military and tries to trace down who it is and what it is so we can go on with our normal lives. host: dan gallington? guest: i think there are ways. he has an interesting theory behind this question. that is, we want to find out who this is. who is responsible for the cyber attacks? there are things we can do to disable their systems. there are things we can do to counter these things. it's important for us to find out who is doing them to us. host: we will take one last question. pat, go ahead. caller: i know how to eliminate these cyber attacks. you take the military and the return them from the other countries. you help repair the disasters in this country for you help the elderly. you help the homeless and poor.

you helped by being the brothers and sisters for the young. host: we will have to leave it there. guest: i wish we could all do that. i wish everybody in the world thought like that. good question. host: dan gallington, thank you. guest: thank you. host: the house will be coming into session. they will be working on the homeland security appropriations bill today. dennis kucinich, ohio democrat, introduces a war powers resolution on involvement in libya. nato is extending its military campaign in libya for another 90 days. thank you for watching. we will be back tomorrow. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california for five minutes.

ms. chu: thank you. i rise today to announce an action to address an injustice carried out on this very floor that congress has never atoned for. the chinese exclusion act of 1882. a century ago the chinese came here in search of a better life but they faced harsh conditions, particularly in the halls of congress. congress passed numerous laws to restrict chinese americans starting from the 1882 chinese exclusion act to stop the chinese from immigrating, from becoming naturalized citizens, and from ever having the right to vote. these were the only such laws to target a specific ethnic

group. the chinese were the only residents that had to carry papers on them at all times. they were often harassed and detained. if they couldn't produce the proper documents, authorities threw them into prison or out of the country regardless of their citizenship status. political cartoons and hateful banners like these were hung in towns and cities and printed in papers. at the time of this hateful law, the chinese were called racial slurs, spat in the streets, and even brutally murdered. only after china became an ally of the u.s. in world war ii was this law repealed in 1943, 60 years after its passage. it has never been formally acknowledged by congress as incompatible with america's founding principles. that is why as the first chinese american woman elected to congress and whose grandfather was a victim of this law, i stand on the very floor where the chinese exclusion act was passed and announce that i have introduced

a resolution calling for a formal acknowledgement and expression of regret for the chinese exclusion laws. . when the exclusion laws were introduced, there was a debate in congress over its merits. the 14th and 15th amendment had recently been ratified. slavery had been defeated and freedom seemed more certain. the national atmosphere led many in congress to stand up against the discriminatory anti-chinese laws. but over the years those standing for justice almost all disappeared. by the time 1882 came around, members of congress were fighting over who deserved the most credit for getting the most discriminatory laws passed and standing against the mongolian horde. representative albert shelby willis from kentucky pushed for the laws when lambasting against the chinese. standing in the same spot where

i am standing now he called them aliens and un-republican habits. he said that we are cursed with the evils of chinese immigration and they destroyed the order of society. but there were a brave few, a small minority, who fought hard against principles of freedom. one such man was senator george frisby. he stood up against all of the chinese law. he would say in 1904 when the laws were made permanent, i cannot agree with the principle that this legislation or any legislation on the subject rests. all races, all colors, all nationalities include persons entitled to be recognized everywhere as equals of other men. i am bound to record my protest if i stand alone. and stand alone he did. the final vote against the chinese in the senate was 76-1.

what senator -- the senator stood up for is what i'm asking for congress to stand up today, all people, no matter the color of their skin or the nags of their origin are the equals of every or man or woman. america came to be what it is today through immigrants who came from all corners of the world. chinese immigrants were amongst them. they sought a place to live that was founded upon liberty and equality. they came in search of the american dream, that if you worked hard you could build a good life. it is why my grandfather came to the united states. but when the chinese exclusion act was passed, the truth that this nation holds is self-evident, that all are endowed by the inalienable rights by life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were discounted by the very ones elected to uphold them. so for a generation of our ancestors, like my grandfather,

who were told for six decades by the u.s. government that when land of the free wasn't open to them it is long past time that congress officially and formally acknowledges these ugly laws that targeted chinese immigrants and express sincere regret for these actions. with my resolution congress will acknowledge the injustice of the chinese exclusion act, express regret for the lives it destroyed and make sure that the prejudice that stained our nation is never repeated again and today is a different day and we stand side by side for a stronger america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california, ms. woolsey, is recognized for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, last week this body passed the national defense authorization act. and in doing so yet again it

put a stamp of approval on more violent, belligerent and militaryistic defense policy. while my friends in the majority continue to posture about federal spending, they're eager to authorize billions and pls on military programs and policies that don't actually make -- billions on military programs and policies that don't actually make america safer. they voted down an amendment that would have brought the department of defense funding levels down to the same 2008 levels they want to impose on domestic discretionary spending. obviously the republicans believe in a blank check for the pentagon but austerity for everyone else. they rejected my amendment to eliminate the v-22 osprey, a multibillion dollar aircraft with the performance and safety record so shoddy that even dick cheney tried to eliminate it

when he was secretary of defense. they also rejected an amendment that would have put the use of funds for permanent bases in iraq and afghanistan to answered. this, despite the fact that an -- bases in iraq and afghanistan to end. this, despite the fact that an article that said, and i quote, we've become addicted to spending. he added that the supplemental appropriations with the billions of dollars for constux, and he said, have been like crack cocaine for the military. it gets worse, mr. speaker. the defense bill includes erratically expanded authorization for the use of military force. it completely undermines the war powers act, empowering the president, whichever president, whomever is in that office to declare war regardless of whether an attack against the united states is imminent, regardless of whether our

national security has been threatened. the language doesn't even specify any geographic limitation. the republican majority couldn't even bring themselves to support an amendment that called simply for a plan within 60 days to transfer responsibility for afghanistan security to afghanistan. a plan. so we can begin the process of redevelopment. just a plan within 60 days as our distinguished democratic leader said here on the floor last week when we were debating this, who could be against that? well, apparently the overwhelming majority of house republicans could be against it and are against it and voted against it. then, they topped it off by voting to eliminate the modest public investment in the united states or the u.s. institute of

peace, an institute that carries out well-respected life-saving work on peaceful conflict resolution around the world. last night, the majority played a game of chicken with the global financial credibility of the united states, holding a vote on the debt ceiling that was designed to fail. i challenge them, you want meaningful spending cuts as a condition for a debt ceiling increase? then stop giving the pentagon unlimited use of the taxpayers' a.t.m. card. stop putting the full faith of the united states credit on the line in order to wage more war. you believe in fiscal discipline and you think everything should be on the table, then let's talk about saving $10 billion a month by ending the war in afghanistan. and let's bring our troops home from iraq and afghanistan. with that i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, mrs. capps, for five minutes. mrs. capps: mr. speaker, today i rise to honor a constituent of mine from the 23rd district of california. his name is mr. jack southerland. mr. southerland served honorably in the coast guard during world war ii. he was stationed off the california coast. mr. southerland's brave actions on december 25, 1943, resulted in the safe passage of two escort carriers down the pacific along the coast and into san diego bay. i am very proud to represent mr. southerland, an example to us all for his dedication to our country and for his lifetime of serving our community. mr. speaker, the debt we owe to our nation's veterans is

immeasurable. mr. southerland is no exception. in fact, he's an example of those of that greatest generation who served nobly during the second world war. his actions in 1943 leave me humbled and honored by his sacrifices. we can never repay his service, but we can act honorably on his behalf and behave in a way that is indicative of a grateful nation. singling out events like these are important to remind us that acknowledging our veterans' wrafery and sacrifice is never done -- bravery and sacrifice is never done. despite the decades that have passed, our country remains indebted to the heroic actions of mr. southerland and his many brothers in arms. it's also imperative to remember that we are still a nation at war, and that veterans who serve decades ago or just months ago or are saving today deserve our support, our appreciation and our profound gratitude. mr. southerland waited too long

to be officially recognized, and i'm sure he'd agree that all veterans deserve timely and genuine acknowledgments of their service. i'm proud of the work my staff completed to assist mr. southerland achieve a formal recognition from the commandant of the united states coast guard. just a few days ago, the veterans' clinic in santamaria, california, hosted a reception and ceremony where the letter of recognition from the commandant was read and where many of the coast guard in active duty stationed were present to see someone of the generation preceding them be acknowledged. i consider my work on behalf of veterans to be one of my first sacred responsibilities as a member of congress. veterans like mr. southerland represent the best this country has to offer. and ensuring his work is recognized is of paramount importance. it's an honor to represent a man of such integrity,

conviction and dedication to his country. i am proud to include his service in the congressional record of the united states congress, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico, mr. pierluisi. . mr. pierluisi: thank you, mr. speaker. the 2010 consensus confirmed hispanics are a growing part of the american family. there are now more than 50 million latinos in the united states, accounting for more than half of the nation's population growth between 20 -- 2000 and 2010. today one in six americans is hispanic. this tremendous growth adds to our country's rich diversity, but it also brings challenges. the number of english language learners in our nation's schools have increased by 50% over the past decade.

english learners are found in states with traditionally large hispanic populations like texas and new mexico, and in states that have experienced a recent influx of immigrants like colorado and indiana. and english learners are found in large numbers in the u.s. territory of puerto rico. how well our schools educate those students will determine the future success of our nation. and providing a quality education means ensuring that they graduate from high school with proficiency in english. the benefits of learning english are clear for students living in the 50 states where it is difficult to obtain most jobs without being fluent in the language, but learning english is also vital for students in puerto rico. in my life i have visited many countries around the world and everywhere i have traveled i have seen young people studying english with passion and determination. puerto rico's sons and daughters particularly as american citizens living in a

u.s. territory simply must be proficient in english to compete effectively in the modern globalized world. yet for too many years some in puerto rico start to limit the teaching of english in our local schools in a misguided approach to limit our status. it has harmed our children and our island. regardless of one's views on puerto rico's status, there can be no question that proficiency in english as well as in spanish is in the best interest of puerto rico's youth. to deny our children the opportunity to learn english is to deny them the countless opportunities that come with being bilingual. accordingly, since arriving in congress, one of my primary goals has been to improve english language instruction in puerto rico schools. that is why i have introduced a bill to raise a cap that restricts the amount of federal funds the island can receive to strengthen its english language programs. in order to ensure that the children of puerto rico have

the same opportunities as children in the states, it is imperative that the island be treated fairly when it comes to allocating federal funding for english language programs. moreover, our schools' success in teaching english learners in puerto rico and in the states will depend on the number of well prepared bilingual teachers available to instruct the students. in puerto rico the challenge has been to find enough teachers who are sufficiently proficient in english to effectively teach the language. at the same time, the increased number of english learners in the states have left school districts scrambling to find enough teachers for foreign languages, in both cases schools are asking themselves, how can i find an experienced teacher to meet this need? one answer, teacher exchanges. i recently introduced legislation that would fund teacher exchanges between school districts in different regions of the united states.

under my bill, for example, a teacher in puerto rico could improve her english ability by spending a year in the states trading places with a native english speaking instructor who seeks to improve her spanish language skills. through this exchange the teachers and more importantly the students in each community would benefit. no wonder that organizations representing english teachers, foreign language instructors, principles, and school boards have all endorsed my bill. as congress works to reform the elementary and secondary education act, i urge my colleagues to address the needs of english language learners whether those students are located in santa fe, san antonio, or san juan. our goals should be as simple as it is ambitious. to ensure every student in our nation has the opportunity to graduate from high school as a fluent english speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, for five minutes.

mr. defazio: well, yesterday, the house resoundingly rejected a so-called clean increase in the debt limit. as it should have. but different people are going to draw different conclusions from this vote. the republicans will say this means unlimited spending cuts, that's how we'll balance the budget, and on my side of the aisle there will be those that say, no, this puts revenues back into play, actually, both should be right. there is no way, no way -- money is coming in better than expected, to deal with that without dealing with both sides of the equation, that is revenues and cuts in spending. now, unfortunately around here it seems that coming together for the problems of the nation

is somewhat quaint and old-fashioned. been here long enough to remember when we used to do those things. when we had the surtax on millionaires back when bush the first was president. and brought back some fiscal sanity. before my time when ronald reagan raised taxes three times because he realized supply side economics didn't work. we are now back to supply side economics over here doesn't work and more stucts, they are proposing more stucts in the face of deficits. absurd. how are we going to force that discussion? i believe we need a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. we actually passed one when i was here in 1995. i voted for it. it failed by one vote in the senate. just think, had that been in place when in the last two years of the clinton presidency we not only balanced the budget we began to pay down debt for the first time since 1969. then came bush two and he said

we are going to give that money back to the people. even when we went into deficit, he said we'll need more tax cuts. that's what we need is more tax cuts because we are running a deficit now and that's how he deal with deficits is cut taxes because people will, whatever, somehow that creates more money. if we had had the balanced budget amendment to the constitution in place, bush couldn't have gotten away with that. he couldn't have launched an unnecessary war in iraq and cut taxes at the same time. the first time our nation has gone to war while cutting taxes. and he managed to double the designate -- debt in eight short years. ending with the spectacular crash on wall street and the tarp bailout, which many forget was the bush tarp bailout. i voted against that, too. not the obama tarp bailout. although obama continued those same wall street friendly policies. and then the obama stimulus. 40% of that was bush tax cuts. what is it? what is it we don't get that

cutting taxes in the way that george bush wanted to do and did do with trickle-down economics and piling up more debt does not put people back to work. it's not investment. it doesn't generate economic activity and jobs. the theory is the rich people will have so much money they'll invest it in meaningful ways. corporation is kit sitting on $2 trillion in cash. wall street, billionaire hedge fund managers pay a 15% rate of tax. half that of an army captain. are they investing in a meaningful way to put people back to work? no, they are speculating and driving up the price of gas and screwing the american people into depressing our economy. it's time to get real around here and i believe the balanced budget amendment would focus the minds and deal with this deficit and debt in a way that is serious. both with dealing with revenues and dealing with spending cuts. i voted extending all the bush tax cuts in december, not just the ones on thep rich people. all of them.

