they only meet a couple of months out of the year so most of the viewers. host: you have been a great if elliott, the first in the nation to launch c-span hd. we thank you for being on today because c-span hd will be available to subscribers of the country. you just need to tell your cable system you are interested. if they know you are interested they will certainly consider it. mr. higginbothom, the digital bus -- tell us what you did at the state capitol? guest: we will move the bus and a couple of minutes and it will be open to the community the remainder of the morning and afternoon and we hope to have quite if you stop by. we appreciate the bus coming here. host: we appreciate our state capital affiliate's and we appreciate that you are our very first hd affiliate and we hope to more signing on soon. john higginbothom with us from

frankfort, kentucky, today, having hd as an option. thanks again, john. now the house of representatives is just coming into session. unemployment extension is the debate. clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., july 22, 2010. i hereby appoint the honorable ed pastor to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: lord god, you are the most high, the almighty. yet, your love reaches out to us and surrounds each detail of human life. the members of congress seek answers to the deepest questions facing the nation.

attentive to their districts and the human cries of families they know and individuals lost in the void of unemployment, they hear tangible truth breathing beneath the banthe of pundettes and posters -- blanket of pundents and posters. help them, lord. with creative consultation and intellectual depth. lord, we ask that you fix a vision for the future. let them build upon the known strengths of america. by appealing to the nation's innate sense of justice and generous patriotism, may they always seek your presence and your activity working within your people and the country's democratic process 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 arizona, congressman jeff flake. mr. flake: please join me in the 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 receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 1376, cited as international adoption simplification act in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind the house that on july 24, 1998, at 3:40

p.m., officer jacob j. chestnut and he detective john n. gibson of the united states capitol police were killed in the line of duty defending the capitol against an intruder armed with a gun. at the appropriate point today, the chair will recognize the anniversary of this tragedy by observing a moment of silence in their memory. the chair will entertain up to 10 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maine rise? ms. pingree: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pingree: thank you, mr. speaker. today i introduced a bill that will make it easier for schools to buy food. we have moved further and further away of feeding our

children healthy meals at schools. thousands of family-run farms are literally disappeared. in maine we have gone out of the way to purchase food from farms. but my bill frees up money for school by giving them the option of spending 10% for government commodities of food from local farmers. this will not only bring healthy, high-quality foods into our schools. it will also pump more money into our local economies. an apple travels 1,500 miles from farm to school. this gives schools the freedom to buy apples from their farmers instead of traveling across the country and back again. i look forward on working -- to working on this bill with my colleagues. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i ask permission to

address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, private industry is creating solutions to protect the gulf of mexico because the government really doesn't create anything. government just stops things from being created, like jobs. exxonmobil, chevron, conocophillips and shell oil have announced a new coordinated plan. they're building a new emergency oil spill containment system to protect the gulf of mexico. their deepwater rapid response system will capture and contain oil in a blowout emergency. it will be engineered to be used in underwater depths up to 10,000 feet, and under different weather conditions as well. the initial capacity will contain 100,000 barrels of oil a day. these oil industry leaders have committed $1 billion to the initial cost. engineering, procurement and construction will begin immediately. exxonmobil has taken the lead on behalf of the other four companies. this is great news for drilling in the gulf of mexico. american private industry is taking the lead. the administration needs to end the moratorium on drilling and

get out of the way and quit killing jobs in the gulf of mexico, and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 1550, resolution providing for consideration of the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 4213, to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to expand certain expiring provisions and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. last night i had an opportunity to preview a documentary entitled "homeless: the motel kids of orange county." in the shadow of disney land, filmmaker alexander pelosi,

captures the stark reality of children who are living in motels. for all the legitimate policy differences that divide people in congress, sometimes it's jarring how starkly we view different worlds that we can believe in different facts. but these children live in a world the reality of which can be denied only by people who don't bother to see and listen. i hope my colleagues will watch the hbo documentary monday or better yet get a copy of the d.v.d. to review themselves and with their staff. we appear at times to be capable of arguing with a straight face about what the day's date is, but this is an area where we should agree to assign priority, spend precious dollars and refine our policies. these children deserve our best. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? mr. flake: to address the house for one minute.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. flake: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, this is a different kind of july than we usual experience here in july. usually we're doing appropriations bills. we aren't doing any this month. we aren't likely to do any until after the election. isn't that something? the one responsibility we have here in congress, pass appropriations bills, we aren't doing until after the election. these are the bills that have been -- that have gone through the appropriations committee, either the subcommittee or the full committee. when you look at the number of earmark dollars that are associated with powerful members of congress, either on the appropriations committee or leadership or the chairs of committees. just take, for example, the milcon-v.a. bill, 78% of the earmarks are going to 13% of the members. other bills are similar. 76% in agriculture. c.j.s., 57% going to the most powerful members. it's often said that we earmark

here because we know our districts better than those bureaucrats. well, apparently 13% of the members know their districts, the rest of us don't. that's just one of the problems with the earmarking system we have in congress. it's a spoiled system. those who are powerful -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. flake: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in support of extending unemployment benefits to the hardworking families in california who continue to search for work during these tough economic times. the current lapse in benefits is unprecedented. since 1959 the federal government has never allowed these benefits to expire when the national unemployment rate is above 7.2%. californians are concerned with providing for their families and putting food on the table, not who scores the most political points in washington.

mr. costa: this is not only critical to our central valley workers where unemployment hovers above 20% in some counties, but to every family. now is the time to focus on middle-class families and our economy, not the next election. it's time to pass this measure and to send it to the president for his signature. 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 florida rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, america is struggling under the weight of its debt and failing economy. worse, washington isn't listening. two new tools that we are trying to bring forth, i think is great for american family, is america speaks out. i will be doing a town hall in my county in sarasota to pick

up their ideas, identify the challenges and with the idea we gather these ideas across the country and put forth an agenda for the american people this fall. mr. buchanan: the other tool i think is very effective is youcut. these are two different sites, youcut you go on and you make your suggestions heard. our debt today is at $13.6 trillion. they're expected it to go to $20 trillion. we have to find a way to balance the budget. we'd like to get your ideas as it relates to it. i encourage americans to go to these two sites. anyone interested can go to my website, buchanan.house.gov. they're available there. we need to start listening to the american people. we need your ideas. 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, the gentleman is recognized. mr. baca: when president obama took office, he inherited $1.2

trillion in the deficit, two wars, a growing recession, a disaster like katrina that has pushed our economy to the brink. since then his leadership has laid the groundwork to rebuild our economy and finally end the outsourcing of american jobs. the president successfully worked to pass historic health care and financial regulatory reform. no administration has done more to improve care and benefits of our veterans returning troops. president obama and the democratic congress have strengthened the quality of health care for over five million american veterans, authorized $3.4 -- 3.4% pay raise for our troops, invested in v.a. facility improvement and improved health services for women veterans. the president and democratic caucus continues to do the right thing for the american people. the choice is clear, we must say no to failed policies of the past and yes to the continuing on a new direction

going forward. 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 louisiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. cassidy: a blanket moratorium is no the answer. it will not measureably reduce risk. it will have a lasting impact upon the nation's economy which may be greater than that of the oil spill. we do not believe in punishing the innocent, overcome emotion with logic. these are quotes from five engineers from the national academy of engineering who object to the president's moratorium. this is not a drilling moratorium. it is a jobs moratorium. it is an assault on those most injured by the gulf oil spill. by some estimates over 100,000 americans, welders, pipe fitters, engineers, will and others will lose their jobs because of this moratorium. decent, hart working americans.

11,000 people filled the cajun dome in lafayette, louisiana, to object the moratorium. the president needs to listen to the scientists and let the workers return to work supplying our nation's energy needs. 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? mr. butterfield: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. butterfield: mr. speaker, in 1935, president roosevelt and a democratic congress envisioned and passed a safety net for senior citizens and the dess abled. we call it social security. it has worked well, and i cannot imagine what we would be as a nation without it. the cash flows of the fund will see a deficit in just a few years because of the aging of the baby boom generation. we will fix this problem and hopefully our republican colleagues will work with us for a bipartisan solution. in december i'm confident that the president's fiscal commission will present

well-conceived ideas. we must use their recommendations to develop a bipartisan solution to protect social security. when those recommendations are presented, bipartisanship must prevail. partisanship must take a hike. i'm committed to doing my part, look forward to the commission's report. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. stearns: when congress passes a 2,000-page bill it's not surprising to find objectionable items tucked away in the pages. such is the case with the dodd-frank financial reform legislation. this bill creates many new financial regulatory offices for the same federal regulators who failed to perceive the financial collapse in 2008. with this bill congress is giving the american people the gift of more bureaucracy with an office of financial research, a financial stability oversight council, 20 offices of minority and women inclusion, a federal

insurance office, an office of fair lending and equal opportunity, an office of investor advocate, ombudsman, consumer financial protection bureau. it goes on and on. note that the problem with fannie mae and freddie mac with a not even addressed. these agencies were the cause of this economic crisis. so this bill is nothing more than a stimulus for more government. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, tate i not only stand in support of continuing unemployment benefits, over 18,000 washington state residents, i stand today in support of small manufacturers in my state of washington. legislation will help small and medium-sized manufacturers export their products not their jobs overseas. i want to see the label made in america again and this bill is an important step in that direction. the global market is a fast an

ever growing market for u.s. exports. nationwide nearly 3.7 million manufacturing jobs are supported by exports. in my district alone there are 192 aerospace production suppliers and vendors and washington state there are over 100 boat manufacturers with many of these small businesses not only supplying the domestic market but also exporting their products. we do all we can to support these manufacturing companies to sell their products both here in the u.s. and overseas. the small manufacturers export initiative will build the infrastructure next to connect these manufacturers with export opportunities around the world and help them increase their productivity and expand their businesses. i urge support for this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, she's is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. the president's own democrat co-chair of the debt commission said, quote, this debt is like a cancer, end quote. and he's right. and this debt cancer is

