one that refuses to put greater burdens on medicare beneficiaries in order to provide greater tax breaks to the wealthiest americans. and in the coming months our republican colleagues will be given the following te. will they choose to protect special interest tax breaks over investments necessary to keep our nation strong and secure, will they finally demotrate a willingness to pay for our national defense rather than put it on the crit card? mr. speaker, let's get on with that big national debate and let's finally focus on jobs and getting the economy going as we reduce our long-term deficit. thank you, mr. speaker, and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. the gentleman from wisconsin reserves the balance of his time? the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one minute to the gentlelady, a member of the 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 and take 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 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 wa clean air and clean 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 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 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 th 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 you again. i intend to vote no on the bill. 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 one minute to the gentleman from new jersey who has been a -- the speaker pro tempore: the geleman 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 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 oudeficit 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 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 reasone bipartisan agreement to create jobs for the american people. i urge a yes vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. the geleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, may i inquire as to how much time is left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland has tw minutes remaining. the gentleman from wisconsin has four minutes remaining. mr. n 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 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 time in history that we've seen members of this congress threaten to close down

the american economy in less than -- unless they got their particular budget pl 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 distinguished democratic leader who has been a fighter for america's priorities, ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the stinguished minority leader is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the ntleman 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. what 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 e 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 o 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 declared independence, they fought the greatest naval power in the world, 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 history 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 rth, 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 ki any bills, public or perm. and -- personal. and so if we believe all of th and that's why we are here in congress, it's hardto believe that we are putting our best foot forward with the gislation that comes before us today. i'm not happy with it but i'm proud of se 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 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 becae 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 ts delay 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 going 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 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 support this bill, even there are plenty of reasons not to, is that it stops cuts in social security, medicare and medicaid. this is the most important

assignment given to democratic leadership going to the table, to make sure there are no cuts benefits in medicare, medicaid and social security, that was achived. 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 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 bill, i feel the responsibility to do so. we cannot, because of certain objections in thbill -- 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 means in terms of confidence in ou society and what it means also to have the 50-50 in rms 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 clas 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 weould 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 have 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 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. 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 all 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 right direction, and it is a huge cultural change to this institution. both parties got us in this mess . oth 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 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 newd to sneak these in budget resolutio and now it's in here in plain sight. and what are we doing? we are actually cutting snding while we do this. that's cultural. that' significant. that's a big step in the right rection. 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 house braced the debt limit. during the vote, rep gabrielle giffords made a surprise return to the house floor six months after she was injured in a

shooting in tucson arizona. gear is that reaction. [applause]

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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 thi 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. 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. congresswoman giffords here. with that i yield back.