-- on the rich people. all of them. it would have cut the deficit in half by $5 trillion over 10 years. then we wouldn't have been screaming in january after everybody, many people on that side of the aisle, voted for extending the bush tax cuts, they were shocked, shocked, shocked, we had a record deficit this year. huh? you dew point vote to reduce revenues -- you voted to reduce revenues and you're shocked? has it put people back to work? not much in my district. come the ryan budget, serious budget. destroys medicare, ends medicare as we know it. cuts medicaid, most people think that's for poor people. most of the money goes to kids or seniors in nursing homes. that's going to be kind of a tough one. so huge devastating cuts. more tax cuts. more of the joke economic policies. let's cut taxes and that will help us deal with the deficit. more tax cuts for rich people and big corporations. he doesn't balance the budget

even under his rosy scenario written by the heritage foundation until 2040. that's a serious attempt at dealing with our debt and deficit. that's the ryan budget. the obama budget is even worse. don't know if it gets there by 2050. neither side is dealing seriously with these issues. we need to focus people's minds and a balanced budget amendment to the constitution is the best way to do that. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the speaker very much. and i thank my colleagues and ask to address the house for five minutes. it's important to be able to

discuss with my colleagues just what we are doing in this house . and what is considered important and urgent and what is the impact on what we are doing. as my friends, the republicans, on the other side of the aisle are now spending time with the president, i hope they will have visions of president ronald reagan, because in 1983 ronald reagan begged and asked the congress at that time to raise the debt limit. this is not a twelve -- 2011, 21st century phenomenon never to be heard of in the history of this country. raising the debt limit, my friends, is not evil or sin. it is an ack actuality that requires us to be responsible adults. i want you to eye this picture and continue to keep your eyes

on it, continuously as i explain to you what we are doing when we ask for the debt limit to be raised. does anyone care about our men and women on the frontlines? do we care about their families? do we care about veterans? we wave the flag, and many of us emotionally were drawn to commemorate and honor those who had fallen this pastp monday. we enter related with families, some of whom came to me and asked me why veterans are discriminated against and can't get work. or disabled veterans are chastised by their employer. and i made a commitment to them that we'll work to have jobs and end the discrimination. and that the soldiers who are coming back 10% unemployment, do you realize that? that there is a 10% unemployment among iraq and afghanistan's returning soldiers? soldiers who are in their 20's

and 30's or maybe 40's. soldiers who may be disabled, who may have come back from a catastrophic injury but they want to work and support their families. these very men and women, do you know what the debt limit not being lifted will do? and so, yes, this was put on the floor of the house to make mockery and a joke, but i came here to be a serious legislator, and i voted yes. because it was a serious statement on behalf of my constituents and the american people and i could not within 24 hours of being around military families abandon them with the frivolity and foolishness of putting something on the floor just to put it in the eye of the president. let me tell you why it partly was done as a trickery. listen to the words of a bond dealer, i didn't even know they had a vote tonight, to be honest with you, our senior

government bond strategist said, the only real event that the market is focused on is a point at which they run out of money and have to shut down the government. let me tell you, the reason why this was just a joke, except those of us who voted yes, didn't take it as a joke because the secretary of the treasury has extended the time to august 2. but if we do not raise the debt limit like ronald reagan asked and other republican presidents asked with no fanfare, let me tell you what will happen to our soldiers. it will be 20% unemployment. what will happen to medicare? we won't be making it solvent. we'll just end it and implode it like the ryan budget wants to do. we'll eliminate medicare for disabled persons and children and seniors in nursing homes. no, we won't have any veterans benefit, but our city that now are grappling with disaster, that funding will dry up as well. and we are the rainy day

umbrella for the american people. you know what else? summer jobs for our young people who are struggling to get themselves back in school in the fall. in the city of houston, how -- i don't know -- unthinking can you be when you close down city pools. the meager opportunity and recreation that a child has in an inner city area or maybe a rural area. summer pools. totally closed down. so i guess what -- and parks. so what they are supposed to do besides having one person that can monitor the pool? you just have them running the streets. what sense does that make? or the school districts in the state of texas now losing $4 billion, the houston independent school district, one of the largest in the nation, $200 million. . or a.i.c. $30 million.

it's time to wake up and understand to recognize the responsibility we have, mr. speaker. we can end the war in afghanistan, bring them home from iraq and do our job and raise the debt ceiling. this is ridiculous but i'm not going to be part of it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. stearns, for five minutes. mr. stearns: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. stearns: good morning, mr. speaker. lost mountain hyper bollic statements and -- hyperbolic statements and cause of doom, if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling is something our nation faces, the out-of-control spending that's become epidemic here in congress. no doubt a technical default in august surely would be problematic. but much worse would be the results if republicans cave to democrats and no significant funding reforms is implemented. today, my colleagues, 68 cents

of every dollar spent on entitlement programs by the year 2025 the government will spend 100% of every dollar on revenues on entitlements. the united states is over $14 trillion in debt, and without spending cuts and the deficit and our national debt we will continue to grow. we must begin to rein in spending and bring about the fiscal changes to protect our children from this growing burden of debt. mr. speaker, importantly, markets understand the difference between a technical default in which investors may have to wait a short period of time for an interest payment and an actual -- and the difference with an actual default in which a country is unable to repay its debt. if congress does not act appropriately now, very soon the country will not face merely a technical default but instead a real default. then, the calls of doom will be appropriate.

investors have every incentive to want congress to balance its budget and get its house in order finally. if this means investors will have to wait a few days for an interest payment to be repaid, then so be it, because fixing the real problem now guarantees to investors that this government can make its payments 10 years from now. a realization that will comfort investors much more than preventing a mild delay. particularly if that mild delay means future debt limit debates, future possible defaults. of course, the best solution, of course, is no default at all, not technical and not actual. congress must quickly come together and make some tough decisions that will forever affect the future of our country. but we will not be coerced into a position that fuels the spending addiction had a has landed us in this situation where we stand today. we will not succumb to a vote to increase the debt limit if

we are not compensated with significant spending cuts. as our speaker, john boehner, has said, quote, it's true allowing america to default would be irresponsible, but it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without simultaneously taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process itself, end quote. and it can be done. we can look back to understand what will happen next. several years back russia had a real default. yet, within two or three years it reached all-time low interest rates. earlier this year the house passed a house budget resolution for fiscal year 2012 which sent nondiscretionary spending levels to below 2008 funding levels. it calls upon repealing the costly and burdensome health care law and envision to reform some entitlement programs to contain costs and pay down the national budget. my colleagues across the aisle have criticized portions of this legislation, but the

question is asked, where is their alternative? there can be no debate if the other side cannot produce a logical document that is seriously sets out to solve our nation's crisis, the real crisis. just like the solution to a drug addiction is not to increase one's intake. the solution to our nation's spending addiction is not to increase one's capacity to continue to accumulate debt. the time is now for real reform. only after we have curved the trillions of dollars of debt that we continue to pile up can we then consider raising the debt limit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today. >> the house returns at noon eastern today to begin work on homeland security department spending for the next budget year.

provides about 3% less than this budget year. members will begin offering amendments to the bill with work on it expected to continue until tomorrow. we'll have live coverage here on c-span. >> now veilable, c-span's congressional directory, a complete guide to the first session of the 112th congress. inside, new and returning house and senate members, with contact information, including twitter addresses, district maps, and committee assignments, and information on the white house, supreme court justices, and governors. order online at c-span.org/shop. >> a number of house republicans are at the white house this morning. right now, for a meeting with president obama. they are talking about spending cuts that republicans want before any increase in the federal debt ceiling. today's meeting comes after a house vote yesterday against raising the limit on government borrowing by $2.4 trillion. both democrats and republicans voted against the plan. that vote was 318-97.

democrats will meet with president obama tomorrow on the same issue. tomorrow the house is debating homeland security spending this afternoon, the house committee will begin holding a hearing on the department's ability to gather and assess intelligence. and you can see live coverage on c-span3 getting under way this afternoon at 2:00 eastern. also today a house foreign affairs subcommittee looks into the u.s. transition out of iraq and progress on shifting more authority to the iraqi government. c-span2 will have live coverage as the subcommittee raises state department questions and usaid officials will also be there to take part. gets under way at 2:30 eastern. sunday on "in-depth" the balance between security and liberty, the difficulties of a climate change treaty, and the limits of international law, your questions for author and university of chicago law professor, eric posner, his looks include "law and social

new orleans" and the "perils of global legalism" and he'll take your calls, emails, and tweets live sunday on c-span2's book tv. >> you're watching c-span, bringing you politics and public affairs, every morning it's "washington journal." our live call-in program about the news of the day connecting you with elected officials, policymakers, and journalists. week days watch live coverage of the u.s. house, and nights hearings. plus supreme court oral arguments. weekends you can see our signature interview programs. on saturdays "the communicators" and on sundays "newsmakers," "q&a" and "prime minister questions" from the house of marlment. you can watch programming any time at c-span.org and it's all searchable. c-span, washington your way. a public service, created by america's cable companies. >> space shuttle endeavor your

-- endeavour is headed for a museum now after acheaching more than 25 flights. they landed at kennedy space center early this morning. nasa's shuttle program will end after atlantis goes on the last mission set for july 8. >> gear down and locked. touchdown. parachute deployed by greg johnson. forward gear touchdown. and so after a journey of 6 mall miles endeavour landing in darkness, dedication of every engineer, flight controller, mechanic, and dreamer that

helped it fly, the sixth youngest ship completing its 122 millionth mile after the crew delivered an instrument will sift through the cosmic darkness for years to come. >> houston, endid you have your will stop. >> 25 challenging space lights, your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be remembered. welcome home, endeavour. >> thank you, houston. you know the space shuttle is an amazing vehicle. the flying through the atmosphere, hit it at mack -- mach 25. steered through the atmosphere like an airplane, land on a runway. >> an hour after the shuttle landed nasa officials held a briefing to discuss the mission. the shuttle endeavour, and shuttle program itself. >> she has a great legacy.

