science, and transportation, and intelligence. as ranking member of the select committee on intelligence, senator bond played an important role as congress crafted its anti-terror policies in the aftermath of september 11 terrorist attacks. senator bond also worked well with members across the aisle on many issues, including perhaps one of his proudest legislative accomplishments, as a co-sponsor of the family medical leave act, signed into law by president bill clinton in 1993. . finally, senator bond was a vigorous advocate for the state of missouri. senator bond and i worked closely on a number of projects for missouri and illinois and the st. louis region, including the new mississippi river bridge which is under construction now. in january, 2009, senator bond

announced he would not run for re-election in 2010. noting that in 1973, at 33 years old, he had become the youngest governor ever to be elected in missouri and that he had no desire to become missouri's oldest senator. naming the federal courthouse in jefferson city the senator christopher "kit" bond courthouse is a fitting tribute and i support the passage of senate bill 846 which honors hi service to our country and this great institution. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation and i reserve the plans of my time. spoy the gentleman from california. mr. denham: i yield three minutes to the gentlelady, ms. hart sell. -- harts el. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized.

ms. hartsle: i'm proud to support this. this is such a fitting tribute to a -- mrs. hartzler: this is such a fitting tribute to someone i have had the pleasure of working with. he served over 24 years representing our state here, valiantly, in the united states congress and before he came here to the senate, he served two terms as governor and was also state auddor -- auditor. he's known for accomplish manage things and there's not enough time to share all of them. one thing he's noted for is he started the parents as teachers program than taken it statewide. that's benefited thousands of children in missouri and across this country and i participated with our daughter. it's a wonderful program. he's also a great supporter, free trade, he had been a champion of building highways and infrastructure which has

enabled vital investments in our roads and bridges in missouri. he was vice chairman of the select -- senate select intelligence committee and he worked for bipartisanship support to renew the foreign intelligence surveillance act. he's a strong defender of our military and our national defense and as part of the defense appropriations subcommittee, he worked to continue operation of boeing's f-15 production plant in a plant next to the airport. being from the farm irk appreciated senator bond's support of agriculture. he was certainly a leader in making missouri a leader in agriculture research. he is a leader whose service has improved the lives of thousands of missourians, an example of patriotism that has inspired future leaders to follow in his footsteps. every time, now that missourians drive by this courthouse, they'll be inspired to serve their fellow man.

service above self. just like he has done all these years. i want to close with some words that kit said himself about his service. i think it's an example for all of us in missouri and across the country he said serving missouri has been my life's work. i have walked the land, fished its rivers and been humbled by the honesty and hard work of its people. the highest honor is to receive and safe forward the public trust. thank you very much and i yield back the plans of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from illinois. mr. costello: i ask the gentleman if he has other speakers. mr. denham: i have no other speakers. mr. costello: i yield back the balance of our time. sproy the gentleman from california. mr. denham: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 846.

those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. mr. denham: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair 2/3 being in the affirmtive -- the gentleman from california. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? >> i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2943. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2943, a bill to extend the program for block grants to states temporary assistance for needy families through december 31, 2011. the speaker pro tempore: 3ur sunt to the rule, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis, and the get from texas, mr. doggett, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. davis: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: i rise to offer h.r. 2943 to extend temporary

assistance for needy families. it's been successful at cutting welfare dependents by 50% through the end of last year. more important, it helped significantly reduce child poverty in female-headed families over time. even at today's elevated unemployment rates, it continues to promote more work and earnings and less poverty. despite this, tanf can and should be strengthened to do more to help themselves in the years ahead too many parents are exempted from work for a variety of reasons. given the current administration for only a straight one-year extension of current law which is a view shared by the other body, there are limited prospects for making changes before the program expires at the end of this month. that's the reason for the short-term extension before us today this three-month extension will provide an

opportunity for congress, including the joint select committee on deficit reduction, to review it alongside other entitlement programs this fall. important questions needs to be asked including the proper funding level for these programs and how can they best be focused on engaging more parents on work so more can support themselves in the long run. another thing this additional time will let us do is allow us to close what some call a strip club loophole. it allows those on welfare to spend money on liquor, drugs and even strip clubs. audits have revealed too much has been spent on liquor, drugs and even cruise ships. they want to block access to e.b.t. cards at such establishments. there's bipartisan legislation to require all states to do that and that's of particular interest to our colleague,

senator coburn. i share his commitment to getting this done this fall and urge my colleagues to support action to close this loophole this legislation is designed to provide time for a closer review of and action on these issues. it does not add to our deficits since it continues current funding for three months. it's a fixed block grant not ad justed for inflation. i wish we were debaited -- debating legislation that improved tanf but this offers the best chance to do that in the near future. i murge my colleagues to support it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. doggett: this is a bipartisan bill which i fully support but it is important to understand what this bill does and what it does not do. it is important to understand

upon which provisions we agree and which ones we accept as only being better than the alternative of allowing this important law and all those who count on it to expire next week. last week, the census bureau reported that more americans were poor in 2010 than at any time on record. regrettably, my home state of texas was leading the way. with one of the highest poverty rates anywhere in america. the texas center for public policy priorities a nonpartisan group, recently reported that, quote, the heart of the american dream is at risk in texas. for the first time in generations, there are more people falling out of the middle class than joining its ranks. and what a struggle it is for those families trying to hold on. in a neighborhood near downtown

san antonio, andrew ramos and his wife nina are struggling just to keep food on the table for themselves and their 2-year-old daughter. andrew lost his job and nina works at a local pizza parlor where she makes about $200 a week. there are so many families like this, almost one in five in poverty in bexar county. as john turner at the cap 208 area food bank concludes, hunger is a result of a lack of income and livable wage. it affect taos many of our neighbors, he says, under the current texas economic model. the demands on our food banks which serve as effective public-private partnerships, are immense. the capitol area food bank this year is deliver 50g% more food to poor people than it did three years ago. but i don't really hear anyone

facing up to this harsh reality. not our governor in texas, not the president of the united states, and certainly not the leadership here in the house. in fact, the administration has shown little interest and almost no guidance in reforming this legislation. rather than respond to rising deprivation and declining opportunity, this legislation continues for another three months the temporary assistance for needy families act. this is a program that today provides direct assistance to only one in every five children living in america. that are in poverty. that's the lowest level of poor children receiving direct assistance since 1965. and of course in texas, it's much worse. only one in every 20 poor children receive direct assistance from tanf. the bill before us also does not address a problem agreed to

originally when the welfare reform act was enacted, a bill that i voted for, that would address the particular needs of high poverty states like texas and many in the south with what are called tanf supplemental grants, really a misnomer because they're not a supplement, they're essential@work of states that have a higher poverty rate. ever since the time of the welfare reform act, texas and states have depended on supplemental tanf. it is not included in today's legislation, that means that texas will lose about $50 million every year that it relies on to work with child care, with preventing pregnancy, with other issues like school dropouts that it relies on these funds today. allowing these grants to expire is in sharp contrast to what happened in 2001 when governor rick perry wrote then-leader whip tom delay urging the

extension of tanf supplemental grants saying they have played an important role in helping hardworking men and women in texas achieve independence from public assistance. congress designed the supplemental grants to address the critical program needs of the states. those were words of governor rick perry, who is violent on this matter today about how we enabled more texans to move from welfare to work. mr. speaker, we cannot allow the funding for tanf to expire next week and so i join whole heartedly with this renewal legislation. but we also need to move past doing the very least we can do and start responding to the mounting challenges that families not just in texas but across our country face. tanf has not been adequately responsive to the increased level of need in these bad economic times. mr. speaker, i yield myself one more minute. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. doggett: i think also of the words of claudia harrington who works dealing with latino families, who writes, this is not the american dream i believe in. this is not the american dream my father believed in when he immigrated from cuba in the 1960's. i know our country is better than that regardless of political affiliation. and i know that investment in our people and their ability to earn a decent living is a worthwhile policy. . we need a policy that is more safety net than whole and i hope eventually we will work together to achieve that. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from kentucky. the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i thank the gentleman. i believe this should be amended for the tanf supplemental grants programs. it expired in 2011.

the democrats crafted louisiana year that president obama signed into law. extending them would be spending more money to revive the program which is beyond the scope of what we are doing today and include only current tanf programs. since it was paid by $4 billion in extra tanf funds paid out only to minority states. at some point we have to ask when such supplemental spending should come to an end. the last congress led by democratic jorts said the end should come this past june. i respect that judgment. the committee is obviously aware of mr. doggett's bill to extend these payments yet again but we don't know how he would pay for that since the bill he introduced includes no pay-fors. all states receive a share of $5 billion in special welfare funds in the 2009 stimulus bill. that was on top of almost $17 billion in tanf block grant payments all states receive each year including the

supplemental grants. the states collected supplemental grants in one-time funds or the equivalent of three years of supplemental payments. i appreciate the gentleman's argument for extending these payments by reviving the now ended supplemental grants program. the legislation before us does not do that. it extends current programs. but i know he and i will continue to have fruitful discussions and work with tanf funding and related issues. i appreciate his continued input and effort. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i'd yield myself 15 seconds to say under -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. doggett: under the democratic leadership we extended the supplemental tanf program that governor rick perry was so proud about in 2001, we extended it four times. the only reason it existed in the spring of this year was because of our extensions. it should be extended once again. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. doggett: i hope we can do that. i would yield two minutes to

the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel. mr. rangel: thank you. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. rangel: i come to the floor on this noncontroversial bill and as a proud member of the ways and means committee to show the congress and the country that we are concerned more about than just taxes. i want to thank mr. davis for his leadership in this area and especially my friend, mr. doggett, who have stuck with the committee in trying to make certain that we improve the life of those people who are so vulnerable in our society. to think that one out of five children in america, the united states of america is living in poverty, to recognize that 46 million people, a family of

four makes less than $22,000, is certainly not what has inspired so many people to get out of poverty and move into the middle class which is the heart of america and the heart of our economy. this bill does just that. it comes to us, give authority to the states to see what works, to make certain that people don't have to stay on welfare, that they can have a goal of being fully employed and it takes away the image that we have as a country that we applaud people being executed, that we applaud those people that don't have health insurance. no, america is more than that, and during these hard times we have to make certain that we do as the members of this committee, classic example is mr. doggett, is mr. davis, both on a hardworking committee but care enough about the people in our country to show that this is bipartisan and the people that are poor, the people that

are in need, the people that are without homes and without hope are not democrats, they're not republicans. they are people in our country and we have an obligation to show that there is a need for government. there is a need for caring, and i am proud to be a member of this committee and the member of this congress to show that's what our country is all about. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky. mrs. davis: -- mr. davis: mr. speaker, i'd like to inquire from the gentleman if he's prepared to close. mr. doggett: i believe i have an additional speaker. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, for such time as he -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has got the time. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from washington

state, former chair of this subcommittee, mr. mcdermott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mcdermott: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to say just a few words. obviously i support the extension of the tanf, but i think that there is really -- we've been extending it one year at a time, one year at a time, one year at a time for sometime. there really is a need to relook at the whole concept of what this -- this safety net really needs to be. we wiped out welfare as we know it as was the phrase in 1996 at a time when the economy in this country was going straight up. anybody could find a job if they looked for one, and it was very clear that there was efforts in that bill to push people off the rolls and out into the work market. now, it was possible to do that. today, however, you have a

situation where there are four people looking for every job that's out there. you have many middle-class families who have exhausted 99 weeks of unemployment and have nothing in this country except food stamps. now, it sort of depends on whether or not we are going to have a middle class in this country, when we have a downturn like this and we decide whether we're going to decide to help the middle class to make it. we have foreclosures that won't quit, and we've had no proposals out of the house to do anything about foreclosure prevention. so you have middle-class family who've lost their job, their unemployment is gone, they are now having their house foreclosured and they look to their government for a safety net and find nothing but food

stamps. and in my belief there is a time when we should help the middle class in this country be able to go through what may be another year or two. we're not quite sure how long it will be. but it should not be that there is no program available to help middle-class people who have fallen on very difficult times. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, the house should approve this important bipartisan legislation today. to fail to approve this modest extension would cause more people to suffer with the expiration of these programs next week. but, mr. speaker, it may not be envogue to discuss the problems of poor people in america

today, but we need to hear more about it in this house. we need to hear more about it in washington, d.c. certainly we want to support and encourage the middle class in america. very, very important. but we need to create more opportunity to broaden that middle class. for the many people who struggle and hope that lives will be better for their children and that they will face less obstacle than their parents have faced, we need to provide that temporary assistance to needy families. the current program leaves out too many and forgets too many of those families in their struggle. the omission of what is included as supplemental tanf that we renewed four times in the last two congresses, not being renewed here means that in texas and so many high-poverty states we will not have the support that governor rick perry once called for. we will have a broadened gap

and lack of services. many of the programs we have received in texas have gone into child protective services to protect abused and neglected children. they no longer have that assistance. i hope in the course of the legislative process of the renewal of this legislation we might eventually get that into the bill. today we see so many who are losing the opportunity to share in the american dream. we have an opportunity to continue at least a minimal level of support to them. we should do that but we should commit ourselves to doing even more, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. h.r. 2943 temporary the short-term continuation of welfare to work programs that have successfully cut welfare dependans and work. i ask my colleagues to support this legislation and work toward a long-term re-authorization bill that fixes flaws in the system, allows agencies to communicate at a more hholistic way to

reduce taxpayer dollars and develop a long-term re-authorization bill that promotes work and independence from welfare. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2943. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. davis: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2883. the speaker pro tempore: the

clerk will report the -- does the gentleman call up the bill as amended? mr. davis: yes, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the clerbling will report. -- the clerk will report. the clerk: extend the child and family services program through the fiscal year 2016 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis, and the gentleman from texas, mr. doggett, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject in the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: thank you. i rise today in support of h.r.