spreading rapidly. democrats' spend something out of control and adding to the already staggering deficit. house democrats canceled the 2011 budget and failed to propose and pass an annual budget resolution for the first time since 1974. more and more tax dollars are being wasted. job creation in the private sector remains at a virtual stand still. $1 trillion is spent on the president's stimulus and there's still more than 14 million people out of work. this cancerous debt a symptom of the failed stimulus and increasing government control needs to be stopped immediately. washington needs to start letting taxpayers spend their own money and start putting americans back to work. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, 75 years ago this country recognized the plight of senior citizens who had no retirement, who were forced to move in with their kids when they got old,

and we created social security. and it has been a tremendous success. many people, however, don't realize what else social security does for this country. 8.5 million americans who have disabilities that limit their ability to work receive assistance from the program. roughly 6.5 million children receive part of their family income through a program which has lifted nearly nearly two million of them out of poverty . when their breadwinner, their father or mother died, social security gives them a benefit. some of them have used it to go to college. and through the social security program, another 7.5 million people very low income and severely disabled people receive critical financial support to meet their most basic needs. i urge all my colleagues to review the entire record and support fixing social security

next session. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from puerto rico rise? mr. pierluisi: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. pierluisi: mr. speaker, 58 years ago this sunday the constitution of puerto rico took effect. as we mark this occasion, it is appropriate to reflect on the progress puerto rico has paid in fulfilling the aspirations expressed in our constitution. and to acknowledge the distance we have left to travel. our constitution reflects the values and dreams of our people. its words reaffirms our commitment to democracy and equality, and confirms that we treasure both our puerto rican roots and our american citizenship. over time, the bond between puerto rico and the united states has grown stronger. like so many american stories, this is the chronicle of progress, evolution, and a steady march towards a more

perfect union. but the aspirations of our constitution have yet to be realized. there will be no democracy for puerto rico until its people have a real voice in making the national laws that govern their lives. and there will be no equality so long as they can be treated differently than their fellow citizens simply because they live in a territory. today i renew my pledge to fight so that one day democracy and equality will prevail in puerto rico. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. watson: on the 75th anniversary, august 14, social security is once again under assault by congressional republicans. social security has been for 75 years a bedrock promise. you earned it with a lifetime of hard work and it should be there for you for future generations.

if republicans had succeeded, seniors would have lost trillions more in the stock market meltdown of the bush recession. but instead no one lost a penny in social security. social security is not the cause of our budget deficit and benefit cuts should not be the solution. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. hastings: by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 1550 even ask for its immediate consideration -- and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 223, house resolution 1550, resolved that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 4213, to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to extend certain expiring provisions and for

other purposes, with a senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment thereto and consider in the house without intervention of any point of order except those arising under clause 10 of rule 21 a motion offered by the chair of the committee on ways and means or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment. the senate amendment shall be considered as read. the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means. the previous question should be considered as ordered on the motion to final adoption without intervening motion. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for one hour. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to the distinguished the gentlewoman from north carolina, dr. foxx. all time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i also ask unanimous consent

that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on house resolution 1550. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, this resolution provides for consideration of the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 4213, the unemployment compensation extension act of 2010. finally. the rule makes in order a motion offered by the chair of the committee on ways and means or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendment, that the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 4213. the rule provides one hour of debate on the motion equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways

and means. the rule waives all points of order against consideration of the motion except those arising under clause 10 of rule 21. finally, the rule provides that the senate amendment shall be considered as read. mr. speaker, h.r. 4213, the restoration of emergency unemployment compensation act of 2010, ensures that much needed federal assistance continues to reach the millions of americans struggling to find a job, trying to keep their homes, and doing the best they can to provide for their families. this legislation is long overdue , with unemployment benefits having expired on june 1 of this year. so i am pleased this legislation is retroactive to that date, millions of americans who desperately needed our support were left hanging by the

egregious obstructionism that prevented this legislation from moving forward. while the other body is content with giving themselves a pat on the back for every roadblock they throw in front of the democratic bill, i remind my colleagues that they are playing with the livelihood of countless hardworking americans. what is merely a political end for them is in reality another family that can't make rent, can't send their kids to college, or can't pay their medical bills. as we are well aware, much of the debate surrounding this bill has sent us on its cost. -- centered on its cost. we in the democratic party believe that balancing the budget is vital for our long-term prosperity. but it cannot be done on the backs of struggling americans.

over the past few weeks my republican colleagues have railed on about democrats for not cutting the deficit or spending beyond our means. but i wonder if my republican colleagues have looked in the mirror lately. i have been here for some time. and i can't for the life of me remember any calls for fiscal discipline when their party was cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires, sending a blank check overseas, or squandering a $127 billion federal budget surplus. time and again my colleagues' action simply do not match their rhetoric. further cutting the budget and denying unemployment benefits are going to make jobs magically appear. such actions will only cause our

economy to contract and leave more people out in the cold. our economy needs a deliberate targeted approach for job creation and economic growth and that is what democrats will provide. to say as my colleagues do that democrats are moving in the wrong direction and doing nothing to create jobs is simply a bald face lie. over the last year and a half we have gone from a period of negative growth to consistent increases in our g.d.p. we have gone from 22 months of job loss to six straight months of private sector job creation, all be it not nearly enough -- albeit not nearly enough. we have gone from shuttered factories to the largest 12-month gain in industrial production since 1998. make no mistake, job creation is

the number one priority for democrats. but as the job market recovers, there remain far too many who are out of work and losing hope. while my republican colleagues question the need to lend a hand to those who are struggling, i question their aversion to provide opportunity to those who have none. . maybe there are no poor people in my colleague's district but the people i represent people are hurting. people simple low cannot find work. they are pounding the pavement, willing to take anything that comes their way and in the meantime they need our help. you see, mr. speaker, what republicans seem to consider reckless spending the people in the district that i serve are

considered a vital lifeline. there are 170 floridians that are unemployed -- 170,000 florans that are unemployed at this time. the people call an essential government service. and what republicans see as a bloated budget our citizens see is the only thing that is keeping them from financial ruin. the other party can continue to play political theater, but we have serious work to do. the american people cannot afford to wait a second longer. they need this extension. they deserve this extension and we will not let republican obstructionism prevent them from getting this extension. and mr. speaker i -- and, mr. speaker, i will make a prediction for you. after all of these talks, all of the obstruction to us having unemployment compensation extended that had been ruin

teenly extended since 1959 without the kind of obstruction that it met, particularly in the other body, i predict for you that a significant number of our republican colleagues today are going to vote for unemployment compensation. and in that regard i'm glad they came to the dance, albie it a little late. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: -- albeit a little late. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank my colleague, the gentleman from florida, for yielding time. mr. speaker, today i rise in opposition to this closed rule providing for consideration of h.r. 4213, a bill extending unemployment insurance. republicans know that we must reduce the deficit, and it's the underlying -- if the underlying bill had been paid for, republicans would have gladly supported it. but it is not.

undoubtedly, the american people are suffering from actions of this democrat-controlled congress. we go home every weekend, and our constituents tell us that their concerns are both jobs and the debt. in fact, they tell us every weekend they are frightened to death for the future of this country. i never had constituents tell me that before this year. the simple truth is that while the liberals have repeatedly claim their $1 trillion 2009 stimulus plan was the, quote, right thing to do, end quote, it's hard to tell that from looking at the job situation across the u.s. the american people are facing high unemployment rates and economic uncertainty. in fact, we have a quote from our distinguished chair of the federal reserve, economic future unusually certain, is

the headlines in "the washington times" today. but we need to go back to the drawing board and come back to have real commonsense solutions that we are willing to pay for it. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, at this time i'm very pleased to yield to a former member of the rules committee, a good friend of mine, the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. welch: i thank the gentleman from florida. the question of unemployment benefits being conflated with the debt that was caused by tax cuts that we couldn't afford, $2.3 trillion, by a war that was on the credit card, president bush's war in iraq that cost $3 trillion and

rising, the medicare part d that drove this economy in a ditch, if there is an honest discussion about what caused this debt we must go back in history and not distant history to acknowledge that it was the reckless spending policies of the republican administration and george bush that contributed more to this debt than any other administration in the history of this entire country. george bush in eight years accumulated more debt by more reckless decisions than all of the presidents who preceded him. all of those decisions, incidentally, were discretionary decisions. a war of choice. wrong war, wrong time, put on the credit card of the american taxpayers. tax cuts that did not stimulate the economy but burdened us with generations of debt. a medicare prescription drug program where the choice was not only to put it on the credit card but it was to make embedded in law the

unwillingness of the federal government to negotiate bulk price discounts to the drug companies. that is the legacy of debt that brought us to this situation. then, there is some joint responsibility. this economic collapse that we had as a result of the implotion of wall street that happened basically two years ago today. that was many reasons for that but it was excess debt, reckless explanation on the part of folks on wall street and it led to this economic crisis that we have right now. mr. speaker, when it comes to providing unemployment benefits to people who have -- mr. hastings: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. welch: when it comes to the question of who's going to pay the price, should it be the

victims of these reckless decisions, these squandering of choices that we had to make the right decision at the right time to build jobs, should the people who are the victims of reckless policies in washington and in many cases by the republican administration, in some cases because of joint lax regulation by both administrations, democratic and republican, are we going to impose the burden of those bad choices on the part of the people who had no responsibility and are the victims? that would be wrong. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i now would like to yield six minutes to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. mcclintock. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for six minutes. mr. mcclintock: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i would say in response that, yes, george w. bush was responsible for what was then the worst debt in the nation. that was a terrible public policy, and i make no apologies