>> welcome to post landing news conference for space shuttle endeavour's mission to the international space nation. joining us here we have nasa's administrator, for space operations,. >> good morning. >> the space shuttle launch integration manager. >> good morning. >> and finally shuttle launch manager. >> we'll take questions. >> thanks. again what a great ending to this really wonderful mission that we just got to witness. it was a phenomenal mission. the a.m.s. talked to professor ting today and they are getting great data from their instrument onboard space station. that couldn't have gone any better for this mission. the crew and the docking in the middle of the mission added another dimension we haven't seen before, and the space walks and the activities that the crew had done before was phenomenal. i can't say enough to the team

here in florida that got endeavour ready to go fly, allowed us to do those wonderful things. if it wasn't for the teams that worked so hard and tirelessly on the vehicle to get it ready to go fly and operate the way it did, it was just phenomenal tribute to what they have done. and then today to get to see the roll out of atlantis to the launch pad at the same time was also a really special event. it's a very good day today and really want to thank the folks down here for all the dedication, hard work they have put in as we get ready to go forward. >> thank you, phil. we have a lot going on here. it's been a heck of a month in the last four hours. i think we have used up our overtime budget for the entire month. on the activity tonight. being able to spend atlantis out to the pad and then go out and land endeavour was really a combination i never expected to have. it was really a nice thing to do. really made you reflect on what we are doing. and maybe not quite as sad as

with the last of atlantis headed to the pad knowing endeavour was coming back later that night. really great mission. fantastic work by the crew in oir bit -- orbit. they did an amazing job. i can't say enough about the training that went into the tests they had to do and the efforts. on a personal basis they work really hard to make space flight look easy. i think we made this one look easy, which is a real testament to everybody. the atlantis going outs to the pad was a good thing as well. that ship's in great shape. we are still looking really good on our launch date and have plenty of margin. we are happy to get that one flying here. out on the runway endeavour looked real good. the crew was in good shape, good spirits. pretty happy setup with the weather. it was pretty straightforward. yesterday we were worried a lot about cross winds. i think we had a zero wind peaking to zero on the run way

tonight. all the mosquitos had plenty of time to fly around and find us. but we had a little bit of rain showers coming of the -- off the ocean. they were dissipating before they got to us and wouldn't be a threat. you heard tonight an early go from the flight control team back in houston. tony is the entry flight director. really good job by them. and again like i said the ship looked great. the crew looked great. they were in good spirits although it is rather late for them in their day. after 16 days i think happy to get back to a bed and get a shower and take a nap. i think all in all i can't say enough about the team and how proud i am of them and how proud i am to be able to sit here and represent that whole team along with these three guys. it's a good night for us. >> thanks. as i walk around endeavour as well and look up at an amazing

machine at the kennedy space center this morning and able to talk to a lot of the ground crews who take good care of her. they are very proud of the space program. it's sad to see the last one out there. we got her home safe. commander kelly, great lanting. got to talk to him a little bit after the mission. he was in great spirits and the entire crew was. great to have the endeavour crew back. rolling atlantaist -- atlantis out. ererolled 40 minutes late. something like that. i was able to talk to commander ferguson on the deck of the mobile launcher for quite some time during the rollout. he's excited about his mission. all four of the prime crew were here for the rollout and experienced that. couple for the first time. they enjoyed the rollout a lot. another -- as bill mentioned and mike as well, it's been a great morning so far at the kennedy space center. the atlantis is almost hard down, maybe is by now. and we'll start the pad

processing this morning. we'll have margin in the schedule. we have a tank test to set up. and looking forward to launch on july 8. again, another good day at the kennedy space center and space shuttle program and international space station program. it's been a good morning. thanks. >> we'll take questions. we'd like to answer your questions. >> associate press. what do you think endeavour will be ready to ship out to california? what's the status of discovery and its release to the smithsonian? >> i made myself a promise last time you asked me that question to have those schedules ready for you and i forgot to bring them. mike, do you know the sked? >> yeah, last time i guessed i was wrong. >> sorry. >> are any of these -- >> i was thinking february of next year. >> for which -- >> endeavour. >> ok. so you're thinking early next

year. >> we'll get you the schedule. sorry about that. >> nasa space site dot-com. first what a pleasure to follow that mission from beginning to end and execution. i can't imagine the work that went into that. for you, wondering if you want to give any comment to both the human factor and engineering factor of u.s. assembly complete on the international space station for this flight and for mike, just looking for a brief update on the status of the debris investigation. from the debris we were seeing, was that a recep pration on 134? -- recep pration on 134? >> assembly complete is a pretty big milestone on station. i don't want to 230e cuss on asemicomplete. i want to if he cuss on other side. we need to begin utilization in earnest. it's neat this flight brought the a.m.s. up to i.s.s.

it's a world class instrument. the data they are getting is phenomenal. the amount of data receiving is interesting to them. they are getting all kinds of data. we are looking at ways we can help enhance some of the data they get to the ground. this is the time when we are going to utilize station. we are working lots of space agreements to get some flown as part of the national lab. we are getting ready to go do potentially the cooperative announcement to have an organization go run that organization for us at nasa. that will probably be about a month away from this time. we are gearing up heavily into the utilization phase and get ready to really utilize this wonderful resource laboratory we have in space. >> question about that debris. one of the cameras on the right-hand s.r.b. captured a small sill lynn drickal piece tumble away. something we haven't seen before. we have done the imagery to show where that could be, what the possible dimensions could be.

it could be up to two or three inches in length. we have gone through and looked at the hardware we have in the area. nothing's miss interesting any. the recovered hardware, the e.t. side of that doesn't come back. from what we have seen, everything looks fine. we still haven't found the root cause, smoking gun yet, and so that's still an open anomaly and we'll close it before we are ready to fly 135. for right now it's still in that unexplained anomaly category. there are a few things in there it could be we haven't seen before and want to make sure we are not being a little too hopeful in saying that's what it is. some of the wiring itself, this was a piece of that wiring, or leader, or right at the end of that that came off that could be exsplained. that's a fish eye lens on that camera so we are doing tests on the real camera to say this could have been a piece of debris on the lens that was maybe only a quarter inch long but appeared to be big.

we are doing a lot of back out on the imagery. that's ongoing. we are cleared fast enough we knew the stack on 135, we didn't need to open up anything there to take a look. we had good close up photos, documentation in the process. that was our first focus to make sure we could get out of the barn ok with 135. we'll switch back and look at 134 and try to identify what it was and have that close through our normal inflight anomaly process. i'm sure that one will get flagged as i.f.a. and we'll discuss that before we fly 135. >> evan brown, fox news radio. good morning. could you whoever would like to answer this, just take a few moments and sort of reflect on endeavour. she a little bit different from the others in the fleet being she was a replacement vehicle? did she live up to all hopes not just necessarily operationally, but in the feelings here.

>> i guess i'll start. no doubt. endeavour's a fantastic ship. we were out on the run way thade talked being about it's just shy of 20 years. you look at it and it doesn't look 20 years at all. mike mentioned that a couple times it looks almost the same as the day it came in other than a couple of the blankets on the outside are darker and worn and showing sign of space flight. it's a sfan it'sic ship. it came in as a replacement to get us back from the challenger accident and it really -- it's been a workhorse ever since. not only the vehicle but the teams down here to take care of it have done an amazing job. again unbelievably proud of all the firsts that vehicle has accomplished. and it can fly another 20 years no doubt and keep going. >> ken cramer for space flight.

for all of us just want to say thanks for doing great job for science this a.m.s. wonderful for mankind what you have done. wonder if you could reflect a little bit, each of you, your teams how they felt about bringing the a.m.s. out there. >> i mean it's -- i don't know. if i reflect back on a.m.s., there was a period of time when a.m.s. wasn't on the manifest. and that was kind of a tough time for us because we knew it was a pretty sfibblingted instrument. it had potential to do a lot of great research, but we couldn't figure out a way to get it on the manifest. we looked at a lot of different options trying to fly it into space. we looked to put it on expendable launch vehicle. to tug. none panned out. it was uniquely designed for the orbiter. we kept the work moving forward in that process and just let life play out.

eventually we got the chance to get a.m.s. to go into orbit. there's a message for the teams out there, if you just stay focused on what you need to go do and keep options open, sometimes life changes a little and you get a chance to recoup things that didn't look promising to begin with. there's a chance there to keep that optimism there. you can still accomplish ams.ing things. it's kind of special to see a.m.s. orbit and know that history. there were times we weren't sure it was going to fly. >> from a flight readiness review side when we start talking about being ready to fly. we talked about this payload a lot. it represented what bill mentioned at the beginning, which is it's kind of that -- become the flag ship of the bridge of assembly complete into space station science utilization and really the team was pretty excited about being able to carry that one up and have it be such a flagship type

of experiment, that world class experiment that's going to return what they expect is going to be great science. and the potential to find things they haven't expected will be better. that's what its wlegacy will be. from a shuttle program team, it is one of those things that's a good thing that gives us some comfort knowing as we wind down we are taking a station and making it what it needs to be for the future. >> i think from my perspective, i don't get to deal with payloads a lot. we are mostly concentrated in the shuttle world. i do reflect back on our first launch attempt we had to scrub back in late april. and professor ting came through the firing room and was handing out books about the a.m.s. and i asked him to sign the copy he gave me. and he immolested me -- impressed me as the father of this whole payload but a very, very large family. that has worked on this particular instrument for many, many years. he was a version very proud

father. he was looking forward to getting it on orbit and having it work. it's doing just that now. i'm sure he extremely pleased right now. >> reuters. what is the date for the atlantis taking test, please? >> will be june 15. >> thanks. for bill, could you just give us a little status on where orbital stands on their demo? >> i think space ex's demo will be in the fall. we were thinking i think around october, november kind of time frame. maybe september for that. we are still haven't made the decision yet whether we are going to combine the demonstration missions two and three together knee one mission. we are heading into that direction. we still need to do some more additional runs, rendezvous runs to make sure that's a reasonable

combination to put those two flights together. we are not cutting anything out of the demonstration. we are going to democrat straight everything on the first mission just like we were originally. we had the second mission right afterwards, we'll make that decision here in june. that's aiming towards the fall. and then orbital will do a test firing i believe in september kind of time frame, and then their launch of just the rocket will be in october 2308d by their -- followed by their first actual pickup and docking space station sometimes -- sometime in the december time frame. basically this fall will be a pretty busy time for both of the new cargo providers coming online. >> is it possible that orbital might dock before space ex? >> no. it will be the other way around. space x will do their mission in october, november. that will go all the way to station, we think. >> is that when -- >> i'm pretty sure we are going

to combine those into one mission and that mission will dock. and i'm pretty surely that's too strong a term. but we need to review all the data mange sure it's right. if we have reasonable chance of doing it, we'll do it in one mission. we think we'll see one space x flight. >> and orbital before the end of the year? >> could be both before the end of the year. >> thanks. >> florida today. could any or all of us just reflect on having gotten to this point where you only have one mission to go, are you in the home stretch, obviously you want to -- you'll focus on the work at hand like you always do, but the end is so much closer now. i'm sure that's got to be even harder to keep out of your daily thoughts and just kind of your feelings and thoughts on having one to go and having successfully even gotten to this point. >> i haven't had a chance to

think about that mostly because i'm tired tonight. and really it's been a heck of a day, two days actually, if you count back we didn't sleep at all. so seeing atlantis roll out was when it started to hit me we are never going to see that again. and so that was a pretty big, emotional event. but again it was tempered with turn right around and focus on landing. i hate to say it i still haven't had a chance to process that. maybe after a couple hours' sleep i'll think about it. we knew the end was coming. it's a little more realization this is the last one. now it switches to the -- move past that stage and more in the regret stage that things you are not going to get to do again and you feel story for those opportunities that are behind you now. no more in front of you. stuff like rollouts and tanking tests and broken l.c.a. boxes.

>> mark from talking space, question for bill. i think people connect with the shuttle program sometimes with the crew, sometimes with a mission patch that symbol we see so often. sometimes with a payload. is there a particular connection that has stuck with you maybe through the years or recent connection that you feel will always be there as one of the top ones for you? >> it's what -- what's unique when i think about the shuttle program, i probably think about the people that i have got the privilege of working with throughout the years. i was very lucky to get started in the shuttle business back in the wind tunnels in cleveland and did air data probe calibration stuff and shuttle base heating on the external tanks. i have been around the program for a while and throughout those 34 years that i have been here in nasa, i have met some amazing

folks that are unbelievably dedicated. i think there's no finer work force in the world. they continually amaze me. we continue to ask them to do the impossible to make schedules work to do extra work, to go above and beyond, to strife for absolute perfection -- strive for absolute perfection each and every time and they continue to rise to the occasion and deliver. when i think back about the shuttle program, i think of the people that i have had the privilege of working with and they are some of the finest people that i have ever known. it's really my privilege to even be considered part of the team that they were -- work with. . >> todd for mike. just a couple of probably cleanup questions. you mentioned the schedule for 1:35. i'm wondering how many contingency days you have and i'm also wondering what your dates are for the terminal

capdown demonstration test. >> ok. june 23. and the weekend of july 4 we have all three days off so we're looking forward to that holiday. we'll be working weekends leading up to the july 4 weekend holiday. all weekend. but it's different crews on different weekend days depending what the tasks are. so we're not going to be stressing any one particular group at all. so it's a good schedule. we feel good about it. we should be able to get to the 8th no problem. >> just to follow, i think i heard both mikes today hint overtime and i can remember after challenger, you know, overtime was such a big deal when the discussions of what went on leading up to that mission and you said some dates

in place, if i remember correctly, 60 hours a week and no many days in a row. i wonder your overtime rates as you go into this last flow. i'm just curious. >> mike's comments about overtime is kind of off the cuff. it was a funny thing we were talking about. the workplace time violation issue, we track that very, very closely. in fact, i'm responsible for part of it. violations of the major magnitude require my approval. and deviations require my approval and violations require my signature after the violation has occurred. we're tracking it very, very closely. we're running very low on deviations and the 60-hour rule. so we've laid out the schedule and we told the program what we think we can do as a processing

team. they've accepted that schedule. in fact, we probably could set an earlier launch date than july 8, frankly, but we told mike and the rest of the program we need a couple extra days and obviously they gave it to us. we feel god about it. again, we are going to be working every weekend day other than july 4 weekend but it's different crews. once again, we're not going to stress any particular group very much at all. we have a work force in place. we track that also monthly with our work force council. right now they have no concern about the work force and the hours we're going to be asking them to work through the 135. >> i'll emphasize again mike said exactly right, the team here for the last -- well, ever since i came onboard three years ago, but really in the last three years that's our major discussion when we talk schedule is really the resources we then apply to that schedule. we set the calendar. you put the black bars on the