2883, the child and family services improvement and innovation act, a bill that continues the bipartisan in crafting child welfare legislation. the bill we're considering today re-authorizes two important child welfare programs incorporating a series of improvements development during the hearings over the past few months. in addition to continuing and making improvements to the two child welfare programs, it renews authority for the secretary of health and human services to approve child welfare waivers during the next two years. it will test new and better ways of child who are abused and who are neglected. the house unanimously passed legislation renewing this authority but the senate has not followed suit. this bill which our colleagues in the senate also support and which was favorably reported by the senate finance committee yesterday will allow innovation to continue and may yield information to improve child welfare programs in the future. the bill will also establish a process to create needed data standards in child welfare programs.

this language is the first step towards improving collaboration between social service programs. we've often heard in hearings that states and programs within states have difficulty coordinating services because of difficulty sharing data and that this lack of coordination increases cost and decreases effectiveness. this bill directs the secretary of h.h.s. to work with the states to establish national data standards so that allstate child welfare programs are speaking the same language. to show the wide support for this bill, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert letters of support into the record from the following organizations -- national conversation of state legislatures, the american public human services legislation, the conference of chief justices and the conference of state court administrators, the american institute of c.p.a.'s, the american humane association, the north american council of adoptable children, voice for adoption, the association on indian affairs, the national indian child welfare association, youth villages, first focus campaign for children, the zero to 3, the

national center for toddlers and infants, the child welfare league of america, the center for the study of social policy and public children services association of ohio. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. davis: i also want to thank the ranking member of the human resources subcommittee, mr. doggett of texas, for working with me on this legislation and for his efforts to improve how we serve children and families across the country. finally, i want to note that this legislation does not add to the deficit since it simply extends current funding levels of the program that are extended. i urge all my colleagues to support this legislation and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. . mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i yield myself five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. doggett: the chairman, mr. davis is correct. we have worked on this together, participated in hearings, learneding to and cooperated on this very

important subject, to which we may bring differing perspectives but a common goal of wanting to respond to the needs of america's most vulnerable children. i believe that this bipartisan legislation that i do fully support is important, however, in our discussion to understand what we support and where we have differences. what this legislation accomplishes and what it fails to accomplish. it's preferable to allowing two very important laws to expire next week. each year, over 700,000 children here in america become victims of abuse and neglect, perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to love and care for them. i think to most americans, as to my wife libby and i, when we're back home in texas, surrounded by clara and zala and ella, our three

granddaughters, it's unthinkable that a patient could cause harm to a member of their own family yet that's the reality too many children face. one expert came to our hearing and suggested that once every six hours, every day, a child ties in america as a result of abuse. i agree that both the child welfare services and the promoting safe and stable families laws should be renewed for another five years. i disagree that these programs should be continued at their current baseline funding levels since with need growing and funding limited, too many of our most vulnerable children cannot access the services that they so desperately need. these are the children whose neglect not only produces problems for them, but will produce more problems for all of american society in the future. they are the children we should be helping today so that we are

not incars ating them after they have done harm to someone tomorrow. less than half of the children in foster care in america today receive federal assistance to help with the room and board. today, 40% of children who are found to be victims of abuse and neglect do not receive follow-up or intervention at all. that's a very big gap that will likely only grow over the course of the next five years with the legislation that we are renewing. in my home state of texas, the promoting safe and stable families act accounts for a very significant source of funding to help our youngest texans. according to one of our witnesses in committee, dr. jane bursein of the center for public policies in austin, funding for this program accounts for $2 of every $3 supporting child abuse and neglect prevention last year. in san antonio, for example, these programs provide

important resources to help vulnerable families throughout the -- through the use of the bexar county child welfare board this bill also grants states support for parental substance abuse programs. my friend darlene burn, a district judge in texas, helped start the drug corps partially funded by this. she writes, new babies are not drug positive, families and those looking to get their g.e.d. are those this is looking to help. she writes it's helped transform lifes an helped stop the violence in texas. it's important to those who benefit directly and all of us

who have a stake in having folks participate to the full extent of their god-given potential and not pose dangers to the rest of our society. today's legislation also includes, as mr. davis indicated, some modest policy changes that strengthen the state's ability to respond to at-risk children. mr. speaker, the bill i believe, however, leave taos many problems unresolved. i think, though, in this current climate that renewal of the legislation as it's proposed is the best we can do for our at-risk children this bill re-authorizes help to at least some children who become victims of maltreatment and provides family support activities to some vulnerable families and promotes adoption services for those children who cannot safely return to their biological parents. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: at this time, i yield to the former chair of this subcommittee on human resources, the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott, four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this bill to renew the nation's wild welfare programs. i'm glad to see it's happening as it has in the past by unanimous consent and it's important not just to keep the programs funded and renewed, with more than one in five children in the country living in poverty work so many odds stacked against foster kids, we need to do more an make progress. that's why i'm so supportive of this bill because it's not just an extension of the program, it has some important and targeted

innovations. some states, especially my home state of washington, which has some truly new ideas about how they can do more to prevent children putting into foster care even in tough times. one of the real innovations of this bill is to give states waivers for governmental funding restrictions so that they can test these innovative interventions in their child welfare programs. if the state can maintain their current quality and the innovations they want to try meet solid criteria, the federal government should be a partner in making real progress. that's what these new waivers do. washington state is one of the leaders in innovating child welfare policy and they have things they have been eager to try out. right now, the law doesn't allow this kind of experimentation, but this bill gives states a way to begin. washington state is not alone. there's room for 10 states to have these kinds of programs.

there are some states already ready to make these moves. the department of health and human services allowed this kind of thing in the past and it was allowed to lapse. this is an extension of something we had before h.r.h.s. was allowed to give out waivers in the past and some progress was made in a number of states. this bill restores that limited waiver authority and sets out criteria to keep the integrity and level of effort they need to have. they need to allow these states to do it. in addition to extending the program, the bill does something else that's really important. they passed the fostering connections. this fostering connections law did a lot of good in helping foster kids have a better chance of truly making it in the country. among other things, it addressed the health concerns of foster children who move from home to home and from

health care setting to health care setting and it required states to develop health coordination plans for these kids so that they had some continuity of care. these plans include oversight of prescription medications including psychotropic drugs. as a psychiatrist who worked with child welfare and the juvenile justice system i'm concerned about the juice of psychotropic drugs with children. far long time it's bothered me and in the foster care population, it's a vulnerable group tpwhifes question of continuity of care. you want somebody to be monitoring what's happening as they move from home to home to home. we need to do more. we need to get a clearer picture of what's happening with these kinds of medications in the foster kids and we need to make sure they're being used properly and not overly

prescribed. one of the parts about this whole law that's crazy is when a kid gets to 18, they could be on medication, when they hit 18, they're done. their medicaid ends, they have no continuity of the drugs. they go off cold turkey. there's real questions we need to answer here. this bill makes the 2008 requirements, takes them another step forward and it requires states to adopt protocols for using and monitoring psychotropic medications among foster children. mr. speaker, i speak strongly in favor of the bill and urge my colleagues to say yea. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: thank you, mr. speaker. one of the leaders on the subject of foster children who came and testified to our committee based on her long experience working in the state of california in the assembly on this subject is ms. bass, our colleague from california and i yield her two minutes at

this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. bass: i rise in support of the family services improvement act. as part of the bipartisan caucus on foster care, i'm proud to stand with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in support of this legislation. youth in the child welfare system fight for what so many of us take for granted, a family. in my home state, the nation's largest foster care system, as many as 100,000 children can be placed in temporary out of home care. foster parents and relatives are the front line care givers for children when their parents are unable to care for them. a pool of dedicated loving foster parents is critical for our nation's foster youth as they wait to be reunited with their parents or achieve permanency with a relative caregiver or adoptive family. however, there's a significant

shortage of foster parents. in may, i introduced legislation calling for a study to find out how howe to best recruit and retain foster parents. this was included in the original house bill re-authorizing title 4-b child welfare programs introduced in august. i'm pleased that the modified bill before us today includes a provision that encourages states to develop and implement a plan to improve the recruitment and retention of high quality foster family homes. h.r. 2883 builds on some of the best practices that were shared with me as i traveled to california hearing from youth, child welfare workers and parents. the bill also appropriated -- appropriately addresses challenges facing the child welfare system by requiring states to address a emotional trauma in foster children and adopt protocols for using and monitoring psychotropic medications. i'm pleased with the comments of my colleague mr. mcdermott

who talked about the use of psychotropics and i would add in too many cases, children are prescribed multiple medications and in talking with a number of youth up and down the state of california, one of the things that many youth said to me was, can you please help me get off the medication? i'd lake to thank ways and means chair and ranking member camp and levin and human resources committee chair davis and ranking member doggett. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i continue to reserve. ploip the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, at this time i'd like to recognize our colleague from rhode island for two minutes, he's been very active in a foster care financial security act, mr. langevin for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two

minutes. mr. langevin: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. langevin: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of the child and family services improvement act and innovation act. this bill includes a provision from the foster youth financial security act i introduced with my colleagues mr. stark who addressed high rates of identity theft among foster youth. i was outraged to find that foster children are disproportionately victims of identity theft since their personal information passes through so many hands. as i saw first hand when my parents welcomed foster youth into our home over many years, they already face tremendous obstacles without the increased threat of having their identity taken and credit ruined, which prevents them from finding a place to live, accessing credit on their own or obtaining other base exneeds. this bill would ensure that

each foster youth over 16 years of age receives free credit checks before leaving the system and assistance on clearing any inaccuracies that may have come to light. reports have shown if done effective will, the cost is minimal. i want to thank, mr. speaker, the committee for their interest in this issue and the many advocates who have championed this cause. this is only the first step in providing foster youth with the tools they need and deserve to succeed and i look forward to our continued work together on this. as i pointed out so many times the kids in foster care already face significant challenges of their own of a personal nature. it's a shame that their identity is stolen and they are further victimized. this bill would identify problems early on and clear up inaccuracies so they can start their adult life with a fresh

start with their credit intact. i thank both gentleman, the chair and ranking member for their outstanding support of this provision and i yield back the balance of my time. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. doggett: the programs embodied in this legislation and everything else that opens opportunities through government support from pell grants to title 1 funding for education to the school lunch program to head start that all of these are welfare and should be cut. fortunately that approach is not being taken here today. we are re-authorizing in a bipartisan way these two very important programs that would expire next year.

expire next week as well as next year. however, it should be noted that much like somebody might be flatlined that we are flat funding the renewal of these programs. meaning that in five years we are authorizing the same amount of money for these programs if it can be appropriated that existed last year. that means that there are many needs in our country that will not be fully addressed in this legislation. it means that last year if less than half of those in foster care receive support for food and board they will be in the same situation over the course of this legislation. it means that the 40% of children who are subject to abuse and neglect are unlikely to be able to access services as they were last year. but renewing this legislation remains despite those defishes

an important accomplishment in the -- deficiency an important accomplishment. as mr. davis noted as well as other speakers, we have made modest improvements. a number of those not touched on yet is the work in our legislation to ensure that children in foster care can stay in the schools that they started in even though they may be moved between families. that's an important part of adding a little certainty to the life of a child who's been abused or neglected and finds themselves with a great deal of uncertainty. it is for the improvements in this act and the recognition of what harm would be done if this act were not adopted here in a bipartisan way that so many child advocacy groups have joined in supporting it. the child welfare league of america, first focus, zero to 3 as well as those organizations involved in administering some of these funds, the national

conference of state legislatures, the american public human services association and the conference of state court administrators. i believe this legislation is important. it's important to get it adopted promptly. i hope the senate will respond to our bipartisan approval today. as mr. davis has suggested, they've already begun to do in the committee process and move forward to see it fully adopted by next week. i urge all of my colleagues to join in supporting this legislation, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i thank you, mr. speaker. i'm grateful to my friend from texas, mr. doggett, for working with me to bring this measure to the floor today and thank him and thank both the minority and majority staff for their hard work on this effort. h.r. 2883 is a bicameral no cost effort to make modest adjustments to programs to ensure the safety of well-being and safety of our children. we need to do more to make sure that children remain safely in

their homes. also, i ask unanimous consent to have an exchange of letters be entered in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2883, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative -- mr. davis: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. davis: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman ask for the yeas and nays? mr. davis: yes. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the -- for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. woodall: mr. speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules, i call up house resolution 305 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 73, house resolution 405. resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 2608, to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the small business act and the small business investment act of 1958, and for other purposes, with the senate amendment thereto, and to consider in the house, without intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the chair of the committee on appropriations or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendment with the amendment printed in the report of the committee on

rules accompanying this resolution. the senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion. section 2, house resolution 399 is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one hour. mr. woodall: thank you, mr. speaker. for the purpose of debate only i'd like to yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlelady from new york, ms. slaughter, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. woodall: and, mr. speaker, during consideration of this resolution, all time is yielded for the purpose of debate only. and i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. woodall: mr. speaker, house resolution 305 provides for a closed rule for the consideration of h.r. 2608. it's a temporary continuing

resolution that will fund the operations of the united states government through november 18 of this year. it's important to note that the funding levels in this c.r. are the very same fiscally responsible levels that this congress and president barack obama approved in the budget control act just one month ago. this is not a departure from our path of restoring fiscal sanity, mr. speaker. we're committed to continuing on that path but unfortunately the actions of the other body leave us no choice but to consider this continuing resolution today. i take no pride, mr. speaker, in sharing with you -- actually, that's not true. that's not true at all. i take great pride in sharing with you what the house has done over the last six months, seven months, eight months, but i take no pride at all in pointing out what has not happened at the other end of this capitol to do the work that needs to be done. constitutionally, mr. speaker, you know, we're required to fund the operations of the government.

