a recent book on james madison. he writes about the legacy of the founding fathers and argues that madison invented divisive politics. "it will read figure was the father of american politics, karbala tax, slogans, and sound bites. he either invented them or knew there were coming." thank you for watching. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., december 13, 2011. i hereby appoint the honorable tom mcclintock to act as speaker pro tempore on this day . signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2011, the

chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes each, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. as america prepares for the holiday season and the new year, it is important to pause to reflect on our good fortune and on this season of good will what we can do for others. i hope that congress will give the life, the gift of life, hope and economic prosperity to people around the world, a gift most americans take for granted, safe water. almost a billion people around the globe lack access to safe

drinking water and over 2.5 billion don't have access to adequate sanitation. this is why the number one health challenge is water-related disease. half the people who are sick today anywhere on this planet are sick unnecessarily from water-borne disease that are particularly brutal on their impact on children. 90% of the deaths caused are children under 5. the 1.8 million lives are lost is more than aids, t.b. and malaria combined. it's also a major cause of the struggle for economic security. for example, in india, the estimate is over $50 billion a year, more than 6% of its economy is lost due to inadequate water and sanitation. how does this happen? children cannot attend school

if they are sick from unsafe drinking water. people with illnesses overwhelm the few hospitals and clinic and they can't go to work. hours spent looking for and carrying clean water usually by girls and women means that they're not adding either to education or the economic well-being of their families. historically, water has been a source of conflict, and with over 260 river basins that cross country borders, managing this very finite resource without conflict will be one of the world's greatest security problems. in this season of good tydings, there is good news -- tidings, there is good news. helping people understand the need to wash their hands or providing them with simple commonsense technology is key.

churches, parishes and synagogues have already taken up this challenge, and hundreds of thousands of people have benefited. it's time for congress to act. in 2005 the bipartisan paul simon water for the poor act helped us get our act together, and now we have new legislation, water for the world, which will be introduced tomorrow with my colleague and friend, congressman ted poe from texas, the chief republican co-sponsor. it builds on current united states efforts, not by increasing funds. make no mistake. i hope we do increase the investment around the globe. but right now this legislation will increase effectively, transparency and accountability. given the strains on federal resources and the depth of the need, it is essential we target our efforts as efficiently as

possible. the water for the world act gives the state department and usaid tools to leverage investments. it helps elevate positions within the agency to coordinate diplomatic policy and implement country-specific water strategies. the house foreign operations appropriations subcommittee, under the leadership of kay granger and nita lowey, have done the best they can in this difficult budget climate with resources for poor people with water around the world. now, congress needs to step up to make sure that these precious resources are used as effectively as possible. i sincerely hope my colleagues will join congressman poe and me in co-sponsoring the water for the world act and then work to enact it as soon as possible. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from north carolina, ms. foxx, for five minutes.

ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. those who serve in our military deserve our constant thanks. those who become injured while serving deserve all that we can do for them. mr. speaker, i recently learned about a wonderful american organization that is serving wounded service members and their families around the country. the organization is called luke's wings, and it has a simple message -- simple mission -- to bring wounded warriors and their families together. for many families of those wounded in combat, traveling to where their wounded spouse or parent or sibling can be difficult and cost prohibitive. luke's wings was established to help families of these service members travel to be with their loved one during his or her

hospitalization or rehabilitation. they purchase airline tickets so they can help support and care for their family member while they are receiving treatment. not only does the assistance that luke's wings provide to families of wounded warriors, bring these families together, it also helps boost the spirits of and provide additional motivation to recovering service members while their families are at their sides. especially during this holiday season, as we approach christmas, the work that luke's wings is doing is priceless. not only does it help families visit recovering troops, but they are also helping these same wounded warriors get home for christmas. for just the price of a plane ticket, luke's wings is able to make this holiday season one that many combat-wounded service members will not soon forget. it's always inspiring to see

the different ways that americans from so many walks of life find the support our men and women in uniform. look's wings is a volunteer organization -- luke's wings is a volunteer organization, dedicated to giving our troops the best. during this season of joy and thankfulness, when many brave men and women are deployed and apart from their families, luke's wings remind us that we must not forget those who serve and particularly those who have been injured in that service. luke's wings reminds us that even something, bringing families and service members together, will make a tremendous impact for them. may god continue to bless those who serve and especially those who have suffered physically and mentally, and may god bless