chart. tells you what date you can make. we sit down and we have our u.s.a. work force team led by patty and mark. and then our ground processing team with mike and rita and company working the rest of that team that puts the work force on top of them and say, these are the areas where we're critical on skills. who is the real crew working? it's not just what work gets done on a given day. when i look at this schedule and they brought me with the july 8 i was nervous about it because it only had those three contingency days. if you look at the schedule and see it's a different crew every weekend. there's eight days of x-rays we have after the test. that's all we're doing is x-rays. that team gets worked hard but the rest of the team is off. and the schedule is helping the work force. we're doing that almost job number one the last couple years knowing about the

burndown at the end of the program, the resources of the people will be the real challenge. yeah. i did make an off-the-cuff remark at the beginning. this is really a joke. this is very important to them. we'd be very careful we don't burn anybody out or push anything too hard. >> another example, todd, couple three weeks ago we sat here and said we're not quite sure we can do rollout and landing on the same day but we took a very hard look at the crews themselves, down to the individuals and made sure we had sufficient people to do both operations and not stress any particular group. came forward with a recommendation. yeah, looks good. we can do it. we pay very, very close attention to the work force. very, very proud of that program. >> denise. question for bill and mike moses. the 134 crew seems to get a lot accomplished on orbit and especially it being a fairly

long mission. i wonder where that placed the station program for the postshuttle years and where it lays for the groundwork for the 135? >> i think the extension days helped the station crews get ahead on some tasks they needed to get down. we wanted to get the oxygen generation system set up with the device that actually conditions the water to keep the p.h. level corrected and the oxygen system rate and that was able to be accomplished. the carbon dioxide removal system, we wanted to get that bed changed out and returned and the crews were able to get that done and ahead. we have the life support system fully functional. the backup to the russian system, which is really good, and also we'll run the system which will generate some water for us from a station standpoint. so there are extra hours on orbit really helped a lot and the power converter that takes

the station power and then allows us to power down the fuel cells that gives us that extra time frame has proven very valuable for us. if you put that on orbit and look at the days we were able to add to the overall mission, we got another mission's work of onorbit time available by putting that power system on the orbiter. that was a very good decision when we put that on. atlantis unfortunately doesn't have that so that mission will be limited and we won't get ahead on the atlantis mission. i think that's been really phenomenal. we had the 16-plus zero-day mission and we had we were joking amongst ourselves, we're not sure if we on the ground can make 20 days. we don't know about the crew. that's an awful long mission for us. but it worked out really well. i can't -- again, set station up very well-to-do operations

without the shuttle. >> a few more follow-up questions. evan brown, fox news radio. could you, again, whoever would like to take it, talk about the end of shuttle e.v.a.'s. we have the last shuttle e.v.a. with this system. what did the shuttle program contribute to that? and what's going to happen to the e.m.u.'s? do they become museum pieces themselves? >> once the -- technically this was the last shuttle trained e.v.a. we have not done a shuttle-based e.v.a. since the hubble for a very long time. we take our suits up and bring them back because it's easier to service. in the meantime the e.v.a. product in the space station program has been slowly upgrading those units to have more onorbit lifetime and perform a lot of the maintenance we do on the ground in orbit. that's all been built and in

place and is ready to take place. so they will go on orbit. it's in the multiple years category and they can be rotated out with cargo resupply if you need to replace parts and bring a hard upper torso backer or something like that. we stocked the station for u.s. -based e.v.a. that's we'll need to do throughout. it's not really the end of anything. it's the end of the fact that we've had the dedicated training ground to take the crew two years out and know exactly what they are going to do and have perfectly cure graphed timeline. it has shown us a couple of things. you need to dispense time on the ground and train to know exactly what you're doing and exactly where you are. but to move into further exploration and how we go in the future, you're not going to have that opportunity to have somebody that's practiced that one task and knows how to do it very well. you need a tool set to have a

skill-based task. and station has trained crews to do that and allow us to throw tasks in and out. you've seen the tasks on the last couple of missions be that laundry list of, of course, we have 15 other things we need to do. let's though them in. we've choreographed it very well. what we'll be doing from now on. just not only time efficient but they can accomplish the same activities. the good news on station is there's not many things that need the immediate attention. you have a few days to go out and those timelines have been pretrained. and throw the skill set together, go out the door and ready to imp. i think we've learned that by having the experience to train really hard, practice really hard and then go up and maybe not be able to fly exactly what you've been trained, come back and recognize, that's not what i practiced for but i was able to do it very well.

that led us down the path to -- i know the station program wouldn't hesitate probably do anything outside of e.v.a. and the crew would say, we're ready to do it. the ground team really gained a lot of experience as well. you know, that's something that is a true testament. you think back to the station and talk about assembly complete. we built this thing for the last 10-plus years and i can't really list too many things that didn't actually fit together. i mean, the biggest fear that kept people up, i know my wife was all involved in the ammonia capable stuff. she would wake up and come about -- the cable is not quite long enough. all the ground testing and the teams did, that's a really big testing. you see how big that space station is and we built it part by part in the shuttle bay over the years and it all fit together, it all worked perfect and it's performing absolutely fantastic.

the hours aren't what we're projecting. e.v.a. goes back a long way. you go back in the shuttle program, we started with baby steps and now you look at what we did. it's an amazing skill set we built for our spatial room. >> ken kramer for "space flight magazine." bill, can you tell us the status of the fly-around for 135? are you still planning that? >> yeah, i don't think we're flying -- we're not going to plan to do a fly-around in the 135. i am not sure where the images are. they are with the data that went to moscow. the russians have a launch coming up on june 8, and so i think probably sometime around that time frame we'll get the data from moscow and get those images released. they're with the rest of the data, the digital data that's been stored. we should get it around the

launch time, the latest. >> associated press. probably for bill. but one was so wobblely and so determined to join the crew out there on the runway. i'm wondering how he's doing and anything you can say about him? >> he seemed fine when we talked to him. he was really excited about getting back to station again and getting a chance to go through the e.v.a.'s that he did. we had a chance to talk to him and he's fine. >> chris with a follow-up. you mentioned the x-rays. you plan to do on the 13r5 tank. i'm curious, is that an added safeguard measure based on what we saw with the tank on discovery and the flow just to make sure everything's working, make sure everything's working as planned? and if i'm remembering correctly, it's only the front side or the orbiter side of the tank that's getting compace

x-rays. >> that's a good question for mike to answer. >> that's exactly right. we did the modification to the tank that's out there on the path now for the atlantis. and if you go back to the history here, et-137 had the crack so we modified it, repaired the track and had a stringer mod. we did that same mod on the tank that just launched with endeavour, et-132. even though it wasn't made with the same metal we didn't prove that after the mod. we preemptedly did the mod on that tank so we're going to bed and do a tanning test just to prove to ourselves that nothing unexpected happened, all our models are right and we do understand how this mod performs. and so the x-rays are really that double check to show, we understand the stresses. one thing we learned from this investigation was that, you know, we initially thought we

had -- we had to have bad parts somewhere. something had to be a failure. there was debris in there that shouldn't have been there. there was a crack from the factory. there had to be some kind of assembly defect. when we built the thing there was a spacer that wasn't put in, something like that. we pound that wasn't the problem. but we did learn there are areas that are susceptible to assembly test. but by itself that assembly stress isn't enough to break a stringer. then we finally came back full circle to understand we had some material defects in the toughness of the metal, a property we weren't measuring in our acceptance testing. so when you added that plus the assembly stresses then you have enough to see the cracks that we had. so we don't expect with this mod it was removed. the assembly stresses are still

there. we haven't taken the stringers off and put them back on. all we did was trill out about five fasters on the top of each stringer. so those assembly stringers are there. it is to show ourself, those by themselves aren't big enough to cause any problems. and so the mod we put on takes care of the model and we're back and had plenty of marnelin. we are going to do front side x-rays and that should show everything fine. obviously we'll look at the data and if we don't like what we see we'll take the different course of action. >> thanks, mike. looking ahead just a little bit. there seems to be still pretty widespread perception around a community in the couple months' time it will close its doors and the space -- space coast won't be deserving of its nickname. i wonder if there's truth to

that perception, at least for the period of time, or how would you describe to folks out there who work at k.s.c.? >> the short side is it will be different without the shuttle program. our center director, bob, along with nasa headquarters, senior management is working very aggressively plans for the kennedy space center along with other space centers that is being affected by the shutdown of the space practice. we're talking to other customers who may want to use the o.p.f. base. we are talking to customers who want to use the launch pad. i feel good that the kennedy space center will be used in the future. don't have the day. i can't tell you when the next program comes here. if it's one of the commercial operators that would like to use its facility. or when we'll be getting the direction from nasa to build our own heavy lift vehicle. the bill is due the end of june. do more with that than i can.

it will be different here for a period of time but we're looking forward to the point in time where we'll have a vehicle to be able to launch and hire some of our work force back. >> hi. i'm mike mackey from local 6 here in orlando. the crew earlier was talking about how when the shuttle program finally completes that the country itself will lose its status symbol, something to point to. so what's next? what will the country, the people be able to rally around once the shuttle program completes itself? >> well, we're really looking forward to go beyond lower orbit is our next area we're going to. when we take a look at what we need to do, we need a different vehicle than the shuttle. we need a vehicle that can re-enter were the high speeds that you would see coming from like a lunar trajectory and that's more of a capsule

design. we recently approved the contract for a multipurpose crew vehicle and that would be the owe ryon contract. so -- o'rion contract. now we're looking for a heavy launch vehicle to launch that capsule and be a -- have the ability to launch about 130 metric tons to orbit. the reason you want a vehicle that big, if you really want to go somewhere like to mars or to any distances you really need a vehicle that can carry much more mass than even the shuttle can. it took us how many flights to build the station. i think roughly 38 flights to put the station together. the station's mass is about the mass of a vehicle you would have to take to mars. you don't want to spend that many missions building your vehicle to go to mars in lower earth orbit. you want the capability to get much more mass together so in three or four launches you can get, you know, large portions

of your spacecraft to be headed toward mars or near mars and can take the crew along with them. the next phase is to build together some concrete plans. as mike said, the first step will be us to talk -- we're required to put together a report to congress on what we're going to do with our capsule and our heavy launch vehicle. we dropped an interim report in january. we are going to try to flush out a little bit some details about what specifically worked, what areas we want to move in and start building some concrete plans that head us to those other destinations like i just called out. we are going to try to do some work at the centers where we need more than just a crew vehicle and heavy lift launch vehicle. we need deep space habitat, a place for the crew to live. something similar to a module station where the crews can live for these long time. we are going to try to do some of that work in-house. if we need a lander for some

destination we may need to work on a lander. so we have some basic pieces together. we've identified the pieces we need to go to lower earth orbit. i think we are going to quickly change that focus what we've been doing to lower earth orbit. show that space has a real benefit to us from a research standpoint. that's the goal of station or one thing that station can do. you can use station to maybe create a new economic engine to create maybe a new market in space that pulls other work to space. that's the station aspect. it will be strong. and then to work internationally to build this plan to get beyond lower earth orbit. we're continuing to work with our international partners to figure out what that plan is and move forward. i think we can quickly get some mans together and get some things that are pretty inspiring to move forward and continue to stretch ourselves and do those really hard things that we are really good at doing and to require the work

force like we have today to really be dedicated to work as a team to go do those big tasks. >> time for one last question. >> evan brown, fox news radio. if i remember correctly, there was plans to place a plaque on the runway where discovery's wheels came to a stop. will you do the same for endeavour? what's the wording on that plaque? >> we're still working on that. from the guys who worked landing for a long time to help design that themselves and, yeah, we talked to the faumplet. since the landing facility is a national runway we don't want to do anything to the runway that would be a maintenance problem. at a minimal we'll put a mark up up on the side. yeah, the general concept is to mark wheels stop and kind of denote which vehicle and how many miles it's flown and just try to have a little momento. we've been talking about -- with the program that's been

going on for 30 years we have to stop to add a lot of commemorative things around the center because we're doing them. now we're having some folks take a look at what we can do to document, here things were. it's a sad thing to do but we're going to try to do a little bit of it. >> all right. that's our final question. our next media briefing will be with the astronauts from endeavour 134 mission. that news conference is set to begin at about 8:30 a.m. eastern time but maybe a little bit sooner. stay tuned to nasa television. in the meantime, for more information about the 134 mission you can go to www.nasa.gov/shuttle. thanks for joining us. captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the number of house

republicans that met with the president this morning at the white house talk about spending cuts. that republicans want before any increase in the federal debt ceiling. today's meeting comes after a house vote yesterday against raising the limit on government borrowing by $2.4 trillion. a number of the members, as you see right here, leaving the meeting. we are expecting that there's a possibility that some may come to the microphone to make remarks.