for it, but it needs to be pointed out that this administration and this congress in just two years have run up as much debt as the irresponsible bush administration did in all eight years combined. yes, that was irresponsible fiscal policy. why in the world would you want to exacerbate and continue that bad policy? republicans have learned their lessons. it appears that lesson has not yet been learned on the other side of the aisle. mr. speaker, anyone who's experienced firsthand the quiet panic that stalks every waking hour of an unemployed family knows how frightening and debilitating is chronic unemployment. you watch your savings evaporate, you watch your children going without the material things that their friends enjoy and you count down the months or even days until you won't be able to make that crucial rent or house payment. that unemployment check is a lifeline in such times, and i

fully appreciate and understand how desperately an unemployed family is looking to get the security of 99 weeks of such checks. but i can't go along with this for a simple reason. the only way out of this nightmare of unemployment for these families is a job. speaker pelosi and others have said that the most important thing we can do to create jobs is to extend unemployment benefits to 99 weeks because the unemployed would spend this money and stimulate the economy. well, this analysis completely ignores the harsh and glaring fact that before this money can be put back into the economy it must first be taken out of the very same economy. we will have to take $34 billion more out of the economy in order to finance these extra benefits through november. in fact, this is the eighth such extension totally $120

billion. that means over $1,600 from the pockets of an average family of four in america. and since we don't have that money we'll have to borrow it from exactly the same capital pool that would otherwise have been available to loan to businesses seeking to expand jobs or to homebuyers seeking to re-enter the housing market or to consumers seeking to make consumer purchases and remember 2/3 of economic growth depends upon consumer spending. but that money now won't be there to loan for jobs and homes and economic growth. this is $34 billion of relief to the unemployed that they desperately need and i desperately wish we could responsibly extend. but to do so would also mean $34 billion of fewer jobs. it means perpetuating this never-ending nightmare of unemployment for these families and indeed throwing more

families into that nightmare. we've been told for several years now by presidents bush and obama the stimulus spending would help the economy. but it hasn't and there's a reason it hasn't. government cannot inject a single dollar into the economy that it is not first taken out of that very same economy. government cannot provide a dollar of temporary relief to the unemployed without first removing a dollar of permanent relief for the unemployed, namely, a job. the talking point dejure from the other side is, well, the republicans have no jobs giving tax breaks to the wealthy but won't extend a lifeline to the unemployed. well, once again, they just don't get it. milton friedman once observed that spending is the effective rate of taxation. spending can only be paid for in two ways, either current taxes or future taxes to retire

borrowing. high taxes and deficits are just the symptom. the problem is the spending and this is a spending bill. on may 9 of 1939, after nearly a decade of unemployment checks and stimulus spending with unemployment at 17.2%, franklin roosevelt, secretary of the treasury, henry morgenthau, made this announcement. he said, no, gentlemen, we have tried spending money. we are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. and i have just one interest, and if i'm wrong, as far as i'm concerned, someone else can have my job. i want to see this country prosperous. i want to see people get a job. i want to see people get enough to eat. we have never made good on our promises. i say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and a enormous debt to

boot. mr. speaker, let us heed the lessons of history before we totally destroy our economy. perpetual unemployment checks put these desperate families farther and farther away from the only thing that can truly end their suffering, a real job. that's a fact nobody around here wants to face, but until we do chronic unemployment will continue to stock the land and god forbid another treasury secretary will have to make the same administration as henry morgenthau did 71 years ago. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i can't believe what i just heard. i heard what franklin roosevelt said. i was alive during that period of time, and i saw what happened during franklin roosevelt's administration. my parents, among many others, got jobs during that period of time and they came out of the

depression and this country soared as a result of the policies of the roosevelt administration. we will be very wise in this country if we could possibly implement the wonderful things that he did. i yield, mr. speaker, three minutes to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the gentleman from california just said that by extending unemployment benefits and perpetuating the families we somehow destroy the economic future of these families. everyone's entitled to their own opinion, mr. speaker. i think the reality is that if you take away someone's ability to pay their rent or their utility bill or credit card bill you absolutely destroy them. the issue before the house today is whether or not 2 1/2

million americans whose unemployment benefits have expired or about to expire should get an extension. i empatically believe they should. now, the argument that we heard from the other side first about not even taking a vote on this issue and now against extending those benefits is two-fold. the first, which we just heard a version of, is that it somehow zaps the incentive for people to go look for a job to extend their unploit benefits. i challenge anybody to meet 10 or 100 or 500 unemployed americans and ask them just how many want ads they've circled, just how many resumes they've sent out, just how hard they looked for a job and i think that puts the argument to rest. the second argument is a good-faith argument that people don't want to add to the national debt. first of all, this is a selective argument. . nearly 2/3 of the national debt

was accumulated during the administrations of president reagan, george h.w. bush and george w. bush. most recently when the past administration added to the national debt by prosecuting an endless occupation of iraq, with borrowed money, virtually no one on the other side raised this issue. most recently when the prior administration dramatically reduced the taxes of the top 5% of people in this country by borrowing the money, virtually no one on the other side raised this issue. and today members on the other side both in the other body and here have taken the position that while extending benefits to janitors and bus drivers and salespeople who lost their jobs is somehow fiscally irresponsible, if you don't offset it, then extending tax breaks to the top 5% of the

people in the country on a permanent basis is completely responsible. so in other words, the person who is laid off her job cleaning an office building can't get unemployment benefits unless there is a spending cut or tax increase to pay for it. but the person who owns the office building, who could get a half billion dollar tax cut and get that with borrowed money, this makes no sense. what does make sense is a yes vote on today's bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i now would like to yield four minutes to the distinguished gentleman from nevada, mr. heller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. heller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i appreciate the gentlelady extending some time and effort in trying to pronounce nevada correctly. i assure her the next time i'm

certain. it is an honor to be here in front of you and send some time talking about these unemployment benefits that we have in front of us today. we had some unfortunate information come out of the administration and the unemployment numbers for the last month actually picked up in the state of nevada. right now the unemployment rate in the state of nevada is 14.2%. in the city of las vegas that unemployment number is 14.5%. that is the worst unemployment from -- in any place across this nation. so very disheartening. the question i get, i have, is who do we hold responsible? who do we hold responsible for the failed economic policies of this congress and this administration? and i want to make it clear that i do not believe that the unemployed are the ones that should be held accountable for these failures. despite the promises from this administration that a stimulus bill would cap unemployment at

8% or seeing across this nation numbers much higher than that. we are continuing to see nevada grow from 10%, 11%, 12%, and now 14.2%. it's supposed to be an immediate jolt. clearly it didn't happen. the truth is the stimulus has failed the american people and the people of the great state of deaf -- nevada. i want to read a letter i received from a constituent, heide writes, i immediate you to try to understand just how difficult things are for some if not most of us still unemployed here in the lovely state of nevada. i have been unemployed for just about six months now. my husband was laid off back in november. recently took a job for considerably less amount just to get a job. i have been on several interviews, filled out countless applications, and sent my resume to countless companies. she worked for the same company for six years. her husband laid off after

working for 13 years. it just goes to expand the failed policies that we are seeing here in this congress, coming out of this congress and this administration. mr. hastings: i would extend time if he would answer a question. i yield 15 seconds to the gentleman for purposes of asking a question. what do you think would have happened had the stimulus bill not passed? mr. heller: in other words, you asked me what would have happened if we took all this money out of the private sector and put it in the public sector? is that the question you are asking? mr. hastings: i'm asking what would have happened to those teachers? what would have happened to those police officer who kept their job? the speaker pro tempore: 15 seconds expired. mr. heller: i believe we need private sector money given to private secretaryor, give to private people. not more public jobs. that's what the other side

continues to argue. i will tell you the members on both sides, both sides of the aisle are trying to help the unemployed. but the argument here is do we continue to add $34 billion to the $13 trillion in debt that we now have here in this country? and that's the argument. if you want to ask another question, how do you plan on paying for it, there was a rule. there was an opportunity for the rules committee to pay for this. how often is the left and how often is the majority party saying that the unemployment and the stimulus in this economy? that's great. and if you want to go down that road, what i would argue is take the stimulus dollars that are unused and use it to pay for these unemployment benefits. you can do it. you can do it. it's not that you can't do it. it's that you won't do it. and that makes no sense. i had a substitute amendment in the rules committee. of course it failed. i think it's unfortunate what we are doing here today is that we

are going to pass this bill. i'm going to vote against the rule. i would vote for the bill. voting against the rule. and the problem with this is we are going to pass this bill and what we are going to do is go on a six-week vacation. that's what we are doing here. we are going to go on a six-week vacation. what we are going to say is, hey, we are going to extend these unemployment benefits but get full pay for six weeks while we are on vacation? why don't we stay here, mr. speaker? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. foxx: i yield an additional 30 seconds. mr. heller: i want to stay here over the six-week period, put some economic, bipartisan economic policies together so that people from the city of sparks, nevada can get a job. i think that's what we ought to be doing here in washington, d.c., instead of casting a vote right before a six-week vacation. i ask the question who should be held responsible for the failed economic policies of this

congress and this administration? and i don't believe it should be the unemployed. thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, it doesn't take a degree in trigonometry to understand that if you spend $34 billion helping unemployed people who should have been helped in the first place much longer ago, and according to the congressional budget office, a very neutral concern that analyzes these matters, for every dollar spent, $1.90 comes back into the economy. that would by my count add up to spending $34 billion and having come into the economy $64.6 billion. with that, mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to my good friend from texas, the distinguished gentlewoman, ms. jackson lee.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, it is simply the morally right thing to do. as i listened to the battering and chattering and the constant obstructionist policies of my friends, republicans and this body and the other body, i am amazed there is no moral compass that say that millions of americans, those who have worked, are simply asking that they be able to survive. this is not a handout. this is a trust. a contract that when you work you invest in unemployment insurance to a certain extent, first given by the state and now because of states that run out of money this government, their government is extending those dollars and we know that it's the right thing to do because those people on the other side of the aisle have allowed this obstructionist to go forward, but they couldn't fight it anymore. they couldn't fight 62% of the