june 2 of this year, the house passed the homeland security appropriations bill. to date, the senate has not. on june 14 of this year, the house passed the military construction and veterans affairs bill. this is the one bill that our friends in the senate have passed as well. june 16, the house passed the agriculture appropriations bill. to date, the senate has taken no action at all. july 15, the house passed the energy and water appropriations bill. to date the senate has not. july 22, the house passes the legislative branch appropriations bill. to date the senate has not. mr. speaker, i did not run for congress last november. i did not show up here as a freshman to continue business as usual, passing continuing

resolution after continuing resolution after continuing resolution. and i know my friends on both sides of the aisle believe that's a process that has long since exceeded its usefulness. i am so proud as a body we have begun to pass those appropriations bills one by one by one. what have we gotten because of that, mr. speaker? we've gotten oversight. we've had an opportunity to discuss line by line by line what are our priorities as a house. now, those priorities differ from time to time from my friends on the democratic side of the aisle, my friends on the republican side of the aisle, but we have an opportunity to at least discuss those priorities. when the other body fails to pass those appropriations bills, what choices do we have left? what choice do we have available to me as a new member of the house? i could choose to advocate responsibility. i could choose to advocate, no, no, we are going to wait and if the senate fails to act then so be it and let the government shut down and let the chips fall where they may.

that's not the kind of operation i want to run. that's not why i came to the united states congress. i came to the united states congress because this is the people's house. this is where thoughtful discussion of the people's priorities takes place. what brings me to the floor today, mr. speaker, is to consider this continuing resolution that for just really 1 1/2 short months through november 18 will extend the operations of the government so we can continue that thoughtful discussion that i know so many of the members here came for. and with that i urge my colleagues to thoughtfully consider this rule today, thoughtfully consider the underlying bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i thank my colleague for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. slaughter: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, we're here today because our colleagues in the

republican majority have failed. they failed in the most basic responsibility of this institution, as my colleague has mentioned, to pass regular and routine bills to keep the government's doors open, to keep the retirement checks in the mail and vital government services available to the american people. in a few days the fiscal year will end and without a stopgap measure, funding torii sention government services will run out. despite nine months of claims from the republican majority that changes will change and despite a pledge to america a difference in washington, not a single appropriations bill has been enacted for the upcoming fiscal year which begins october 1. throughout this failed process, the majority has blamed everyone but themselves. they pointed fingers at president obama, complained about our colleagues in the senate, blamed washington's status quo to say they can't control. throughout the process the one group of people they won't lay

responsibility with is themselves. after nine months with not a single bill successfully making its way through congress, finger points wrings hollow. not only is one appropriations bill been enacted but half of the appropriations bills have not been brought to the floor for a vote. the majority controls the body and has used the power of the purse to dangerous games of default, but they can't schedule a vote for the most fundamental pieces of legislation that we consider every year. as i stand here today to vote on a billion dollar band-aid that will will allow us to scrape through november, they have failed to do a job. by the time we are elected to congress, however, we know our work must be handed in on time. sadly today's legislation isn't even the biggest failure that we're facing in the house.

if press reports are accurate, we may be heading to a bigger failure in november. in recent days, reports have surfaced that the majority plans to fund the entire federal government with one massive trillion dollar omnibus bill. this bill would explicitly break the promise as the republican majority made to the american people. in the pledge to america the leadership included a goal entitled, quote, advanced legislative issues one at a time, end quote. . instead, we will advance major legislation one issue at a time, end quote. during the speech at the american enterprise institute in 2010, speaker boehner affirmed the need to consider appropriations legislation one bill at a time. saying he wanted to do away with the concept of comprehensive spending bills. on the eve assuming the majority

in the house, speaker boehner elaborated saying i do not believe that having 2,000-page bills on the house floor serves anyone's best interest. not the house, not the members, and not the american people, end quote. but if press reports are correct, a 2,000-page bill or nor more is what we will get. let's be clear, this prospect of omnibus fund something happening for two simple reasons. first, the colleagues on the other side will not work in a bipartisan manner. there are no democrat fingerprints on any bills that come to the floor, and to make the compromise yesterday to reach consensus. they continue to pass legislation filled with special interest favors, and ideological pursuits that the american people never asked for and don't want. as a result, the legislation is built to fail and fail it does over and over again. secondly, instead of doing the tough unglamorous work of the house, we have spent most of the time on ideological quest and

political games. instead of fulfilling the pledge to uphold the constitution, the majority has worked to fulfill campaign pledges to grover norquist and the far right. instead of creating jobs our colleagues on the other side spent months on end pushing a partisan agenda that has covered everything from the trivial to the very real dangers of default. instead of funding the department of energy, the majority has tried to micromanage our light bulbs. instead of funding the nation's schools, they tried to eliminate big bird. instead of funding the e.p.a., they tried to sell the land surrounding the grand canyon to the state-owned mining companies of russia and south korea. instead of funding cancer research conducted by the national institute of health, they have tried repeatedly to repeal health care reform. instead of setting responsibility budgets for the next fiscal year, they brought or economy to the brink of default and led to the first ever downgrade of our nation's credit.

even today our colleagues on the other side are injecting politics into the stopgap c.r. today we are considering legislation that will only provide disaster relief to hurricane victims if billions of dollars are taken from awk sessful alternative energy program that has created 39,000 jobs to date. and is poised to create 60,000 more. we were told in the rules committee this is money simply lying there. in effect, the american -- the other side of the aisle is telling the american people that congress will either help rebuild shattered communities or congress will create new green jobs, but we refuse to do both. the moral approach reflects the house of representatives' void of responsible leadership from those in charge. today i'll do the little bit that i can to provide leadership sorely lacking from those in charge. mr. speaker, if we can defeat the previous question, at the end of this debate, i will offer

an amendment to the rule to assure disaster victims get the help they need. my amendment will allow representative dingell to offer a motion to strike the unacceptable house language that says all disaster aid must be offset, and substitute the bipartisan senate approach. since 2004, american taxpayers have spent over $3.4 billion on infrastructure in afghanistan and even more in iraq. not a single one of those $3.4 billion was held hostage or offset by any program in our budget. but now as many americans are struggling to rebuild and get their lives back to normal, a majority refuses to help unless they are allowed to defund a successful program they happen to dislike. remember what this says is that the american public is financing

the restructure -- financing the reconstruction of afghanistan and iraq with taxpayer money, but taxpayer money without an offset will not be used to help the american taxpayer. that takes a lot of explaining. because the majority decided that pursuing a partisan agenda was more important than meeting the basic needs of the country, we face the prospect of $1 trillion, $1,000-page bill to keep the government running because the other side will not stop playing politics and start governing as we are all expected to do. this failure is a disservice to the american people, abdication of our responsibilities as legislators, and a shame to the expectations, responsibilities, and duties of the house. the majority rode into washington vowing to change the ways of the past. but over the last nine months the american people have witnessed a case study in abandoned responsibilities and misguided priorities. until the republican majority

begins to govern, i fear this congress will continue to live up to the low regard our nation has for it, which brings shame on us all. i urge my colleagues on the other side to stop serving their political interest, start doing bipartisan bills, start serving our country. in closing, i urge my colleagues to vote no on today's rule, the underlying legislation, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york reserves her time. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i'm proud to yield five minutes to the gentleman who has provided not just a chairman but my chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. without objection, so ordered. mr. dreier: i thank my friend for yielding and congratulate him on his stellar management of this very important rule. mr. speaker, i have been listening to the remarks of my very good friend and distinguished colleague, the ranking minority member of the committee on rules, the

gentlewoman from rochester, new york, ms. slaughter, and i have to say as i listen to the remarks i'm going to keep my hands to the side. i'm not going to point the finger of blame at anybody. i'm simply going to state a few facts that i think it's important for all the members of this house to look at. it's true, the last nine months under this republican majority have been very difficult, very painful, and very challenging for us as we have been tackling the challenge of job creation and economic growth. there is a reason that we have had such a difficult time in the last nine months here in this congress. and the reason is very simple, last year, for the first time in nearly three decades, since the 1974 budget and empowerment act was established, we didn't even have a budget proposed from the then majority. and the fact that there was no

budget proposed in the last congress to deal with the very important spending priorities that we as a nation needed to address and the fact that we had not one single appropriations bill, not one single appropriations bill completed in the last congress, we inherited, beginning of this year, democrats and republicans alike, will acknowledge it, we inherited a hell of a mess. i mean it was a big mess that we inherited. and guess what? we decided that we were going to tackle that mess in a bipartisan way. my friend has just talked about the need for bipartisanship. we began in dealing with the appropriations process with as members will recall, being here for hours and hours and hours. because democrats and republicans alike were able to put their mark, their mark on this spending bill which we, because of the lack of action in the last congress, inherited in

this nine months. so my friend is absolutely right. the last nine months have not been easy. they have not been easy at all. and i appreciate the fact that she has worked in a bipartisan way in a number of areas because as she knows very well, the bill that we are going to be considering this week, the regulatory relief bill, we make every amendment that complied with the rules of the house in order. so many more democratic amendments have been made in order than republican amendments on a number of pieces legislation and that's so we can do exactly what my friend has said hasn't happened and that is work in a bipartisan way. i think that probably the single largest bipartisan achievement that we have had in this past nine months has been the agreement that we came to at the end of july. and that was an agreement that democrats and republicans alike recognized had to be addressed. we needed to increase the debt ceiling. we didn't like the fact that there had been so much spending that had taken place, but we recognize it had to be done. so democrats and republicans

came together to make that happen. we have further opportunities for bipartisan agreement coming right down the pike. we know that democrats and republicans alike have said we need to open up new markets around the world for us to create union and nonunion jobs so that we can export more manufactured products from the united states of america into these markets. we have three pending trade agreements with colombia, panama, and south korea that will go a long way towards doing what it is democrats and republicans alike want to do. i'm not going to accuse a single democrat of not wanting to create jobs in this country. everybody wants to make sure that their constituents aren't hurting, that their constituents aren't loosing their homes, their jobs, their businesses. i know that everybody, democrat and republican alike, wants to make that happen. we will have an opportunity in a bipartisan way to do just that, mr. speaker, when it comes to these market opening agreements in these very, very important countries that will help us

again create union and nonunion jobs. i think when it comes to the issue of job creation and economic growth, we need to look at the unfortunate mischaracterization that has been made time and time again of things like the tax cuts that have enjoyed bipartisan support. what i call the bush-obama tax cuts. first, the 2001 tax cuts i will acknowledge weren't real growth creators, but the 2003 tax cuts generated economic growth that actually enhanced the flow of revenues to the federal treasury. and that's not my speculation. all one needs to do is simply look at the raw numbers. in 2003, mr. speaker, the federal treasury had $1.782 billion in revenues from all sources. that was in 2003. at that time we saw those tax cuts put into place. $1.782 trillion in revenues. up until the economic down turn in 2007, we saw an increase of

44% in the flow of revenues that came into the federal treasury to $2.567 trillion. that's an increase, mr. speaker, of $785 billion that came in -- mr. speaker, i thank my friend for yielding. that, mr. speaker, was a 44% increase, increasing by $785 billion the flow and revenues from the 2003 revenue flow of $1,782,000,000 $2007 bill of $2.567 trillion. we all are focused on job creation economic growth, we all know that increased grose domestic product will go a long way towards dealing with our deficit challenges and the difficulties that we face. mr. speaker, what i want us to

do is recognize that as my friend from war rensville very generously said i presided over more open rules than we had in the republican congress in the past and certainly than we had in the four years that preceded this. i'm proud of that. i'm very proud of the fact we have been able to make so many amendments in order that my democrat colleagues have offered. we have a hastings amendment that we made in order on the bill we are going to be considering later. i'm happy we have done that. we will have a chance to debate these issues and i hope come to a bipartisan agreement. so, mr. speaker, i'll just say in closing that we have had a difficult nine months. my friend from rochester is absolutely right. it's been a challenging nine months. and as long as americans are hurting, it's going to always be difficult for us here. but being able to establish priorities to come together in a bipartisan way is important, and this measure that we are considering today is being done at the request of the bipartisan leadership of our colleagues in

the other body who want to be able to move this continuing resolution through as expeditiously as possible to, as my friend from lawrenceville said, recognize that between now and november 18 we simply want to ensure that the resources are there. i see my friend from vermont, and i will say to my friend that i read and looked at the photographs of the flooding that has taken place in vermont. it has been devastating. i looked at disasters that have taken place across this country. my state of california suffers from earthquakes, fires, flooding, lots of disasters. and an earthquake was felt in this capitol during the month of august. we know disasters occur. we must do everything we can to address those, but calling for an $8 billion increase in spending beyond the $1,043 ,000,000 that this continuing resolution calls for is not the answer. we need to prioritize to ensure those who are really suffering can in fact have their needs addressed. i believe that this house in a bipartisan way can and should

and i hope will do that. so with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, a member of the rules committee, mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, today the republican majority has made a mockery of both the process for and the content of the short-term continuing resolution. . wildfires, floods and tornadoes has -- the united states is responding with vitally needed resources. the senate has passed the disaster relief bill twice as large as the package contained in the c.r. and with the appropriate designation. but house republican leaders have decided to cut the senate amount in half and tie it to an ideologically driven offset that takes modern technology off the table for u.s. car and

vehicle manufacturers and which could cost thousands of current and future jobs. and please don't tell me that it's all about balancing the budget and ending emergency spending that isn't paid for. the continuing resolution that we're debuteding today includes money that -- debating today includes the money for the misguided war in afghanistan. not a penny is paid for. it's never been paid for. it's always been borrowed money that adds billions to the deficit. and if my republican friends believe we can't offset billions of dollars for war then why -- why are they demanding that we offset disaster relief for families flooded out by a hurricane or a home burnt to the ground by a wildfire? mr. speaker, we've been in afghanistan for 10 years. we know how much it costs. its funding is predictable as it gets. funding for the war receives a so-called emergency designation. but responding to unpredictable national disasters does not? it doesn't make sense. the leadership has accurately

able to predict the next tornado, i'd like to hear it. the american people are tired of hypocrisy and tired of policies that makes it easier to invest overseas and nearly impossible to help people here at home. i urge my republican friends to put the american people first. i urge my colleagues to oppose this closed rule and opposed underlying bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, the distinguished ranking member of the committee on ways and means, mr. levin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: you know, we've heard a lot of rhetoric the first 10 minutes or whatever on the majority side.

