always believed our nation's first responders constitute both our first and last line of defense with the american people here at home. they are the first ones to show and be on hand god forbid a devastating thing happens in any community. our police and fire departments depend on the grants, they are necessary, these are competitive, that is why they work. they are called the most successful grants in the federal government. they go directly to the local community so no states can skim off the top. that is why they are the best. that is why you take pictures when those checks come into the local fire departments and police departments. of course some have taken the pictures even though they voted no against those programs. so, during debate by overwhelming support. my friends, by overwhelming

support public safety is not a democratic or republican issue. we are all in this together. this is our first responsibil y responsibility. these amendments passed with large majorities. bipartisan have a agreement on the importance of these programs in our communiti communities. real homeland security starts on our streets and public safety professionals are the first and last lines of defense. i urge a yes on the amendment. please consider that and i yield to mrs. schwartz of pennsylvania. >> i thank you for your advocacy on behalf of fire companies and firefighters and companies and police officers as well. been honored as numerous occasions to do that. as he pointed out this was offered in a similar amendment

on the floor and passed. so there was bipartisan and i hope continues to be bipartisan support for a very important public safety initiative. it my own home district it has helped the police department in the city of philadelphia to put cops on the streets, police officers on the street, community officers who know the district and help reduce the rate of crime and tackle some of the worst crimes that exist anywhere. i have been to police funerals and we have had several of them. i went to four different police funerals in one year. that is what our police officers are up against. they are outgun and having the resources and equipment and numbers of officers on the street is extremely important to handle drug trafficking that is something we know is of great

concern. for firefighters, in my suburban district i know some of the fire companies have used some of these fire grants to help make sure they work with each other for training and equipment, sharing equipment and being able it share training in part of my district. this is helping to make sure they have the resources. some are too expensive for any one volunteer fire company to do on their own to get some federal assistance to be smarter, more efficient and provide the kind of safety in our communities that we know each of us relies on. many of us can't imagine what happens when there is a fire in our communities and homes or some police action needed, we rely on police officers who put themselves in harm's way. support this amendment. we should protect these grants and understand this is a choice between the tax cuts for the

wealthiest americans and some of our special interests. we should make sure we protect all of our citizens at home with grants. thank you very much and i yield back. >> mr. chairman, i yield one minute to the gentlelady from ohio. >> i thank the gentleman for his excellent amendment. the last miss we should short-change our communities is the first responders. police and fire and i support your amendment in memory of officer andrew dunn from sandusky, ohio, whose funeral i attended one week ago. i have attended many funerals in my life and the grief in that community over the loss of the life of the young officer who was out at 3:00 in the morning and followed all the rules, shot multiple times leaving his wife and two young children who will never know their father.

no community in america should have officers going out alone like that in the middle of the night. our communities and places with high unemployment are short-changed of funds and i skwrjust -- i actually sat with widows and wives of officers in that department, and the grief was so heavy, there isn't a person that attended that won't remember that for the rest of their lives and in his memory i support the pascrell amendment. >> thank you. let me say this in conclusion, mr. chairman. i think this is something we can all agree on. when wes inned the fire legislation in 2000 you could fit us all in a phone booth with bipartisan legislation from the beginning. i have insisted on that. and we have done what we had to do. i think we will do it again.

i'm hopeful we will. the program has brought dividends to public safety to our communities. it is all right to pat these guys and tkpwafpls on the back -- gals on the back but they need our support in the streets more than ever. the city i come from, patterson, new jersey, just laying off 100 police officers. we were the third large est city of new jersey. i don't know how we are going to withstand that. the towns around us are laying off less but still reducing the public safety force. i ask for your support on this amendment. it makes sense. and i yield back. >> does any member seek time in opposition? >> i wish to claim that time. >> i yield 10 minutes. >> thank you, mr. president. -- mr. chairman. i express my appreciation to mr. pascrell to not just this

