waxman, he's counting on reid and waxman to help on this vote. and harry reid has said, it's not going any further. >> what about the senate, could there be a hearing of a senate compromise of tweak to this law. if they go by it piece by piece strategy. >> there isn't that possibility, and there are a number up for seats in between seats in 2012 and could be some spirit of bipartisan of making tweaks to the law now in a way that improves that. that said, and david said, we are trying to look at specifically what those changes would be. and not seeing what that would

be at this point. from chairman waxman, he stood by the bill as is. and i think that the devil would be the in details of what kind of changes we are talking about. but certainly some room. >> it would be an excellent test of divided government and any whether interest to have serious conversations about policy making. republicans were clear to do more on the medical malpractice front. and the question for democrats and in they say and toss it to senate. or talk to people that know these issues and figure out ways to improve the bill. and just a gesture, we are not in a stalemate, there is effort

to keep legislating. >> and that's what we face neither side is willing to give. everyone is so steep in their positions because it's such a high partisan. and to give on something is seen as a defeat and reluctant to go down that road. >> and david, you said pressure to legislate. >> there is pressure to legislate. and the pressure of the 2010 election, and let's not forget there are some waiting in the capitol corridors. and it's tough, it will be a fascinating two years. >> after wednesday's vote to repeal this new law, then what happens? what are you hearing? what the strategy from house republicans? >> it seems that what they will do is attempt to pick at the law

in various ways. one thing they have talked about is trying to block the appropriation of money needed to implement the law. they can try do that. we expect a much broader spending fight to go on. any fight for money over health care may be a strong portion of this wider battle of how to address the nation's fiscal issues. republicans want to take discretionary spending back to 2008 levels. that's severe cutting when you consider how much of the budget to work with. we will have to see. once we are past the initial statement and when they get past that, maybe the real discussions will start. on something that the democrats might work with them on. >> you asked about oversight and mr. waxman's experience and credentials. what did you hear in the list

that congress iceman doesnman i. >> yeah, and trying to make this personal, and every step of the way there will be those investigations will end up being sort of a framing against the administration. so how that unfolds, i don't know if we will see ranking member waxman as generous. >> yeah, it seems those types of investigations can be used to energize the base, and they called on him to work with member issa. >> yes, and it can be energizing

and the crucial, moderate voters get frustrated fast. when they see the political food fights, and would rather see substantive than the jabs. democrats are coming in swinging and they learned how to fight in the minority. and trying to do that out of the gate. >> yes, and it's interesting to see this last week in congress the democrats with a united voice on the health care vote. and some processes unfolding the way that the house will conduct their rules. for those who watches congress and watch will especially the democrats and the majority over the last two years. seeing this very organized, orchestrated aggressive approach is different, and shows how easy to be in the majority than the

minority. >> we are all out of time. thank you. >> there is a new way for you to follow congress, with c-span's congressional chronical. track the daily lines and track transcripts, this is washington your way. >> on thursday, president obama announced that william daly will be his new chief of staff. he replaces mr. emanuel who is running for mayor in chicago. this is about 10 minutes.

>> please have a seat, everyone, happy new year. last october when my former chief of staff had new plans. and i asked pete to help me see how to instructed. >> he told me in that gruff

voice of his, a strong inclination to leave government. so the reason that everyone is applauding, because they have heard him say that everyday. they have heard him say that everyday for the last six years. and yet, each time i have asked him to accept one more assignment. he's saddled up and has taken the job. and it's fair to say i would not be where i am today without his extraordinary counsel. pete accepted the responsibility and as he oversaw our strategy during the lame duck session of congress. he was developing a structure and plan for the next two years that will serve the white house and the american people. one assignment was to provide candidates to serve as chief of

staff moving forward. as part that have process, today i am proud to announce the appointment of an experienced public servant. a devoted patriot. my friend and chicagoan, bill daly to serve as chief of staff. [applause] few americans can boast a breath of experience that bill with bring to this job. he served on the cabinet under clinton. he's lead major corporations. he possesses a deep understanding of how jobs are creating and how to grow the economy. and needless to say that bill

has a smidge of how it works. it's a genetic trait. but most of all, i know that bill cares deeply about this country. believes in the promise, and considers nothing more important than serving the american people. he will bring his experience and forward looking vision to this white house. i very much look forward to working with bill for the years to come. before i ask bill to say a few words. i must confess that i have prevailed once again on pete's sense of duty or guilt. i am not sure which. i am grateful that he agreed to one more term of duty as my counsel for the next two years. [applause]

>> as you might have noticed, people like pete. he is a unique and indispensable asset to me and this administration. i can't imagine life without him and i told him so, and proud to keep him longer.

i will make announcements in the week ahead, and i am confident to have a great team to america's task in the years to come. with that, i would like to introduce my new chief of staff, bill daley. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you, mr. president. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you, mr. president. thank you very much, mr. president, mr. vice president. you have honored me and my family. by giving me an opportunity to serve you and to serve our nation. 50 years ago this month, i visited the white house with my parents. and my brothers and sisters visited a young president. who went on to show great strength, leadership and vision in the face of enormous challenges, in those times.

you, mr. president, are proving your strength, your leadership, your vision during a most difficult time for our nation, and for the world. you have also shown through your example that public service is an honorable calling. and i am pleased to answer your call. i look forward to work with the wonderful staff you have assembled. and i know my job will be made easier by the great work of pete rouse. and the talk of normal successes under pete's watch. pete too has committed to his service and i am proud to call him my colleague. i assure you mr. president, as in the last two years, that this team won't let you down, or the

nation. thank you for this extreme honor. [applause] >> on friday the president introduced four new members of the economic team, and noted that the economy has increased jobs since 2006. the new employees, will move from the treasury department to the economic council. this is a plant in maryland that took place after the latest jobs report of the government. that showed a decline in the

unemployment rate last month to 9.4%. this is 20 minutes. [applause] >> please, everyone have a seat. it is wonderful to be with all of you today. i want to make a couple of quick announcements. first of all we have one of the fine senators from the great state of maryland, ben cardon in the house. and rush baker is here. i want to thank rick, the c.e.o. and owner of thompson creek manufacturing.

and the all the employees here at thompson. thank you for your hospitality and the great work you are doing. [applause] and i want to acknowledge family and guests of those standing behind me today. it's wonderful to be here at thompson creek. and i want to thank rick for showing me how you manufacture more efficient windows at this factory. this is as he explained to me as a family business. rick was just 13 when his father, fred, opened the company. and back then his family lived above the store. and rick started out sweeping the floors. three decades later, thompson creek has expanded. it's already outgrown this

85,000 square feet facility that just moved in three years ago. and i bet that rick still feels like he lives at the plant. that's what happens when you are in charge. and growing this accomplishment speaks to him and all the employees here today. the hard, working men and women who make this company work. and it speaks to the promise of america. the idea that if you got a dream and you are willing to work hard, then you can succeed. that promise is at the heart of who we are as a people. and it's at the heart of our economic might. it's what helps giving an entrepreneur the courage to start a business. or company, the confidence to expand. it's what leads to new products

and new ideas. and technologies that have not only made us the world's largest economy, but the most innovative economy in the world. making it possible for businesses to succeed. is how we ensure that our economy succeeds, and all our people succeed. it's how we create jobs. and that's what guided my administration for the past two years. government can't guarantee thompson creek or any business will be successful. but government can knock down barriers like a lack of affordable credit or high cost for investment. or high cost for hiring. we can do something about that. government can remove obstacles in your path. and that's why we cut taxes for small businesses over the last two years. for example, when a tax break for hiring unemployed workers,

thompson creek was able to grow their workforce from 200 employees to 300 in one year. and took advantage of the tax credits we put in place. and passed tax credits for products like energy saving windows. and that lead to a 55% boost of the sales at this firm. rick told me when that tax credit got in place, the marketing arm of thompson creek got busy. and that's what we intended. you can save money on your energy bill, it's a smartening and take advantage of it. incentives like these are helping americans, and the job numbers reflect that growth. the economy added more than 1

100,000 jobs last month. the trend is clear, we saw 12 straight months of private sector job growth. that's the first time that's been true since 2006. the economy added 1.3 million jobs last year. and each quarter was stronger than the previous quarter. which means that the pace of hiring is beginning to pick up. we are also seeing more optimistic economic forecast fist are the year ahead. in part due to the tax cuts i signed last month. including a payroll tax cut for workers and to encourage innovation and hiring. and i fought for that package, even though our economy is

recovering, we still have a lot to do. advice from

helping design the emergency steps to help prevent our

economy to sinking into a recession. and to working with gene to help pass the tax compromise. and i am confident that he will continue to do terrific work in this capacity. and we are joined by an advisor and friend, heather higgenbum has helped with the most innovative reforms in decades. i am proud for heather to be the director of office and management. and she understands the number on ledgers and lives of real people. as we make the cuts, i want to have heather there and to meet the fundamental obligations to

the people and the economy as well. give heather a big round. [applause] and finally i am nominating catherine abraham to the council of economic advisors. catherine brings a wealth of experience as an economist, as a commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics during the clinton administration. i am confident she will provide the kind of unbiased unvarnished advice to help us craft to strengthen this economy in the years to come. part of this team's mission in the months ahead is to maximize the steps we have taken to spur the economy. and the most important is all allowing businessed immediately

deduct the cost of new equipment i was taking a look at. this was a policy i fought for over the past t

it will help you grow your business. overall the decline in the unemployment rate is positive news. but it only underscores the importance of us not letting up on our efforts. i am looking forward to working with heather, gene and catherine and jason. everyone at the white house. we have one focus, and that is

making sure that we are duplicating the success of places like thompson creek all across the country. we want this business to grow, we want the economy to grow, and we want put people back to work. and i promise that we will not rest until we have fully recoveried from this recession and have reached that brighter day. thank you very much, everyone. [applause] ♪

