for the way they are being treated by the democrats in charge of this government right now. they have had enough of it and they want us to cut spending and cut taxes across the board. not decide who are the winners and the losers. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlelady from maine. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, my colleague on the rules committee, mr. mcgovern. mr. mcgovern: i thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. i want to associate myself with her remarks.

my republican friends talk about fiscal responsibility and they talk about how we need to focus on the economy and let me just -- let's review the record here. george bush inherited from bill clinton a sound economy and a surplus. republicans came in and they basically eliminated the surplus and they drove this economy into a ditch. what president obama inherited was the worst economy since great depression. that is what they did. my friend from north carolina wants to talk about arrogance. what about the arrogance of creating this enormous debt? of taking the surplus that they inherited and just forfeitering it away and -- frittering it away and creating this all-time high national debt. tax cuts for rich people that weren't paid for. that went on to our debt. two wars we are fighting, none

of it paid for. trillions of dollars on our debt. no mention when they were voting for all this stuff about the implication to average families. a prescription drug bill, not paid for, hundreds of billions of dollars added to our debt. you want to talk about arrogance? that's arrogant. that's what they gave us. they gave us the worst economy since the great depression. they drove this economy into a ditch and how they are complaining about the size of the tow truck. it is tax date. at this moment in our history we have to clean up a mess. it's easy, it's fun to create a mess. when we were kids it was always fun to mess things up. it wasn't so fun when our mothers told us you have to clean things up. we are cleaning things up. we are cleaning up their mess. i wish we didn't have to, but that's what they left us. and the -- in terms of tax relief, we have the american recovery reinvestment act that had tax cuts for average working families, tax incentives for

businesses, to create jobs by increasing bonus depreciation, allowing small businesses to immediately write off new equipment purchases. and providing a five-year carryback for net operating losses. they had an opportunity to vote for that. they voted no. they voted no. on health reform, tax credit, paid for health care coverage. the cost of health care has become obscene and there are tax credits for small businesses to help them offer coverage to their employees. what did they do? they voted no. hiring incentives to restore employment, the so-called hire act. a payroll tax holiday for business that is hire unemployed workers and retain them. how did they vote? no. they voted no on that. small business and infrastructure jobs act, tax incentives to help spur investments in small businesses. they all talk about small businesses. how do they vote on that? no. permanent state tax relief that ensures nearly all the state, 99.8%, are exempt from taxes, how did they vote?

no. on every measure -- could i ask an additional 30 seconds? ms. pingree: 30 seconds. mr. mcgovern: on every measure provides relief to average working families they voted no. i am sorry, i say to my republican friends, we are not trying to accommodate the donald trumps of the world. we are not interested in providing more tax rates for big corporations and big financial institutions that created this mess on wall street. we have a different set of priorities and that is to help average working families get through this economic crisis that they created. and we are going to do that with or without their help. so i'm proud to stand with the president and the leadership in this congress to focus on working families. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. members are reminded that remarks and debate are properly directed to the chair and should not be addressed in the second person. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i again constantly find it amazing how our colleagues want

to rewrite history and they assume that nobody's going to check up on what they are saying. that's not happening these days. i wanted to remind my colleagues that when the democrats took over the congress in january, 2007, president bush was still in office, the deficit was less than $400 billion. since president obama's inauguration, the u.s. has had an average monthly deficit of $ 122.6 billion. by comparison from the year 2000 to 2008, the average annual deficit was $196 billion. again they can try to rewrite history, but the numbers are out

there. i also want to point out, my colleague was talking about the child tax credit, and i was really confused about that so i double checked. but the child tax credit is going to drop from $1,000 to $500 in january, 2011, as a result of the bush tax cuts being changed by our democratic friends. it seems they don't have quite the concern for children and married couples that republicans have. and in an article today in "congress daily," again, mr. speaker, i'd like to put it in the record, it's called credit check by peter cohen. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: i quote, in a quirk of the law's drafting, this is about the tax credit for first time home buyers, each spouse must meet the same test.

a married couple would have had to have lived in the same home for five years to get the long-time resident credit or each would have to be a first-time buyer to get the higher credit. there is a real antipathy towards marry couples in our policies that our democratic colleagues continue to pass. again they are always picking winners and losers instead of allowing the american people to do with their money what they would like to do. and my colleagues talk about these rich people all the time. it appears that they simply never want to see another rich person in this country. they have such antipathy for the rich. what republicans want is for every member, every american to be able to be rich. why is that not a wonderful goal to have? thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlewoman from maine. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from washington, mr.

inslee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for three minutes. mr. inslee: thank you, mr. speaker. this discussion has gotten a little away from this bill about trying to preserve american estuaries so americans can go fishing with their kids. it's kind of gone a little far away from estuaries. i do note that some of my constituents painful as it is to pay our taxes, some of my constituents don't think it's a bad idea to go fishing with their kids and keep estuaries healthy. that's a legitimate purpose. this bill will help along the way. but my republican colleague from north carolina has tried to turn estuaries into the discussion about taxes because it is april 15. i think it's appropriate to address a couple of facts about that issue. i thought i might inject a couple facts into this discussion. . sides of the aisle on what reality is, i thought i might

turn to femaleo that might have an interesting viewpoint about this. his name is bruce bartlett, he's the former domestic policy advisor under president ronald reagan and economist under president george h.w. bush. here's what that former reagan and bush official said, and my friend from north carolina might be interested in this under a former staffer under the president. he said, quote, federal taxes are considerably lower from every level since obama became president. according to the j.c.t., the joint committee on taxes, the $787 billion stimulus bill enacted with no republican support, reduced federal taxes by almost $100 billion in 2009 and another $222 billion this year, closed quote. now, that is not some democrat

member of congress saying it. this is the official under ronald reagan and president h.w. bush. now, what does that mean in the state of north carolina? my colleague from north carolina has been down there suggesting that there's been a horrendous event on taxes. let's look what the citizens for tax justice say the results of these tax cuts under president obama are because i want people to make sure they know what it means in the real world. according for citizens for tax justice, in the state of north carolina, the state that my colleague is now attacking the president from, the lowest is 20% of her fellow citizens in north carolina have received average tax cuts -- average tax cuts of $612. that's an average. the next 20% average tax cuts of $792.

the next 20% average tax cuts of $646. the fourth 20% average tax cuts of $7 is 1. and the next 15% -- i ask for 30 more seconds? ms. pingree: i yield 30 seconds. mr. inslee: the next 1%, $3,019. in fact, my colleague, who is today on a bill about estuaries, trying to fan april 15 into a jihad against supporting uncle sam, every single one of the places you represent have had their tax cut under this president. and you voted against -- excuse me, mr. chair. mr. chair, the speaker voted against every single one of those tax cuts. the speaker pro tempore: the time has expired. members are reminded that remarks in debate are properly directed to the chair. and should not be addressed in the second person.