american public. who says this is the right thing to do. they couldn't fight the congressional budget office who said this is the most cost-effective and fast acting infusion of dollars to help people pay their mortgage and food and car payment and to stay off the street. and further, mr. speaker, chairman bernanke said it's no time for the deficit hawks to raise their head. what we as democrats are doing is fusing dollars into the economy is the best approach to get that economy to grow. corporate revenues grew in the last quarter. but corporations are hoarding their money. we are creating jobs. and therefore we must continue to stimulate this economy by these unemployed, individuals having resources to buy into the economy and to make a difference. i believe that -- and i thank the gentleman but i don't have time unless the gentleman would yield, i thank the gentleman very much for yielding and allowing me to say that all of

the economists point to the fact that we are doing the right thing. i ask the republicans to join us today and stand as americans and do what is right for america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. -- the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i now would like to yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished ranking minority member of the rules committee, mr. dreier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dreier: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dreier: let me begin by expressing my appreciation to my very good friend from grandfather community north carolina for thoughtful approach in dealing with what is obviously an extraordinarily difficult issue. the night before last i had one of the telephone town hall meetings that many of our colleagues have regularly now. there was an unemployed truck driver who was on the line saying that he had for one year

been looking for a job. he said, i said are you going out every day? i'm going out every other day because i got responsibility taking care of my family. but he said, that he is out working very hard and said we need to do what we can do to ensure that those of us who are hurting do have access to those benefits. then he went on to say after i had talked about the desire for us to, with our $1 trillion-plus budget, we have a budget well in excess of $1 trillion, that we might be able to find $34 billion to pay for this. that makes sense please try to do that then we'll be able to have the unemployment benefits that we need right now just to survive. now, mr. speaker, the notion of

pay-as-you-go was not a republican initiative. it was an initiative led by democrats and in fact as we saw the democrats emerge to majority, pay-as-you-go has been the holy grail. in fact, we have heard constantly that pay-as-you-go would be utilized to deal with spending legislation. meaning we would offset it by bringing about spending cuts in other areas. mr. speaker, it seems to me that my friend, mr. heller, was absolutely right when he came before the rules committee this morning and made his case that he proposed an offset. so this truck driver in southern california with whom i spoke to would be able to get his benefits and we would also be able to do what this unemployed truck driver wants and that is for us to do what he said was a

commonsense approach, to pay for it. and i think mr. heller really hit the nail right on the head when he said you can do it. it's just that you won't do it. and i had to say, and i said this when i stood here yesterday, mr. speaker, i like to be a positive, ronald reagan, optimist, but when we know that the majority can in fact pay for this, and they know that we are desperately concerned about the fact that an attempt is being made as mr. mcclintock pointed out in his thoughtful remarks, that we are exacerbating this spending problem which did go on under the bush administration, but has gotten substantially worse in the last 18 months. in fact we all know we have seen an 84% increase in nondefense discretionary spending. so we have said, ok, we'll go

along and we want to see if we can find in this trillion-plus budget, $34 billion to offset so that we can pay for these benefits. the other side of the aisle has chosen not to do it. i think in large part what some of us in a position are saying you are not going to do if -- this if you are going to blindly continue with $34 billion in additional spending, we are not going to go for it. what is it they want to do, mr. speaker? they want to paint us as being on the other side of those who are trying to make ends meet. . again, we've seen constantly this class warfare argument and to me it's a failed argument. i'd like to quote the late senator paul tsongas. we're very pleased to have his widow serve here as our colleague from massachusetts. senator tsongas had this very

clear approach when he was running for president in 1992. he said the problem with my democratic party is that they love employees but they hate employers. and, mr. speaker, as you look at that argument, this perpetuation of class warfare, tax cuts for the rich, throwing people who are on unemployment out on the streets without having any concern for them whatsoever, that argument really falls very flat because i believe that the american people understand that we truly do care. we do want to create opportunity for everyone, and those who are desperately in need should in fact have their needs met, and we want to do what we can. now, i will say that this measure extends for people going on unemployment, unemployment benefits for 99 weeks, 99 weeks. now, that's had almost two

years. i hope very much, as mr. heller said, that we can put into place a bipartisan approach, a bipartisan approach to deal with economic policy that had can get this economy growing. we know that we were promised an unemployment rate that would not exceed 8% if we passed the $1 trillion stimulus bill, and in part of the area i represent in southern california, the unemployment rate is 14.4%. statewide for us in california, just announced this week, is 12.3%. nationally it's 9.5%. well, it's well in excess what we were promised, so why don't we try to do what has succeeded in the past? using again the model of john f. kennedy and the model of ronald reagan. when john f. kennedy's economic growth plan was put into place in 1961, marginal rate reduction, growth-oriented --

growth-oriented tax cuts -- i was just talking to my friend from vermont, mr. welch, if we had growth-oriented tax cuts we could do, i would hope what john f. kennedy was doing in the 1960's. he saw a 60% increase in the flow of revenues to the federal treasury. economic growth generated more revenues. we know that we need to increase revenues. we desperately need to increase revenues to deal with the spending that has taken place and to try and pay down this $13 trillion debt. in the 1980's, the cash flow was 90% when the ronald reagan tax plan was put into place. that's a bipartisan approach, exactly what mr. heller said. mr. speaker, let's use that as our model, which will be substantially better than what is being put before us today. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the

balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: can you tell me the remaining time for both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida has 14 minutes. the gentlelady from north carolina has 10 1/2. mr. hastings: thank you. mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts, my friend and colleague from the rules committee, mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i rise in support of this rule and the underlying bill. mr. speaker, all i can say is it's about time. and to my friends on the other side of the aisle, it's a shame that it's taken this long. for seven weeks millions of americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own have worried about how they're going to pay for their groceries, pay for their rent, pay for their mortgage, pay for their children's college tuition. they've sat around the table and made tough decisions about their family's budget and through this they've continued to apply for job after job

after job. that's what the unemployed have done in these past seven weeks. what have the republicans done? they've done nothing. my friend on the other side of the aisle talked about the need to extend the bush tax cuts for their wealthy friends which they don't want to pay for. i mean, here's the deal, they don't worry about the deficit when it comes to tax cuts for millionaires but when it comes to working people who are confronting difficult times, who are faced with an emergency, all of a sudden they got religion when it comes to the deficit. they made a lot of noise about characterizing unemployment benefits as a government handout or somehow encouraging lazy behavior. but i would challenge any of my republican colleagues to say those things face to face to someone who's been out of work for a year, who's applied to job after job after job without getting a response. the facts don't lie. according to the congressional

budget office, extending unemployment benefits is the most efficient way for the federal government to generate economic growth. each $1 spent creates up to $1.90 in economic output. extending these benefits also creates jobs and decreasing the chances that we slip into a double-dip recession. and every other economic crisis in american history, democrats and republicans have put aside their partisan differences and provided emergency unemployment benefits to those americans who have lost their jobs. mr. speaker, house democrats did our job on july 1. we passed an extension of benefits that would have restored benefits to those who lost them in early june. it would have also ensured that jobless americans would have the peace of mind of knowing that benefits were available to them through the end of november while they continue to apply for jobs. and since then we have worked to try to -- and reworked this benefits extension to try to address republican concerns, but every time, every single time we have been stone walled

by republican on -- stonewald by republican obstruction -- stonewalled by republican obstructionism. mr. speaker, enough is enough. enough of the politics. let us extend these benefits to hardworking people who have lost their jobs, who are dealing with this difficult economic time. this is the right thing to do, this is the decent thing to do, we should have done it a long time ago. i urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i have to remind my colleagues across the aisle again that the democrats have been in control of congress since january, 2007, and we have a democrat in the white house -- had a democrat in the white house for almost two years. the democrats have been in control and the republicans are in the minority and the democrats can do what they want

to do because of their numbers in congress. while the obama administration continues their so-called summer of recovery, mr. speaker, claiming the democrats' stimulus bill saved or created three million jobs, the facts are in and 47 out of 50 states have lost jobs since the stimulus passed. republicans on the ways and means committee released a report on tuesday that shows this data, and i'd like to insert this report into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. this report compares the number of jobs created in each state that the administration currently claims in a white house report issued july 14 with the actual change in jobs since the stimulus became law as documented by the administration's own department of labor. it shows that only alaska, kentucky and north dakota, along with the district of columbia, have shown any real job growth since the stimulus passed.

