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>> we will bring you updates as update command tonight on c- span. >> i will tell you based on a review of hundreds of tapes, hundreds of hours, that they are not open co-conspirators." if they are not sitting there saying, had you think that that is going to play? they really do not know what is going on. >> this week marks the anniversary of the 1974 resignation of richard nixon, and 40 years later, watergate still resonates in america. look back at the people,

players, and vince online- indices and video library, all free. it is history your way. >> new york democrat charlie rangel came to the house floor and ask congress to expedite his ethics case. he was formally charged in july with 13 violations of house ethics rules. is a concern about some of the members in this house that are re-- i retire or remove myself from this body and i've always tried to play by the rules and i cannot think of anybody that has encouraged me to speak here . ani want to thank all of you who are concerned about me for saying that, you know, a guy's a fool to represent himself as some of the people have said.

but i have been losing a lot of sleep over these allegations and my family and community. some of these rules that they have is that i'm restricted by confidentiality, but for years i have been saying no comment, no comment, no comment to a lot of serious allegations because i could not comment and i would refer them to the ethics committee. and when the ethics committee finally brought out their statement of alleged violations, it was a long list of things, and somehow the chairm of the subcommittee of investigation indicated that i had received a lot of offers to settle this thing so that it would not cause embarrassment

to my democratic friends. and that i'd been offered a reprimand. and a lot of people kind of felt that sounded like a wonderful opportunity to remove this so that i could leave the ngress with some degree of dignity. why, even some people said that the president had suggested that his life might be made easier if there was no charlie rangel, so-called, scandal. but i interpreted it another way. i think when the president said that he wanted me to end my career in dignity, he didn't put a time limit on it, and i would think that his concern would be that if any member of the house of representatives has been accused of serious crimes or allegations that somehow within the process,

even though -- there has to be some process in which the member has an opportunity to tell his constituents, his family and his friends what he didn't believe. so when the chairman of the investigating committee said i have beeoffered a settlement reminded me of something that i will devote my retiring years the science and education, which is the major thrust of my attempt here, is that those of you that come anywhere near criminal court, we have a terrible thing that happens throughout these united states and that is that someone gets arrested for a very serious crime and they get their lawyer and the lawyer explains that i think it's better that you plead guilty to a lesser crime. he says, well, i'm not only not guilty but i don't even know

what's involved here. they said, listen, we're not suggesting if you plea guilty if you're innocent, but i think you ought to know this jge if you're found guilty is going to send you away for 20 years. on the oer hand you have no offenses, you're a first offender, and if you could just forget about this thing and explain later what happens. so he continues to tell the -- his lawyer that, hey, i'm willing to admit what i've done wrong and i've done some things wrong but i shouldn't have to -- anyway, he says, listen, we would never tell you to quit or resign. were telling you that it would be easier for us that this is not an issue. but knowing the president, as i do, i think he believesdignity means that everybody is entitled to be judged for allegations against them. we come back to this house because the speaker has called us here in order to make

certain that we provide resources r governors and mayors to maintain our teachers and our firefighters, and rangel's not on the schedule for anything which is ok because i know that the members of the committee, they work hard, it's a selfless job. god knows i wouldn't take it. i respect the time that they placed on this. and it's been alst two years, but i have a primary that takes place a couple days before they even thought about meeting. and then i found out from my lawyer that even when they meet on the 13th of september there is no trial date then. and so i don't want to embarrass anybody. as a matter of fact, those people that believe that their election is going to be dependent on me resigning, i like to encourage them to believe i think republicans have given you enough reason to

get re-elected and they continue to do something. but quite frankly, i think -- a lot of people don't know but when the -- well, i don't want to be critical of the ethics committee because my lawyer said you can't make them -- you can't get annoyed with them because there still y be room for a settlement. and i thought about it. and, well, when i found out that one of the republicans that will be sitting on what they call the adjudication committee had made remarks condemning me for my contributions to the city college that it was a rangel thing, an ego thing, and a corrupt thing, and he was going to judge me, i asked my lawyer. i said, how can they do that? he said, well, the ethics committee can do whatever they want. i said, well, do me a favor.

i've paid close to $2 million. i continue to owe you money. and you're telling me that you have no idea when there's going to be a hearing. and every time i talk with you, i said, do me a favor on friday, let's see what happens today in terms of reaching out to settle this thing because i can't afford to be represented by counsel. each and every day the expenses build up, and i think that i have an obligation to younger members of congress to be able to tell them, if you couldn't raise the $2 million, you're out of business no matter what the allegations are. because no one's going to read the defense. and,f course, just the allegations by themselves with

-- by themselves would be out of business. i am here because i could afford lawyers for close to two years, but everyone would know that there comes limit. so i told them, just put everything on hold. see what happens when we meet here. anguess what? nothing happened. there's no agenda. so what they're saying is that, whe the ethics committee will be leaving to -- for members to be able to work in their districts and to get re-elected and i'm having a primy at i have to wait until after my primary to find out when the ethics committee intends to have a hearing. and then that hearing comes just before, maybe, the general election. there must be something wrong with the rules because people

would advise me that i could only hurt myself by coming before this committee. nobody has tried to protect the integrity of the congress with two years -- almost two years of investigation to say the mistakes that rangel has made should be public and should have been public earlier than now. and i couldn't say anything because i didn't want to offend and don't want to offend the ethics committee, but the ethics committee won't even tell me when i'm going to have a hearing. and, hey, people concerned about me, i'm 80 years old, i don't want to die before the hearing. and i think my electorate are entitl to finding out who their congressman for 40 years is. who am i? am i corrupt? what did theoffer me? and i want to be a role model for new members and tell them thmistakes i made so they don't make.

and so there are a list of foundations that specialize in providing funds for education. so i'm convinced that the president wants some dignity in knowing that not only my -- am i one of his strongest supporters, but i know that you know that unless we able to provide education for every child at's there, almost by any means possible, that our nation's national security is being threatened by foreigners. that our ability to be ahead of the curve in terms of trade, and nobody is more supportive of the president i trade, clear up some of the things in the korean bill so you don't hurt us, clean up a little corruption and violence in colombia and move on with the thing. so the whole idea is really me trying to have some dignity in making certain that america is stronger. now, the thing is that in the haste of sending out hundreds

of letters, never askingor a penny but still suggesting we should meet with these people because i knew that i wod hope that they would convince them to provide money. now, a lot of people have done that. doesn't mean it's right. but the rules have changed. and so there has to be a penalty for grabbing the wrong stationary and not really doing the right thing. t it's not corrupt. it may be stupid or neglect but -- neglect but it's not corrupt. -- neglijent but it's not corrupt. the benefit is that you have a legacy with your name up there. well, we should go to my website to take a look at my answers. this is a broken down building that you have to run away from if someone's going to put your name on it. but it's stillhere. then they say that i would

receive a luxurious offer. the sworn testimony was. they never told me. who in the heck needs an office with 40 years of service in the congress in a broken down building? and then they said, hey, we just put it in there so we encourage people to put it in there. they said the name. they thought was not a benefit to me, but a benefit in order for them to get money. so i can't imagine why in the cause of all of these things that government personnel didn't buy stamps -- well, if you think of them as official and you're wrong, then i violated the benefits. then at the end of the day the inferences are very serious and mistakes can be ma and they shouldn't have -- these things shouldn't have happened. but i can't walk away and have

you guys doing your campaign because i'm annoyed and the action is out there calling me corrupt and no one is coming forward saying rangel is not corrupt, rangel didn't make a nickel. no witness ever said there was preferential treatment given. and onguy that had an issue before the senate, staff, republicans, everybody said it ver came before the house but they keep putting it down there. and guess what? it was the district attorney of new york for over 40 years that suggested that i meet withim because he was in the education fill an tropic business in addition to having business in the senate which republicans and democrats say never came to the ways and means committee. and staff certainly can prove it. i don't know how far they'd go in making a mistake, but you have to be very careful members making certain when they change the rules that you know what happens. and i'm prepared to say, i'm sorry for any embarrassment

that has caused. another issue has to do with having an office, a congressional office in the building that i live in. . people say that's taking advantage, rent control, stabilized apartment. nobody has said that the ethics committee never found for stabilized apartment no one said i broke any laws. no one said that the apartment that they considered two had always been considered one at the least. no one said that 10 years ago there was an apartment, one bedroom apartment that i got from my family, political friends, i no longer have. but the concern was how do you explain the congressional

office? let's read the lapped lord's testimony. he said he was 20% vacant. that he needed money. that he knew that the checks were paid by the congressional committee. that the mail came in rangel for congress. and that the lawyers have told him and the officials of the city and state of new york that there was no violation of any law or rules. and what was the benefit? the benefit was that your colleague and friend was not sensitive to the fact that there was appearance as though i was being treated differently than anyone else. but the landlord said he didn't treat me any differently. no one said that they did treat me differently. but i have to admit that i wasn't sensitive to anything because i never felt then that i was treated any differently than anybody else.

so that ends the apartment thing. but i plead guilty of not being sensitive. now when it comes to the negligence of the disclosures and the tax issues, there's absolutely no excuse that's there. when accusations were made, i hired a forensic accountant and told them to check out what the heck is going on because i want to make certain tt when i stand up and speak that it's true. well, after i found out it was far more serious than the accusations, i then referred it to the ethics committee. it wasn't as though someone tracked me down, the i.r.s. or the clerk of the house, i filed the correct papers. and the tax that is were paid

-- taxes that were paid an accountant might say that had my accountant recognized that this 2,000 down payment for a house in the dominican republic that was promised to be paid off in seven years would be a complete failure, and if indeed they did not give me one nickel but whenever they thought they were making a dollar or two they reduced the mortgage, then there's no question you don't have to be a tax expert to know that if you didn't report that income, that was -- notwithstanding the fact if you had done the right thing you had no liability bass the taxes that were paid -- because the tax that is were paid to the dominican republic would have been deducted and with depreciation i would have no liability. having said that, is that an excuse that's worthy? of course not. the fact that there was negligence on the part of the person that for 20 years did it and the fact that i signed it,

does not really give an excuse as to why i should not apologize to this body for not paying the attention to it that i should have paid to it. but there is no, not one scintilla bit of evidence that the negligence involved in the disclosures, that there was some way to hide from the public what i had. because the value of the property they would say was $25,000, 100,000, whatever it would be that it didn't make any sense that i was trying to disclose 2 -- it. why did i take the floor today? i haven't found one lawyer that said i should do it. i haven't found one friend that said i should do it. but i thought about it. if the lawyers are going to continue to charge me, and i

don't even know when the hearing's going to be, and i can't tell them i want one and not six lawyers, i don't want to offend the ethics committee. they are doing the best they can. but, hey, i'm in a position -- the speaker pro tempore: members and their staff will please take their conversations from the floor. the gentleman may resume. mr. rangel: that, hey, i'm 0 years old. almy life has been from the beginning public service. that's all i have ever done. been in the army, been a state legislator, been a federal prosecutor, 40 years here. and all i'm saying is that if it is the judgment of people here for whatever reason that i resign, then have the ethics committee expedite this. don't leave me swinging in the wind until november. if this is an emergency and i think it is, to help our local and state governments out, what