the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, i understand the need again to protect water and to protect estuaries. we all understand that. i grew up carrying water to my home so i understand the value of water just about as anybody here. but while we're increasing spending to protect estuaries, my constituents can't afford the bait and tackle to go fishing because they're out of work, they lost their jobs and there's no prospect for them to get jobs. i can't be responsible for ill-informed republicans who have said things that my colleagues have quoted. and i want to say, i don't vote against tax cuts, but every bill that they put in that's had tax cuts have had tax increases in them. republicans are voting against tax increases. what we have to be aware of here is that we should be dealing with the real problems

that the american people are facing, and they have to do with the economy. in 2009, the budget deficit was $1.4 trillion. the first time in history the deficit exceeded $1 trillion and the first time the deficit exceeded 10% of gross domestic product since world war ii. the consequences of this reckless spending are worth highlighting. today, the cost of the national debt is $41,398 for every man, woman and child in the u.s. according to the march, 2010, monthly treasury report, the federal government is projected to spend $425.127 billion paying interest alone on the national debt. we should be -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. foxx: i urge my colleagues to vote against the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady from maine. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. in closing, i want to say this this bill, the bill we started talking about about estuaries,

which is very important for economic development in my state, will also help the n.e.p.'s keep their management plans current by requiring them to be periodically reviewed and updated. this will make them more dynamic, more responsive to changing conditions in the estuaries. updating the plans will include identifying estuary vulnerability, climate change impact, preparing adaptation responses as well working to educate the public honest wear health issues. one such issue that's emerging is an important issue is the role of toxins from plastics like flame retardants. while this legislation does not require the n.e.p.'s to address toxics like it, it does comprise them for them to further consider the impact and any actions, including education, that the n.e.p. might take. i am proud of the good work being done in maine and across the nation to protect and restore our estuaries. i urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill. i urge a yes on the previous

question and the rule and i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: all time has expired. without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the resolution is agreed to. ms. foxx: mr. speaker. on that could we have the yeas and nays? the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the anne will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the house will stand in recess subject to the call of t

the president this morning blames laws for the recent coal mine explosion in west virginia. his comments run just over five minutes. on april 5, the united states suffered the worst mine disaster in more than a generation. 29 lives were lost, community have been upended. during this painful time, all of us are mourning with the

people of montcoal and whitesville and the coal river valley. the people of west virginia are in our prayers. we need a little more than prayers. we owe them accountability, we owe them with assurance that when they go to work every day, when they enter that dark mine they are not alone. they ought to know that the company is doing what they need to do to protect them and a government that's looking out for their safety. in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, i asked the officials standing with me, labor secretary hilda solis and joe maine and kevin strickland to lead an investigation into what caused the explosion at massey energy company's upper big branch mine. i asked them to report back with preliminary findings this week. we just concluded that the

investigation is ongoing and there's still a lot we don't know. but we do know that this tragedy was triggered by a failure at the upper big branch mine. a failure first and foremost of management but also a failure of oversight and a failure of laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow unsafe conditions to continue. so today i directed secretary solis, assistant secretary main and administrative strickland to work closely with state mining officials to pret ahead with this investigation so we can help make sure that a disaster like this never those responsible for conditions in the mine should be held for the conditions they made and preventive measures they failed to take. and i've asked secretary solis to work with the justice department to ensure that every tool in the federal government is available in this but this isn't just a single mine.

it's about all of our mines. the safety record at the massey upper big branch mine was troubling and it's clear that while there are many responsible companies, far too many mines aren't doing enough to protect their workers' safety. that's why safety governor manchin announced that they can take off so they can mourn their loss. he calls for additional inspections in west virginia mines. the federal government is taking sweeping actions as well. starting today we'll go back and take another look at mines across this country with troubling safety records and get inspectors into those mines aren't facing the unsafe working conditions that led to this disaster. second, i've directed secretary solis, assistant secretary main and administrative strickland to work with congress to

strengthen enforcement of laws and closed loopholes to help companies shirk their responsibilities. stronger mine safety laws were passed in 2006 after the sago mine disaster. but safety violators like massey have still been able to find ways to put their bottom line before the safety of their workers. filing endless appeals instead of paying fines and fixing safety problems. to help ensure that mine companies no longer use a strategy of endless litigation to abate their responsibilities, we need to tackle the backlog of cases at the mine safety commission. i've asked secretary solis to streamline the rules for proving that a mining company has committed a pattern of violations, that keck empire the mine safety agency to take eventual steps to keep mines safe. if they consistently violate safety standards they should be suggested to -- subjected to the tougher enforcement on an

updated patterns of violation list. third, we can't just hold mining companies accountable. we need to hold washington accountable. for a long time, the mine safety agency was staffed with former mine executives and industry players. the industry is not run by former miners and health safety experts like joe main and kevin strickland. we need to make sure that we're pursuing mine safety as relentlessly as we can responsibly can. in addition, we need to make sure that miners themselves, and not just the government for mine operators, are empowered to report any safety violations. i think we all understand that underground coal mining is by its very nature dangerous. every miner and every mining family understands this.

but we know what can cause mine explosions and we know how to prevent them. i refuse to accept any number of miner deaths as simply a cost of doing business. we can't eliminate chance completely from mining any more than we can from life itself, but if a tradge tee can be prevented it -- tragedy can be prevented it must be prevented. that's the responsibility of mine operators, that's the responsibility of government and that is the responsibility that we're all going to have to work together to meet in the weeks and months to come. thank you very much, everybody. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> the associated press reports this morning that massey energy board says it's committed to a thorough investigation. the board statement saying they will do what is uncovered. a programming update, in about an half -- an hour and a half or so, homeland security

secretary napolitano, you can see that live on c-span 3. and later this afternoon, live coverage of the first british election debate. the latest debate, elections are may 6 in the u.k. first time that the leaders of the largest political parties will face off in three u.s.-style tv debates. participating are labour party leader gordon brown, conservative leader david cameron and liberal democrat nick clegg. it's courtesy of itv. and live on c-span3 this afternoon at 3:30 eastern. republicans strategists this morning in charge of the group the tea party express held a news conference at the national press club to talk about strategies for the upcoming 2010 congressional mid term elections. it runs about an hour and 20 minutes.