amendment and i voted for the amendment and i thank you for your kind note in response. however, we are now on a new day the e are faced with context of a $1.6 trillion deficit. served as a mayor before coming here and i share the same concerns and challenges that you did when you served as mayor. i certainly walked in those same footsteps. no decision is ever easy for arson executive particularly at the local level but we make them and move forward in the best fashion we know how. i was proud to cut taxes in my city but also prioritize like we do here today and i was able to increase funding to police and fire but cut taxes and protect property taxpayers. when we started this hearing this morning, if you calculate the amount of debt we have

accumulated to now it is about a billion dollars. it is in that context that i think we need to consider every unding recommendation in this budget. when i looked at function 450 and function 750, i noticed a couple of interesting things. and this doesn't demean the need across the country for federal support in certain areas. but in function 750 we are increasing from 2000 to 201087.2010 2010 87.5% and those are values across the country and 450. we had an increase from $10.6 billion to $23.8 billion. this has gotten us into the challenge we have of our $1.6

trillion stpeufplt the further concern i have is this raises taxes to pay for it, a further burden to our kids and grandkids. i was happy to support in fiscal year 11 c.r. additional tkhrado ut wove -- we have to be realistic and we are going to set appropriate caps here in the budget committee and ask the appropriations committee to do its work and keep in mind some of the challenges that we are facing across the country. you mentioned local and state budgets. i feel terrible for what is going on in patterson that they are laying off police officers despite the fact that -- and i looked up the budget -- they have increased police from $45 million to $53 million from the appropriation in 2010 to 2011. and $33 million to $35 million

for fire. so there is something going on beyond the federal dollars that they received, not just in your community but other communities. so i will work with the member in making sure we are fair but firm, that we're respectful and responsible to taxpayers as we try to get this debt and deficit on a better trajectory, something that i think has been clearly demanded from taxpayers in our nation. i would like to yield for the time that -- >> would you or the gentleman yield for 30 seconds? >> i will after i go to the gentleman from south carolina. >> thank you very much. i want to speak briefly to how one of these programs works. i'm shaoure everyone is familia but i think it is important everybody understand how the program that the cop program works and risks that it runs. because i have heard the good

things about the program and i have also heard many of our communities including mine are faced with laying off people. there is a connection between those two things. the cops program specifically and my sheriffs have told me about this, give the money down to the local level, no question it bypasses the state. but it is for a short period of time, two years. and it gets those electriclocal departments hooked on have been those people there. and when the grant money runs out they are faced with the devil's bargain which is do you fire and lay off the people for whom the money runs out or raise local taxes. and in many home communities we don't have the ability to raise the taxes. i heard you say they lay off 100 people because they don't have the tax base to maintain it this is an addiction, an example of what we face as a nation. we the federal government are not only hooked on spending but

we are getting our localities hooked on the spending. take the money for two or three years, it is problem. take it and hire people. two or three years later they are faired with that choice, do we have to lay off law enforcement people or have to raise taxes. it is a bargain we should not make in the first place. one reason i voted against this particular amendment and he would encourage us to vote against it today. we need to break the addiction of spending not only at the federal level but the addiction that we're enable being at the state and local levels. >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. i was wondering whatever to the doctrine that programs that exclusively benefit a local community ought to be by that ly paid for local community? local police and fire departments operate exclusively in local jurisdictions.

they ought to be financed by the taxpayers in those jurisdictions. whenever we take taxes from one to pay for local services in another, we literally end up robbing st. petersburg to pay st. paul. one community not only pays for its own police and fire but another community's police and fire as well. what makes this more unfair is we all know that all funds are functi fun eligible. a grant from one community to another doesn't even necessarily go to that lucky community's police department. it merely supplants local funds that would have otherwise have gone to the local police department but are free to funds much more authorities that have nothing to do with police services. this is a great example of how the minority party has abandoned the principles of fairness and federalism on which the nation

was found and ended up mismanaging billions of dollars as a result. >> thank you. >> i know mr. pascrell's passion for this is real and contagious. i do appreciate that. for my cheeks i would like to note the chairman's mark supports the level for homeland security activities of the federal government and therefore meeting the department of homeland security request for assistance to firefighter grants. my colleagues should recognize the president requested $302 million for the cops program. passing this would nearly double the administration request. the president requested $670 million for firefighter assistance grants. passing this would more than double this request. also of note by 2015 the department of justice budget is projected to reach $30 billion, nearly 50% greater than in 2005. this is one of the sharpest