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>> thank you very much, mr. president, mr. vice president. you have honored me and my family by giving me an opportunity to serve you and our nation. >> with more than 80 appearances by william daley, you can use this c-span video library to more about the newest additions to the obama administration. just two of the almost 115,000

people you can search and watch any time. it is washington your way. >> i think news organizations have adapted. it is a great that overall news organizations are probably not doing as much foreign news? the public bears some responsibility. the public bears responsibility of keeping themselves informed. >> tonight, abc news senior foreign affairs correspondent looks at the wars in iraq and afghanistan on a political, strategic, and personal level at 8:00 p.m. on c-span's "q&a." >> on wednesday, the opening of the 112th congress to place. for the first time in four years, republicans took control of the gavel. the events included the ceremonial call of the house, the election of a new speaker, and remarks by outgoing speaker nancy pelosi and new speaker of

the john boehner. this is 30 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [applause] [applause]

[applause]

[applause] [cheers and applause] [applause]

[cheers and applause] >> it is a high honor to welcome all members of congress and their families to the house of representatives. to the members -- new members and their families, it is a special welcome and congratulations. we all wish you great success. [applause]

congratulations to you. we all come here to represent our constituents. our respect for each other is founded in our respect for the people that we represent. this month, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of john f. kennedy as president of the united states. as a student, i was there in the freezing cold. for some of you, you have read about it in the history books. to us, it was our youth. i was there and i heard his stirring address which inspired generations of americans to public service. in his 1962 state of the union address, right from the status -- dais, reza and kennedy said

the congress, "-- president kennedy said the constitution makes up all the trustees of the american people -- custodians of the american heritage. today, as we take the oath of office to support and defend our constitution, we do so as trustees of america's best hopes and as custodians of america's highest values. however we may differ, let us never lose sight of our common laws -- love for this exceptional nation and are shared obligation to the way forward. [applause] i started off by an acknowledgement, welcoming, and congratulating the members and their families. our families have always felt like the way forward -- helped light the way forward to all --

for all of us. i want to thank my family, my husband of 47 years, paul pelosi. [applause] my children, nancy, corinne, christine, and my grandchildren. i am proud to be from a large family, the youngest of seven. i want to acknowledge my brother, the former mayor of baltimore, md.. [applause] let me thank my constituents in san francisco who i am proud to represent in the spirit of the anthem of our city, the song of

st. francis. i am so pleased that was recited by all of us at the interdenominational service this morning. i am grateful to my colleagues for their commitment to equality, which is both our heritage and our hope, giving me the historic honor of being the first woman speaker of the house of representatives. [cheers and applause] and now more doors are wide open for all of america's daughters and granddaughters. [applause] i am also honored is to be the first italian-american speaker. [applause] like many americans, our heritage is a source of great

pride and a deeply ingrained patriotism summons us to build a stronger nation. we recognize that the proudest titles we will ever hold are not supported on this floor. it is the simple dignity of the title "american." part of our great democracy that continues to be the greatest hope of liberty and progress for the entire world. [applause] when i was first elected as speaker, i called the house to order on behalf of america's children. now, as i prepared to hand the gavel over to speaker boehner, i know one thing above all else. thanks to you we have stood with those children, for their families, for their health, for their education, the safety of the air they breathe, the water

they drink, and the food they eat. [applause] thanks to you, for those children and their families, we have made the largest ever commitment to making college more affordable, enacted wall street reform with the greatest consumer protections in the history, and passed a strong patient bill of rights. [applause] that means that children with pre-existing conditions can get care. young people can stay on their parents' policy until they are 26. pregnant women or cancer patients can no longer be thrown off of their insurance. our seniors are paying less for their medical prescriptions. taken altogether, it will save taxpayers $1.30 trillion. [applause] thanks to you, to all of us, we advanced at defining the american cause of equality for

all. from the first day of congress, with the passage of the lily ledbetter fair pay act to the last days with the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy. thanks to you, we achieved more for america's veterans than at any time since the passage of the g.i. bill of rights in 1944. [applause] because of our courageous troops and our veterans, we will always be the land of the free and the home of the brave. let us now salute our men and women in uniform. [applause] to honor them, we must build a future worthy of their

sacrifice, which includes a good-paying jobs when they come home. it is not enough that we staved off a depression. much more needs to be done to open up the american dream and looked up the american economy -- lift up the american economy. the only acceptable outcome is to restore prosperity and good- paying jobs. our most important job is to fight for american jobs, to make it in america. democrats will judge what comes before congress from either side of the aisle as to whether it creates jobs, strengthens the middle class, and reduces the deficit, not when the new speaker of the house, john boehner, and the new republican majority -- and congratulations again, come forward with solutions that will

address these american challenges, you will find us a willing partner. [applause] as we congratulate speaker boehner and our republican colleagues, as we wish them success, we must stand ready to find common ground, to solve problems, and to build a more secure future for all americans. and as we take the oath of office today to support and defend the constitution, we must be ever-mindful that it makes us trustees for the american people, with an obligation to do what is right for them, and custodians of the american heritage, our great values. thank you, my colleagues, for the honor of serving in that tradition as the speaker of the house of representatives. i thank you, my friends. [applause] again, i want to congratulate

all of the new members of congress, all of you who have been reelected, but especially the new majority and the new speaker of the house, john boehner. now the house will be led by a proud son of ohio, a man of conviction, a public servant of resolve, and a legislative leader of skill. speaker boehner is a leader who has earned the confidence of his conference and the respect of his colleagues in the congress. [applause] he is a man of faith, faith in god, faith in our country, and faith in his family. it is very important for us in acknowledging that, for us to a

knowledge his family, his wife -- mrs. boehner is -- there. [applause] >> as we congratulate them, we congratulate and thank debbie for sharing him with us and lindsey and trisha and the entire boehner family. thank you, and congratulations to all of you. now, recognizing our roles under the constitution, united in our love of our country, we now engage in a strong symbol of american democracy.

the peaceful and respectful exchange of power. i now pass this gavel, which is larger than most gavels here that the gavel of choice by mr. speaker owner -- i now pass this -- [laughter] i now pass this gavel and the sacred trust that goes with it to the new speaker. god bless you, speaker boehner. [cheers and applause] god bless you, congress, and god bless america. [cheers and applause] [bangs gavel]

[applause] thank you. >> it is still just me. [laughter] speaker, thank you for your kind words, and thank you to your service to this institution. secondly, i welcome all of our new members and their families on what is a very special day. all of us who have been here remember vividly that first day that we served here. i think any of us can tell you that you will never forget today. my own family is here as well.

i think you have just met debbie. next to debbie r. lindsey and trisha -- next to debbie are lindsay and trisha, our two daughters. thank you, and i am glad that you are here. [applause] 10 of my 11 brothers and sisters and a sister-in-law and brother-in-law are here as well. my brother who runs a restaurant in georgia was unable to be here, but i wanted to a knowledge him. i also wanted to let knowledge some of my close friends that are here from the other side of the capital. mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader is here. two of my best but, richard burt from north carolina, and my friend from georgia, along with my buddy lathem, thank you for being here, gentlemen. i appreciate it.