and even in those states the official job creation has fallen far short of administration claims. the administration claims that every state in the district of columbia have seen a positive job growth. this is simply not true. when you look at the actual numbers from the department of labor. and let me say that in alaska, only 2,200 jobs have been created since the stimulus passed. in kentucky, 2,400 jobs. and in north dakota only 5,100 jobs. and most of us know that north dakota it's because of the discovery of energy. and that compares with what the administration has said they created 8,000 in north dakota, they claim 41,000 in kentucky, they claim 7,000 in alaska. so the numbers are quite different. but let me point out that in

the district of columbia where there are government jobs that have been created and lobbyist jobs that have been created as a result of this administration's policies, there's 7,800. so the bulk of the jobs that have been created are government jobs. republicans don't think this is right. neither dot american people think this is -- neither do the american people think this is right. we need jobs in the private sector. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to my friend, the distinguished jo from nevada, ms. berkley. two tight minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. berkley: let me tell you something about the state of nevada. we have the highest unemployment rate in the country, 14.5% unemployed. our fellow citizens with no jobs to go to and no jobs to seek. we have the highest mortgage

foirk rate in the country. -- forecast rate in the country. -- foreclosure rate in the country. unemployment benefits are not a handout. it's not welfare. it's giving a helping hand to our fellow citizens that need it the most, to get them where they are now which is without a job to where they're going to be when there's an economic recovery. the gentleman from northern nevada had an amendment in the rules committee that said unobligated stimulus money should go to pay for this. how many times does he have to hear that there are no unobligated funds in the stimulus bill? for any nevadan to condemn the stimulus bill is to ignore what's going on in the state of nevada. let me tell you what the stimulus package did for us. it put $700 billion into our education system. i'm not talking about only paying teachers and keeping them employed. i'm talking about the possibility of having to close schools and put $500 billion into medicaid so that poor

children and poor adults aren't going to be out on the streets dying for lack of medical care. our unemployment compensation trust fund was broke, zero, zipo, we were able to put money into that. and in addition to that the construction projects that came directly from the stimulus package, not public but private contractors bidding on these projects and then hiring construction workers. the downtown transportation center, the park and ride in centennial hills, the boulder highway transportation center and so many more came directly from this stimulus bill. in addition to that, we had a middle-income tax cut. we had $250 that went to every social security recipient. $250 went to every disabled veteran in nevada. we welcomed this money. we needed this money. it kept us afloat. maybe my colleague -- the speaker pro tempore: the lady's time has expired. the gentlelady from north

carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield minutes to the distinguished gentleman from nebraska, mr. terry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. terry: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i've talked to several of our unemployed back home and, boy, i tell you, i empathize with them. i just talked to an unemployed truck driver. his benefits are running out, but yet the trucks that have been eyedled over the last couple of years are yet to be back onto the road because this is a jobless recovery. while it's a very minimal recovery at best. but they aren't creating the jobs. the public knows and we know that the stimulus hasn't worked. business communities feel that not only does the administration not understand business but they're attacking businesses and the policy has created uncertainty where they won't create the jobs. that's the issue here. there's no jobs for them to go

back to because of the policies that have been adapted or adopted in the last year and a half. we should be growing the economy and getting these people back to work. that's what they want to do. now, i, again, i empathize but the issue here is at a time when the majority is spending probably over $4 trillion by the time this calendar year is done and we are already at deficit spending at over $1 trillion by june, the people are saying stop the spending, stop the deficit spending. and that's what the issue is here is the $34 billion that's not paid for that's going to go to the deficit and ultimately to our national debt, and that's what the people are telling us to stop. even the unemployed truck driver. that i talked to. so all we ask of the majority here, builder 34 billion,

you're telling me out of a -- well, we don't have a budget -- but $3.8 trillion you can't find $34 billion to offset and keep your promises of pay-go? i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i will tell my friend where that $1 trillion came from is the $1 trillion combined in afghanistan and iraq that we spent that's off budget, never accounted for, borrowed and spent by the republican in thes -- republicans in the majority. i yield four minutes to dwidge -- to the distinguished gentleman from wisconsin, mr. obey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. obey: talk, talk, talk, talk, blau, blau, -- blah, blah, blah, yap, yap, yap.

the country is sick of it all. they are sick of it all. thank god finally there will be a cease-fire for the moment on the yap, yapping and the talk, talking while the congress actually takes some action to restore unemployment benefits for nearly 85,000 people in my state and over 2 1/2 million americans who are caught up in the partisan delay game that was being paid every day by some of our friends in the other body. . we are told we can't afford this. we hear that from the same people who blew up the economy in the first place with two wars paid for with borrowed money, with two tax cuts primarily aimed at the highest income people in this country, paid for with borrowed money. and with years of economic policies that allowed wall street banks to more of -- morph

into casinos because the referee was taken off the field. now they are crying crocodile tears at this late date about the cost of helping folks who are unemployed. and they want us to take actions in dealing with that that would further weaken the ability of the economy to grow. and then some of them even have the gall to challenge the work ethic of americans who are drawing unemployment. and some of them are off the wall enough to even believe that those folks would rather get a few hundred bucks a month rather than a steady paycheck. if you believe that, i've got a lot of unemployed workers in wisconsin i'd like to have you meet. if you want, if you must, by all means debate economic theory, debate your academic theories,

debate anything you want, but for god's sake remember that in this debate the people are being affected are flesh and blood, human beings. they are families who need our help and it would be nice if we could quit yap yapping long enough to provide that help. don't use the unemployed as cannon fodder in academic and political debates. for god's sake, remember there are simply people who need our help. get it to them. we could have the phony political debates on another day. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i need to point out to my colleagues once more that when the democrats took over the congress in january of 2007 the deficit was about $200 billion. it was a wonderful situation

under mr. clinton they like to point out but that was because republicans were in control of congress and were controlling spending. when the democrats took control of congress, that's when things started going downhill for this country. when unemployment started going up and bad things happened. let me say republicans have repeatedly called for cutting unspent stimulus spending to offset the spending, but we are not alone. the majority leader, mr. hoyer, said on june 13, there's spending fatigue across the country and that if we have dollars not yet expended in the reoff i act they should be redirected to pay for new spending like this. the chairman of the house appropriations committee, mr. obey, hailed amendments to the supplemental appropriations bill made on july 1 that were paid for by repeatedly cutting unspent projects in the stimulus bill. in the other body the chairman of the senate finance committee, mr. baucus, has suggested the same. pay for new spending by cutting stimulus. mr. speaker, i would like to submit the corresponds for my

comments and my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. now i'd like to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. mcclintock. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mcclintock: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. the jobless need jobs. why is it the majority doesn't understand that? we do not help the unemployed by making more of them? the gentleman from florida asked an important question, what would have happened without all of the trillions of dollars of stimulus spending? it's becoming increasingly clear what would have happened. a normal recovery in every past economic recession save one, the greater the economic contraction, the more dramatic has been the following recovery. that one exception was the recession of 1929 when keynesian economics came into vogue. herber hoover responded to that recession by enacting the smoot-hallly trare riff act a tax on tens of thousands of

imported products, he increased federal 60% in four years, he increased the federal income tax rate from 23% to 63%. these were policies exsended and expanded under franklin roosevelt and as roosevelt's own treasury secretary admitted in 1939, it did not work. the gentleman's history is simply wrong. the depression ended and a great post war economic boom began in 1946. in 1946 democrat harry truman cut federal spending dramatically. in 1946 he cut the federal budget from $80 billion down to $35 billion. he fired 10 million federal employees. it was called demobilization. and the result was the entire postwar economic expansion. mr. speaker, it's said that don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. i fear that the majority party is repeating a failed history of

economic contraction at just the time when we need pro-growth policies. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: i'm very pleased to yield to my colleague and fellow floridian, the distinguished gentlewoman from florida, ms. wasserman schultz, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. wasserman schultz: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i am appalled and my constituents are appalled at the republicans' disrespect and cold heartedness when it comes to extending unemployment benefits for out-of-work americans. some republican members of congress and candidates in their party have suggested that unemployment insurance makes americans too lazy for work. one republican member of the house even asked if the government now creating hobos. maybe my republican colleagues don't understand how unemployment compensation works. you only qualify for unemployment if you were employed. far from being a handout to someone who doesn't want to work, unemployment benefits are

specifically designed for people who want to work but who can't currently find work. the bush recession drove our economy off a clip creating the worst economic condition since the great depression. as a result millions of americans lost their jobs. nearly 800,000 americans lost their jobs in the last month of the bush administration alone. those are the facts. now we are beginning to recover from this near economic collapse. we have seen steady economic growth, including six straight months of private sector job growth. but there is still five unemployed americans looking for work for every one job opening available. to continue the republican opposition to helping out-of-work americans is preposterous. it flies in the face of history. since 1959 congress has never let extended unemployment benefits expire when unemployment is over 7.2%. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that we can't afford to help unemployed americans. but where were they when they ran up the deficit by passing tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of americans? where were they when year after year brush's budget did not even

include the cost of the wars in iraq and afghanistan? mr. speaker, analysis from the nonpartisan congressional budget office office finds that extending unemployment benefits is one of the most cost-effective and fast acting ways to stimulate the economy. moreover, economists agree that extending these benefits will create jobs and decrease the chances of slipping into a double dip recession. not only is it the right thing to do to help people who are temporarily out of work, it is also one of the best ways to stimulate local economies from the very smallest town to the very biggest cities. let's do the right thing. let's pass extended unemployment benefits. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves her time. mr. hastings: i would inquire of the distinguished gentlewoman from north carolina if she has any remaining speakers? ms. foxx: no remaining speakers, mr. speaker. but i will do the closing myself. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: in an abundance of caution, mr. speaker, i believe i will be the last speaker for this side. so i'll reserve my time until the gentlewoman has closed for her side and yielded back her time. the caution that i ask is that if the speaker of the house is available, then i would yield my remaining time to the speaker of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i was giving courtesy to the gentleman from florida to allow him to get all his speakers and get to the closing but i can do that. i have off said that being here in washington -- i have often said that being here in washington is like being alice in wonderland. i didn't know there were a lot of other people who feel the same way. i did want to ask my colleague from massachusetts who made the contention that if we get a dollar and ninth cents back for

every dollar we spend, we don't understand why the democrats are stopping and spending $34 billion for these unemployment. but i do want to come back to the issue of being alice in wonderland. recently there have been several articles published that have talked about this being alice in wonderland and the tea party. and i would like to quote from one of those articles from the "washington times" this monday. a recent cbs poll reports that 74% of the population thinks the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package either hurt or had no impact on the economy. simply put, that means 3/4 of the american people think the stimulus package was a $1 trillion waste of money. the same poll reports that 2.5 times as many people think the health care reform bill signed into law by democrats will hurt them rather than help them. 33% to 13%. it goes on to say many americans are seized with fears what might normally be a benign lame duck

session of congress looms in november. another quote, in lewis carroll's story alice finds herself in a bizarre nightmarish world where the basic laws of logic don't apply and familiar things take on strange personas. more and more many americans view our progressive leaders on capitol hill and 1600 pennsylvania avenue as the insane host of an ongoing style mad tea party. i think that's what many americans feel. i agree with them. that is what we are hearing when we go home to our districts and talk to the people there. they are seeing washington as wonderland and that there is a mad tea party going on. i would like to also point out that there is another article which came out, bloomberg opinion, which talks about the discrepancy in the job numbers that have come out.