>> good morning. good morning. thank you for your attention and welcome to the press conference for the tea party express. it gives me great pleasure to -- thank you. [applause] my name is william owens. this is my wife. mrs. owens is going to open up with a morning prayer. >> for those who would like to bow their heads, please do so. lord in heaven, we give you thanks for this day. we give you thanks for our country and for the ability -- and for freedom. we ask you for your grace, guidance and insight as we navigate these waters, to continue to chart a course for america, we ask you to give each person insight and we

thank you for continuing to guide us in the land of the free and the home of the brave in jesus' mighty name we pray. amen. >> amen. thank you. i am going to ask for those who have signs be kind to not hold them up so the media behind you will be able to have a clear shot. i know you are -- move it. keep it there. william owens. my wife and i are publishers. we have teapartyexpress.tv which allows people to join us online. the core message that my wife and i stand for are principles. we communicate a voice of principles throughout the tours that we've been on and that we should stand on principles so that we may always experience the liberties and the freedoms that our constitution afford us. and that constitution we believe is based on those principles.

the tour has been phenomenal. people are celebrating those common values. we've always said very clearly that it was america that came out of liberty and freedom, not liberty and freedom out of america. as long as we safeguard those two founding principles, america will be on a steady course towards the beauty that we believe she possesses. so it's with that we celebrate this moment. we're enthused about what's before us. it's just nothing but in evidence that the d.n.a. of america is truly liberty and freedom. so thank you for an opportunity to make that statement. [applause] and now it gives me great pleasure to introduce the co-chair of tea party express. phenomenal orator as well as an author, mark williams. [applause]

>> we came down from boston yesterday. we're more than 10,000 people joined us on boston common to celebrate america. and -- [applause] as a native bostonian i want to welcome my hometown back to the united states of america. joining me at the podium is our director of grassroots and outreach, also one of the co-founders of the national tea patriot movement, ms. amy kremer. >> good morning. >> we have been busy over the last couple of years, actually, laying the groundwork for a 2010 victory for the united states over this ideology that has us in its grass right now. much of our focus has been in nevada where one of the big

three happens to have a grip on that state as well. senator harry reid. we kicked off this tour in nevada, a town of 500 people, and some estimates that you were there -- well -- [applause] according to some accounts there was as many as 35,000 people at that town of 500. we did more in terms of economic stimulus in one day than harry reid has done his entire existence on this earth. even though the lady who owns a coffee shop, she was absolutely giddy with joy. we have a very aggressive media campaign. one thing -- one of our trips is, we're all -- we're rogues. we're misfit toys, we are a

broad background of america, we're a broad cross-section. we're ethnically diverse. we're religiously diverse. we're even politically diverse. beyond the constitution, if you engage any of us in conversation over narrow issues, the narrower the issue the more of a fight you are going to get. that's what we're fighting to protect, the system and the nation that allows us to be diverse, that protects our right to be diverse and protects our right to argue our point as passionately as we possibly can. and that's important because all those cameras in the room and for the folks watching live, america is a grand experiment. the only one of its kind in human history where the entire nation was created on the premise that the only legitimate reason for a government to exist is for the advancement and protection of individual human rights. [applause]

not the rights of someone who won't get off their sofa to take care of themselves and not the rights of major corporations who can't figure out that they give money to somebody they are going to lose. we need to end the abuse of the working people, end the government intrusion, return the united states government to the united states constitution. [applause] >> thank you, mark. as mark said, we kicked off this tour in searchlight, nevada, and that has been one of our primary focuses. and we launched i think it was back in january -- it seems just like yesterday -- we were in reno and las vegas doing a press conference to launch our harry reid -- defeat harry reid campaign ad. so at this point i want to show -- have ryan play that commercial.

>> thank you. >> time and again, harry reid has shown the people of this country that he's supposed to be honoring. reid dishonored the troops overseas and called their mission a failure. >> i believe -- >> he showed contempt for his constituents when they confronted them in congress. >> you can smell the tourists coming to the capitol. >> and now he has the nerve to compare opponents of government-run health care to those who supported slavery. >> in this country [inaudible] >> senator reid, it's we the people that have been slaves to your failures and arrogance. your billion dollar bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending have failed the people of nevada and failed america. our country deserves better, and in this election we, the voters, are going to hand you a

pink slip and vote you out of office. our country deserves better is responsible for the content of this ad. [applause] >> so that commercial is a great commercial that we did, as i said, back in january. this movement today -- actually we were a year old february 27 when we held our first tea party last year. but today is the first anniversary of the tax day tea party. [applause] and, you know, this movement has continued to grow and is growing now as we speak. after they passed the health care legislation three weeks ago, i, myself, my phone hasn't stopped ringing, the emails have not stopped coming in because people are angry and upset. that's good because we want this movement to grow and that's exactly what the tea party express does is we are great hook for the media.

we bring great awareness to this movement and are getting people out of their houses and engaged. but the bottom line is is that while the rallies are good and it brings people together in a platform of gathering to bring awareness to the movement, if we truly want change we are going to have to get involved in the election process and get involved in these campaigns. and this is where we start. harry reid is number one. and we are happy about this. they are going to be others and we are going to talk about that today. but we're very proud of the work we're doing and we still have a lot of work to do. and i think we're all committed to doing that. [applause] >> that was the ad we used to soften harry reid up. this was the ad we used for our direct action on march 27. >> we the voters are about to have a showdown with harry reid

in his hometown of searchlight, nevada and you're invited to help kick harry out of senate and send harry home for an early retirement. join us in searchlight featuring sarah palin, vice-presidential candidate ruth, joe the plummer, "saturday night live's" victoria jackson and many more. bring your best tea party signs, a lawn chair and blanket and most importantly bring your patriotism to take our country back from the failed politicians. complete details, including information on charter buses and r.v. parks available online at teapartyexpress.org. teapartyexpress.org is responsible for the content of this ad. [applause]

>> since -- since we started this tour, we have essentially been the news cycle. we've had a couple of major stories popped up in between but we're the news cycle. that's the goal. when we come into town and pick a high-profile race of a particularly egregious violation of the public trust or the constitutional trust, that makes news. so when we buy these ads and buy the ad time, for every one of these ads we run it relentlessly over and over again in the news and on the worldwide web there is a buzz which multiplies the effect. we don't have trillions of your dollars and everybody else's dollars to throw at keeping -- helping ourselves out here like the representatives, the senators and the president have. we can't pass legislation and reach into everybody else's pocket so we have to be very creative. as well because we're field by donations by individuals, we exercise the greatest judiciary responsibility that we can

possibly muster. because -- some of us are all hippies and guruists. i'm from boston. i grew up in boston. the first time i was at boston common demonstrating and the first time without a policeman swinging a bat on a horse. we're very effective. and we get hurt and that's the whole point. get heard, to cut through the strangle hold on our news and information that new york and washington have and go and actually talk to people through their local media, cut through the hollywood value. we all know we -- we cut through that and go directly to the people. >> and while we have these targets, such as harry reid and some others, we also have some heros of the patriot movement the grassroots movement. i think mark is going to talk about one of those. >> one of those -- first of