increases within the federal government. we have to pay attention to the dollars. i appreciate the gentleman's passion on this issue but we need to be realistic about the dollars associated with this. we also support firefighters and local police officers in our own community and first responders. we cannot thank them enough. i yield become. >> the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett. >> i understand the gentleman's passion and he said he could give us a list of everyone of our districts as to how much we received. i wonder whether he could give us a list of how much each of us has sent to washington and not gotten back that new jersey is a donor state to the federal government and at the end of the day we're subsidizing everybody else around the table. so, if you like going back to your constituents and saying the reason they don't have all the

fire equipment they need, the reason they don't have the police equipment is because you spred legislation -- supported legislation it send the dollars to other states as opposed to keeping them in new jersey as mr. mcclintock says on the local levels those are the figures i to see.ke >> 20 seconds. >> if we depend on mr mr. mcclintock and mr. garrett, been fighting to get more returned to new jersey. when a forest fire occurs in the last 30 or 40 days i don't sit here and say that is not my state. how dare you say that? 9/11 changed the whole composure of what we do. there are needs within fire departments and police departments. can smile all you want. we are talking about personal things of -- >> i recall my time. >> i still have the floor. >> no, you don't. >> he kwreuplded it to me.

-- yielded it to me. >> order. he controls the time. >> may i finish? >> no. do you want -- >> i would like 10 seconds. i appreciate the passion on the issue. i believe that this congress has and will continue to support police and fire. we are focusing right now on reducing our debt and deficit and we will do this appropriately as outlined in the budget. i yield back. >> mr. pascrell if you want to two off you have a minute to do it. >> if you think, mr. chairman, there is just passion, you are sadly mistaken. one minute you gave me. you are darn right i'm passionate about it and i'm sure you are, too. but the facts are the facts. in is a cut of $4 billion right here. and the fact of the mart is if you come out with the same malarkey we heard two or three

is no cut hat there here, there is a cut in the bottom number in these appropriate departments. i laid it out in the beginning. why is there a problem with the consensus of this committee to demonstrate our support while police officers -- of police officers and firefighters? we take the money. mr. garrett pointed out about how much money new jersey sends. we do that for a reason. states have needs other than the state of new jersey. we are -- >> the gentleman's time has expired. the question is on agreeing to the amendment all in favor say aye. >> aye. >> opposed? no. >> any opinion the nos have it. requested.ed vote is the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. garrett. mr. garrett no. mr. simpson. mr. simpson no. mr. campbell. mr. campbell no. mr. calvert.

mr. calvert no. mr. aiken. mr. aiken no. mr. cole. mr. cole no. mr. price. mr. price no. mr. mcclintock. mr. mcclintock no. mr. chafits no. mr. sussman no. langford no. mrs. block. mrs. black, no. mr. ribbel, no. mr. flores. in nor rest no. in mulvaney. mr. mulvaney no. mr. huelscamp. huelscamp no. mr. young. mr. young, no. mr. amash.

no. mr. okita, no. mr. guinta, no. mr. woodall, no. mr. rivan hollen eye. mrs. schwartz. mrs. schwartz yea. >> in memory of officer andy dunn from sandusky, ohio, no. >> mr. doggett, aye. mr. blumenhauer aye. mrs. mccollum, aye. mr. yermath aye. mr. pascrell. >> proudly vote for the police apnd fair men of this country, yes. >> mr. honda.