mr. speaker, we know americans are hurting. we know there is a lot of unemployment. and we are sympathetic. but this is not the right way to go. thank you, mr. speaker. soir the gentleman's time has expired -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: how much time do i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 3 3/4 minutes. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, you know a little while ago george bush said this, several months after taking office he learned that his budgets had already erased the previous administration's huge surplus. that was paying off our country's debt at a rapid rise. and had instead forced the country to start borrowing heavily again. bush said, the huge deficit was incredibly, positive new because it will create a fiscal straitjacket for congress. that's right. massive deficits were incredibly positive news. mr. speaker, i get a little

tired of hearing our colleagues say what the democrats haven't done. let me tell you what we have done. we have done the american recovery and reinvestment act. we have done the work and homeownership business assistance act. we have done health insurance reform. student aid and fiscal responsibility. the cash for clunkers program alone spurred the sale of 700,000 vehicles. we have done hiring incentives to restore employment act. that helped create 300,000 jobs. when they talk in turn of the stimulus, the teachers, the police officers, and the firefighters when you ask them whether or not their jobs were saved i guarantee you they'll give you an answer. within wall street reform passed by the house. american workers state and business relief act passed by the house and senate. small business and infrastructure jobs tax act, passed by the house. and for those on the other side who would argue that there haven't been any tax cuts, there have been tax cuts but those tax cuts were for middle class

americans, 9 p% of whom -- 93% of whom received the tax cut. we have done disaster relief and summer jobs act passed by the house and it died over there in the senate and that's regrettable and foolish. we have done jobs for main street act passed by the house. what's next? small business lending. clean energy jobs. and the compete act. i can assure you we have done a lot and have a lot more to do and many of the things that i just spoke of create jobs. my colleagues see this legislation as a handout or a luxury, but to the millions who are dependent on us to act, the extension of unemployment benefits will make the difference between whether they can put food on the table, pay their rent, and just get by. years of bad economic and fiscal policies have brought us to our present situation and there is no switch we can throw to provide an instant fix. in my home state of florida, 147,000 individuals will run out of unemployment benefits.

i haven't met these people but i read about their plight. people like joan, a 54-year-old former administrative assistant who has been out of work for a year. she and her husband tried to be prepared without this assistance, they'll have to dip into their retirement savings just to make ends meet. she's not much different from pandora in my congressional district who has been unemployed for almost two years after losing her job at a service station. her benefits have run out. and as her bills have piled up to the point where she may soon be homeless. and there's joe of jupiter, florida, who has applied for nearly 400 jobs, has put himself through additional training and still unable to find work. these are only three of the 3.2 million americans who stand to lose unemployment compensation if we do not act positively. .

i urge my colleagues to pass this much-needed extension and urge them to support this rule, mr. speaker. i urge a yes vote, yield back my time and urge a yes vote on the previous question and yield the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. ms. foxx: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: 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 standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on adoption of the house resolution 1550 will be followed by a five-minute vote on suspending the rules and passing h.r. 1469, as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered.

this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the nays are 180. the resolution is agreed to. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion from the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1469 as amended. on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1469, a bill to amend the national child protection act of 1993 to establish a permanent background check system. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the

bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 413, the nays

are four. 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 on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from hawaii seek recognition? ms. hirono: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to remove my name from h.r. 5720.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek -- recognition? mr. levin: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 1550, i do call up h.r. 4213, with the senate amendment thereto and i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment and report the motion. the clerk: mr. levin of michigan moves that the house concur in the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 4213, h.r. 4213, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to extend certain expiring provisions and for other purposes. senate amendment to house amendment to senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 4213

contains an emergency designation for the purposes of pay-as-you-go principles under clause 10-c of rule 21, and pursuant to section 4-g-1 of the statutory pay-as-you-go act of 2010. accordingly the chair must put the question of the consideration under clause 10-c-3 of rule 21 and under section 4-g-2 of the statutory pay-as-you-go act of 2010. the question is, will the house now consider the motion to concur in senate amendment with the an amendment? -- with an amendment? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. pursuant to us house resolution 1550, the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means. the gentleman from michigan, will levin, and the gentleman from louisiana, mr. boustany, will each control 30 minutes. the chair now recognizes the

gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i shall consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: mr. speaker and colleagues, this action should have occurred two months ago. this house acted to extend unemployment insurance on may 28 . for six weeks, for six weeks republicans in the senate blocked unemployment insurance. they stood not on the side but in the way of millions of americans. and during those six weeks over 2.5 million unemployed americans exhausted their benefits and they struggled to stay afloat while continuing to look for work in this difficult economy. americans like this person from grand rapids, michigan, who wrote me, and i quote, i worked

22 years in automotive. 60 to 70 hours a week. supporting my family, paying my taxes, and working in my community. every single day i send my resume out to no avail. i have lost my home, one week, and my sense of the ability to take care of my family. or this individual from madison heights, michigan. my family is not living large. we are surviving. cutting unemployment insurance will take us out of survival mode and put us into homeless mode. after working 20-plus years, this is the first time that we have asked for unemployment. and to add insult to injury, after their filibuster was

broken, senate republicans insisted on running out the clock and delaying the full 30 hours before they would let a final vote occur in the other body. 30 hours for nothing. no excuse of theirs worked for working americans out of work. out of work through no fault of their own and looking for work. we have acted to extend unemployment insurance in republican congresses under republican presidents. so today we put this sad chapter behind us and now we move forward to continue our efforts to support job creation and to continue to dig out of the jobs ditch inherited by this

administration. and by this congress. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan 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: mr. speaker, my state of louisiana has placed four hurricanes, a recession, and now an oil spill. and every one of us in this body has faced and looked into the eyes of those who have lost their homes and lost their jobs. and every one of us in this body feels deep compassion for those who are in those dire straits and we all want to help. but republicans want to help those looking for work. we want to help those who are struggling with this current economic slowdown. but we also agree with the american people that new spending must be paid for. this latest unemployment

insurance extender bill fails to do what the american people want us to do. instead, the democratic approach adds another $34 billion in an already staggering $13 trillion of national debt. and that's not because we have a shortage of ineffective, inefficient wasteful spending that we could cut to offset which is needed to pay for this. we want to do this but we want to do what the american people want us to do and that is to pay for it. republicans have repeatedly called for the cutting of unspent stimulus spending to offset this new stream of spending. the majority leader himself, mr. hoyer, said on june 13, there is spending fatigue across this country and that if we have dollars not yet expended in the recovery act, that they should be redirected for new spending such as this. mr. speaker, 18 months ago the

administration told the american people that their trillion dollar stimulus plan would create millions of jobs and keep unemployment below 8%. instead two million jobs more have been lost, unemployment surged to nearly 10%. overall 47 out of 50 states have lost jobs since the democrats' february, 2009, stimulus bill including my home state of louisiana. instead of supporting this economy and getting americans back to work, jobs have been lost. our debt continues to spiral out of control. and the only solution we have here without an ability to amend, without an ability to offer some alternative approach is to add another $34 billion in new spending without offsetting it. new spending is unnecessary and republicans have been calling for this wasted stimulus money to be put to better use by supporting the long-term unemployed. i suggest the best way to create

jobs is to stop destroying good-paying jobs that already exist. let me explain what i mean by that. this is a single most important issue in my home state of louisiana, the people of louisiana are facing job loss. in addition to a failed economic policy, a failed stimulus, president obama's ill-conceived and unwarranted and in the words of a federal judge, arbitrary and capricious ban on offshoring drilling is galvanizing residents along the gulf coast like i have never seen before. the long-term implications of this, mr. speaker, are real. real leaves are affected by this. because of this policy, thousands, tens of thousands of good paying jobs along the gulf coast are immediately at risk. it doesn't have to be this way. unfortunately, the elites in this administration and the president himself refuse to understand this. six weeks ago the louisiana

delegation, entire delegation, democrats and republicans, house and senate, requested a meeting with the president in writing. and we have not even gotten a response back. frankly, mr. speaker, that's just unacceptable and irresponsible. already three gulf rigs have left american waters heading to other ports of the world and the trend is going to continue at an accelerated rate. once a rig is gone it could be years before it returns, if it ever returns at all. each one of these deepwater riggs -- deep-water riggs employs 1,400 works, and multiply that by six and those are the immediate support workers. these are jobs that are being lost. and smaller companies that cannot afford to move are simply losing their workers. people are losing their jobs. costing thousands of jobs. i met recently with about 35 companies. these are all small companies affected by this. there was a african-american

couple, and he got started doing janitorial work. and he worked very hard for years to do this. saved his money and started a small business, oil service company, he was so proud of. the american dream, by god. he started this company and grew it to 20 workers. and he had accelerating work until this ban on drilling. and now he has no work and he's seeing his life's savings go down the drain. why? because of an ill-founded government imposed moratorium that makes no sense. these workers, these are rig workers and energy engineers, they are plumbers, electricians, dock workers, they work in the maritime industry. and yet this is the kind of policy we are getting. this ban hurts everybody. we stand united on the gulf coast to support good-paying jobs.