the efforts of luke's wings, particularly in this season. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut, mr. murphy, for five minutes. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. last week the giant home improvement chain, lowe's, decided to pull their ads from a new show called "all-american muslim." it depicts five muslim families and shows how faith affects their lives and families. it is aptly titled because it shows muslim families to show exactly where they are in this situation and millions like them around the nation. they're american. they face problems just like the rest of us. the only difference is that they worship at a different church. now, lowe's pulled these ads because one right-wing anti-muslim group in florida said the show hides the, quote, true agenda of islam, which

according to this group, is to destroy america. now, this anti-muslim bigotry isn't new. we are learned about the creep of shari'ah law or a peaceful mosque is being run out of a community or radical pastor is burning the koran on television. but it's one thing when a fringe group or radical unhinged pastor is doing it. it's quite another when a fortune 100 company is endorsing this nonsense. now, lowe's defends itself by saying they are pulling these ads because some of their customers had, quote, strong political and social views on this topic. well, congratulations to lowe's for acknowledging that there is some really bigoted people in the world. that doesn't mean that lowe's or any other company should acquiesce to this kind of behavior. for instance, there are unfortunately a lot of people out there who still hold racist views about african-americans but i don't think that means lowe's will be pulling their ads from television shows featuring african-americans. lowe's also said their story for walking into a, quote,

hotly contested debate. what debate are they talking about? yes, we face threats from a sect of radical anti-american islamists but there's no debate that millions of patriotic, peace-loving muslims who live in this country have no connection to that movement and do nothing but strengthen the fabric of this nation. now, you may think this is a minor side show and congress shouldn't be talking about it on this floor. i submit to you that you are dead wrong. this is a american company rubber stamping bigotry against a major religious group. this country was founded on the basis of relidge ofous freedom. -- religious freedom. and though we got more important things to worry about like fixing the economy, it's traditionally during this time that marginalization has been at its worse because people don't speak up against this. this bias endangers our

national security. the national security advisor recently said that al qaeda's core recruiting argument is that the west is at war with islam. with this action they are saying we are now being run out of their neighborhoods, now off their television sets. it not only endangers our nation's soul, it endangers the national security. frankly anybody out there with sound mind who is getting behind this anti-muslim bias. you're better than this. you know the history of this country and this world never, ever looks kindly on this kind of marginalization that you have endorsed with your actions. whether it was against irish americans or jewish americans or african-americans, the history books makes sure this kind of exclusionary politics becomes a stain on the reputation of anyone who takes part in it. today i'm leading a group of members of congress calling on lowe's to reconsider their decision and, listen, we do have a lot to fear when it comes to islamic groups who seek to do harm to america, but

we have nothing to fear from a tv program called "all-american muslim," and we have nothing to fear from the tens of millions of peace-loving patriotic muslim americans who are just like those who are portrayed in this show. this is america. while we never have been perfect of living up to our ideals, we have gotten pretty good of calling out bigot tree when we see it -- bigotry when we see it and stamping out those. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the federal government is at war with the states over illegal entry. there's a real problem in this country, millions of people are living here illegally and more illegally cross into america every day. schools, hospitals and the justice system are burdened with the cost of supporting illegals who do not contribute to our system. they reap the benefits and

services off the backs of american citizens and legal immigrants. 27% of the people in u.s. prisons are illegals. in the border counties in texas, according to border sheriffs, over 30% of the people in those jails are foreign nationals, all of this costs money. the safety of our citizens is also at risk, but the federal government chooses not to adequately enforce the law. the federal government is focused more on finding reasons why the law of the land should not be enforced. case in point, the 20-point memo released this summer by i.c.e. released the criteria for illegal migrants who have been detained and should not be deported. as a result, let them go. several states have been burdened with the cost of illegal entry to health care to incarceration costs, arizona, south carolina, utah, georgia and indiana have been forced to do the job the federal government just won't do -- protect the citizens from the