but rhetoric cannot mask, cannot obscure reality. the reality is this is an anti-jobs bill. in 2007 we put forth the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing loan program. it has worked. tens of thousands of jobs have been created as a result of that program. in states, michigan, yes, illinois, ohio, indiana, louisiana and florida. and so now the majority says they are going to pay for this bill. how? by ending a program that has created jobs. that's the reality. it cuts it off. even though there are

applications pending that will create thousands of more jobs in the manufacturing base of this country. in indiana, missouri, ohio, california, michigan and other states. it's inexcusable. it's inexcusable. mr. woodall: will the gentleman yield? mr. levin: yes. mr. woodall: you may have some information that we didn't have in the rules committee. my understanding is that this program, which has billions that were appropriated in 2008 and have not yet been spent -- mr. levin: all right. you've been misinformed. you've been misinformed. there are millions -- millions and millions of dollars that are already in the pipeline to be spent and applications for the balance of that money. that's a fact. and so if you've been

misinformed i suggest you go back to the rules committee and take another look at this. this is an anti-jobs bill when we needs jobs in the united states of america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. members will remind members to direct their remarks to the chair. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. woodall: to speak to what's inexcusable here. i hate that's where we have to end up. i hate that's where we have to end up. the truth of the matter is what we have down here today is the relit gation of something that we already litigated in july and august and that is this bill funds just until november 18 at the level that we as a body agreed to. you may not like it. i may not like it, but we agreed to it. a level that's 1043,1,--

$1,043,000,000,000. this continuing resolution does not relitigate that decision. we come from different places. i'd probably say that's too high. you may say it's too low. but this is simply a resolution that implements the will of this house. mr. levin: will the gentleman yield? mr. woodall: i'd be happy to yield to my friend. mr. levin: there is nothing in that decision, nothing in that action that paid for a continuing resolution that will take away jobs from the businesses and workers of the united states of america. mr. woodall: reclaiming my time. mr. levin: purely -- mr. woodall: reclaiming my time from my friend. you're absolutely right that this bill does not define where those $1,043,000,000,000,000 goes. i go back to what you call rhetoric, the 10 minutes we spent at the beginning when we went through line by line to talk about, goly the work that i'm so proud of, the work you

and i did together, the individual appropriations bills you and i did together doing what was supposed to be done in this house. mr. levin: will the gentleman yield? mr. woodall: this was something we were supposed to do and, golly, we did. mr. levin: will the gentleman yield? mr. woodall: i'd yield. mr. levin: now you're saying we're paying for it by taking jobs away from workers. you can't hide that fact. mr. woodall: i will quote the chairman of the committee who tells us not only can we use this offset here today but there remains not millions but billions of dollars in the account to be used for this purpose, dollars that were appropriated, mr. speaker, in 2008, three years ago they remain unspent but we leave them there just in case. just in case. and i would say to my friend is if we could just get around to doing this process right -- again, i have -- mr. levin: will the gentleman yield? mr. woodall: i'll yield back to

my friend from new york. mr. levin: from michigan. mr. woodall: we'll have this discussion not on a $1,043,000,000,000,000 continuing resolution and not even on a half trillion dollar continuing resolution but on the energy and water appropriations bill. mr. levin: ok. will the gentleman yield? mr. woodall: i have this great wish for this house, mr. speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i want to yield myself 10 seconds to say that i said in my opening statement that this program has already yielded 39,000 jobs, on its way to 60,000 which will not be able to be met because we are using this as the offset. i am happy to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey who suffered great damage in the hurricane, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: look, we're all americans. we're not democrats, republicans. we had 5,000 people evacuated

in my district. when you see the damage in small towns and large towns, then you can appreciate it. the president came, the governor of my state came. they saw it firsthand. homeland security came. fema came. they saw it firsthand. the damage is deep and it's not going to be taken away and remedied within two weeks, two months or two years. because the ground was so saturated that trees fell without any wind and are still falling. now, we are only one of 51 districts affected in 15 states and we're talking about over 30 million people. and for the first time since i've been a member of congress the other side, your side wants to make this conditional, the

aid, so we carve out either from this program or that program which is immaterial at this point, the money to help these very people. the estimates are very clear what this will cost, beyond our wildest dreams. we don't stop and ask those folks in joplin who had a huge tornado, where 2,000 people were killed. we don't say, wait until we go and rob peter in order to respond to your emergency. the fires in texas, we have never done this on an emergency. this is an absolute disgrace because we're all americans. we're not democrats or republicans. why didn't we do this, for crying out loud, in 2001 when we went to war? we didn't say, let's take from this program or that program. that was an emergency. we came up with the money and

we sure as hell didn't pay for it, did we? and now look where we are economically. we're talking about an emergency in our own country here, in our own neighborhoods. we need both sides to come together and that's why we formed the coalition of democrats and republicans, and republicans are not going to vote for this either. i'm telling you right now. so why don't we come together? the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. mr. pascrell: pass a clean bill in the senate. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: mr. speaker -- ms. slaughter: yes, i will yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 10 seconds. mr. pascrell: this coalition is going to stay strong because america is more important than either party and we need to help our brothers and sisters who are hurting right now. many of them will not return to their homes. they can't. think about that. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: mr. speaker, to correct what may be a misunderstanding about the swiftness with which this congress is reacting to those

tragedies, i yield five minutes to the chairman of the appropriations committee who's moved immediately on these issues, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for five minutes. mr. rogers: i thank the gentleman for yielding. as to the point, mr. speaker, of whether or not we offset these emergency bills, over the last 10 years, we have used offsets in over half of the emergency spending bills and supplementals. over half. 15 of 30. actually 15 of 29 have been offset, including war supplementals, emergency supplementals, military construction, defense supplementals, disaster relief and recovery. in 2008, for example. and on and on. using offsets to pay for

disaster relief is the rule here. this is not an exception. and we're only offsetting $1 billion of it. in fact when the homeland security bill passed a few months ago, it included this very offset. and the bill passed by bipartisan support throughout the body. we've already voted for this. and i might add successfully. now, on that green car fund, i'm going to call it that, there's over $4 billion this minute sitting idle in that account and it's been sitting idle for three years. the $1.5 billion recrigs in subsidies we propose -- rescission in subsidies we

propose will not have an impact in the program contrary to what some people say. contracts for those loans in late-term stages and negotiations will not be affected. talk to the agency downtown, which we have. they will not be affected. you're worried about the factory in michigan or indiana or ohio. will not be affected. in total eight pending applications for loan guarantees totaling over $6 billion will not be impacted by this offset. michigan has the largest stake. four applications totaling $4.7 billion in loan guarantees, which are free and clear. other states with applications in the cue that are safe from

this round of cuts include indiana and louisiana. now, mr. speaker, this bill contains $3.65 billion for immediate disaster relief which our people need and deserve. . as this bill works its way through the process until november 18 no doubt fema will have by then completed their surveys and investigations of disasters and can tell congress through the white house how much more money is needed. and we'll provide it. it's covered in the debt ceiling bill that passed this body a few weeks ago. i'm telling you the appropriations committee will provide whatever relief is required when we get the

documentation which is traditional, as all the members of this body know, because they help prepare those investigations. so, this is a clean bill. this merely extends the time for us to work with the senate to perfect a continuing bill for the balance of 2012. it gives us five or six weeks, but only three or four of those weeks will be available because both bodies will not be here all that time. this is a clean bill. and it provides disaster relief in the appropriate way. and there's plenty of money there for the immediate needs that we have been told by fema. and so, mr. speaker, i urge the adoption of the rule and the underlying bill. and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from new york, a member of the committee on appropriations, mr. hinchey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman new york is recognized for three -- the gentleman from

new york is recognized for three minutes. mr. hinch: mr. speaker, i rise in -- mr. hinchey: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the rule and more broadly in the manner in which the house has dealt with the disaster rewleef funding. this year we have dealt with more disasters than in a generation. the cost of hurricane irene alone is estimated to be over $1.5 billion and tropical storm lee's costs are still being tal lid. despite these needs the disaster aid included in this bill is grossly inadequate and would not sufficiently help the millions of americans who are recent victims of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. my district took a one-two punch from hurricane irene and tropical storm lee. in the southern tier of new york we have just seen the second 500-year flood in five years. both in bloom and tioga

counties. schools of homes were completely destroyed. and over 100 people who are still living in emergency shelter in binghamton, not knowing when they'll be able to return to their homes, if they can return ever at all. major companies have been shut down because their facilities are flooded. the total cost to rebuild the region will likely exceed $250 million. in the hudson valley hurricane irene caused massive power outages and record flooding. 16% of residents lost power, seven bridges were destroyed. in fact two of those bridges were just washed away and not found. vegetable farmers in orange and sullivan counties suffered devastating losses, and because the crop insurance program remains wholly inadequate for them, these farmers may get no assistance at all. alster and/or rang counties alone have an estimated $62 million in agriculture losses, yet this bill does nothing for

these farmers. and just when some of these communities began building from irene, a second round of flooding from lee washed away much of their lard work. -- hard work. now they need to start the recovery work again. the senate has already passed a $7 billion stand alone disaster bill that funds the president's fema budget request and provides additional emergency assistance for the department of agriculture and other agencies that are seeing their disaster funds dwindle. this is absolutely necessary. this bill that we are dealing with here today is a half job. it's playing politics with the lives of people who are desperate and are begging us to setaside games and get this done. let's put an end to it now so that we can take up the senate's bill so that we can adequately deal with this problem and solve the problems for all of these people in so many ways.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. woodall: to get back on the topic of this continuing resolution today, this number we agreed on just a month ago, $1,043,000,000 to fund the operations of this government, $1,043,000,000. mr. speaker, i go back and i look at emergency requests that this body has made now, i'm a freshman, i was just elected in november, began my service in january, but over the last 10 years there have been 30, 30 emergency and supplemental bills passed. 30, mr. speaker. now, what i would say to my friends who have been here longer than i have is perhaps if you have to do it three times a year it's really not a surprise. perhaps we ought to be able to budget for it and to his great credit and to the committee's

great credit, and candidly i would say the house's great credit, we are trying, we are trying for the first time in a long time to say, you know what, we can't prevent tragedy. tragedy's going to happen. but we can plan ahead for tragedy so that the american people have the security of knowing the money's going to be there when we need it. when i look, mr. speaker, at the way we are pulling money out of this body, i worry will the money be there when the american people need it? this budget makes sure that it does. i would be happy to yield to my friend. >> the situation that we are dealing with here is critically important. it's harming huge numbers of people. mr. hinchey: what the senate has done is an adequate solution to this problem. they have provided the adequate funding that's going to deal with this. and there has been at least seven republicans over there in the senate who supported that bill and voted for it. mr. woodall: reclaiming my time. mr. hinchey: why are you not

dealing with an adequate solution to 24 problem. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia controls the time. mr. woodall: reclaiming my time. not dealing with the kind of issues that need to be dealt with. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york will suspend. the gentleman from georgia controls the time. mr. woodall: i thank you, mr. speaker. because i hope where my friend was going to go was an acknowledgement that this bill provides twice, this process has provided twice the amount of disaster funding that the president requested. twice that amount f.y. 2011 plus it forward funds f.y. 2012. mr. speaker, again i am proud that we are trying to grapple with these issues. there is not a person on the floor of this house that is saying no to americans in distress. what folks are saying is, yes to making sure that when those distresses come again we budget for it. the senate has said yes. you are saying no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york will suspend. mr. woodall: i yield to my friend the chairman of the

appropriations committee, mr. rogers. the speaker pro tempore: how much time does the gentleman from georgia yield? mr. woodall: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. rogers: the money in the fiscal portion of this bill is two times the amount the president requested. we doubled it. the amount that's in the bill for fiscal 2012, $2.65 million is more than the initial request made to us by the white house. we are here to tell you, and i repeated this now four times, whatever the amount is needed that we see the fema coming to us requesting, we are going to provide. we have until november 18 by this extension, by this c.r. and during that period of time we will get the documentation from the white house and from

fema about additional funds that are requested. and i assure the gentleman from new york who spoke, your concerns will be addressed. during these next few weeks, and the money will be there that's documented from the white house and from fema for disaster relief. we will not let our people hurt. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from new york. mission slaughter: -- ms. slaughter: i'm going to give myself another second here just saying i keep hearing we are all set here with the budget. who is going to tell mother nature how much we can afford and hope we don't get more than that? i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, americans had an economic disaster and natural disaster. the economic disaster is 15 million people unemployed and we

had the natural disasters of august. this bill tries to help the natural disaster get solved by making the economic disaster worse. it takes a program that's produced 39,000 private sector jobs and cripples it. now, the ostensible purpose for this is that we want to offset the spending to help deal with the natural disasters we had around this country in august. but you know on multiple occasions in the last seven years, different administrations came to the congress and asked for infrastructure spending to help rebuild iraq. $3.7 billion worth of it to help rebuild iraq, not a penny of offset. ladies and gentlemen, if we can vote to spend the public's money to rebuild roads and bridges in iraq, let's not require an offset to rebuild roads and bridges in new york and vermont and new jersey. the right vote is no.