this stimulus has failed and it's time to direct these funds into more beneficial areas to help those who are chronically unemployed. the last time this house acted, mr. camp, the ranking member of our ways and means committee, offered a motion to extnd these benefits -- extend these benefits while paying for the spending while using unspent funds for the fail stimulus bill. the house could immediately act on that same type of provision today with the senate following suit to get these benefits to the long-term unemployed in a way that helps the economy, job creation, instead of hampering job creation even more. that is what we should be doing and what would most help the unemployed get benefits they need today and the jobs that they need tomorrow. the american people want president obama and this congress to spur entrepreneurship and american competitiveness and create good-paying jobs. instead, the president and this congress continue on a path of an increasing uncertainty, leading to high unemployment and

run away spending. i urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my very distinct pleasure and privilege to yield one minute to the most distinguished speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. the speaker: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank him for bringing this important legislation to the floor today. indeed there is some good news in it, but there is some not so good news in it as well. i listened very attentively to the previous speaker talk about why these employment benefits had to be paid for, and i was struck by the inconsistency in his remarks and that of the republicans in the united states senate and in the house of representatives. it's important to note that while they demand that these benefits be paid for, $34 billion, in unemployment

benefits going to those who have played by the rules, worked hard, who are unemployed, through no fault of their own, $34 billion which injected into the economy will indeed create jobs. while they have said that $700 billion of tax cuts for the wealthiest people in america shouldn't be paid for. inconsistent is the politest word i can use to describe that. $34 billion for those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. last week the economic policy institute released a report making it clear that not only do unemployment benefits protect those who are have lost their jobs through no fault of their own but would lead to more jobs, higher wages, and a stronger economy for all americans. and why is that so? that is so because these benefits are given to people who

need them. the money will be spent immediately on necessity. injecting demand into the economy. creating jobs, in fact the american policy institute figured that would be 1.4 million jobs relating to the unemployment benefits out there now. the congressional budget office, which is independent and nonpartisan, has confirmed that extending unemployment benefits is the most efficient way for the government to generate economic growth. now, i know why the gentleman may want to change the subject to other things. he mentions katrina. we all supported katrina. anybody talk about paying for that emergency? no. it was an emergency. we have a compact with the american people in time of a natural disaster even though that disaster was exacerbated by cronyism in the bush administration. but let's not go there. let's just stay on this subject. and the subject at hand is when

this bill was introduced today, this resolution, i'm sure you-all heard it was an amendment to an amendment. the senate amendment that we are voting on was an amendment that they put in took out the jobs initiative. and those initiatives were paid for. build america bonds. that was part of the original bill. to build the infrastructure of america as highways and infrastructure. a new, green way. creating new green jobs and new green technology. and to build america jobs that went beyond those investments. to stabilize our state economies. 30 states have written their budgets already on the basis of this funding being in the legislation. and paid for. not increasing the deficit. we passed it in december. the senate only now is sending

it back to us because the republicans have objected to that and the amendment to the amendment eliminates that stability for states. summer jobs, it's too late. so youth jobs. in december we passed for summer jobs for america's youth. the amendment to the amendment takes out those. they were paid for. because on the one hand they said everything has to be paid for. are they just plain opposed to jobs for summer jobs for youth? are they opposed to build america bonds to grow our economy and meet the needs of our country infrastructurewise? the housing trust fund, very, very important initiative. concurrent receipt. i don't think there's any doubt that every person in this congress sports our veterans. one issue that is a high priority for america's veterans

when we meet with them on a regular basis is the issue of concurrent receipt. you may not be familiar with that term, it's a disability tax on our veterans. with so many veterans returning home with disabilities from iraq and afghanistan, this is very, very important. it's in the bill. and was paid for. again, money given to people who need it for necessity to expend it, inject demand into economy and create jobs. so the amendment to the amendment that the senate republicans finally would let pass in the senate removed concurrent receipt paid for our veterans. the list goes on and on. a list of paid for initiatives, that benefit our veterans, grow our economy, create jobs, help our workers, help our young people, stabilize our states, all paid for. the republican senators said no. .

and they held up this particular amendment to the amendment for over six weeks because they said it had been paid for at the same time as they were saying, we must pay for those $34 billion for benefits, for the unemployment, but we don't have to pay for the $700 billion for the wealthiest people in america to have tax cuts. those same tax cuts during the eight years of the bush administration did not create jobs, they increased the deficit and the republicans have said they want to go back to the exact agenda of the bush administration. they look with increased fondness on the bush agenda. and the bush administration. well, let me say this here today, the good news about this is, finally our unemployed will get their benefits. it will be retroactive.

it's really sad that it has to come to this. an unpaid for tax cuts for the rich, paid for benefits for our workers. but it's important to note, contrary to what you might hear from some in this chamber that in the first eight months --, that in the first eight months of the obama administration more jobs were created, by the time we finish august, more jobs will have been created than in the eight years of the bush administration. while they increase the deficit by trillions of dollars, while they -- we lost jobs, where they took us to a brink of financial crisis of our financial industry, where they took us deep into recession, where they took us deep into deficit they

want to return to the exact same -- deficit, they want to return to the exact same agenda. we are not going back and our step forward into the future is one step into the future, it's being taken today. but we say to american workers, you have played by the rules, you have worked hard, you have lost your job through no fault of your own, you will have these benefits. but we must do more to create jobs, to create more jobs. and i urge our colleagues today to understand how important this is, the distinction between those who support our workers, respect the contracts that we have with them about when the economy ebbs and flows and the cycle of employment and unemployment is not in their favor, that we will be there for them. and being there for them is not just about them.

it's also about the entire economy, the entire economy. the economy cannot flourish and be entrepreneurial unless it knows that there's a safety net in case the economy comes down. the republicans are saying no to that. they've said no over and over and over again and they're saying no today unless it is paid for again while they still say we want tax cuts for the wealthiest, $700 billion worth, 20 times more than this bill for unemployment insurance. but don't forget what they took out of the bill. and don't forget that that includes concurrent receipts for our veterans. i urge our colleagues to proudly vote for this legislation. i commend my colleague mr. levin for his hard work on this and other legislation and i know,

because it's absolutely essential, that at some point we will get a jobs bill that will come back from the senate, we agree that it should be paid for, we've sent it over to them paid for and that they will recognize that we need to create jobs, good-paying jobs that take us into the future and most of all that we're not going back to the failed economic policies of the bush administration. i urge a strong aye vote on both sides of the aisle. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. the gentleman from louisiana. mr. boustany: mr. speaker, this is the eighth time this unemployment benefit insurance is extended. i think that in and of itself speaks to the failure of the economic policies. secondly, a massive tax increase in the the face of economic uncertainty is only going to hurt economic growth and job creation. on our side of the aisle we're work to -- we'll work to find

the offset to dealing with -- to avoiding these tax increases on the american people. and finally i want to point out that private sector growth in the year 2010, the rate of private sector growth has been slower than what we saw in the great depression. so with that i'm pleased now to yield four minutes to the gentleman from georgia, the ranking member of one of the subkest of ways and means, mr. linder. mr. linder: mr. speaker, we are here today to consider legislation paying another $34 billion in unemployment benefits. the other side says that these unemployment benefits stretching to almost two years are needed and must be added to the $13 trillion debt. even as they claim their trillion-dollar stimulus plan has been a success at creating millions of jobs. it makes you wonder if they're looking at the same jobs data as the rest of us. 18 months ago this

administration said the stimulus would create 3.7 million jobs. it hasn't. through june of 2010 the united states lost 2.6 million more private sector jobs, leading millions of americans to ask, where are the jobs? the administration also promised that the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8%. it hasn't. instead, unemployment reached 130rs and remains stuck near that level today -- 10% and remains stuck near that level today and thatting norse millions of miss -- that ignores millions of unemployed missing out of the statistics. the administration also said that the stimulus would create mostly private sector jobs. it didn't. managing all that spending helped government jobs grow by 201,000 since the stimulus was passed which has made washington, d.c., the nation's strongest job market. meanwhile in the rest of the

country 47 out of 50 states have lost jobs since the democrats' february, 2009, stimulus. while the job situation seems to have finally stopped getting worse, things are not getting much better. the trickle of private sector job creation in 2010 is so anemic that at the current rate it would take until 2017 to recover the jobs lost during the recession. that's longer than it took to recover the jobs lost during the depression of the 1930's. another estimate finds it will take until 2021 to get unemployment back to prerecession levels. who knew that the administration's recovery summer would last a decade or more? the fact is, the only thing the democrats' stimulus has succeeded in creating is an enormous mountain of debt, which

is already hurting job creation. the bill before us will only make that worse. unemployed workers want real jobs with real companies in a real economy, not two years of unemployment benefits. and all this congress offers is more debt and ultimately more pink slips. that's hardly what the unemployed need. i urge members to oppose this bill and insist that any further spending is actually paid for. if the speaker's right, that unemployment benefits are the most stimulative thing we can do, then it will help the economy to cut other less effective stimulus spending and use it to pay for benefits like these. that is the sort of budgeting, if we were inclined to pass a budget, that we should have been doing all along. and it's the only hope for turning this economy around and actually creating jobs that all

americans want and the unemployed need most of all. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: mr. speaker, i now yield four minutes to the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott, our subcommittee chair. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for fo four minutes, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, when most of our republican colleagues vote no against extending unemployment benefits for americans today, these people have who have lost their job through no fault of their own, they're doing it and they'll say it's because of the deficit. but in reality they're simply trying to make the president fail at any cost. we have precedent here for that. back in the 1990 when newt gingrich ruled this place, they thought the american people were stupid, but it didn't work then and it won't work now. in december, 1995, newt gingrich

thought he could win the presidency for the republican party by shutting down the government. and proving that bill clinton was infective. you all remember that -- in effective. you remember that instead the american people overwhelmingly elected bill clinton to office in 1996. now they've got the same play book again, they're running it again. the republican leadership in congress has decided that the way for the republicans to get the white house back is by denying unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, show them that this government doesn't work. for over six weeks they've held displaced workers as hostages. now, you would think they would have learned from gingrich back in 1995, it doesn't work. he only held the country hostage for a few days and then he gave it up. because people need to look at

what the senate republicans are doing in the other body to see exactly what they're doing again today. even after the senate broke the republican filibuster on restoring unemployment benefits two days ago, the republicans insisted on running out every minute of time left on the clock before allowing a final vote on this bill. they wanted to dangle those workers out there for yet one more day. they wanted them to sit at home and wonder, is it going to happen? how am i going to feed my kids? can i pay for my house? for families without income who rely on unemployment benefits to make ends meet, every day counts. republicans clearly couldn't care less. and they forced these unemployed workers to twist in the wind for one more day. this is a slap in the face to

