the exxon valdez one, he lost me. host: we will go on to another phone call, twin cities, minnesota, valerie on the republican line. good morning. could -- caller: put a cap on what the big oil companies receive, like at the gas pumps. let the oil price be cheap to get them in line. they should not get so much money and make all of these mistakes. host: ok. valerie, i am going to remind you to turn your television. any response? guest: we would like to think that the oil companies, with the massive profits over the years, would have reinvested some of that money into the development, research and development for safety and for recovery. apparently, they did not. i would like to think -- part of the legal syste provides

compensation, two aspects -- one providing compensation to victims who have been injured and damaged. hopefully that will happen here. the second is the terence of bad conduct. hopefully it the rest of the industry will get the message that we need to be working harder to prevent future spills, because of the cost, if nothing else, of a disaster of this magnitude. host: walter leger, thank you for coming onto "washington journal" to talk about the claims process. guest: thank you, good talking to you. host: we will return tomorrow 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we will bring in now to the house where they will begin their legislative agenda for the week. task of love, how to accept love and show love in return. human life teaches us that neither friendship minority patriotism can take the place of family in helping us find

our place of fitting in or belonging. lord, may the prism of family life prove to be the instrument of discernment for the members of congress as they formulate laws and policies for the good of this nation. may you bless the families of congress and this nation so this common ground may give you glory both now and forever. 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 illinois, congressman quigley. mr. quigley: please join me in reciting our pledge. 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: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. watson: mr. speaker, right now 15 million out-of-work americans are waiting on the senate to extend unemployment benefits which contributes to paying mortgages, health care bills, utility bills and the cost of food when there isn't a paycheck coming in. the democrats' unemployment bill will provide up to 99 weeks unemployment checks, averaging about $300 to people whose 26 weeks of state paid benefits have run out. the benefits would be extended through the end of november.

in a new "washington post"/abc poll, more than six in 10 americans support congressional action to extend unemployment benefits for jobless workers. earlier this month, the house passed the restoration of emergency unemployment compensation act to restore and extend emergency unemployment benefits through november 30. americans know these benefits not only are much needed but they're the life support. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. 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, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, it's my pleasure to congratulate the paige high school for becoming the class 5-a baseball champions. led by coach charlie warner, finished the season with an impressive 31-2 record.

the patriots went unbeaten in florida competition and won their last 25 games. for their dominance on the baseball diamond, they earned a number one ranking from espn and were crowned espn's rise fab 50 national champions. now, while the patriots achieve their goal and brought home a state championship, it was not done without countless hours of practice and immeasurable amounts of sacrifice. mr. miller: the time they spent together on and off the field will not only be remembered for captured a second state title in five years but friendships and lessons learned will not be forgotten. i'd like to congratulate pace high school's baseball team on winning their fourth state championship. my wife, vicky, and i are extremely proud of these young men. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. baca: these are tough times for our nation, but the

american people can take to heart with the leadership of president obama that we're headed in the right direction. when the president took office he inherited $1.2 trillion deficit, two wars, the recession, mounting job losses and disasters like katrina that pushed our economy to the brink. since then with his guidance we have passed the american recovery act that saved jobs, the expansion of championship to provide health coverage to 11 million children. the lilly ledbetter bill of rights, the historic health reform that finally makes quality, affordable coverage a right for every american. soon, we'll enact financial reform that gives us oversight and accountability to prevent another economic collapse. the president continues to move us in the right direction and is doing all the right things. unfortunately, the republican colleagues continue to have no plan, no direction. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? mr. chaffetz: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i come before the house to pay special tribute to peril rex hertzel, who passed away recently. she once said, quote, as long as i live i have to serve, unquote. living up to her motto of service, she can be found dancing, participating in numerous organizations. peril believed that, quote, -- pearl believed that we must preserve it. this remarkable woman had a deep love of god, love and country and she selfishly helped those in need. a single person can make a positive difference in the lives of those around here by smiling, serving, standing by their principles. it is appropriate we honor her accomplishments, her example and her lifelong dedication to community service. i wish nothing but the best to her family and hope they feel the deep gratitude utah and

truly remember this remarkable woman. she has served our community well. and we will miss here. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. quigley: mr. speaker, i rise today because we can't be fooled by the castro regime's announcement to replease 52 political prisoners, that would be 52 out of approximately 5,000. the release of these prisoners, held only because they disagree with the government, would be good news if they were actually being released. but only five to 10 prisoners will be released immediately. the rest will be let go over the next three to four months. why does it take months to release a group of prisoners when it only took one night to arrest them? we cannot be fooled. the castro regime has released prisoners many times before in exchange for lesser sanctions, but these temporary releases never result in permanent reforms.

the regime is unilaterally releasing 52 prisoners, but what's to keep them from simply arresting hundreds more? we cannot be fooled. and above all, we cannot alter our sanctions or policies toward cuba based on this one superficial gesture. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from kansas rise? ms. jenkins: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. jenkins: for the past 18 months the majority in the house has ignored the impending fiscal crisis, acting like they know best and that the economy would recover if we simply spent more money. they're wrong. and today i'd like to remind them of one number that should get their attention. $166 billion. a few years ago that was more than the annual budget deficit. now, that's how much the debt increased on june 30 alone.

the president's fiscal commission said this debt is a cancer that would destroy the country from within. as a daughter of two cancer survivors, those words are strong. as a c.p.a. who knows how debilitating debt can be, i couldn't agree more. it's time for the majority to stop ignoring reality. it's time to stop the reckless spending and get the $13.2 trillion debt under control. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as a member of the fiscally conservative blue dog coalition, i'd like to tell you about our concern of the growing debt. oregon's congressional district has been severely impacted by the recent economic downturn. like oregon families throughout my state, congress must start

to learn to live within its meets. i've introduced h.r. 5363, preventing waste, fraud and abuse act of 2010. mr. schrader: the act encourages the federal government to make strategic investments to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in our entitlement programs. for every dollar we put into the program we get $1.50 to $8 back. today, we'll be voting on the improper payments elimination and recovery act of 2010. by passing this bill, we'll identify programs and activities susceptible to improper payments, identifying these programs will eliminate fraud. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, violence serves no good purpose. last week a california mob violently disagreed with a jury verdict in a high-profile case.

i have no opinion that the verdict is -- mob violence offers no solutions. i do not embrace all jury verdicts, but when i am not in agreement to jury verdicts i do not result to violence. i do not promote the smashing of glassing and stealing of goods behind those windows. mr. coble: i do not promote inflicting injury. the mob is opposed to all that is good about america. yet, few people have spoken out against it. surely the majority of americans are opposed to mob violence. i reiterate. mob violence serves no good purpose and should be deterred and rejected. i thank the speaker and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in

support of seniors across upstate new york. since coming to washington i've fought to strengthen medicare, protect social security and ensure that our seniors can retire with dignity. as a founding members of the seniors task force i was happy to introduce the seniors bill of rights, to guarantee the dignity and independence of all older americans. we need to make sure they have access to quality, affordability and long-term care. we need to protect them from scams, abuses and exploiltation and we need to provide -- exploitation and we need to provide them with safe, affordable living conditions. mr. murphy: we shouldn't advertise one rate and give them another. last year we saw the credit card act to prevent these kinds of scams. and we also worked this year to close the medicare part d doughnut hole. last month our seniors started receiving $250 checks to close that hole. and by 2012 -- 2020 it will be gone entirely. no seniors should have to choose between purchasing drugs

and medicines they need or putting food on their table. and no senior should be scammed by credit cards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. stearns: good morning. mr. speaker, as the owner of the new york yankees, george steinbrenner was known to his bravado, but to the people of my district, he was known as a gentleman horns farmer, owner and community leader. he had a tremendous impact on north central florida. in 1969 he bought the 850-acre kinsman stud horse farm in ocala. he was a local businessman. he owned the pinstripes ramada inn in ocala. he became one of the largest ben factors in the university of florida's history. he built the george steinbrenner band hall. while most of the tributes to

george steinbrenner rightfully focused on his ownership of the new york yankees, the people of north central florida, we all feel we have lost a great friend and a great neighbor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, i ran for congress to support ideas no matter whose they were to get our economy going. unemployment rates across my district in michigan are dwradually falling. there are 23,000 people that i represent that will lose their life line by the end of the year unless the republicans end their filibuster in the senate. let's be clear, our economy will worsen and our deficit will worsen if unemployment benefits aren't extended. repeat, our economy will worsen

and our deficit will worsen if unemployment benefits aren't extended at this critical time. don't take my word for it. economists of all political stripes agree, even john mccain's economic advisor, mark standy -- zandy, said, none has prove more effective in the last two years than unemployment insurance benefits providing a bang for the buck of $1.61 for every dollar of unemployment benefits. it's time for us act to provide a lifeline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. wilson: before congress adjourned before the july 4 recess i stood in this spot with a plea for the democratic leadership to do the right thing and bring the military supplemental bill forward as a clean bill for quick passage. my request and those of many of

my colleagues went unanswered. the result? our troops at risk do not have the funding they need. it is a shame that congress could not get this troop funding bill passed before the pentagon's deadline. by not passing or debating a budget, another travesty, congress certainly has had plenty of time to get this done. as a veteran myself with four sons currently serving in the military, i know we have brave men and women in uniform around the world who shouldn't have to worry about congress' failure to fund their programs and missions. we have counter insurgency operations now in iraq and afghanistan that should not be interrupted or held up by lawmakers so they can add billions of additional dollars in unrelated pet projects. in conclusion, god bless our troops, we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr.

chairman. republicans, sadly, apologized to b.p. and called wall street reform an ant being extorted by the -- being hated by the u.s. government. meanwhile they continue to say no to democratic party attempts to extend unemployment insurance women fits -- benefits for the next six months. and they are calling this -- these benefits anonymity and that they are being abused by folks who can't find a job. and this despite an analysis by the nonpartisan congressional budget office suggesting that extending unemployment benefits is the most cost-effective and fast acting way to spur the economy. congressional republicans support the special interests that benefited the george bush -- benefited from george bush policies and created the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

a decade of republican rule nearly doubled our national debt. why would we go back to that? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from montana rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rehberg: thousands of montanans are joining millions of americans speaking out. i have heard from them at seven listening sessions across montana just last week and thanks to an innovative house republican initiative called america speaking out, they can join people around the country online at americaspeakingout.com. unfortunately this majority has not been listening. when the emails and phone systems were overwhelmed by the opposition to the stimulus, they turned off their fobes. -- phones. when town hall meetings were overrun by angry constituents, they stopped holding them. when the health care takeover got too hot, they held closed door meetings and kept it off with a 1:00 a.m. vote. americans deserve better. we deserve a government that listens first and then acts. we deserves a government that

remembers who it works for. that's what i'm doing in montana and house republicans are doing online. please join me today by logging on at america speaking out.com. together we will make a difference. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. wasserman schultz: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today in protest of castro's regime's intentions to forcibly deport 52 prisoners under the guise of release. historically they have used political prisoners as pawns to extract international accessions and ease criticism. as "the washington post" pointed out in their reporting on the story, this gesture does not represent the fundamental political change. as more political dissidents die of hunger strikes in cuba, we cannot allow this hollow gesture to blind us from reality on the ground. in cuba's authoritarian dictatorships, every dollar that flows into the country props up the castro regime. in the meantime alan gross of

potomac maryland arrested for contributing cell phones to tiny jewish communities, continues to sit in prison with no hope of release. a relationship with the united states must be earned. banishing political dissidents from their homeland hardly meets that test. this trick is surely no solace for gross or others in jail. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? the gentleman is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: fidel castro showed himself on television this week to remind the world he's alive and in power despite having turned over titles to his public brother. what he does is he throws cuban patriots in the dungons and then when he starts feeling pressure he releases cuban patriots, gorts them from the country, expels them, gives them the choice. stay in the dungeon or be expelled from your country. to gain diplomatic and economic