>> again, looking at live pictures of house republicans as they're leaving the white house after a meeting with president obama this morning. that meeting on spending cuts with that republicans want before increasing the federal debt ceiling.

>> again, you see house leaders, house republican leaders coming from a meeting with the president this morning. expect house speaker, john boehner, paul ryan, house committee chair. we expect them to come to the microphones after their meeting with the president this morning, talking about the federal debt ceiling.

>> hello, everyone. we had a very productive meeting with the president today. we appreciate the opportunity to be here at the president's request to have a conversation about jobs and the deficit and the debt that's facing our country. this morning i released a letter signed by 150 economists who agreed that if we're going to get serious about creating jobs in america we got to reduce some of the uncertainty. some of that uncertainty is caused by the giant debt that's facing our country. and the fact if we're going to raise the debt limit, the spending cut should exceed the increase to the debt limit. otherwise, it will serve to cost us jobs in our country. that's not what the american people want. we had a very frank conversation. i thought it was productive. i'm looking forward to some more serious conversation about

how we reduce the deficit and the debt and to get our economy going again and creating jobs. >> today's meeting gave us an opportunity to express some concerns that we have surrounding the current situation in the economy. a.d.p. issued a report today estimating that private sector job creation amounted to 38,000 new jobs in may. woefully short of the amount needed for us to see the economy get back on track and people to get back to work. you know, i said to the president today, it's really important to us to focus on growth in this economy. as we go through the discussions and trying to get the fiscal house in order surrounding the debt limit vote, very, very important for us to look at growth as part of the fix. we can bring the deficit down through adding jobs but we can also get people back to work. we know our chairman of the ways and means committee, dave camp, is hard at work in putting together a tax reform plan.

i asked the president hopefully that he will work with us to do so and to keep out of the discussions in -- surrounding the debt limit and in the biden talk any notion that we're going to increase taxes. it's counterintuitive to believe that you increase taxes on those individuals and entities you're expecting to create jobs. >> it was a unique opportunity where the entire conference got to convey what they're hearing across the country. the president laid out from a debt discussion, but from the conference you heard about jobs. you heard about unshackling the burden of regulation on the small business to get them working again. from wisconsin to west virginia to members across the way. what i heard from this president that he wanted to sit down and find real cuts now. he said there needed to be entitlement reform. we will work with him towards those ends to direct what we create new jobs, put us on a new path to pay off the budget,

a balanced budget and pay down the debt as well. >> i want to thank the speaker and the president for bringing us together for this discussion. every generation has been proud to pass on to a new generation. there is a question in their gut as to whether or not our children and grandchildren will have more opportunities. and the foundation that we lay for them is so important and we can't teak for granted that we're just going to continue to have that strong foundation from which opportunity and innovation and ingenuity takes place. our tax policy matters. our debt matters. our energy policy matters. and whether with our vote last night on the debt ceiling or the conversation today with the president about job creation, we are committed to taking the steps necessary to ensure that that next generation has more opportunities. >> any day that the democrats and republicans are actually having a dialogue, this is a

good day. what the president heard from republican members of the house is that jobs are jobs number one. that is our job. and unfortunately the greatest impediment that we have to jobs today is the lack of confidence in the future. the republican house members were able to share with the president that the job creators in our districts feel that the regulatory burden, much of it coming from the president's administration, creates a lack of confidence in the future. tax policy that is not competitive. a tax burden that is too high creates a lack of confidence. and then last but not least, a debt burden. the president heard from republican members of the house that we know that the debt burden is going to lead to high taxes which leads to low unemployment. unfortunately what we did not hear from the president is a specific plan of his to deal

with the debt crisis that could actually be scored by the congressional budget office. we hope there is still an opportunity to work on the drivers of this debt that is costing us jobs because republicans know that until we have the confidence that we can solve this debt crisis by dealing with the drivers, our entitlement spending, that we're not going to get the american people want and demand. >> take a couple questions. >> you mentioned the a.d.p. report. did the president have a response to that? did he respond to your concerns? >> well, the president admitted that we have to look at this compe. the discussion really focused on the philosophical difference and whether washington should continue to pump money into the economy or we should provide an incentive for entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow. so, again, i think the president was well aware that the private sector job creation is not enough.

he did mention that a lot of the losses were in the public sector. again, our message is focused on growth in the private sector. that's how we're going to help bring down the deficit and get people back to work. >> did the president just talk about spending? >> the president talked about the need for us to continue to quote-unquote invest from washington's standpoint and so a lot of us, that's code for more washington spending, something we can't afford right now. >> [inaudible] >> not exactly what i'd say. it wasn't exactly what i said. i just said we have to take on the debt and if we demagogue each other at the leadership level then we're never going to take on our debt. we have a debt crisis coming. if we want to grow jobs in the economy we have to get our spending under control, we have to get our debt under control. if we try to demagogue each other's attempt to do that,

then we're not applying the kind of political leadership we need to get this economy going and to get our debt under control. >> [inaudible] >> no, not at all. >> [inaudible] >> i explained how this plan is. it's been misdescribed by the president and many others and so we simply described to him precisely what it is we've been proposing so that he hears from us how our proposal works so in the future he won't mischaracterize it. >> mr. cantor -- >> was it the point of this meeting today? was it public relations? >> it's an opportunity for clearly our members to communicate directly with the president about our ideas about how to get the economy going on, how to create jobs and our ideas about how we solve the debt problem that's facing our

country. i told the president one more time, this is the moment. this is the window of opportunity where we can deal with this on our terms. we can work together and solve this problem. we know what the problems are. let's not kick the can down the road one more time. now's the time to deal with it. >> mr. speaker, any discussion -- [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> house speaker john boehner and republican lawmakers remarking after their meeting this morning with president obama. started about 10: 30 appeared to be cordial. most of them remarking about the need for more dialogue on financial issues and jobs. this meeting on the heels of yesterday's vote in the house to reject an increase in the nation's debt ceiling. that vote 318-97. democrats and republicans voting against the measure. republicans meeting with the president today.

democrats will sit with president obama tomorrow. well, the house gaveled in this morning at 10:00. they went into recess after short speeches. they'll return in about half an hour at noon eastern to start work on homeland security department spending for the next budget year. provides about 3% less than this year's budget. members will begin offering amendments to the bill with work on it expected to continue into tomorrow. live coverage of the house here on c-span, again, starting at noon eastern. and with that opposing vote yesterday, we'll show you a portion of the debate yesterday leading up to yesterday's vote.

he ignored their advice and provided no way to rein in deficit and debt. last year standard & poor's downgraded the outlook for the credit rating because washington had no plan to rein in our budget deficits and debt. in recent weeks, many congressional democrats were proving them right when over 100 of them called for an unconditional increase in the debt limit. they sent a letter calling on their colleagues to establish a, quote, democratic position in favor of a kleenex tension of the debt ceiling, end quote, something secretary geithner has also repeatedly called for. it's time to come clean with the american people about our

deficits and debt. at over $14 trillion, our debt is as large as the entire u.s. economy and is putting the american dream at risk for future generations. one who chaired president obama's fiscal commission and served as chief of staff to president clinton has said that the era of debt denial is over. while it does not appear that all of the democrat colleagues has goten the message with today's vote, this house will declare to the american people and to the credit rating agencies that business as usual in washington is over. not only is the era of debt denial over but so is washington's out-of-control spending. today we're making clear that republicans will not accept an increase in the nation's debt limit without substantial spending cuts and real budgetary reforms. this vote, a vote based on

legislation i've introduced, will and must fail. now, most members aren't happy when they bring a bill to the floor and it fails. i say defeating an unconditional bill a success because it sends a clear message that we must begin to immediately rein in out-of-control spending. research by experts says that spending reforms, not tax increases, are the most effective path to fiscal consolidation. that means that together we must look for responsible ways to tackle our runaway spending and though it's difficult and not always popular it requires us to deal with entitlement reforms that are the largest driver of america's deficits, including health care spending programs like medicare. we all know that failing to act and address our debt head on will be very similar to defaulting on our debt. in both cases we would experience a significant

downgrade in our credit rating which increases interest rates making payments from things like a car and home loans more expensive. it would also increase the cost of imports meaning higher gas prices and make an already shaky economy even worse leading to less job creation. the greatest threat to the u.s. economy and to international financial markets would be simply increasing the debt limit without cutting a penny of spending. this vote makes clear that deficit reduction will be part of any bill to increase the debt limit and is a necessary part of this process. a no vote today is a vote to put us on a path to exactly what the markets and the american people are demanding, an america that is a strong, reliable and secure financial investment for the future. i urge all my colleagues to vote no on this unconditional increase and, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute.

>> without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> this is so egregious that the republicans spent the last week pleading with wall street not to take it seriously and risk our economic recovery. if republicans were being truthful, they'd admit they're looking for political cover and in doing so they're risk blowing a hole in our nation's economy. they'd acknowledge that their timing is an effort to change the subject. less than a week after their plan to end medicare was dealt a major setback by voters in a new york special election whose democratic winner will be sworn in tomorrow. to act in good faith, to solve our nation's fiscal problems, the republicans should focus not on this ploy but on the budget negotiations being led by the vice president. our nation's debt is indeed a

problem that requires serious solutions. not ploys that risk another global financial crisis. i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. >> at this time i reserve. >> the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, is recognized. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, is recognized. mr. levin: i yield to a member >> i yield to mr. pascrell, a member of our committee, a minute and a half. gentleman is recognized for a minute and 30 seconds. mr. pascrell: thank you, mr. speaker. we better not forget how we got here in the first place. the president, when he raised his hand in january of 2009 inherited a $10.6 trillion debt. let us not forget history. i know this is like a kabuke dance today. you are not only not sincere about this but this is all

process. the american people, the folks in my district are not interested in process, they are interested in results. what are the results? how does this help the guy or gal on main street? that's what we should be talking about. this bill we know is going to fail. you already told your wall street friends, don't worry about it, don't take it serious. it's just like a reality show. the republicans have warned their wall street friends and as "the wall street journal" said today, they're in on this, quote-unquote, joke. but as in poker, they're not all in. alexander hamilton founded my city of patterson, new jersey, understood that good credit is integral to being a world power. it is by no means a joke. failure to act will have immediate and dire consequences. now, the world is not going to collapse this afternoon or tomorrow when this thing goes

down, this legislation goes down in a few hours. the majority is willing to risk all that is in order to play political games, to force their failed economic policies. it didn't work in the last 0 years, it's not going to work -- 10 years, it's not going to work now. mr. speaker, this is serious business. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. pascrell: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: i reserve at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield a minute and a half to another member of the ways andeans committee, mr. blumenauer of oregon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon voiced for a minute and a half. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. eaker. there's no more important agenda item currently phasing congress -- facing congress than ensuring america pays its bills and honors its obligation. the accumulated choices of congresses and administrations

past and present have created the debt and the need to honor the obligations. like an unfued war with in iraq that's going to cost trillions of dollars or an unfunded medicare prescription drug program from our republican friends. we're not going to default on our debt. with over 100 my colleagues, i signed a letter calling for a kleenex tension and offering to work with the republican leadership so they wouldn't be held hostage to the most extreme members of their part -- party in order to push through draconian proposals that had no chance of being passed which would unsettle the markets and do damage to things that americans care about. like the reckless proposal for medicaid. and additional tax cuts that are unaffordable. unfortunately the republican leadership decided not to treat this seriously. they're bringing a bill to the

floor, they're not supporting it, they've put it on the suspension calendar so it had no chance of passing --age and -- passage and they thinkomehow this is constructive. well with, it's not. mr. eaker, it's time for us to be serious, to avoid taking legislative hostages, maybe the chamber with of commerce thinks that wall street is in on the joke that is represted by their legislative employ here today but i'm not certain that the american public is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. blumenauer: it is time to stop the games. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin,eserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i wod just say during the eight years of the bush administration the debt limit was raised seven times for a total of 5 -- $5.365 trillion. according to the c.b.o., the congressional budget office, the nonpartisan c.b.o., the score of president obama's f.y.012

budget, the debt limit will have to be raised a total of $35.38 trillion during the four years he's president. that means that president obama will have raise the debt limit at twice the pace that president bush did. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i'll take 10 seconds. i think, mr. camp, s&p 500 did not down grade the threatened, let's be accurate. i now yield a minute and a half to a distinguished member of the ways and means committee, mr. rangel. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for a minute and a half. mr. rangel: i think for those of us who are members of congress or within the beltway understand that this is a political things that's going on during one of the most serious financial times that our nation is facing.