millions of americans who are struggling to find work and rely on unemployment benefits as a lifeline. this effort to undermine the ineffectiveness of president obama by denying unemployment benefits to workers and by denying the president the power to create jobs will ultimately fail. republicans have done nothing more than help assure that mr. obama will be elected a second time. good move, guys. the american people will remember and despite what the republicans think the voters are not stupid. they don't want the ghosts of newt gingrich running this country and they don't want a return to the failed economic policies of president bush. they know that they want this government to help people when they need help and they know that -- they didn't lose their job because they did something wrong. greed on wall street got them. they are suffering because of

that greed which we dealt with a couple of days ago. but they need a check to pay the rent and pay for food. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: ms. secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has agreed to h.j.res. 83, approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the burmese freedom and democracy act of 2003 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker. just to briefly respond to the previous speaker, we want to look forward, we don't want to look back. we don't want a cynical look to the past, we want a positive vision to the future for the american people which means we

want to go along and promote growth in the economy and do an extension of unemployment benefits in a responsible way, by paying for it, by eliminating wasteful spending in the stimulus package. and with that i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from florida, ms. brown-waite, a member of the house ways and means committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for two minutes. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the 15% of my constituents who have lost their jobs. but i also rise in support of the 85% who are struggling to hold onto their jobs. . debt matters. what we have seen with the threat of default in greece and what that did to the world economy and our own economy is similar to what we may be entering into. given our tremendous reliance on borrowing, a similar loss of confidence in the united states would be devastating. the administration may have his

cheerleaders and spin masters out in front telling the cameras how swell everybody is going to be despite the work ahead, but businesses, those very entities that actually do the hiring, the innovating, and the investing aren't buying. they don't have a political motivation behind their analysis. it's simply reality as they see it. small businesses are not confident about where this country is headed and neither are their customers. presidents can actually have a huge influence on consumer confidence, but every time this president gives a speech threatening american entrepreneurs, he makes things worse. as for debt, i understand the very childish playground temptation, point fingers, and names, and say, you borrowed, too. but i also understand that businesses and consumers don't care about that because it doesn't fix the problem. all we ask is that the unemployment, something we all agree on, be paid for using funds already obligated for the

economic recovery. we and the american people point out and not so subtly at times that the way you are using the stimulus money is simply a waste of time, effort, and certainly money. borrowing more when it pushes us ever closer to the edge just to continue spending money on stimulus road signs is certainly unacceptable to them and is unacceptable to me. i'm sorry that you refuse a compromise, but that's where we are today. i would ask the gentleman if i could have another 20 seconds. mr. bhutanny -- mr. boustany: i yield 20 seconds. ms. brown-waite: that's where we are today. americans want us to pay for this bill and not borrow another $34 billion. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yield back the balance of her time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: mr. speaker, i first

ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on my motion. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. levin: mr. speaker, after i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, i ask unanimous consent that mr. mcdermott, the subcommittee chair, be allowed to manage the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. rangel: thank you, chairman levin, for giving me this opportunity. and gun to congressman mcdermott for working so hard to try and protect those people who have lost their opportunity to take care of their families because they have lost their jobs. i think we are hearing too much about republican and democrat

today. we certainly are hearing too much about oil drilling and the issues. but as we go home as members of congress, i don't think people come up and say i'm a democrat and i need help or i'm a republican or i need help. they say i need a job. i'm willing to do anything. i'm losing my dignity and my self-esteem. my daughter was in college. i had to teller that she won't be able to go back. -- i had to tell her that she won't be able to go back. i keep ignoring my creditor's calls because i lost my job. there were so many dreams and aspirations i had for me and my family. so many hopes that i thought that in this great country i could fulfill. i thought it because i thought i was on the road to economic success. i knew i was doing better than my parents and i hoped so daily

that my kids would be able to say they would do better than me. those that have finished school can't find jobs. can't afford homes. families have consolidated the limited resources. and the greatest thing about this wonderful country is that you don't have to be successful if you really trust and hope that you can be successful. it's not like other countries where you are stuck where you are born and you can't aspire to do better. but we are reaching that point where americans have lost faith in our financial centers, they have lost faith in terms of the insurance health providers. god knows they have lost faith in the congress. but when they start losing faith in themselves, that's when our country is in trouble. when they start believing that

they cannot make it, that they are losing their dignity, that they are unable to put food on the table, provide shelter for their families, provide hope for their kids, america is losing something that we may not be able to recover. notwithstanding what happens from our economy. how can people talk about deficits and pay fors when a person is just asking for a little help? what difference does it make if we are able to take the $30 billion? it is not spending. this is investment. it's an investment not in foreigners, not in protecting democracy, it's an investment of people who love and want to work. i think, mr. speaker, we ought to give them an opportunity because in taking care of their

needs they take care of our small businesses, too. i yield back whatever time i have. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker. yes, it is an investment, but it's one we can pay for and that's the sad state we are in today because we are being refused the ability to even offer those kinds of amendments. with that, mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to my friend, member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from nevada, mr. heller. four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized for four minutes. mr. heller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i appreciate the gentleman yielding time. the answer to his statement is it's absolutely correct. this can be paid for. i come from a state, state of nevada, that has 14.2% unemployment. these are very, very tough times. during the hearings i submitted legislation that would actually pay for this piece of legislation. we can pay for it. it's not that the majority can't

pay for it. it's that they don't want to pay for it. in fact, if you take a look at november, 2009, with the facing the unemployment insurance extension bill, back then in 2009 it was fully paid for and the administration itself came out and supported a bill that was paid for. and at the time unemployment was higher than it is today nationwide. don't tell me the administration doesn't think this ought to be paid for. if they wanted to pay for it, 9.8%, why don't they want to pay for it today? i want to speak a little bit about the failed stimulus bill because i think some general questions reported by way of earlier debate and that is whether or not the stimulus bill has actually worked. we have lost two million jobs in this country since the stimulus bill was passed. 47 of 50 states, 47 of 50 states have lost jobs since this democratic crafted stimulus bill. and it's no wonder in recent

polls most americans think that elvis is alive. more people think elvis is alive than the stimulus bill has worked. that's failure. nevada's unemployment, clark county unemployment has gone up 40%. that's undisputable. take clark county alone. there are those who say the stimulus is working in las vegas. yet just last month almost 3,500 people filed for unemployment benefits. you take the stimulus down in las vegas, nearly 40,000 people have lost their jobs in las vegas. tell me the stimulus is working in las vegas. take nevada as a whole, just last month, 4,100 people filed for unemployment claims. take the state since the stimulus. almost 50,000 people have lost their jobs in las vegas. tell me that the stimulus has worked in my district. i would debate anybody on this and i'll wait for my phone to ring. just talk a little bit about the

fact that in nevada our employment level is 50% higher than the national average. if we had the national average in the state of nevada, there would be 60,000 fewer unemployed nevadans right now. however, there is one place in america where the stimulus has worked and i'll give the other side credit for this and that's washington, d.c. government jobs have grown by 201,000. 201,000 jobs have been created in washington d.c. since the stimulus has passed. i want to -- some believe there are unobligated stimulus funds and i don't agree with that. we can use unobligated stimulus fund. go to www.recovery.gov. the administration's own website. take a look at it. they will show you that half of the stimulus funds at this point have not been spent. can we take $4 billion, more than $00 billion that's in

unduesed stimulus funds, to pay for this unemployment extension? that would be the right thing to do. i think that our children and grandchildren's future are worth the dime on the dollar. some apparently don't. with that i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. mcdermott: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. neal. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. neal: i thank mr. mcdermott. i stand in full support of this emergency legislation that will restore the safety net to millions of american families. those families have been waiting for this relief since june. their faith has been tested but today we are going to extend the help that they need. i have spoken many times on this floor of the legendary mayor of boston, james michael curly, a great orator. he spoke with great empathy about the forgotten man. those who we are talking about today. the forgotten man and woman. those individuals who have worked hard and played by the rules and every reason to

believe that america ought to provide them assistance in this difficult time. he also would have suggested in that simplestity that the great ally of our civilization was a full stomach. we need to be reminded of that grim economic statistic for those who are outside the mainstream. let me also remind our friends here on the other side in record time, in october of 2008, this congress came to the aid of wall street. it didn't take us long to embrace the troubled asset relief program of george bush. to keep standing many of those institutions that help create the problem that we currently find ourselves in. there are millions of people, those who have served in vietnam, those who have served in afghanistan and iraq and other theaters around the world who are struggling in this economy.

america is about building a community. a place where no one wants to be abandoned and no one wants to be left behind. the great count bounty of god's work has been to ensure that people in america regardless of their political differences have enough to eat and shelter. this opportunity to extend unemployment benefits for the american people ought to meet this moment and i urge adoption of this measure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker. in addition to what mr. hoyer said about using the unused stimulus funds, mr. obey has hailed amendments to the supplemental appropriations bill made on july 1 that were paid for by repeatedly cutting unspent projects in the stimulus law. in the other body, the chairman of the senate finance committee, mr. baucus, has suggested -- bachus, has suggested the same. a fiscally responsible way to not only take care of the

forgotten man and woman today, but to prevent even more from being forgotten in the future. and with that, mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield time, three minutes, to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise. mr. scalise and i have worked together on american competitiveness, trying to achieve energy independence, to meet our national security needs, and to grow jobs. with that i yield three minutes to mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for three minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my colleague from louisiana for yielding time. mr. speaker, a year and a half ago the liberals running congress passed the stimulus bill claiming they needed to add another $787 billion to the national debt in order to keep unemployment below 8%. of course now a year and a half later, unemployment's approaching 10% so the first plan failed miserably. so they are coming with a plan to add another