[applause] i am honored and humbled to represent a great, hard-working community in congress. the peoples of ohio's eighth congressional district continue to afford me the privilege to serve, for which as we deeply grateful. we gather here today at a time of great challenges. nearly one of 10 of our neighbors are out of work, health care costs are still rising for american families. our spending has caught up with us, and our dead soon will eclipse the entire size of our national economy -- and our debt will soon eclipse the entire size of our national economy. no longer can we fall short, no longer can we kick the can down the road -- the people voted to end business as usual, and today

we begin to carry out their instructions. [cheers and applause] in the catholic faith, we enter into a season of service by having ashes markdown our head. it reminds us that life in all its forms is very fragile. our time on this earth, fleeting. but as the ashes are delivered, we hear those humbling words. remember, you are dust, and to dust, you shall return. the american people have humbled us. that refresh our memories just out temporary the privilege of serving as. they reminded us that everything here is on loan from them.

that includes the gavel, which i accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing that i am but its caretaker. after all, this is the people's house. [applause] this is their congress. it is about them, not about us. what they want is a government that is honest, accountable, and responsive to their needs, a government of respect to individual liberties, honors our heritage, and valves before the public that it serves. let's start with the release package that the house will consider today. if passed, it will change how this institution operates. with an emphasis on real transparency, greater accountability, and a renewed focus on our constitution.

our aim will be to give the government back to the american people. in seeking this goal, we will part with some of the rituals that have come to characterize this institution under majorities, both republican and democrat alike. we will dispense with the conventional wisdom that bigger bills are always better. that fast legislating is good legislating. allowing amendments and open debate makes the legislative process less efficient than our forefathers had intended. these misconceptions have been the basis for the rituals of a modern washington. they, in my opinion, have not been served well to the american people. today, mindful of the lessons of the past, we open a new chapter. legislators and the public will have three days to read the bill before it comes to a vote. legislation will be more focused, properly scrutinized,

and constitutionally sound. committees, once bloated, will be smaller, with iranian mission, including oversight. old " -- with a renewed mission, including over said. old rules will be replaced by new reforms that make it easier to cut spending. we will start by cutting congress' own budget. [applause] but above all else, we will welcome the battle of ideas, encourage it, engage it openly, honestly, and respectfully. as the chamber closest to the people, the house works best when it is allowed to work its will, and i ask members of this

body to join me in recognizing this, in truth. to my colleagues in the majority, my message is this. we will honor our pledge to america, built on the process of listening to the american people. we will stand firm on our constitutional principles that built our party and built a great nation. we will do these things, however, in a manner that restores and respects the time- honored right of the minority to an honest debate, a fair and open process. to my friends in the minority, i offer a commitment, openness. once a tradition of this institution but increasingly scarce in recent decades, will be the new standard. there and no open rules in the house in the last congress. in this one, there will be many. and with the restored openness, however, comes a restored responsibility.

you will not have the right to willfully disrupt the proceedings of the people's house, but you always have the right to a robust debate and an open process that allows you to represent your constituents, to make your case, offer alternatives, and be heard. [applause] in time, i believe this framework will allow the house to be a place where the people's will is done. it will also, i hope, rebuild trust amongst us and the people we serve, and in so doing, provide a guidepost for those who follow us in the service of our nation. to our new members, democrat and republican alike, as you take the oath today, i know that you do so mindful of this shared goal.

and know that your constituents have placed much trust in you. as speaker, i feel part of my job is to help each of you do your job well, regardless of your political party. my hope is that every new member, and indeed every member, will be comfortable with approaching me in regard to matters of the house. we will not always get it right, and we will not always agree on what is right. there is a great deal of scar tissue that has been built up on both sides of the aisle. we cannot ignore that, nor should we. my belief has always been that we can disagree without being disagreeable. that is why it is critical that this institution operate in a matter that permits a free exchange of ideas and results our honest differences through a fair debate and vote. we may have different, sometimes a very different, ideas about

how to go about achieving the common good. it is why we serve. let's now move forward, humble in our demeanor, said in our principles, dedicated to proving worthy of the trust and confidence that has been placed in each of us. if we brace ourselves to do our duty and do what we say we're going to do, i do not think that there is anything we cannot accomplish together, again on behalf of the people we serve. more than the country, america is an idea. it is our job to pass that austerity of the blessings that have been bestowed on us to those generations that follow. -- it is our job to pass that prosperity and the blessings that have been bestowed on us to the generations that follow. i want to wish you the very best. welcome to the people's house. welcome to the 112 congress.

[cheers and applause] [applause] >> i am now ready to take the oath of office, and i ask the dean of the house, the honorable john dingell, of michigan, to a minister the other office. >> i thank you. is the gentleman from ohio will please raise his right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies,

foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god? >> i do. >> congratulations, mr. speaker. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, thank you. thank you.

>> according to precedent, the chair will swear in a members- elect in mass bit of the members-elect will rise, and the chair will now administer the oath of office. if all members could raise their right hands. do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of each nation, that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of your office of which were about to enter, so help you god? >> [all] i do. >> congratulations. [applause]

>> the house began debate friday on a bill to repeal the health care law, establishing the rules for the debate. they will allow seven hours for debate, no amendments, and one opportunity to change before the final vote. last night, house majority leader eric cantor said he is suspending all legislative business, including the vote on repealing health care. this debate is one hour and 15 minutes. honor for me for the first time in four years to say that for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to my very good friend and rules committee colleague, the the gentlelady from rochester, new york, ms. slaughter. pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dreier: during consideration

of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to rise and extend which i have done. and i ask all members have five lemming days to revise and extend their rmarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: madam speaker, house resolution 26 provides for a closed rule for consideration of h.r. 2 and self-executes an amendment by the majority leader which is required under the statutory pay-as-you-go act of 2010. this is routinely required and is similar to many provisions that have been self-executed since the enactment of statutory pay-go. the resolution provides for seven hours of debate on h.r. 2, equally and controlled by the chair and ranking member of six committees and the majority leader and minority leader. it also provides the minority a motion to reco, h.r. 2, with or without instructions. house resolution 26 provides for consideration of h.res. 9, under a structured rule, that provides an hour of debate and makes in order an amendment if offered by

representative matheson of utah. it also provides for one motion to recommit h.res. 9 without instructions. lastly, the rule provides for the consideration of a resolution if offered by the majority leader or his designee relating to the status of certain actions taken by members-elect under a closed rule. madam speaker, it was just before midnight that my great new colleague, and i were here in this chamber and filed this rule following a lengthy 12-hour hearing upstairs in the rules committee. i have to say that there were many, many discussions that took place on a wide range of issues. i think it's very impoant for to note that there were those who argued that we should not be taking up this issue because of the fact that we should be focusing on job creation and economic growth. madam speaker, we know that the

overwhelming message that came from the american people is that we have to get our economy back on track. we have to create jobs. we have to make sure that those people who are struggling to get under the first rung of the economic ladder are able to do just that. and that's why when we look at a $2.7 trillion expansion of the federal government, $2.7 trillion in new spending, we recognize something that is common sense and that is if you're going to expand the size and scope and reach of the federal government by that magnitude, it clearly is going to kill the effort to create jobs and get our economy back on track. so that's why today, madam speaker, we are taking the first step in fulfilling a key promise that we have made to the american people. with this rule we are setting in

motion an effort to repeal president obama's job-killing health care bill and replace it with real solutions. i underscore that again because all the attention is focused on the fact that we are going to be trying to kill good provisions that are out there. madam speaker, we want to start with a clean slate. we are going to repeal president obama's job-killing health care bill and replace it with real solutions. this rule takes two important steps. the first is to allow for consideration of a bill to hit the reset button, so to speak, on the very damaging legislation that was passed last year under the guise of health care reform. the second is resolution directing each of the committees of jurisdiction to craft responsible, effective, and economically viable health care solutions. madam speaker, the resolution lays out very clearly what real reform looks like. real reform will help not hinder

in our goal towards creating jobs. real reform will lower health care premiums by enhancing competition and patient choice. it will preserve the right of patients to keep their existing coverage. if they so choose. it will ensure access to quality care for those suffering from pre-existing conditions. it will implement meaningful lawsuit abuse reform so that resources can go to patients and doctors. and not to trial lawys. in short, it will increase access to health care for all americans without compromising quality or hurting the very important small business sector of our nation's economy. madam speaker, the underlying re place resolution which i have offered will begin a robust committee process to tackle the difficult but essential work of

achieving these goals and crafting true reform for the american people. this will be a process in which each and every member, each and every member, democrat and republican alike, will have an opportunity to participate. madam speaker, as speaker boehner said, the day before yesterday when he accepted the gavel, we e returning to regular order. once again our committees will be the laboratories, the centers of expertise, that they were intended to be. rank-and-file members of both parties will play an active role in crafting legislation, scrutinizing proposals, offering amendments, participating in real debate. critical legislation is not going to be written behind closed doors by a select few. today's rule sets in motion a process that will be both transparent and collaborative. but we cannot get to that very

important step without clearing the first hurdle. which is to undo the damage that has already been done. we will hear people say, why are you considering this under a closed rul madam speaker, this was a clear promise that was made throughout last year leading up to the very important november 2 electn. everyone acknowledges the elections have consequences. the commitment was made that we would have an up or down vote on repeal. and that's exactly what we are doing. we must repeal last year's bill before we proceed with replacement. just as prekicted -- predicted, the so-called reform bill is having very real negative consequences for our economy and our job market. it is putting enormous burdens on job creators, particularly small businesses, at a time that is already one of the mt difficult we have faced. imposing significant new burdens

and penalties, while our employment rate remains above 9%. we got the news a few minutes ago it's at 9.3%. we are encouraged by that positive drop but only 105,000 jobs were created, not the 150,000 jobs necessary to be created to sustain the position we are in right now. so we still are dealing with very, very serious economic challenges. and that's why we need to take a commonsense approach to first repeal this measure and then deal with solutions. above all, i will say that the onerous, unworkable mandates that have been imposed are adding greater uncertainty which are job creation's biggest enemy. anyone who has spent any time talking with small business owners knows this to be the case. while the economic impact is already quite apparent, the fiscal consequences are looming down t road. while the bill's authors used a

host of accounting gimmicks, i'm going to get into those further as i'm sure i will be challenged on this and i look forward to talking about the accounting gimmicks that have been utilized, by the authors used a host of accounting gimmicks, as i said, to mask the true cost of this measure, and honest and realistic assessment of the impact on the deficit shows a much clearer and tragically a far worse picture. the budget committee has demonstrated the real cost of the health care bill, as i said, in my open, a staggering $2.7 trillion. once it is fully implemented. it will add over $700 billion to our deficit in the first 10 years. the words rkless and unsustainae hardly begin to cover it. this bill is an economic and fiscal disaster of unprecedented proportions.