all, on one of our -- some think we're some kind of republican tool, i'll show you the [inaudible] some of us individually oud the tea party express contributed to the demise of congressman john doolittle, my congressman. some of us went to him and said, knock it off. he said, no. he's no longer my congressman. tom mcclintock is. if not for the republican party appear rat us in california, he would be my governor. they brought me the kennedys when i worked a are recall every day. that said, we have a big problem in california. meap big problems. but one of the big set of a woman named barbara boxer. it's time to retire. you blow this dust off of her, pack her away as the antique she

is. don't call me ma'am boxer. she says there's some good who's basketball getting shot at his entire adult life. so to that end, we today announced -- actually, we did announce this, we contributed to the campaign as well, we're supporting the candidacy of chuck to replace barbara boxer in california. he's a solid conservative but more importantly, when you disagree politically with him, he is open to discussing it. and discussing it in the context of, ok, show me how this is right, show me how this is good for california and the country. he also has something important going for him. there's been lots of good capped dates in a lot of these races and it is a chore to figure out who to support. in the case of him, he's been in the legislature, he's been

politically active on these conservative issues. he's been out there working. he knows the system. and we feel that with his experience and with his adherence to the idea of america that he will be an excellent replacement for barbara boxer and it's like, good night babs. please, applaud that. >> and another person, a tea party hero that we have endorsed and are supporting is michele bachmann from minnesota. [applause] michelle joins us at our tea party thing in minnesota, i don't know how many days or how long ago it was but we were proud to endorse her. you know, there are very few people on the hill, very few congressmen and women that truly stand strong as leaders and

listen to the people and their message resonates with the people and michele bachmann is one of those people and we appreciate her leadership and support her strongly. she is the one that got on hand last november, i believe it was, and called for the american people to come to capitol hill and look their congressmen and women in the eyes and tell them they didn't want this health care legislation and she did that and within less than a week we had, i don't know, 50,000 people there at the capitol. she has definitely been a strong leader. we appreciate her leadership and hope that she continues to speak for the people and listen to the people. that is exactly what she does and we're proud of her for that and that's why we endorse her. >> she's a very effective congresswoman, too. [applause] now, aside from supporting people for office who we certainly need to have in office, there are a couple of folks besides from harry reid that we'd like to see take an

early retirement and discover that they have families and spend time with them. one of them was in michigan. now, this is a great story. we had planned to stop in michigan in the upper peninsula which is represented by this congressman months ago. and originally we were going to ride through that district and celebrate and congratulate him for standing firm on principle to give to obamacare. we're still a little naive. we don't live in this town. well, after we -- after he made us realize that we were wrong, we beefed up our schedule in michigan, i think we doubled the number of stops, we committed a quarter million dollars to an ad campaign to defeat him and, what do you think, 24 hours until we're hitting michigan? >> yes. he, last friday he were in michigan, someplace i've never been, never had even heard of, and in the middle of our rally there, he announced his

retirement. he had a press conference and announced his retirement. [applause] and not only had we, you know, announced that we were going to do these rallies, we invited him to come and participate in these rallies to interact with his constituents. we also announced a $250,000 ad campaign for tv and radio to get him to retire. and right now we're going to play that video. >> congressman stupak, you've betrayed our constitution. you stole us out on the health care vote. and now it's time for you to pay the political price. join the tea party express as we send bart stupak packing for an early retirement. log on to tea party express -- teapartyexpress.org as we fight to defeat bart stupak. our country deserves better. tea party express.org is responsible for the content of

this ad. i have to tell you something, we don't take credit for that -- for tipping him over the edge. the folks, the tea party people and related folks and good americans all over michigan and around the country to that matter had been working hard, very hard to defeat bart stupak who realized he had a family and wanted to spend more time with them. this was just -- this was the final shove off the cliff. and for me as a 30-year talk show host, i can give you pretty cynical. for me to see the people of michigan react to the news was electified. we were working hard on this but when it really works, when it really happens we all go, whoa. how did that happen? i'm in trouble. they know who i am now. and the stops turned into these

celebrations. in fact, i was on a radio show in detroit and they were telling me that our clinton township stuff has turned into a major controversy because so many people showed up that the town, the local authorities were overwhelmed. even though we tried to get a handle on how many people are coming to these things. it's impossible to know exactly because this is truly grassroots. you know, all we do is run to the front of the parade and say, follow us. and use our machine. but the folks in michigan were celebrating, we were dancing, we were partying, we were singing and inspired and by the time we get to massachusetts, the -- yeah, who knew they were 10,000 conservatives in massachusetts? and for every one that showed up there are probably 20 more working for a living. >> before we go on, i want to say a couple of things. with scott brown's victory in massachusetts and then the announcement --

[applause] the announcement of bart stupak's retirement, those are two victories for the people not only in their states and their constituents but the people across this country. it is a perfect example of where people are coming together. most of these people have never been politically active in their lives, they've never donate to campaigns, they've never volunteered for these campaigns and they are give getting involved and they're affecting races in other states. and scott brown is a perfect example. when we announced our endorsement of him back in january, we ended up doing a $350,000 ad campaign to support him. we bought up all of the tv slots in the state of massachusetts and when there were no more slots to buy we took it national on fox news. and right now if you'll play the scott brown ad, please. >> the big government politicians in washington have failed us.

bank failures, skyrocketing unemployment, out of control deficits, higher taxes. it's time to bring some sanity back to washington. and that's why we at the tea party express endorse scott brown for u.s. senate. scott brown's trying to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes and stopping the government-run health care fiasco has earned our support. our country deserves better. teapartyexpress.org is responsible for the content of this ad. [applause] >> so, scott brown was a big victory. bart stupak has been a big victory and we are going to get to our target races here in just a minute and the key to our target races is that the people across this country will be getting involved in these other campaigns as well and that is part of taking back our country. >> i'd like to add just one more thing about scott brown. as a native bostonan, most of my

adult life, when i was living there, i was not represented. you know, barney frank was my congressman. you know. i mean, please. so, when we get to boston, the media had been going nuts because scott brown was not at our event. you've been snubbed, are you angry? no, he's here doing hearings on the nuclear program in iran which is a lot more important than dancing onstage with us at a rally as much as we'd like to have him. but underlying that, it dawned on me that massachusetts having elected someone to represent them who actually comes here and represents them in such a novel concept that they can't believe he wouldn't drop the nation's business to come shake hands here onstage in a high profile event. and then interpreted that as everything from a snub to sarah palin, a snub to us. no. the guy -- for once we get somebody who is working for his paycheck in washington and the media don't now to who -- how to

cope with it. -- know how to caller: with it. >> at this time i'd like to ask to come sal russow who is our chief strategist. sal and brian who is our political director, they are going to unveil the tea party express election targets for 2010. sal and brian. [applause] >> thank you, amy. the tea party express is a political movement, not a political party. we hear a silly debate in the news media all the time. the big difference is that we focus on economic issues. we don't have a platform on social issues and foreign policy because what we found is that across the country if we focus on the five issues that we think the americans are most concerned