cost of unlawful entry into america. arizona implemented a law that requires authorities to check the immigration status of anyone who is already legally detained for some offense and when there is reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally. but the administration says not so fast, immigration enforcement is their job. they just refuse to do it. it also seems government is more interested in smuggling guns to mexico under the botched operation fast and furious than it is preventive smuggling of people and drugs into the united states. . now the department of justice has gone into the business of using taxpayer dollars to sue states for doing the job the government won't do. yesterday the supreme court agreed to hear the case of arizona vs. the goff goff brewer of arizona said, quote, arizona and its people suffer from a serious problem without any realingsic tools for addressing it. the federal government leaves states with no other choice than

to do the job the federal government refuses to do. if arizona is not allowed to enforce immigration laws and the federal government does not enforce immigration laws, then arizona and other states will continue on a dangerous path to becoming a lawless territory with rampant illegal entry. ignoring laws and open door policies will only entice more people to come into this country illegally instead of using the front door. i fully support legal entry into america. my staff spends a lot of time helping people come to the united states legally. and the immigration model we have is a mess that needs to be streamlined and more efficient. but people should come here the right way or don't come at all. after all it is the law. but the defiant attorney general has made it clear he will continue his crusade against the states who try to crack down on illegal entry. why? because they want to uphold the law. meanwhile, sanctuary cities get a pass from the federal government for ignoring the law. we hear the rhetoric that

illegals are here to do the jobs americans won't do. now state after states are getting sued for doing the job the american government won't do. protecting the security of the nation and enforcing the law. arizona had to enact this law to protect itself because the federal government doesn't adequately secure the border. time for washington to stop its war on the states and join with the states in enforcing the law of the land. hopefully the supreme court will rule the arizona law to be constitutional. that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico, mr. pierluisi, for five minutes. mr. pierluisi: mr. speaker, american citizens in the caribbean are facing a security crisis. while the national murder rate has declined in recent decades, the number of homicides in puerto rico on the u.s. virgin islands remains unacceptably high. since 2008, the murder rate in puerto rico and the virgin

islands have been about five times the national average and about twice as high as that of any state. most of the murders committed in work work and the u.v.i. are lippinged to the-usvi, are linked to the drug trade. the federal government's effort to prevent traffickers from transporting drugs across our nation's southwest border is causing traffickers to turn increasingly to the caribbean to ship drugs into the united states. and as the national drug intelligence center recently observed, violence by traffickers in the two territories have become indiscriminate, endangering the lives of innocent bystanders whose response to questions i posed attorney general holder recently called drug violence in puerto rico and usvi a national security issue that we must confront. at my urging congress has also taken notice of the problem. directing federal law enforcement agencies on three separate occasions to devote

more attention to the caribbean region. according to briefings provided to my office, 70% to 80% of the cocaine that enters puerto rico is transported to the u.s. mainland because puerto rico is a u.s. jurisdiction, once drugs enter the island, they are easily delivered to the states through commercial airlines and container ships without having to go through customs or heightened scrutiny. once in the states, these drugs destroy lives and communities in my colleagues' districts. so this is a problem of national not simply regional scope. that said, the primary reason why the federal government must do more to reduce drug trafficking in puerto rico and the virgin islands is because u.s. citizens in these two territories are dying in unprecedented numbers. our nation has devoted considerable resources to confront drug gangs operating along the southwest border, and rightfully so. yet puerto rico's murder rate is

four to five times higher than any southwest border state, and according to a recent piece in the "washington post," since 2008 the island has received less than 1/5 of the funding the federal government has provided to combat drug trade and associated violence in mexico and central american nations. the number of authorized positions at key federal law enforcement agencies in puerto rico is too low. the number of vacancies is too high. and interdiction assets like planes and boats are in short supply. since taking office i have urged the federal government to devote resources to puerto rico at a level commensurate with the severity of the problem it faces. specifically i have asked the white house drug czar to establish a caribbean border initiative modeled after the successful southwest border initiative. the time for half measures and peace meal efforts have passed. what is needed instead is a well planned, well funded, well

executed governmentwide strategy that will encompass all federal agencies charged with drug trafficking, fighting drug trafficking, and related violence. to protect the lives of the u.s. citizens in the caribbean and to reduce the flow of drugs headed to the states through that region, the federal government must make a commitment of resources to puerto rico and the usvi very similar to the commit t-has made to the southwest border. the challenge we face today is similar to the one we faced back in 1994. i was puerto rico's attorney general back then and lobbied successfully for puerto rico and the usvi to be federally designated as a high density drug trafficking area which contributed to a significant reduction in the island's violent crime rate. the problem has evolved over time and the federal response must evolve along with it. i will not rest until it does. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the

balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota, mr. cravaack for five minutes. mr. cravaack: this administration put yet another hold on implementing the keystone pipeline project and adding tens of thousands of american jobs to our fridgele economy. this decision is bad news for labor and the great state of minnesota and around the country who are eager to begin the work on the project next year. if we do not approve this deal and put people back to work, the jobs of the oil company will simply go in another direction, such as china. and they will not be coming back to the united states. what part of this bill just doesn't make sense to the folks in the white house and the department of state? we cannot wait. the american worker is the most productive worker in the world, and so many people in my district thirst for good-paying jobs that will come with projects like keystone. some of these regulatory agencies are simply out of

control and seem bent on stifling job creation here in the united states. if the government would simply get out of the way and put politics aside and dedicate to empowering the american worker, we could start digging ourselves out of this recession and get americans back to work. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, for five minutes. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rangel: well, it looks like this august body will continue to work until we find some solutions to the problems facing americans. millions of americans who have lost their jobs, their homes, their savings through no fault of their own. and have limited income. it has taken some time for the democrats in the house to

persuade the majority that this is the time that we just can't lay off people and stop spending , even though that has to be a part of the ultimate solution to the problems that we face. but laying off people, especially at this time of the year, is not only an insensitive thing to do, but in my opinion the economics of it all is that if people don't have the resources to purchase their needs, then, of course, our small businesses are the ones that suffer financially and as a result of that they may have to lay off jobs. and it just doesn't make economic sense, as well as sensitivity during this part of the year. now, soon and very soon this body will be considering what is referred to as the middle class tax relief and job creation act

of 2011. which means that we will now have united, apparently, appears to be united, this entire congress saying that we must continue to have this low-income tax cut that working people enjoy to continue beyond its expiration december 31. and that even though there are some people that claim that a lot of americans don't pay any taxes, well, you can't explain that to a person that works hard each and every day and they find out what their pay was supposed to be when they get home and look at the check, it's less. but just because it's not federal income tax, it doesn't mean that they are not paying into their social security, they are not paying for their health benefits. and so the president and his --

in his wisdom and this congress supports that we extend relief of that payroll tax for the reason that we have these people have this expendable income, this disposable income, rather, during this time of the year. and of course we have this controversy where every year, for whatever reasons, republicans can't grab the understanding of what unemployment insurance is all about. and i shouldn't say republicans, i'm talking about those people that belong to the republican party that truly believe if you give someone a hand up at a time what they lost their job and the federal government said that you paid into this safety fund, and you try to help them for what they paid into, that you are convincing them that they should

not look for work. now, this country, this great country is because of our working middle class. it's because people enjoy work, but they have the dignity of working, the pride in letting their family know that they are providing for food and clothing and investing for the future. and so notwithstanding perhaps i shouldn't blame the entire republican party, but they have managed every year not to deal with this extended unemployment compensation. so at least these people can plan not just for the holidays, but plan for their basic needs. now, somehow with all of this feeling that it's about time that we came together and done something, the republicans have

added to this the keystone energy pipeline. can you imagine how many people that are expecting relief from their government that would be going to sleep tonight wondering whether they are going to continue to get a break on taxes next year? whether or not they are going to get a break on payroll taxes this year? and whether or not they are going to get extended unemployment compensation all dependent on whether or not the congress supports the keystone energy pipeline. let's get rid of all the pipeline language. let's do what the bill is supposed to do. and let's not put in something that could impede the passage. i thank you for your patience, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from illinois, mr. dole, for five minutes. mr. dold: thank you, mr. speaker. it was announced that two locations would be closed and transferring the jobs out of state. i believe they are going to texas. but we have seen this story over and over again whether it be taking jobs to wisconsin, whether it's taking jobs to indiana, i believe this speaks volumes about the economic situation not only in illinois but in our nation. and the policies that i believe that this bod i -- body must put in place in order to empower small business owners, job creators all across the land to be able to have confidence, invest in their business, and grow jobs. you see the difference in the state of illinois is that we raised in illinois taxes on businesses over 45% this last year. they put enormous pressures on