about me? i don't want anyone to feel embarrassed, awkward. if i was you i may want me to go away, too. i am not going away. i am here. and i do recognize that -- i'm not saying there's any partisanship in this because if i do all the people that have been accused of accusations, i'm in a close district, and i -- they were republicans, i would give a couple of moments of thought to see whether or not, especially if i didn't have anything to work with to get re-elected, i would say, hey, take a lookat these republicans. they have been accused. but i don't really think that the unfairness of this is to me. i don't take it personally. i'm thinking about all of you. the president wants dignity. let's have dignity in this house where the ethics

committee means something and that none of you, if the newspapers say anything, will have to wait two years before you can say, no comment. even in addition to that -- and in addition to that, once they make the accusation, they have no business making any mistakes and saying that i didn't cooperate. i got papers with my signature on it. i got papers that said i tried my darnest. i got papers where my lawyer tells me had ever reas to believe that the full committee would sign on, that there was space for people to sign. i'm the only one -- i don't know what changed their minds about settling this case. but my lawyers -- my friends say don't go to theloor. and i say what are you going to

do me? suppose i do get emotional? suppose i do think of my life the beginning and end. are you going to expel me from this boddy? are you going to say while there is no evidence that i took a nickel, asked for a nickel that there's no sworn testimony, no conflict that i have to leave here? as much as i love you, democrats are thinking it would be easy, i'm the guy that was raising money, but that doesn't mean that i criticize youor saying, hey, that's crate then but i'm running for re-election now. do what you have to do. and republicans, hey, you don't have much to run on, but you know, but what the hell, if rangel is an embarrassmt, based on newspaper articles, i can see why you would do it, but think, think. isn't this historically the

first time that it appears as though partisanship is in the ethics committee? isn't historically the first time that the recomndations of the subcommittee of investigation is turned down? and darn, who in the heck would want somebody who politically call you corrupt to be the ranking bipartisan guy to judge you? i don't expect answers today. and i know you're going home. i wish all of you -- but at the end of the day somebody, somebody has to do more than wish i go away. somebody has to tell me, when does rangel get a chance to talk to witnesss? i haven't talked with any member of the ethics committee. i haven't talked -- i mean in terms of settlement. my lawyers have. i haven't talked with any of the witnesses. and they had to expede this case. in other words, i have a

shorter time to prepare for reasons that they toll me challenge the ethics committee. they make this stuff up i think all along. so my lawyer, i can understand how financially this thing can go on longer than i can afford. but she is willing to assist me in working out something in pro bono and i'll expect the leadership to help me. don't let this happen to you. don't walk away from here becausit's convenient that i disappear. because not all of you will be ab to withstand it as i have. if there's no issue of corruption, if everybody, including the leader over here, has to start off what a great american i am before he drops the bomb, well, i think that should count for something. i am not asking for leniency , i'm asking for exposure of the facts. they have made a decision. i want you to make a decision.

i apologize to the leadership. i feel for those people, especiallyewcomers, that love this place so much that like someone said, charlie, they all love you. and i paused, but they love themselves better. i understand that. but for god's sake, just don't believe that i don't have feelings, that i don'tave pride. that i do want the dignity that the president had said. and the dignity is that even if you see fit to cause me not to be able to come back because you're not going to do it in my district, but if there's some recommendation that i be expelled, for me, for me that would be dignity. because it shows openly that the system isn't working for me. and i hope some of you might

think if it doesn't work for me, that it may not work for you. so i know we are anxious to get home. i know i can't get on the agenda. i know that sometimes -- some time, somewhere i would have a hearing. while you're saying i should resign, i do hope that you might think about what happens if the whole country starts thinking it's better that you resign and don't make anyone feel uncomfortable than to have the truth at least, a person an opportunity to say, you have made alleged violations. i am saying that you're wrong based on sworn ttimony. and i want somebody, and i don't think it's going to be people who have been critical of me for doing the same thing, that's going to be the judge. i know outside doesn't count

because we judge the conduct of our members. erer recall if i can't get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot in getting rid of me through expulsion. now, i apologize for any embarrassment that i have caused. i'm prepared to admit and try to let young people know that you never get too big to recognize that these rules are for junior members as they are for senior members. and at you can't get so carried away with good intentions that you break the rules. the rules are there to make certain that we have some order, some discipline and respect for the rule. and i violated that. and i'm apologizinfor it. and i don't think apologies mean this is a light matter.

it's very serious. but corruption? no evidence, no suggestion that this was ever found. and lastly, i close by saying that there is an organization that some of you know, certainly national truth in government, whatever, and the only thing i can say that some of my more important democrats on the list that sent out mail to listening money to get rid of me even before i became the chairman. and they have a website that i will be giving you because they got a lot of members, including bicaucus members on their list. what i do remember is send your money in now. we got rangel against the ropes and we got to get rid of him. much knows who they are. and they -- everyone knows who

they are. they followed me on vacation. they followed me when i was doing business much the airport, outside where i live. it's kind of rough. i'm sensitive to your feelings and the hard work by the ethics committee, but thisas to stop sometime. . one year, two years, primaries, elections. and all i'm saying is i deserve and demand the right to be heard. and if i hurt anybody's feeling, believe me, it's the equity and the fairness and the justice that i'm asking for and not your feelings. we are entitled to our political feelings and what we want done, but we have to respect each other, and this institution which i love. i love my country. i love my congress, and there's nothing i wouldn't do to preserve this from going on. i love the disagreements. i love the debates. i love the arguments.

but you're not going to tell me to resign to make you feel comfortable. so to awful those that helped me to help myself, let me appreciate it. and for those that disagree, i'm soy, but that's one thing you can't take away from me. i hope you have a pleasant time while you're away. maybe, just maybe, the members of the ethics committee might think about telling me when they think they might have a hearing so that whatever they decide i can let my constituents, my families, my friends know that i did the best i could as an american, as a patriot, and someone that loves this count. thank you for your attention. go home.

>> former alaska senator ted stevens died in a plane crashed monday night. it was the longest serving center in u.s. history. he lost a bid for reelection in 2008 after being convicted of federal corruption charges that were later thrown out by the justice department. in november that year, ted stevens said goodbye to his colleagues on the senate floor after losing real action. this is just over 10 minutes. first senator, our first senior senator, bob bartlett. next month will mark the 40th year that i've had the honor and privilege to serve here in this great chamber. first and most importantly, i want to thank my family. after my wife ann's tragic death in 1978, i thought the end of my

career had come. but my dear wife katherine became my wife in 1980 and joined my my six children and my 11 grandchildren, my family has given me love, support, and sacrifice which made my continued career here in the senate possible and gave it meaning. i dearly love each member of my family. 40 years. it's hard to believe that so much time could pass so quickly, but it has. and i want everyone listening to know that i treasure every moment i've spent here representing alaska and alaskans , the land and the people that i love. as a member of this body, and i served as whip from 1976 to 1984, as chair of the republican

senatorial campaign committee, as chair of the aways control observer vote, as chairman of the ethics committee, as chair of the rules committee, chair of the government affairs committee, chair of the appropriations committee and chair of the commerce committee and had functioned as the political changes took place back and forth across this aisle. now i have really a difficult time today articulating my feelings and i hope if i puddle up as an old friend used to say exile be excused, but when i came to the senate alaska has been a state for less than a decade. we were then more of an impoverished territory than a full-fledged state. the commitments made by the

government on behalf of alaska were unfulfilled and some are still unfulfilled. alaska had not received things proposed and poverty ruled supreme and i remember when senator kennedy and i went to examine some of the villains in the arctic -- villains in the arctic it was a disaster. our fisheries were this peril primarily from the intrusion of foreignselves anchored -- foreign vessels anchored a fuel miles offshore 12 months out of the year. many people doubted whether alaska had what it took to be a successful state. and they asked whether alaska was still seward's folly. mr. president, we proved that those doubters were wrong. working with one another as alaskans and with great friends here in the senate alaskans took

control of our own destiny. in 1958 as legislative counsel for the department of interior i worked on the statehood act which committed congress to settle alaskan native lapped claims and in 1971 congress enacted the act settles claims in our states. native corporations established add my request, to manage $1 billion paid to our state and federal government and 44 million acre land settlement are now driving forces in the alaskan economy. in 1973, after a dramatic tie-breaking vote by the vice president of this chamber an amendment which closed the courts of this country to further delay by extreme environmentalists the president signed into law the trans alaska pipeline authorization act which dramatically improved america's

energy security and secured the economic future of alaska. in 1976 congress passed what became known as the magnus and stevens act to fight foreign fishing fleets which endangered america's fisheries. because of that act america's fisheries today are the most productive and the best managed in the world. working within the framework of these basic laws, alaskans have labored in the appropriations and administrative process to make statehood a reality. where there was nothing but tundra and forest today there are now airports, roads, ports, water and sewer systems, hospitals, clinics, communications networks, research labs and much, much more. mr. president, alaska was not seward's folly. and is no longer an impoverished territory. alaska is a great state and an essential contributor to our

energy security and national defense. i am proud to have had a role in this transformation helping achieve alaska's potential will be my life's work. my motto has been here "to held with -- to hell with politics, just do what is right for alaska." i take great pride in the work of the defense appropriations subcommittee, the leadership of which i have shared for almost three decades with my brother, senator inouye and i thank him for being here. he is a great american patriot and a true friend. together we have worked to rebuild our armed forces to provide the support and training needed by our warfighters to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing word. world. i don't have time to recount the highlights of 40 years of work

in this body. that will take a lot time. i will take time, however, for me to acknowledge the friendships i've enjoyed with so many of my colleagues and senate staffers. i really am grateful to every member of the senate for their friendship and i have no ill will toward any member. i am moment grateful for the support and counsel of my colleagues in the alaska delegation and my old friend in the house, congressman young who has done so much for or state and my partner in the senate, senator murkowski to whom i owe so much and admire so much. she really has been a true friend and a true partner and i really wish her well in the future here. i also acknowledge the tremendous contribution made by hundreds of young alaskans who have come to washington, d.c., to serve on my staff and particularly, let me express my gratitude to my current staff, all of whom have worked hard for alaska during the toughest of times. i know all will go on to do

great things for alaska and our country. mr. president, i feel blessed by god to have had the opportunity to serve in this body. i deeply appreciate the trust of alaska reposed in me for 40 years. when alaska needed a strong voice to speak up for its interests, i did my part to the best of my ability. when an administration submitted legislation or a budget that ignored alaska's legislative concerns, i urged congress to exercise its constitutional power to redress the balance. when alaskan -- any alaskan entity needed help my office was ready and did help to the maximum extent possible. i feel the same way now that i did in 1968. i really must pinch myself to fully understand that i'm privileged to speak on the floor of the united states senate. coming from a boyhood i had i could never even have dreamed to

be here today. and home is where the heart is, mr. president. if that is so, i have two homes: one is right here in this chamber; and the other is my beloved state of alaska. i must lebanese one -- leave one to return to the other. as i leave the senate and the work that has given me so much happiness i know senators murkowski and congressman young will continue to be strong voices for our 49th state. this is the last frontier and i also pray for my successor's success as he joins in that effort. my mission in life is not completed. i believe god will give me more opportunities to be of service to alaska and to our nation and i look forward with a glad heart and with confidence in his justice and mercy. i look only forward and i still see the day when i can remove

the cloud that currently surrounds me. that's it, mr. president: 40 years distilled into a few minutes. i close by saying and asking god bless alaska and our governor, goes bless the united states of america and our president, and god bless the senate and every member of this body. i yield the floor for the last time. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized.