with, we have a big majority of americans that want to take our country back and change the direction of washington. and the five issues are, people keep asking what they are and i keep pointing to the bus. it's pretty simple. and it's been on the bus for tea party express i, tea party express ii, tea party express iii and when you see us on tea party expression iv it will be on the bus. end bailouts. i can't read it from here. reduce the size and intrusiveness of government. stop raising our taxes, stop the out-of-control spending, no government-run health care. so it's pretty simple. [applause] when we started, you know, in politics you always have to be careful what you promise to do. i mean, i get a little nervous when people say, we've got to go out and defeat nancy pelosi in san francisco. well, we'd love to beat nancy

pelosi in san francisco but we can't beat her. she's too strong. if you're going to beat her, you can beat her with a socialist or someone on the left, you can't beat her with a conservative. so we try to keep our focus on the doable. we have a will the of wonderful canned cates -- candidates that simply can't win. so our focus is on who are the candidates who can win so we can really make a difference in taking america back. when we started we started with three u.s. senate races that were our targets. chris dodd in connecticut, a member of congress that was probably most responsible for the algae crisis, arlin specter in pennsylvania. who at the time was a sorry excuse for a republican. and harry reid in nevada who had consistently been elected in nevada as a conservative but was leading the united states on a far left agenda. now since we announced that last year, dodd has quit.

[applause] arlin specter has changed parties and become a democrat to try to salvage his political career. [applause] and thanks to the people of nevada and we have been i think in any town of over 200 in nevada, we've been in, and harry reid is now trailing by 10 points and 15 points against all his republican opponents. [applause] so as mark pointed out, we expanded our target list after the vote on obamacare to include bart to you is a -- stew fact and he quit -- stupak and he quit. we were saying, we're going to take back america in november of 2010. i think we may take back america before at the rate we're going. so that brings us here.

we have to expand our target list. they're popping -- dropping like flies. we have to get a few more on the list. and as amy pointed out, it's a combination of rewarding our friends and punishing our enemies. because one thing that's so important to do and as somebody who got his political career started working for an old actor in california back in 1966, when he eventually became president in 1980 it wasn't republicans, just republicans, that allowed us to get the tax cuts and our success in defeating communism. it was his ability to get democratics and the blue dog democrats to join with republicans to create a conservative majority. and so we can't be just a republican organization. we've got to be an influential force in both political parties. and as part of that, we have to recognize those people that have been leaders in both political

parties and at the same time we have to go after those people that are vulnerable because their districts or their states are clearly conservative on the economic issues we have on the bus yet they continue to defy the wishes of the voters. so we've now expanded our senate target list from three to eight. we've added blanch lincoln in arkansas. [applause] arkansas is a very conservative state and yet she put on a pretty disgraceful display of trying to sell her vote for more spending which is exactly what we're trying to stop. so there are a number of good republican candidates that are vying for the primary and we haven't picked one specifically yet but we expect it to play a big role in the state of arkansas. we still have harry reid to make sure we finish them off, even though he's wounded. and we're looking forward to go to pennsylvania to show that

arlin specter can't save his hide by changing parties. and one of the senators that's been most object knox news to condemning the tea party movement and saying, oh, we're a bunch of crack pots and a bunch of nuts, is barbara boxer of california. she's moved right up on our list. [applause] and we're glad to do that because as mark said chapter four is in the state assembly -- chuck is in the state assembly in california and has been a consistent leader on the tax and fiscal issues but has been out at almost every rally we ever had in california supporting the tea party movement. so he gets it. so we're proud to support him. the other races in the senate that we're involved in is the great state of florida where we have a tremendous cuban american -- marco rubio. and we have a message from marco

now. >> this campaign got a slow start but the picking up. >> hi, this is mark rubio here at our bus tour. i want to thank you for your endorsement. 2010 is a chance to be a great year for our movement. those of white house abbreviate in -- believe in free interyou the prize and free government. all across the country we have the opportunity to elect people to washington, d.c., that will go there to stand up for the reid-pelosi-obama agenda and in its place offer a very clear alternative. that's why i'm running for office. i know that's why you're involved in politics and that's why i want to thank you for your endorsement and help and wish you luck on your own bus tour which i know is ending up in washington, d.c. thank you so much. i'm honored by your support and help and i look forward to joining you soon in washington, d.c., where together we're going to make a difference standing up to this agenda and ensuring that

our children inherit what we inherited from our parents. the greatest country in the history of the world. thank you. [applause] >> and in florida, this is a case where we have a republican governor, governor cyst, who is running against rubio, who ran as a conservative but then just kind of abandoned the cause, tried to get cute, tried to be all things to all people. and so -- when you do that you lose your base, you lose your electability and here's somebody who is ahead by 30, 40 points at the beginning. he's now behind by 20 points. we want to emphasize him. doesn't pay to give up on your principles. [applause] and then there are two very competitive republican primaries in states that i think are going to be, one i -- won i think in the battles of the primaries.

that's in kansas and kentucky. we have two really very good congressmen running in the great state of kansas. but we've endorsed todd tiahrt who has been a twistent -- consistent supporter on economic history. in kentucky we have the son of ron paul, rand paul, who we're now endorsing in the state of kentucky. and then the person who probably is most responsible for getting arlen specter to change parties because he feared defeat was congressman pat actualy. he is running again. and i know one of the things that republicans are frustrated with is that too many people from the republican party have a standoff attitude about the tea party movement. for some reason they don't want

to get close to the tea party movement. they seem to think that having democrat-like works. it's the most irritating thing. you read the republican platform and the very good but we have some of our leaders that can't seem to stick to it. one who has been sticking to it has been a real leader for conservatives, i don't think he's in any political trouble but we're proud to endorse is senator jim from south -- >> [applause] i'm going to skip our candidate in nevada because we have that candidate here and he can speak to you. in the house, and i'm just going to do this very briefly, we have five members of congress who have voted wrong in every single important vote on bailouts, cap and trade, obamacare, stimulus.

yet their districts are very conservative. john mccain even won those districts. that's markey in colorado, hill who is a long time incumbent in indiana, spratt who has been in south carolina, and then in your neck of the woods here in virginia, tom err pellow -- perriello. and then in west virginia allen mollohan. so we have those five that we've added to -- five to the bart stupak list. so hopefully we'll get rid of them before november but if not in november. we've also saided -- added somebody who i think all of you know is the most obnoxious member. we have two that are the most obnoxious members of congress. i'm going to get the three or four if i don't stop. one person who has been particularly hostile to the tea party movement that is a freshman and a republican -- in a republican-leading district that we need to get rid of and that is alan grayson.