small businesses throughout the state and i would argue all job creators throughout the state. what's even worse, mr. speaker, is that those companies that have more employees, a little bit higher cloud, have been able to rattle the saber and call the governor and say we are going to pick up and leave the state of illinois and take jobs elsewhere. while we want to make sure we keep the jobs in illinois, the unfortunate thing is we have some crony capitalism going on. so the state is going to bend over backwards to make sure some of the larger employers stay in the state of illinois. the problem is small businesses, the ones that i talk to each and every day, when they call the governor they don't get their phone calls returned. . it indeed puts a greater burden on small businesses. and as you know, america, 2/3 of all new net jobs are created by small businesses all across the land. this is the economic engine that we need to make sure we are supporting, to make sure we are putting more americans back to work.

there are 29 million small businesses in our nation. if we can create an environment right here in washington, d.c., and you hear me say it's creating an environment. it's not creating jobs because the government doesn't create jobs, it's the private sector that does. but what the government can do is create an environment, whether it be through regulation, whether it be through comprehensive tax reform, whether it be through a variety of measures that enables those 29 million small businesses in our nation to create a single job, if half of those businesses created a job, mr. speaker, think about where we'd be then. this is why the american people want congress to act, and i think we got a responsibility to reach across the aisle and find common ground. we need to get rid of the crony capitalism. we need to create a level playing field where businesses all across the land can compete and can win because this is an opportunity for republicans and democrats alike to put forward

comprehensive tax reform, something that has been touted by the simpson-bowles commission, touted by the president, touted by others. it's time for action. we need to move forward with this. we need to make sure that businesses can open their doors and create a level playing field. at the end of the day it's about commondfinding that common ground, it's about enabling the private sector move forward so we can all see america get back to work. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. tonko, for five minutes. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to rise and address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. tonko: thank you. mr. speaker, while my statement mimics a well-known seasonal classic, it is shared in all seriousness and with a sense of greatest urgency. towards the week before

christmas when all through the house, a cry echoed much louder than a roaring mouse. don't raise our taxes on us, please be fair, or our middle class will be lost in despair. the majority was plotting a thought in its head. we should staunchly oppose from which the president has led. millionaires should not be spared, a penny, but a keystone pipeline we should never, ever scrap. when arows out the chamber there was a clamor, they offered. a change in this bill or else it will crash. end of year coming and no jobs plan to show, they said no regulations was the best way to go. then, what to our debate should suddenly appear but a sentiment from the public those in office

should fear. come on, congress, be fair and be quick. don't be deceiving and don't be so slick. more rapid the calls and emails they came, no pipeline, said senator i won't name. so let's get to work and not be grinches this season. the economy and the middle class are the reason. we should have a straight vote, not this 400-page show, and help america's middle class and small business grow. let's spring into action and get this bill done, we have other work and in fact there's a tons. spending bills, doc fix, unemployment and more. before the year end they must all come to the floor. we serve our constituents and our nation first for jobs and opportunities many of us thirst. clean air and clean water should not be rolled back. deregulatory riders our bills should well lack. thus, we go forward to the end

of the year. working together with all of our might, happy holidays to all and for fairness let's fight. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf, for five minutes. mr. wolf: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i was appalled and outraged to learn yesterday that the genocidal government of khartoum has hired a lobbyist to represent his interest here in washington. a publication called african intelligence reported that the sued niece lobby -- sudanese lobbyist was on retainer. the article further said that the law office of bart fischer would be paid $20 million a month to represent this genocidal government, a government which literally has blood on its hands.

i submit the article for the record. i don't know how mr. fischer sleeps at night. consider the following -- sudan's president, bashir, is an internationally indicted war criminal. he's accused by the international criminal court of five counts including murder, rape, torture and extermination and two counts of war crimes. but khartoum's crimes are not a thing of the past. in a recent hearing before the tom lantos human rights commission, a witness with the n.g.o.'s human rights brought testimony about the situation on the ground and so it said, quote, according to witnesses we interviewed and other sources, government forces shelled civilian areas, shot people in the streets and carry out house-to-house searches and arrests based on the name of sudan's people liberation movement supporters in the first weeks of the fighting, end of quote.