oxygen. he wants u.s. sanctions eliminated. and he wants the european common position which ties close relationship between cuba and europe to an improvement in human rights, he wants that position eliminated. comes together, he comes together with the spanish foreign minister and they agree upon a supposed number of political prisoners, under 200 they say they are. u.s. state department in march makes clear that only those charged under so-called dangerousness, whatever that means, number 5,000. in the cuban dungeons. let's not be fooled. let's not be fooled. the solution to the cuban problem is free elections. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. diaz-balart: the release of all political prisoners is free elections for cuba. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from hawaii rise? without objection. is recognized. ms. hirono: mr. speaker, by continuing to deny the extension of unemployment benefits,

republicans have perpetuating their heartlessness on the backs of the working people of this country. last week in hilo i met a group of contractors who shared with me not only their struggles in today's difficult economy, but that of people they know who have lost their jobs. these hardworking people can't find jobs, not for lack of effort, but for lack of jobs. the fourth of july recess the house passed a bill that would extend unemployment benefits through the end of november. this extension would save 6,000 residents in hawaii from losing their benefits. every month that congress fails to act, another 2,150 people in hawaii will lose their beb fits -- benefits. this amounts to an average of $415 a week. which helps families buy food and keep a roof over their heads. for every $1 they spend, $1.60

is generated in economic growth for local businesses. we cannot turn our backs on hardworking people by taking away their unemployment benefits. the time to act is now. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, i got a letter from a really mad cajun maimed kenny, he's from louisiana and runs an oil related drilling business. it's to the president and says, quote, i am terribly troubled to find jobs for americans you make a hasty decision to stop drilling for six months. did you stop the coal mines? no. did you stop the airlines after the crashes they have had? no. now you want to shut down the oil industry for six months which will hurt tens of thousands of workers. i only hope you understand the trickle-down effect of this will have a disaster on many industries. mr. speaker, the rest of the letter gets a little more colorful but he wants to know why the president is

intentionally putting him out of business. maybe the president will write him back. meanwhile, the ill-advised deepwater drilling ban is putting people out of work and the second disaster in the gulf of mexico. that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? mr. yarmuth: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. yarmuth: senate republicans continue to refuse to allow the extension of unemployment benefits to the american people. let me tell you what that does in my state f we don't extend those benefits within a very short period of time, 125,000 connecticut kentuckians will be without the -- kentuckians will be without the needs to support their families. we are talking about $125 million a month that will not be spent in the kentucky economy. multiply that across the country and you see the incredible effect it can have. i don't think that republicans really mean it when they say, we are ok with supporting it but we want to pay for it. they didn't say the same thing

when they got into two wars. or anonymity prescription drug benefit and passed tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. you can't build a political philosophy on the pain and suffering of the american people. but that's the only conclusion that i can reach. they figure create as much pain and damage as you can create and then the american people will brain the party in power for it. that's the pretty cynical way to approach the lives of american people and kentuckyans. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? without objection, so ordered. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to honor the recent accolades of the third congressional district of texas. while i know it's a great place to live, work, and raise a family, clearly other notable and even national publications have paid attention, too. for example d magazine put the

spotlight on the best suburbs for dallas. 11 out of all 11 cities in the third district, outside of dallas ranked among the top. parker, murphy, allen, plano, richardson, and others. "money" magazine just named mckenny texas as the fifth most desirable place to live in the nation. while allen took 16th. in addition, newsweek featured the 10 third district high schools in june as america's best high schools. my hat goes off to the people who make texas places so special and the leaders who had the vision and courage to make their dreams for these communities a reality. congratulations to all. god bless you. i salute you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to pay tribute to

tony durham, a gentleman in my community who passed away a few days ago. tony was known as the mayor of west madison street where he ran a used appliance business, fixed air conditioners, stoves, heaters, anything that needed fixing, tony could do it. he was passionately involved in politics, ran for office more than 40 years ago. he did not win the election, but he did win a place in the hearts and minds of the people and i pay tribute to him and his life today. and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? the gentleman is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: thank you, mr. speaker. this week we have seen that the castro dictatorship has released a handful of political prisoners in an attempt to try to win concessions from the european union and the united states. this is not the first time they have done that.

at the same time the obama administration recognizes that there are about 5,000 cubans held in the gulags of that nation for the charge of dangerousness. those are 5,000 additional political prisoners that languish in prison. we got to remember who the castro regime, who they are. this week alone they blame the united states for sinking the south korean ship that killed 46 sailors earlier this year. they blamed the united states. this is the same regime that holds an american hostage, mr. allen gross a. jewish american contractor providing humanitarian aid to cuban jews within that island and nation. this is the same regime that last month fidel castro himself compared israel to nazi germany. and yet some want to give concessions to that regime. some want to help that regime with billions of dollars. let's demand elections and freedom for the cuban people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

for what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio rise? without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, today i rise to call on my colleagues and particularly my colleagues in the senate and those republicans to give much needed relief to 15 million out-of-work americans and extend unemployment compensation insurance benefits. it is unprecedented not to do so at a time of high unemployment. ms. kilroy: over 10% in my district. i take strong issue with comments that the unemployed don't want to work. that they aren't looking for jobs. they do. they want to pay their bills. they want to support their families. make those utility payments, put food on their table, send their children to college. but right now i have talked to anguished hardworking men and women who have lost jobs in their factories closed and been

looking continuously for work. it's not yet there. they are looking for these jobs. but they need this help now. it is time that we extend unemployment compensation. and give these hardworking citizens the help that they need. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from nevada rise? ms. titus: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. titus: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor army sergeant matthew hen began, a res. -- henigan, a resident of nevada who was killed in action in afghanistan. sergeant henigan was a strong-willed and brave soldier who never turned down an opportunity to serve. with a contagious smile and a warm personality, sergeant henigan was a strong and fearless soldier and a friend to many. he's remembered about his fellow soldiers as a modeled citizen, a strong warrior and a

respected leader. he was an inspirational captain of the silverado high school wrestling team in his senior year and he answered the call to serve his nation at the young age of 18. did he so with valor and dignity. matthew henigan is a true american hero. he epitomizes the best this country has to offer. let us always honor his memory, never forget his sacrifice and promise to be there for his family in this sad time. god bless our troops. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, this morning a team of iroquois indians attempted to board a plane to the united kingdom where they would represent the iroquois nation. again, they were denied entry because they were traveling on

their own people's passport instead of the british or canadian. they refused the passport unless the u.s. said it was officially ok but the u.s. refused to do so. even though dozens of iroquois has traveled overseas with these documents. mr. maffei: they willingly subjected themselves to fingerprinting and background checks. but to this team, accepting u.s. passports would be akin to renouncing their own national and ethnic identity. the homeland security has refused to allow the team to travel as a member of indian nation. "chariots of fire", the man in the movie is a true man of principle.

this team is a true team of principle. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, recently senator john -- jon kyl called unemployment insurance an unnecessary evil. i've been mystified about how the republicans could refeetedly block unemployment benefits in a struggling economy that they drove into the ditch. i couldn't grasp this reasoning behind depriving millions of american families to support the need to buy fooned pay their mortgage while they searched for work. now, i understand that republicans believe that helping jobless workers is an evil. i foolishly thought we might hear some compassion from the party that is causing countless americans to lose their

lifeline. i just hope that enough republicans in the other body will find the colonel to buck their party and end this -- courage to buck their party and end this. millions of american families are counting on them. their phone calls come into my office every single day from every part of the country. when will the extended benefits be put back in? and i say, look to the republicans in the senate. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under claws 6 of rule 20 -- clause 6 of rule 20. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to the bill s. 1508.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 1508, an act to amend the impour payments elimination and recovery act in order to prevent the loss of billions in taxpayer dollars. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. davis: and now, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: mr. speaker, the office of management and budget recently reported that the federal government made $98 billion in improper in overpayments last year. this is a staggering amount and completely unacceptable. no family or business in

america would tolerate being charged twice or overbilled for anything and neither should our government. we need to do everything we can to ensure that the government spends every tax dollar in the most responsible way possible. in fact, we have an obligation to the taxpayers to fight waste, fraud and abuse and to ensure that if the government overpays for something it has the means to recover those precious tax dollars. the bill we're now considering, s. 1508, the improper payments elimination and recovery act of 2010, will provide the government with the means to fulfill this obligation to the taxpayers. senate 1508 amends the impour payments information act of 2002 to require the head of

each federal agency to review agency programs and activities every three fiscal years and identify those programs that mabe susceptible to significant improper payments. if agency heads determine that significant overpayments have occurred they must then recover them by following the procedures in the act. the bill also requires the agencies which make significant improper payments to implement internal controls and other procedures to help eliminate any future improper payments. the house passed the companion bill, h.r. 3393, the improper payments elimination act of 2009, introduced by representative jay murphy on april 28, 2010, by a voice

vote. they have small but important changes from base text in h.r. 3393. s. 1508 strengthens the bill by requiring recovery audit contractors to report the fraud they find and to conduct appropriate training on the means and methods to do so. s. 1508 also requires the agencies to report to congress and o.m.b. their actions and plans to address the recommendations they received from the audit recovery contractors. s. 1508 provides the federal government with the tools needed to prevent mistakes and overpayments in the first place and recover funds that are paid in error. it makes federal agencies more accountable for properly managing taxpayer funds. the bill requires agencies to

develop and report corrective action plans based on error rates and creates incentives for meeting their goals. importantly, the bill gives the agencies the means to go after the funds they have overpaid, which will make the taxpayer agencies program and activities which relied on those appropriations whole. we live in a time when our government is under extreme fiscal demand, and we need to do everything possible to ensure that every tax dollar goes to where it is needed. to ensure this takes place, we need to provide our federal agencies with the tools to properly manage their spending. we also need to give the agencies the ability to follow through with their oversight and provide them with the ability to recover erroneous payments. however, we cannot stop there.

we must do everything we can to ensure that federal agencies that make improper payments fix the problems that allowed the improper payments in the first place. i would like to thank representatives murphy, bilbray, towns and issa for working together in a truly bipartisan manner to get this important piece of legislation enacted into law. s. 1508 is a commonsense, good government bill, and i encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this. i thank you, mr. speaker, and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of senate bill 1508, the improper payments elimination and recovery act of 2010. the amount of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars by federal agencies is absolutely

staggering. the office of management and budget, the o.m.b., has reported that nearly $100 billion is wasted each year as a result of mistakes by our federal agencies when paying for products and services. last year nearly -- roughly $98 billion was lost to improper payments. $98 billion. the result of fraud or poor financial management. half of this came from medicare and medicaid programs alone. $98 billion is more than double the budget of the department of homeland security. at a time when our country's facing record budget deficits we cannot afford to lose billions of dollars each year to mistakes and fraud. mr. speaker, in april of this year, the house passed h.r. 3393, the companion to senate bill 1508. the senate has since made improvements to the legislation that will strengthen our ability to eliminate improper payments and recover lost funds. like h.r. 3393, senate bill

1508 helps prevent improper payments by requiring agencies to report the corrective action plans and improper of payment reduction targets used to remedy their payment error problems. it lowers the reporting threshold for improper payments and expands the use of recovering auditing by recovering that all agencies that outlays more than $1 million perform recovery programs to increase the recovery of overpayments. senate bill 1508 strengthens h.r. 3393 by require additional training and ensures that agencies takes actions by requiring agencies to report to the o.m.b. and to congress on the measures that they are taking. mr. speaker, i urge all of my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation to help stop the waste, fraud and abuse of the taxpayer dollars. we should expect nothing less. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois.

mr. davis: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to one of the key people in the development of this legislation, my colleague, mr. bilbray from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bilbray: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the gentleman from utah. mr. speaker, i enjoyed working with patrick murphy, the gentleman from pennsylvania, developing this bill. really looking at creating a transparent process so that the american people can finally see what they have been telling washington for a long time existed. while this is a small step, it is a good example of what the american people have been demanding over the years, but especially just recently. i think all of us that go home and talk to our constituents understand the exchanges with the average citizen for a member of congress recently has been, let's just say, brisk, to say the least. and one of the greatest things the american people are upset about is the feeling that their money is not being handled appropriately, that the dollars

and cents that the federal government is taking from them after they work hard for every dollar and cent is not being handled in an appropriate way that they feel confident with. today, we're going to take an action that is a small step. it's not going to solve a problem, but it is very much an indication of the kind of action the american people have been demanding. the fact is it's time that the bipartisan forces in this congress and in future congresses understand that our greatest responsibility and obligation is not to the party leaders, republican or democrat, but to the fax pears who pay our salary, but more importantly trust us with their hard-earned money to use it appropriately and responsibly. . mr. speaker, when we talk with this year facing a $1.2 trillion deficit, i think we have to recognize it's time we start doing what the mesh people -- american people are demanding.

