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 about 44 votes short of 218, to prevent our nation from being devastated by a default, republicans in washington continue to play political games. they have turned their my way or the highway into my way or the runway. that is what has taken 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 turn cat on some of this hemorrhaging. 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 the balance, that have already been decided upon, 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 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. let me conclude by saying that

mr. hoyer talked about energy. the quickest ways and one of the most elementary ways of putting people back to work in a rurry and having a tremendous impact on energy savings is for us to do something to pass a rule energy savings program which will immediately create jobs. by passing legislation that i have been pushing now for more than a year. it's been held up by these political shenanigans and we ought to do something rather quickly to turn our attention to jobs so these rural communities can be looked after. with that i'd like to yield now -- i'm assuming i'm yielding to the chair of our policy

co-chair. >> yes, thank you very, very much, mr. clyburn. i'm pleased to join my colleagues today. as they have said, we now have a debt ceiling behind us and we cannot afford to have any more distractions. we have to do everything we can to create good, well-paying jobs in america. and it is time for this republican majority to break this 210-day streak and counting and start to put real jobs legislation on the schedule. the president just 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 able to 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. and with that in mind, i have long championed legislation to create a national infrastructure bank. that can in fact leverage private capital towards 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 reeds and i quote, u.s. businesses -- 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. 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 infrastructure bank, it's a concept with broad and bipartisan support. it could help to close these gaps, restore our roads, bridge, water systems and the energy grid, do something about bringing telecommunications across this nation, to rural communities, allow us to build a 21st century infrastructure and it could work to create jobs all across america, good jobs, well paying jobs that cannot be outsourced. so that we are once again making things in america, becoming more competitive in the global economy. you know, this is a great nation and this is a nation that's been built on bricks and mortar and fiber optics and we have to get back to doing that again. millions of families are struggling right now. we don't have the time or the

luxury to play 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 investment and rebuild america. and with that, let me introduce to you the chair of our democratic congressional campaign committee, steve israel from new york. >> thank you very much. the legislation to extend the debt ceiling may not have been a great deal, but it is no no -- now a done deal and 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 a 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 he 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, they being in the majority in 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 rather close down the government in their relentless pursuit of the end of medicare and the funding of corporate tax loopholes. so we're calling this accountability august, accountability august. and the mesh people are going to ask -- the american people are going to ask their members of congress from town hall meetings to everywhere they go, why did you vote to end my medicare? when you could have stood with

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

america will create good-paying jobs here at home. thank you, mr. president for emphasizing that -- mr. president, for emphasizing that and the infrastructure bank because we're going to need some public-private partnership on how this is funded in a way that creates jobs, brings in revenue to reduce the deficit. mr. hoyer would his make it in america, mr. clyburn is suggesting that he has, especially in terms of rural america, congresswoman delauro long on this infrastructure bank issue, i want to mention mark crick who has the bill on china currency, has over 170 already signatures to discharge petition on that bill which, as our leaders said, has already passed the house in a bipartisan way. and now we want it to come up again. and what mr. israel said, this is not only about creating jobs, it's about developing small business in an entrepreneurial way and public-private

partnerships in a way that takes people from survival in terms of do they have jobs to success of jobs creators to transformation of our country back to where people were before the last 10 years of recession and a financial crisis and deep deficits to the transformation of where they know they will 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're going to outinnovate, outeducation, outbuild and america will continue to be number one. in the meantime, in the meantime we have to make sure that all americans participate in the future economic prosperity of our country. with that we'd be pleased to take any questions you may have. yes, sir. >> i wanted to follow up on congressman clyburn's comments about the f.a.a. it seems that the senate is possibly not going to act before they finish up their business

today on the house-passed bill and legislators are about to now go on recess for a month while 4,000 f.a.a. workers are being furloughed and 70,000 airport construction workers are being impacted as well. i'm wondering if you think that's fair that all of these members are going home for a month vacation while other people are suffering. >> we did not think it was fair and i think that senator reid agreed with that and it seems 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 or these contracts jobs out there. that's my understanding. i'm sorry? >> i want to say something on that. because 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 street and with over 70,000, we think the numbers as large as 90,000 people who are helping to outbuild, who are helping to expand infrastructure, who are helping to make sure that 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 there will 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. and my friends in organized labor are absolutely right on this issue. none of us, none of us and no republican, no mr. boehner, mr. cantor 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 a judge -- adjudged a no.