rewrite this bill and do so without worsening our economic disaster. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from vermont. we watched route 4 in vermont crumble like a cookie in the rain and wash away, mr. welch. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from vermont is recognized for two minutes. mr. welch: i thank the gentlelady. this bill is not about the offset. this bill is not about whether we are going to pay for emergency spending. we must and we will. what this bill is about is whether we are going to help 427 residents of pittsfield have month who were in the wake of the wrath of hurricane irene. that flood came down and it ripped their road to the north and ripped their road to the south and the water went in the middle. taking out homes and taking out public buildings. that's select board. volunteers, that volunteer fire department, volunteers, they didn't have a time to have an argument about offsets.

they had to find out how they could get an excavator to get in here. if they didn't have one they had to borrow one. they had towns who weren't leveraging some disputes about whether they would turn back an excavator or earth moving equipment to help them out. they did it. they had their school running the next day not because they had a school that was functional. their kids couldn't even get out. they did one thing. first, and that was they set up school on the green. they set it up on the green two days after this hurricane the kids were going to school and their parents were making them feel secure. they couldn't get to a passable road for several days. what did they do? they cut a path through the woods so that half a mile kids could walk and get to transportation. now, they are going to have a tab even if we help them. they know they have to pay for it. but you know, if your neighbor's house is on fire and you have a boundary line dispute, you can use the leverage of his urgent necessity to get that fire hose and hold off and get it on qun

that he -- on condition that he cave, or you can do the right thing. every time this congress has had the opportunity to come to the aid of your district or mine, we stepped up. no vermonter has ever complained to me we used tax dollars to help out in texas, ohio, or the gulf coast and we didn't make it getting conditional our way. my offset might be afghanistan. yours might be an environmental program. we knew that was not the time to do it. we are in this together. this congress has an obligation to the american people, i have an obligation to folks in your district and you do in mine to do the right thing when an act of god requires for its remedy an act of congress. let us act, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: mr. speaker, i yield myself 30 seconds just to say we have the distinguished appropriations chairman here on the floor who has said not only have we doubled the president's request here, there is a commitment to make the dollars available to everyone who is in

need in these disasters. that's the kind of commitment this nation has always made to its citizens. that's the kind of commitment this bill continues to america's citizens. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. watt. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. watt: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. watt: thank you, mr. speaker. last friday the president signed the patent reform bill and before the ink is dry on the patent reform bill, the agreement that led to the passage of it that all of the fees that are collected by the patent and trademark office will be used by the patent and trademark office is reneged on in this continuing resolution. this is a job creating bill, an

innovation creating bill, and because we have been taking the money of the patent and trademark office for years and diverting it to the general fund, we have in effect imposed a tax on innovation in this country. the appropriators promised us that they were going to correct this problem. nothing in this bill to address that promise, and i don't see how i can support a continuing resolution that does not honor the commitment that was made in our patent reform bill. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. dingell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes. mr. dingell: mr. speaker, i ask

unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dingell: mr. speaker, this bill is brought to us by people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. the hard fact of the matter is they fought two wars on the credit card. this is one of the few times that they have required offsets or -- for emergencies, so now we're trying to fix a bad bill. i want to thank the distinguished gentlewoman from new york for her leadership on this matter and want to make the observation. we have a serious problem. we have a natural emergency and we have people who have a lasting unemployment situation that's going to destroy the country and destroy families and people in this country. having said that i'm baffled why we're considering a measure that's going to cut funding for the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program. this is a loan program that's

created or saved over 40,000 jobs so far. and if it's left alone and not destroyed as would be done here it will create another 10,000 more by year's end. for all the talk in washington about creating jobs on that side of the aisle, we find that they are out to kill jobs again. and killing a. atvm just plain makes no sense. it is going to prevent job creation. the economic policy institute just released a report that my home state of michigan has lost nearly 80,000 jobs to china since 2001 where they sustain and support their industry, where we do not. if we cripple this loan program, michigan and the rest of the country can expect to lose even more jobs and their ability to compete globally in

the 21st century. now i understand we're living through tough economic times and have to squeeze every penny to make it count, but i want to remind everybody here present that there are more applications in the pipeline than there is money to participate in this particular program. so we are essentially robbing peter to pay paul, but it will come to the economic future of your constituents and mine. now it confidence me that many of my colleagues have seen through this and observed it for what it is. over 100 of them have signed on a letter by my friends, mr. peters and ms. eshoo in opposition to gutting atvm. i urge my colleagues to stand up for what is right by defeating the previous question and by adopting my amendment. and if we can't do that, let's

vote this rule down and let's vote this bill down and go about the nation's business in a wise and a sensible fashion which will create jobs and not -- sustain economic opportunity for our people. i want to denounce the behavior i see on the other side where they are walking into one of the most important issues that this country confronts with their eyes completely closed. ms. slaughter: may i yield -- mr. dingell: i thank the distinguished gentlewoman for her kindness to me. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, there is a not-so-thin-line between not being frugal and fiscally

responsible and then downright cheap and stingy. and this bill demonstrates the difference. to say to somebody who is in disaster, to say to somebody who might lose everything, where the waters are rising, the fires are burning, the storms are knocking things down to say, you know what, we can only help you if we cut somewhere else is the most stingy, shortsighted, poorest form of representative government i have ever seen. it is outrageous to tell americans facing disaster that you don't get any help unless you can find it or squeeze it out somewhere. americans stand up for each other in a time of crisis. this is the hallmark of who you are. it doesn't matter if you're democrat or republican. whether you're from the north, south, east, west, black,

latino, wherever you come from. if americans are in trouble, americans respond. you don't reach in and say, if i can afford it i will help out. mr. rogers: will the gentleman yield? mr. ellison: no. you don't need to ask again. mr. rogers: thank you very much. mr. ellison: i'm also just absolutely appalled, appalled that the republican bill will cost at least 10,000 good-paying american manufacturing jobs and perhaps tens of thousands more by cutting the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing loan program which is putting americans to work and producing cleaner american cars. this provision perhaps more than any other demonstrates the fraudulent nature, fraud, fraud of claiming that the republicans are trying to produce jobs. they are not trying to make jobs. they run around saying that rich people are job creators. they're profit creators. and you know who's absolutely

not a job creator, anyone who votes yes on this bill. vote no, absolutely no on this bad piece of bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: mr. speaker, i'm proud that we've been able to have a conversation with one another and yield that time throughout the day. in order to continue that i'd like to yield a minute to the chairman, if he'd still like it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for one minute. mr. rogers: thank you for yielding. the previous speaker doesn't understand the bill. the $2.65 billion in the 2012 portion of the bill is not offset. only the portion for fiscal 2011 is required to be offset. and i would remind the gentleman, as well as everyone else, many of whom voted for the homeland security bill a few months ago, it included this provision. the disaster relief money twice what the president requested of us, we doubled his request.

that part is offset, the fiscal 2011 moneys. but the bulk of the money in this bill, the $.65 billion for fiscal 2012, it's not offset. so the gentleman is incorrect. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. peters. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. peters: thank you, mr. speaker. i come from the greater detroit area which has been especially hard hit from this recession. when many wanted to let the auto industry fail, i stood with president obama and now the big three auto companies are once again earning profits and creating jobs in our region. today, however, the house republicans are trying to pass a job-kill cut to our auto industry by eliminating section 136 loans. we have the support of the big three auto manufacturers as well as several labor unions and environmental groups, but sadly the tea party can't even

say yes to a program that has created and protected 41,000 jobs. in fact, according to experts, this program is directly responsible for bringing manufacturing of the ford focus automobile from mexico to michigan with american workers making the ford focus. we absolutely need to fund disaster relief for communities affected by the recent natural disasters, but that doesn't mean we need to cause an economic disaster for our workers. i urge my colleagues to vote no on the rule and no on the continuing resolution because we need to be working to create more american manufacturing jobs, not destroying them. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i yield a minute to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one minute.

ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, you would seem we would come to the floor of the house at this time and celebrate a continuing resolution in the backdrop of hurricane lee and hurricane irene, the enormity of the tragedy in vermont. i know that my colleagues from that area are in pain and still suffering from the devastation. i noticed upstate new york, prathsville, in particular, a city that's full of pain, with individuals who are at lost as to why their town is no longer. but in that instance, as my colleagues know, my republican friends know although we have had some moments we have not been proud of, like in the gulf region when we were not prepared for hurricane katrina, we've still risen to the occasion thereafter and said to

the american people that if you're in a disaster this nation will come to your aid. unfortunately this c.r. does not in any way befit the american way. for here we have a fix that is really a broken fix. rather than declaring disasters what they are, emergency, and providing the dollars that we need -- ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, let me yield the gentlelady an extra minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentlelady. we are in essence, if i might use the old-fashioned term, nickel and diming our responsibilities. it is patently unfair to put the american people in the crosshairs of our politics, about having an offset for emergency funding. do you want to tell that, if we look back in 2005 to the thousand-plus that died in hurricane katrina, you have to have an offset. let's think about whether we

are going to send you any money. now, i know that there is a need for this legislation to pass, but once we concede the idea that the american people will be put in the pickle of an offset, that means that disaster knock at your door, not at your invitation and the federal government, which is in fact the umbrella on a rainy day, it will not be there. i will not be able to tolerate that. what we should be doing is passing a c.r. that declares emergency funding what it is, to be there for the marn people and this next thing we should be doing is passing the president's jobs bill. for that is how we will ensure that we are doing the job that the american people want. this c.r. is a bunch of smoke and mirrors and i will not tell the american people that they are second-class citizens, and if i can find a dime, if i could find the dime to pay for your misery, i'll look for the dime. that is not the american way.

mr. woodall: i have no further speakers remaining and i'm prepared to -- ms. slaughter: i have no further speakers. mr. woodall: i apologize to my friend. i do actually have one speaker remaining and i'd like to yield a minute to the chairman of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for one minute. mr. rogers: i'll thank the gentleman to -- for yielding. the gentlelady spoke of katrina and we should not offset the expenses of emergency disaster spending. in fact, in 2006 that's exactly what we did do. we required offsets for aid for katrina and other matters. $33.5 billion in offsets for katrina aid in 2006, and then again in 2007. we offset $939 million in offsets for among other things hurricane katrina recovery. as i've said before, over the last 10 years we've offset more

than half of the disaster emergency relief bills we passed here. it's not unusual, and the gentlelady's mistaken that we did not request offsets for katrina. we did. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: now i say to my friend from new york, i'm ready to yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized. ms. slaughter: if we defeat the previous question, i will offer an amendment to the rules to make in order a motion to strike the unacceptable house disaster funding language and substitute the bipartisan senate approach. i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the record along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. slaughter: and, mr. speaker, i want to urge my colleagues to vote no, defeat the previous question, and if we are successful in defeating the previous question and can change our amendment, then we

will get on with the underlying house amendment. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from georgia. mr. woodall: i thank you, mr. speaker. you know, i think one thing that unites us as republicans and democrats and actually unites us as americans is when we face adversity we say, can we do better, can we do better? you know, it's one thing to muddle through but it's something else to learn from that experience and combat them next time and do better. now, i'm proud to be here as part of a freshman class, mr. speaker. 89 new republican freshmen, 10 new democratic freshmen, 99 members of this house are brand new. 99 members of this house. and so we look back, we look back on profligate spending where even though american families are prioritizing their spending every day, for some

reason the congress didn't, even though small business are asked to prioritize their spending every day, for some reason congress didn't. . what this new congress has tone, mr. speaker, this 112th congress has done, is say the answer is yes. why are the american people so cynical about congress? it was less than two months ago, less than two months ago, we agreed that for next year, we should spend $1,243 billion and we're already saying we got that number wrong and want to spend more. we have to make those priority decisions. 30 times in the last 10 years, we came up with emergency spending. 30 times, mr. speaker. let me just ask you, the defense iraq afghanistan

supplemental in 2004, is anybody surprised it took more money in those places than we budgeted? anybody think that's a surprise? i'm not surprised that. i wasn't here, but i'm not surprised. did we know in 2004 it was going to take more money? of course we did. but what did we do? we gamed that system. what is this appropriations committee doing? what is this appropriations committee doing? they're saying that they know tragedy is going to befall americans, they don't know what, they don't know when, but they know it's going to happen. they tell americans what they count on may not be available tomorrow, something they thought would be available may not be available.

why? because they're broke. i agree with my friends on the democratic side of the aisle, when folks are facing disaster, they don't want to have to ask that question. they don't want to have to ask, will there be money there? will there be help there? in our communities we know the help will be there. we know our neabs will be there for us. we know our family will be there for us and for the first time in a long time, we now know the american congress is going to be there too because we are changing business as usual. we ask the question, can we do better? and the speaker and the committee chairman said yes. yes, we can. i encourage support for the rule, mr. speaker, i encourage a vote on the underlying resolution. i yield back the balance of my time and order the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: the we is on the previous resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.

ms. slaughter: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this 15-minute vote will be followed by five-minute votes on resolution 405 if ordered and suspending the rules on senate con surnt resolution 48 and senate 846. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 239. the nays are 188. the resolution -- the previous question is ordered. the resolution -- the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the gentleman from new york -- the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute

vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 238, the nays are 185. without objection, the resolution is adopted and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from mississippi, mr. harper to suspend the rules and agree to s. cohn 2738 on which the yeas and nays were order. the clerk will report the title. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 28, authorizing the use oaf manspation hall in the capitol have itors' center in an tovepbt aweird the congressional gold medal collectively to the 100th infantry battalion, 442nd

infantry combat team and military intelligence service in recognition of their dedicated service in world war ii. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agrea to the concurrent resolution. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 424, the nays are zero.