the time to undo it before anymore damage is done is quickly running out. republicans promised the american people we would act swiftly and decisively, and that's exactly what we are doing. some of my friends on te other side of the aisle have asked, why there will be no amendments to the repeal bill? frankly, there is nothing to amendment. there is nothing to amend, madam speaker, the repeal bill. either we are going to wipe the slate clean and start fresh or we are not. that's not to say there aren't some good provisions in this measure. that is so onerous, nearly 3,000 pages, that we believe that the best way to do this is to wipe the slate can, have an open and transparent process, and do everything we can to ensure that every single american has access to quality health care and health care insurance. now, once that slate is

completely wiped clean, we will be ready for this open and collaborative process to develop the real solutions that we have talked about. that's what we promised the american people as we led up to last november 2, and that's exactly what we will deliver here today. madam speaker, first we undo the damage, then we work together to implement real reform and real solutions. i urge my colleagues to support this rule and then, after we have gone through the three-day layover requirement next week, which is in compliance with another promise that we made to the american people, i urge my colleagues to support the underlying legislation, h.r. 2, which our colleague, the new majority leader, mr. cantor has offered, and h.res. 9, which i have introduced, thatalls for our committees to work in a

bipartisan way to develop solutions to the challenges that we have out there in ensuring that every american has access to quality health care. with that i reserve the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves the balancof his time. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: good morning, madam speaker. i appreciate my gentleman friend, mr. dreier, for yielding me time and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. slaughter: what a week it's been. since we've been sworn in, the republican broken promises have been dizzying. one summed up the week up nicely when he said, quote, i don't think it would be possible to fall from grace any faster than this end quote. in november, the republican leadership, d by speaker boehner, traveled to suburban virginia and made a pledge to america.

their constituents, including tea party patriots, like mr. mecker, listened intently as the republican party pledged to be fiscally responsible and serve the will of the american people. on page 6 of the republican pledge to america, the party states, and i quote, with commonsense exceptions for seniors, veterans and our troops, we will rl back government spending to prestimulus, prebailout levels saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone and putting us on a path to balance the budget and pay down the debt, end quote. the pledge was solemnly made by republican leadership despite being largely panned as a political stunt. despite following through on their pledge, the republican majority said the pledge to cut $100 billion was hypothetical. today now wee moving forward to do the exact opposite of the actions that they pledged as they introduce legislation to repeal the affordable care act.

ifsuccessful, the republican legislation will add $230 billion to the deficit by 202 this extra $230 billion won't be spent rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, teaching our children or providing for the millions without jobs. instead, the $230 billion will be added to our deficit in order to take health care benefits and prections from those who need them the most. for example, starting this year the affordable health care act will begin to close the doughnut hole for seniors. under the law medicare beneficiaries who fall in the doughnut hole will be eligible for a 50% discount on covered brand-name prescription drugs. repeal this law and seniors receive no help and will be forced to pay their rising costs alone. those are the types of protections i fight for today. fiscally, members of congress

pace a $300 billion choice. according to the congressional budget office, we have two options. one, do we keep the affordable health care act and save $130 billion by 2021 or, two, do we repeal the affordable health care act and add $200 billion to our deficit by 2021? that may be trouble for some but for most of us it's easy. for me the answer is clear and i assume to most americans it's clear as well. because they can win by simply judging apples to apples, the republican leadership has taken to discrediting the congressional budget office. yet, a quit bit of research will reveal that republicans have long valued the nonpartisan and reliable work of the congressional budget office and have publicly supported the agency before. in fact, 2009, speaker boehner repeatedly referred to the c.b.o. as nonpartisan

institution and relied on their estimates to argue against the affordable care act at the time. but now that the c.b.o.'s estimates are detrimental to their political goals, they have taken to questioning the work. republican senator john cornyn said it's inconvenient. two years ago he said, i quote, i believe the professionals at the c.b.o. are doing a difficult but unpopular work. they are speaking the truth to power here in washington, and making the folks who would pass these enormous unfunded bills that impose a huge debt on generations hereafter somewhat unhappy. but i think they're doing important service by telling us the facts. and last week, i commended the director of the c.b.o. for saying that the c.b.o. will never adjust our views to make people happy. thank you, doctor. god bless him for hisntegrity and commitment for telling the

truth becausee have to learn how to deal with the truth, not try to remake it or try to cover it up. now, i couldn't agree more with that. the deficit estimates provided by the c.b.o. are the singular authoritative figuring from which we make all our decisions and have for decades. even if some don't like what the numbers tell us we know that numbers don't lie. i remind my colleagues that today's actions are not, quote, hypothetical, unquote. truly face a $300 billion choice. we can choose to provide invaluable benefits to millions of americans while paying down our national deficit. remember that it will save $134 billion over 10 years, or end health care choices for millions and add $230 billion to the nation's deficit. mr. speaker -- madam speaker, we are considering the first measure from the rules committee of this new congress, and my republican friends have

already produced one for the record books. let me give you some of the highlights. first of all, the resolution includes a completely closed process for two separate pieces of legislation. that means we get two closed rules in one. and maybe my republican friends think they can save taxpayers money by rolling all the closed rules into a single resolution. i think that's what they meant by bringing efficiency to government. the first closed rowley on the health care bill -- rule on the health care bill does heavy lifting. blocks every single germane amendment submitted to the rules committee. that's not exactly right. it slips in one change without allowing the house to voton it. the special amendments slipped in with the famous demon pass maneuver is very interesting. it allows the house to pretend that the repeal bill is free even though the budget office says it will raise the deficit by over $1 trillion. that's a neat trick, and now we know the secret weapon for reducing the deficit, a

blindfold. this closed process is especlly troublg on the health care repeal because this republican bill has had no public hearing, no committee consideration and is not paid for. the second closed rule in this two for one package blocks all amendments to another resolution, to correct a flaw in the swearing in process. apparently the vice chairman of the rules committee was conducting legislative business before he was actually a member of congress. maybe amendments are not important here because no member in the house has seen this resolution. since the rule allows the majority leader to make the changes -- allows the majority leader to make changes until the moment it is introduced. if my colleagues are concerned about not having enough time to read this surprised resolution, don't worry. the rule allows the house to debate it for four full minutes. four minutes? have you ever heard of a bill debated for four minutes? fortunately, the rule generously gives the minority

two of those four minutes and i guess that qualifies as both efficiency and bipartisanship. finally, the rule allows the house to consider a sweeping press release from the republican leadership, a resolution to replace real patient protection with vague rhetoric. and, mr. speaker, this is a very disappointing day for the house rulesommittee. the first action in this new congress violates the promise we heard from our republican friends, no public consideration, a completely closed process, legislative text no member has read, four minutes of debate on an important constitutional issue and so on. for all those members who were sent to washington like i was to repair our nation's finances, create jobs for millions of the unemployed, help the millions of americans in need, the decision should be simple. i encourage my colleagues to reject the efforts of the republican leadership, keep our promises to our constituents and vote to keep the affordable health care law, and i reserve

the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i yield myself 10 seconds to say that thomas jefferson said the two thinking people can be given the exact same set of facts and dr different conclusions. well, i just heard what my friend from rochester said. i will say this is a great day for the people's house because we are going to in fact be implementing the commitment that was made to focus on getting our economy back on track. with that, madam speaker, i yield two minutes to have very hardworking and thoughtful member of the rules committee who was with ufor 12 hours up until late last night, our new colleague from nth charleston, south carolina, mr. scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south colina is recognized for two minutes. mr. scott: thank you, madam speaker. mr. chairman, i will say that it's truly an honor to serve on the rules committee. my first experience at the 12th hour experience all day yesterday. what an opportunity to serve

the american people. thank you, sir. this is a great opportunity for all of us in america, to kill the job-killing health care bill that is taking jobs away from the private sector. soon we want to make six quick points. we all recognize that the cost of insurance is only going up, up and up. there is a misnoemer that this bill somehow reduces the cost of insurance. it is simply categorically not true. shifting who pays for the insurance, the health care cost, does not make the health care cost goes down. it is simply going to continue to rise. second point, when you design a bill that has tax increase after tax increase after tax increase and say that you are reducing the deficit by increasing taxes, it is inconsistent with theeality that the american people want from their congress. third, the individual mandate is simply unconstitutional, and >> at this hour, we're getting a live update from university

medical center in tucson on the condition of representative gabrielle giffords and others injured in yesterday's shooting in tucson, arizona. live coverage here on c-span from tucson, arizona. >> those are the folks i think you want to hear from the most about the condition of the 10 patients we now have at unc, in the aftermath of yesterday's tragedy. before i do that, i do want to make a few brief comments. i promise i'll be brief. i want to thank the first-line responders that were on the scene yesterday. law enforcement officers, the emt's, paramedics, the flight crews, the ambulance crews, you all made a difference and you saved lives. i also want to thank the doctors and the trauma team. i have always held our people here in the highest regard. they've inspired me, but i've

never been so proud in my life as i was yesterday as they rose to the occasion in almost combat conditions. i also want to thank our emergency physicians, who rose to the occasion yesterday to help out in this crisis. all of our nurses, and our staff, that includes our social workers, our clergy, and all of our support crew. yesterday was a challenging day for tucson, the state of arizona and the nation, but we'll get through this. i'm convinced that after i saw the way people pulled together yesterday. in a minute, again, i'll turn over to the doctor, we plan to do daily updates as 10 a.m., mountain standard time. and we'll hang around if you have questions afterwards. i know there are a lot of questions. for now, i'd like to -- i'd like the thank the mayor for being here with us today.