against me. that's not how we run american elections. but that's what mr. mica sent 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 to 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 and voted for the bill. it seemed to be an incredibly emotional moment for a lot of the members. can you tell us when you heard about this, what the moment was like for you, what the moment was like for all you guys? >> it was a great moment for our country because 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 just synonymous with inspiration, with respectworks courage, with patriotism -- with respect, with courage, with patriotism and they really wanted to come. i am not going to into depails -- i'm not going into details of when we knew she was going to come. i wouldn't have encouraged her to come but she felt so strongly about it that she wanted to come and we were very, very proud that she did. i'm just looking at my watch because i don't know when she leaves town. any moment that she's here she enhances the climate of bipartisanship, nonpartisanship and of 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 it was a highly emotional moment for us.

where it was. yes. in green, giffords. that's her last name, as you know. as i've 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 we were going to default woog -- because she knew going to default would be harmful. >> one of your lines is protecting -- [inaudible]. when you make your appointments for this new committee is that going to be something you require them -- is that going to be something that you send them to the committee to do? >> let me thank you for acknowledging that one of the fights that we were successful in, as mr. israel mentioned, our chairman israel, mentioned was that we did protect the

benefits, the social security, medicare and medicaid benefits. that is a priority for us. but let me say, it is more than a priority, it is a value, it's an ethic for the american people. and it's one that all of the members of our caucus share so that i know that whoever's at that table will be someone who will fight to protect those benefits. >> what -- when do you expect to announce the members of the special committee? >> when i do. [laughter] you'll be among the first to know. >> i also had a question about steny. i wanted to ask you along those lines of what kind of people are you looking for to serve on this -- >> let me -- >> is this another opportunity for you or for the caucus -- [inaudible] >> for the past few months the american people have wondered -- the people have wondered why are we talking about this debt rather than talking about jobs.

we had the vote, we don't like the deal but it's a done deal. it's time for us to completely focus on jobs. so i have no intention in the next weeks and months to be talking about this committee. it has its responsibilities, we will make our appointments and the nature of who they are will be self-est but we cannot -- self-evident but we cannot turn otherselves -- our sneefs a place where we are just talking about -- ourselves into a place where we are just talking about the process of this. we have to be creating jobs. one last question. >> i was going to just follow with the supercommittee essentially to ask, will you be picking people who are more apt to compromise as opposed to people who will take you down the same road of a stalemate? >> let me say that our caw cuss -- caucus has stayed united in hoping that this committee has some level of success and reducing the deficit with a strong element of growth and job creation as part of it.

we're fooling ourselves if we ever think that one element on the table, whether it be cuts, is going to solve it. so if we're serious, as our caucus is, about reducing the deficit, we have to go in there recognizing that some cuts will have to be made, that you can't accomplish what you set out to do without considering revenues in a very strong way and some of those revenue have been mentioned by mr. israel, whether it's subsidies for 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. and so we want to -- again, 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 are the promotion of jobs, small business creation and entrepreneurial spirit in our country which has been the source of our job creation and our success over the past few decades. thank you all very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> president obama signed the debt ceiling and deficit reduction agreement today after the senate voted 74-26 approving the measure. in the senate 28 republicans, 45

democrats and one independent, senator lieberman, voted in favor of the compromise while 19 republicans, six democrats and one independent, senator sanders, voted against the agreement. this follows the house's approval of the measure last night. >> following a series of tweets remarking the capitol looks beautiful tonight and turn on c-span now, arizona representative gabgab returned to the house to cast one votes. >> throughout america, there isn't a name that stirs more love, more had admiration, more respect, more wishing for our daughters to be like her than the name of congresswoman gabby giffords. thank you, gabby, for joining us today. >> watch her return to the house online at the c-span video library. it's washington your way.