2/3 being in the affirmative, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from california, mr. denham to suspend the rules and pass s. 846 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 846, an act to designate the courthouse in jefferson city, missouri, as the christopher s. bond united states courthouse. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 407. the nays are two and two members recorded as present. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. the house will be in order.

for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 2608. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 405, i call up the bill h.r. 2608 with a senate amendment thereto and have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendment and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 2608, an act to provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the small business act and the small business investment act of 1958 and for other purposes. senate amendments. mr. rogers of kentucky moves that the house concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 2608 with an amendment.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 405, the motion will be debatable for one hour by the chair and ranking minority member on the committee on appropriations. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers and the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, will each control 30 minutes. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i rise today to bring to the floor the continuing appropriations resolution to keep the federal government operating until november 18 of this year, for procedural reasons. this is being done as an amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 2608, to speak passage through the senate at their request. but in substance this is the same as the continuing resolution, h.j.res. 79, that i introduced on september 14. this c.r., mr. speaker, will give congress the time needed to complete fiscal year 2012

appropriations and adequately fund vital government programs and services while working to put federal spending on a more sustainable course. just as significantly, this bill provides desperately needed funding for disaster recovery and relief. i would have preferred to complete the appropriations process in regular order, and i believe the house made great strides in doing so. the appropriations committee moved on 11 of the 12 annual appropriations bills and six bills have cleared the house. but we still need time to collaborate with our colleagues in the senate in order to complete this work and a short-term bill will allow us to do so. as we saw last year and into the spring, the threat of a government shutdown causes

dangerous economic instability. and at this precarious time, we need to bolster the american public confidence that their representatives in washington are working for them and not let politics come before people. the c.r. continues government operations at a rate of $1.043 trillion. the total amount agreed to by the congress and the white house in the budget control act. it's clean of most policy provisions to ensure swift passage, but we provided small changes for safety, security and continuity of essential programs. for instance, we've extended federal flood insurance availability and the availability of defense survival equipment for our

troops abroad. in addition, this c.r. will help meet the needs of the thousands of families, businesses and communities burdened by recent natural disasters, by providing an immediate $1 billion in emergency 2011 funding now as well as an additional $2.65 billion for the next year. we're helping our citizens get back on their feet. the $776 billion in the bill for the fema disaster relief fund which is $276 million more than the president or the senate proposed is time sensitive and critical. that fund is now below $250 million and is running out of money fast. unless we provide additional funding within a matter of days the disaster relief fund will

soon be empty, leaving millions of people in the lurch. the $1 billion in emergency funding for fiscal year 2011 has been offset by a cut to the department of energy's advanced technology vehicle manufacturing loan program which has more than $4 billion in unspent idle funds in the pipeline. it's been there for three years. now is the time to use those idle dollars for true and immediate purposes, aiding our fellow in their times of greatest need as they cope with the aftermath of wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes and unprecedent -- an unprecedented string of disasters in this country. now, the notion of offsetting emergency spending has gotten a lot of attention as of late. let me be very clear.

offsetting emergency spending is not a unique practice. in fact, over the last 10 years the congress has used offsets in at least 15 of 30 emergency supplemental spending bills. half of them. in total the congress has passed over $60 billion in emergency offsets in the last 10 years, most of which had a large amount of support on both sides of the aisle, including the support of our former speaker pelosi. the loan program used as an offset in this bill has had excess funds for years, and taking the money will not negatively affect that program. all entities in final loan stages will still get the funding they've worked for. furthermore, this offset is identical to the one already

passed by the house in june as part of the homeland security appropriations bill. we've already voted for it. in addition, the committee will continue to consider additional disaster funding over the next few weeks as we bring the fiscal year 2012 appropriations process to a close, hopefully by november 18, including reviewing estimates that are still coming in from recent disasters so that families and communities can get the assistance they need while making sure that every dollar is well spent. . the budget control act, which both houses of congress and the white house agreed to provide for disaster funding in that capacity. but with respect to this continuing resolution, at this time, we do not have all the necessary information on the

cost of the recent disasters, nor the time to work out a final comprehensive agreement with the white house and senate. as members of this body know back in their home districts, the fema administration works to survey the damage and report that to the white house who in turn makes a request to congress for disaster funds. that's the normal procedure in which we're involved now and i assure the members that as we get those estimates from the white house in the next few weeks and months, they will be addressed and moneys will be available. therefore we must meet the most immediate need and provide additional funding now for fema to keep that program going for the next several months. that's what this continuing resolution dews and why we, the house and senate, have to pass this bill immediately.

this c.r. lives up to the guidelines set in the budget control act as well as our commitment to responsible and reduced levels of spending. we can right our fiscal ship while still supporting essential government programs and services and disaster aid and with this in mind, it is my intention that congress complete the fiscal year 2012 appropriations work without any further delay. the sooner we pass this c.r., the sooner we can focus on long-term appropriations legislation and get it done before november 18. so i urge my colleagues in both chambers to support this bill so we can send it to the president as soon as possible. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. mcdermott: i rise in

reluctant -- mr. dicks: i rise in reluctant opposition to the continuing resolution. for the most part, it is a clean c.r., it provides funding at $1.03 trillion through november 18. the amount reflects the budget control act cap on f.y. 2012 appropriations. the c.r. continues funding, has provide -- as provided in f.y. 2011 with a 1 .503 across the board cut to come down from 159 to 1043. the c.r. adds a handful of anomalies requested by the administration through o.m.b., including provisions to cut back on overseas contingency operation funds from the level of 11 down to the level that was passed in the defense

appropriations bill which is approximately 118. authorized d.h.s. work on national special security events ex-tends flood insurance and delays the postal service obligation. the last provision will allow mail service to continue while congress pursues legislative reforms. the matter that concerns me and the democratic caucus is the way the majority has provided disaster relief funding. fema's disaster relief fund is precariously short on money in f.y. 2011. americans are trying to rebuild their lives after the devastating effect of floods, wild fires and hurricanes in a record year of natural disasters. and fema is running out of resources to help them. fema has deferred funding for all long-term rebuilding projects to focus on immediate

needs. the administration requested a $500 million supplemental appropriation for the remaining days in the fiscal year. they requested 2011 emergency funds. they did not recommend an offset. this has been the practice for supplemental disaster relief. since 2002, congress appropriated $95 billion in supplemental disaster relief. all of it was designated as an emergency and none of it was offset. some other emergencies may have been paid for during the clinton administration, however, during the bush administration, this was not so for disaster relief. other categories of emergency spending and other supplementals that were offset, but not disaster relief.

for fiscal year 2002 through 2006, the president -- president bush requested supplemental disaster relief funding eight times. each of the eight times was designated as an emergency and none were offset. with republicans in the majority, some of the bush emergency disaster relief bills without offsets were approved by voice vote and some were considered under unanimous consent. nonetheless, house republicans today insist on departing from this practice. they take $1.5 billion from the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program at the department of energy to pay for $1 billion in disaster relief. disaster and emergency relief. we have discussed compromise with the other side, they have been unwilling to accept our suggestions.

the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program was started in 2008 to reinvigorate american manufacturing. to date, this program has awarded $3.5 billion of credit subsidy to promote energy efficient advanced vehicles and their component parts. the department of energy estimates that loan guarantees have created or maintained in total 39,000 jobs in california, delaware, illinois, indiana, kentucky, ohio, michigan, missouri, and tennessee. some have suggested that this program has been slow to spend emergency funding provided in the f.y. 2009 c.r. i say the loan review process is and ought to be strenuous. one company, tesla, originally

applied under a different loan program in 2006 and received an atvm loan in 2010. it requires four years of due diligence to review to qualify for the loan and having read many of the press releases that went out when there was another d.o.e. program that was not -- that had ran into difficulties, i didn't note anybody there saying we shouldn't take time for due diligence. due diligence is required. by the way, the company in question, tess la, employed -- tesla, employed about 400 workers before receiving the loan. today they have 1,400 employees in the fields of engineering, research and development, design, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, service, sales, and support. the atvm program has an additional 18 loan applications

in progress that are projected to create 50,000 to 60,000 more jobs in total in california, florida, illinois, indiana, louisiana, michigan, missouri, and ohio. one pending application would support investment at 11 plants in illinois, indiana, michigan, and ohio. the company employs over 56,000 workers and they're adding nearly 9,000 new workers since 2009. some of the jobs will be at risk by using this offset. this is not the time to put american manufacturing jobs at risk. if you want to make it in america, you can't take away this funding. if there's one thing we've learned on the economic forefront, it's that we need a

growth policy, we don't need a cut policy. cut and grow just ain't so. and i would point out that we need to get people back to work, we need -- and the way you to that is programs like this that are going to hire people instead of fire people. we have been doing a lot of firing and it hasn't worked. when are we going to wake up? when is the majority party going to realize that we've got to do something to create growth and stimulate the economy and put people back to work? the only way we're going to get the deficit down is to bring unemployment down. this is an employment program, it should be supported. we should defeat the continuing resolution, and come up with either take this out or come up with another offset that doesn't hurt job creation in our country. i reserve my balance.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from kentucky. >> i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. rogers: the gentleman mentioned we had not used justify sets to -- offsets to fund disaster relief. i beg to difference. 2001, emergency supplemental offset, 2002, emergency supplemental offset, 2004, disaster relief for wild fire and others, offset. in 2005, offset for relief for the tsunami, in 2006, relief for katrina offset in 2008, disaster relief and recovery, $20 million in offsets and i could go on. there are many times when we have used the offsets to pay

for supplementals. in fact, over the last 10 years, 15 of the 30 emergency spending bills and supplementals were offset. now on this justify set that's been mentioned, over $4 billion sitz ide until that account and has for three years now. as the administration has been slow to obligate that money. the $1.5 billion rescission in subsidies we propose will not have a significant impact on the program. this is the same precision, madam speaker, that we used in the fiscal 2012 homeland security appropriations bill that passed this house with bipartisan support in june. exactly the same. and yet the senate didn't act and that $1 billion was not available for disaster relief. states with applications in the queue in this program like indiana, louisiana, ohio, michigan, florida, missouri, california, and many others,

will still receive their due dill yens just like before, and could receive awards as well. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield four minutes to the gentleman from north carolina. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. >> madam speaker, the fact that we're even debating the substance of this continuing resolution is a telling statement about the priorities of the current house majority. fema's disaster relief fund, after all is operating on fumes. since late august, the agency has deferred funding for all long-term rebuilding projects in order to have enough resources to meet the most pressing emergency needs. mr. price: this means that critical rebuilding efforts in over 40 states, louisiana, mississippi, florida, iowa, north dakota, tennessee, missouri, my own state of north carolina, and others are on

hold. thousands of people who would currently be earning a good paycheck by working on rebuilding efforts are not. and communities that are still recovering from past disasters are being told to move to the back of the line, to make way for those affected by the more recent disasters. madam speaker, congress has a responsibility to make good on our promise to these communities by ensuring that fema has enough resources to respond to all major disasters. regardless of where and when they occurred, we must not pit one state or one region against the other. the administration has made clear what it will take. a $500 million supplemental appropriations for the remainder of this fiscal year and an increase of $4.6 billion above its initial request for fiscal year 2012. this c.r. includes $1 billion in supplemental fiscal 2011

funding and a $2.6 a billion down payment toward fiscal 2012. but i'm not satisfied with either the amount or with the price of inclusion. since 2002 congress has appropriated $95 billion in supplemental funding for the disaster relief fund and additional disaster funding for the corps of engineers. those are the two accounts we're talking about here and that has all been designated as an emergency and none of it offset. now, at a time when communities up and down the eastern seaboard are still realing from the aftermath of hurricane irene, at a time when millions of americans are still struggling to find a good job, house republicans are telling us this time around fema won't get any more disaster relief funding for the current year until or unless we take money from another federal agency.

