discussion about what we can do together to move this country forward. over the next few weeks, we will have a chance to work together in the brief upcoming session of congress. this is why this session is so important. early in the last decade, president bush enacted a series of tax cuts that were designed to expire at the end of this year. what that means is if congress does not act by new year's eve, middle-class families will see their taxes go up starting on new year's day. but the last thing we should do is raise taxes on middle-class families. for the past decade, they saw their costs rise and incomes fall. they are the ones bearing the brunt of the recession and making ends meet. they are the ones who need relief right now. so something to be done. i believe there is room for us to compromise and get it done to get it. let's start where we agree. all of us want certainty for

middle-class americans. none of us want them to wake up on january 1 with a higher tax bill, which is why i believe we should extend the tax cut for all families making less than $250,000 a year, which is 98 percent of the american people. we also agree about the need for cutting spending and bringing down the deficit. in fact, if congress were to implement my proposals to freeze discretionary spending for three years, if it would bring spending down to its lowest level has a share of the economy in 50 years. but at a time when we will be asking folks to make difficult sacrifices, i don't see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make the tax cut permanent. we would be digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden onto our children.

i recognize that both parties are going to have to compromise to get something done. i want to make my priorities clear from the start could middle-class families need permanent tax relief. i believe we cannot afford to borrow and spend another $700 billion for millionaires and billionaires. there are new public servant in washington but we still face the same challenge it. you made it clear that it is time for results. this is a good opportunity to show that we are willing to come together and do what is best for the country we all love. thanks. >> with election day behind us, it is an honor to talk to you about the opportunity before us, and opportunity to put america back on track. for too long, washington has taken our country in the wrong direction. although i am a proud

republican, this is the truth. both parties have been to blame. the american people said enough is enough in this election. we republicans would be mistaken if we miss read these results. this election is a second chance. a second chance for republicans to be what we said we were going to be proud america is the single greatest nation in the earth. it is a place built on free enterprise where the employee can be the employer, where small businesses are started every day in a spare bedroom, and a place where somebody like meat can be a united states senate. . i know about the unique conceptualism about our country. i have seen it to my own eyes. i was raised in a community of exiles of people who lost their country, people who had to come to a foreign shore to find

opportunity. for some, answers or here in america, but some found a new dream. that is what we must do as a nation, to fulfil our sacred obligation to leave the next generation of americans a better america at than the one we inherited, and that is what this election is about. for the past two years, republicans have listened to the american people. the past two years provided a frightening glimpse of what can become of our nation if we continue down a growing debt, and the government reaching further into our lives. it is nothing short of a path of ruin, that threatens to diminish us as a nation and people come one that makes america more like the rest of the world.

as republicans, here is what our commitments should be proud of our focus should not be just winning elections. it must be to ensure the next generation inherits [inaudible] most importantly, we will stand up and offer an alternative to the policies coming out of washington for the past two years. the challenges are too great, too generational in scope. instead, we will put forth bold ideas and have the courage to fight for them. this means preventing a massive tax increase at the end of the year. it means repealing and replacing the disastrous spread in simplifying our tax code and tackling in national debt that is pushing us to the brink. for many of us coming to washington for the first time,

and others returning to serve, it is a long way from home. a long way from the people whose eyes we looked into town hall meetings, roundtable discussions, and promised this time it would be different, that it to elected republicans to office, we would not squander the chance you give us, and we must not because nothing less than the identity of our country and what kind of future we leave our children is at stake. that is our commitment credit from you, we ask desperate to hold us accountable to the ideas and principles we campaigned on. this is our second chance to get this right, to make the right decisions and tough calls, and to leave our children what they deserve -- the freest and most exceptional society in all of human history. thank you for listening. god bless you and your family, and may god continue to bless the united states of america.