[applause] and since most of us have -- are probably legally qualified to vote in nevada, we've been there so much, we have met a fabulous candidate, a doctor in nevada who is running in nevada three against the liberal, so we're really proud to endorse dr. joe hat. and then our final target list is another virginia race, jerry connelly, who seems to find trouble every place he turns and so it will be good to improve the ethics of the 11th congressional district of virginia. as i said earlier, we have to remember to reward our friends who weave endorsed. a number of incumbents.

republicans that have stood with the tea party movement from the very beginning. i think we mentioned a couple of them already. tom mcclintock in california, dr. tom price in georgia who has just been a champion in fighting obamacare. mike pence who is at every fight leading the charge. amy mentioned michele bachmann who we were delighted to be with the other day. and when we went so south carolina we were honored to have the great congressman joe wilson from south carolina. [applause] and another tireless worker for the tea party movement is marsha blackburn in tennessee. [applause] and as i said earlier, we have to be effective and influential in both political parties.

and sometimes that that makes some difficult decisions but we have to reward some democrats that have been willing to stand up on the tough issues so today we're going to endorse walt minnick from idaho. [applause] we went from tree to, i don't know what we have, 15 or 20. so hopefully that will give us a couple of months before they all quit on us again. ok. thank you very much. that's our target list. [applause] now i'd like to bring up our coordinator for the tea party express who has taken a keen interest in the state of nevada and he probably knows more about nevada than most nevadans. joe. [applause]

>> we pretty much crisscrossed the nevada holding tea party rallies in reno, sparks, fallen, hawthorne, stop me if you've heards of any of these places, hendserson, las vegas, laughland, he'lly, he will could he. searchlight. and we've spent a lot of time in the state. through this period of time we have made a point to work with local tea party groups, talk to the people there, get their impressions about how they see the lay of the land and then to work with these people who have emerged as the leading contenders to challenge senator harry reid. he's the top priority for defeat in the 2010 elections. and through this period of time, going to all these communities and talking to the voters and working with these individuals who wished to replace senator reid, there was one individual who stood out head and soldiers -- shoulders above the rest. she's a four-time state assemblywoman.

she's a leading antitax activist. and she's someone who has always stood up to the political establishments of both parties. she doesn't care if you don't like her for her views. she stands for her views because she knows this in her heart they're right. she's a fighter for liberty, she's an advocate for the constitution, both in the state of nevada and at the federal level. and what we realized as we were going through this process and trying to figure out, should we stay out of this primary where there's 12 candidates involved and just kind of let them -- the voters in nevada sort this out and then get behind the event winner? and what we realized was this. because of and at tude lake that, we allowed ourselves to get a congress where both members of the republican party and the democratic party proposed out-of-control deficit spending, bailouts, higher taxes, higher regulation and if we had more people like the woman i'm going to bring up here now, we never would have had this problem. so it's time to stand for a true champion for liberty.

please give a warm round of applause to the woman we are endorsing for united states senator in the state of nevada who we have announced today will commit the resources necessary to get her through the primary and then defeat harry reid, sharon engel. [applause] >> thank you, thank you. thank you so much. good morning, american patriots. you have brought us -- brought a tsunami of conservative across this country. and i just want to say, thank you, thank you, thank you to the tea party express for being the leader of that group. you know, we're an unorganized band, isn't that we -- what they tell news is but we know what we want and that is our conservative value, those things

that our founding fathers fought for, but also that we have children fighting for to this day. and it is incumbent upon us, on us, to fight for them right here in washington, d.c. so thank you very much for being here. and i want to say, thank you to sarah palin for acknowledging us yesterday. she said we were a tsunami and we are. i'm running for the people's seat in nevada in the u.s. senate. i'm running opposing let's make a deal harry reid who's embarrassed us, embarrassed us with the cornhusker kickback, the louisiana purchase and the florida free ride. he has shown us how totally unconcerned washington, d.c., is

with even priority, even making it look like they might not be making a deal. this fellow has been told to us that he's just too big to fail. have you ever heard that before? just too big to fail. well, i'll tell you something, he has been driving us over a cliff for years and i don't really trust him behind the wheel of that bus he's driving around nevada. in fact, he's been throwing us under that bus. he's been water boarding our economy for over a year now. and he's given us the bailouts, the stimulus, obamacare, cash for clunkers. i say, harry reid, you've bailed -- failed america. not only has he failed america, but he's failed nevada. we have the highest unemployment rate in the whole united states. over 13%.

we have 27% decrease in our tourism and that's our major industry. and we have a minus 17.5% on the housing price index. that's double digits above the next state that's suffering from this housing decline. harry reid has failed nevada as well. and i say it's time to say, harry reid, you're fired. [applause] now, it isn't just about voting against someone. everyone says, we're just the naysayers. we have solutions and we have positive choices to make, too. so it isn't just like the tea party -- i have to tell you, the tea party signs are great. they said, you know, you can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out. they also said, anybody but

harry. but you know, it really isn't anybody but or any butt that can fill this seat. we need somebody positive, somebody that we can believe in, somebody that doesn't run right and vote left. we need someone who understands what the constitution says. you know, i feel a little lonely today. i usually bring smith and wesson along. i have to tell you, i'm going to give washington, d.c., a lesson in the constitution, especially the second amendment. but i didn't come alone today. i brought god. always bring him. and brought my husband of 40 years, ted engel. [applause] now, i subscribe to the kiss principle. keep it simple, sharon.

the solutions to the problems that we have with our economy are as simple as pay it back, cut back and take back. and by that i mean, let's pay back on that deficit. we have $500 billion in stimulus funds that we haven't used, pay it back on the deficit. we have $500 billion that's coming back in on tarp. i say, hurray, thank you, but where is that money? i hope it's on the deficit, pay it back. and we have $100 billion that we have got in unappropriated budget funds. pay it back. that's $1.1 trillion we could pay back. we could give the people confidence and the certainty that we know where we're going and it isn't backwards, it's forwards. we're paying off this debt, we're not going to resign ourselves to being friends -- france. we're not going to accept socialism. [applause] and we're here -- we're here to

stay, we're not going to be the socialist united states of america. we know what freedom looks like and we're fighting for liberty. and we understand what that means. we also know that in order to get this thing back on its wheels, this economy back on its cheels, we're going to need to do more than to just pay back the deficit. we're going to have to speed up the cuts. we can do that. we can cut back on the spending by 5% per year for the next five years on those things on a priority list. and the first priority should be that things within that box, the federal government and our constitution. after that we should start cutting. we need to keep our contracts with our senior citizens. they said, we're going to pay into social security and medicare and that's our retirement insurance. we need to keep our contracts with them.