this is a radical departure from the way in which both parties have treated emergency disaster relief over the past decade tanned will undermine our economic recovery. the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program, which our republican colleagues proposed to cannibalize, that program stands to add tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in an industry that will be critical to our future economic competitiveness. this is a bad precedent and it's bad policy. it's no wonder the american people are fed up with congress. once again the majority is putting partisan ideology ahead of the dire needs of the american people by telling our communities they won't get relief until we wage yet another budget battle here in congress. i urge my colleagues to oppose this approach and instead support the disaster relief measure approved by the senate which would fully fund fema's

needs without -- without requiring yet another fight over spending offsets. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from alabama, mr. aderholt, who is the chair of the house appropriations committee on homeland security. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama is recognized for three minutes. mr. aderholt: i want to thank the distinguished chairman of the full appropriation committee for yielding and, madam speaker, i rise in strong support of this must-pass resolution. not only does this c.r. provide the necessary funds and authority to keep the government open, it also provides an immediate and a substantial infusion of vital funding to both fema's disaster relief efforts and the corps of engineers' flood control and coastal emergency account and it does all of this in a fiscally responsible way. this resolution before us today complies with the recently enacted budget control act and

provides the appropriations committee of the house and senate ample time to do work on the f.y. 2012 budget. and for the hard-hitting communities aye all across the country, include -- all across the country, including my home state of alabama which was hit hard back in april, in addition to those that were devastated by fires, by floods, tornados, hurricanes over the past five months, this c.r. will sustain fema's disaster relief and recovery efforts and help the corps with additional funding for emergency flood control projects. as i mentioned, my home state of alabama was hit hard back in april, on april 27. so if anyone is interested in sustaining fema's disaster relief, it would be me. and i do believe that this bill does the job. the duration of this c.r. will provide the time to review and scrutinize fema's preliminary damage estimates for hurricane irene. estimates that are based on historical projections rather than actual data and claims that

are still in process of being collected. this oversight will enable the appropriations committee the time to properly and responsibly address the administration's full supplemental request, a request that was submitted to congress only about two weeks ago. and while congress has an undeniable obligation to thoroughly address our nation's disaster relief needs, we can no longer afford to simply throw money at calamities and then ask the hard questions later on. we have to get our funding priorities right the first time and that's exactly what both chairman rogers and i have repeatedly said when it's come to appropriations for homeland security. madam speaker, this c.r. is the right tool for the right time and i urge my colleagues to support this vital resolution and responsibly address our nation's most pressing needs. i thank the gentleman for yielding. yes, i yield. >> the gentleman chairs the homeland security appropriations subcommittee which funds fema.

mr. aderholt: exactly. mr. rogers: you passed a bill back in june that provided $1 billion for fema for disaster relief, is that right? mr. aderholt: we passed that. mr. rogers: what happened to that bill? mr. aderholt: it passed the committee. mr. rogers: i mean, after it passed the house. mr. aderholt: it passed the house and was sent to the senate and that's where it's sitting. mr. rogers: nothing has taken place in the senate since june? mr. aderholt: absolutely is. mr. rogers: and your bill would have provided $1 billion today for disaster relief and the other body hasn't acted? mr. aderholt: we did that, as you say, back well before june. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. aderholt: and it's there even today. mr. rogers: no wonder they're operating on fumes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. rogers: i'm talking about fema. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentleman from indiana, mr. visclosky, the ranking member of the energy and

water appropriations subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is recognized for four minutes. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the gentleman yielding and i rise to oppose the taking of the $1.5 billion from the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing account to offset a portion of the army corps disaster needs estimated to be $2,256,000,000, instead of declaring this matter an emergency. i do think as a matter of policy this institution and the congress as a whole needs to have the fortitude to understand that we have natural disasters every year and we need to set aside moneys to fund those and not to take money out of investment accounts that create jobs in the united states of america. we have two problems that we're discussing today. one is a natural problem. we have had tornados, we have had floods, we have had

hurricanes, we had an earthquake, we've had wildfires. so what is new? the fact is in every year, save two, since 1997, the congress has recognized the need for emergency funds to respond to the impacts of natural disasters on our nation's water resources infrastructure. since 2001 the congress has provided more than $24 billion in emergency funds to the army corps of engineers for this very purpose. and according to the corps of engineers we have spent $5.12 billion on an emergency basis in afghanistan and iraq, on economic infrastructures. now, some suggest all of this has to be offset because we have a fiscal crisis. i would point out that those emergency declarations for water emergencies in 1998 occurred and

the budget of the united states was balanced. there was an emergency declaration as far as those water projects in 1999 and we had a balanced budget. there was not an emergency declaration in 2000 and we balanced a budget. in 2001 we had an emergency declaration for water disasters and we balanced the budget. that's not an argument not to meet the human crisis that people are facing in this country. i certainly think that my colleague from washington covered the account as far as vehicle manufacturing very well and the investment it represents and the jobs maintained and created that are represented again in this account. and certainly chairman rogers makes a point, rightfully so, that many of these dollars have now been allocated to specific loan programs and others, eight specifically, will be resolved by the end of this year and again this offset would not impact those and the chairman is

absolutely correct. however, i do point out to my colleagues that the -- there remain 10 project notice stage of due diligence, the same words that my colleague from washington used to complete for the remainder of this $1.5 billion, with approximately 10,000 jobs at stake. when i started my remarks -- mr. dicks: will the gentleman yield? isn't it true that the industrial states are the ones that are getting most of this money? because that's where the automobile industry has, over the years, been located? mr. visclosky: the gentleman is correct but i would broaden that to suggest the united states of america is getting that money and people who want to make things in the united states of america and manufacture things in the united states of america are getting that money. mr. dicks: isn't it true, we already know this program works? this program received $7.5

billion and $3.5 billion of it has been spent, has been obligated and is out there as loans. i think it tripled under the loan guarantee program. and 50,000 -- i yield him another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is yielded another minute. mr. dicks: another two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: another two minutes. mr. dicks: and so these -- we are seeing that this program actually works. i mean, if there were some question about this, if it hadn't worked, it wasn't getting -- but it's creating jobs and there's -- it will create jobs in the future. and there is a whole bunch of people in there making applications for many of these things that you and i just talked about. mr. visclosky: right. we have 10 pending and i would not be on the floor if i did not believe we maintained and created jobs and we have potentially 10,000 more jobs that we can create. with the $1.5 billion that is

pending. and i would point out again, i would broaden your observation to the entire united states of america. i mentioned two problems we face. the second is manufacturing in the united states of america. in 1977 we had over 18 million americans engaged in manufacturing. last year we had over 11 million . the real hourly wage for what an american worker is paid for one hour's worth of their physical labor, whatever they may do in this country, is 53 cents less in 2010 than it was in 1977. that's not the country i want to leave the children of this world and i'm convinced it's because of the loss of those manufacturing jobs. if it's good enough to declare an emergency and build a children's hospital in basra, iraq, we ought not to take money out of the investment account that creates jobs in the auto industry to help people in tus

can loosea, alabama -- tus can loosea, alabama -- tuscaloosa, alabama. if it is good enough to have people installed in afghanistan, we ought not to take money away from job-creating programs to help people in springfield, massachusetts. if it's good enough to build a hydroelectric dam in afghanistan on an emergency basis, we ought to declare an emergency to help people in smithfield, mississippi. mr. dicks: i ask for one additional minute. i yield to the gentleman. mr. visclosky: i think i have made my point. i think the gentleman has. i think this is the wrong policy and again institutionally we need to come to grips with natural disasters, set those moneys aside but in the alternative and in the intermediate term we need to recognize them for what they are and not to rob the future of this nation economically. and i would be happy to yield back my time. mr. dicks: well, i -- he yields back the remainder of his time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee on foreign operations of appropriations, the gentlelady from texas, ms. granger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. granger: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this bill, to fund the continuing operations of the federal government until november 18. i appreciate the leadership of chairman rogers and addressing the responsibilities of this congress. passing this stop gap measure will give congress time to complete the fiscal year 2012 appropriations process. in spite of our late start, the appropriations committee was still able to move 11 of the 12 appropriations bills this year. however, the committee still needs time to collaborate with the senate. the continuing resolution funds vital government programs and services and allows essential bills to be paid.

it reduces spending to the levels agreed to by the congress and the administration in the budget control act that was signed into law in august. and it avoids controversial policy riders in order to ensure swift passage. though many reasons members should support -- there are many reasons members should support this bill. perhaps one of the most important is what this bill does for our military. without a c.r. our service members and their families don't get paid. they would have to continue to do their work, protecting the country, but they would have to do it while worrying about whether they'd be able to pay their bills or mortgage. our brave men and women in uniform already face that possibility -- faced that possibility earlier this year. they deserve better. they need to know that the united states congress stands behind them. this bill addresses disaster relief and funds it in a responsible way. i urge my colleagues to support this bill so it can be enacted as soon as possible and the

appropriations committee can complete its work without any further delay. this is a responsible action for us to take to go forward. the american people expect the congress to do our jobs, the appropriations committee must complete its work. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield 2 1/2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from new jersey, mr. rothman, a member of the appropriations committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. rothman: thank you. madam speaker, congress has found the money over the years for disaster relief for all other parts of the country, time and time again. whether it was forest fires in the west, droughts in the southwest, flooding in the midwest, tornadoes in the south, now, the republican

majority in the house of representatives say, says, that when the northeast suffers devastating flooding as a result of hurricane irene and tropical storm lee, you won't get enough to cover all of your damages. and we're going to have to cut other investments in programs that create manufacturing jobs in america. that's simply outrageous. i saw firsthand the devastation that occurs in my district in northeastern new jersey. thousands of my constituents lost their possessions. were forced to evacuate their homes or were without power for days. critical infrastructure was damaged. recovery efforts are beyond the means of the state and local governments. our neighbors, our local communities, our local businesses, need federal help to rebuild and need it now. in foul. just like every other part of the country in all the years

past. this is not a partisan matter in the northeast. my republican governor, governor chris isaak tee from new jersey said our -- chris christie from new jersey said our people are suffering now and they need federal support now. he was right. it is time to meet the disaster needs of american citizens in new jersey in northeastern united states of america, do so now and in full and the republican majority should get rid of the bill it has now and give full relief to the american people from new jersey. we've been paying the tab for others for a long time. we need the help now. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: madam speaker, can you tell us how much time is left on both sides. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington has

nine and a half minutes remaining and the gentleman from kentucky has 14 and a half minutes remaining. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield two minutes to a hardworking member of the committee, mr. cole of oklahoma. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. cole: madam speaker, i rise to urge support of h.r. 2608, the continuing resolution act of 2012. i hoped not to be there in this particular capacity. i hoped we would be able to restore complete regular order and move our appropriations bills through in a normal fashion and frankly, thanks to the leadership of chairman rogers and the cooperation of chairman dicks, we have made a lot of progress of doing just that and hopefully next year we'll be able to complete that progress and build on what's been accomplished this year. first, with all due respect, our friends on the other side

of the aisle didn't write a budget for this year and that took quite a pit of time earlier this year getting ready for 2011. second we all know we had a prolonged debate over the debt ceiling, that took a lot of time and with all due respect to our friends on the other side of the rotunda, the senate operates at a low pressurely pace these days when it comes to budgeting and appropriating and has for years. that needs to change. some people will oppose the bill because it, quote, doesn't have enough money for disaster relief. the reality is it does. and we can add to that once the continuing resolution is completed and the appropriations process moves forward as necessary with due diligence. frankly, a lot of this talk about not having enough relief is simply a ruse to spend more money in other areas without being responsible in offsetting expenses from existing revenue. some on my side of the aisle will oppose this legislation because it spends too much. fankly, i have a good deal of

sympathy with that. we all would like to lower spending while taking care of legitimate disaster relief. this agreement is one that operates under a total spending level that's been worked out, it's a compromise and one we ought to honor on both sides of the aisle. my friends who oppose it because it spends too much will only make sure it doesn't pass. may i have 30 seconds? mr. rogers: the gentleman is yielded 30 seconds. mr. cole: it's a great piece of legislation, we can take care of people who need relief and we can exercise our responsibilities in appropriate oversight fashion and continue to work toward deficit reduction in the long-term if we pass this continuing resolution. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington.

mr. dicks: i yield two and a half minutes to the ranking democratic member of the natural resources committee, congressman ed markey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two and a half minutes. mr. markey: i thank the gentleman from washington state. we're having a 1 -- we're having hundred-year floods every year, we're having tornadoes rip through joplin. we have floods in vermont and new jersey and new york. we have hurricanes all across the country. we have 48 states who have had emergency declarations so far this year. the planet is warming. the weather is worsening. what is the response of the republicans? they have to find the money they say, all of a sudden, for disaster relief for people who are suffering, for people who are desperate, for people whose

lives have been altered permanently. they say we have to cut something. now, do they say we're going to cut the nuclear weapons program because america doesn't need more nuclear weapons? no. are we going to cut the breaks we give to oil and coal? no, we're not going to touch those things. where are we going? what does the republican party do? what does the tea party want? here's what the tea party wants. the tea party wants to cut the clean car factory fund. what is that? that's the fund that we have that's going to invent the automobile and the trucks that go 60, 70, 80, 90 miles per gallon without having to use oil. now why is that important? two reasons. one, it's the oil that's being burned that creates the greenhouse gases that is warming up the planet, causing all these weather conditions that is leading to these disaster relief programs that

have to have more money in them as each year goes by. and two, it is so that we can tell the opec ministers we don't need your oil anymore -- any more than we need your sand. so what are they doing here today? they're taking the one program that is central to the health and well being of our country and to our national security so we alter our relationship with opec and they are slashing it. they are slashing the one program that reinvents the vehicles that we drive. they're slashing the one program that gives young people in our country some hope that we are going to invent our way out of this problem. and so, it's no -- you don't have to be dick tracey to figure out what's going on here. the oil industry, the coal industry, all the polluting industries are saying, kill the program that makes sure that the vehicles we get in 20 years

get 75 or 100 miles per gallon without using one gallon of oil. vote no. -- vote no on this terrible bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield two minutes to the distinguished chair of the legislative branch appropriations subcommittee, the gentleman from florida, mr. crenshaw. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. crenshaw: thank you, madam speaker. thank you for yielding the time. i want to urge my leagues to vote in favor of this continuing resolution this body has been doing a lot of things to try to get the economy moving again, to try to put people back to work, create jobs and one of the ways we can do that is to change this culture of spending into a culture of savings. quit crowding out the private sector so that the private sector can come in and do the job creation we know they can do. we have taken some giant steps on stopping all the spending that's going on here. last year we did some good things, eventually we funded

the government at less than last year's level and this year we hope to come in and do the individual appropriations subcommittees in the house, we passed six of those through the full house, unfortunately, the senate only passed one, so we find ourselves now in a situation where we have to pass a continuing resolution. but again, all the subcommittee that came before this full house funded their subcommittees at less than last year's level, we now have a continuing resolution that has funding that's less than last year, it's been agreed to by the house, agreed to by the senate, agreed to by the president and we can argue about the process, argue about whether it should be a little more or a little bit less, but we'll give ourselves until november 18 to finalize all the work that needs to be done. so i think it's appropriate that we pass this, move forward and continue to try to get a handle on the spending to help

get our economy going. with that, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i think the gentleman has -- can we get the times? the speaker pro tempore: yes, sir. the gentleman from washington has seven minutes remaining. the gentleman from kentucky has 11 -- 10 and a half minutes remaining. mr. dicks: why don't you have another one speak. mr. rogers: i'll be happy to. madam speaker i yield three minutes to the distinguished chair of the labor-hhs chair of subcommittee, the gentleman from montana, mr. rehberg. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. rehberg: madam speaker, there's no phrase that better embodies the fact that something in washington is broken, and that's government shutdown. we heard those for the second time in a year yesterday. that tells us old ways to don't work anymore.