ending improper payments is the low hanging fruit right now. basically there for the picking. and that's probably why we are able to do it today. frankly according to budget and management office, we are talking about approximately $98 billion. now, $98 billion seems to be an abstract, but when you consider the fact that that is almost twice what we spend on homeland security budget. we talk about defending our neighbors, trying to secure our borders, trying to make sure terrorism stays out of our communities. we talk a lot about that. but when we recognize that we are now giving away wrongly twice as much money as we spend on our own homeland security, i think the american people have a reason to be outraged and justifiably so. by working in a bipartisan manner we have been able to get the senate to cooperate and craft a solution for this long-standing problem. frankly i think our bill really

does set the goal that we should try to follow. and that is let's find out how much more we can cooperate, how many more dollars we can save, and how much more credibility we can finally start bringing back to this body from the american people for the american people. our bill is endorsed by the budget watchdog organizations like the national taxpayers union, the council on citizens against government waste. mr. speaker, i have the privilege of serving as the ranking member on -- for the subcommittee on procurement. and i not onlyly strongly ask my colleagues to support this bill, but i'd like to leave you with a question, and a question for republicans and democrats. but most importantly a question the american people would like to ask, and that is, how much more could we save if this congress is brave enough to look deeper into our budget and our expenditures? how much more could we be saving

for the taxpayer or providing to the citizens if we were brave enough to really audit our own books the way we expect the private sector and citizens to do every year? if we only had the bravery to look in and find the truth and take action on it, i think when we go back to our districts there would be a different welcome, a different type of response. and frankly i think the response we have received in the past is one that we deserve. hopefully with -- we have earned the right to deserve a more positive response from the constituents when we take this action and follow it up with more concrete action to make sure that we do maintain the trust. so again i ask the congress let's take this as a first step. i appreciate the support of my colleague from his great state to be able to say let's work together, let's stop being in

denial that there isn't more that congress ought to do to maintain the integrity of our budget process. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield such time as he might consume to one of the persons who worked extremely hard to bring this legislation to the floor and to craft a very excellent piece of legislation, representative murphy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you so much for the time. mr. speaker, i do want to thank my colleague from the other side of the aisle, republican representative brian bilbray, from california, for partnering with me on this bipartisan bill for commitment to fiscal responsibility. i also want to thank the other chamber over in the senate, senator tom carper, for his tireless efforts in advancing

this legislation over in that other body and his colleague on this bill, senator john mccain. this delegation is proof that good things can happen when democrats and republicans are willing to work together and put their differences aside for commonsense measures to get things done for the american taxpayer. i am so proud that after two years of hard work on this piece of legislation, mr. bilbray and i have we vote on this today in this house because it passed in the senate will be sending this bill to the president of the united states for signature and it will become law. in this time of tightened belts and strained budgets, it is more important than ever to get our fiscal house in order and to eliminate waste from our system and make sure that we earn the trust of the american taxpayer. mr. speaker, my bill, the improper payment elimination and recovery act, is a bipartisan,

commonsense solution to cut waste from the federal budget and stremline the payment systems of federal agencies. mr. speaker, i know the american people would be horrified to learn that every day the federal government either overpays or pays twice the amount for products and services that they need to. in fiscal year 2009 alone, federal agencies make nearly $98 billion, $98 billion in improper payments. these are proper payments occur as a result of fraud or from poor financial management systems that do not detect or prevent mistakes before federal dollars are already at the door. this bill, our bill, will help identify, reduce, and eliminate these improper payments. it will cut fraud and abuse by requiring agencies to develop action plans to avoid improper payments.

mr. speaker, i think now is the time that we must demand higher levels of fiscal management and accountability from each federal agency. there need to be repercussionings of money -- repercussions of money spent and wasted. that is why this legislation contains strong measures to hold those in power accountable for fouling the american taxpayers. and perhaps most importantly, this legislation would force the federal government to reclaim more money that was improperly sent out. my bill ensures that the federal government holds itself to the same standard of fiscal responsibility as any hardworking household or any business would across america and in my home district in pennsylvania. it will save taxpayers, the american taxpayers, billions of dollars that would otherwise be lost. no, mr. speaker, we already know

that this legislation will work. by setting stricter targets for reducing and recovering improper payments, the office of management and budget was able to reduce errors in the food stamp program by little more than half a percentage point. but those steps and a fraction of a percent, just a fraction, saved the american taxpayer, $330 million just last year. that's one little program and one little agency, half a percentage point. that's $330 million. that's $330 million that goes to pay off our national debt, provide tax relief to middle class families, or make critical investments in our future. with this bill we can replicate that success in every single federal agency and every program within the federal government. mr. speaker, quite frankly, we

all know that this legislation is long overdue. the american people are demanding that this kind of action from our government today will happen. and it's about time. so i want to thank mr. bilbray, i want to thank chairman towns and ranking member darrell issa. i urge my colleagues to vote yes and finally as the years of hard work that we pass this legislation on behalf of the american taxpayer. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. cha fates: -- mr. chaffetz: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: thank you very much, mr. speaker. my father always taught us that a penny saved was a penny earned. and of course if it's good enough for our families it's

certainly good enough for our national government. i compliment the gentlemen on the development. it's an excellent piece of legislation. urge its passage and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1508. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. mr. davis: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain staining -- standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. 7 -- sfrl

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. davis: i move the house suspend the rules and agree to the bill h.r. 5390. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5390, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 13301 smith road in cleveland, ohio, as the david john donafee post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield such time as he might consume to the author of this legislation, the gentleman from cleveland, ohio, representative kucinich.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. kucinich: i thank my colleague and all members for their support. mr. davis, mr. chaffetz, and my colleague, ms. sutton. mr. speaker, i'm proud to offer today h.r. 5390 which renames the office located at 13301 smith road in cleveland, ohio, as the david john donafee post office building. i would like to thank chairman lynch for his efforts to bring h.r. 5390 to the floor of the house. david john donafee was a lifelong ohioan who committed his life to family and community. he was born and raised in brook park, ohio, and graduated from high zool in -- school in berea. he served as a postal carrier for 14 years.

his co-workers knew david for his positive spirit, sense of humor, and willingness to go out of his way for anyone. one co-worker remarked, he was the guy that made the place a little better. david was well-known in local hockey community for his support of and involvement in his son's youth hockey league. he announced and scored the games. he was the heart of all the teams, according to his wife. mr. speaker, on february 14, 2008, valentine's day, david donafee was walking his mail route in parma heights, ohio, delivering the mail to people on his route just like he did every other day. but this day was different. he was struck by a car while in the line of his duties as a postal worker, as a mail carrier.

and he was killed. his tragic death resounded in the community and resounded with his co-workers. he left behind his wife, sandy, and their two sons, derek and liam. and my thoughts and thoughts of people in the community continue to be with the donafee family as they adjust to life without their beloved david. in honoring david john donafee by naming a post office building after him, we actually honor all those who deliver the mail. showing that when something like an unexpected tragedy happens that this congress does appreciate the work of those who make it possible for the commerce of the country to move by virtue of the mail. and so i ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the life of david john donafee and in honoring his legacy i urge

passage of 5390, and it's appropriate i reserve the balance of my time. also, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert in the record several news stories about mr. donafee and his family. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed without amendment, to amend the effective date of the gift card provisions of the credit cart responsibility disclosure act of 2009. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i rise in support of h.r. 539, 0 -- h.r. 5390, to

to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 13301 smith road in cleveland, ohio, as the david john donafee post office building. i appreciate the good work that my colleague, mr. kucinich, has done and his heartfelt sincere approach to recognizing this great gentleman and the tragic situation but also the great life that he led. mr. speaker, it's altogether fitting and proper that we honor mr. donafee by naming this post office in cleveland for him. it was out of this post office that he was based. on february 14, valentine's day, 2008, david donafee was delivering the mail on foot in ohio only minutes from the post office on smith road. as he was crossing york road near independence boulevard mr. donafee was struck and killed by a vehicle driving recklessly down the street. tragically, the 42-year-old husband and father of two was run over only blocks from the post office to be named in his memory. he was killed in a route that

is notorious for some dangerous driving. i hope that tragic circumstance of mr. donafee's death will serve as a call for safer driving on all roads across our country. prior to his career of delivering mail, mr. donafee had worked in the cleveland area steel mill to which he told family members it was too dangerous of a place to work. his older brother recalls, dote, david took the job in the post office so he cohave a safer place to work, end quote. sadly, the 14-year veteran of the postal service couldn't escape the danger he tried to get away from. mr. donafee is remembered about his wife as a great father and by co-workers as a generous man who would do anything for you. he had a wonderful sense of humor and according to mail carriers, he was the guy who made the place better, end quote. mr. donafee was very involved in his brunswick youth hockey league. he was born in 1965 in ohio. he leaves behind his wife,

sandy, of almost 18 years and his two teenage sons, derrick and liam. our heart goes out to his family. mr. speaker, it's proper that we pass this resolution to honor the memory of david john donafee. i call on all members of this house to support this measure and hope they know that members of the postal community, the greater postal community, those who work and serve every day in their lives for this small gesture we can remember them and that gives some degree of comfort to that family and that we always remember them. i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. now i would yield such time as she might consume to the gentlewoman from ohio, representative betty sutton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mr. sutton: i thank my colleague, congressman kucinich, for his efforts and leadership on this legislation. david john donafee was a 42-year-old letter carrier for the u.s. postal service who

lived in the congressional district that i am so honored to serve. he lived in the city of brunswick. and sadly david was crossing the street while walking his route when he was fatally hit by a car on february 14, 2008. david was a devoted husband, a father, a son, a brother, a brother-in-law and uncle and he was very involved in the community in children's hockey. for 14 years david delivered the mail, and to paraphrase the u.s. postal service's motto, he went about his life with duty, honor and pride. neither stone nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night nor the winds of change nor a nation challenged saved david from the swift completion of his appointed rounds. but tragically a reckless

driver did. our hearts remain with sandy, his wife, his children and the entire donafee family. david's death was a tragedy that should not have happened. while we are honoring his life by naming the post office after him, as it should be, we also have a duty to remind drivers to yield to pedestrians crossing the street. we know that this small gesture will not close the hole in the donafee family's hearts, but we want them to know that we care and we appreciate all that he did for our community. he connected us one with another. with this post office naming, we will remind people of david's noble service and we will remind each other of our obligation to look out one for another. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time.

the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. now i will yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: mr. speaker, on behalf of the house committee on oversight and government reform, i rise in support of h.r. 5390, a bill designating the facility of the united states postal service located at 13301 smith road in cleveland, ohio, as the david john donafee post office building. h.r. 5390 was introduced by my colleague, the gentleman from ohio, representative dennis kucinich, on may 25, 2010. it was referred to the:on oversight and government reform -- it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform and it was reported out on june 17, 2010. the measure has the bipartisan support of 17 members of the ohio delegation.

