so i wanted to go on record talking about what i want for my grandchildren. i want head start for my grandchildren. i want w.i.c. programs and early childhood education for my programs, i want my kids to go to a school where they can participate in the science fair. i want immunizations for them. i want research done for food safety to make sure the chicken nuggets are safe, i want clean air and clean water for them. i want jobs ere they invent things like new energy sources and, yes, i want them to be contributing citizens and pay taxes and i want a safety net for them in case they are disabled and when they become elderly and if they get cold in the cold winters of wisconsin to still have some energy assistance. i want my grandchildren to get the american dream. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland.

mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield a minute to the gentlelady from california, ms. lee. the speakepro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: thank you very much. thank you, mr.peaker, and thank you for yielding and also for your very bold and effective leadership, mr. van hollen. i rise in strong opposition to this unbalanced debt ceiling bill. this is an unbalanced approach, we all know that, we've heard that. and furthermore this debt ceiling bill should have never been an option in terms of having to come to this floor to debate this and we should have, like democrats and republican presidents have done in the past, we should have lifted the debt ceiling. rightfully so, many of us are concerned about these discretionary cuts. what are these cuts going to do as it relates to our senior citizens, low income veds and the poor? -- individuals and the poor? this debt ceiling bill does

nothing to address the real crisis in our country, the lack of jobs and economic growth. at a time when investments are needed to jump start our economy and put people back to work, this deal and its cuts only approach which it is, it's the wrong approach. it'sn outrage that as we stand here today that we could not raise the debt ceiling by voting for that. tank you again. i intend to vote no on the bill. he speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey who has been a -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. van hollen: a fighter on this battle. mr. andrews. mr. drews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. andrews: mr. speaker, what brings us together as a -- is a need to create jobs for the american people. and i think people would agree there's three things we need to do to create jobs. the first is not fall off a cliff and have a default on our national obligations. this bill accomplishes tt.

the second thing is to make sure we have an interest rate environment so that our businesses and entrepreneurs can create jobs, so they have some predictability. by making a 25% to 30% down payment on reducing our deficit in a fair and equitable way, this bill do that. and finally i think most of us adepree that we need investments in our education, research and development, infrastructure, other activities to create jobs in our private sector for our people. by making sure that at least in the first two years of this agreement that the reductions in those areas are either nonexistent or moderate, i think that we give ourselves the freedom so our appropriators can put valuable investments forward in that way. this is a well reasoned, bipartisan agreement to create jobs for the american people. i urge a yes vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time.

the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, m i inquire as to how much time is left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland has two minutes remaining. the gentleman from wisconsin has four minutes remaining. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, as i said at the outset, we should never have reached this point in our country. we should never have reached the point when our troops wondered whher they were going to get paid or whether individuals on social security wondered whether they were going to see their earned benefits. that should never have happened and this is the first time in history, first timen history thate've seen members of this congress threaten to close down the american economy in less than -- unless they got their particular budget plan through, ones that ends the medicare guarantee, slashes medicaid and

would deeply cut our investments in education and innovatn. we protected those investments in this bill. the plan did not work, it didn't work now and the plan to do it again six months from now didn't work. so now we will have that great debate over our priorities, we're looking forward to it. let's get on to talking about jobs and the economy and with that i yield one minute to the very distinguished democratic lead who has been a fighter for america's priorities, ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the distinguished minority leader is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and every chance i get i want to salute him for his tremendous leadership as a top democrat on the budget committee, for the work he did with mr. clyburn and the bipartisan talks, as they strove to have what the american people want, a balanced, bipartisan,

fair agreement to lift the debt ceiling and take america forward. unfortunately that did not happen. wat did happen and it brings to mind the question, why are we here? and i would divide, as we say in legislation, i would divide that question into why are we here and why are we here today? we are here because all of us in this body care about our country , have decided that public service is a noble pursuit and that we have come here to make the future better for future generations. hat is what our founding fathers visualized for america. that every generation would take responsibility to make the future better for the next. that's why, mr. speaker, our founders, in addition to writing

