world. we must develop plans to increase manufacturing and manufacturing jobs. an infrastructure bank. with me on the podium is our chairman of our steering and policy committee, rosa delauro, who has been a champion of an infrastructure bank which the president mentioned a few minutes ago. we need to facilitate efficient private sector investments in infrastructure. we need to compete from broadband to energy systems to ports. we need to outbuild with an infrastructure bank we will be able to outbuild. a partnership between the public sector and the private sector. clean energy. clearly that is the future. that is the vision we have of an america that has pow -- that powers itself by clean energy. we need to invest in clean energy to create jobs and make america competitive in the most

important new economic segment. china is doing that. europe is doing that. america is and must do that and is doing it as a result of the bill that we passed, the american recovery and reinvestment act and we need to continue on that path. currency reform. under democratic leadership, we passed a bipartisan bill that sought to level the playing field by holding accountable countries that manipulate currency to -- to gain unfair trade advantages. we know china is doing that and we know others are doing it. we need to pass legislation that will again send to the senate a bill which will level the playing field for our manufacturers and our competitors. i am pleased now to yield to my

good friend from south carolina , the assistant leader of the house of representatives for the democrats, mr. jim clyburn. >> thank you very much, mr. whip, madam leader, distinguished chairs, despite coming up 44 votes short of 218 to prevent our nation from being devastated by default, republicans in washington continue to play political games. they have turned their my way or the highway into my way or the run way. that is what is taking place with this f.a.a. bill. the federal aviation administration has been bottled

up now, this is the 10th day. we have lost about $300 million in revenue. and i'm pleased that the senate seems to be willing to put a tourniquet on some of this. but the legislation that seems to be agreed to, which is the house version, leaves out a big chunk that is small, rural airports. and the jobs, the contracting jobs, that are being held in abayance, that has already been the site of the problem. there is little that's anymore important to job creation in

rural communities than these small airports. and for my republican friends, to continue to wreak havoc, havoc among the lives of those men and women, those working men and women, who are dependent upon these contracts in order to put food on the table and in order to -- for the ceiling -- to put a ceiling over their heads and prepare for a future for their children, this is unconscionable and i would hope that we would hurry and get to the point of really setting aside political games and start doing what is necessary to resolve these issues that the american people would like to see us resolve.

let me conclude by saying that mr. hoyer talked about energy. one of the quickest ways and most elementary ways of putting people back to work in a hurry and having tremendous impact on energy savings is for us to do something to pass home star and what we commonly call a rules program which will immediately create jobs, bipartisan legislation that i've been pushing now for more than a year. it's being held up by these political shenanigans and we ought to do something rather quickly to turn our attention to jobs so that these rural communities can be looked after. with that, i would like to yield now, i'm assuming i'm

yielding to the chair of our policy committee, co-chair. >> that's right, mr. clylurn. -- clyburn. the debt ceiling fight is behind us, we can't afford any more distractions. we have to do everything we can to create good, well-paying jobs in america. it is time for the republican majority to break the 210-day streak and counting and put real jobs legislation on the schedule. the president a few moments ago spoke and he talked about whatever we're doing that we need to have a piece that is about growing our economy. and unless we can grow our economy, we are not going to be table put people back to work. we are not going to be able to deal with our deficit and we're not going to have economic security for the future. in order to create jobs, to fix our economy, we have to invest

in our infrastructure and our domestic manufacturing capacity. they are the engines of economic growth for us for the future. we have to go back to being a country that builds things rather than one that just consumes goods that are produced overseas. with that in mind, i have long championed legislation to create a national intrastructure bank that can leverage private capital to public investment. according to a recent report, failing to invest in our nation's infrastructure could cost the united states $129 billion a year and over the next 10 years, it reads and i quote, u.s. businesses would pay an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes would fall by more than $7,000 and u.s. exports will fall by $28 billion. end quote. meanwhile, we are falling