mr. honda, aye. mr. ryan. mrs. was are man schultz. aye. mrs. moore. mrs. moore,a. mrs. castor. aye. mr. shuler. mr. shuler aye. mr. tonko, aye. mrs. bass, aye. chairman ryan. chairman ryan, no. >> any member who wishs to vote or change their vote? >> mr. chairman, on that vet the ayes are 15 and the nos are 22. >> there being 15 ayes and 22 no, sir the agreement is not agreed to. now we move to tier two. i believe we are going to

mrs. bass. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> the clerk will designate the amendment. >> earnings designated as number 12 offered by mrs. bass stop harmful cuts to veterans. >> you are recognized for six and a half minutes. >> thank you, mr. chair. veterans from iraq and afghanistan warms have experience -- wars have experienced more days in combat, minister tours in duty and have survived physical injuries never imagined in previous years. unfortunately a sad consequence have been veterans suffering from extreme economic and social hardships and in too many cases resulting in homelessness. the least we can do is keep our promise to our veterans. what is at risk is funding for new hud veteran affairs support yourself housing services. this is specifically designed to help homeless veterans secure safe and permanent housing, secure counselling and help finding job training and

education programs. the veteran housing program has provided homes to 30,000 veterans sleeping on the streets the last three years. this is key to ending homelessness. chairman ryan's mark for 2012 continues the elimination of $75 million in funding for housing and supportive services for homeless vets. the chair's mark fails to provide the president's request level for function 700 for 2013 and 2021, providing $18.8 billion less over this period even as the number of veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan in need of health care grows. it is a disgrace to veterans that have honorably served to defend our freedom are link on the stpraoets -- living on the streets. if we do not adequately fund it we dishonor their service. for just 5% of the cost of extending tax cuts for

millionaires we could restore the cuts to homeless veterans programs and veterans healthcare funding. i would like to share a story with you. john is an army veteran from my district. after serving his country in afghanistan john returned to l.a. with severe ptsd. as he tried to cope with life he slipped into a spiral of self-destructive behavior that destroyed his chances for employment. he sought help and new directions a nonprofit. after years of hard work and help from new directions he now has steady employment at the los angeles county museum of art but he is only tidal bas able to af apartment because of the help. we receive tens of thousands of johns and janes who come home every month and veterans assistance program allows

veterans the freedom to put their lives together after facing the horrors of war. after all we ask people like john to sacrifice for us when they go overseas we cannot in good conscience turn our backs on them when they return home. veterans have sacrificed so much that we live free and we must make good on the promise to take care of them when they return home. the chart that you see lists is an example of four members in their districts and number of resources that are affidavit in their districts. i now yield one minute and a that of to my friend and co-sponsor of my amendment. >> thank you. mr. chair, i support the amendment to honor service men and women by restoring funding. in february the department of federal rapbs aphysical therapist and department f hous of development urban released the first joint report on the homelessness of veterans.

that report and its discovery was disturbing to say the least. veterans make up only 10% of the population. i don't think we can say that enough. 10% of the population are veterans. they account for 16% of homeless adults. i commend president obama and the goal he set of eliminating problem of homeless veterans by 2015. it is one we must do. we have an honor to serve those who served our country. we have an ability to make sure no veteran is without adequate shelter. mr. chair, there are more women veterans that are starting to become homeless. we need to reach out to them. i encourage members to go to a stand-down and tack with the homeless veterans population. they are looking for an opportunity to come out of the

cold. i encourage my members to support this. >> i yield back the balance of my time. >> who seeks recognition in opposition? >> i do. >> mr. flores is recognized for 7:30. >> i also want to thank mrs. bass for this amendment. i think that it was done in good faith. but i would like to go through the issues. the issues related to veterans are very important. i have tens of thousands of veterans in my district. it is next door to fort hood, texas and i'm on the veterans affai affairs committee which works hard to do the right thing for veterans. said, this is just another attempt to relitigate the will of the house that was h.r. 1.d in the appropriators will take care of this issue. there are 30,000 vouchers available today and 20,000 of them were used. that means 10,000 of these vouchers were not used. why were they not used? in some cases the right vouchers were not where they were needed.