mr. david john donafee was a letter carrier for the united states postal service for 14 years, an active member of his community, mr. donafee volunteered with the youth hockey league in his town of apartmenter, ohio. tragically he passed away -- parmer, ohio. tragically he passed away on february 14, 2008, at the age of 42 after being struck by the driver of a car while delivering mail on his regular route. he is survived by his wife, sandy, and two sons, derrick and liam. mr. speaker, mr. donafee's untimely death during the course of his duty as a letter carrier is deeply saddened. let us now pay tribute to this man's life through the passage of h.r. 5390. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5390. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. davis: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendments to the bill h.r. 4840. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4840, an act -- an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 1981 cleveland avenue in columbus, ohio, as the clarence d. lumpkin post office. senate amendments. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. davis: and now, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: on behalf of the house committee of oversight and government reform, i rise in support of h.r. 4840, a bill designating the united states postal facility located at 1981 cleveland avenue, in columbus, ohio, as the clarence d. lump kin post office. h.r. -- lumpkin post office. h.r. 4840 was introduced by my colleague, the gentleman from ohio, patrick tiberi. it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform which reported it by unanimous consent on march 18, 2010. the measure passed the senate with an amendment correcting the address by unanimous

consent on may 25, 2010. it has bipartisan support from 17 members of the ohio delegation. mr. clarence lumpkin was born in 1925 and spent years as a community activist in columbus, ohio. he's often affectionately referred to as the mayor of lyndon, a neighborhood in the northern part of the city. among his many accomplishments, mr. lumpkin helped the grant task force, to separate storm and sanitation sewers, to stop basement blooding, led drug marches throughout columbus, made lyndon the first inner city community with lights on every residential street and improved the lyndon area by including the point of pride concept that was first shared by city leaders in a speech given in 1974. before moving to lyndon mr.

lumpkin served in the united states army and is a veteran of world war ii. mr. speaker, clarence lumpkin has spent his life serving his community and his country, doing everything he could to improve the lives of his fellow citizens. i urge my colleagues to join me in honoring this great american by supporting this resolution, and i would reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i rise in support of h.r. 4840, designating the united states postal service located at 1981 cleveland avenue in columbus, ohio, as the clarence dmpt lumpkin post office. mr. speaker, h.r. 4840 was passed by this body on march 21, 2010, but a vote of 420 -- by a vote of 420-0. it had an incorrect street

number with the address. with the correction being made, i fully support the passage of h.r. 4840. i urge all members to join me in supporting this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: we have no additional speakers, mr. speaker, so we'll yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 4840. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendments are agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. davis: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the

rules and agree to the bill h.r. 5450. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5450, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 3894 crenshaw boulevard in los angeles, california, as the tom bradley post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. davis: and now, mr. speaker, i would yield such time as she might consume to the author of this legislation, representative diane watson of los angeles, california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. watson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 5450. i would also like to thank the members of the california

delegation for supporting this bill. h.r. 5450 would designate a post office in my district located at 3894 crenshaw boulevard in los angeles, california, as the tom bradley post office building. tom bradley served as the mayor of los angeles for an unprecedented 20 years. as a city councilman for 10 years and as a los angeles police officer for 21 years. tom bradley, the son of share croppers and the grandson of a former slave, was born on december 29, 1970 to lee and kiner bradley in calvert, texas. in 1924, the bradleys moved to los angeles near temple and alvarado streets.

he attended polytech nick high school where he starred in track and an all-city football player. upon graduating high school in 1937, bradley attended the university of california at los angeles on a track scholarship and doing his junior year at ucla, bradley dropped out to attend the los angeles police academy. after becoming a police officer in 197 -- in 1940 -- correction -- and serving many years in the department, tom bradley would rise to the rank of lieutenant which was the highest rank for an african-american at that time. . while working for the los angeles police department, bradley studied at night at southwestern university school of law and received his law degree in 1956. he later passed the state bar and in 1961 he would leave the

lapd to practice law. in 1963 tom bradley along with billy mills would become the first african-americans elected to the los angeles city council. bradley would serve on the city council until the year 1972. and during his tenure on the city council, he would speak out against racial segregation within the lapd as well as his apartment's handling of the watts riots in 1965. in 1969, tom braddy first challenged incumbent mayor sam yarhey. armed with key endorsements, bradley held a substantial lead over him in the primary but was a few percentage points shy of winning the race outright. however in the runoff yardy pulled an amazing

come-from-behind victory to win re-election primarily because he played racial politics. in 1973 tom bradley was would unseat sam yardy to become los angeles' first african-american mayor and the second african-american to be mayor of a major united states city. during tom bradley's tenure as mayor, los angeles overtook san francisco as the financial capital of the state. and much of the west. the city of los angeles sprouted a skyline of new and impressive office buildings and with a booming international airport and port of los angeles. the city became a transportation hub and gateway to the pacific rim. in 1982 as the democratic party

nominee, tom bradley lost the race for california governor to george by less than one percentage point of the vote. the racial dynamics that appeared to underlie his narrow and unexpected loss in 1982 gave rise to the political term, the tom bradley effect. in 1984 amid a chorus of people predicting disaster, tom bradley championed los angeles as the host of the summer olympics. the games were a huge success. bringing the city not only great publicity but a $250 surplus and i am happy to announce that that surplus has grown and it still remains around $300 million.

tom bradley's most difficult moments as mayor came in the last years of his tenure. during the 1992 los angeles riots, more than 50 people were killed and the civil unrest following the acquittal of the police officers involved in the rodney king beating. during his speech in september of 1992 when bradley announced he would not seek a sixth term as mayor, he stated, the april unrest tore at my heart and i will not be at peace until we have healed our wounds and rebuilt our neighborhoods. let us all, every one of us pledge to make los angeles a beacon of mutual respect, justice, and tolerance from this day forward. the words of tolerance, justice, and respect were how tom bradley

lived his life, governed the city of los angeles, and created coalitions with people from every race, religious, and ethnic background. at the age of 80 tom bradley died on september 29, 1998. he was survived by his late wife, ethel bradley, and their two daughters, lorraine and fillis. -- phyllis. the city of los angeles will never have a mayor that has served as long as tom bradley and have the type of impact and influence he commanded. for this congress to give tom bradley this honor would be fitting due to his life's work as a public servant working to bring justice and prosperity to

all citizens of los angeles. and i proudly, mr. speaker, would like all of you to know tom bradley followed my father who was a police officer in los angeles and he was proud to say that he helped to train him. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5450. i yield back the balance of my time. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 5450 to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 3894 crenshaw boulevard in los angeles, california, as the tom bradley post office building. mr. speaker, it is altogether fitting that -- and proper we name this post office in los angeles for the late mayor, tom bradley, a man who tirelessly

and selfishly served the citizens of los angeles and truly embroaded you -- embodied the quintessential success story. he was the son of sharecroppers and grandson of a slave. in 1924 he mov to los angeles where he was raised by a single mother and excelled in school and athletics. upon graduation from high school, mayor bradley attended the university of california at los angeles, ucla, where he ran track and field. as well as multiple records and eventually became the team captain. when he graduated from ucla in 1940, mayor bradley joined the los angeles police department and eventually was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and was the first african-american in the department's history to attain that rank. while working for the lapd mr. bradley attended southwestern law school in night and graduated in 1956. he passed the state bar in california on the first try and in 1961 resigned from the lapd so he could practice law

full-time. mr. speaker, like so many of us, tom bradley entered politics because he cared about the community in which he resided. in 1949 he volunteered for an l.a. city council campaign and during his time with the lapd he became an active in the democratic minority conference and the california democratic council. in 1963 he threw his hat into the political ring and was elected to the los angeles city council, representing the city's 10th district. that year marked the first time in the city's history that a african-american was elected to the city council. bradley being one of those three. after winning re-election in 1967, the always ambitious bradley ran for mayor of los angeles in 1969. after winning the primary, he lost in a runoff in his bid for mayor. not discouraged by his outcome on the first try, he ran in 1973 this time beating sam yardy. he became the first african-american elected as mayor of los angeles. mayor bradley was able to win by

building a multiethic coalition that transcended race. he would go on to serve five consecutive terms during his 20 years in office, mayor bradley did much more for the citizens of -- much for the citizens of los angeles. gave international providence as the gateway to the pacific rim. not only did bradley promote and expand international trade and travel, he many improved social services in the lives of those struggle most in the inner city. he doubled the number of minorities of and women serving in the city hall. aside from the economic development and skyline of new and impressive buildings indowntown, los angeles, many would argue his greatest accomplishment surrounded the 1984 summer olympics. hosted in los angeles. amid much skepticism mayor bradley was able to not only bring the games to los angeles but he helped make them a huge success. los angeles received fame and

publicity and when the games left town los angeles had a $250 million surplus that continues to grow. after serving five terms as mayor, tom bradley resigned from his post in 1993. he was the city's longest serving mayor. tragically in 1996 he suffered a debilitating stroke that left him partially paralyzed but not able to speak. then on september 29, 1998, mayor bradley passed away after suffering a heart attack. he was 80. surviving him was his wife of 57 years, ethel bradley, as well as his two daughters, lorraine and phyllis. mr. speaker, in closing i leave this body with a growth from mayor bradley upon his resignation where he said, quote, let us all, every one of us, pledge to make los angeles a beacon of mutual respect, justice, and tolerance from this day forward. end quote. i firmly believe this is a pledge that not only los angelesans should take but all

americans should consider. it is proper we pass this legislation in honor of the memory of mayor tom bradley, a true american hero and success story. you urge all members to support this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: mr. speaker, on behalf of the house committee on oversight and government reform, i am pleased to present h.r. 5450 for consideration. this measure would designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 3894 crenshaw boulevard in los angeles, california, as the tom bradley post office building. h.r. 5450 was introduced by my colleagues, the gentlewoman from california, representative diane watson, on may 27, 2010. it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform which ordered it reported

favorably by unanimous consent on june 17, 2010. the measure enjoys the bipartisan support of 52 members of the california delegation. mr. speaker, tom bradley was born on december 29, 1917, in calvert, texas. the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of former slaves. mr. bradley achieved many firsts over the course of his career in los angeles where he moved with his family as a child. he was the first african-american lieutenant in the los angeles police department. where he served for 22 years. he took night classes at the southwestern university school of law during this time and received a law degree in 1956. in 1963 he was elected to the

los angeles city council and was its first african-american member. he was also the city's first african-american mayor, as well as the longest serving mayor in the city's history. serving from 1974 to 1994. mr. bradley was a physically imposing figure, standing well over six feet tall, but his manner was soft, low key, and common. he helped lead los angeles through difficult times, including the first energy crisis of 1973 to 1974 and helped to boost economic development and investment in the city. following the riots associated with the rodney king incident in 1992, mr. bradley along with

then governor pete wilson formed the rebuild los angeles task force, an extensive effort to revitalize the city. mr. bradley also formed the christopher commission in july of 1991 charging it with conducting a full, fair examination of the structure and operation of the los angeles police department, including its recruitment and training. practices, internal disciplinary system, and citizen complaint system. so, mr. speaker, mr. bradley's leadership vision for his community and skill as a consciencious administrator are inspirations to us all. let us now pay tribute to this great american through the passage of h.r. 5450. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i have no additional speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i have no additional speakers. again i commend representative diane watson for introducing this legislation. it deserves all of our votes and i urge its passage. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5450. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. .

>> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5712, to provide for certain clarifications and extensions under medicare, medicaid and the children's health insurance program. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to provide for certain clarifications and extensions under medicare, medicaid and the children's health insurance program. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. stark, and the gentleman from california, mr. herger, each

will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. stark: mr. speaker. i'd ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and yield to my colleague, the distinguished ranking member of the health subcommittee such time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman reserve his time? mr. stark: i verve my time. thank you. -- i reserve my time. thank you. mr. herger: thank you, mr. speaker. the majority is bringing for fixes to the flaws of the health care overhaul. some were oversights, the likes of which we are here today to address. however, the majority has failed to rectify the fundamentally flawed policies

that threaten our economic stability in america's health care all the while driving federal and state budgets down a further unsustainable path. mr. speaker, where is the fix for the up to 117 million americans with health insurance from their employers that buy the -- that, by the administration's own estimates, will not be able to keep the plan they have? that promise was repeatedly made by president obama and the democratic majority to assure to american people that health care overhaul would not force them into a one-size-fits-all government-approved insurance plan. unfortunately, this has repeatedly proven to be false. where is the fix for the millions of small businesses that will be forced to file

1099 tax forms for each business for which they purchased more than $600 worth of goods and services during this year? the national federation of independent business, nfib, described these new requirements as crippling, and it will further divert investment away from jobs which should be our number one concern. mr. speaker, where is the fix for seniors who medicare coverage is threatens by the health care overhaul? medicare's own actuaries found that the half a trillion dollars in medicare cuts could jeopardize access to care for seniors. furthermore, the actuaries predict millions of seniors will lose their medicare plan because massive cuts to the program will result in about

50% of seniors no longer being in a plan. unfortunately, the merits of today's legislation pale in comparison to the merits of addressing the needs of millions of americans losing the plan they have, the small businesses facing burdensome new costs and regulation and seniors relying on medicare. when would these pressing needs be addressed? mr. speaker, while i support the bill before us, it is not enough. we must move beyond mere technical corrections and fix the fundamental flaws of the democrats' health care law by repealing it and replacing it with solutions that work. and, mr. speaker, i yield the remainder of my time to the

gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska is recognized. mr. terry: i'll verve at this -- i'll reserve at this point. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from nebraska will control their time. the gentleman from california. mr. stark: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. stark: in support of 5712, it's a small but important bill. it's fully paid for and contains time-sensitive, mostly technical changes that strengthen the programs that care for the health of our nation's veterans, senior citizens and children. i appreciate the support of my distinguished ranking member for this bill, and it's supported by the children's

hospitals, the american hospital association, federation of american hospitals, and most of the health care groups. and we can proceed on issues concerning other matters at another time. and at this point i would yield to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. waxman -- the balance of my time. mr. waxman: mr. speaker, i reserve the time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlemafrom california will control the time. and the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from nebraska. mr. terry: thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. terry: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to announce that as a representative of the energy and commerce committee that we're not opposed to this bill and we're pleased with these corrections.

it's especially important that our veterans access to care is not impeded or delayed and that these other corrections will improve the efficiency and effectiveness that some of the programs that our citizens depend on the most. this bill, as the gentleman from california mentioned, is budget neutral. in fact, it may be even as much as a $50 million savings if everything goes right here, which i think is important. it's a small number in regard to the $1 trillion deficit that we've already hit by the end of june and the $1.5 trillion that we may experience for this year . i'd like to see a budget where i think we're missing an opportunity with items like this where we can save $50 million here. hopefully save $50 million here. if we had a budget it could be part of a long -- a master plan

to reduce our deficits and empower private sector to create jobs. these are technical corrections that are necessary, but this is what happens when the majority works in secret, crafts legislation that doesn't receive the input from others, the minority side. and frankly i wouldn't be surprised that after drastically altering the health care system so quickly that we'll have many more technical corrections necessary as time goes on. the technical errors, however, are hardly the biggest problems facing this country's health care system. far worse are the looming ill-effects of the majority's basic policy mistakes. who doesn't know the problems in that they refused to exercise the fundamental right

of the house to conduct oversight hearings on how this is set up. the grandfather clause has already been very confusing. this is what we'll have to look out for as the health care bill proceeds. now, just for the record, let's consider some of the problems that we face from this bill. the law will cut $575 billion out of medicare, concerning me equally as much is it's with no direction from congress. leaving these decisions to health and human services and the center for medicare and medicaid services. in nebraska in my district, many of my seniors rely on medicare advantage as a program , but $145 billion will be taken from medicare advantage, reducing the enrollment, according to the nonpartisan estimates by as much as 50%.

it will raise spending nearly 90% for states in medicaid programs squeezing state taxpayers and crippling state budgets. despite the claims that the bill would lower health care costs and deficits, the chief actuary of medicine has since concluded that spending won't go down, it will actually go up as many people believed. and remember the promise that if you like your coverage you can keep it with the new grandfathering rules that are being rolled out, it is now estimated that -- and this is the administration's estimate that as many as 66% of small businesses will not be eligible to keep what they have and we'll have to accept something from the exchange which will be preapproved by h.h.s. we're also learning the

rescission -- the recession might worsen now because employers hasn't expanded. we're hearing from many employers, articles in "the wall street journal" that they're sitting on cash because they don't want to spend now, be hit with these higher costs and then half to lay off later. so it's resting investment in hiring new workers because workers don't know the costs of implementation of this health care bill. now, the democrats at every lefment are in hiding mode. they don't want a new public debate on this. we had a recess appointment of dr. donald berwick, who is a great intellectual on medical savings, particularly in a british system that says a

rationing type of system that relies on a mathematical formula of age as well as comparative effectiveness. and the comparative effectiveness provision in this bill provides dr. berwick cart blanche to implement those type of british policies. this won't be the last time that we hear about health care, but probably we won't hear about it until after november 2. the american people know why. i can only hope that we choose to conduct oversight of the new health care law and fix its disastrous effects. and at this time i will continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: mr. speaker and my colleagues, i rise to join everybody else who has spoken

in favor of this bill and urge passage of h.r. 5712, the veterans, seniors and children's health technical corrections act. it's a small set of noncontroversial changes to the law needed to provide for the smooth functioning of the medicare, medicaid, child health insurance or championship program as well as the 340-b program. the legislation has no cost. at one provision, it ensures the special enrollment period into medicare part b does not exclude some of the veterans for whom the policy was intended. another provision clarifies that the redistribution of unused medicare funded residency slots not inadvertently take slots away from hospitals that are cooperating with other hospitals to actually use these slots. this is a practice that occurs in 36 states, and they want this clarification. we also have a clarification that children's hospitals will continue to have access to

discounts on drugs through the 340-b program. the bill would modify the payment system for nursing facilities in medicare ensuring smooth operations of that program and virtually all of these provisions have been passed by the house at least once. many of them have been passed by the senate as well. this legislation needs to be enacted now because it modifies provisions of law that are coming into effect now or will come into effect within the next few months. so the legislation is fully paid for, will not increase the deficit. it is -- involves technical corrections only. it's a bipartisan bill. i urge my colleagues to suspend the rules and pass this legislation. we have no further requests for time. may i inquire of the gentleman from -- mr. terry: if the gentleman will yield? we have no further speakers. i'll yield back my time. mr. waxman: i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5712. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the joint resolution, h.j.res. 8 , approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the

burmese freedom an democracy act of 2003, and for other purposes, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the joint resolution. the clerk: house joint resolution 83, joint resolution approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the burmese freedom and democracy act of 2003. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. crowley, and the gentleman from louisiana, mr. boustany, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. crowley: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. crowley: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. crowley: i want o -- the gentleman is recognized. mr. crowley: i want to thank my friend, mr. boustany, for joining me this morning. i rise in strong support of house joint resolution 8 , a mesh 1450ur to renew the ban on imports of the country of burma. the renewal of this bill is extremely important for the struggle of human rights and

democracy in burma. this measure and other sanctions on burr ma -- burma prevents hundreds of millions of dollars from getting into the hands of the military regime and funding its illegal activities. we'll never forget that the inspiration for this measure came from a remarkable woman. nobel peace prize recipient, aung san suu kyi, she's the only imprisoned nobel peace prize recipient. she and her political party call on freedom loving people throughout the world saying, i quote, please use your liberty to promote ours, end quote. that's what makes these sanctions categorically different from many other situations. the people of burma support these sanctions. it's also important to remember that burma's military regime or junta is not simply a government that's rough on its own people, it is among the most brutal,

maybe even the most brutal regime in the world today. and the regime operates with complete impunity. the burmese regime has recruited thousands of child soldiers by some estimates more than any other country in the world today. the regime has destroyed over 3,500 ethnic minority villages, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in terror. millions of these refugees live in neighboring countries like bangladesh. the regime uses rape as a weapon of war against innocent burmese women. over 2,000 innocent civilians remain locked behind bars as political prisoners. and it's important to note that many of these abuses are not just human rights abuses, these are crimes against humanity. that is why the united nations investigator on human rights in burma called for an

international investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in burma. this is something i have been calling for myself for a very, very long time. it is long overdue that the world acknowledges the regime, the junta, is guilty of many heinous crimes and we must lead the effort to hold it accountable. as a first step i hope the united states will go on record in acknowledging that the burmese regime has continued crimes against humanity. at the same time a healthy -- i hope the administration fully implements all the provisions of the burmese jade act we passed in 2008, including the tough banking sanctions integrated into law. that also includes imposing tough financial sanctions on banks and companies propping up burma's military regime and junta. even if those companies are not based in the united states themselves. by passing the jade act, we gave

the administration the authority to impose tough sanctions. now it's time to make it happen. we don't have any time to wait. the burmese regime is planning a sham election for this year. that without strong international action will result in a government that is a wolf in sheep's clothing. the regime is stacked the deck against the people of burma so the exact same military junta will be in power after the election. in fact, it is not really election at all since the results are preordained. ang sun shoe kyi -- aung san suu kyi is barred from taking part in the elections. the administration has worked hard, i know, to reach out burma's military regime and urged them to change their ways.

i believe that those efforts while worthwhile and invaluable, they have been completely and utterly rejected by the junta. in fact, the situation in burma has grown worse. that's why now is the time to crank up the pressure on burma's military junta. i urge my colleagues to pass house joint res. 83. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from louisiana. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boustany: i join my colleague and friend on the ways and means committee in strong support of h.j.res. 83, which would continue the imposition of sanctions against the repressive regime in burma for another year. the purpose of imposing sanctions against burma is to promote democracy, develop a respect for human rights, and

improve living conditions for the burmese people. unfortunately the ruling junta is still dedicated to working against not toward those objectives. for that reason i'm in favor of continuing our practice of extending import sanctions against burma for another year. burma's regime is one of the world's most repressive and it continues to oppress democratic movements and humanitarian efforts. in reading the state department's human rights report on burma, i'm appalled at the extent and scale of grave human rights violations. according to the state department, this repugnant regime in which military officers wield the ultimate authority at every level of government routinely continues to abridge the right of citizens to change their government and commit to other severe human rights abuses. specifically government security forces allow custodial deaths to occur and committed extra

judicial killings, disappearances, rape, and torture. the regime detains civic activists indefinitely and without charge and engages in harassment, abuse, and detention of human rights and pro-democracy activists. opposition leader aung san suu kyi is still being falsely detained by the regime and as of march, 2010, the regime held an estimated 2,100 political prisoners. the army attacks ethnic minority villages. violence and societal discrimination against women, recruitment of child soldiers, and trafficking in persons have continued. the regime also severely restricts freedom of assembly, expression, association, movement, and religion. in addition, i'm very concerned that the regime has taken steps that seem to guarantee that the elections that will be held in burma later this year will not

in the words of the state department be transparent, inclusive, or credible. and i'm still aappointed there has not been additional multilateral pressure against this regime. i strongly urge the administration to put more pressure on our trading partners and the united nations to put the leaders of this regime and its cronies under targeted economic pressure that denies them access to personal wealth and sources of revenue. i call on the united nations, along with southeast asian neighbors, and the people's republic of china to step up engagement considerably. i'm pleased that this congress amplified our sanctions two years ago to eliminate trade in jewelry containing burmese rubies and jadite. on if it was made in and export interested a third country. the expansion was designed to bring about multilateral pressure on the regime through the united nations and world trade organizations. similar to successful legislation on conflict

diamonds. we are still in the process of assessing the effectiveness of that law. the general accountability office reported to us several months ago on the effectiveness of the expanded sanctions and we are considering its recommendations for improving the administration of the program and assuring that legitimate trade in these stones is not constrained. i must be clear, that i am generally -- i generally view import sanctions with great skepticism. however, if there is a right way to impose sanctions, i think these sanctions are crafted to maximize their ability to effect change. for example, they require the administration to issue annual reports on burma that include whether u.s. national security, economic, and foreign policy interests are being served so we can make an informed decision. perhaps the most critical aspect of the burma sanctions program is that they require us to redirect our attention every summer, every summer to the question of whether these sanctions should be continued. they are not self-executing.

we here in congress must consider this issue and vote to continue them on an annual basis. i continue to believe that our greatest hope for affecting real change in burma is multilateralism. the whole world, particularly china must put real economic pressure on this regime. i support this resolution because it increases our chances to bring about this multilateral effect. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. crowley: i thank the gentleman for his comments and i couldn't agree with him more that we do need to see more of a multilateral impact on burma. particularly china, india, and the surrounding countries of bangladesh and thailand and such. it's my hope we'll continue to see further isolation of burma. i think we continue 20 stretch out -- to stretch out a hand to encourage the regime, continue to keep slapping it back and i think now is the not the time

for recognition. now is the time for further isolation. i appreciate the comments of my colleague and friend from louisiana. mr. boustany, for his commends. at this time i have no further speakers that i see on the floor. mr. boustany: mr. speaker, i have no further members wishing to speak on this issue. i'm prepared to yield back my time. i look forward to working with my colleague on the ways and means committee in this effort to hopefully change this regime's behaviors. mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. crowley: look forward to working in the future on this and other issues. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house joint resolution 83, as amended. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the joint resolution is agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. without objection, the title is amended.