>> earlier today joint chiefs of staff chairman mike mullen said iraqi officials plan to meet soon to discuss the option of keeping some u.s. troops in their country past the 2012 deadline. out of briefing from baghdad, chairman mullen praised the government for taking steps that have dramatically decreased the number of violent attacks in that country. this is a half hour. >> good morning. thank you all for coming. first of all, i'd like to address the question of u.s. troops remaining in iraq post-2011. i met with prime minister maliki and the president last night and they assured me that they understood our intent to abide by the security agreement to withdraw all american troops by the end of the year. i believe they also understand

that time is quickly running out for us to be able to consider any other course. my government has made it clear we will entertain a request for some troops to stay and i was encouraged to learn last night that iraqi leaders plan to meet to discuss the merits of such a request. i remain hopeful therefore that we will soon achieve some clarity and i am grateful of the serious attempts to resolve the issue are now under way. in the meantime, we will continue withdrawing our troops on schedule. to do otherwise would be to violate both the agreement we signed and iraqi sovereignty itself. regrettably not everyone of iraq's neighbors is so committed. the iranian regime continues to violate iraq's sovereignty by intervening in iraqi social and political affairs. training and equipping militants to conduct attacks on iraqi soil and thwarting efforts by the iraqi people to pursue unfettered and economic growth,

development and independence that geography and democracy have bestowed upon them. these are hardly the acts of a friend. it is clear that tehran seeks a weak iraq and an iraq more dependent upon a persian world view. i do not know how many iraqis share tehran's malfeasance goals, i suspect there are a few. i believe most iraqis wish to determine for themselves their own future and to define fors them themselves their own perspectives about the world around them. that's plainliest to me in the willingness of the -- that's plainly evident to me in the willingness of the regime. and it's evident in the stepped-up operations iraqi security forces have been conducting against these militants in concert and coordination with our own forces.

as a result we've seen a dramatic reduction in these deadly attacks. the same spirit of corporation was also on display yesterday afternoon as i toured a combined command center in mosul where iraqi security personnel respond to and oversee side by side with their kurdish counterparts all security operations in the province. this was once bloody ground fought over viciously, sacrificed for greatly by iraqis, americans and others in our coalition. and today it is peaceful and prosperous and petroleumed skillfully by citizens of this great country. it is a model both of iraqi sovereignty and of the very transition to iraqi responsibility that we have all been pursuing. i give great credit to the general for his leadership in that regard and i thank general austin for his terrific work as well. regardless of whether or not your government asks us to stay,

regardless of whether or not my government does so if asked, we have proven together through hardship and through bloodshed that leadership can be yours and should be yours alone. nothing changes about my military's dedication to that goal or my nation's dedication to furthering our long-term strategic partnership. we have given thousands of our young lives to achieve it, as have you. it is time now not to finish the work but to continue to see it through. i'll take your questions. >> in your talks with prime minister maliki and president talibanny, did you give them any time frame in which a decision needs to be made, now that ramadan is starting? are you hopeful that the decision will be made over the month of ramadan about u.s. troop presence? >> secretary panetta, when he

was here a couple of weeks ago made it pretty clear that we really need a decision now. and i just reiterated that. there are certainly discussions which are ongoing and i'm hopeful that a decision to buy the iraqi leadership to answer questions with the u.s. is very quickly. with respect to the forces that are here for us, a significant part of this is just the physics problem. you.net to a point in time where you just can't turn back and all the troops must leave. that's why it's so important to make the decision absolutely as soon as possible. >> mr. chairman, you can give us a little more details about your meetings with both the president and prime minister last night and what sense did you get from

them? is there hasn't of optimism, but you can tell us what makes you say that and whether you think that there's a possibility that there will indeed be a meeting today as they have suggested and particularly during those meetings did they give you any sense about even maybe the air support or any other types of troops that if indeed something does happen -- [inaudible]? >> we had no discussions about what specific capabilities might be included, should they get to a point where they would enter negotiations. they're very aware of the urgency of the issue, they're committed to meeting and i guess i would summarize both meetings from the standpoint of degree of difficulty. there's some very political -- sorry, very difficult political challenges associated, internal challenges associated wh