>> in 2008, senator ted stevens lost his seat to democrat mark begich. he died in a plane crash aged 86. voters went to the polls and connecticut, colorado, and minnesota today to get party nominees for november elections. there was also a primary runoff

in georgia for the republican gubernatorial election. commerce secretary gary locke said that the u.s. census bureau said $1.6 billion on the 2010 census. robert groves was at the news conference. census operations will continue through sept. as the census employees check the data. this is just 15 minutes. -- 50 minutes. i'd like also a warm welcome to the media in t room. those on the phone. we're happy to have you here today. a good day. we have speakers for you, the department of commerce secretary

gary rock and census director robert groves. they'll both speak to you about milestones and progress in the 2010 census. secretary lock will give his remarks first. and after his remarks, we'll have a short q and a session. he has a very tight schedule, so we won't have time for a lot of questions. we'll have a short session. i just want to remind everyone that wee have one question per reporter. we'll take questionsn the room for the secretary. when you do ask your question, please give your name and your immediate afliation. after secretary lock finishes his remarks, dr. groves will stand and talk a little bit more to you about the progress of the 2010 census. so, with that, what i'd like to do is bring out dr. robert groves. dr. groves. >> thank you. good morning. i'm really happy to be here. and i'm happy to introduce our commerce secretary gary lock. if for no other reason, to have

a public reason to thank him for all of the help he's given to the 2010 census. he's actually here to make a special announcement that we're proud of. and with no further ado, i'll introduce the secretary. >> thank you, dr. groves. it's a pleasure to be here. great to be here with so manyf our colleagues that helped make the 2010 census a resounding success, especially dr. bob groves, the director of the census bureau. bob will be speaking to you in just a moment, as stan indicated. but bob and his team, working with the senior leadership achieved incredible results with the 2010 census and substantially cost savings for the american taxpayer. the 2010 census is a textbook example of president obama's accountable government initiative which aims to cut waste, while delivering taxpayers better services at a

very efficient price. the 2010 census has been a priority of mine since my very first day as commercial secretary. i mean that literally. i remember in end of march, 2009, i took a sunday night red eye flight from seattle, to arrive in d.c., monday morning, at about 6:00 a.m. and after a quick hotel shower, i went straight to the national census partners kickoff event. i think it was at the willrd hotel. this is ever before setting foot in the commercial department building. the 2010 census has been a top priority of mine because a lot is riding on the 2010 census. the census will determine how more than $400 billion is allocated every single year and the next ten, for everything fr education, senior services to police and roads. the 2010 census will serve as the basis for the congressional redistricting that states will undertake in 2011. and the 2010 census is the largest civilian undertaking in

u.s. history, withome 565,000 census workers conducting field operations in all 50 states and the territories. in the process, the census bureau has actually partnered with 255,000 community-based organizations, ranging from religious groups, nonprofit organizations to businesses. so i'm very, very proud to announce today that because of the exceptional efforts of our census bureau and partne and the cooperation of the american people, that the 2010 census is both on schedule and 22% underbudget for this fiscal year, where most o the operations occurred. this did not happen by chance. the senior management at the department of commerce and the census bureau leadership run a tight ship. we demanded accountability. and we made sure that we stretched every taxpayer dollar as far as it could go. before this census began,

experts inside and outside the government predicted that longstanding operational and fiscal problems at the u.s. census bureau would doom the 2010 count to cost overruns and diminish participation by the american people. i remember durin my confirmation process, that i was warned that expect a train wreck. in 2009, the commerce department's own inspector general, as well as the accountability office ranked the 2010 census as one of the federal government's programs most likely to fail. that did not happen. in fact, the 2010 census achieved a mailback response rate of 22%, which defied the predictions of the experts. matched the 2000 response rate. and we bieve that when all the numbers are finally crunched may actually exceed the2000 response rate. and this 72% malback response

reversed a decade-long decline in mailback response. there is no one silver bullet that created the success. the census bureau professionals developed a very strong operational design that included innovation, including a re-engineered address list and a short, ten-question questionnaire. other innovations were more mundane, but no less meaningful. for example, one of the strategies that the census bureau took to boost mailback response was to re-sentenced questionnaires to people in areas with low mailback rates in the year 2000. for the thinking that some people just needed a simple reminder or may have thrown out their very first questionnaire. this was a huge money saver for the american taxpayer. because every 1% increase in the mailback response rate saved $85 million by reducing the number of the expense of door-to-door

canvassing. some of these adjustments were under way at the outset of president obama taking office. but the ultimate success was guaranteed by the commerce department's ethic of constant improvement and constant search for efficiencies over the last 17 months. the census bureau operation team held daily meetings to trouble shoot problems with the field's bureau operations field operation, which is a high-risk software operation to use for the census workers. this was an untested system, rushed into operation after the debacle with the handheld computers that never worked and that were abandoned in 2008, before president obama even took office. as the entire census bureau and commerce department undertook these internal management reforms, we also revamped our public outreach efforts. the a obama administration budgeted more money for additional advertising in

hard-to-count areas. advertising in more languages. and a four-fold increase in staff, supporting the 255,000-member partnership program. and our advertising was more targeted than ever before. in 2009, we created a media by reserve that permitted to us track lagging responses in individual cities, and, thus, intervene in those areas with additional advertising. so in march, march 30th of 2010, the census bureau senior leadership team identified some 23 media markets with the total population of 17.7 million households. now, that's households, that we believe seriously lagged in response impaired to rest of th country. after intervening with more advertising in these media markets, the low performers were reduced by april 20th, less than a month later, to only ten communities with a total population of 1.6 million

households. all of these specific measures were an outgrowth of the commerce department's compliment to the type of poor management principles that consult any challenge. relentless attention to detail, setting ambitious goals and then creating precise metrics to measure performance. these are the principles that i depended on during my two terms for the state of washington and those e the principles that helped to make the 2010 census a resounding success. also, these are the principles that we used to make 25% of the budget on the digital division conversion program. at least half of the savings that we achieved in the census can be directly attributed to better management. better productivity among the census workers. and the fact that our impressive mail response rate reduced the number of census employees we had to send door to door

counting households. the other half of the savings came from a reserve fund that we had set aside to deal with operational problems, as well as other unforeseen circumstances that never arose. so this is an accomplishment that we're veryroud of. i'm especially proud of our work of the senior leadership team at the department of commercial. but most proud of the unbelievable leadership provided by dr. groves and his entire team at the census bureau. and i'm also proud of the american people for understanding the importance of the census to their communities and participating in the higher numbers. we're appreciating that everything went on so well and on time and underbudget. for that, we bring on dr. groves. >> let me remine everyone, we'll have one question per reporter. when you do have a question, please give your name and affiliation.

>> reporter: dan o'keefe for "the washington post." one of the things that your colleagues mentioned last night, in addition to the high response rate and the other work you that guys have done in the last 18 months is the fact that you had a much mo qualified experienced workforce than you did in previous years. i'm wondering if you could talk to that a little bid. and how that may have helped to keep the cost down. >> actually, i had several friends who are retired people from either police and some from state government who were part of the door-to-door operation who signed up to be a census worker. and very proud to contribute to the civic undertaking. and they, ande've heard from others across the country with the highly skilled workforce, they themselves came up with innovations on how to be more

efficient, and to speed up the process, there be saving the census bureau and the american taxpayers money. so we're really proud with the more highly skilled workforce that we had, a lot of people worked on campaigns, both democratic and republican campaigns who worked on the address canvassing list who then signed up to go door to door on the enumeration. that highly skilled workforce came up with ideas on their own and then were incorporated community wide and even systemwide. >> reporter: hi, max kakas from federal radio in washington. i'm wondering if you could give us your total for the savings you've realized? i understand at tt census isn't complete yet. still have some other work to go. but what do you know about -- what kind of a figure do you have so far that you can report about how much you've saved so far? >> we believe that we've saved

so far $1.6 billion. and while we still have a few months left to go, the operations are winding down. we're now focused on quality control measures. that's why there will be some triple checking. some households that will be resurveyed just to double-check. and dr. groves can talk aittle bit about that. but we also have reserves set aside for those programs as well. as of now, operations to date, we've saved $1.6 billion. >> reporter: thanks, michael doyle. you've emphasized cost savings and efficiencies. what information, if any, do you have on quality control efforts and the error rate compared t the previous census? >> actually, dr. groves has very interesting statistics on that. and he'll be happy to share that as part of his more detailed discussion. we'rvery, very proud of what

the quality control measures are indicating. >> we have time for one more question. any other questions in the room? okay. thank you very much. >> with that, i'd like to turn it over to dr. groves. >> thank you very much. thank you for coming in. >> well, let me share with you the secretary's happiness at this event. and re-emphasize that there's some heros in this that created the savings. one, the american public, as our little sign behind us notes, really is to be thanked for what they did. they produced that 72% response rate that produced a smaller workload for following up the smaller workload was created about $600 million of the savings that the secretary just reported. and i want to take a minute to thank the team at cens. whether i came in in july 09,

it was an institution that had received a lot of criticism, mainly around the handheld computer development and the resulting expensive changes in design. the team that i've worked with over the past few months has been totally dedicated to doing a cost efficient census. we scrubbed budgets. we tried to find ways to get more efficient. and at every opportunity in the decisionmaking process, they were there on how to do things. we had a big contingency ready to spend if software systems didn't work. and for those of you who have been following this story for some tie, you kno that there were predictions all over the place that we had headed for a disaster on the software side. well, my colleagues at census figured ou work around after work around, we pieced together

a software system that worked. it did its job on time and under budget. it took a lot of work. they worked really hard at that. so this is really a tribute to my new colleagues at census. as well as themerican public. i want to give you an update on where we are, as i've done in these operational press iefings in the past. let me tell you what we've finished up. the nonresponse follow-up stage, where we called on 47 million households. we knocked on their doors, we've finished that. it was on time and $600 million under budget. the workers on this were more productive than we imagined. this workforce that the secretary mentioned, we now have empirical data. they were better than the workforce in 2000. they worked more hours. they needed the money. they concentrated and focused on

their tansk. and they proud a great nonresponse follow-up effort. for the first time, we have as a quality control procedure checked every enumerator's work. checked a poion of their work. every enumerator has had some of their work completely redone. then we impaired their interview resultwith the new interview results. weow have data on how that turned out. only 0.2%. so one-fifth of the enumerators were found to have violating on data collected. when we found a violation, we completely redid their work. that number, the that 0.2% is

something we're proud of. on the other hand, as a result of something we now know is, this year, for abt 22% of the households that we followed up on, 22% of the 47 million, after repeated efforts, we called six times over different days, different times of the day, we were not able to talk to a person in the housing unit themselves. and we sought population counts for that housing unit from a building manager, in an apartment building or multiunit structure. or a neighbor. 22% of the households had information on their population from those kind of proxy reports. we call those proxy reports. last decade, that 22% was about 17%. so that's going on the negative side. we would have preferred to have interviewed every one of those, but the result is about 22% of them were interviewed through a proxy method.