>> sunday morning on c-span, watch election night speeches and reaction. that is at 10:30 a.m. eastern, here on c-span. this week on "the communicators ," joe barton on the future of tilak -- the future of communications. >> with republicans in the majority in the 112 congress which convenes on january 3, 2011, legislative agendas will change, as will committee chairman ships. the chairmanship of the energy and commerce committee which deals with telecommunications policy is being contested. one of those running for the chairmanship is congressman joe barton, who is currently the chief republican on the energy and commerce committee. he is our guest this week on

"the communicators." thank you for joining us from dallas. why do want to be chairman of the energy and commerce committee again, and if so, what would be your legislative agenda when it comes to telecommunications policy? >> i think the american people on tuesday gave republicans a second chance. you don't get too many second chances in politics, but the american people have given the republicans won. i was chairman the last time the republicans were in the majority back in 2005 and 2006. i think the bills that passed and became law, we passed an energy policy act that was comprehensive. we passed the first reform act for the national institutes of health in probably 30 years. we reauthorize the ryan white aids act, and we just did a lot

of what i thought were very positive things. we did it in a bipartisan fashion. if i am given the privilege to be chairman again in the next congress by the republican conference, i want to actually deliver on the promises that we made in our pledge to america. first and foremost, repealing the new health-care law that most people generically called obamacare. most of that will come through the energy and commerce committee. not all of it, some of it as other committees, but the lion's share is energy and commerce. i first heard he would be to repeal that -- my first priority would be to repeal that and follow up very quickly with the replace and reform package that really addresses the health care needs of america. we have to do more than just repeal and go back to the status quo. we have to replace and improve the system so that every

american has access to qualified health-care. in telecommunications policy, i think it is imperative that we maintain the freedom of the internet. i do not agree with the fcc's attempt to regulate the internet wo.ough title t we could move legislation making crystal clear that they do not have that authority. we will be doing aggressive oversight over the fcc. if we can get a bipartisan agreement, i am very open to reforming the universal service fund. i think is long overdue -- it is long overdue. congressman stearns and congressman voucher in the last congress, the bill that they drafted together is a good first step or a good base on which to

begin the legislative process there. generically, the reason i would like to be chairman is, i want to create a federal system that gives every american an opportunity to better themselves and their family, and to do so, on a level playing field. i don't support government mandates in all areas of our economy. i don't support the government telling people what they can and cannot do, except when it is necessary to protect the public health, public safety, and on occasion, to provide for the common defense of this nation. i am a free-market conservative, and i think given the privilege to be its chairman, you will see a very active energy and commerce committee, but you will see an open and transparent committee that works in a bipartisan

fashion. >> given the republican conference's rules on term limits, what is the process that you could get elected and appointed chairman again of the committee? do you need a waiver? >> thanks for asking that question. not many people bother to want to know the answer to that. we passed a rule in 1993 when we were in the minority before winning the majority in 1994 that says you can be ranking member or chairman for three terms. when that rule was put in place, republicans had not been in a majority in the house since 1954. so we put the term ranking member in there because that is all we had. when we won with the contract to america with newt gingrich in 1994, we had 11 ranking members at the time he became chairman, five of those has served as ranking member for three terms, and all five of those served as

chairman for three terms. we had the same rule in place in 1994 that we have now. we did not apply the ranking member time toward their chairmanship time. i interpret the rules to be -- i have served one full term as chairman, so i am eligible, not entitled, but eligible, to be chairman for two more terms. i am going to ask the steering committee to clarify the rules. i am fine on having a term limit rule for chairman. i would not have gotten to be chairman when i did if we had not have had term limits on chairman, because the prior chairman would have a petition to continue to be chairman. i am an advocate of term limits, but i think you apply its in your majority time, and i

don't think it is a consecutive minority pejorative. i think i am eligible for two more terms. i am going to petition on that process. that is not successful, then i will ask for a waiver, and i think will be successful. the process is we have a transition team that put so rules package together, try to get the rule clarified in the transition, and if necessary, put it before the conference to have zero vote, and then whatever the rule is, led by that rule. >> joining us this week is our guest reporter, at the editor of national journal, buhle on a grunwald -- giuliano grunwald. >> i am getting very positive feedback in terms of support feedback in terms of support for