our founding documents, the declaration, the great deck -- declaration which embodies fairness in it and equality, then the constitution they dclared independence, they fought the greatest naval power in the wor, they won, they wrote the constitution, the bill of rights, making us the freest, greatest nation in the world, founded on a principle that all people are created equal. that had never been done in the histy of the world. and when they did that they, as i've told you before because i love it so much, they also created the great seal of the united states. and that great seal of the united states has on it know us have order seclorum. a new order for the centuries, for the ages, forever. so competent were our founders in their idea about generational

responsibility, one to the next, that they were confident that our country, that what they were putting forth would exist for the ages. for the ages. that was the challenge they gave us. that is the responsibility that we have. and for a couple of hundred years or more that has always been the case. every generation has always believed that it would make the future better for the next. for their children and for their their grand charron. -- grandchildren. we're here today because we believe that and we believe that the public policy that we put forth, the legislation we put forth should result in public policy that makes the future better for our children and our grandchildren. that we are committed to their education, the economic security of our families, dignified

rtirement, of our seniors and also safety and security of their neighborhoods and of our country and with that, we would do it in a fiscally sound way that did not give our kidsny bills, public or perm. and -- personal. and so if we believe all of that and that's why we are here in congress, it's hard to believe that we are putting our best foot forward with the legislation that comes before us today. i'm not happy with it but i'm proud of some of the accomplishments contained in it and that's why i'm voting for it. it takes me to the second question. why are we here today? why are we re today? within 24 hours of our nation ing into default, after months of conversation about how we would address the debt ceiling,

not to have had future spending, but to pay our past obligations and i won't go into it again, how we got here. but i will say that time is one of the most important commodities any of us have, the most precious, the most finite. and during that period of time when our country could have been more productive, more optimistic, more confident in the tradition of our founders, instead a cloud of doubt placed on it because of the delay, the delay, the delay in lifting debt ceiling. as my distinguished colleague, mr. van hollen, said, this has never happened before. we've never, never tied the hands of a president of the united states. we never placed any doubt in the public markets as to whether this would happen. . we never knew the consequences

of our action. i'm more concerned about the kitchen table, because this dey and uncertainty has a tremendous impact on america's families, as they sit around the table and talk about how they are going to make ends meet, how they are going to pay their bills, is sorle security gng to be intact for them and will their checks arrive, is medicare and medicaid something they can count on. well, after months and months and months to reach an agreement that could have been reached a long time ago, it's not so great it took so long to achieve, it could have been accomplished months ago and at least have the merit of instilling confidence sooner rather than at the last possible moment. we must make sure that we are --

we say why are we here toy -- that we aren't here some other day to go through these motions and that's the reason i'm supporting this bill. the president was successful in pressing upon the congress that we need the full 18 months so the americans at their kitchen table, people sitting around that table and aboard room table will know that you can rely on the united states of america to meet its obligations, ok? and another reason to support this bill, even there are plenty of reasons not to, is that it stops cuts in social security, medicare and medicaid. this is t most important assignment given to democratic leadership going to the table, to make sure there are no cuts in benefits in medicare, medicaid and social security,

that was achieved. another issue of importance to us, as we protect and defend our country, we measure our strength in the health, education and well-being of the american people. we have a 50-50 split between our expenditures for defense and penditures defined in other ways for our country. these are some reasons why those who may have the luxury of not wanting to vote for the bill, i feel the responsibility to do so. we cannot, because of certain objections in the bill -- and one of the main ones is that there's not one red centcoming from america's wementiest families and god bless them for their success, but not one red centcoming to help reduce the deficit while we are willing to