another operation we just finished up is calleded the coverage follow-up operation. in census bureau jargo t me tell you why this is a cool thing to do. do you remember, on your forms, for every person, you were asked the questions are does this person sometimes live somewhere else? this is a new question. it was introduced in the 2010 census to counteract duplication. for houses that had those checks, we called back just to make sure we understood where the person should be counted. whether they might have been counted twice. that operation started in april. we finished that up recently. and that operion is a quality input to the 2010 census that has made it better, we're confident. we are now at the tail end of another operation. for all of the housing units that we thought were vacant over the past few weeks, or we

couldn't find them, we had an address on the list. we went out to the place, to the site. we couldn't even find the housing unit, we've double-checked those. we've sent out yet another person to make sure we got it right. that operation is finishi up. there were about 5.6 million addresses that were treated that way. and then in something we're really proud of, we got very late additions to the address list from the postal service, addresses that they just started delivering to. and we're going out to those. about 3 million of those. 3.1 million of those. now, what we're finding on this operation is that when you combine the 5.6 million that were vacant or deletes when we went out there, with the 3.1 million new addresses, about 27% of the sum of those are occupied -- were occupied in april 1. we're picking up new folks.

we're measuring new folks in this late operation because of the supplemental adds. didn do this in the past, this, too, we're hopeful wou make for a better census. we will start or we've started already an operation called field operation. some of you may remember in the midst of the census, 7-elevens, libraries, were was a folder called "be counted." if for some reason you didn't receive a questionnaire in the mail, you could have picked up that form and sent it in. we got a bunch of those. we're checking the addresses of those right now because we want to make sure we can verify that the form that was filled out and mailed in can be associated with the house we can find onsite. so we're checking those.

we're at about 60% complete on those. we've added in another operation some new checks. again, for quality control procedures. you may have recalled that when we had a -- we cut off the mail returns at a certain point in late april. and thenbegan the nonresponse follow-up procedure. we continued to get some returns. we processed those returns, and if we got a late return, we attempted to avoid visiting that house. we did that. then we processed those returns. and what we found was that some of them were actually blank returns. people mailed in a questionnaire, filled out nothing on the questionnaire. or filled out just the population count.

post-processing, we have about 400,000 of those gone. 415,000 of those. we're going backs out to those houses right now, that's going to start tomorrow, just to make sure we g the best population count we can out of those housing units. so that's a late addition. and then we have about 300,000 houses we're going out, at the same time, where the enumerator has information that the housing unit was occupied on april 1. but we don't know how many people live there. we're going to try one more time on those. these are all examples of something that we feel strongly about. we're going to stay out in the field until we have a resolution on every address, and we understand the population characteristics of every address we can. the census is not over. even though we've made this announcement of cost savings. we're still plugging away,

trying to improve the account as best we can. so, now, let me look forward. there's an operation that's going to start pretty soon. we call it "the cerage measurement" operation. what's that all about? that is a very large, highest quality survey we can possible do. the purpose of the survey is to estimate how good the census is. it is a sample of about 187,000 housing units around the country. interviewers are going to start knocking on the door. you have a 1 in 7 chance of being in that sample. the interviewers are going to look differently than the enumer rarities. we should alert the public when the enumerators knock onhe door, they'll have a lop top computer.

they'll have a black census bag that is not going to look like the census bag. they'll have a badge, and they're going to ask in-depth questions to make sure we know whether they have counted that hous directly in the census. they are checking the census in a real way. the results of this work will be ready not until 2012. they do a whole lot of careful matching in order to figure out how many people are missed, how many people are covered twice. we use this week, this coverage management survey to do that. there is one result of this already that's really cool. they went out and these interviewers went out and listed a bunch of addresses. these interviewers are much more highly skilled in listing housing and addresses than we were able to afford for the gigantic address canvassing operatn we did last year.

we then matched the houses they found out there to our -- to the master of list that we had. it's sort of the first hint at how good our master universe list is. when we match it up, we get better match rates than we got in 2000 for the same time. this was the list as it was, before we began the entire census operation. this is real good news. it looks like the kwaumequalitye master address list is good for the 2010 census as measured by this match. so we'll continue to do these sorts of small operations all aimed at either approving the quality or measuring the quality of the census. let me just run through what's going to happen over the coming months with regard to data releases. we have a real, hard deadline of december 31st, to present to the country, to the president, the

state level counts and we're tasked with the arithmetic of figuring out how many representatives each state gets. so by december 31st, that will revealed. state level counts. house members per state. in february through march, we will start releasing state by state, data that will be used for redistricting in the states. this will be a file that has block level counts by race, ethnicity and housing unit counts by occupancy status. in april, we'll do -- release the population and housing counts for the u.s., for regions, divisions bron by american-indian, alaska native, and native hawaiian areas. in may, we will release population and housing characteristics for areas including congressional districts for the 111th

congress. and then in summer, and starting later, we will start issuing more and more detailed reports. so, again, to sum up, december is the big fst date, where the reapportionment related data estimates or statistics will be released. then april is the deadline for all of the redistricting data. and then we'll start releasing more and more individual reports. so, that it's about where we are. and that's kind of a foreshadowing of what the data products will look like. in our next briefing which will be mid-september or o. i want to go into more depth into how we will impair the census to other ways of measuring the population. demographic analysis and this coverage measurement program. so we'll also be able to talk in much more detail about our data processing operations that are going on throughout the fall, just to give you a sense of

where we are on those thing so, let me stop, i'm happy to field questions. >> okay. let me just remind everyone, that if you have a question, please give your name and your affiliation before you ask your question. also, we have folks on the phone. let me remind them as well if you're on the phone and you have not yet let the operator know that you have a question, please do so now so you can be put back here. do we have a question in the room? yes, sir? >> mike doyle with mlatchy newspapers. some former census workers in california who have been under the controlf the los angeles office have filed complaints with the inspector general's office alleging mismanagement. are you specifically aware of these complaints, and if you are, what are you doing about that? >> well, let me give a bigger picture on this. this is the time that two things are happening.

for the last two weeks, two things have been happening. we've en finishing up the nonresponse follow-up. these are tough cases to work. if you imagine yourself an enumerator for a minute. you've knocked on a door five time, six time, the operation is coming to an end, this is stressful for enumerators. so in those kind of cases, to go back to that point, it's often that there are complicated judgments that have to be made by our field staffer. t is at this moment that complaints like the fresno complaint coming up every census, if you study the history of census, it's completely understandable because their work is much, more stressful. it's also the time, and i've done hundreds of surveys in my

life. with temporary workers, and it's a happy and sad time at the end of an operation. people ar losing their jobs. they know they're going to lose their job, yet, the work must be quinn initialled. the work environment gets complicated. i'm aware of the fresno incident. and there are other incidents like that around the country. let me tell you what we do on every one of those. as soon as we get word and the word comes in various ways, we alert the inspector general's office that does independent investigations of this. and then we do our own investigation. and we find out whether there's martin to the accusations. when there is, i can tell you we complete redo work. so if we find that an accusation on the part of an enumerator about some inappropriate behavior going on with regard to handling the data, as occurred,

and as a valid accusation, we will identify the seven cases that could have been affected. we go a little lighter than that and we completely redo that work. i don't know that today's status of fresno -- i know people are out there doing exactly what i just said. >> what's wrong -- is there something we need to repair and how can we repair it? we will repair every case that we see was handling improperly. that's the way we do it. >> okay. while we're still waiting to tee up questions on the phone, we'll take another question in the room. phil? >> mcclatchy papers. >> reporter: do you take account

for not spending th original funding? would this be -- could this be consider considered less allocation funds, rather than savings since we can't use it? >> that's a great question. so the question is about the contingency funds and how should one think about the contingency funds. should we claim those as savings or not. those contingency funds were set up bore i was here. in my professional opinion, it was a wise thing that the congress did and omb did to have that contingency funding. my memory, by the way, is of the 1990 census that had no such contingency funding. anin late spring, the census ran out of money.

it required a supplementary appropriation, and a lot fear that the census is actlly going to be damage by that. so i think it's a wise thing to have contingency funds. we were -- we had great good fortune this year. there were no major hurricanes that wiped out large portions of the populations. there weren't earthquakes. we had done censuses, hurricanes, earthquake, volcanos, all sorts of things, right? it wasn't -- we had some minor flding in various areas -- in small numbers of areas that were tragedies in those local areas. but we evaded a large-scale national disaster. i remind us that about a year ago, we were worried that the h1n1 epidemic might be a disaster for this country. we had preparations for that. we had to prepare for all of these possible horrible events. they didn't take place. we alshad to prepare for what

everyone was saying was a very high-risk software system. and as i said, in my opening remas, the folks at census have been working around t clock to oid those. and we pieced together that. so, that's the reason for the contingency. whether you ll that a savings or not is up to you. that money is going back to the u.s. taxpayers, though, unambiguously. >> okay. now, i understand that we do have a question on the phone. operator, do we have a question on the phone? >> caller: yes. >> you can repeat your name and affiliation. >> caller: deborah berry, with gannett's washington bureau. >> go ahead. >> caller: you talked last year about the special efforts in the gulf coast, particularly about the hurricane.

can you talk a little bit about how does that go and the response rate in that area? >> there's a question about the gulf coast area, where some of you may remember, instead of mailing questionnaires to areas that in 2000 were mailed, because of the dynamic nature of the housing staff, we actually hand-delivered questionnaires. something that's much more expensive than the mail. the question is really about how did it go. one impact that is, we now know, we dropped off questionnaires to a lot of units that in the judgment of our field workers could be inhabited, but weren't being inhanded. and that depressed the participation rate in the gulf coast area, because there were a lot of questionnaires delivered to housing units that were completely vacate accountant. they weren't mailed back. so the participation rate figures that we re reporting are depressed by that. we don't have the results yet,

or i haven't seen the results yet of the nonresponse follow-up stage in those aas we'll have that over the coming weeks, and that would be a better answer to your question than i have now. i do know that i spent a lot of time in the gulf coast area, and also on the texas/mexico border. and in those areas, the partner activities that we had going were just heartwarming. people are working real hard to make sure their communities were counted accurately. and any success we've had had in that area is really due to their efforts, as well as ours. >> okay. question in the room? max? >> reporter: hi, dr. grove max kakas. i'm wondering, sir, the couple times we talked, you discussed the possibility after the dust

settles and you guys have had a chance to catch your breath a little bit. assessment of the technology is going to be part of the triage of the census after you've delivered your reports. and i'm wondering if one of the questions you're going to be asking will be sort of a "what if." what if the hand helds had worked? would they have made an impact on the parts that they were slated to have worked in? and do you have any feel right now about whether they would have made a difference for the enumerators in the field, their efficiency, land that be something that you'll be looking at? >> great question. so this is looking ahead w. we are indeed doing these kind of lessons learned and deep dives into review. this is both software systems and other field operations.

we'd had to be wise readers of those, participants in those. we are heavily focused thinking ahead to 2020 on cost savings. we're asking ourselves the question, how can we radicay reduce the cost of the census in the united states without harming the quality of the census? this is out of the box thinking. the handhelds are part of the most expensive component of the census. the heim resources required in this nonresponse follow-upwhen people are knocking on doors, is really very expensive. so our focus is how to reduce the number of people needed to follow up. the handhelds would make them more efficient in most of -- most thinking, professionally. it would also permit us to send what we're starting to develop,

and that is realtime monitoring of census activities in a way that you could have management interventions to save -- to become more efficient. so handhelds would permit immediate transfer of data to a centra processing unit, a central office. downloading of new workloads to an enumerator, to deploy them in area where is they're needed. and that kind of constant feedback group about how you're doing. that could improve management efficiency. but i think what we'd like to do is have fewer people out there, to begin with. if you really want to save money, increasing the ability of people to self-respond in ways that fit their lifestyle is what we've got to focus on. >> okay. i understand that we do have a question from the phone lines. operator, do we have a question? >> yes.