behind in the global economy. china invests 9% of their gross domestic product in infrastructure. india, 5% and rising. and here in america, we spend less than 2% of g.d.p. on infrastructure. and infra-- an infrastructure bank is a concept with broad bipartisan support. it could help close these gap, restore bridges, water systems and the energy grid. do something about bringing telecommunications across the nation in rural communities, allow us to build a 21st century infrastructure and work to create jobs all across america, good jobs, well-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced so we are once again making things in america, becoming more competitive in the global economy. this is a great nation and this is a nation that's been built on brick and mortar and fiberoptics and we've got to get back to doing that again. millions of families are

struggling right now. we do not have the time or luxury to pay political games any longer. we need to pass jobs legislation, right now, including an infrastructure bank and i was pleased to see that the president spoke about an infrastructure bank today, a bank that will create jobs, spur investments and rebuild america. with that, let me introduce to you the chair of our democratic congressional campaign committee, steve israel of no. >> thank you very much. the legislation to extend the debt ceiling may not have been a great deal but it is now a done deal. we are moving forward into august, we will spend august holding republicans in the house accountable for eight months of wrong choices for the american people in two areas, jobs and medicare. house republicans made a decision, they were willing to close down the government but they have not produced one single bill to open up small business in this country.

not one bill to open up a small business and create jobs in this country. house republicans made a decision. they made a decision with the ryan budget, they made a decision 20 years ago when they said they would allow medicare to wither on a vine and they have been fighting that battle relentlessly every single day for decades. culminating in them being in the majority of the house of representatives trying to pass a ryan budget which would add $6,000 to the medical costs of senior citizens in order to fund corporate tax loopholes. they made a decision going into this debate on the debt ceiling that they would be -- they would rather close down the government in their relentless pursuit of the end of medicare and the funding of corporate tax loopholes. we're calling this accountability august. accountability august. and the american people are going to ask their republican members of congress to they will from every member of

congress, why did you vote to end medicare, why did you stand with the big oil companies when you could have protected medicare. i don't know what the national weather service is predicting for august, but for republicans it's going to be very, very hot because they're going to spend their august defending the indefensible. >> thank you very much, chairman israel. chairman israel is one of the few democrats we can call mr. chairman. thank you for your great work on behalf of the american people. i'm proud of the work our house democratic caucus has been doing over time and relentlessly on behalf of job creation. as you heard what was said here, there's a tremendous need for rebuilding the infrastructure of america, the society of civil engineers says it's in the trillions of

dollars, just address regular building the infrastructure of america will create good-paying jobs here at home. thank you, mr. president, for emphasizing that and the infrastructure bank because we'll need public-private partnership to create jobs. mr. hoyer with make it in america, mr. clyburn with the suggestions he had especially in terms of rural america, ms. delauro on the infrastructure banks issue, i want to mention we have a bill on china with over 170 already signatures to a discharge petition on that bill which as our whip said has already passed the house in a bipartisan way. and now we want it to come up again. what mr. israel said, this is not only about creating jobs, it's about developing small

businessmen and -- small business in an entrepreneurial way, in a way that take peoples from survival in terms of do they have jobs but to success in that they are job creators and transforming our country to where people are back to where they were before the last 10 years with the financial crisis and deep deficits, where they know they'll be successful and they're willing to take risks and we can lead the way and continue to be number one. it's about innovation, as steny said, we'll out-innovate, out-educate and outbuild and america will continue to be number one. in the meantime, we have to make sure that all of americans participate in the future economic prosperity of our country. and we'll take any questions you may have. >> i want to follow up on congressman clyburn's comments about the f.a.a.

it seems the senate is probably not going to act before they finish up their business today on a house-passed bill and legislators are about to go in recess past labor day for a month while 4,000 f.a.a. workers are being furloughed and 70,000 airport construction workers are impacted as well. i'm wondering if you think it's fair that tall these members are going home for a month vacation. >> we did not think it was fair. i think that senator reid agrees with that and it seems that just before we came in here, that senator reid has agreed to the house-passed legislation and that's why i said in my statement, it leaves out these small airports that have all these contracting jobs out there. that's my understanding. >> i want to say something on

that. i think it is an example of what this republican majority in the house of representatives has done. a, they were clearly prepared to let america default for the first time in history on its debts. unless they got their way. secondly, as you point out, they were prepared to leave washington as they have now done essentially with almost 4,000 federal employees out on the -- out on the street and with over 7,000, we think the number is as large as 90,000 people who are helping to outbuild, helping to expand infrastructure and make sure our airports are safe and usable and more efficient. they were prepared to walk away from here and leave almost

