gentlelady, a member othe budget committee, ms. moore. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from wisconsin is recognized for one minute. ms. moore: thank you so much for yielding. so many of my colleagues have said that it was necessary to storm the white house antake the country hostage in the name of their grandchildren. 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 wanty 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 anclean water for them. i want jobs where 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 haveome 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 speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: thank you very much. thank you, mr. speaker, 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's an outrage that as we stand here today that we could not raise the debt ceiling by voting for that. thank u again. i intend to vote no on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. the gentleman reserves the lance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey o 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. andrews: 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 that. the second thing is to make sure we have an intert rate environment so that our businesses and entreeneurs 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 does 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 let 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 llen: mr. speaker, may i inquire as to how much time is ft? 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 whether they were going to get paid or whether individus 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 time in history

that we've seen members of this congress threaten to clos 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 innovation. 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 distinguish democratic leader 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 learship 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. what did happen and it brings to mind the question, why are we here? and i would divideas 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. that is what our founding fathers visualized for america. that every generation would take responsibility to make the future bter 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 declared independence, they fought the greatest naval power in the world, they won, they wrote the constitution, the bill of rights,aking 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 history of the world. and when they did that they, as i've told you before beuse 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, tat 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 retirement, 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 kids any 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 here today within 24 hours of our nation going into deult, 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 isne 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 delay and uncertainty has a tremendous impact on america's families, as they sit around the table and talk about how they are gng to make ends meet, how they are going to pay their bills, is sorle security going to be intact for them and will their checks arrive, is medicare and medicaid something they can count on. ell, 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,t

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 today -- 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 impressing 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,

mecare and medicaid. this is the 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 welbeing of the american people. we have a 550 split between our expenditures for defense and expenditures 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 bil i feel the sponsibility 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 america. 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 meansn 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 cannotllow 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 the 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, but 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 down 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 he about this. and again, i want to commend our distinguished colleague, mr. van hollen, and mr. clyburn and the president of the united states and those who trd to work in a

bipartisan way to accomplish something. i hear our republican colleagues have said they got 98% in t 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. hensarling. 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 siningst into law, it -- signs it into law, it will be the first time in my lifetime that for two years in a row we have actually cut discretionary

spending in 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 balancebudget 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 cnstitution. 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. ryan: 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 coming up to a deadline we must all recognize, default. and what this has done, it has brought our two pties 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, buthat's a good thing. first thing as my colleague just said, this is a down payment on the problem, good step in the right direction, and it is a huge cultural change to this stitution. 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 w 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 were in 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 sneak 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 this. 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

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 2 -- the speaker: on this vote the yeas are 269, the nays are 161. the bill is passed and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? >> permission to speak out of order. the speaker: without objection, so ordered. mr. bishop: kids who are at the back that you can't see because you're standing in front of them, this is the first time we've ever had pages here had not in two small groups but in one summer group. these pages are going home this week and they have had a chance of being here to see history in the making on several different fronts. i wish you'd give them -- before

you do that, page board consists of representative foxx from new york, myself, representative kildee, i yield to the gentlelady from colorado. >> i thank the gentlelady for yielding and i want to thank all of the wonderful pages who had are in the back of the room. ms. degette: you've seen history in the last six weeks here in congress and we're so honored and proud to have all of you here with us and i'm sure this may not be my place but we all want to welcome back our wonderful colleague, congresswoman giffords here. with that i yield back.

mr. bishop: mr. chairman, i also yield to the gentleman from michigan, mr. kildee. killed kill mr. speaker, i'd like to take this -- mr. kildee: mr. speaker, i'd like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the pages for what they have done here in the 112th congress. to become a page, mr. speaker, these young people have proven themselves to be academically qualified. as we all know, the job of a congressional page is not an easy one. along with being away from home, the pages must possess the maturity to balance competing demands with their time and energy. you pages have witnessed the house debate, issues of war and peace, hunger and poverty, justice and civil rights. you ve