>> please give your name and immediate affiliation. >> caller: dawn smith. >> okay, your question, ease. >> caller: this is john smith. and i'm just wondering, can you talk a little bit about the digital follow-up operation? >> i'm sorry, i couldn't understand your question. cod you do it one more time. >> reporter: didou all follow up operation? >> sebody has to help me. can you repeat that bun more time, please? >> caller: apparently, there's a new operation called nonresponse follow-up residual operation. and i'm trying to determine what is this operation follow-up operation stefrl or the nonresponse reconciliation?

>> caller: yes, the wreck s reconciliation residual follow-up. >> let me go through that again. there are about 7,000 households when we examined forms we received from them pos certain puzzles to us. about 400,000 came in with very lile information on the form, some of them are totally blank. we doesn't know that immediately, we had to let it go through the processing machines to discover that. we're going back out to those houses to get personal information on the houses. so their returned a form but with insufficient information. and then we have other forms that were collected by our enumerators during nonresponse follow-up where the enumerator judges the house was occupied on april but we don't have a count of people who were living there and we are going back out to those. that's about 300,000.

so both of these and some of these in prior censuses decades ago were just lef as they were. we have enough time, we have enough money, we are going back out to see whether we can get good data from those 2 hundr700 households. >> we have to limit it to one question. do we have a question in the room, please? question in the room? yes? mike's coming. thank you. >> mike doe, mcclatchey newspapers. you identified the thousand or so potentia problem enumerators you're examining, do you find any trends or patterns in the type of mistakes made or the regions where they were working? >> we don't, you know, it's only 1,000 spread over 500,000r

600,000 so looking for patterns is kind of tough and i haven't seen any. we do know a few things about the characteristics of the cases that failed this match. they tend to occur at the end of the operation. this fits actually the same -- the queion you asked before. and this fits everything we know about surveys, too. when interviewers are enumerators get under stress at the tail end, when things have to be finished and they're dealing with a row luckettant respondent or a respondent who's never home. >> it is the those moments these sorts of breakdowns in training procedures seem to break down. our data fits that. so that's one answer to your question. that's a tail end phenomenon disproportionately now it's a tail-end phenomenon both because of the stress thing and also in addition to getting every enumerator's work, portion

of their work checked our local census offices are observing and crew leaders are observing th interview everyday and if they begin to suspect that an enumerator is violating training guideline, say, you're starting to turn in a whole lot of hours of work and there's not much output, then their work will be inspected and redone and that's--those tend to -- you tend get that kind of evidence towards the end of the operation, too. so those are kind of target inquiries in the work of an individual enumerator and that's another reason there's no back end. >> i under we have no questions on the phone. we have time for just a couple more uestions. behind max. >> nicholas fallacy with cns news. i want to ask you if -- was the accuracy of the census overall affected at all by the i.t.

issues in a were reported continuously by the inspecto general? >> we don't have any evidence that there were quality impacts on this. i can tell you there were scary moments among the management team. this is a great team. we meet every day at 4:30 and it a room where decisions are made based on data. but there were moments when the software was fragile that those meetings were tension filled. i think if there are impacts on that, there's some cost impacts at the local census office level because we had to employ people in night thistsat times to get data checked in. we don't have any evidence that it harmed the quality of the data we've received, the problem was really in throughput of getting completed forms into the processing centers that was the

major concern. so we'll know. one of the things we're doing is a big analytic task of checking what happened to every case in the unerse, basically. and it will be interesting to see -- this will take a while, many months of analysis, to ask the question about whether cases that were held up in this backlog that occurred early in the system have any different quality aspects than those that were handled the later. we'll know eventually but so far we have no signals that there was a big quality or any quality hit because of this. >> we have one final question. you haven't asked a question yet, please. >> hi, i'm jessica redderrom u.s. news. i'm just wondering if it's possible to get any preliminary estimates before the december 32 1st release date? >> you mean estimates of

population count. >> reapportionate. >> no, i don't think so. this is a heavily guarded secret for lot of different reasons. the next news conference will take you through all the things we do to make sure we got the data right. this is going to take all fall. you'll be astounded at how careful we are with every record. so when we release the counts, that will be the first release. we'll know the counts a little before you know the counts but we won't give you any early estimates despite great test in that. >> okay. thank you,ith that, we'll call this to a close. let me remind everyone that you can get a media kit online at www.census.g www.census.gov. you can also go to 2010census.gov for some information as well. you can call the public informion.

301-763-3691. thank you r attending. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> polls have closed in connecticut, colorado, and minnesota -- with the voters decided nominees for november's election. it is a close race in georgia. the associated -- the associated press reports that the former secretary of state, and a former congressman both have around 50% of the vote, with 40% of the precincts reporting. continuing to watch -- continue to watch c-span tonight. president obama signed a state aid package into law today, after it cleared the house of representatives. the measure includes $10 billion for states to create or became teacher jobs, and $16 billion for medicaid.

here is part of the debate. mr. obey: madam speaker, i yield myself three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. obey: madam speaker, today we have heard from our friends on the minority side an ample amount of sarcasm and cynicism and partisan hyperbole mixed in with fiction. i hope we can cut through that today. today we can either sit frozen in the ice of our indifferences, franklin roosevelt once said, or we can take action to help states meet their safety net obligations and to protect our children's education by keep teachers in the classroom while we continue to claw our way back from the most devastating economic crisis since the great depression. last year the first job recovery package we recognized two reasons for providing

federal aid to states and school districts. the first was to reduce the human carnage that occurs when we take kids off health care coverage or let their education suffer because of teacher layoffs. the second was that standing by while states, localities and school boards cut essential investments and services and impose significant new taxes will cripple the ability of the economy to grow and cause additional job weakness in both private and public sectors. it is important, madam speaker, to remember how we got here. the failed economic policies of the previous eight years obliterated budget surpluses inherited from president clinton. federal oversight, the wall street banks was gutted allowing them to morph into casinos and allowing the economy into catastrophic collapse. that produced monthly losses of 750,000 jobs in each of the last three months of the bush

administration. we now know that the economic crisis was even deeper and more broad than we initially expected. while the economy has improved, the effect of the recession are not yet behind us. they are still affecting people's lives and livelihoods. three times before today in december, in may and in july we tried to take additional actions to help the problems and three times we were blocked. now today we have this much-reduced bill to provide $10 billion in funding to save somewhere around 160,000 education jobs and $16 billion in health assistance to the states. our friends in the minority accuse us of including job-killing tax increases to pay for it. that's ridiculous. the bill closes a tax loophole that encourages companies to ship jobs overseas. not only will that help pay for

this package, it will fix a hole in the tax code that is rewarding companies for sending american jobs elsewhere. still, others, including the leadership of the minority, call this a special interest bailout. too bad, i say. since when do we regard america's kids as a special interest group? i yield myself -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. obey: two additional minutes. you don't get a second chance to educate kids. we should not fool ourselves into thinking that this package will do as much as we ought to be doing to ease the squeeze on the national economy. we will impartially offset with this bill the human wreckage caused by the recession, but we will have not done nothing to address the macroreality that the economy is still incredibly weak.

this bill will soften the blow of state budget cutbacks, but these very cutbacks will have a negative and neutralizing effect on the federal fiscal stimulus in the first place. this is a far less dramatic action than that the nation needs to recover from the recession, but this aid is long overdue and the time for arguing has past. the cutback in food stamps in the bill are plain wrong, but face it, the minority party in the senate is using the rules of the senate to give them the functional equivalent of the majority's ability to determine the agenda of that body. and they have decided to follow the rule over rule approach of governance blocking every action they can, and in this case, delaying action to the point of complete confusion. our nation's kids are getting ready to go back to school. they need this help now and adequate as it is, i urge all members to vote yes to give it

to them. it's the least we should do. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, states across america have as their number one responsibility the education of our young. if the states cannot allocate their own spending in order to carry out that top responsibility we will never solve the problem of the bailout from uncle sam. a multibillion dollar bailout today will set the stage for nationalized education tomorrow. that will surely push our economy over the cliff of bankruptcy. why are we talking with each other here today? we should be meeting with our constituents, holding town hall meetings and listening to what's on the hearts and minds of our voters. the folks in my district have made their concerns very clear.

they're saying, jerry, tell those big spending politicians in washington to stop spending our money. but the democrat majority is so addicted to spending that they've called congress back just to vote on yet another multibillion dollar bailout. i'm scratching my head because in the past few -- the past few months this congress has done virtually none of the work that the voters sent us here to do. we haven't passed a budget. we haven't funded defense and homeland security. we made our troops wait months before passing funds to support their fight against international terrorism. the majority leadership calls the bill before us a major accomplishment. they hope it will please teachers' unions and inspire the krattic base two months before the -- democratic base two months before the november

election. i believe most voters will see it for what it is, further evidence that this congress has a spending problem. to the voters, the 111th congress will go down in history as the bailout congress . the congress has all right spent $75 billion in stimulus dollars to help states with education. that was supposed to be a one-time temporary bailout approved by the american reinvestment and recovery act. i am very proud of the fact that three of my four children are teachers. they work very hard to provide quality education in the classroom. they know that schools should be run by parents, teachers and local communities. the more we approve these bailouts the more federal government takes over that role. mr. speaker, i know that my

democrat colleagues say that this legislation is, quote, fully paid for. on the other hand, the bill spends the entire $26 billion in just two years while the offsets take place over 10 years. the so-called offsets in this legislation are produced by almost a $10 million billion increase in taxes, $13.4 billion in reductions and two programs that are popular with democrat leaders, that is the food stamp program and renewable energy projects. some democrat leaders have already pledged to restore funding to these programs. some of these so-called cuts could be eliminated as soon as the member in a lame-duck session. mr. speaker, beware of a lame-duck session called by this congress. i want to emphasize this again to my colleagues. the voters do not want us to throw money, more money at our

nation's problems. yet, that is exactly what this bill does. it's time, mr. speaker, to put uncle sam on a diet and put an end to the congressional spending spree. i urge a no vote on this legislation and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. obey: i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for wo minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding and i want to thank him for his persistence and pushing this legislation and finally to have this legislation back from the senate today so we can help school districts. mr. miller: the scandals that were permitted under the bush administration cost middle-class families trillions of dollars in the loss of wealth, in their pension plans, in their jobs, in the value of their homes. now, the question is, were there not schoolchildren in this nation be victims of financial scandals that were tolerated and whether or not these school districts that have had the revenues that they rery on to fund the schools

that -- rely on to fund the schools that have been ripped away because of the loss of sales tax, because of the loss of income tax, because of the results of those scandals? the answer to this bill is no, that in fact we should help school districts make sure that children can get a first-class education, that they don't lose a year of education, a year of education because of those financial scandals that happened on the watch of the past administration, as the banks on wall street ran amuck. so we should pass this bill and make sure those 160,000 teachers can return to the classroom. i'd like to ask the gentleman a question. it's my understanding, chairman, under this legislation that when the governor makes application for these funds under the bill the governor -- the secretary can require the governor to choose one of two formulas, the state allocation formula or the title 1 formula and to post that formula so school districts would then be able to know

their allocation as soon as possible so they can start to rehire people and start to reduce class sizes or other decisions that school boards hope to make to provide for that education, is that your understanding that that's permitted under this legislation? mr. obey: that's the committee's intent. mr. miller: so the governor would put that in the application to clear the formula and post that so school districts will be on the earliest possible -- mr. obey: that's the intent. mr. miller: thank you. you sent this bill to the house senate last year. you sent it three times last year. thank you again for your persistence and your work on this issue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i'm proud to yield two minutes to the former chairman of the education committee, now the senior republican on our armed services, buck mckeon of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. mckeon: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mckeon: i thank the gentleman for yielding.