95,000 people without a job. why? because they passed a bill and said to the united states senate, either you take it our way or it'll be no runway and no highway and no way. that is a perfect example of the politics not of persuasion, not of compromise, of coming together but the politics of confrontation and my way or no way. senator reid is confronted with a terrible decision. my friends in organized labor are absolutely right on this issue. none of us, none of us and no republican, not mr. baber or mr. mccarthy would say to anybody, i want to be in an

election in which everybody who does not come to the polls is adjudged a no. against. that's not how we run america but that's what mr. mica said to the senate. now senator reid, because he cares about those 90,000 jobs, as difficult as it may be, it's our understanding, is going ta say, we are not going to leave washington with those folks out on the street as our republican colleagues, led by mr. mica and mr. boehner would do. >> congresswoman giffords came to the floor and voted for the bill. it was an incredibly emotional moment for a lot of members. can you tell us when you heard about this, what the moment was like for you, actually for all you guys. >> it was a great moment for our country. we had a person who is so highly respected, i think the

most respected person in america, certainly elected official in america whose name is synonymous with inspiration, with respect, with courage work patriotism and she really wanted to come, i'm not going to go into the details of when we knew what and all the rest. i was not one who would have encouraged her to come we didn't think it was going to hinge on one vote but she felt so strongly about it that she wanted to come and we're very, very proud that she did. i'm just looking at my watch because i don't know when she leaves town but any moment that she's here, she enhances the climate of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship and our country working together. it was a great moment. when the green light went up on the screen on the wall next to her name, there was a highly

emotional moment for us. there it was, yes, in green, giffords. and so as i said to the pages who were there, you will witness a great deal of history, nothing, nothing like what is happening today when a person so respected so courageous came back here because she wanted to save our economy because she knew going to default would be harmful. >> madam speaker, one of your lines was protecting medicare. when you make your appointments for this new committee, is that something you'll require of them? is that something you send to the committee? >> let me thank you for acknowledging that one of the fights we were successful in in this is as mr. israel --

chairman israel mentioned is that we did protect the benefits, the social security, medicare, medicaid benefits. that's a priority for us. let me say it is more than a priority. it's a value. it's an epic for the american people, it is one that all the members of our caucus share so that i know that whoever is at that table will be someone who will fight to protect those benefits. >> when do you expect to announce who the members of the special committee will be? >> when i do. you'll be among the first to know. >> i also have a question, i want to ask you along the lines of what kind of people are you looking for to serve on this? is this another opportunity for you and the caucus to speak on things you believe? >> for the past few months the american people have -- the people have wondered why are we

talking about this debt rather than talking about jobs? we had the vote, it's a done deal, it's time for us to completely focus on jobs. i have no intention for the next weeks and months to be talking about this committee. it has its responsibility. we will make our appointments an the nature of who they are will be self-evident. but we cannot turn ourselves into a place where we are just talking about the process of this. we have to be creating jobs. yem, one last question. >> i was going to follow up on the committee to ask if you -- will you be picking people who are more apt to compromise as opposed to eem who will take you down the road of a stalemate? >> our caucus is very united in hoping that this committee has some level of success in reducing the deficit with a

strong element of growth an job creation as part of it. we're fooling ourselveses if we ever think that one element on the table, whether it be cuts -- is going to solve it. if we're serious, as our caucus is, about reducing the deficit, we have to go in there recognizing that compromise has to be made, you can't accomplish what you set out to do without considering revenues in a very strong way and some of those revenues have been mentioned by mr. israel, whether it's subsidies to big oil, whether it's tax benefits through corporations sending jobs overseas, we have a long list as you know and you cannot reduce the deficit unless you bring revenue in. mr. hoyer said it. job creation is deficit reduction. we are pretty unified in our commitment to reducing the

deficit by creating jobs and by having fair and bipartisan approach to getting it done. but don't expect us to spend every day between now and then until the committee makes its report talking about the process of that. what we're talking about is the promotion of jobs, more business creations and entrepreneurial spirit in our country which has been the source of our job creation and our success over the past two decades. thank you all very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> house minority leader nancy pelosi and other house leaders on the debt ceiling adwreement and jobs today. the senate passed that vote