cut title 1, education for the poorest children in arica. it's too bad for those children and terrible for our country. for things not in the bill, like revenue, i urge my colleagues to think about our seniors and think about the 18 months and what that means in terms of confidence in our society and what it means also to have the 50-50 in terms of defining the sfreng of america. we cannot -- the strength of america. we cannot, despite our reluctance to vote for this bill for some of us, allow seniors and veterans who are dependent on receiving their check from the government or their security over time, we cannot allow our seniors and veterans to be caught in the collateral damage on the assault of the middle class that is being waged in

this congress. this is no manifestation of making it harder for the future for th great middle class, which is -- and those who aspire to it, is the backbone of our democracy. if we are going to honor the vows of our founders and carry on the great legacy and their determination, their hope for the future, that we would last for ages, b we would last for ages as a democracy, not an ever broadening disparity of income and equity in our country that undermines that. please, my colleagues, if you are on the fence about this, i certainly am and have been even though i worked very hard to support the president in preserving what i said about no cuts in medicare, medicaid, social security, about this 18

months and about the 50-50 split . please think of what could happen if we defaulted. please, please, please, please come wn in favor of again preventing the collateral damage of reaching our seniors and our veterans. i urge you to consider voting yes, but i completely respect the hesitation that members have about this. and again, i want to commend our distinished colleague, mr. van hollen, and mr. clyburn and the president of the united states and those who tried to work in a bipartisan way to accomplish something. i hear our republican colleagues have said they got 98% in the bill and i hope their votes real flect that. with that, i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin has four minutes. mr. ryan: i yield two minutes to mr. hensarlin the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mchenry: mr. speaker, the america -- mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, the american people want more jobs and less debt. the american people are telling washington you have to quit spending money you don't have and quit borrowing 42 cents on the dollar much of it from the chinese and send the bill to our children and grandchildren. our crisis today is not the debt ceiling, it is our debt and it is a spending-driven debt. that is why we are here today, mr. speaker. i would like toe say this bill solves -- like to say this bill solves our problem.

it doesn't. it is a doll i had first step. nobody, nobody on our side of the aisle wants to increase our debt ceiling. it's not in our d.n.a. but we do believe you ought to stay current on your bills and you got to quit spending money you don't have. and in this bill, although the sums are very, very small, when we pass this bill, if the president sinings it into law, it -- signs it into law, it will be t fir time in my lifetime that for two years in a row we have actually cut discretionary spendingn washington, d.c., and made a very slight directional change in the right direction. the numbers are small, the directional change is huge, but more importantly, the seeds are

planted in this bill and that is the balanced buet amendment to the constitution. the american people aren't looking for a balanced approach but for a balanced budget and for it to work, it needs to be in our constitution. this bill will ensure for the first time in 15 years, both the house and the senate vote on a balanced budget and those are the seeds of the solution to save our next generation and i urge adoption. the speaker pro tempore: jask has two minutes remaining. mr.yan: i yield myself the remaining of the time. from this debateu it's very clear that we have difference of opinions. we have different philosophies on how to address these issues, but we are comig up to a deadline we must all recognize, default. and what this has done, it has brought our two parties together. i would like to reflect for a moment the fact that we have a

bipartisan compromise here. that doesn't happen all that off en, but that's a good thing. first thing as my colleague just said, this is a down payment on the problem, good step in the rightirection, and it is a huge cultural change to this institution. both parties got us in this mess . both parties are going to have to work together to get us out of this mess. and the real problem, i would add, mr. speaker, is the fact that we spend way more money than we take in. we have to address that. to my friends on the left, i think they would like to take comfort in the fact the way the spending cuts are designed. to my friends on the right, we are cutting spending. we have been trying to get

discretionary caps in law for years. i have been here for 13 years trying for it every year, and this is the first time. the last time we werin the majority, we couldn't get it in the republican congress, now we are getting discretionary caps. that is a big achievement. number two, we newsed to sne these in budget resolutions and now it's in here in plain sight. and what are we doing? we are actually cutting spending while we do thi that's cultural. that's significant. that's a big step in the right direction. we are getting 2/3 of the cuts we wanted in our budget and as far as i'm concerned, 66% in the right direction is a whole lot >> that figure is an americanization.