today i rise in opposition to this measure which will increase domestic spending at the expense of national security. specifically, the federal government will spend $10 billion for this teacher bailout paid in part with a $3.3 billion cut in defense programs. . i can assure you the department of defense has need of these funds, including unfunded requirements related to our operations in iraq and offing. i say this fully aware of the needs of our educational system. as the former chairman and ranking member of education and labor. those in favor of this bill will say that this money was previously identified by the department of defense as unspent and available for higher priorities. but this argument misses two larger points. first, as yesterday's military times observed, diverting money from the defense budget to ed education-education programs would eliminate any opportunity for the defense department or congress to take unobligated

money from one defense program to spend on another defense program. second, rescissions to the defense budget this late in the fiscal year are problematic and disruppive to operations. as the department of defense comp toller has told the armed services committee, this will require the defense restructure or postpone programs and in some cases the money is no longer available in these accounts. finally, i remain concerned that this is the beginning of a slippery slope. the secretary of defense has initiated an ongoing effort to generate $100 billion in savings within the department of defense over the next five years. the only secretary that's been asked to do this. my ultimate concern is that these savings will not be reinvested into america's defense requirements but will be harvested by congressional democrats for new domestic spending and entitlement programs. we see today this is already happening. congressional democrats with the full support of the white house are taking critical defense funding to pay for a

bailou michigan, mr. camp, each for 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: the minority comes here and talks about wishing to be back at a jobs fair for those who are unemployed looking for work. having voted against continuing unemployment compensation for those out of work and looking for it. the minority comes here talking about help for small busines having voted against democratic bills to help small business. on this bill this is not an increase in tes on job creation. what it is is closing a tax loophole, used by some, to escape tax an thereby encouraging them to ship jobs overseas. purely and simply.

this is the fact. u.s. companies that operate overseas owe taxes when they return that income to the u.s. they get a foreign tax credit for the taxes they pay overseas. what some companies are doing is using those tax credits not against income brought back home but against income obtained elsewhere. this is a tax loophole, purely and simply. in closing a tax loophole, used by a few, is fair taxation, policy for everybody else. that's what the people of this country demand. close tax loopholes that help shift jobs overseas. we are doing just that in this

bill as we have done in several others in the house of representatives. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore:he gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. camp: last friday we learned the unemployment rate is still at 9.5%. and it would be much higher if the official calculations ao looked at the growing number of americans who have become so discouraged they have given up looking for work. so while congress should be here trying to find ways to get americans back to work, we are here instead to complete action on another extension of stimulus that will also do nothing to reduce the unemployment rate in this country. in fact, this bill and the tax increases in it will hurt job creation. according to the meth tholgi of dr. christina roemer, the president's ief economic

advisor, the tax increases in this bill will destroy over 140,000 americans jobs. in an open letter to congress this week, the national association manufacturers warned, and i quote, imposing $9.6 billion in tax increases on these companies will jeopardize the job of american manufacturing employees and stifle our fragile economy, end quote. similarly, the u.s. chamber of commerce warned they would impose draconian tax increases on american wordwide -- worldwide companies that would hinder job creation, decrease the competitiveness of american businesses, and deter economic growth. these tax increases are a mistake and as i noted during debate two weeks ago, most of these have never been the subject of any committee hearing or markup. it's impossible -- it is possible that upon review some of these provisions might make sense if packaged with other changes to address the facts that our corporate tax rate is soon-to-be the highest among

all industrialized nations. our international tax system is deeply flawed and our tax code is increasingly putting our companies and their employees at a tremendous competitive disadvantage. but we never got the opportunity to hear from the american employers or to offer any amendments. it's truly a disappointing breakdown of the committee system which is supposed to ensure that policies are vetted and reviewed before passage. i also want to mention the phantom tax increases that aren't in this bill but will soon see. the spker has already indicated she opposes two of the spending offsets included in this bill, one relates to food stamps, the other is a cut in funding for renewable energy spending programs. together those items total $13.4 billion, more than half the total offsets in the bill. next month when the house considers some other legislation, don't be surprised to see ather $13 billion in higher taxes to prevent those

spending cuts. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield two minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from texas, who has been champion on the issue of tax loopholes, mr. doggett, a member of the ways and means committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggt: today we close international tax loopholes and open more educational opportunity. last year in texas governor perry and his cohorts misdirected $3.2 billion in federal aid to education simply to replace state education commitments leaving our schools not one dime better off than if we never offered them that federal aito education in the first place. given this very unfortunate history for our school children, and the many unique educational challenges that texas faces, we have good

reason to include in this legislation texas specific safeguards to prevent more such shen nanny begans. with a formula that ensures that this year federal education aid will get directly to our local schools. our approach enjoys the support of school trustees, of superintendents, of principles, of teachers. we have been listening across texas to our parents at this time of excitement as so many young people are going back to school, some for the first time, and we are offering those families and those local schools the important support they need for local education. payingor every dime of it. and we are supporting those local education decisions by local school trustees to achieve quality education free of interference from the state. we are demanding accountability

from the state of texas. for some reason accountability seems like a good concept for everyone except some republican leaders and some international corporate tax avoiders. i want to be sure that there's a level playing field for taxpayers so that the small business down the street that could face a property tax increase if we don't have adequate support for education, that that business isn't -- doesn't continue to have to pay a much higher rate than some international corporate tax group that has all the fancy c.p.a.'s to avoid paying its fair share. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: i yield one minute to the distinguished member from tennessee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam speaker. i think it is important for us to realize what is happening here today. i do oppose the legislation that the majority is bringing forward today. today we are being asked to raise taxes for 10 years in

order to pay for medicaid for simonths. now, think about that. on here in wasngton would an action like that seem to make sense or even be thought to be sustainable. 10 years to pay for six months. now, this is why the people across this nation oppose this type action. and i think if my friends were home listening instead of here in d.c. spending some more, that what they would hear from people is they are sicand tired, they have really gotten their fill of continuing to tax, continuing to spend, robbing peter to pay paul, and going through this process of kicking the can down the road but not aressing the problem. the spending is out of control. the american people are overtaxed, this government is overspent and it is time that we demand accountability.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my true pleasure to yield one minute to our very distinguished majority leader, the colleague om the great state of maryland. thspeaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend for yielding. the hour is late. members have come back, properly so, to address an issue that we addressed months ago. the senate sent ito us. and we were gone. thought it our responsibility to ask members to come back because if we hadn't come back, if we didn't pass this bill, what would happen? 160,000 teachers would be at risk of being laid off and probably would be laid off. what would that mean? it would mean larger class sizes for teachers to deal with. children not receiving the kind of education that they need. they need to be competitive in the global marketplace.

what might have also happened? some 160,000 police and fire personnel, emergency response teams may have had to be laid off. that's why we came back. that's why we believe this is so important. and how have we paid for this? because we do not add a nickel to the natnal debt, notwithstanding the previous speaker. we paid for this because we believe if we are going to invest in our fure, we also are going to pay for it. not ask our grandchildren to pay for it. now that's a concept that was jettisoned under republican leadership but we re-established it. so we pay for this. one of the ways we pay for it is to ask people, look, if you are going to send jobs overseas, we are not going to give you a tax break. i know there's some apparently not for that and they are going to vote against this bill. my view is what we are doing is making sure that our children have the proper education that

they need. making sure that our communities are safe and, yes, making sure that we try to keep every job in america so that we can continue to make things in america so people can make it in america. that's what this bill is all about. the hour's late. i think everyone knows the issue. and i ask my colleagues vote for this critical piece of legislation. keep our teachers, our police, our fire personnel on the job. that's why the senate passed this bill with over 60% majority in a bipartisan vote. let's follow suit. ss this bill. make america better. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: at this time i yield two minutes to a distinguished

member of the ways and means committee, the gentlewomanrom florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for two minutes. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman. madam speaker, congress adjourned without doing anything useful over the last year and a half to get this economy turned around. america knows . sadly this bill isn't going to change that fact. my colleagues know that they bankrupted the states with obamacare and they know full wellhis won't be the last time the federal government borrows money to bail out the states. as for the education jobs funding, the money provided in the stimulus, the $54 billion, provided in the stimulus was supposed to do the trick, but like the stimulus as a whole, it just didn't work, diit? this10 billion is a transparent handout to the teacher's union who, not only tip to insist on greater pay, but actually got their democrat buddies to put it in the bill.

if states take the money, their hands are actually tied on making a tough budget decision choices. including pay. as a result, the states will be back here again and very soon asking for more federal bailouts. which the current majority will probably be very happy to give to them. . my democrat colleagues are incredibly generous when it comes to spending ofrpblt p.m. that's other people's money. the problem is, the other people, the taxpayers in our country, already owe $130,000 apiece in federal debt. that's why the american people are fed up. finally, any claim that the bill is paid for, and i'm putting that in quote, paid for is utter nonsense. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that. this bill before us represents another $14 billion in sham

accounting gimmicks that the majority cannot resist using. never mind that you used the money that tax revenues several times to pay for three different spending bills. we all know that the $14 billion in food stamp cuts will never actually -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman from michigan. we all know the $14 billion in food stamp cuts will never actually really take place so it is a sham, can't it, folks? just like the doc fix and everything else you kick the can down the road far enough so far, in fact that it won't have to be counted in today's budget. the bailouts must end. the borrowing must end. the gimmicks must end. and if we are ever again to have a competitive country, the relentless tax increases on job

creators also must end. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: iield two minutes to the gentlelady from ohio, ms. kilroy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. ms. kilroy: thank you. across america, summer is coming to an end and -- and pants are thinking about their children return to the school. they have hopes and dreams for their children's future and they want them to succeed in school, to be able to go to college and get a good job in a competitive global economy and they know they need a dedicated teach for the that classroom guiding their children's learning. but school boards across the country have been making cuts and laying off teachers. schools in ohio have been facing cuts.

schools have seen their revenue decline. schools also rely in state assistance --' rely on steat assistance and ohio, like many states, has budget problems. in ohio that means 5,500 teachers. will provide the necessary funding for medicaid assistance as well, responding to gent requests from republican and democratic governors. in order to pay for this bill, we are closing tax loophole that was been abused that have sent jobs overseas. not only will it help pay to keep teachers in the looseroom, wit ill end a job drain and help us keep jobs in america. why are my colleagues so opposed? they don't seem to understand that investing in our nation's future means investing in our nation'schools. they call it children's specl interest. children don't have special lobbyists like wall street does they need us to stand up for

them. but those who have been enjoying tax loopholes are special interests with those lobbyists. perhaps opponents of this bill are listening to them. that's the wrong way to go. that's the way of the past. it's time to end business as usual and politics as usl and stand up for america's workers and stand up for america to keep jobs here and it's time to stand for america's children and america's teachers and america's schools. it's time to keep our communities safe and keep firefighters and police i -- i thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman mr. camp is recognized. mr. camp: i'm prepeered to reserve or prepared to close if the gentleman has no further speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, has the right to close. mr. levin: if the gentleman is inquiring whether we have one more speaker other othan to close, the answer is no.