every month we're faced with new unemployment numbers, new deficit figures. we can never forget that biped those numbers are people. unemployment isn't just a number, it's people who worry about how they'll fill their gas tanks or put food on their table. market losses aren't just lines on a graph, it's the retirement savings of seniors across the country who struggle to afford medicine they need and the deficit isn't just borrowed money it's the future being stolen from our children and grandchildren. as subcommittee chairman of labor, health and human services and appropriations, i support this continuing resolution. not only does it prevent a government shutdown, it gives us time to finish working on the remaining appropriations bills in an open and transparent way. i look forward to my subcommittee introducing and debating their work. let me tell you a little bit about it. as we've been crafting this bill, i worked closely with you members of this body and listened to folks from montana and throughout the country. we want it to be a balanced

plan that fundamentally improves how the government spends its money, the hardworking money of taxpayers. we want to make government more accountable an efficient, saving as much as possible on top of the savings from earlier this year. in addition to eliminating inefficient programs, we'll improve the remaining government by defunding enforcement of unnecessary and overreaching regulations. these regulations cost jobs and hamper economic recovery. by spending strategically, we can maintain critical funding for things like education and biomedical research. to be successful in tomorrow's economy, our children need to be prepared for the skilled jobs going unfilled today. we also need to invest in basic research so the u.s. can continue to be a lead for the biomedical advancements. our subcommittee wants to do that. our legislation will keep the promise we made to rein in government spending and government grolte. it's the next step, not the final one, we still have a long

way to go. but by finding ways to do more with less, we're changing the direction in washington. that's what the american people want and i'm confident that by passing this continuing resolution, it will give us the time to do it in the open and do it right. with that, i hope you'll vote for this continuing resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. engel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. engel: i thank the gentleman for yielding to me and i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 2608, the continuing appropriations act of 2012. i oppose playing political games with fema disaster funding while american citizens are recovering from recent natural disasters that have wiped out home, businesses and lives. in an unprecedented move, the republican majority requires an justify set for fema funding.

fema must be fully fund sod my constituents who are recovering from hurricane arein. by requiring this offset we're playing politics with the lives of those who need our assistance most. let me tell your republican colleagues, if you want an offset, get rid of the bush tax cuts for the rich. this bill presents a false choice, that we need to cut off one hand to save the other. the bill slashes funds from a program that would reinvigorate the manufacturing sector and decrease reliance on foreign oil to fund fema. we can do both and need not buy into the ridiculous logic. in times of disastery must always take care of our citizens and our country first, period. try telling my constituents who are struggling in the aftermath of a hurricane, sorry, you'll have to wait until we find an offset, sorry, we really don't care about your problems, we have other pressing things to do. reasonable democrats and republicans maintain the practice of helping constituents in the past, why this policy has

changed is beyond me. madam speaker, disaster is not associated with one political party and helping our citizens should be a top priority of both. i urge a no vote on the c.r. and urge the majority to bring a bill to the floor that fully funds fema and doesn't harm job creation and does the right thing. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. mr. rogers: will the gentleman yield? mr. engel: i'd be happy to yield. mr. rogers: does the gentleman realize that back in june, in this body we passed the homeland security bill which contained $1 billion for fema, sent it to the senate and it's been laying there for the last three months? does the gentleman know that? mr. engel: i know it and -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. engel: if the gentleman will yield to me. i do know that and unfortunately it's been difficult passing things in the senate because quite frankly the minority filibusters everything to death and getting the 60 votes is very, very difficult. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the very hardworking chair of the interior subcommittee on appropriations, the gentleman whose subcommittee held more hearings than any other, i think 22 different hearings, we had 150 committeewide, but he won the award for the most hearings. mr. simpson, idaho. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from idaho is recognized for two minutes. mr. simpson: i thank the chairman for yielding. you know, mr. speaker, many members of congress, myself included, recognize that we want to get our economy going again. we need to take steps to get our fiscal house back in order and provide certainty to the marketplace so small business and job creators can begin hiring again and until we finish the regular appropriations process for the coming year, we won't be able to implement the necessary spending reductions and policy reforms needed to get our economy moving again. while the house has come close to passing all of the appropriation bills out of committee and many of the bills on the floor, the senate has passed only one bill so far. this c.r. gives us time to

complete that work while cutting current spending. to me that seems like a much more reasonable solution than threatening another government shutdown which will only hurt the economy. congress has one responsibility each year and that is to pass the 12 appropriation bills by the beginning of the year. that job has been made harder this year by the fact that the previous majority did not complete the work by the end of en 2010 -- 2010. but i've got to tell you this debate has almost been bizarre to me today. people have asked me whether we need to offset emergency spending and i said emergency spending does not need to be offset but if you can find the offsets to do so, why not do so? and that's what we've tried to do in this bill. this debate seems to me almost devoid of the fact that we are $1.5 trillion in debt this year. the gentlelady from texas in the debate on the rules said we're nickel and diming those that are suffering from disaster. and that we shouldn't be nickel and diming -- in idaho $1.5

trillion or the billion dollars that we're offsetting here is not nickels and dimes. the gentleman from new jersey said, people need relief now in new jersey. they are going to get relief when we pass this bill. the gentleman from north carolina, mr. price, said we are cannibalizing the program that we are taking the money out of. in full committee this amendment was offered on the homeland security bill, this amendment was offered. there was no objection to it. it passed on a voice vote. and now we are cannibalizing the program? we need to pass this so that we can get on and finish our appropriation bills. i thank the gentlelady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 5 3/4 minutes remaining. the gentleman from washington has five minutes remaining. the gentleman from washington. the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield four minutes

to the distinguished democratic whip, my good friend, mr. hoyer from maryland. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for four minutes. mr. dicks: make it in america. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in opposition to this bill. now, all of us are for a continuing resolution which keeps the government in business. in the past on both sides of the aisle we have talked about clean c.r.'s. clean c.r.'s in the short-term, that's going until november 18, to keep government running. i was hopeful we would have such a c.r. this time. so that we would not continue to give to the american public the feeling that we can't come to agreement. i was not in the appropriations committee, the gentleman, my good friend from idaho says this was an amendment that was not

opposed in committee. i don't know whether mr. price would agree with that. i don't know what the facts on that were. but let me say this, this is a pay-for that is extraordinarily controversial on our side of the aisle. because the message we got from america, as we were home and as we get today is we need to create jobs. we need to grow the economy. we perceive on this side of the aisle as having selected a pay-for which by the way paid for for fema disaster aid as i understand it from staff has never happened before. no precedent for doing this. and let me give you an example that will we'll all understand. your water heater -- that we'll all understand. your water heater goes out at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. your family is going to get up in the morning and you need your water heater right away. so you go out and buy the water

heater, what do you do? you charge it. because it's an emergency, you've got to get it online. we have loot of people who have suffered -- we have a lot of people who have suffered an emergency assault by hurricane, by tornado, by fire, by earthquake and they need help now. and historically we have given help now and have not gotten into a debate about what priority do we undermine in that process. we respond to the true emergency. now, we've had a lot of emergencies and mr. rogers and i have been here a long time, they were not really emergencies, we claimed they were emergencies so we didn't have to pay for them under our rules. but there is no one i think in this body or in this country who

doesn't believe that irene caused a legitimate emergency. not feigned, not used for the purposes of justifying where we may go. longstanding precedent in both chambers has been to respond to disasters immediately by getting victims the help they need. just as a family can't budget in advance for car breaking down or the water heater or something as i mentioned, we have provided in the agreement that we just made just a few weeks ago for head room for exactly these kinds of emergencies. $11 billion. however, we did not provide that for 2011, but, again, 2011 is when the emergency occurred and when the money is needed, now. the senate just passed a disaster relief bill that adheres to this precedent and it passed with overwhelming -- well, not overwhelming, significant bipartisan support. unfortunately republicans here insist on breaking with this commonsense precedent and with their colleagues in the senate and demand that responding to an emergency be offset by cutting

elsewhere. again, let me precisely say on emergency, fema funding directed at disaster relief. now, the problem we have is that the target for paying for this is what we perceive to be a job creator. so as a result i would ask that we reject this bill. we have some time left to do another c.r. that we ought to agree on in a bipartisan way. a clean c.r., short-term so, that, yes, we can, as the gentleman from idaho said, get on with our business. and i urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to a very hardworking member of our committee, the gentleman from alabama, mr. boehner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama is recognized for two -- mr. bonner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from alabama is recognized for two minutes. bonbon thank you. as a member of the --

mr. bonner: thank you. as a member of the appropriations committee i rise in support of this resolution. this c.r. continues government operations at an amount agreed to by the congress and the white house in the budget control act just a few weeks ago as it was nosed -- noted by the distinguished democratic whip. but make no mistake, the american people spoke loudly last november and the message was clear. we need to spend less and both the house budget committee and the house appropriations committee have been at the van guard of meeting that challenge. but the other message that many of us receive when we go back home to our districts from our constituents is that they want this institution to function. they want their elected officials on both sides to put aside the partisan differences and to work to create an environment that fosters job creation and economic growth and that reduces spending and puts our nation back on a path toward fiscal solvency. naturally i find it disappointing to now learn that some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are

opposing this bill for purely political reasons. after signaling their support just last week. and to my friends in our own conference who believe we should make deeper cuts in this c.r., i say, we agree. the house has voted to reduce spending further on multiple occasions. and this appropriations committee has reported many bills to do so as well. sadly in this hyperpartisan political environment, with the republican majority in the house, a democrat majority in the senate and a democrat white house, the will of the house alone cannot rule the day simply because we wish to do so. this is a reasonable bill which pays for the disaster funding it contains and it holds the funding level at an agreed upon amount and allows the committee the opportunity to do its work in the remaining days of this year before fiscal year 2012 kicks in. i urge my colleagues to support this passage and i yield back my time to the chair. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: mr. chairman, how many additional speakers do you have? why don't you have your speaker go and then we'll have the democratic leader and then you can close -- i think he has the right to close debate, isn't that right? the speaker pro tempore: yes, that's correct. mr. dicks: all right. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield two minutes to the new member of our committee, he's doing a great job, from the state of arkansas, steve womack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for two minutes. mr. womack: thank you, madam chairwoman, and i thank the gentleman, the distinguished chairman of the appropriations committee, for yielding and i appreciate this time. ify heard it once when i was back in my district, i heard it dozens of times and that was the frustration of my constituents concerning our inability to get our business done, to get it done on time, without the panic and anxiety associated with threatened shutdowns of government.

this vote today is an opportunity for us to do just that. fund government consistent with the amounts agreed to in the budget control act, giving the necessary time to complete 2012 appropriations and save america from the threat of another government shutdown. now, as was articulated by the distinguished chairman a moment ago, i'm a freshman and i realize i'm still learning the ropes of this chamber and how things get done, but let's just -- let's just go back in context. this funds government at levels consistent with the budget control act passed in this very room a few weeks ago. it addresses disaster funding and dozen so in a very responsible way -- does so in a very responsible way. it is not unprecedented nor is it unique to find offsets and this offset is exactly what this house passed in the homeland security appropriations bill. so what has changed? i suggest to you, madam chairwoman, that the political strategies have changed and the

emotions and hardships of people affected by these disasters are really nothing more than a political prop in this entire disaster -- discussion, design to make us look hard-hearted or insensitive. nothing could be further from the truth. just a moment ago the distinguished democratic whip from maryland talked about the water heater going out in the middle of the night. you just simply go charge one. well, what happens when you go to charge it and your credit is denied? you've maxed out on your credit card. as my friend mike simpson said a moment ago, we're broke. we're $1.5 trillion in deficit. our plan, this c.r. provides the necessary funding, does it responsibly and consistent with already agreed upon numbers and i urge its passage and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: i yield one minute to the distinguished democratic leader from california who has -- whose state has suffered a number of major disasters over the years and she is well versed on this subject.