other cases it was to due to delays they are working to resolve. today the v.a. committee is working hard to determine why this is happening. we don't have any evidence that it is due to lack of dollars. it is due to some processing issue. this is one of those areas where federal dollars don't cure every issue. this is an issue where a bureaucracy cannot take care of its own business in a good manner. what we are trying to address. this buck-- this budget provide record high level of funding for veterans for medical care. it provides access for the six million patients that the v.a. expects and will cost $55 billion. and that is fine because we owe that to our veterans. the mark implements the policies and keeps faith with the men and women that risked their lives without raising taxes or hurting

economic growth. the converse is true. because the chairman's mark is what creates economic community and jobs for this country. the best way to take care of veterans is to have a robust environment where they can find good jobs. at the end of the day the best social program i have designed was a private sector job. that is where families are fed, housed, children are educated, where they grow the electrical property tax -- local property tax base and become valid contributors to the committee and grew economic opportunity. with this i would like to yield to mr. susman. >> thank you, mr. flores. your points were well made and actually i just want to follow up a little bit on what you already said. you touched on some of my comments and my thoughts as well. having an opportunity to serve on the veteran affairs commit e

committee, all of us on this committee and i know that everybody on the v.a. wants to make sure we do take care of those who have served us in harm's way and those who are fighting for freedom here in our country. as mr. flores mentioned, it is one that i think is one of the appropriate committee needs to handle as we look at the problem of homeless veterans that there might be funding available. it is just a matter of getting further into the numbers and that is one where the issue is really to be handled by the appropriations committee. because as we have had several hearings on the v.a. committee we are finding that there is a disconnect between our bureaucracy as -- and our veterans.

there is a lack of communication. there is also just the inability to really reach out. and whether it is on the demand side of our veterans needing the help and pursuing it or whether it is a complicated system and being able it maneuver through the channels of bureaucracy and government, or whether it is our bureaucracy being able to reach out and elect tholetting those w the benefits that are available to them. i believe passionately as well that we need to help our and help those that are willing to serve us in our military. but at this time i think that this is an amendment that is better served in another committee rather than the budget committee. i yield back my time. >> just in summary i would like to close by saying two things. number one, we are providing the funding and chairman's mark that the president requested for 2012

and this can be fixed without dollars. it can be fixed by the vet runs affairs committee working with the veterans administration to hold it accountable and make our bureaucracy work the way it is supposed to to take care of veterans on a bipartisan basis. i yield the balance of my time back to the chairman. >> the gentleman has a minute. >> i'm glad to hear -- first of all, i'm glad to hear from my colleagues on the other side that there is tremendous support for this issue. i believe mr. flores pointed out a problem of the vouchers being unuse and i believe mr. stutzman said there might have been a bureacratic problem. that was resolved and so the resources were used. so, the problem that you are referring to from my information

has gone away. i do have to say though that for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for amendments that you do support in general i'm beginning to hear a little bit of pattern and that is this it should be solved in the appropriations committee. and i'm not sure if that indicates it is a cut that you are not particularly comfortable with or what, but i think that take a stand here in this committee as to what we support when it comes to veterans and homeless veterans. the other thing that i would say -- did i run out of time? i'm sorry. >> the time has expired. the question is on agreeing to the amendment offered by the would those in favor aye. >> aye. >> the nos have it. roll call vote is requested. clerk will cuall the roll. >> mr. garrett. mr. simpson. mr. simpson, no.

mr. campbell. mr. campbell no. mr. calvert. mr. calvert, no. mr. aiken. mr. aiken no. mr. cole. mr. cole, no. mr. price. mr. price, no. mr. mcclintock. no. mr. chafitz, no. mr. stutzman, no. mr. lankford, no. mrs. black, no. mr. ribble, no. mr. flores. mr. flores, no. mr. mulvaney. mr. mulvaney, no. mr. huelscamp.

no. mr. young, mr. young no. mr. omash. mr. omash, no. mr. okita, no. mr. guinta, no. mr. woodall. no. mr. garrett. mr. garrett. no. mr. van hollen. mr. van hallen, aye. mrs. schwartz, aye. mrs. kaptor, aye. mr. doggett, aye. mr. blumenhauer, aye. mr. mccollum, aye. mr. yarmouth, aye.

mr. pascrell, aye. mr. honda. mr. honda, aye. mr. ryan. mrs. wallacer man schultz, aye. mrs. moore. mrs. moore, aye. mrs. castor. mrs. castor aye. mr. schuler. mr. schulerer, aye. mr. tonko, aye. mrs. bass. mrs. bass, aye. chairman ryan. >> no. >> chairman ryan, no. >> anyone else wish to vote or change their vote? the clerk will report. >> mr. chairman, on that vote the ayes are 15, the nos are 22.