for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 1509 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 213, house resolution 1509, resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h.r. 1722, to improve teleworking and executive agencies by developing a telework program that allows employees to telework at least 20% of the hours worked and every two administrative work weeks and for other purposes. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on oversight and government reform now printed in the bill, modified by the amendment printed in the report of the committee on rules

accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted. the bill as amended shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions of the bill as amended are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill as amended to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on oversight and government reform. and two, one motion to recommit with or without instructions. . section 2, house resolution 1496 is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is are recognized for one hour. >> for purposes of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to dr. foxx. all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only. i yield myself such time as i may consume and i ask unanimous consent that all members be given five legislative days to

revise and extend their remarks on house resolution 1509. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: the rule provides one hour of debate controlled by the committee on government and oversight reform against consideration of the bill except those arising under clauses 9 and 10 of rule 21. the rule makes in order the substitute reported by the committee on oversight and government reform as modified by an amendment printed in the rules committee report. the rule also provides one motion to recommit the bill with or without instructions. madam speaker, i rise today in strong support of the rule and in strong support of the underlying bill. even in this july heat, it is hard to forget the historic snowfall that blanketed the washington region this past winter. o.m.b. estimated that for each day the federal government was shut down during the storms, the government lost $71 million

worth of productivity. had some agencies not allowed their employees to telecommute, the cost of lost productivity would have been $100 million. with today's mobile technology, we can do better to ensure that federal employees can effectively telecommute regardless of weather conditions. the telework improvements act will provide a framework to expand the current telecommuting program so all federal employees can enjoy the benefits. it also helps reduce traffic congestion. i don't think you'll find many employees complaining about missing out on rush hour traffic in metro d.c. some argue that telecommuting will allow lazy employees to sit at home and pretend to work. that's not the case this bill requires agencies to establish a telecommuting policy that authorizes employees to

telecommute to the maximum amount policy only to the extent it doesn't affect productivity. several agencies have established efficient and effective telework policies this ebill is deficit neutral and pay-go compliant. the c.b.o. estimated a cost of $30 million over five years pales in comparison to the $71 million per day the government lost due to snow last winter. i want to remind my colleagues that a bipartisan majority of them supported this bill when it came to the floor under suspension in may of this year. i urge them to once again support the rule and the underlying bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman -- the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague from massachusetts for yielding

time. madam speaker, as has become routine in this congress it's my sad duty to come before you yet again to speak in opposition, spending this house's valuable time that would do absolutely nothing to respond to the real concerns facing americans every day. here were a 9.5% unemployment rate, the largest deficit in our history and the national debt at almost $14 trillion. the response of the liberal democratic leadership a bill making it easier for federal employees to stay at home to work and create manager government union jobs. here we are with a financial cry soifs global proportions resulting from an unprecedented expansion of government. the response of liberal democratic leadership a resolution recognizing national train day. here we are with a torrent of oil gushing into the gulf day after day depriving untold numbers of people of their livelihood. the majority response,

celebrating the goals and ideals of the centennial of recreation value vehicle month this congress so far has considered no fewer than 73 bills naming post offices, 36 measures recognizing sporting events and achievements and 145 designations or recognitions for various days, weeks, months or years. despite the very real problems, the liberal democrats ruling congress are running around the country trying to convince the american people that everything is just fine and they don't need to worry because the democrat are solving their problems. while government employees an their union handlers might be satisfied with the liberal democrat jobs agenda, try asking the small businessman forced to close their doors the seven million private business employees who have lost their jobs since the liberal democrats took control of congress in 2007 and want to get back to work. this is the wrong bill at the wrong time, and with that,

madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: the gentlelady mentioned the deficit and how concerned she is about the deficit. it's somewhat puzzling to me, then, that she hant been out front wanting to pay for the bush tax cuts that cost hundreds of billions of dollars. there's been no effort on the other side to want to pay for the george bush prescription drug bill which costs hundreds of billions of dollars all on to our credit card. there's no effort on the other side to want to pay for these wars which have now cost $100 trillion. i'm sorry, $1 trillion in borrowed money. i should -- i should say with one exception. the minority leader, mr. boehner, suggested that we could pay for the wars out of

the social security trust fund, that we should raise the retirement age and whatever savings we have should not go into the social security trust fund, should go to pay for our wars, while our senior citizens who paid into the system year after year after year should be robbed of a solid program and instead the money should go to pay for the wars. when they talk about deficits and debt, it is laughable. because they inherited from bill clinton one of the biggest surpluses in history and they squandered it. on tax cuts that weren't paid for, mostly for the rich, mostly for their big contributors, and on wars that were not paid for. with this president and this congress -- what this president and this congress is trying to do is clean up their mess. i'm sorry that bothers some of my friends on the other side but we're going to clean up their mess and move this economy forward. with that, i reserve think him -- my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves.

the gentlewoman from virginia. ms. foxx: as i have said before on the noor here to my colleagues who want to rewrite history, they can't blame everything on president bush. they can't continue to do that. and they want to give president clinton all the credit. but of course, the congress was controlled by the republicans for six of the eight year this is -- that president clinton was in office. it's congress that controls the spending, our democratic colleagues know that and choose to ignore it when it suits their arguments. let me quote from a "wall street journal" article, the 13th of july, very recent, so my colleague may not have seen it. the bush tax cuts and the deficit myth. read the entire article but, madam speaker, i would like to submit the entire article for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. let me read, again, a little bit from it. in short, it's all president bush's fault but mr. obama's assertion fails on three grounds. first, the wars, tax cuts and prescription drug programs were implemented in the early 2000's yet by 2007 the deficit stood at $161 billion. when our colleagues across the aisle took over the congress, the deficit stood at $161 billion. i go back to quote. how could these stable policies have suddenly caused trillion-dollar deficits beginning in stpwhine obviously what happened was collapsing revenues from the recession along with stimulus spending. second the president's $8 trillion figure minimizes the problem. recently, c.b.o. data indicated 10-year baseline deficit closer to $13 trillion if washington maintains today's tax and spend policies whereby discretionary

spending grows with the economy, we're spending, obama care is implemented and congress spends the bush -- extends the bush tax cuts. and the medicare doc fix. thunder realistic baseline the 10-year cost of extending the bush tax cuts $3.2 trillion, the medicare drug entitlement, the iraq and afghanistan spending add up to $4.7 trillion, approximately 1/3 of the deficit, thirdly and most importantly, the white house method soling arbitrary. with washington set to tax $43 billion and spend $46 billion other the next decade how does one know which one causes the intrs 13 trillion deficit. he could have singled out

social security, anti-poverty programs, $7 trillion and other medicare spending $5.4 trillion. net interest on the debt $6.1 trillion. the article goes on and on. nondefense discretionary spending. madam speaker, i have a chart here which we have put together which i think does a very good job of showing deficit spending as a percent of g.d.p. that's what really is the way we should look at this. and let me point out that in 1992, under democrat control, the deficit is a -- as a percent of g.d. spmplet this line. 1993, this line. 1994. republicans take over the congress in 1995 and look how the deficit goes down. significantly goes down. it does go up some in 2002 under republican congress, republican president, but we go into war in 2003 and 2004 and then what happens when the democrats take back over? it shoots back up.

the red lines are the projected deficits as percent of g.d.p. madam speaker, this argument just won't hold. our friends very selectively come up with numbers and we're going to point out the facts each time that they try to make up facts and with that, madam speaker, i -- mr. mcgovern: will the -- >> will the gentlewoman yields? ms. foxx: i am happy to yield to the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i'm fascinated seeing that chart with a fascinating juxtaposition i pointed out a couple of times here on the house floor. there's a requirement for membership in the european union. the requirement for a new country to join the european union, madam speaker is that they not have a debt that exceeds 60% of the gross domestic product of that country. what does that mean? as we look at that chart,

today, the united states of america, madam speaker, interestingly enough, could not qualify for membership in the european union because of that debt burden which is continuing to be passed on and on and on to our children, future generations. i thank my friend for yielding. ms. foxx: i thank my colleague for pointing out the very important issue of the percentage of the g.d.p. of the percentage of debt to the g. d.p. it is an important issue and our friends across the aisle have created much of that problem along with our president. they've been in charge since january, 2007, and that's where the problem comes from. with that, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgon: i yield myself such time as i macon -- mr. mcgovern: i yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: my colleagues can pull out all the charts they want to, but one fact sun deniable. when this president came to office, he inherited from george w. bush the worst economy since the great depression. that's undeniable. this economy was in a tailspain. -- tailspin. if it wasn't for the stimulus package, the economy would have further gone down the tubes. when they talk about deficits they conveniently leave out the fact that hundreds of billions of dollars in deficit spending went to pay for their tax cuts for their rich friends. that's what they did when they were in power, tax breaks, tax loopholes, all kinds of special interest breaks for oil companies, for the wealthiest people in this country and we went deeper and deeper into debt and they didn't care. . two wars, none of it paid for.

and it should be paid for. the only people sacrificing in these wars are our soldiers and families. the rest of us are asked to do nothing. and the only possible solution to that that we heard from the other side of the aisle came from the minority leader who said we should raise the retirement age for those receiving social security and take that money and pay for the wars. our senior citizens should pay for these wars? shouldn't we want to protect social security and shouldn't we find other ways to pay for these wars? in today's "washington post," the editorial entitlemented g.o.p. has no problem extending tax cuts for the rich. let me quote from a couple lines in this editorial. the senate republicans committed as they are to preventing the debts from mounting further can't approve an extension of you unemployment been fets because it would cost $35 million. but they are untroubled by the notion of digging the hole $678 billion deeper by extending president bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. and this is how the editorial

ends. the issue is whether the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans should be extended, adding another $678 billion to the deficit over the next decade. the tax cuts it's worth remembering passed originally in 2001 with the argument that the surplus was so large that rates could be cut with budgetary room to spare. now that the fiscal picture has deteriorated so badly, the question remains, how are you going to pay for the $678 billion? and if you don't, how are you going to justify the added damage to an already grim fiscal outlook? i ask unanimous consent that this be allowed to be put in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: my friends on the other side of the aisle have been fighting with all their might to deny americans who have lost their jobs, mostly to no fault of their own. they have been fighting with all their energy to deny them unemployment benefits during this very difficult time.

where people who are -- who can't get these benefits and whose savings are trying up are not going to be able to afford to pay their bills. they will keep their home. and my friends on the other side of the aisle say, we can't afford that. we can't afford that. notwithstanding the fact it's a one-time expenditure. but when it comes to the wars, let's vote to add another $33 billion in borrowed money on to our children's credit card and no questions asked. i would like to do a little nation building, madam speaker, for the united states. i think we have an obligation to take care of the people here in this country. so i'm all for working on trying to reduce our deficit and our debt. that's what the democratic party is dedicated to. the president is dedicated to that. he's formed a bipartisan commission. but to come on the floor and to say that somehow the policies of the previous president, the tax

cuts for the rich, billions and billions and billions of dollars in added deficit spending, the wars, the prescription drug benefit bill, not even paid for, to suggest that that didn't occur is ludicrous. the bottom line is that you deliver to this president, my friends on the other side of the aisle delivered to this president, the worst economy since the great depression. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts -- mr. mcgovern: trying to dig the country out of the ditch that the republicans have dug. we need to continue to move forward. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the gentleman from massachusetts controls the time. the gentleman from massachusetts controls the time. mr. mcgovern: one other thing, madam speaker, and that is during the first year of president obama's administration, more jobs were created than during the eight years of george w. bush. that's a fact. i reserve my time, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i just want to quickly respond to two things that my colleague from massachusetts said. he talks about the fact that we,

the federal government, is paying for wars. let me say, the constitution of the united states says, we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense. promote the general welfare, etc. it is the role of the federal government to protect us in this country. it is the only government in our country who can do that. it is our role. the other comment he makes is tax cuts for the rich. my colleague just like almost all my colleagues across the aisle have an assumption that all the money that is generated in this country belongs to the government and that if there's a tax cut provided, that that is a gift from the government to the people getting the tax cut.