steve goldsmith, the dean of oncology medicine for joining us today and like to introduce president robert shelton. he's the president of the university of arizona, who would like to make a few brief remarks and he'll turn over to dr. peter reid. thanks again. >> thank you very much, kevin. i will be brief because the individuals you want to hear from are the gentlemen on my right in the white coats. i also want to acknowledge first responders, all who were engaged in the critical timeline that occurs from the first incident to getting people into the operating room and in the hands of these exceptional individuals. another individual i want to mention here is the chair of surgery, mr. grisner. he joined us about 3-1/2 years ago and has built an extraordinary team in surgery

and trauma. you will hear from him later on. i think it is safe to say that this team is second to none. and the timeline, the rapid response they had here has saved lives, nothing short of saving lives. you will hear as kevin said, from the doctor who is chief of neuroscience and neurosurgery and dr. reid, chief of trauma, critical care and emergency surgical care. i offer on behalf of the entire university of arizona community, tucson, arizona, and beyond that, our appreciation and thanks for the remarkable skills of these individuals. the university of arizona is proud to be associated with ua healthcare and play a role in this. now, it's my pleasure to introduce dr. grisner, chair of surgery here at university of arizona and at ua healthcare umc. >> thank you, dr. shelton, i

will be brief. this is obviously a sad day for the families, for the community, for the state of arizona and for the nation. our hearts go out to the families of the victims. this is something we are rarely prepared for as we think, but yesterday we were fortunate enough to have the doctors here within an hour in the operating room. we had four trauma surgeons in the operating rooms, two neurosurgeons, who are here. we had a vascular surgeon here. it took 38 minutes for the most critically injured person to be transferred to the operating room and it is my pleasure to introduce the two individuals that are crucial in the recovery of the victims to you now, dr. peter reid, who served our nation with great distinction in both afghanistan and iraq and

the chief of neurosurgery who will join us. it is always willingness of people to support us, not just physicians, but people in the operating room, everyone else did a marvelous job yesterday and i think our community and the state can be proud of what happened here within a very short time yesterday. peter. >> thank you very much. my name is peter reid, trauma medical director here at university of arizona university medical center. again, we suffered a tragedy here. i never thought i would experience this in my own backyard. i have sympathy and empathy for the patients and their families. this is a trying time period for all of us. again, our condolences, especially to the patients and their families. my update will be fairly short and i'll turn over to one of my

partners. we had a combination and total of 11 patients that we had seen here at the hospital. the first one was a nine-year-old child who came in dead. we tried resuscitative efforts, including surgery on on her, but were not able to resuscitate her and bring her back. we had five patients who were brought to us in serious condition,of those patients we had additional five patients were not in such a dire or critical situation. we ended up doing six surgeries and that surgery included a variety of things in trauma combat type of scenario. it was mass casualty in some senses and we were doing things on the chest, abdomen, vascular, cardiothor aci c, as well. only one patient remains in critical condition and i think that we'll be able to discuss that patient in more detail and

give you information. the rest have been moved out of the icu unit. we have three in serious condition and the rest of are in fair or good condition with one patient being discharged. the one patient in icu right now in serious condition is congresswoman, so at this point i'll turn over to the doctor, chief of neurosurgery here to give you more information. >> thank you, again, i'll chief of neurosurgery at university medical center and university of arizona. i want to again reiterate our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those affected here. let me first reiterate what a lot of people have said, the incredible effort here is a team effort. a team effort at level one trauma center and that kind of resource enables this effort. everything from the er physicians, the support staff and nursing, the dr. rhee and his team who were able to get to the or in 38 minutes and then the staff that helped with the or case, of which dr. martin and

two operateded next to me, the anesthesiologist and the support staff. again, this kind of effort, this kind of outcome is really possible because of these resources. let me take you back to the sequence of events to clear up some of the information out there. congresswoman giffords was shot in the head. when she arrived here, the reports were that she was in fact able to follow command, that is to say responsive to verbal communication. we very quickly got her back to the or within 38 minutes and once in the or, we went through our routine procedure for this kind of injury and that consisted of controlling the bleeding, which thank goodness was not severe or excessive. our next objective was to take the brochure off the brain and that was by removing bone fragments caused by the bullet fracture, as well as additional bone to allow the brain to relax.

lastly, we removed small parts of devite lied brain and i'm happy to say there wasn't a lot of that. she returns to the ic, u. i will tell you briefly, when we talk about gunshot wounds to the head, the things most concerning to us are if the bullet crosses from one hemisphere to the other, one side to the other. if the bullet crosses through the geo metric center of the brain. and i'm happy to say those were not the case in this instance. and because of that, congresswoman giffords is able to communicate with us this morning through following simple commands and we're very encouraged by that. we're still in critical condition, brain swelling at any time can take a turn for the worst, but i'm optimistic. over to dr. rhee to talk about the critical care management that will be vital the next couple days. >> thank you. as he mentioned, she came in and

was following simple commands, was not verbalizing at that time, but before the surgery and then after surgery she was under anesthesia, hard to say if she was in a coma-type state. when we lightened the anesthetic and did the examination we were happy and optimistic, eventually over the course of the evening, she was able to follow simple commands. again, this is very early in the course and we don't know what is going to happen, what her deficits will be in the future or anything like that. we am give you updates as we go along. we've been happy with her hospital course. her blood transfusions have worked well, we were able to use saline and other things. things are going well and we're happy at this stage. i think i'll open up the floor for questions. >> you said, has she verbalized? we told there was a reunion of

sorts with her husband and she didn't recognize him, can you get into that? >> we can't get into too much more detail. with the type of surgery, her eyes, she can't open her eyes from a mechanical standpoint and she's on ventilator and can't speak at this time. >> can you explain what a simple command is? >> it could be anything simple like squeeze your hand or show us two fingers, very simple. one thing i want to emphasize, we take simple commands for granted, but they imply high functioning in the brain. >> he didn't mention, this is, it wasn't a wound to the brain, this was a devastating wound that traveleded the entire length on the side. he's downplaying the efforts. they saved her life. the neurosurgeons saved the patient's life. with the function that she had before the surgery tells us how much injury the bullet did, but the fact that she had a lot of preservation before surgery is

making this situation as well as they can. of course, as time goes on, the effects from the bullet itself will have some degeneration of brain cells and matter. we have to see what happens later on. >> through the first 24 hourss, is that a vital or good sign? everyone talks about the first 24 hours being critical. >> let me take you through a couple timepoints. most important how she was before the surgery. in that injury, a particular gunshot wound, we have a primary injury, damage done by the bullet as it transverses. we cannot fix that, unfortunately. there is secondary injury caused by swelling and that we can try and nullifiy. and again, if she comes in and is able to follow commands that implys brain circuits are working, very important. the more we see them working after the surgery, in the first 24, 48, 72 hours, the more

encouraged we are. >> where did the bullet hit in the brain? >> it went through the left side from the back to the front. >> what is the left side control? >> in most people, the left side controls the right-sided strength, sensation. in most people it controls their speech functions, their ability to understand speech or make speech and that includes the ability to understand simple commands. >> how long was the surgery? >> the surgery took about two hours. there was a little extension at the end of the case. we had a plastic surgion perform decompression because one fracture was affecting the eye socket. that didn't take much longer. >> you gentlemen have been through this before, sadly, when are we talking about prognosis and best-case scenario of time of recovery? how long might the congresswoman have to be in the hospital? how long does recovery take? is it a lifetime of recovery? >> one thing i want to be clear,

we don't speculate on the degree of recovery. we have seen the full gamut and it is not productive. in neurosurgery, we talk about recovery in order of months or years and don't close the book on it until several years out. there is general rule of thumb, the faster you recover, the better you will be, but doesn't apply to all individual cases. it is not uncommon after injuries to be in icu for at least a week, maybe in the hospital for two or three weeks and no doubt there will be rehabilitative phase and that could take weeks or months. beyond that, setting an actual fast date is not productive. >> what kind of signs will you be looking for in terms of progress? >> actually, it will be how her brain functions. it is important to be able to get clean assessment of brain. the drugs we use are very manageable and very short lasting so we can get a really good assessment and it's

basically resting in between those time periods and when we wake her up for the examinations, how she responds is what we'll be able to base her prognosis on. like, i know that the doctor just did a surgery and everybody is going to be cautious about overcalling it, but i'm optimistic, i was optimistic yesterday when i saw the brain and the amount of injury that had gone through. overall, this is about as good as it's going to get. when you get shot in the head and the bullet goes through your brain, the chance of living is small and the chance of you waking up and following commands is much smaller than that. this so far has been a very good situation. hopefully it will stay that way. obviously we don't know which direction she will go, it is precarious at this time. >> what did that show? >> so we always do cat scans. we had a cat scan before the first surgery, that tells us, the surgeons where we focus our efforts.