my office has received regular reliable reports from individuals on the ground echoing these claims. we have learned of ongoing aerial bombardments in the blue nile and sort core defont states. we've heard of killings, disapeerings and indiscriminant attacks against civilians. furthermore, evidence gathered through satellite imagery by the satellite sent national projects showed eight mass graves, mass graves in and around the capital of southern dore defollowing. literally thousands of -- core de fonte. who is their lobbyists? they are facing malnourishment and prolong displacement. who is their lobbyists to put a face on this? this picture shows a

malnourished child with a feeding tube inserted in his nose to get the food he needs. he is one of roughly 25,000 people in yida refugee camp that have fled the fighting and crossed the border into southern sudan. i asked mr. phishy, the lobbyist, where is the child lobbyists, the lobbyist for this child? today i'm sending a letter to president obama, the state department, the justice department and the treasury department seeking immediate clarification on what appears to be an indefensible situation. according to news reports, the department of justice website, mr. bart fischer is representing the government of sudan. was he granted a license from the office of foreign assets control at treasury as is required to represent the genocidal country of sudan, given the u.s. sanctions which have been placed against it? if not, is his representation a

violation of the law? if so, why would the obama administration, why would the obama administration allow this to move forward? there are many questions which demand answers, but one thing is clear, it appears that mr. fischer's contract with the government of sudan went into effect in november. if he's received one penny from the government of sudan he should return it immediately or better yet, he should donate it to one of the n.g.o.'s seeking to help the suffering people who have been brutalized, brutalized by their own government, i.e., mr. fischer's client, and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, for five minutes. mr. connolly: mr. speaker, once again we're presented with a false choice today. in the hours and wonderland world of the house, republicans

oppose payroll tax cuts unless it can be used as a vehicle to cut unemployment benefits. according to the majority, it isn't worth passing a simple payroll tax cut without eviscerating -- payroll tax cut extensions must be accompanied by measures to punish federal employees and civil servants like border security agents and f.b.i. agents and, of course, the majority seems singularly incapable of writing any bill, especially this time of the year, christmas, that doesn't contain several special provisions to benefit the big oil and giveaways. sadly, this bill is consistent with republican pattern of extortion. on behalf of an extreme special interest agenda. furloughing f.a.a. employees, blocking appointment of the director of the environmental

protection consumer bored. president obama sent a simple legislative package to congress -- extend the payroll tax cuts, saving the average american family $1,500 a year. extend unemployment benefit insurance to create one million jobs and add one full percentage of growth to the economy. this proposal received a majority vote in the senate but of course was blocked by a republican filibuster. it did what the republicans say they want to do, cut taxes and grow the economy. too bad their actions don't match their words. based on their rhetoric, one would think that republicans would support a simple tax cut. that is after all their solution to every economic challenge, cut taxes, especially for millionaires and large corporations. yet, when presented with a simple tax cut targeted to help the middle class in america, republicans rebel and reject it

in favor of piece of special interest sausage so laydened with lobbyist giveaways and ideological poison pills that it would make the author of "the jungle," upton sinclaire's nose turn blue. the bill before us today slashes unemployment benefits from virginia, my home state, by 38%. it increases federal employee pension contributions by 63% while reducing total pension payments. federal employees, in other words, will pay more and get less, retirement security after a lifetime of public service. for good measures it extends public pay raise to five years. it has a rider that will increase all exports to china and raise american gas prices. it repeals part of the clean air act, allowing polluters to spew forth mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollutants from industrial boilers. in fact, repeal of the clean air act public health standard will burden the american

economy with $20 billion to $52 billion of additional health care costs every year. we must remember what state we are in economically. thanks to the recovery of the -- thanks to the recovery act, the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.2%. it would be 8.6%. the number of underemployed and long-term unemployed americans has fallen. as people have found steady, full-time jobs and private sector job growth has been growing every month for 21 consecutive months. we're not out of the woods but we are making progress. the congressional budget office, mccain campaign advisor, mark zandi and a bank said extending unemployment benefits would increase the economy by a full 1% and add one million jobs. that's because unemployment benefits have a multiplier effect. they're spent as soon as they