after that i say anything goes. let's cut and let's cut 5% per year for the next five years and we can start with -- we can start with things like the department of education. they gave us -- [inaudible] no one in no child left behind. we can also start with a few unconstitutional guards. our president can have friends but i don't have to pay for them. so we have some cuts that we can make. and we should make those cuts. finally, we need to take back america. and there are ways to do that. the first takeback is, let's make sure we don't fund obamacare. [applause] that's our first takeback. and i have pledged, i have

pledged as my first act of legislation to put in a repeal obamacare law. [applause] second, second we need to audit the fed. somehow it got stalled out on harry reid's desk. let's continue on with audit the fed. they're part of the problem. and you know, if you know the truth, the truth looks will set you free, that's what audits are supposed to do is reveal the truth. next we need to abolish the 67,000 pages of reward your friends and punish your enemies in the i.r.s. code. today is tax day. let's talk about what's wrong. i'm part of that a little over 50% that pays my taxes today and i'll tell you, i'm not ashamed of paying my taxes. but you better spend them right.

i need a little accountability and i'll it will you, when they are using my tax dollars to buy things that i don't want and i told them i don't want them and yet they give me 1,000 pages that will break my leg and then say, oh, you don't like that, well, here's another 1,000, we'll just break your other leg. this is some kind of extortion that we're going through and they're extorting the american taxpayers. it's about time to stop. we need to take back our country to those constitutional principles that we were founded upon. we have the right contract with america. and it's the constitution. that's the right contract with america. [applause] we have the right message and that is lower taxes, less government regulation, more

individual freedom and stop the spending. we have the right angle to defeat harry reid. [applause] i want to tell you, you may not be able to vote for harry reid but he votes for you. if you can't vote for harry reid but you want to help nevada, get rid of harry reid. send money. he said he needs $25 million to defeat me. i need one million conservatives to send $25. sharonangle.com. send money. thank you very much for being here. i appreciate your help and support. [applause]

>> now i can experience the same joy of having the representative that my state of massachusetts enjoys with scott brown. we'll take two stage back into america. we in the tea party movement, the citizen activist movement, i call it the human rights movement, as the french underground in the second world war had short wave radio we have a couple of tricks too. we have talk radio which -- by the way, please support your local talk station. they've been targeted. guys like me are being fired for political views, economic reasons the support them. they're a lifeline. the other thing we have is one

we're also trying to figure out ourselves and some have figured it out better than others. the internet. the worldwide web. social networking sites. and we have with us one of the most effective people working in the blog sphere, the social networking sphere, the web sphere, she's -- she's with the grass fire organization from resist net, ladies and gentlemen, darla. [applause] >> thank you. well, i just want to say on behalf of resist net that we are very honored to be a part of the tea party express tours ii and iii and to be a support. movement in general. first of all i'd like to apologize for my voice. after 21 days on the road and

many rallies and yelling and screaming for our country, my voice is a bit strained. so please bear with me. grassfire.com was started by steve eliott in 2001 as an activist organization that primarily worked from the internet and email-base system. that system would send an email to you when you registered and it would give you updates on what was happening in d.c. what was happening that might effect you and your country and ways that could you respond without necessarily having to go to your local representative's office or without having to show up at a rally in d.c. or something along those lines. they've done very effective things with petitions. millions of petitions have been delivered, hand delivered to d.c. to your lawmakers on behalf of the american people over the last nine years. so, that is something that we've been doing very effectively. in 2008, steve etyol decided it was time to take it to a whole new level. and at that time he decided it

was time to launch a new website that would be a social networking site that would take the people that were correct -- connected to grass fire and begin to provide a form for them to be connected to one another. because we recognized in this fight that we're in for our country that the only way we can succeed is by connecting one to another at the very local level. we cannot do it, separate it distance. we have to be able to connect locally. and our local market. and the only way to truly take our country back is to begin at that local level in our towns and our cities, in our counties, in our states and finally our federal government. so it has to be a plan that we work together and we come together and we recognize that regardless of how i may feel on certain social issues, what unites us in this purpose and what gives us a voice for this movement is the fact that we all agree on those principles that are outlined on the side of our

bus. at tea party express bus. so fiscal responsibility is the number one issue that i think that brings all of us together. when it affects our pocketbook then you start getting people fighting a little bit. you know, watch out, buddy, leave my pocketbook alone. so, when resist net was launched in a very short amount of time, as a matter of fact, the week of the inauguration, people were really starting it to worry because they'd seen some of the statements that were made by barack obama, some of the people that he associated himself with. when he said to the public, if you want to know who i am, look at who i associate with. well, we did. and we said, wait a minute, this is kind of concerning. so at that time we had over almost 20,000 people join resist net in just a week's time. and that showed that there was a great force and a great momentum out there that needed to be dealt with and that people needed to come together and so that social network has provided

that and over the last year we've had over 75,000 patriots join us on our site and they're working locally. many people are even running for office, many people are helping in campaigns, they've organized tea parties or they are leaders of the tea party movement in their communities and think that's a fabulous thing to show that people are being mobilized and working on the behalf of their communities and our country. [applause] thank you. one of the things i wanted to share with you about grass fire is that now grass fire and resist network together. we are independent and yet we are -- resist net is owned by grass fire yet we work somewhat independent and we work together on certain issues. and one of the things that we've done over the past nine months in fighting the obamacare bill is we have engaged the public and said, help us to fight this. and one way was through

petitions. and during the span of this health care takeover, the patriots stood up and we delivered to d.c.-hand-delivered to d.c., to all of the senate, to all of the house, over a million petitions from you, the american people, saying, we oppose this. we oppose this health care takeover. i thought that was tremendous response. [applause] as of today grass fire and resist net are having delivered, hands-delivered to every member of the house and the senate 6 ,006,000 letters of outrage from the -- 6,006 letters of outrage from the citizens of the united states saying we are outraged that you'd do this and you blatantly disregarded our voice and we want to you know how disgusted we are with that decision and i think that's tremendous also. [applause] with grass fire and resist net

we launched an initiative last year on 9/11 when about 65 of us gathered in d.c. for a march on d.c., i think 65, that's, you know, it was actually 1.7 million. but, you know how the media sometimes likes to portray things or downsize us. i thought we were in the day and time of, you know, the bigy burger, the biggy fries. when it comes to our movement they always want to downsize us. i don't know. but that's ok. because all of us that were there and all the pictures, we know how many people were there. we launched this initiative called flip this house 2010. [applause] and this initiative works perfectly with our relationship with the tea party express. because they have the vehicle or vehicles to take the message

out. they also have the pact to endorse candidates and to support those candidates. grassfire and resist net, we can't do that. but we can partner with people who do provide that. and so it's a perfect marriage so to speak. although loosely married. if there is such a thing. what i'd like to tell you very quickly here is what the basic flip principle is and i want to go through the acronym with you. the first letter that have is f obviously and i won't expand on that letter too much to say that we need to fix the size of our government. it is entirely too intrusive and it continues to grow and it continues to disregard the american public and using our money basically against us and our wishes. [applause] thank you. the second letter is l and we believe that we need to limit

taxes. we need to abolish the income tax. in addition, you know, the new friendlier i.r.s. that happened somewhere in the late 1990's or somewhere in there, we don't find them too friendly. we think they need to go, too. [applause] that's always popular. i is impose term limits. you know. [applause] one of the heroes on our list is a senator and he actually introduced legislation this last year, a bill to impose term limits. it's just matter of getting enough people to support that. that's why we have to make some major changes in our congress and our senate. and thirdly or fourthly is the letter p and that's to perjury nationalization of industry -- purge nationalization of industry. we have a -- we are a free market capitalist nation.