>> there being 15 ayes and 22 no, sir, the amendment is not agreed to. sunday the possible 2012 g.o.p. candidates. that is 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> as a host and as a trainer you are not necessarily a republican or democrat but you are looking at the impact of what government is doing on the financial markets whether it be the oil markets or trading or wall street firms. >> melissa lee on her career and influences and what she believes is her role in reporting business and financial news. watch the rest of the interview sunday night at 8:00 on q&a. >> as washington works on funding for the current fiscal year debate has started on next year's federal budget.

see what is said on line with the c-span video liberal. search, watch, clip and share with everything we have covered since anyone -- 1987 it is what you want when you want. congress reached agreement friday night to keep the federal government funded past the midnight expiration of the current spending measure. the new short-term funding provision expires on friday april 15 at midnight and cuts about $2 billion from current spending. next we here from congressional leaders and president about the overall budget deal. >> good evening, everyone. i'm pleased that senator reid and i and the white house have -- to an agreement to cut spending and keep our

government open. i expect the house will vote yes tonight on a short-term continuing resolution into next week to allow for time for this agreement to be put together in legislative form and brought to the floor of the house and senate for a vote. so, i would expect the final vote on this to occur mid next week but i believe that we will a bridge continuing resolution passed tonight to ensure that government is open. this has been a lot of discussion and a long fight, but we fought to keep government spending down because it really in fact help create better environment for job creators in our country. thank you. [inaudible]

>> i would like to read a statement issued by speaker boehner and myself just a few minutes ago. this is the statement. we agreed to an historic amount of cuts for this year and short-term bridge this will give us time to avoid shutdown. we will cut $7.5 million out of the 2011 budget proposal and we have reached an agreement on all the policy riders. meantime, we passed a short-term resolution to keep the government running through thursday. that bridge will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings. mr. president, i want to express my appreciation to the speaker and his office. it has been a grueling process. we didn't do it at this late hour for drama but because it has been very hard. i also want to express my

appreciation to my counterpart, chairman mcconnell. we have talked during this process on a number of occasions. we have as we say here, on many occasions it turned out to be we have a terrific relationship. we do our best to protect each caucus and we have our battles here, but he is a pleasure to work with and i admire and appreciate his effort. this has been a long process. it has not been an easy process. both sides have had to make tough choices. but tough choices are what this job is all about. i think it is important to note, mr. president, as we said in this statement, this is historic what we have done. $7.5 billion from the 2011 budget we have been working off

of. it has been difficult but important for the country. we all agree that there are many cuts that have to take place in the future. we understand that. we must get this country's fiscal house in order. yet, this is our responsibility, all 100 of us. and 435 members of the house. we reached an agreement to cut spending to keep the country running. we have agreed to an historic level of cuts later this fiscal and short-term cuts to avoid the shutdown while we get agreements from both houses and to the president. i repeat we will get $78.5 billion and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders. i do that because that has not been easy.

we passed the short-term resolution to keep the government running through this coming friday that. will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings that we have talked about, the $78.5 billion. so, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to h.r. 1363 that -day itute amendment s tkaeu continuation to senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended that the be made and read on the table and without debate. >> is there objection? >> mr. president. i would like to thank my friend the majority leader and speaker boehner for their outstanding work during this difficult negotiati negotiation. we had an opportunity tonight to

decide whether we wanted to repeat history or make 4eu69. -- make history. had we chosen to repeat history we would have allowed a government shutdown. instead we decided to make history by implementing in the middle of this fiscal year as the majority leader indicated substantial reductions in spending. these reductions, mr. president, are in the billions. once we get through this process by the end of next week we will on to a much larger discussion about how we save trillions. by enacting hopefully on a bipartisan basis a budget that genuinely begins to get on top of this problem and the problem as we all know is $14 trillion in debt and over $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities. the president has asked us to