i only wonder whether or not our friends and creditors abroad or those that respect the united states and even try to follow our fiscal ways are they i -- thinking that this is the strongest country in the entire world. but for them to follow what we are doing, it is an embarrassment to the house as well as the senate, that the president of the united states of america would ask tha our country be safe from a fiscal point of view by allowing the traditional increase in the debt ceiling. notwithstanding the political differences we had, we come together as a nation, not to play games on each other for political reasons, but we come together as a symbol for the free world with to understand that if it's the united states of america, you can depend on us. but now on the suspension calendar, which is an insult to those people who study the

constitution in the house of representatives, which is reserved for noncontroversial controversial issues, when the whole world knows that this is controversial buts certainly not the subject that should be on a calendar called a suspension calendar, so we still have some time to rehabilitate ourselves. i don't know how much more ridiculous we can get. but i do hope that we aid -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. camp: i yield two minutes to a distinguished member of the ways and means committ, the chairman of the trade subcommiee, mr. brady from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas, mr. brady, is recognized for two minutes. mr. brady: mr. speaker, mr. speaker, members, america is undergoing aerribly subpar recovery, one of the worst we've seen, three times worse than the

economic recovery under president reagan, a worse recovery than even what president obama promised us when he spent all those hundreds of billions of dollars of stimulus money. we have $13 -- 13 million americans out of work, our unemployment rate sky high and it's only -- the only reason it's come wn a little ise have fewer people working in the work force than we've had for a quart of a toer a of a century -- for a quarter of a century. one of the strongest signals we can send to consumers and families and businesses to restortheir confidence is make sure we understand america is going to get its financial house in order. republicans in congress are going to send a statement today that america will get its house in order. this vote today basically says we are not going to grant the president unnditional increase in how much america can borrow, here is a good reason why. we took a look at who ran up the debt for america over th years. this chart shows and we

basically said, who controls the purse strings? congress. we take a lookt all the debt at's been incurred since world war ii and what it shows is that the debt held by the public, that's by people, by countries like china, like firms in the federal reserve board, 90% of the debt that's been run up since world war ii has been accrued by a democrat, 10% by a republican. that doesn't leave us as republicans off the hook. in fact, we're committed to lowering this debt and getting control of spending, but there is a special obligation by our democrat friends and the president to get this spending under control, to put discipline the side of government, to restore some financial soundness , to in effect cutp the credit cards, that's what republicans are committed to do, that's what americans say we need to do as a nation, that's why a no vote on this unconditional debt increase is the right vote, not just for the country, but for our future.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, is recognized. mr. levin: how much time is on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, has 14 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, has 13 minutes. mr. levin: we have 14 1/2 minutes? the speaker pro tempore: correct. len levin i yield three minutes to the gentleman from maryland, the ranking member on the budget committee, mr. van hollen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for three minute. mr. van hollen: i thank my colleague and, ladies and gentlemen, this is a political stunt. i just heardur friend from texas on the republican side say republicans wanted to tear up the credit card. it was just a few weeks ago when the republican budget passed this house all but four repuicans voted for it. let me show you wh that did

to our credit card. here we are. we are about $14 trillion in bt. the budget, all but fo republicans voted for, takes us up toward $23 trillion, $24 trillion in debt. $8 trillion increase in the national debt by passing the republican budget. so clearly this isn't about tearing up the credit card. what is this about? this is about threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the united states unless we put into pce the republican budget, including their plan to end the medicare guarantee and to slash medicare benefits. that's what this is all about. they said, whoa, we're going to hold this whole thing up until we get our way. let me tell you what their way would do to seniors, and we've seen it before on the floor of the house. what it means is that seniors will be paying thousands and thousands of dollars more for

medicare or getting their benefits slashed beginning in 2002 and it gets worse and worse and worse so that by the year 2030 you're talking about seniors having to pay $12,000 more for their medicare because the support they're getting is going down while the costs in the private market, which the republican plan forces them to go into, go up and up and up. so while the cost they face go up and up and up, the help they get under medicare goes down, down, down and they're left holding the bill. what's been interesting the last couple weeks in connection with this debt ceilingebate is to hear these republican proposals to say, hey, don't worry about it. you know what? we'll pay china. we'll pay our overseas foreign creditors on their bonds. we'll take care of them, but guess what, we don't have to pay our full faith and credit and our obligations to america's seniors. we don't have to pay medicare. we don't have to pay social

security, pay off the bondholders, take care of them. but let's follow through on this plan to dess apate, decimate medicare. at the end of the day this is what it's all about. we all understand we have to get the debt under control. we're having negotiations with the vice president to have a balanced plan. but you're trying to force the republican plan, which newt impinge rich acknowledged the other day s a right-wing piece of social engineering until, of course, he was bludgeoned by the right wing to withdrawal his statement. he was calling the shots as it was. he said, you know what, th isn't such a good idea. and what's really outrageous about this charade is you are now threatening the entire u.s. economy in order to get your way on a radical rht-wing medicare plan that's bad for american seniors. thank you, mr. speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, reserves. thgentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: at this time i yield a minute and a half to a distinguished member from the ways and means committee, the gentlewoman from tennessee, mrs. black. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from tennessee is recognized for a minute and a half. mrs. black: thank you, mr. speaker. i came to washington because i knew we had a debt problem. but you know what, once i got here and i started getting all the facts, i realized that we didn't have a debt problem. we have a debt crisis. we are $14.2 trillion in debt, and you know what, that number is even hard to comprehend it's so large. over and over we hear fm economists, both conservative and liberal, that we have less than five years to turn things around or the united states will sink under all this debt. we've seen what happened in greece and ireland and i reject that future for the united states.

the time is now to fix this because we're out of time and we have an opportunity to change for the good the way washington is spending. but it doesn't seem the other end of pennsylvania avenue thinks we node to change anything. they are happy tkeep kicking the can down the road, but you know what, the road has run out. in fact, the administration and over 100 democrats in this congress want a straight up and down vote on the debt ceiling. well, that's what we're going to get today. and when this measure to raise the nation's debt limit fails, on the house floor tonight we will be sending the white house a message loud and clear, you will not get another blake check from us, mr. -- blank check from us, mr. psident. that's why because i and 87 freshmen colleagues were sent to washington with strict orders, to change the spending cycle that is bringing our country down. and tonight the people back home will see -- mr. camp: yield an additional

30 second. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from tenneee has an additional 30 seconds. mrs. black: and we are acting for them. the american people will reject the ideal to reject a clean vote and so will the house tonight. enough is enough. the gig is up, mr. president. so now is the time to get serious. get serious about ending this debt, geserious about ending washington spending addiction, and get serious about getting this country back >> and that debate on the house floor yesterday. later in the day when the vote to raise the debt ceiling came up it failed by 318-97 with a number of democrats joining republicans against the bill. the house is about to gavel in at noon to begin work on homeland security department spending for the next budget year, providing about 3% less than this budget year. members will begin offering amendments to the bill. work on it to continue tomorrow. and now live coverage of the

house here on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] tha for giving us another day. we pause now in your presence and acknowledge our dependence on you. we ask your blessing upon the men and women of this, the people's house. keep them aware of your presence as they face the tasks of this day, that no burden be too heavy, no duty too difficult and no work too weariesome. help them and indeed help us all to obey your law, to do your will and to walk in your way. grant that they might be good in thought, gracious in word, generous in deed and great in spirit. make this a glorious day in which all are demrad to be alive, eager to work and ready

to serve you, our great nation and all our fellow brothers and sisters. may all that is done this day be done for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge will be led by the gentleman from new jersey, mr. sires. mr. sires: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle.

for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, over 750 days have passed since the senate passed a budget. now, liberals in congress are leading the charge to increase the current debt limit. the federal government officially released -- reached its $14.3 trillion debt limit in may. america's finances are now borrow, tax and spend, killing jobs. congress should not raise the debt limit without making serious changes in the way the federal government spends money. recklessly raising the debt ceiling without exercising fiscal restraint will lead to a lower international credit rating, higher borrowing cost and the rise to the imports. this is a threat for america's seniors for risking the value of the dollar. washington must change its way which is now killing jobs.

in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. butterfield: mr. speaker, i rise to pay tribute to dennison dover garrett, a towering giant who has passed away at the age of 97. a life-long resident of greenville, north carolina, we affectionately refer to mr. garrett as d.d. d.d. garrett was a man of great courage who led by example. he worked tirelessly to ensure that the african-american community had a voice in public policy. through his work in the church in the pitt county branch of the naacp, d.d. constantly exposed injustice. he insisted that the american dream must be a reality to every american, regardless of their station in life. as the first african-american county commissioner, d.d. led the way in african-american political participation in his

community as the founder of a substantial insurance and real estate firm, d.d. was a successful businessman and mentor to many. mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing this great life. we extend condolences to his wife, mrs. williams garrett and their sons, d.d. jr. and michael and the entire greenville community. greenville, north carolina, is a better place to live and work because of the enormous contribution of dennison d. garrett. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas rise? for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. pence: mr. speaker, the economy, the national debt --

but today i rise to congratulate the marietta baseball team for winning their record fifth division iii college world series title yesterday. our people have something to cheer about. the pioneers won the deciding game in convincing fashion with a victory over chapman university. mr. johnson: it was led by strong pitching performance from all-american honorable mention blaske. he earned two hits and one earned run. the pioneers were led by right fielder harper who had four hits, four r.b.i.'s and a stolen base. and john snyder had two hits, two runs scored. the pioneers finished the season with an amazing record of 47 wins and four losses on their way to a record fifth national title. congratulations to them. i yield back the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: now, for what purpose does the gentlewoman from -- the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. mr. cicilline: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize mike conley, for his leadership in laumpling the voters in the classroom initiative. voters in the classroom is a statewide mock election initiative involving nearly 25% of public high schools across the state of rhode island. mr. connolly's voter in the classroom initiative is helping to prepare students to be engaged public citizens. students in the voters in the classroom program participate in mock statewide referendum on important topics, establish voter procedures through classroom procedures and assembly and have polling places at their schools. i recently saw firsthand the importance of this program. civic education programs like this is the key to the success

of our democracy because they increase the likelihood that students will be part of the election process when they become of age. i thank him for the preservation of our democracy. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. johnson: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, since this president's taken office, we've had failed stimulus, omnibus, tarp 2, government motors, government takeover of health care. well, the buck stops here. literally. house republicans refuse to give the spender in chief a blank check to pay for his reckless ways. if the president even wants to think about moving forward with the debt limit increase he needs to know americans want congress to drastically cut

spending. across the nation people have cut back, stretched their hard-earned dollars in order to make it through these tough times. the government must do the same. we're facing a debt crisis because washington spends too much and wastes too much. raising the debt limit without a deep spending cut amounts to a barack obama big government bailout. enough is enough. stop the obama bailout now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california -- from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. before i comment on why i'm standing next to the brave and the true of our united states military, let me give a message to syria and express my outrage of the heinous killing of a 13-year-old boy.

the president should be held accountable now and the united nations needs to voice its opposition as the secretary of state has indicated. we need to be standing alongside those seeking freedom. and to our allies in bahrain where our fleet of navy personnel are, what a disgrace that they have imploded and blown up mosques because they disagree with their particular faith. this is the arab spring but it will end in dryness if we don't stand for truth and how many rights and compassion. now, mr. speaker, i think it is important as i stand next to the brave men and women, some who have fallen, but those who now still fight. i ask my republican friends, do you understand there is a 10% unemployment among those who are coming back from iraq and afghanistan? yes, troops who are fighting for us and fighting on our behalf, and yet it has been 21 weeks since there's been a jobs agenda. we need jobs, create jobs. if you believe in these troops, build jobs for these people. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the more we learn about pakistan the more they sound like the benedict arnold nation and the list of countries we call allies. first, it was osama bin laden, the world's number one outlaw, living comfortably in a mansion in pakistan for years. but pakistan claims no knowledge of that. now, a reporter in pakistan has been murdered. he has been critical of the pakistani government. he reported that the naval place in karachi that was attacked was done so by al qaeda members of the navy of pakistan. human right watch said he was assassinated by members of the pakistan intelligence agency who previously had threatened to kill him. meanwhile, pakistan is chumming up to the chinese. sounds like pakistan is playing both sides on the war on terror. 7-10 americans believe we need to stop or decrease foreign aid

to pakistan. we should stop foreign aid to pakistan until we know whose side they're on. we don't need to pay them to be unfaithful. they will do it for free, and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. baca: mr. speaker, after a lifetime of service to the families and our nation, american seniors deserve the security of basic safety net like medicare and social security. sadly, the republican budget that the house approved in april puts the fundamental programs at risk. the republican budget will end guaranteed medicare coverage for seniors. i state, end guaranteed medicare coverage for seniors. cut benefits and turn control over to the insurance industry. double out-of-pocket costs for seniors over the next decade.