i can't go into the details for obvious patient privacy issue, it showed track of the bullet through the left hemisphere. it showed it was not through critical cajectory, which would have made recovery more difficult. >> what's the -- on the brain cells? >> yeah, normally in the icu stage, when the brain swells, just like your knee, when you sprain your knee, fluid accumulates and gets intense and there is tremendous amount of pain. the brain goes through that situation, but when it gets tense, the blood flow to neurons and brain cells get compromised. so in this situation, the doctor took the skull off and kept it off. right now she doesn't have a skull, it's preserved in the hospital right now and we can reimplant that right now. that is the part of the progress made in neurosurgery. also during the last decade, the

experience we learned from the military, as well, about letting the brain after penetrating trauma swell and not be constrained within the cavity has helped a lot. i think it played an important factor here, as well. if we do run into trouble in the next few days, we have further tools. we can use medical agents to draw out the brain and literally put a tube into the center of the brain in the fluid space to measure pressure and relieve the pressure if necessary. she looks good right now, so there is no need for that. brain swelling is the biggest threat at this point. >> you said the bullet went in the back of the left side of her head, did it come out in the forehead above her eye? >> from a forensic perspective, doctors are leery, especially later on, to speak for sure, but with the experience we've had, it looked fairly clear it most likely in my opinion did go from the back to the front. >> she is not in a coma? >> she is in a medical coma,

we've induced that coma to rest her. we frequently wake her up to see what her progress is to make sure something catastrophic is not occurring while she's asleep. >> is she awake or not wide awake? >> we turn off the sedation to allow her brain to kick in and function at the highest level. >> so what -- >> yeah, a medical coma, pharmaceutical coma, you are asleep like an anesthetic does. she is not suffering in bed from being operated on and being on the ventilator. other question back there, sir? >> did you try in more layman's terms, explain how the brain can function at near normal level with this hole all the way through or what is making up where some of the -- is that unimportant stuff in the brain?

>> i don't want to give you my opinion. i may tell you something different. >> because the question borders on speculation for recovery, i don't want to go into too much detail. sufficed to say, obvious areas of the brain that are less tolerant to intrusion, it does not mean that we're using 10% of the brain, does not mean the other parts of the brain are not important. it means the brain is able to recover from those injuries as opposed to areas we call eloque eloquent. you see where i'm going, i don't want to go down the speculation road. at the same time, we're cautiously optimistic. >> with penetrating brain injury, there is always surprise to lay people, you think any bullet going into the brain results in death. there is a lot of capacity the human body has and for the ability for us to compensate. >> dr. rhee, in a lot of cases, bullet wounds to the head are fatal. what do you attribute her being

alive to? >> i attribute that to five things. the five is very small. one is the doctor stated the paramedics got her to us quickly. they didn't do a lot of intervention. we have a system in place, this place works like a finely tuned machine. everything in that time period worked well. we got her here quickly. the trauma surgeon treated her and did everything right. we got her quickly lined up and assessed and knew what injuries she had. we got her quickly scanned and to the operating room as quickly as we could. the anesthesia personnel, all of these things, including post-operative care, nurses in place, everybody gets part of the credit. it wasn't one particular individual that put their finger in the hole. the other part is luck and what the bullet hit when she first got hit. >> and what about the prognosis of the other victims? >> yes, a lot of other victims

came in here and fortunate ly n one that shouldn't have died, died. everyone survived this and are doing relatively well. we were able to transfer everybody from the icu to the ward status, lesser amount of care overall, which is an indication of how well they are doing. the people who needed surgery, are all recovering well. we're extremely happy with the prognosis of all those other individuals. again, you know, it wasn't just one person. it was many mass casualty we had in tucson. the hospital with preparation did with cost of practice and experience was able to pull this thing through and the medical community all contributed heavily to this and we're in a good situation yesterday. >> doctor, i know she's on ventilator right now and can't talk, but at any point upon her arrival did she try to speak at all? >> she could not speak, she did not say any words. >> you said in the -- what is it

like when you call mass casualty? >> this doesn't compare. this is not really a mass casualty. i have all the gear and people i could possibly want, i mean this is a luxury for me and in this trauma center in southern arizona, we're the only one and this is as good as it gets. i'm happy to call this my home and work here. >> to see an act of violence in this community -- >> i see an act of violence in wars, as well, i'm not a political person, i'm just a public servant. >> what about the procedure? >> sure. sometimes when we have these type of injuries, we have to use drills to literally take off the skull and relax the brain. in this case, a lot of product u fractures had done that work for us. that is about the simplest way to say that. >> what happened when you put it back? >> we typically protect the brain with artificial layer and

close the scalp over it. we'll put it back when the brain relaxed sufficiently. that may take several months, in the case of the individual. >> thank you for coming and your attention today. i will turn over to the doctor at this point. >> thank you again for coming. dr. rhee, we will be available for interviews and most interviews will go through katy riley from umc in pr. we will have another medical bulletin at 10:00 at the same location. we will keep you apprised of any changes in the condition of any of the victims. we will keep this very open and transparent to all of you and share the information with you. and i think at this point we are very happy to say we have one critically injured person left and the rest of the patients are doing better. so we'll see you tomorrow and again, if there are any questions, the doctors will be available. thank you for coming.

>> thank you. >> with that, the latest from the university medical center in tucson, arizona, at the university of arizona an update on representative gabrielle giffords and the other victims from yesterday's shooting. six individuals killed, 13 injured. representative giffords remains in critical condition at this hour. at the top of the next hour we'll update from the director who traveled to tucson to oversee the investigation, the president indicating yesterday that he asked the f.b.i. director to head out there immediately, an intensive investigation that includes local, state and federal law enforcement officials. we want to use this opportunity to get your reaction from the events of yesterday, what it means for members of congress and the political and medical reaction to what we've been witnessing over the last 24 hours. 200 is the area code, call the following number for democrats,

republicans and independents. >> if you go to the arizona republic website, a lot of different stories related to what happened yesterday, including one a young intern may have helped save the life of representative giffords, 20-year-old daniel hernandez, a student at university of arizona was standing 30 feet from representative giffords when the shots were fired outside that local safeway. he ran toward her and helped control the flow of blood. many people are crediting his efforts to try to save the life of representative giffords. of course, six victims, including a federal district judge, three senior citizens and a nine-year-old girl, we'll have more on that during the next 20 minutes. first, kaiser is joining us from south dakota. go ahead, please. >> dakota from kaiser, oregon. >> good morning. this is a shameful attack on a people representative trying to do her job.

i think that this is a heartless attack and i believe that it is unfair to have this happen. this woman was trying to do her job and i credit everyone that tried to help her through this. thank you. >> next is greg from san antonio, texas g. ahead, greg. >> yes, i think how this happened is a tragedy, but it was bound to happen. the thing is this person was from islam fhis name was muhamad, they would say this was terrorism. this man needs to be charged with trying to assassinate these people like a terrorist. he had a partner, too. you know, the first thing i'm looking at the news, nobody is not saying that, the reason why is because he's white. if he was black or anything, if he was or had an islamic name, this whole country would be in an outrage. >> on her twitter page,

democratic leader nancy pelosi saying: my thoughts and prayers are with the staff of representative giffords, her family, her staff and other victims of which she called a heart-breaking tragedy. carol joins us from phoenix. good morning. >> you with us? amy from greensburg, north carolina. go ahead, please. >> caller: yes, hello. i was calling because i was watching washington journal this morning and i was absolutely heartbroken. i didn't have enough time to really mourn the people and the child that actually died. i really think we should also take a moment because of the horrible rhetoric that was coming, blaming the tea party, blaming the republican party. i want to take a second to just get out some facts. here are facts about the person and shooter. fact one, fact one, he was

kicked out of pema college because of his writing and that says a lot about what happened to him. the letter was sent to his home by the police and from the college it said he was not going to return unless he got some mental help and could prove he was mentally stable. i don't know why the police didn't track him after that. fact three, his mother is on the tucson school board. there was a charge against him before, but something happened to it and he wasn't sent. there was no further action on that. i would love for someone to do some investigation about that. and then, three, it bothers me about the rhetoric because just last thursday the liberal blog, the daily blog had an article that said, giffordis dead to me. everyone is talking about sarah