no, madam speaker, that is not right. the government is not in control in this country. the people are in control and nor them -- for them to have that assumption is the biggest part of the problem that we have here right now. with that, i yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee, mr. dreier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: let me at the outset say i twice asked my friend from worcester to yield and i would say at any time during my remarks i would like to challenge me, i look forward to yielding to him. let me say first and foremost that this issue of who is in fact responsible for the security of the united states of america, my friend from grandfather community north carolina is absolutely right. the five most important words in the middle of that preamble of the constitution that she just read for are provide for the common defense. virtually everything else we do

can be dealt with by individuals, families, churches, or synagogues, cities, counties, or states. but the national security of the united states of america can only be dealt with by the federal government and we should never forget that. now, as we listen to some of the specious charges that have been coming from the other side of the aisle like this chart that my colleague on the rules committee offered saying that this was from the republican national committee. this is from usgovernmentspending.com. and they are facts. we have seen a dramatic increase in spending. my friend regularly talks about the fact that this administration, this president inherited a bad economy. we all acknowledge that. but what is it that's happened since then, madam speaker? contrary to what my friend just said, we have seen the economy get worse and worse and worse. we were promised -- i'll be happy to yield to my friend, we were promised the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% if we

were to pass the trillion dollar stimulus bill. where is it today? 9.5%. across the country many of us are hosting job fairs. there are people who are hurting. and the area i represent, madam speaker, part of it has an unemployment rate that exceeds 14%. the american people know one thing that they have learned over the past year and a half and that is, you cannot spend your way to prosperity. madam speaker, what is it that we are trying to do? we want to ensure the future generations are not saddled with this tremendous debt wurd that has been impose -- burden that has been imposed. this morning i had the opportunity to meet a young man who is inspiring over what he's done over the past 39 days. his name is joseph and he's here with his parents and his brother, robert, and his sister, mercedes, and what this young man did, 13 years of age, having gone through tremendous physical adversity, having suffered over the past few years because of

some accident, he's been wheelchair bound, what is it he did over the past 39 days, madam speaker? he rode a bicycle from southern california to the white house. he came here, i met him this morning here in the capitol, and he's been doing this to raise money and focus resources on the challenges that young people are dealing with. now, i raise the name of joseph to say that as we look at this 13-year-old boy and the challenges that he's gone through, the idea that we will be trusting on -- thrusting on to his shoulders and his brother, robert, and his sister the responsibility of paying for such profligate spending that's been going on is just plain wrong. we feel strongly about the need to ensure that we do that. that we do not do that. that we do everything we can to decrease that. that's one of the reasons that we are going to urge our colleagues today to vote no on the previous question and in

voting no on the previous question we will allow the house to have a chance to vote on a proposal that our colleague from peoria, mr. schock, has proffered with trying to deal to rein in spending. the people of this country have driven around and i laugh, sadly laugh when when i see the signs along the side of the road that credit the reinvestment act with the job creation that is supposedly going on in deeg with -- dealing with infrastructure issues. millions and millions of dollars are being expended, putting up the signs along the side of the road. dollars that will be passed on to joseph and other young people in this country. and we believe that that's an example of the american people can get. so that they don't have to see signs that they are paying for along the side of the road. every member of this house, madam speaker, is going to have an opportunity to vote no.

to say that we shouldn't be continuing to spend millions of dollars on road signs crediting the stimulus bill for the construction that's taking place on those roads. i'm going to join in urging my colleagues to vote no on the previous question because that vote in and of itself will allow us the opportunity to consider this measure. with that, madam speaker, i urge a no vote on the previous question. no vote on the rule because this is a completely closed rule. having had this measure considered under suspension of the rules. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from massachusetts virginia tech. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: let me remind my colleagues, madam speaker, that when president obama came to office he inherited an economy that was losing on average of 750,000 jobs a month. that is what president obama was left with. my friends talk about the fact

that the economy is still struggling. it is still struggling, but the june numbers, as much as we wish they were better, we were told 83,000 private sector jobs were created and 9,000 manufacturing jobs. i'd rather be creating jobs, again, we'll have to create 100 times more, but i would rather create jobs than going back to where we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs. i am not going to yield. my friend mentioned job fairs, all my colleagues are doing job fairs. what i find particularly ironic is that my colleagues are hosting job fairs touting stimulus money. the distinguished minority whip of the republican side from virginia has been one of the recovery act's most vocal critics. une fortunately whipping the republican caucus into opposing the stimulus. but defight his attacks and

despite the attacks of others on the other side, they continue to host job fairs filled with employers hiring directly because of stimulus grants and programs. we are told that over half the g.o.p. caucus, 114 lawmakers who voted to kill the stimulus, then took credit for its success. hosting job fairs, touting the stimulus, doing press releases every time a stimulus award was announced. so i guess -- they want to have it both ways. they want to be out here criticizing the recovery act. but when they go home they are standing and posing for pictures, handing checks to their constituents and small businesses with stimulus money. so i would again urge my colleagues to -- on the other side of the aisle to at least be consistent. if you are going to oppose this stimulus act, don't go home and take credit for it. don't go home and say i did this

for you when you were here in washington and you voted to deny your communities the very money helping to create jobs. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i can assure my colleagues across the identical that i wasn't one of those people who went home to take credit for the stimulus act. so he needs to take that issue up with those who have done it and not paint us all with the same brush. madam speaker, the underlying bill proposes spending $30 million creating a variety of initiatives to allow federal employees to work at home. this bill would require each federal agency to create a teleworking managing officer. but there are many people who wonder if creating this kind of a situation is going to improve efficiency among federal employees and it may even recuse the -- reduce the productivity of the federal government. while the three million

americans who lost their jobs since president obama took office are asking where are the jobs we were promised, the congress is pushing this initiative to make it easier for federal employees who already have it much better than the rest of the country to avoid coming to work. why is this bill so popular with the ruling liberal democrats? perhaps it has something to do with their long-standing subcertificate veeant to labor unions. new data shows a majority of american union members now work for the government. 52% of all union members now work for the federal, state, or local government. representing a sharp increase from the 49% in 2008. . a full 34.-- 37.4% worked for the government in 2009 this shift toward representing government employees has changed the union movement's priorities as unions campaign for higher taxes on americans

to fund more government spending. these changes in union membership are certainly not surprising as unionized companies do poorly in the marketplace and lose jobs relative to their nonunion come petors. government employees, however, face no competition and the government never goes out of business. the recession left union bosses looking for new membership targets and where better to look than the government, which they see as having the deepest of all pockets and a host of sympathetic democrat politicians eager to please the political base. as reported by "usa today," overall federal workers had an average salary of $161,000 salary for -- the average pay for the same mix of jobs was $60,000. these salary figures don't include the value of health,

pension and other benefits which average $40,785 per employee in 2008 versus $9,882 per private worker according to the bureau of economic analysis. so the average federal employees benefits are -- employee's benefits are worth four times the private sector. a march 26, 2010, article entitled "the government pay boom" reveals the real windfall for government workers is in benefits. it talks about how these benefits are growing, growing, growing. we know that since the number of federal employees making over $100,000 has increased by almost 5% since 2007, since the democrats took over in congress, currently there are more people in the federal government making in excess of

$100,000 than those making $40,000. since the recession began in 2007, public worker pay has risen 7.8% while private sector wages remain stagnant. the 2010 pay increase for federal employees was 2% in 2009, the average federal employee received a pay raise of 3.9% and average pay increase of 3.5% in 2008. in 2007, the department of transportation had only one employee making over $170,000. at the end of last year, it had 1,690 employees making that amount. madam speaker, we are growing the federal government while we have a 9.7% unemployment rate in the private sector. this is unacceptable to the american people.

that's why we should vote no on this rule and no on this bill because we are not heeding what the american people want us to do and with that, i will reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i think the gentlelady from north carolina summed it all up. the republican message to workers all across the country is, we don't want you to have good wages or good benefits. we don't want you to have good retirement. we want to go back to the days when, you know, you get paid less. when one job doesn't earn enough for you to be able to support your family. i've never heard anybody get up before and talk about and advocate lower wages for people. a researcher that n.i.h. trying to find a cure to cancer or a cure to alzheimer's or

parkinson's disease is somehow being overpaid. i've heard a lot of things on this floor but never heard anyone decry the fact that workers in this country, you know, should be paid less. my friend from north carolina always likes to talk about the fact that, you know, government should act more like a business. i want to remind her that the bill we are talking about here today, the telework bill, telework practices have been adopted by the private sector throughout the country. give you an example. telework allows i.b.m. to reduce office space and save $56 million per year every year. it works in the private sector why don't we take that example of where the private sector is able to save some money and bring it to the government sector where we may be table save some money. if we could save tens of millions of dollars each year that is a good thing. we could take that money and

put it toward deficit reduction. but the idea to come out here and to be against this bill because of unions and all this other stuff i think is ridiculous. this is a common sense measure that's going to save the american tax pay aerolot of money. i urge my colleagues, democratic and republican aalike to support this common sense measure and i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i would like to now yield four minutes to the distinguished republican whip the gentleman from virginia, mr. cantor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. cantor: i thank the gentlelady. madam speaker, i rise today to ask members to join me in voting no on the previous question. for the past couple of years, the american people have been forced to make some extremely difficult budgeting decisions because when times are tough and your back is up against the wall, you have no choice but to rein in your expenditures and

pare down your debts this vote today on the previous question, the reason why we're standing in opposition, is because republicans would like to see us include in this rule the opportunity to vote on this week's winning youcut proposal. this proposal would prohibit funding for the droves of puzzling and flamboyant signs atributing various projects to last year's stimulus bill. often visible along highways, these signs do not provide any meaningful information and do not create any jobs. they are the public face of an administration p.r. campaign that taxpayers are unwittingly financing. while the precise cost of the signs is unknown, press reports peg it in the tens of millions of dollars. the painful sacrifice borne by families and small businesses

are hugely disconnected from those here in washington. inside this chamber in congress, the excessive, untargeted and ineffective spend bing that gives us the failed stimulus is alive and kicking. but now, madam speaker, the american people are fed up. across the country from big cities to quiet suburbs to rural towns, americans are all backgrounds are demanding that washington stop the wasteful spending. today, here in this body, we will hold the seventh youcut vote and the american people will once again be able to see which member of congress hears their plea and gets the message. this week's proposal by representative schock of illinois would require agencies to report on the amount already spent on the signs and it would recapture those funds by reducing the agency's

administrative expenses by that same amount. america is at a crossroads. we need to stop spending our country out of prosperity and into a quick sand of unsustainable debt. we need to change the culture in washington and tip the balance in the direction of savings. i urge my leagues to vote no and to bring this week's youcut proposal to a vote before the full house and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgoverpblgspb i yield myself such -- mr. mcgovern: i yield myself such time as i may consume. this is the best we can get, not putting up signs? how about paying for the tax cuts for the rich that my friends on the other side of the aisle passed? hundreds of billions of dollars in debt that you put on the backs of my kids and my grandkids so that the wealthiest of the wealthy in this country can get a tax break.