from day one, the republican plan to end medicare will cost four million seniors -- toss four million seniors into the medicare prescription doughnut hole. and they'll have a co-pay reinstated for their annual wellness visit. seniors in my district understand that we must lower the deficit, but it should not be on the back of the poor or the disadvantaged. but they also know that it is wrong to end medicare so we can extend the tax breaks for the millionaires and billionaires. let's work together ton a real budget and lower the deficit. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. at :35 a.m., endeavour landed safely following its final trip into space. as endeavour retires after its

25th mission, it lives on with the legacy. the only space shuttle named by children. in 1989, a mississippi middle school was the winner to name a new spacecraft. their mission, to come up with a name that captured the spirit of america's mission in space. mr. nunnelee: as endeavour launched its final mission, those elementary children are now adults and the spirit of that excitement of that final flight was felt most in senitobia, mississippi. a balloon and filled by students -- the balloon built and flown by students was launched with signatures wishing congresswoman giffords a speedy recovery and capturing the beloved pictures of their spacecraft one last time. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. sires: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. sires: mr. speaker, last night we saw once again great display of political theater. my friends across the aisle scheduled a vote on raising the nation's debt limit knowing that it would fail. the vote occurred specifically after the stock market closed because they knew the harsh effect this game could have on the market. this was simply an effort to distract the public away from the disastrous attempt to end medicare as we know it. seniors will see an increase in the cost of prescription drugs and preventive health care. they know longer want to discuss the vote they took to end medicare and force seniors it pay more for less. we all agree the smart responsible budget cuts are needed. that is why democrats and republicans from the house, the senate and the administration are working together on a plan. we should allow the negotiators to continue their work in good faith with open discussion on the future of our economy and

how to decrease our deficit. mr. speaker, now is not the time to play games with the american public. we must focus on creating jobs, jobs and more jobs and move our economy forward. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to pay tribute to a former congressman from kansas' third congressional district who recently passed. robert f. elseworth served congress and the united states for three terms. he was a proud jayhawk, graduating from the university of kansas and he served our country admirably in both world war ii and the korean war as an officer in the united states navy. he was known as a candid and independent-minded legislator during his tenure in congress. a personal advisor to president nixon and bob dole, he also served as an ambassador to nato. mr. yoder: after leaving politics, he founded hamilton

bioventures, a company focusing on investment and life science technologies. he is survived by his wife, eleanor, and children, william and hanna, as well as step-children. my heart and the heart of the third district is with him and his family during this difficult time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from the mariana islands rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. sablan: mr. speaker, it's getting ridiculous. that's what the chamber of commerce said about the department of homeland security's failure to issue regulations implementing federal immigration in the northern mariana islands. and i agree. it is getting ridiculous. three years since the law was enacted, 18 months since it took affect, two oversight hearings, letters from congressional leaders, meeting after meeting and still no regulations. workers don't know what their

status will be five months from now. businesses can't plan for the future. it's putting the breaks -- brakes on the economy, the chamber president says. and what does d.h.s. say? the regulations will be released when the regulations are released. there's no way for a federal agency to refuse responsibilities, we'll get to it when we get to it. federal immigration was supposed to benefit the marianas, improve the economy. instead it's making things worse. and we think about funding homeland security today, homeland security should be explaining why it isn't doing its job, issuing this long overdue regulations for the northern mariana islands and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri rise? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from missouri voiced for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. last night our republican colleagues scheduled an empty

vote on the debt ceiling, a political stunt with no serious plans. last week the majority leader tried to use a natural disaster as political leverage in their fight over the budget. and last month and again today republicans propose ending medicare as we know it to pay for tax giveaways for millionaires and giant oil companies. i'm holding another town hall meeting tomorrow, a telephone town hall with my constituents to talk about these issues and what our national priorities should be. mr. carnahan: the republican extreme ideological war is a disturbing trend, using national emergencies, the full faith and credit of the united states and our seniors' health care as if they're bargaining chipping. the american people and the missourians i represent deserve better. it's time we come together like adults to find serious solutions to our complex problems and it's time to stop threatening medicare. important institutions, our national credit and the national commitment to lend a hand to those in need and especially those suffering through natural

disasters. we can solve this wouth trying to scare markets or scare seniors. let's get serious about -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. carnahan: and growing jobs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> for permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from colorado is recognized for one minute. mr. perlmutter: good afternoon, mr. speaker. listening to some of the republicans that were speaking here earlier today, they want to blame medicare, early childhood education, grants to firefighters for the debt that we have. when everybody knows that at the end of the clinton administration this country was running a surplus. then we had bush tax cuts, that's about $1 trillion, then we have a couple wars, that's $1 trillion, then there's the collapse on wall street under the bush administration, that's $2 trillion. that will turn anybody's budget upside down. but the republicans want to take it out of medicare. they want to dismantle medicare, they've never liked medicare to begin with, because it really

works for middle america, for our seniors. we can't let that happen. we cannot allow them to dismantle medicare just because of these other things. they want to protect millionaires, billionaires and oil companies, we're not going to let them do that and with that i'd yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. yarmuth: thank you, mr. speaker, we've heard a lot in the media about the political tea party. we know there's another kind of tea party. that's where children play with their imaginary friend and we saw an example of that kind of imagination last night in this chamber. we saw republicans bring a bill to the floor and then ask and vote to defeat it, not to raise the debt ceiling, in spite of the fact that they passed a budget that will raise the national debt by $8 trillion over the next 10 years. they imagine that that $8 trillion will magically disappear. another example of their vivid imagination is believing that the american people will sit

back while they end medicare, turn over seniors' health insurance or health care to insurance companies and ask them to pay up to 70% of the cost of their health care. this was not an imaginary world, these are real people with real problems and the american people are not going to sit back while the republican party plays with their imaginary friends. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. on sunday, "the new york times" editorial commended bills that give people an opportunity to get jobs without being -- have credit checks run on them. in this country credit checks are run on almost of 5% of all job applicants and are -- 65% of all job applicants and are used to deny people jobs. even industry lobbyists said that credit checks have no correlation to fraud in the workplace or a person's ability to perform a job.

yet because of the credit check, credit industry, credit checks are still crired -- required. we have a bill in congress, the equal employment for all bill, that would outlaw such a practice. five states have outlawed such a practice and 20 states are considering it. we need to create jobs and give everybody a chance. many people have bad credit because of this economy, because of the recession, because of health care costs that have almost forced them into bankruptcy or have. or divorces. they should not be denied the chance to have a job. a second chance. we should pass the equal employment for all bill and give all americans a chance for employment. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. clarke: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, americans are at risk, they're at risk of having their homes and their businesses demolished, of being injured and even killed.

either by a natural disaster such as the tornados that have hit us recently or through a terrorist attack that are more likely come from within the united states. this is not the time to cut the homeland security budget. and that's why today i propose taking military aid to afghanistan and redirecting it to better equip and to hire more firefighters, more police officers, more emergency medical providers, because our state and local governments, they don't have the money to do that, because our home values have plummeted, because of foreclosures that this congress failed to address effectively. there's one responsibility, though, that this congress must honor, our duty to protect the american people. we deserve, those of us that live in this country, we deserve to be safe, restore the cuts to the homeland security budget, we direct the money from afghanistan to protect americans -- redirect the money from afghanistan to protect americans. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the

balance of his time. the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk will read the bill. the clerk: senate 1082, an act to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the small business act and the small business investment act of 1958 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to condemn, yes, condemn the government of vietnam for continuing its appalling human rights record, by conducting unjust trial, sham trials of seven citizens who asked for land reform. this past week the people's court have been unfairly

convicted, seven land rights acts visits, to years of imprisonment and probation. ms. tran was convicted to eight years. others were imprisoned for six years and another received a seven-year sentence simply for asking for their land back from the communist government of vietnam. this recent trial was no different than vietnam's past trials, where there's no due process. i hope that my colleagues will look at the record of human rights with respect to vietnam and join me in urging the government of vietnam to drop those charges. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for one minute. mr. ellison: thank you, mr. speaker.

mr. speaker, i represent minneapolis, minnesota, and recently my district was hit by a tornado. that tornado caused damage to well over 535 houses and took the lives of two of my constituents. and i just want to commend all those people who stepped forward to do the right thing for the people who were victims, whether you were serving meals for people who were put out of their homes, whether you were making games for the children of the dispossessed to be able to have some joy in their lives after such a difficult period, or whether you were an emergency responder, police, fire, emergency medical, or whether you were a member of our local government. i want everyone in my district to know, everyone in the fifth congressional district to know that i'm so proud of the work that you did. i want folks to know that it is time to -- times in crisis like this, this tornado, in which the best of us comes out. when we find our charitable spirit, when we find our courage, when we find all those things that sometimes are

lacking in everyday life and want to let you know, on the faces of the children who have had a warm place to stay after their own homes were knocked to the ground and trees went through people's radioactives, that i want to thank all those first responders, all those public servants, all those volunteers who stepped up and made a very difficult situation just a little bit better for everyone who was involved. and of course, mr. speaker, we can never forget those two citizens who lost their lives when they were hit and by this tornado. it was a tragedy for them and their families and we will keep them in our thoughts and in our hearts and in our minds as we move forward. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the partisan debt resolution was dead on arrival yesterday. but what really should have been d.o.a. is the republican plan to end medicare and turn seniors

over to private insurance companies. today, despite the outright rejection of this plan from south florida to western new york and all across america, republicans will try to deem and pass the reckless ryan budget. mr. deutch: that's right. those who decry deem and pass during the health care reform debate now seek to use it to end medicare. in fact, it was the distinguished chairman of the rules committee who in an effort to stoke fear over the affordable care act dericively labeled deem and pass the slaughter solution. apparently using deem and pass to help ensure 50 million uninsured americans is an abomination, but using it to end medicare, that's courageous. well, what would truly be courageous if is if nye -- courageous is if my republican colleagues supported deficit reduction that ends giveaway to big oil and more hundred thousand dollar tax cuts to millionaires. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized for one minute. ms. schakowsky: last night's vote on raising the debt ceiling is further proof that the republican majority plans to hold the full faith and credit of the united states hostage while they demand as ransom extreme cuts to medicare and medicaid. news flash, the american people simply won't sacrifice medicare and medicaid and the guaranteed benefits they provide. seniors across the country are speaking out, hands off medicare and don't slash medicaid's health and long-term care benefits to pay for tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, big oil and companies that offshore jobs. unlike the republicans, democrats are serious about responsible and real deficit reduction. the republican plan actually increases unemployment and the deficit, ends medicare, further erodes our middle class, hurts poor children, allow to increase

the fortunes of oil companies and millionaires and billionaires. this is a plan that goes against the majority of americans and we won't have it. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today, mr. speaker, by the direction of committee on rules, i call up house resolution 287 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 42, house resolution 287. resolved, that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule

18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 2017, making appropriations for the department of homeland security for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. points of order against provisions in the bill for failure to comply with clause 2 of rule 21 are waived except for section 536. during consideration of the bill for amendment, the chair of the committee of the whole may accord priority in recognition on the basis of whether the member offering an amendment has caused it to be

printed in the portion of the congressional record designated for that purpose in clause 8 of rule 18. amendments so printed shall be considered as read. when the committee rises and reports the bill back to the house with a recommendation that the bill do pass, the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. section 2. a, pending the adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2012, the provisions of house concurrent resolution 34, as adopted by the house, shall have force and effect with the modification specified in subsection c in the house as though congress has adopted such concurrent resolution. the allocations printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution shall be considered for all purposes in the house to be the allocations under section 302-a of the congressional budget act of 1974 for the concurrent

resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2012. b, the chair of the committee on the budget shall adjust the allocations referred to in subsection a to accommodate the enactment of general or continuing appropriation acts for fiscal year 2011 after the adoption of house concurrent resolution 34 but before the adoption of this resolution. c, for provisions making appropriations for fiscal year 2011, section 3-c of house resolution 5 shall have force and effect through september 30, 2011. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> mr. speaker, i raise a point of order against h.res. 287 because it violates 426-a of the congressional budget act. mr. ellison: it waives all points of order against consideration of the bill which includes a waiver of section