mr. camp, why don't you close and then our speaker will close. mr. camp: thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: i have before my letters from the chamber of commerce, the business round table as well as pace, promote america's competitive edge, and the u.s. chamber of commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million business organizations of every size. they strongly support the legislation because it would place draconian tax increases on the companies and deter economic growth in the jobs that come from that. likewise, the national association of manufacturers, the nation's largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector in all 50 state they also oppose this legislation.

they represent 22 million workers in the united states, more than 19% of the private sector work force. and 50% of -- and 53% of all manufacturing employees are employed by companies that have operations overseas and they oppose the tax increases because it will jeopardize the jobs of american manufacturing employees and stifle this very fragile economy. likewise the business roun table, which again is an association that represents more than 12 million employees, has also sent a letter opposing this legislation because they say that this leglation will again only make matters worse, make it more difficult for u.s. companies to compete in the world economy and then actually puts u.s. jobs at stake because of that. and again, pace, which represents more than 63 llion american jobs that depend on the competitiveness of american

employers worldwide says that at a time when other countries are taking steps to attract business, this legistion actually does -- sends the exact opposite message, discourages investment in the u.s. and job creation here in the u.s. i ask unanimous consent to submit these letters for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. camp: i thank it's unfortunate that again here on the floor i'm having to submit these letters here when actually the appropriate place would be in the committee on ways and means. but unfortunately, the committee on ways and means has never had a hearing on these provisions. never had a markup on this legislation. we've nod hat a process that's been open to employers to come forward before the committee and be heard on the record so that we might be able to adjust this or put this in context. as i said we need broad based international tax reform in the u.s. this piecemeal approach couldn't -- count work, hurt

ours competitiveness and again, i think if we had a system where there was a committee hearg or mark yum, on review you might improve on this or find a way to address the serious issue that pretty soon our corporate tax rate will be the highest amon -- among all the industrialized nations and we could put on the record the deep flaws now international tax systems and the flaw nours tacoat. instead what we're doing today is rushing to the floor again without transparency, without hearings, certainly no opportunity for american employers to come forward and be heard on this issue. we're putting them at a tremendous competitive disadvantage at a time when they need to be competing around the world for jobs. i urge opposition to this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield the balance of the time to our distinguished speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized.

the speaker: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee for bringing this important legislation to the floor, working closely with the chair of the appropriations committee. this must be about the third time, mr. chairman, that we have brought this to the floor, the provision that repeals that provision of the law which rewards businesses for sending jobs overseas. this is not a new subject to the congress. it is not a new subject to the floor. thanks to your leadersh. today, mr. speaker -- madam speaker, we have an opportunity to create jobs. the press of a button, each of us will play a role in creating over 300,000 jobs. saving over 300,000 jobs across the country. they're jobs, these people are

consumers, is important to our economy that they are employed. it goes well beyond that, to jobs for teachers, the education of our children, it's about the innovation of our nation, it's bigger than just a job. it's about the future. these are jobs that firefighters and police officers, about the safe i have to our neighborhoods and our communities. where our children can thrive. it's about nurses and health care providers to keep our country strong in terms of the health and well being of the american people. it's about the stability of state budgets. economists have told us that if this legislation were not passed and these jobs are not saved and the budgets of the states were not stabilized, we would go into another deep recession like the one we inherited from the previous administration and it would be a much longer path out of that

recession. so i thank the distinguished chairman for bringing us to the floor with this legislation. i thank the members on both sides of the aisle for respond so quickly to the call to return to washington to save and create jobs for the american people. this is part -- this pay-for in this legislation which repeals the oppounity for businesses to get a tax break for sending jobs overseas is part of our make it in america agenda. make it in america means manufacture it in america, it also enables people to make it in america. this is about innovation. innovation that's created here with our creativity and the benefit our education system and our entrepreneurial spirit and the rest and then it says, when we have the idea and we create the innovation, that we

create the jobs here to produce it to manufacture it and not to up-- to scale up overseas. invent here create the jobs overseas -- no. invent here, manufacture here, and market to the world. this is really important legislation also because of the way it is paid for. while i don't support all the provisions, i'm not happy about the taking money from our energy sector or from food stamps, but i hope we can, mr. chairman, make that up in another way, i am very pleased about the funds that are obtained by repealing the provision to send jobs offshore. this legislation is fiscally responsible and fully paid for. it is -- it invests in america's communities, again by closing that tax loophole that allows corporations to ship jobs overseas.

ve i said that enough times? those who claim that the legislation will add to the deficit are simply wrong. in fact, according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office this bill reduces the deficit by $1.4 billion. madam speaker, it's about time that we got this bill passed. we first passed it in the house last year, the end of last year. we passed it again, some features of it, in the spring, finally, the senate acted last week. finally, they were able to get enough votes to pass it with a supermajority in the senate. the minute we anticipated that that would happen, the word went out that we called to the house to come back to washington so that not another day would go by without our, again, pressing that button for over 300,000 jobs.

my grandchildren, ones who are in public school, went back to school yesterday. so this is -- it's about time, again, that we -- children in other parts of the country may be preparing to go back to school in another week or so, or the beginning of september. they cannot afford to wait for us to put teachers back into the classroom. that's why it was urgent that we act. communities struggling to keep police and firemen on the at and firefighters on the job that were on the brink of layoffs, this is good news for them. and tens of thousands of americans will not be joining the ranks of the unemployed. so i thank the gentleman for -- again for his leadership, for making this part of what we have been doing foa matter of months, so we were ready, we were ready when the senate

acted so that we an educate our children, innovate for our country prork tect our neighborhoods and our homes, as well as keep the american people healthy in a fiscally sound way. again, we are doing so in a way that helps people make it in america, and for that, i am grateful to the chairman and to my -- to the distinguished democratic leader, mr. hoyer, who coined the phrase, but for l of our members who work sod hard to make america -- to have america continue to be the shining star, the lead competitor, thennovator, number one, president kennedy when he launched a campaign to send a man to the moon and back safely, many, many decades ago, he said he would do so within 10 years and he did. but when he did it he said if

we are to honor the vows of our founders, we must be first and therefore we intend to be first. this legislation is yet another piece of legislation that enables america to be first. >> the vote was 247 to 161. this is about 20 minutes. >> good afternoon. this is really a happy afternoon for us. the house just passed

legislation that have a direct relationship to the strength of our communities, the education of our children, the safety of our neighborhoods, the stability of the economy, and point directly to our prospects for the future. we voted to keep over 300,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, and private sector workers on the job. members of congress rushed here today. as soon as we heard that there is a prospect that the senate might be able to pass this legislation, word went out. members are here in full force to press a button and support of those hundreds of thousands of jobs. [applause] we passed a bill last december and we pass it again in the spring. we are pleased that the senate finally took the action that they did.

this legislation was necessary, not just from a legislative standpoint, but because we heard from americans like those who join us here today. kathy johnson, school board member from columbus, ohio, knows the impact this investment will have on the education of the next generation of teachers. she has worked on behalf of the children for 24 years and understands the heartbreaking impact this economy has had on teachers and students. stella edwards, raise your hand. president of the chesterfield, va., county council of pt and powerful voice on behalf of keeping america's teachers in their classrooms. i know there are members of pta families here.

we want to acknowledge some of the members of our pta families in the audience. officer dave strokes of the annapolis police department understand what this investment will mean to the safety of our community. we're joined here today by children, our nation's future leaders, and innovators and. president kennedy called them our greatest resource and our best hope for the future. i would like to thank all of the advocates for children and their families who are here today. give yourself a nice round of applause. today, up we will create over 300,000 jobs and save them. jobs that are the most significant in our country. this sense of community that our teachers, police and

firefighters, health care workers brain and we will do it in a fiscally responsible way by closing costly tax loopholes that allow corporations to shift american jobs overseas. this is part of what our distinguished majority leader calls are make it in america agenda. make it, manufactured in america. people can make it on their own in america. we believe that repealing that provision that enables businesses to ship jobs overseas is a very important start in that direction. [applause] i acknowledge mr. hoy year, the two chairmen new joint -- brought a bill to the floor today, the chairman of the appropriations committee, thank you. the bill was passed on to ways and means committee chairman, who has brought this task

provision to the billing number of locations. to be built on a number of locations. he is joined by our chairman of our policy committee and our education and work force committee. he has been a fighter for keeping these teachers on the job. chairman george miller. i want to acknowledge a member of this committee, chairman on a subcommittee on elementary, secondary, early childhood education, the congressman of michigan. [applause] i am pleased to introduce kathy johnson, who will tell us what this legislation means to her school district in ohio. kathy. >> thank you.

good afternoon. i am cathy johnson, a school board member from the school district in ohio, which educates nearly 21,000 students and is the sixth largest district in the state. in spite of a governor who championed education and a state legislature that worked with them to pass a comprehensive education reform law, the economy has forced the school district, including mine, to make budget cuts. that includes to school closures in the last year, teachers and staff reductions for the current fiscal year. however, the house has passed the education jobs find today will enable school districts to maintain services that help advanced student achievement. my district can benefit from today's legislation as we look to hire teachers and school personnel to employment

intervention programs for students who need added support to ensure they receive the help that will allow them to be successful. the education jobs fund will help my district maintain the continuity for core instruction that is needed with appropriate class sizes and an enriched curriculum with support services for reading, mathematics, and the language arts. other districts are finalizing budgets this month, so assurance of no net spending will be available stand at the beginning of the school year to help mitigate layoffs and also to reinstate teachers and staff in some communities is of significant importance. opportunities for students will not be lost. this legislation will also help a number of school districts avoid or reduce the cost of borrowing funds in order to sustain programs and faculty. on behalf of the southwestern city school district, at the ohio school board association, and the national school boards

association, i convey our sincere appreciation to speaker nancy pelosi, the members of the house of representatives, and the u.s. senate for your action to help save thousands of jobs for teachers and staff throughout the country. the education jobs fund represents strong support for our students, and for our schools as a vital investment in the economic recovery and american competitiveness. thank you very much. [applause] i would now like to turn it over to lois welch from new jersey. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i am a school teacher in new jersey. i teach at a high school and my focus is special education and english language spread --

english language. for 20 years, i worked in the public school as a secretary in new jersey and left my job at that time. however, in number of years ago, i made the decision to return to schools and get the experience and education i needed to help the status of my community in any capacity. after seven years of attending school at night, working full time, and raising three children, i maintained my dream of becoming -- i obtained my dream of becoming a high-school teacher. sadly, after two years of teaching in schools, along with 86 other school teachers in the district, we were given pink slips not to return in

september. when teachers are laid off, the class sizes grow. students get no one-on-one attention. schools go without librarians and school and services -- school nurses and important programs are cut. i am the only one of eight teachers in our district received a pink slip in june that is recalled for september. none of my colleagues have been so fortunate to. for more than 75 of my colleagues, their future is in limbo, and it is not just about them. since the 5 fewer teachers will be available in the classroom when school opens in september.