are gotten. the payroll tax cut, in addition, will provide americans with an average of $1,500, creating some $250 billion in economic activity and adding one full percentage point to the g.d.p. mr. speaker, the controls which bills come to the floor of the house, let's junk this bill and come up with a clean payroll tax extension and unemployment benefits for all americans, creating jobs and growing this economy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. shimkus, for five minutes. mr. shimkus: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. at the end of last week i was able to take to the floor to talk about high-level nuclear

waste in yucca mountain. part of that time i wanted to make sure as i have each week highlight certain locations around this country where high level nuclear waste is stored because of time constraints, i wasn't able to do that, so i take to the floor this morning to highlight nuclear power plant in florida called turkey point. . the way i do this, mr. speaker, is i have this poster in front of me and i compare the location of high-level nuclear waste at turkey point to the defined by law location for a single repository in this country, which is yucca mountain. look what we have here. at yucca mountain we have currently no nuclear waste on site. at turkey point there's 1,074 metric tons of spent fuel on site. that's quite a lot of fuel.

at yucca mountain if we had waste stored at yucca mountain, the waste would be stored 1,000 feet under ground. yucca mountain is a mountain. at turkey point waste is stored above ground in pools. why is that an important point to consider? the nuclear catastrophe in japan , fukushima, part of the major disaster because of high level nuclear waste stored in pools. the earthquake occurred, either the water that was there boiled out or there was cracks in the containment and it spilled out, then the nuclear waste heated up and hence you have a very dangerous situation still in japan. at yucca mountain the waste would be stored 1,000 feet above the water table.

but here at turkey point which is in florida it is the -- the waste is on the biscayne bay at sea level. it's at sea level. not in a mountain in a desert. what we have done also is look at if you're at yucca mountain, how far are you away from the largest body of water which would be the colorado river? yucca mountain's 100 miles from the colorado river. turkey point and the nuclear waste stored there is 10 miles from the everglades. 10 miles. so we passed, i wasn't a member of this chamber at that time, a federal law called the nuclear waste policy act, in 1982. when we passed that law, we defined yucca mountain as the national repository. a single repository.

for not just nuclear waste from our nuclear power fleet, but also the nuclear waste from our department of energy locations, from around the country. obviously we are still -- we are very close, but this administration along with the n.r.c. commissioner has delayed and postponed and tried to stop any movement on yucca mountain. that's why i take the floor as the subcommittee chairman of the energy and environment subcommittee, part of my jurisdiction is how level nuclear waste, and that's why i come to the floor weekly to address this issue. now, this is very timely this week as the chairman and n.r.c. members appear before the oversight committee. the chairman said i welcome debate, i welcome discussion, i welcome crit search. but a letter sent to the chief of staff of the white house, mr.

bill daley, by the other four commissioners, bipartisan, two democrats, two republicans, three appointed by the president, say this about chairman jass could you -- jasko, he's intimidated the senior staff that he's created a lie level of father -- high level of father. -- fear. he also ordered recommendations intended for transmission to the commission. he has also ignored the will of the majority of the commission contrary to the statuary functions of the commission. and he's attempted to intimidate the advisory committee on reactor safeguards. this is part of the problem of us not having a national policy to move to centralized location for high level nuclear waste in a desert underneath a mountain at yucca mountain. we have senators who have voted for that in this area.

the two senators from florida, tennessee, mississippi, alabama all support. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey, mr. payne, for five minutes. without objection. mr. payne: mr. speaker, i rise today in opposition of h.r. 3630, the middle class tax relief and job creation act. this bill is yet another example of republicans bringing a partisan bill to the floor which has no chance of becoming law. at this critical time in our economy, republicans are continuing to pursuit their own ideological agenda. time and time again republicans continue to choose bringsmanship over constructive --

brinksmanship over constructive engagement with democrats. allowing these extenses to expire would have a devastating impact on our economic growth and job creation. republicans must put aside partisan differences and work with democrats so that we can assist millions of americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. putting money in the pockets of american families should be one of our top priorities. it just seems like common sense. although h.r. 3630 extends the emergency unemployment compensation program until january, 2013, it also lowers the amount of time benefits are approved from 99 weeks currently to 59 weeks. furthermore, the bill also would allow states to require a high school diploma or being enrolled in classes for classes for g.e.d. to be eligible for benefits. the bill also offsets the costs by freezing federal employee pay for another year through 2013.