425 of the congressional budget act which causes a violation of section 42-a. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota makes a point of order that the resolution violates section 426-a of the congressional budget act of 1974. the gentleman has met the threshold burden under the rule and the gentleman from minnesota and a member opposed each will control 10 minutes of debate on the question of consideration. following debate, the chair will put the question of consideration as the statutory means of disposing of the point of order. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. ellison: mr. chair -- the chair recognizes me. mr. speaker, i have a point of order i'd like to raise with you at this time. the point of order is not necessarily out of concern for unfunded mandates, although there are likely some in the underlying bill, h.r. 2017, because the bill slashes funding for our state and local governments as they prepare against homeland security

threats and respond to natural disasters. before i begin, mr. speaker, i have a parliamentary inquiry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will state his parliamentary inquiry. mr. ellison: the rules states, house concurrent resolution 34, if adopted by the house, shall have the force and effect in the house as though congress had adopted such concurrent resolution, unquote. does this mean that the rule deems that the senate will have passed h.con.res 34? the speaker pro tempore: the content of the rule will be subject to debate. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. ellison: i have a further parliamentary inquiry. mr. speaker -- the speaker pro tempore: state the inquiry. mr. ellison: so voting yes on the rule is voting yes for h.con.res 34, the ryan budget, which ends medicare, is that right? stop the gentleman from minnesota is -- the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from minnesota is making a point for debate. the gentleman is recognized. mr. ellison: further parliamentary inquiry. the speaker pro tempore: state the inquiry. mr. ellison: doesn't the ryan budget end medicare as we know it? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is not stating a proper parliamentary inquiry. the gentleman is recognized. mr. ellison: thank you, mr. speaker. i raise this point of order because i think it's important to discover whether or not the underlying rule for the homeland security appropriations bill also deems the republican plan to end medicare as we know it. it's the only vehicle we got to actually talk about this rule, and this bill and how we are being denied the ability to actually offer amounts that we would like to, to eliminate what's actually happening in this bill. mr. speaker, we have a responsibility to raise our -- erase our deficit. claiming to reduce the budget deficit on the backs of

americans who've paid into their retirement their entire lives not only harms america's seniors but goes against the basic values of fairness and security that americans cherish. america guarantees a healthy and secure retirement for americans who pay into it their whole lives. it represents the basic american values of fairness and respect for those seniors that americans cherish. siding with lobbyists to give insurance company bureaucrats control of medicare does nothing to address the deficit, but it does a great deal to reduce health care for our seniors. let's put america back to work and let's reject the rule and the underlying bill by voting no on this motion to reconsider . i yield time now, two minutes to mr. cicilline of the great state of rhode island. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for two minutes. mr. cicilline: thank you. and i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise today in opposition to

this rule which allows for debate on fiscal year 2012 homeland security appropriations. this bill makes dangerous cuts to the urban area security initiative a program critical to the urban areas that is deemed high risks of terrorist attacks. one of those areas is providence, rhode island, in my congressional district, along with many other communities. just last year the greater providence area was one of 64 cities that was identified either because of their capital or their critical assets or their gee graphy as being areas at most risk of -- geography as being areas at most risk of terrorist attacks. they've received critical funding under this program to support funding and to respond to terrorist attacks and other emergencies. and providence under leadership of colonel pat granger, became the first city in america to become fully accredited of its department of emergency management and department of

homeland security. funding cuts will cripple programs to effectively ensure public safety if a terrorist attacks occurs. how? it will hinder these communities to address cyberterrorism, to communicate with first responders in an emergency and many other critical emergency functions. mr. speaker, our nation's defense must come first. we cannot in good conscience spend billions of dollars protecting people around the world at the expense of our own national security. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of restoring favor for the urban area security initiative tif. i yield back and thank the gentleman for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison, reserves. mr. ellison: i will yield two minutes to the gentleman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. ellison, and thank you, mr. speaker. will the assault on the

well-being and health care of america never end? mr. garamendi: this bill is taking to one more step. first, the repeal of the affordable health care act with provisions in it to protect americans from the repatience appetite of the health insurance companies, providing protections. republicans would repeal that. and then the next step, which we just saw recently in the republican budget, the termination of medicare for those who are under 55 years of age. what are they to do? and for those who are already on medicare, a significant serious reduction in the medicaid program that provides essential funding for those seniors in nursing homes. will the assault then end? and here in this bill to protect the american homeland security, a deeming of the republican budget which clearly terminates medicare? is it never going to end? are we never going to step forward to actually -- to

actually put in place legislation that will assist americans to get the america that they need? step one, way back. repeal the affordable health care act. give unraised opportunity to the insurance companies to go after men and women in this nation. terminating medicare and here once again coming back in a homeland security bill, slipping in by sleight of hand. a repeal, once again of health care. by the way, how's it going to be paid for? well, you're going to take it out of the seniors' pockets, but you're not going to take it to the oil companies? come on. not paying their fair share and at the same time getting subsidies from the american taxpayers. it's time for that to end. there are ways to pay for the deficit and bring it down. one of the ways not to do it is to go after seniors. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

mr. ellison: mr. speaker, may i inquire how much time remains for our side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota has 4 1/4 minutes remaining. mr. ellison: we'll reserve at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison, reserves his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the question before the house is, should the house now consider house resolution 287. while the resolution waives all points of order against consideration of the bill, the committee is not aware of any points of order. the waiver is profe lactic in nature. specifically, the committee on rules is not aware of the violation of the nonfunding reform act, nor has the congressional budget office notify the rules committee of any violation of the act. additionally, the open rule before the house today allows any member of congress to amend or strike any provision of the bill which is the ultimate fail-safe. in order to allow the house to continue its scheduled business for the day, i urge members to

vote yes on consideration of the resolution. with that i'll reserve the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: mr. reed, the gentleman from new york, reserves his time. the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison, is recognized. mr. ellison: at this time we recognize jan schakowsky of illinois for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. ms. schakowsky: you know, there's a lot of talk and legalees of what's going on today. but the reality is what the republicans are trying to do underneath all of that language is to enshrine in law the republican ryan budget. by voting for it -- voting for the rule what you do is to put into force that budget. and what does that budget do? it ends medicare. now, you know, there are people

who resent that term. oh, no, we're really going to save it. well, i tell you, when you take away the guaranteed benefits of medicare, that's what seniors get right now, for people 55 and under, they are thrown into the not so loving arms of the insurance companies and their costs will increase out of their own pockets by about $6,000. that's what the bill does. the bill also turns medicaid, which is not only the health care plan for poor children in the united states, but it is also the largest pair for nursing homes and home -- payer for nursing homes and home health care, that's the biggest single part of medicaid is paying for nursing home care and home health care, so another

slap at the seniors. the other thing that the legislation does is to offer more tax breaks for the wealthiest americans, lower the tax rates for corporations, many of whom aren't even paying any taxes right now, a couple of whom got tax break -- got tax refunds from the government. you've got major companies paying more -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. ellison: i yield the gentlelady an additional 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for 15 seconds. ms. schakowsky: the american people aren't stupid. they will understand that this is a -- that this is another doubling down on cutting medicare, it will be apparent by the end of this day. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from illinois yields back. the gentleman from minnesota. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, i can reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york, mr. reid, is recognized. mr. reed: mr. speaker, i will reserve the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: reserve. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, we should be creating jobs, not destroying medicare. we should be preserving what has made america great, which is a basic sense that we're all in this thing together, yes, it's absolutely true, people should go out into the private sector, put -- try their luck in the free market, skill, ingenuity, all, that but america has always had a strong public sector which has been essential to the survival and the success of that private sector. good infrastructure, good jobs, times where america, like during the depression, like during the time that ines hour led to us build and -- that eisenhower led us to build and create infrastructure, and in 1968 when we created medicare, this country has been at its best. yes, the private sector but also a strong, vibrant public sector. we are at a point in american history today where at least the republican caucus believes we

don't need a public sector. we just don't need one. we may need one maybe for military stuff, but beyond that they don't see a purpose for it. i think americans think that things like medicare, infrastructure development, social security, things like the g.i. bill are important parts of what makes america america. because it is how we recognize as americans that we are all in this thing together, that our senior citizens will not be abandoned, that our g.i.'s coming back will not be left behind, that communities who need police, fire and e.m.t. services will not just be left to the ravages of others. we need an american commitment to social security and medicare and that's what we're going to be arguing for today. the american people can count on the democratic caucus to never abandon our seniors, even as republicans want to take medicare apart as a program that has served so many people so well. you want to do something to change medicare? why don't we let medicare

negotiate drug prices? that could probably save us several billion dollars a year. as many as $53 billion a year. republicans don't want to do that. because they got their interests to protect and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota yields back the remainder of his time. the gentleman from new york, mr. reed, is recognized. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. i will note that each of the comments that have been offered from the other side are not relevant to the point of order but in response to the comments that have been tendered from my colleagues from the other side of the aisle, i would say the republicans are not here to destroy medicare, they are here to save medicare. we have put forth a responsible plan that has been openly and continuously debated in the public forum and in this chamber about how we're going to move forward with the problem that we have in medicare. it's a problem we cannot deny. both sides of the aisle know that medicare is on a path to bankruptcy. we have put forth a plan, we have put forth a plan that guarantees that we can deal with the problem in such a way that those that are on medicare are

not impacted and those within a generation of retiring into medicare are not impacted. but yet we want to be villenized by the other side for allegedly throwing grandma off the cliff, for taking away medicare. that is not being honest with the american public. we will be honest with the american public. we recognize the problem in medicare, we put forth a plan, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have not put forth a plan to deal with the problem. they want to engage in electioneering, politicking, looking at the re-election efforts for 2012. we're here as members of this caucus and members of this body to deal with the problems of america in an honest and open fashion and that's what we will do. the house passed budget guarantees that seniors will have coverage that is affordable. the house-passed budget guarantees seniors will be able to find plan. it does not end medicare as we know it. it does not throw our seniors off the cliff. it is a responsible plan that

leads us to a situation that deals with the problem of medicare, that is a known problem, and if we want to continue to live in denial and not be honest with the american public, then i tell the american people, follow the democratic proposal of engaging in name calling rather than sitting down and engaging in problem solving. that's what we're about and at this point in time i would urge my colleagues to continue the consideration of the underlying rule and reject this point of order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. reed: i do yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time for debate has expired. the question is will the house now consider the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. ellison: i ask the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes

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

continues. host: we are back with congressman phil gingrey, the republican of georgia. he represents mary at, and he is a it republican study committee member as well. here is a " son in the paper about last night's vote. from senator mark warner. shting down the government, you can go to the 11th and half hour. the consequences -- guest: that may be true.

of course, that take that secretary geithner continues to give congress continues to change. the latest report is august the second. it may change again. but certainly revenue continues to come in. we continue to tax the american taxpayer and revenue comes in on a daily basis. over $200 billion a day, and fat. and certainly the interest on the debt would be the number-one priority. the defense of the nation, probably the no. 2 priority. the safety net for our seniors, that would be no. 3 and no. 4. you get down to the bottom of the hat, and maybe put off pang other obligations, but this business of armageddon and drop dead and everything goes to heck in a handbasket on a date certain, august 2, i do not believe that i true. i don't think most members of congress believe that.

host: do you think about possibly being wrong? guest: absolutely we do. i think it is worth the risk, because quite honestly, all more irresponsible thing and not raising the debt ceiling or raising the debt ceiling would be to say to raise it without having any budget process reform, to simply say, ok, once again, for the umpteenth time we would go along with the federal government, with this president, with his treasury secretary, and accept what stock and barrel what they say, and the doomsday scenario, that it is correct and we will raise the debt ceiling and hope in the future we will have some budget process reform. but the american people do not want that. they do not want to continue do this road of $14.6 trillion, maybe $16 trillion after we raise the debt ceiling, without a significant

commitment in law what we will do about reducing spending and overall cutting down of the debt. host: of the bipartisan talks going on with is president joe biden, what you want to come out of that so that you are a yes vote to raise the debt ceiling? guest: we've talked about a number of scenarios. the idea of a balanced budget amendment is one that i would like to see. the likelihood of that is not very strong. quite honestly, there are many states that may not want a balanced budget amendment. particularly if they get all larger share of the federal government largess into their state coffers. and it takes 75 of -- 75% of the states. we do not have time to wait for that. those who say that we will have caps on spending as a percentage of gdp, bringing it back down

18%, said that into law and make it triggered that makes us cut spending if we go above that amount -- there are other things i feel personally -- why should we vote to raise the debt ceiling until each fiscal year we have passed every one of the 12 spending bills and we have a budget, a concurrent budget resolution passed by the house and the senate? how much money do you borrow if you have no bget and you have not passedour spending bills? i would say to the vice- president and the president, to get my vote, i want to see that done every year. i do not want to see spending bills a lump together, the on the bus stop, of putting military, veterans, along with some other controversial discretionary socialistic-tight spending to force members to go

into those situations. i think every single spending bill should be a stand-alone bill. that would be another provision that i would put in there before i would vote to increase the debt ceiling. host: medicare cuts? guest: medicare cuts are significance. if we do not do something about medicare, the trek the report says that by 2024, the fund will be insolvent. that is not thafar away. the president himself back in 2009, june, i think, he said that the two bigst driver of our debt and deficit are the medicare and medicaid programs. and they are not sustainable. and yet the president and the democratic majority, all they seem to want to do is criticize any ideas that the republican majority has come forward with a budget, with a reasonable, sensible budget. they do not even want to talk about it. they would rather use it as a political tool