that is giving their kids the fundamental skills they need to succeed in the global community. i am here today to speak for them. the money approved by the house today will allow our district to rehire and bring more of our colleagues back into the classroom where they belong. this is a shocked for public education across the nation. in banking. ridgy thank you. i would now like to it turned a dapper to an official from

virginia. -- turn it over to an official from virginia. >> and thank you for allowing me to join you here today. i work with nearly 40,000 members and provide training on education and advocates for our local schools on education reform to insure academic success. i have served with the pta or rubber 17 years and i'm a proud member of the national pta. the national pta was created to meet up profound challenge, to better the lives of children. it continues to flourish because we have ever sought -- lost sight of our goal, to change the lives of children across this nation to make a better place

for them to live. each of these pages in my own personal history have led me to the parade -- a better understanding to the unique and critical role that parents and teachers working together can have on the lives of our children. and that is why i am here today. last week the senate passed a comprehensive jobs package that includes $10 billion in funding to prevent the lay off of approximately 140,000 teachers. today i am proud to stand along the speaker and others that were vital in this effort in order to celebrate the passage in the house of representatives. i commend the members of the house for coming back into session to pass this funding package and finished their

unfinished business, the business of children's education. our children, my children, your child, and your neighbor's child. what does this all mean? over the last two years, the chesapeake county schools have laid off approximately 500 teachers. this law being signed today means that they and thousands of other teachers around this country will be able to step out of those unemployment lines and back into the classroom where they belong. we see that the national pta has for a long time said that families and teachers and school districts and communities all of a shared responsibility to work together to close the achievement gap that affects so many of our communities. it is very simple. children in the kit for having

engaged families in their lives. in fact we know that the family involved in is one of the strong as issues for children for their success and the families play a vital role in the child's cognitive and social and their emotional development. this is from birth to adolescence. and teachers, the very same teachers whose jobs need to be saved, no one understanding continue to emphasize the importance of family engagement in education. i want to thank congress for protecting these teachers, for protecting the jobs and protecting our children from overclouded classrooms which we all know will negatively affect their learning. i want to thank you again for having me here. >> in her remarks, she asked a question, what does this all mean?

what this all means is that this is good news for children. people ask me that three important issues facing that congress, our children, our children, our children. many have been champions for our children, their health, affected by the health care workers put back to work, their education, as you just heard our distinguished speaker speaks so eloquently to what we will do for our children's education, safe and clean neighborhoods in which they can thrive. we have someone here representing our first responders to keep our neighborhoods say -- site. health, education, safety, and economic security for their

families. the offset in this bill, the clear provision that enables a job tax breaks to businesses that sends jobs overseas, we repeal that and we say and make that in america. and we want to commend factories in america. let's bring those jobs home. i want to commend the leader -- and the senate for the action that they took and for what the house of representatives have done today and i am honored now to sign this important legislation, it is so important to us and our communities. i just want the children to know, i'm going to sign the bill. our clerk will make sure that

the signatures are right, and then she will personally deliver it to the president of the united states for his signature, who will sign a letter this afternoon. sobel for you probably get home this evening, this will be the law of the land. cause for celebration. this is how it is. this is the bill. it is written on parchment paper, special parchment paper. and then i will sign the bill here. wait a minute, i have to use all these pens. i just rush right into it. and then we send it over to the

president and then he will sign the bill. pens onto use these h the first part here. just as on an operation day, the president comes to the capital to be inaugurated, today we will send this bill up pennsylvania avenue back to the white house for the signature, president barack obama to become law.

i just want to say something about a president. education has and such a key issue for the president, that i want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership in making this possible as well. thank you all. >> thank you, folks. [inaudible]

>> thank you all very much.

>> now house republicans speaking with reporters but for the debate on the bill. gop leaders talk about their opposition to the legislation which provides $26 billion to states for keeping teachers on the job and medicaid expenses. the measure passed later 247- 161. this is about 10 minutes.

we're prepared to go back to the floor on behalf of the american people and we will vigorously oppose this latest installment of the failed democratic policies of stimulus, bailout, and higher taxes as a means of economic growth. on a personal level, i must tell you that i am deeply conflicted today. i know my duties are here in washington and it is a privilege to discharge. but today as we speak, hundreds of my constituents who are struggling in this economy are gathered at the sixth congressional district job fair. we have 65 employers at ball state university campus, people looking for opportunities any

grieg's my heart that i have to be here when i could be there encouraging hoosier families that are out of work and struggling. the truth is, i was walking in those always an eye. all the time, washington, d.c. just does not get it. the american people know that we cannot borrow and spend and bailout way or tax our way back to a good economy. if the people like serve in eastern indiana sought 12% unemployment today. he they're struggling under the weight of these failed his policies in a long for leadership in washington, d.c. to do something differently. we will continue to oppose efforts to pass a national energy tax, the largest tax increase in history to cachectin general air -- to take effect in january.

>> in eastern washington, is anyone in d.c. listening? does anyone get it? they continue to see washington wasting money and continuing bailouts. we're continuing to allow us today. the leadership in congress seems to forget that we have a $13 trillion debt. american families do not forget. in their own families and businesses, they have to tighten the belt and cut the spending decisions and us to do likewise, rather than continuing to add debt to our children and our grandchildren. >> good morning. if today is really demonstrative of the majority's priorities in government in this country. hatch asked, why are we being brought back for the so-called

emergency session? are we being brought back to cut taxes and ensure that those tax hikes did not go into that? snow. are we being brought back to make sure that we do not increase the federal deficit by jacking up spending? know. are we working on the success of the mission in afghanistan and iraq? no. we're working on the stimulus bill which has been an utter failure even by the administration's own standards. for the american people listening today as to what is going on in washington, i think this is clear evidence that there is a huge divide in terms of the division that belongs to each party. >> the american people are speaking out in record numbers. last week and have the opportunity to be in the district to talk with my

constituents and to listen to them. what they repeatedly say is if they bailouts have to stop, no more bailouts. they want to make certain that congress is listening and that congress is taking action. they know what is required for jobs growth to take place. and they know that what is coming from washington is the exact opposite. they do not what they see more government control, more government did her parents, higher taxes. they want the federal government spending to stop and they want the jobs growth to take place. >> we already heard about this fiscally irresponsible and love with another job killing tax increase. reportedly is to help teachers. but less than two years ago, democrats put $100 billion into education to help teachers. that did not create a new permanent jobs.

this additional $10 billion will not to it either. it will make the teachers' unions have been but it will not make teaching in schools better. this does nothing to the fix the staffing policies which is last hired, first fired. we ought to be improving education not just dumping more money into it that we do not have. >> i will remind all of you that this year the federal government is going to borrow 43 cents for every dollar that the federal government spends. think about that. almost half has to be borrowed from our kids and our grandkids. what they going to do? they are going to make it worse. if the bailout to the teachers' unions is some of the most irresponsible policy that i have seen. the american people are screaming at the top of their lungs, stock. and washington continues to

spend, spend, spend. listen, i've been around my district and i can tell you i've been to other districts. the american people know that it is time for the spenders to go and have real fiscal responsibility here in washington, d.c. >> just wondering if the republicans are offering any kind of help to the states or is it that they should cut their budgets for new revenue sources? >> we do not have the money to bail out the states. it is time for them to get their arms around their own problems. and not look to washington to bail them out. thanks. >> how about a family tax our online sales taxes. >> we do not have a revenue problem in washington. there is a spending problem in the american people know it.

>> it is our responsibility to come back here and the fight against this irresponsible fiscal policy. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> we heard the epa administrator said that it may be on the floor. we think it is our courageous for the congress to take up any major legislation -- outrageous for the congress to take up any major legislation. [inaudible] the american people want us to use all our resources -- and that is what the republicans will do.

[inaudible] >> look, the suggestion that the bill today is paid for is tantamount to a family that has a certain amount of debt on one credit-card and a transfer to another credit card and say it is paid for. to take what was already borrowed money, emergency spending, and use borrowed money to pay for this is not fiscally responsible and it is just a continuation of the failed economic policies of this congress. and i have to tell you that a $9 billion tax increase during the worst economy in 25 years is

just profoundly wrong. [inaudible] house republicans just simply inlieve that the jury is a on the failed economic policies of this congress and this administration. the american people know that the stimulus, a cappella, the takeovers, a higher taxes have not resulted in economic growth and opportunities the hallways of all state university are filled with hundreds of people looking for jobs. the unemployment rate in muncie, indiana is the same as it was a year ago and yet congress is doing the same thing that they were doing a year-and-a-half ago. if the american people know that this is not working and yet here we are back on capitol hill doing more the same.

>> you keep calling as above for special interest. to the american people see teachers as special interests? >> i am married to a school teacher. she spent a lot of year in the public schools. the state bailouts that is being considered on the floor today benefiting his teachers' unions around the countries, public employees around the country, is what it is. but the republicans are absolutely determined to stand against this more of the same he stimulus spending, bailout approach, higher taxes, and saying enough is enough. [inaudible] i will leave that to the abundance. but i will tell you what, one

more bailout and one more tax increase that might break the majority's camel's back. we've got to go. >> updating you on some of the primary elections around the country. colorado senator michael bennet is the nominee. ds karen handelgu narrowly in georgia. we're watching races and connecticut. this added it will face the republican in november. she spoke recently. this is courtesy of w.cctx in

hartford. >> and i love you. [laughter] i think some of my most fondest memories of this campaign trail will be little ones like that. showing up spontaneously and doing those things. the really warms my heart because i am a sucker for kids. [laughter] a lot to thank all of you for being here tonight, and a special thanks to my family, some of whom could not be here. my friends here, my tireless staff, and to all the volunteers, all the many of you, all of you.

because certainly without the efforts all, all of our volunteers, i would not be standing here tonight having completed a two rounds of the three we have to go. i also want to thank my opponent cahow -- my opponents who ran a terrific races and their loyal supporters were their hearts out for candidates in whom they really believed. this was a very competitive, compassionate, and heartfelt campaign. but at the end of the day, we are all part of the republican family, the connecticut family. as we all know, families do not always get along and they do not

always agree. he [laughter] but in the and, they do stand together. whatever our disagreements had been the primary, i want to make one thing clear. our party, our state, and our country owes sammons and enormous debt of gratitude for his service. we also owe a debt to peter shift, who was brought enormous clarity and passion to the issues of the economy and individual rights. tonight i think i speak for every republican in this state in inviting robb and peter to join us as we fight to win this seat for all the people of

connecticut. since the day we started this campaign, the support of the voters of connecticut is not bestowed by the establishment or the abundance or the media. it is not a birthright he. it cannot be bought. he needs to be earned. and tonight i am humbled to encourage your support. -- to have earned your support. and i am honored to be your republican nominee for the united states senate of connecticut. >> linda, linda, linda!

>> [inaudible] [laughter] >> we began this campaign almost 11 months ago today, and since then i have crisscrossed the state, if been over 650 advance, many of the towns and cities and i had some of the most incredible experiences meeting and talking with all of the people of connecticut. i have not been everywhere but i hope in the next few weeks, prior to the election in november, i will get some more and more cities and meet more and more of the wonderful people of connecticut. i want to understand your problems in your concerns and i want to hear