raise the debt ceiling. snot republicans and -- senate republicans and house republicans and many democrats i hope will say mr. president to raise the debt ceiling we need to do something significant about the debt. my definition of significant, mr. president, is that the markets view it as significant, the american people view it as significant and foreign countries view it as significant. so, for tonight again i congratulate the majority leader and speaker. this is an important first step. but just the beginning of what we need to do to get our fiscal house in order. >> mr. president. >> the majority leader. >> the republican leader is right, we have a lot of work to do. one thing i want to mention is how much i appreciate the support of the american people because they knew we needed to get this done but the business community of our country. i have conversations with the president of the chamber of

commerce. was so important that this was done and organizations this tand how important is. but all of these are an sung they but we have heroes among heroes and that is the chairman of the appropriations committee. he has been with his staff working so hard. i applaud his person, charlie hoye, who has a fantastic knowledge of what goes on in this country as it relates to money. he came to the senate in 1983 and has been working in the appropriations committee. i'm not going to go through all the staff but it is important to mention that my chief of staff has worked very hard. i want to mention one other person. i never met him until we started

this what we have been through. i hope i don't get him in trouble but that is john boehner's chief of staff, barry jackson. he is a real professional. it has been very difficult to work through this stuff but i admire his professionalism. and of course the white house staff has been indispensable. i hope we can have the consent agreement approved at this time. >> is there objection to the request? without objection, so ordered. is there further debate on the became as amended? >> if not. all those in favor of the bill as amended say aye. aye. those opposed to say no. >> no. >> the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is amended as passed. >> good evening.

behind me through the window you can see the washington monument. visited each year by hundreds of thousands from around the world. the people who travel her come to learn about our history and to be inspired by the example of our democracy. a place where citizens of different backgrounds and beliefs can come together as one nation. tomorrow i'm pleased to announce the washington monument and entire federal government will be open for business. that is because today americans of different beliefs came together. in the final hours before the government would be forced to shut down lowered in both parties agreed so people could get the loans they applied for hundreds of thousands of americans to show up at work and take home paychecks on time including our brave men and women in uniform. this agreement between democrats and republicans on behalf of all

americans is on a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history. by getting worth while compromise both sides had to ick tou -- make tough decisions and give grounds. some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful. rely on will be cut back. needed infrastructure projects will be delayed. i would not have made the cuts in better circumstances. but beginning to live within our means is the only way to protect those investments that will help america compete for new jobs. investments in education and student loans, clean energy and life-saving medical research. we protected the investments we need to win the future. at the same time we also made sure at the end of the day this was a debate about spending cuts, not social issues like women's health and the protection of our air and water.

these are important issues that discussion. just not during a debate about our budget. thank speaker bane are and -- boehner and senator reid for their leadership. a few months ago i was able it sign a tax cut because both parties worked through their differences and found common ground. now the same cooperation will possible the biggest annual spending cut in history and it is my hope that we can continue to come together as we face the many difficult challenges thatly ahead from creating jobs and growing the economy to educating our children and reducing our deficit. that is what the american performance expect us to do. that is why they sent us here. a few days ago i received a letter from a mother in colorado. they are son's class saved money so next week they could take a class trip to washington, d.c. they even have an appointment to

lay a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier. the mother wrote that for the last few days the kids have been worried and upset that they miff to cancel the trip because of a shutdown. she asked us to get past our grievances and make things right. she said remember, the further of this country is not for us. it is for our children. acted on behalf of our children's further. next week when 50 eighth gradeers from colorado arrive here i hope they get a chance to look up at the washington monument and. the sense of pride and possibility this defines america. a land of many that has always found a way to manufacture forward as one -- move forward as one. thank you. >> sunday on news makers the republican national committee chairman on possible 2012 g.o.p.