74-26. we heard from president obama a short time ago speaking about the agreement and new focus on job creation, something you did hear house democratic leaders addressing in this meeting. coming up at 2:00, senate republicans are expected to brief on the debt ceiling agreement, that's about 15 minutes from now. right now, we'll take your phone calls on the debt ceiling package. here are the phone numbers. 202-585-3885 for republicans, democrats call 202-585-3886. and our line for independents, 202-585-3887. first, a call from jim in tucker, georgia. he's on the republicans line. >> i would like to -- caller: i would like to make three quick comments, very quick comments, that are basic and i don't understand why our corning can't comprehend this and i've not even heard it talked about in the debate

that's been going on. if we stop illegal immigrants coming through the border, this would help medicaid because they have virtually bankrupted medicaid and put a lot of hospitals out of business. if we eliminated programs that don't have any -- or little or no oversight such as the department of education, that would save $32 billion a year and yet we are graduating high school students who cannot read and right, which is a total joke. and number three, china does not pay decent wages, therefore they should not be a member of the world trade organization and how we can allow countries like that to belong to the world trade organization when the minimum wage there is 34 cents an hour. >> next to merced, california, on the democrats line, melvina.

>> clip i just want to say it is all political theater. i think it's sad where taxpayers and citizens' lives are used as pawns. big corporations are run by the rich and they don't want to change. oh, boy, i'm a corporate professional laid off from my job at a biotech company in 2009. i've been on unemployment that company made $750 million a year but because it did not hit the billion dollar mark they laid off 2,000 people and sent the manufacturing jobs overseas, yet that same year, that same pharmaceutical company sent the newt gingrich foundation a check for $500,000 so he could lobby and keep things as the status quo. it's all political theater and i'm really just -- i'm frustrated and i'm upset because i was laid off from my job but i'm also the ex-wife of

an active duty military person. so if he didn't get paid that means he doesn't pay his child support, that mean miskids don't eat. i look for a job and i have looked for a job and things are tough out there. stop with the political theater. >> thanks. we're going to move on to texas, the independent line, elijah. caller: hello and i am very disappointed in the republicans, they have come into office, we have seen what they're doing to this country. wake up, america, wake up real soon. thank you. >> thanks for your call. live picture inside the capitol as we are awaiting senate republicans who are expected to brief on the debt ceiling agreement. in the meantime, more of your phone calls. next to cody who is in marion, ohio, on the republicans' line. caller: hello, i was just --

this is like a fiscal peeing contest, you know. it's the same chemical concoction prolonging and causing this problem and they're hoping to cure it. we need to look at a flat tax. in kale, they're able to generate $100 million through medical marijuana. we need to stop with the arguing and finger pointing. herbert hoover showed that direct government involvement could contribute to the fall. reagan proved if people are confident in their government, it will recover. we need a strong and stable government in the process. >> john in phoenix, arizona. democrat line. caller: ok. >> go ahead, john. caller: do republicans want to

cut social security, why don't we start cutting congress' pay by 50%? they want to cut medicare, let's take away their benefits. take away what they have in congress. they want to cut medicaid, i think we are paying for all their transportation, all their lodging when they go to congress and their food, let's take all of that away from them. i think that would be fair. they want to cut, let's cut them. they're just talking about cutting things that the poor people are depending on. >> thanks for your call. the senate approving the debt ceiling today in their vote. the vote break down, 28 republicans and 45 democrats and one independent, jeff lieberman, voted in favor of the agreement.