palin, we can go on both sides and have a shooting match all day long if you want to, but we have to have the facts and do this for our country. thank you. >> amy, if you log on to the "new york times" website, that was brought up, both what you just mentioned, sarah palin and the comments on representative giffords and points out discourse from the left and right if you want to check it out. sherman did join us this morning on the washington journal and posted on on political websites with regard to security on capitol hill. there is no real way to protect us is the headline, pointing to the shooting of representative giffords at a congressional event yesterday. forcing political leaders to confront the chilling reality aligned between politics and violence that has become less clear and there need to be accessible to the constituents while also carrying a physical risk. carol on the line from phoenix, arizona. good morning, thanks for

waiting. >> caller: good morning. you've done a great job on this and i really appreciate this. i want to let people of america know that arizona is not this hateful, hateful state that we're always mad at something. we just need something done. i don't think they would like hundreds of thousands of people coming in through their backyard 24/7, not knowing who they are. we don't know who these people are and that is part of this deal. but for gabby giffords, everybody liked her in this state. the problem is, like this morning miss witt, on msnbc, made a statement talking to a girl that knew this guy that did the killings and i think the girl's name was katy parker, i'm not sure. this katy parker, during the conversation, she said, well, he was a very liberal, and went on and on about that. well, then this witt later on

showed that interview and took that part out. msnbc, don't believe me, go and look. msnbc took that part out that said he was very liberal. this is some is girl they have been having her on the air on all the stations. i want to say, also with the pema county sheriff, i know he's distraught and everything, he was against, doesn't care what the immigrants do, what the illegals do. he was against this bill they have put through the state. he shouldn't even be talking about this. he should be talking about what happened. we have all different opinions, but we're not a hateful state. i mean, i want to tell everybody, our prayers should be for the nine-year-old girl. i don't know how her parents are are surviving today. these people that have died. the hate on these democrats that have called in, could you just for one hour do the vile they went against president bush, for one hour, take one hour and go,

this is it. you have done a great job and all these people and i agree with this lady early this morning that said, oh, i'm a republican, but i'm against -- this has gotten, the democrats trying to take all three lines. can they just have enough class if they are democrat, be proud of it. so anyway, i -- god bless america and our country will do good. i just saw the news conference that you had on -- >> right. >> we will play it in the next hour, as well. >> i'm an asu, arizona state university straight a issue, we love u of a. thank you. >> thank you. a lot of attention on christina taylor green, the youngest victim in what happened yesterday. she was born on september 11, 2001, and her family saying she died in the tragedy yesterday. she was recently elected to her

elementary school student government and went with a neighbor because she was interested in government and she of course was one of the six individuals killed yesterday. you can read more by logging on to the arizona star or the republic website. this morning, one of the colleagues of representative giffords from south florida appearing on nbc's "meet the press," and here is her comments. >> by every indication the fighter that gabby giffords is, is showing full strength. she's from what i was told by her staff last night, woke up, responded to mark's, i think his voice, moved arms and legs. >> her husband? >> yes, her husband. then they sedated her again. gabby giffords -- [audio difficulty] --

>> just a portion of the comments from can the meet the press" this morning. friend and colleague of representative giffords. back to your phone calls and reaction from jacksonville, florida. john is on the line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. john from jacksonville. you are a person doing a fantastic job. my sympathy go out to the congresswoman in deep pain, i hope not, but i won't make long-winded political statements one way or another. i see this as tragic day for america and sad day for democracy, whether you agree or disagree with politics, they do not deserve to be shot in the head and compliments to c-span. god bless. >> dave joining us from sun lake, arizona g. ahead, dave. good morning. >> caller: good morning. yeah, i'd like to comment about what happened to representative gabrielle giffords, who happens to be a good friend of mine. attorney general out here in

arizona, terry goddard. she's just a great lady and i'd like to also apologize for your phoenix caller that called earlier. this state, i came out here from new york city, and i worked at world trade center building one in the gold pit before i came out here. and i thought new york was a tough, tough battle, but i couldn't believe it until i moved out here. this state has hate beyond hate. and the two stars are representative russell pierce and senator john kyle. hate among hate. it's just unbelievable how they can take their conservatism and fi fiscalism and lead up to something like this.

>> let me stop you. that has been some of the dialogue. can you connect any statement from senator kyle to what happened yesterday or is this not the act of a maybe a lone gunman or maybe an accomplice who had mental issues? >> related to senator kyle because everybody seems to forget now that gabrielle giffords giffords' office was attacked because she was in favor of obama care. >> right. no indication that the two are connected. >> caller: yeah, but one actually did lead to the other and everybody knows she has had threats against her and i don't see why everybody is so up in arms against obama care because obama care does exactly what the constitution says, you know, protect our justice of liberty to ourselves and posterity to ordain and steb the constitution of the united states of america and protect the general welfare.

>> thanks for the call and your comment. a lot of editorials from the arizona daily star. thoughts and prayers for the shooting victims. our community is cloaked in sadne sadness. grieving for those killed, injured and terrorized at the shooting spree in the northwest part of the city, six people dead, including christina, john roll, and a church volunteer. our friends and neighbors turned out for one of giffords's events, these informal gatherings are how democracy should work. many constituency received calls friday night reminding them she would be available. what little we know of the suspected shooter is that he posted incoherrent deranged comments on social network sites. we may never understand what prompted the violence that

caused so much suffering. from the daily star, reaction to the shooting yesterday of representative giffords and others. next is tony joining us from new orleans. go ahead, please. >> caller: thanks for taking my call. >> sure. >> caller: i want to say first of all, my heart, my prayers go out to the families that were all involved, not just the congresswoman, but everybody involved, the people who were shot and also the people who did not make it frchlt new orleans, our hearts and prayers go out to you all. we have to take some, you know, we have to speak truth and the politicians, both democrats and republicans, have to take some responsibility and knowing that when we have political debate, we have to be responsible in the statements we're making when we have a good, honest political debate. there is nothing wrong with debating. however, we all have to be honest and say it has been very heated in the last past couple

of years since we've gotten the new president and new policies that are being -- that are coming forth and a lot of the citizens in america have gotten a little bit -- to me, out of control in their statements and comments at town hall meetings. and lastly, i would like to say that glen beck, rush limbaugh, they have to stand up and stop saying statements that few people take such action because they're not the politicians, they're only t.v. personalities and their job is to get people to watch their station and to entertain. i think people watch them for information. when we should watch more of the real news stations or even watch the politicians are debating and the chambers of congress,

c-span, you always show that. you know, if you want to hear the real issues and what the politicians are talking about, to committee, instead of trying to get the information from t.v. personalities. >> thank you for the call. the other victim is judge john roll, appointed by bush. he is 63 years old, a native of pittsburgh, pennsylvania, he serves on ninth district court of appeals. note of condolences from the chief justice of the united states, john roberts. we covered him at an event in april of 2006, the chair of the xhshl, senate judiciary committee was specter, and asking about immigration. this is from 2006, a quick comment from specter and john roll. >> our final juryist is john

roll, from the united states district court for the district of arizona, where he is been a judge since 1991 and prior to that time was in the state court system of arizona. thank you for coming judge roll and we look forward to your testimony. >> thank you, chairman specter. good morning senator sessions and cornyn. my name is john roll, beginning the district. i speak only for myself at this time. it's an honor to appear before this committee and it's certainly daunting to appear as a member of such a distinguished list of witnesses. i speak in favor of the chairman of mark in this case. i believe consolidation would be a good thing. i think it's appropriate. i realize you have is received the letter from the judicial conference and opposition to the proposal of the consolidation

and i'd like to touch on a few points in connection with that. the letter points out that subject matter courts are only appropriate where national uniformity is crucial. it would seem immigration is exactly such a topic. the written testimony that i submitted points out several examples of inconsistencies, not only intercircuit, but intra circuit in connection with immigration issues. these include how circuits go about evaluating immigration judges, credibility determination, derivative asylum issue in deportation orders. there are conflicts, intercircuit and intracircuit as to these various matters and there should be national uniformity. the letter from the judicial conference all refers to regional courts that have developed expertise and i'm certain that's true, but if one

circuit were to handle all of the appeals on the board of immigration appeals, they would have an expertise unmatched by any circuit that currently hears these matters. it is also been referred to in the letter, the fact that litigants may find their cases are decided in distant tribunals, i expect many litigants already feel their cases are being decided in distant tribunals in the ninth circuit. as has already been mentioned 28 section 48 would permit the federal circuit to go to the busiest cities and to conduct hearings in connection with those matters. it has also been mentioned most of these cases are submitted on the briefs. another reason that is a compelling reason for this particular consolidation is that it would help a severely

overburdened ninth circuit court of appeals. the case load in the ninth circuit is approaching 17,000 pending appealing, several times what the average is for the other circuits. that represents 28% of all of the pending federal appeals in the united states of the 12 geo graphical circuits. it's population is one contributing factor to this. the population in the ninth circuit is approaching 60 million people, one-fifth of the united states. nine states, a territory and a commonwealth, the other circuits average four. one of those nine states is california. this shows up in a number of different ways and i'll just pick two examples. one is the ninth circuit is the slowest circuit in the united states in decisional time. that is the time measured from the time of the filing of notice of appeal to the time of disposition and that's the time that matters to the litigants.