candidates, promise mayors and fund-raising. that is 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> as a host and trader you are not necessarily a republican or democrat. you are looking at the impact of what government is doing on the financial markets, whether it be the oil markets or trading or wall street firms. >> sunday melissa lee on her career and influences and what she believes is her role in reporting business and financial news. watch the rest of the interview sunday night at 8:00 on "q&a." >> as washington works on funding for the current fiscal year debate has started on next year's federal budget. see what is being said from capitol hill to the white house online with the c-span video library, search, watch, clip and share with everything we have covered since 1987. it is what you want when you

want. this year's student cam competition asked students to consider washington, d.c. through their lens. today's third prize winner addressed an issue that better helps them understand the role of the federal government. >> energy affects everyone's life. everybody's life is affected by this? . they don't think about it but they get up in the morning and perhaps take a shower. that is energy coming from a ht water heater. they turn off an alarm clock firms. that is energy from electricity. they go down and perhaps have a slice of toast that. is energy with a toaster. have some coffee, energy from a stove. put a key in the ignition and drive to work. insurance from the goes tank -- energy from the gas tank. every waking amendment is blessed with abundant energy resources in this country. and we don't even think about it. >> americans have been using energy in their daily lives for

as long as most can consider. most don't even realize it any more but it is time to take notice. the federal government is taking notice. they are funding research in national will be tiers to improve energy efficiency. oak ridge national laboratory combines the work of researchers and scientists in tennessee to do ground breaking energy research. this laboratory is managed by the government and is important to our community and nation. but why is this alternative research necessary? >> it is a multi-facetted issue. one is financial issues with the and so al of trade forth. one is a national security issue. with oil resources being in predominantly places that are

unfavorable to the u.s. so, that is part of it. the other part is our energy sources are predominantly fossil fuel based or fossil based. and these tend to be less clean than some of the alternative energy forms that we are look being a the developing and deploying. >> the department of insurance is the main sector of the government that is responsible for funding research at oak ridge in the laboratory. it has many different partnerships. one of them is the national transportation research center or ntrc with the university of tennessee researchers together to develop new transportation technology that has and will affect our everyday lives. >> the facility houses staff

from the oak ridge national laboratory and university of tennessee. the focus of the research here is on transportation, so having staff from both gives opportunities for collaboration in a broad range of transportation areas, not just ground vehicles but also air, train, rail and water. >> i think oak ridge has raised the awareness about how we can use evident -- ethanol. there are cars that can run on 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. so, i think oak ridge's roam has given -- role has given visibility to the issue. >> the scientists at ornl don't just research vehicles.

they research appliances in homes just like yours. they do this through a partnership between oak ridge and other companies. >> the alicense was -- alliance was founded to merge the marketplace with the scientific realm. the national laboratory that we have in oak ridge in your back yard performs all sorts of science. there is a building technologies division at the will be that studies better ways to build more energy efficient ways to build. the will be itself doesn't build. it only studies sections of buildings. and the lab wanted to bring various technologies that it with study in the laboratory and bring them together and build whole houses.

partner eded a private with the money to build and to build because the lab was funded only to research. >> she goes on to describe energy efficient appliances used in the zebra alliance houses such as solar hot water heater and heating system using a heat exchanger. what is special about them the air living the house is used to warm the incoming cooler air reducing the amount of energy required to heat the house. these appliances and many others in the zebra alliance houses are available to us today although the individual appliances seem to be making a small difference in terms of energy efficiency their impact could be huge. the federal government funded research at places like oak ridge for a reason.

they want to make every day life of americans more energy efficient. the research there through oak ridge really does affect you even when you don't rails it. chances are that the energy technology developed in tennessee by ornl and the zebra alliance play some role in the green lit bulbs in the grocery, hybrid cars or ethanol fuel at the gas station. energy efficiency drives efficient reliance and environmental responsibility and started with money from the federal government. >> go to studentcam.org to watch all the videos and continue the conversation about today's documentary at facebook and twitter pages. >> this morning on c-span we will take your questions and comments on "washington journal." then a couple of house armed servicesmi