that is not a classical figure. >> if you missed our latest documentary "library of congress," there is a preview on our youtube channel. see all the latest videos and watch the entire documentary and hundreds of other timely videos online at youtube. >> the c-span networks -- providing coverage of politics, public affairs, nonfiction books, and american history. it is all available to you on television, radio, online, and on social media networking sites. find our content anytime through the c-span video library. we take c-span on the road with our digital content bus. it is washington your way. the c-span networks -- now available in more than 100 million homes, created by cable, provided as a public service. >> on c-span tonight, a recap of

today's coverage of raising the debt ceiling starting with remarks from the vice-president biden. after that, senate democratic leaders and house republicans. later, democratic members of the congressional progressive caucus. our coverage on raising the debt ceiling continues with remarks from vice-president biden. he told reporters this afternoon the compromise agreement would avoid the government from defaulting on its obligations and prevent a double dip recession. his remarks came after meeting with house democrats for almost 2.5 hours trying to secure votes for the bill. this one's about five minutes. >> i did not go to vent but to

explain and lay out how we got to where we were and why this is so important for the country. after 36 years, i never ask another person to vote against their interest. my sense is that they expressed all their frustrations, which i would be frustrated if i was sitting there as well. getting down to the wire like this. they ask questions specifically about the proposed legislation. the proposed legislation. i thought it was a good meeting. i feel confident that this will pass. >> some feel like they have been sold down the river. >> sir. if we had our way.

if there were different circumstances in the congress, we would be talking and should be talking right now about job creation. we should be talking about infrastructure and investing in education and about innovation. the president made that clear in his state of the union message. but the truth of the matter is, there's a sort of damocles hanging over everyone's head, the debt ceiling. and it was viewed as the means by which, unless certain compromises were made, we would default on our debt. the reason why it is so important that the bargain negotiated with the republicans and by the president, the reason why it is so important that it passes, is that it has zero or 21 overwhelming redeeming

feature. it says that the debt limit issue cannot, again until 2013. a reason for that is the election. it had to do with now from the moment that it passes and to decide in law, we will talk about nothing then but about jobs. two weeks ago, we have had jobs report and have any of your written about it? what about the debt ceiling? so we have to get this out of the way to get to it. growing the economy. the other thing we have done here is that this part and does not prevent us from being able to continue to fund those initiatives within our budget that are the job creators. infrastructure, innovation, and education.

in the normal process, it will go forward and to the appropriations committee and get debated in the house and senate to say we can win those debates and convince people that are initiative should be passed. -- our initiatives it should be passed. there is room within the budget to fund those priorities. but it is going to be a normal political battle rather than sitting there and saying, by the way, if you do not do this, we're going to let the economy, the indicted states to fall. we will let interest rates climbed 5% are more, and risked a double-dip recession. thank you all very much. >> senate majority leader harry reid also spoke to reporters

after meeting with his caucus to discuss the details of the debt ceiling measure. this is just a few minutes. >> i bet none of you have been standing for two hours. we really had a good conversation in the caucus. there was some enthusiasm for the legislation, some on the other side not so enthusiastic, but generally speaking people realize the situation we are and and the alternative. this legislation is typical for compromise legislation.

neither side got what it wanted. but it is the essence of compromise. i am told the house will be voting on this sometime this evening. i'm going to work to see if we can vote today, not at all assured, but we are working on that. it would be nice to get this bill from the house and start the process. there ways that we can work simultaneously and i hope we can work that out. all this takes unanimous consent in the senate and we will do everything we can to see if i can get that. we need to send it to president obama as soon as we can. it has been a long process and i am confident we did the right thing for the american people. the solution cuts the deficit now, lays the groundwork for congress to do much better worked in the months ahead. it clears the way for us to look at the bright sunshine and get rid of the