the ninth circuit takes 16.6 months per case. the average for all of the circuits, even when you add in the ninth circuit is 12.1 months. the next slowest circuit is 2.5 months faster than the ninth circuit court of appeals. also, the ninth circuit is the most reversed circuit and perhaps that would be understandable because of the volume of cases that t ninth circuit ars, but the nin circui is the most unanimously reversed circuit by the supreme court. since the white report was issued in 1998, the ninth circuit has unanimously been reversed by the supreme court 59 times. i've included in my submission in conjunction with my w attach lists those 59nanimous reversal by the supreme court. i have includeded as attachment c, the list of administrative

office records that show that the ninth circuit is the slowest circuit and attachment a reflects the case loads among the various circuits. the chairman's mark would result in about 6500 cases, assuming the pending cases were transferred, being removed from the ninth circuit court of appeals. this would be of benefit to a circuit that is severely overburdened. thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you. >> judge john roll from 2006 testifying before the senate judiciary committee was among the six killed yesterday. he began his day attending morning mass and stopped by the safeway to see representative giffords. also christina taylor green and

gabe zimmerman, one of five staffers and two interns at the congress on your corner event, which resulted in the gunfire. two other aides were involved in the shooting, district director ron barber and outreach worker pam simon, both of whom were injured, but expected to recover. gabe zimmerman, among the six killed. back to phone calls. edward is joining us from atlanta. good morning. >> caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the point i would like to make is this, when a life is taken in world wars and so forth, where there is justification, that is one set of circumstances. but when there is a wonton killing or taking of le by an individual and the circumstances are forthright and there is no questionbout it, my point is this, that insteadf having all illegal barriers and go to and all this stuff, there ought to be review of our laws to take care of this character in such a

way that it would be expedited and it would be done -- in fact, i would advocate, i don't think they would go along with this too much the public, as far as having guillotine like they used to pull out in europe and have public execution, your head is going to work this way, pal this, is where it is going to go. aside from that, when taking of a life, our system needs to be reviewd and short-circuit it to where this process of this guy or person needs to forfeit their life f. they took a life in a wonton way, just a wonton killing or taking of life, that person should forfeit their life. that is my point and i think it is very important and i think the public generally would agree with that. >> the statement from senator

john mccain. i pray for gabby and her family and pray for the lives of those still alive and calling the suspect involved as a wicked individual that -- calling him a disgrace to arizona, to the couny and to the human race diane is joining us from jacksonvie, florida. ood morning. >> yes, first of all, thank you, c-sn for the class act respectfulness toward this situation this morning. and secondly, what can you say in a situation like this towards the families and the victims here? our greatest sympathy and condolences are with you. i also wanted to make a point that we, america, look out because i see in the pipeline coming that we may have some that think they're entitled to additional funds to be able to hire themselves some service

security and what have you and granted, yes, we need some security, but they're the ones that receive the pay and didn't lose their jobs when america's economy and the people losing jobs and homes are hurting so bad and they make three times what the hard-working backbone of american man and woman makes out here. so please don't let us have to pay for secret service or security guards for them to have, let them pay it out of their pockets and thank you so much for your respectfulness toward this and giving us a chance to say our deepest sympathys. >> thank you, diane. >> if you are just joining us, we got update from university medical center staff and will replay that later this afternoon. essentially many of the victims have moved out of icu, but representative giffords remains in critical condition with her prognosis being described as

encouraging and good, but doctors sals warning that she has a long way to go in terms of her recovery and there will be daily briefings from university medical center later today. @ top of the hour we will hear from the f.b.i. director at president obama's request, flew out yesterday to oversee the investigation into what happened, who was involved in this and where it goes from here. the day began this morning from westchester, ohio, the speaker of the house, john boehner condemned the action and today expressed his support for the family and talked about the legislative calendar, which will change this week as a result of what happened in tucson yesterday. >> good morning. the thoughts and prayers of the house and the nation are with congressman giffords and her family. we're also praying for the families of judge roll and all of those who were taken from us

yesterday so senselessly. among the fallen is gab gabe zimmerman, a member of congresswoman giffords's staff. i directed flags on the house side of the capitol be flown at half mast in honor of gabe's death in the line of duty. an attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serves. such acts of violence have no place in our society. majority leader will announce a revised schedule. to the members of the house and

their staffs, i ask that you on this sad day, we keep gab and he her staff in our thoughts and prayers. public service is a high honor, but these tragic events remind us that all of us in our roles and service to our fellow citizens comes with a risk. this inhuman act should not and will not deter us from our calling to representative our constituents and to fulfill our oaths of office. no act, no matter how heinous can be allowed to stop us from our duty. >> speaker john boehner outside of cincinatti earlier this morning. back to your phone calls as we await the briefing from robert muller, f.b.i. director and others expected to update the investigation into this incident

yesterday. kevin is joining us from chicago. good morning. >> good morning, sir, how are you? >> go ahead, kevin. >> caller: i would like to first of all pray and give hope to those victims that are still alive and the ones, i want to pray for them and their families. i'm a veteran and serve third degree country honorably with pride and dignity. this disheartens me and breaks my heart, especially that nine-year-old girl, she did not do anything. this disheartens me. i pray for this country that we can tone down the rhetoric, the meanness of the conversation, we just need to pray and stay together as a country because we got so much going on across this world with the soldiers fighting for our freedom and our rights and we need to really come

together. like 9/11, everybody came together, we need to come together as far as republican, democrat or independent, it doesn't matter what you are, we are still americans. thank you. >> kevin, a live view of the u.s. capitol as flag at half staff. also regard to political rhetoric on the sunday show, lamar alexander warning on on blame anything political group for the attack. richard durbin on cnn's state of the union talked about toxic rhetoric that can lead unstable individuals to believe violence is an acceptable response. some of the reaction this morning and all of those programs can be heard sunday afternoon on c-span radio. dave is joining us from madison ville, tennessee g. ahead, dave. >> caller: yes, i just wanted to give my prayers to the giffords family and hope everything is --

goes all right with her and she gets better. my one question was the federal judge that was shot and killed, why wasn't he protected by the secret service or protected by some type of police as a federal judge? supreme court justices are protected by the secret service. >> a lot of federal judges and in this case he had gone to mass in the morning and stopped by a grocery store. >> caller: yeah, but my question was that he should have been protected as a federal judge. >> that is one issue, where do you start and where do you stop among congressional leaders? they reserve protection from capitol police and other agencies, but rank and file members of congress do not tochlt your point about federal judges, thanks for your point. next to linda, joining us from illinois. go ahead, please. >> caller: yes. i wish to send my condolences to

the families of all of them, but i feel that in the united states that a lot of our benefits and a lot of our things are being taken away from us. >> i will stop you there, we are getting an echo from your phone call. turn down the volume so we can hear you much clearer. representative giffords in her first event of the new year, "congress around the corner," at tucson's safeway, one of the last public appearances she made was on thursday when members of the congress read the u.s. constitution, you may have seen this before ncase you miss today, her part was to read the first amendment.

>> back to your phone calls as we look at the events of yesterday. ray is joining us from chicago. our line for republicans g. ahead, please. >> yes, i just want to say that my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims in this horrific crime. this is horrible and i'm sure they will be prosecuted if convicted of everything. i just want to say that people should not jump to conclusions and start playing the blame game on this, you know what i mean.

that will get more people up in arms and more people will get upset about this. this is something you have to let the court figure out and by them saying that glen beck, bill o'reilly, hannity, there is a lot of blame to go around if you do that. watch "the view" everyday and you have joy behar screaming about sarah palin. what if somebody, god forgive, does something to palin? should we blame her? what about madoff? you can't blame one person. this guy was mentally ill. we have to remember that. he was mentally ill. we need to come together as a country, get through this and perhaps we can, the rhetoric, we can kind of, you know, slow down on the name calling and things like that. i believe we can do that, you can't blame anybody. >> okay. >> caller: for this.

>> okay. keeping an eye on the pema county sheriff department. they will have a live briefing coming up in a few minutes. they describe jared loughner as mentally unstable and point out overnight that the 22-year-old may have been acting with an accomplice. you may have seen some of the photos the sheriff's department released on a number of websites asking for information on that. at this briefing, we'll hear from robert muller, the direct offer of the f.b.i. and overseeing the overall investigation. we heard from the president yesterday from the state dining room. he's here in washington this weekend. statements from the vice president and the congressional leadership. bill from mansfield, ohio, go ahead, please. >> caller: yes. i just want to give my condolences to the families out in tucson. it was a terrible thing. and i did want to thanks c-span for doing a wonderful job, especially you.

doesn't seem like we are americans anymore. years ago, the republican rally saw other people carrying a sign of harry truman with a german mustache, i think they would have taken them in a back alley somewhere and made a few comments to him. but these people in the government are like two football teams, opposing football teams. and you take team number one as a guy like mike singletary, and twaem two, guy like lambbert, they are never going to get along together. never going to get along together. there is no score in that game. nobody is going to win like in a regular football game. this is ridiculous. and until these people are either voted out of there, we're never going to have anybody