we believe that we can educate the public on what our government -- how our government operates or how it should operate. and our involvement as responsible civic-minded individuals, if we can educate the public, if we can get the word out and help them to understand the process and that our responsibility is more than looking at a sign or looking at a commercial and making my decision based upon purely that information, if we can get people to engage into the google search or the binge or whatever it is today, if we can get people to take a step further and learn more about the people, think about how easy it is today to truly find information about a candidate as opposed in the days of reagan. people didn't have the opportunity to find out that information as easily as it is today. so we want to encourage people,

the american public, to truly vet your candidate and if there's someone that you're looking at endorsing that has been in office before, look at their voting record. these things are all a matter of public record. and finally i just want to say as far as resist net and grass fire are concerned, we also launched a petition called cap, cut and grow. and simply it means we need to cap our spending, we need to cut many of our programs and special interest programs, we need to cut that, and then we finally, if we can do those two things, we truly believe that the american public and the united states can begin to flourish again and can grow again and become a very strong nation once again. and so, we encourage you to please, if you get an opportunity, go to grassfire.com and sign our cap, cut and grow petition. because this is something that's important to show the unity of the movement and also you can find our flip this house 2010 petition there as well.

it's important that we all join together at this time which is why we have decided to work with the tea party express and the other partner organizations that we have signed with. we take that very seriously and our goal is simply that we can work together in the areas that we all agree, that together we can make a difference in this fight that we're in, we can stand for what is right, we can overcome that which is wrong and we can win this fight in 2010 in november. so i just want to say thank you to the tea party express tour for allowing us to have a voice alongside them and thank you for listening today and we encourage you to please do your fiscal responsibility this year, to do your civic responsibility this year and vote and vet your candidate and make sure that you encourage other people to do the same. thank you and god bless you. [applause] >> thank you, darla. this next gentleman i want to

bring up i remember back in january when i flew out to reno, nevada, to meet with the rest of the tea party express team to announce our defeat harry reid campaign. at the end of the press conference this man came up to me and said, i really love what you guys are doing, i would love to be a part of it. if there's any way i can help, i live here in nevada. i want to work to defeat harry reid. i'd love to go on your bus tour and of course i hear that all the time we all hear it. who wouldn't want to be on those buses for three weeks? it's not as glamorous as it looks, trust me. but i think he did not know what he was getting himself into. he has become a great addition to our team and we're very proud to have him join us. mr. dustin of western representation pack. [applause] >> after three long weeks, three very long weeks, i'm happy to

report that the american spirit is alive and well in this great country of ours. [applause] what seems like months ago i left my pregnant wife and two young daughters to crisscross across this country because i believed so firmly that we need to take our country back and the great danger we are facing and we must step up and meet those challenges and i'm so proud and inspired by all of the great patriots that i've met along the way that have been on these buses with me and all of the great patriots across this country who came out to our events and ralies. i'm truly moved and inspired and i just can't say enough and thank the tea party express team and all of the partners for the great jobs they're doing. i'm so honored to be a part of this. [applause] i started the western

representation pact because i have two young daughters and i knew i had to make a difference and i was so ashamed that harry reid represented my great state of nevada. and so i started a website, defeatreid2010.com and a facebook group and i never had any idea that they'd bring me to washington, d.c., speaking at the national press club. but each and every one of us has a responsibility to make sure that we do something to fight for our great nation and i'm so proud to be involved with the tea party express and what they announced today is so critical because it's not just enough to stand against something and protest and rally, we need to start having a political impact and where that starts is in each and every election. and so when i joined up after harry reid, i knew i had to -- i couldn't just stop there.

so i started a website against barbara boxer in california and barney frank in massachusetts and nancy pelosi in san francisco and blanch lincoln in arkansas and murray of washington state. and then realized i'm a little overextended but bart stupak quit. i can't thank you all enough for coming out here today. i can't thank the people of tea party express enough. i truly -- three weeks ago i came on this bus as i had no idea what to expect. i walk away today a completely different man, inspired by the present and the greatness of our great nation. thank you all so much. [applause] >> thank you, does fin. -- dustin. and before we wrap this up, i want to bring one other special person up here to address you and give a few words.

we all know how important our seniors are and he joined us in searchlight, nevada, and after hanging with us i think for two days, he had to come back to washington, d.c., he said, i don't know how you guys do it, but he couldn't stay away because he didn't join us in albany and went with us all the way to boston and we were very happy to have him with us. mr. jim martin, the founder and chair of 60-plus. [applause] >> thank you very much. i had to get off of that tour. i thought i was in great shape. i'm in a group called 60-plus, i'm now in my 70's, 07-plus, but two days was enough. i did rejoin them up in boston. let me say two things on tax day. first of all, our spokesman, a guy you may have heard of, a great entertainer named pat

boone, pat boone is our spokesman and today on tax day the death tax, you know, they tax you for everything while you're alive, we say, kill the death tax, don't wound it, get rid of it. [applause] because i got to tell you something, the first claim ant in line just stopped and think about it, it's uncle sam, not even a blood relative. we don't think that's right. let me close on this note. i've been saying since last august to those seniors out there that there's a tsunami headed toward washington. it's a senior citizen tsunami and unless it subsides there's going to be a lot of politicians looking for a new line of work. come november. [applause] one difference between my senior group, 60-plus, we have five

million supporters around the country, the aarp, when people talk about aarp, i say, just so there's no mistake, aarp, the association against retired persons, that's who they are. [applause] they're in if it for the dollars that they're going to make on the insurance industry. they're going to be the biggest insurance conglomerate left alive under obamacare. we're selling one thing at the 60-plus association, limited government, less taxes and adherence to a document that we all rever, the constitution -- revere, the constitution of the united states. and again, i want to thank the tea party express for getting out there, grassroots america, that's what it's all about. this ain't no grass tops down astroturf stuff. and one final note i'd make, to all of you veterans out there, i served in the marine corps, all you veterans out there, last

august you were called unamerican. and that was the most despicable thing i've heard. i've been in this town 48 years, coming here as a newspaper reporter when john kennedy was in the white house. i've seen a lot of congresses come and go, i've seen a lot of stuff, that was the most despicable comment i've ever heard in my life. [applause] to all those veterans who fought in distant lands, to give her the right to be able to say that, i won't mention her name. but her initials are nancy pelosi. with that i thank you for your time. thank you very much. [applause]