why don't you pay for that if you want to get this deficit or this debt under control. signs? that's the best we can do? again, with respect to the distinguished minority leader who i heard, again, beat up on the stimulus package, it's funny he beats up on the stimulus package here but when he goes home he holds a job fair so everyone can take advantage they have stimulus package. employer after employer after employer from the gentleman's district has received money from the stimulus package to create more jobs and the gentleman takes credit for it. and so do a great many people on the other side of the aislism find it somewhat hypocritical that on one hand we're saying we don't like it and then you go back home and tell everybody, this is what i'm doing for you. if you want to get serious about reducing our deficit, weave bipartisan commission set up to try to make recommendations to this congress. we need to do it holistcally. it's going to be tough. but to come up and say, our

suggestic -- our suggestion is to eliminate the signs, i think that's silly. i urge my colleagues again to remember the underlying bill we're talking about will save tens of millions of dollars for the -- for the taxpayers. those tens of millions of dollars, i would bet is a lot more than the signs and could be put toward deficit reduction or can be put toward that i think needs to happen right now is we need to extend unemployment benefits to those who are struggling in this difficult economy. unfortunately, my republican friends don't agree to that. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: i invite my colleague from massachusetts, when he speaks again to give us the citation for the study that he is talking about that shows that this bill will save tens of millions of dollars.

i've done a little research on it myself and i'll p be talking about that study but i invite him to prove to the american people that this will save money. i want to point out to him that he's poking fun at republicans on recommending that we save money on signs, but he was really doing is poking fun at the american people. it wasn't the republicans on this side of the aisle who came up with this. it's the american people who voted on this. the american people understand the biblical admonition, if you are a good steward of small things, you will be a good steward of big things. we should start where we can save money and i agree with the people, this is a good place to start. with that, i would like to recognize my colleague from illinois, mr. schock, for two minutes. three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes. mr. schock: thank you, madam speaker.

i thank my good friend, dr. foxx if the time here today. at the president's first news conference after his first cabinet meeting, he addressed the nation and he said that he was asking his agency heads to come together and collectively come up with $100 million in savings that they could bring forward for this next budget year to eliminate over last year's spending. his quote was, we've got to earn their trust. the president said, they've got to feel confident that their dollars are being spent wisely. i couldn't agree with the president any more. so that's what the -- what today is about. we bring forward house resolution 1579 which is quite simple. it says we don't need to tell the american people with propaganda signs that we're spending their tax dollars wisely. more specifically we don't need to put up road signs all over the country when we're doing

paving projects at the tune of hundreds, sometimes thousands, we found signs that cost over $1,000 apiece. simply to say, this is your tax dollars at work. first of all, i would suggest to you that it's an insult to the intelligence of my tax payers to suggest they drive by a public works project and think that anyone other than they as taxpayers are paying for it. second, i suggest that this is a dangerous precedent. think of every unit of government from your school board you township officials, your state government, your federal government, put a label on everything they were using to spend your tax dollars on. the unnecessary bureaucratic expense. the unnecessary overhead that it creates. we have found in one year since the stimulus bill has passed we have spent over $20 million just on signs. the illinois department of transportation in my home state has spent over $650,000 on

signs. the state of ohio reports they spend over $1 million just on signs. not creating jobs, not the infrastructure that was promised. not the lower unemployment but a bunch of sheet metal along the road. this is not only the financially smart thing to do, i would argue it's the environmentally right thing to do. then my friends on the other side of the aisle stand up and suggest, you know, aaron, it's only $20 million. the estimate if we don't stop doing this is by the time the stimulus program has run its course we'll spend $192 million on these signs. . i don't know about you but whether you supported the stimulus program or voted against the stimulus program, i hope we can come together and say you know what at the end of the day this $192 million, this $20 million that's already been spent would better be spent on road projects, on filling potholes, fixing bridges, something we can show for that

we are going to ask the next generation of americans to pay for. that's all we are doing. we are saying from this day forward you can't spend money on signs. put it in the infrastructure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. again i'm always interested in what my colleagues have to say today. but where were they when brush and the administration sent out a press release on the prescription drug bill they didn't pay for that cost millions and millions of dollars to all the senior citizens in this country? they were silent. and if we want to have a serious discussion about deficit reduction, which i think we should, this is where we begin? why don't we talk about paying for the bush tax cuts. for the rich. why not offset those tax cuts? why not pay for them? why not have that discussion? my friends talk about the deficit but they didn't have any problem adding hundreds of

billions of dollars on to the credit card for the prescription drug bill. they didn't think it was important to pay for it. under the democratic leadership we are abiding by pay-go. we are paying for things as we go forward. my friends on the other side of the aisle when they were in charge, they didn't do that. that's one of the reasons we are in trouble right now. but if you really want to reduce the deficit in this country, if you really want to get at the debt, if you want to do this right, we'll need a serious discussion. and the president, i think, has taken the first step toward that discussion by putting together a bipartisan commission to figure out how we do this. you know what? the recommendations are going to be such that none of us are going to like them and we'll have to make some tough decisions and hopefully we'll do it together. if not we'll do it alone. the fact of the matter is getting the deficit under control is a priority. i'll tell you this, you are not going to get the deficit under control unless you get the economy back on track. unless you put people back to work. i really regret that my friends

on the other side of the aisle every chance they get try to undercut this president's economic agenda to try to create and incentivize more jobs. every chance, every single chance they object, they try to obstruct. again i go back to what i said earlier. they come on the floor and they decry the american recovery readjustment act, then they go back to their districts and do press conferences and press releases and take all kinds of bows for all the money they voted against. and a lot of that money, madam speaker, is creating jobs in their districts. and the reason why i guess they are taking bows is because they see some of the help for some of the small businesses and some of the manufacturers and some of the states and cities and towns building their infrastructure is important to job creation. again let's get back to what we are here to talk about which is this telework bill which i think will save the federal government a great deal of money.

i'm not the only one who thinks that. there are others in the private sector and public sector that have made the argument that if we do this right we can save not just tens of millions of dollars but maybe hundreds of millions of dollars. and i think that's a good step for us to take. and my friends on the other side of the aisle don't want to take that step, fine. they can do what they usually do and obstruct everything. but this is good for the taxpayers of this country. and i hope that it passes with an overwhelming margin. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. could i inquire as to how much time each side has left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has four minutes remaining. and the gentleman from massachusetts has 10 1/2 minutes remaining. ms. foxx: thank you very much, madam speaker. i just want to point out to my colleague from massachusetts that the republicans can't

obstruct the president's effort because we are in the minority and we don't have to obstruct them anyway because they all failed. nothing has worked that the president and our friends across the aisle ve tried so they are going to fail on their own weight. i'd now like to yield two minutes, two minutes to my colleague from pennsylvania, mr. shuster. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. shuster: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague from north carolina for yielding. i agree with my colleague from massachusetts that we need to get this economy back on track. you don't get it back on track by creating the great uncertainty that your side has created in the economy. raising health care cost, raising energy costs, potentially raising energy costs, which ises aren't going to invest when there's this much uncertainty out there. i hear it every single day from my colleagues, from around the country, from businesses that i speak to. but what we can do is start to find out ways to cut wasteful spending. i support mr. schock from illinois' proposal today to cut

the wasteful spending on these signs that are across this country. $20 million, they are not creating a single job. they are not improving safety in this country. in fact, as my colleague said i find it silly that this administration is spending $20 million on signs. in my state of pennsylvania which has more structurally deficient bridges than any other state in the nation, we could take these $20 million and apply it to some of these bridges. in pennsylvania and across this country. and i'll just point out three of them in pennsylvania. i'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands across this country. $1.1 million to replace the bolden ridge in fayette county, a project that would create 33 jobs and improve safety. $3 million to replace the bridge in somerset county, one that would create 92 jobs and improving safety. finally, $5.5 million to repair

a sinkhole that's occurring in huntington county, pennsylvania, that is going to pose a serious risk to the traveling public in huntington county, pennsylvania, and those people that cross that road. it would create 167 jobs. these projects will create jobs. they'll improve our infrastructure. and most importantly they'll improve safety. i ask my colleagues on the other side to stand up for this today and say let's stop this silliness. let's stop spending $20 million on these signs that aren't creating jobs and nothing more than propaganda. i ask them to support my colleague, mr. schock. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgotsche: thank you, madam speaker. i'm confused. i don't know whether the gentleman supports the stimulus package or opposes the stimulus package. on one hand pennsylvania is one of the top recipients of aid from the american recovery and reinvestment act. a lot of bridges are being repaired. highways being fixed.

does the gentleman want to take that money back? does he think the people working on those brings and roads somehow those jobs aren't worth it? the fact of the matter is, it's another example of where on one hand my colleague is saying we want more money for bridges and roads and infrastructure, and the very bill that delivered a lot more money for bridges and roads, they voted against. again i would again urge my colleagues to be consistent. i would also urge them to support the underlying bill, this telework bill, which i think will save the taxpayers millions of dollars. mr. shuster: would the gentleman yield? mr. mcgovern: i would. mr. shuster: we spent money on all different kinds of programs. only 8% went to infrastructure in this country. 8% -- mr. mcgovern: i reclaim my time. the fact of the matter is a lot

of infrastructure projects are going on in pennsylvania right now. the people working on those jobs are happy to have a job. and the people are happy they are making those improvements because states have been suffering because of this economy. i would also point out again that for all -- i'm not going to yield. for all the talk of jobs when they were in charge, we were losing on average 750,000 jobs a month. i will not. 750,000 jobs a month we were losing when they were in charge. we are now gaining jobs. not as many as we would like, but we are moving in a different direction. i don't want to go backwards to 22 incentive months of job loss. -- consecutive months of job loss. barack obama created more jobs in one year than george bush created in eight years. that is a fact. so to all my colleagues who are talking about jobs, here's your choice.

you can go backwards and experience once again historic job losses or you can stick with this economic agenda, get through this difficult time, put people back to work, get this economy moving again, and start paying down our debt. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. my colleague again is very selectively using statistics. he knows that he cannot back up the data that says that in the first year of president obama's administration he has created more jobs than in all the bush administration. i have this chart which shows the unemployment rate under president obama under president bush, and again we had many more jobs created under president bush than have been created under president obama because all we have done is lost jobs under president obama and created government jobs. that's the whole issue here,

madam speaker. we have lost four million jobs since president obama took office. that's it. and my colleague across the aisle says we need to be consistent. he should be consistent. this will bring savings immediately. what we are proposing. what he's talking about might bring savings 30 years down the road. in fact the study that i asked him to talk about, there's no study, madam speaker. i asked for a copy of the study. you know what it is? an article in the newspaper last february when we shut the government down or the democrats shut the government down for a week. they were losing $100 million a day, but they found out 30% of the people were logging into their computers so they call that a savings of 30d million per day. listen, the american people are tired of that kind of thing being passed off as a study. there is no study. madam speaker, this bill does not need to be passed.

this rule does not need to be passed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. foxx: madam speaker -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i yield the gentlelady an additional 20 seconds to finish her statement. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. foxx: i thank the gentleman. i ask unanimous consent that the text of the amendment and extraneous material be placed in the record prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. how much time do i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has eight minutes remaining. mr. mcgovern: i won't take the whole eight minutes, but i again want to point out a couple of facts to my colleagues here. we are faced with a very difficult economy and this is an economy that president obama inherited. he is trying to dig this economy out of the ditch that my friends on the other side of the aisle dug us into. it is not easy. and it's not going to happen overnight.

but it is a fact that when -- that president obama has created more jobs in one year than george w. bush created in eight years. we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs on average each month when president bush was in office. we are now gaining jobs. not as many as we would like. not as fast as we would like. but we are moving in a very different direction. we are moving in a direction where we are creating more jobs and we are moving toward a healthier economy. that is just the fact. and the question is, do we try to work with this administration to get this economy back on a strong footing, or are we going to try to on struck everything and root for failure? my friends on the other side of the aisle, their whole kind of -- their whole platform is based on this president failing, this economy failing. how cynical can you get?

the fact is we have a lot of work to do and we need to focus on jobs. jobs is the issue. we need to extend unemployment benefits to those who are -- who have lost their jobs. mostly through no fault of their own. we need help to get through this difficult time. i regret that my republican friends in the senate continue to obstruct the extension of unemployment benefits. i hope nobody goes home for an august recess until unemployment benefits are extended. my friends say we can't afford to pay for it. can't afford to pay to help people in our own country, yet last week, $33 billion in borrowed money for nation building that support a corrupt government in afghanistan, they all support it. no questions asked. all borrowed money. i get it. you think it's important, fine. but if nation building is afghanistan is important, a little bit more nation building here in the united states of america is important. we have to take care of our people here who are experiencing very difficult