although recent data has shown that the national unemployment rate has dropped from 8.6% -- to 8.6%, the african-american employment rate rose at the same time to 15.1% to 15.5%. high african unemployment rates are a direct result of the high job loss in the public sector. during the past year while the private sector has added 1.6 million jobs, state and local governments have shed at least 142,000 positions. because traditionally there has been racial discrimination in employment, blacks have relied on government jobs in large numbers since the reconstruction era. as a matter of fact one of the first job openings for our freed enslaved people was the united states post office which opened

their doors and hired qualified ex-slaves during that period. we will be passing legislation that helps the private sector, but we also need to be concerned about the public sector instead of freezing or limiting their pay. as a matter of fact the private sector has been very derelict. during world war ii president roosevelt, even though the united states was way behind in our development of a war machine, ships and tanks and boats, president roosevelt had to send an executive order to companies insisting that they hire african-americans because we were losing the effort. but they refuse to break down racial discrimination even as we were being outmanned by our

enemies. so we find there's still difficulty for african-americans to get into the private sector and we find that, therefore, many are losing their jobs in the public sector. h.r. 3630 also makes large cuts in health care programs. it cuts over $21 billion from the affordable care act programs. which will increase the uninsured by 170,000 americans. additionally, h.r. 3630 rolls back the emergency unemployment compensation program substantially making drastic cuts to medicare and contains controversial riders that should not be included in this bill. we have -- we should not risk tax increases on the middle class families, dropping unemployment benefits for those out of work or preventing seniors from accessing their doctors through medicare by including unrelated and controversial provisions. the bill is fiscally careless and it increases the deficit by

$25.3 billion over the next 10 years, according to c.b.o. due to more than $21.5 billion in provider cuts, the american hospital association is urging congress to oppose this bill that will harm health care in communities across america. important funding for preventive care that was included in the affordable care act is also subject to billions of dollars in cuts. changes in the bill would result in 170,000 more uninsured americans. so therefore i urge defeat of this unfair plan which also throws in the pipeline which makes no sense. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. without objection. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, just a few minutes ago i heard

one of my colleagues on another matter dealing with children raise the question, who lobbies for our children? frankly i don't want to live in a country that doesn't hold our children as the freshes resources that they are. to be coddled and nurtured, given the opportunities of life, irrespective of their ethnic background, religious background, economic background, where they live in this country. i think the greatest testimony of a country's moral values of how they protect and respect their children, just an hour or two ago, mr. sandusky in a pennsylvania courtroom decided not to listen to numbers of his accusers in this sordid scandal of child sexual abuse. that is his legal privilege, and

as someone who adheres to the constitution of due process and the right to a trial by one's peers, i'm not here to karl with the legal system -- quarrel with a legal system that allows an accused, in this instance a proposed defendant, to defend themselves. but i am here to challenge the crisis of sexual abuse of children in america and the sordid salaciousness of the cover-up that adults have participated in. shame on us. shame on us. as the chair and founder of the congressional children's caucus, i raise my ire and i ask the media around this country to come from underneath the rocks and begin to attack the cover-up and quietness of professional or amateur sports of college sports, high school and primary and secondary sports, much

nonprofits who deal with children -- of nonprofits who deal with children, who have an inc.ling or knowledge of the sordidness or dastardly action of sexually abusing children and not saying one word. and so this week i'm going to ask my colleagues to join me in introducing legislation that will cease and desist funding, federal funding going to colleges and universities and nonprofits who are found to have covered up charges of child sexual abuse. when is it going to stop? the evenousness of the alleged acts of mr. -- heinousness of the alleged acts of stein in syracuse say the statute of limitation can not reach him of the federal law must speak. the voice of america must speak. and the irony of it is as i listened to commentator this morning say how long will the coach be able to stay at

syracuse? in the prominence of their season this year? as long as he wants. and no one has gotten to the bottom of what happened to those boys at syracuse university. added to that the espn take that they sat on for how many years and no recrimination, no accusations against an entity that enjoys the trust and confident confidence and enjoyment of the american-and confidence and enemployment of american sports fan to held a tape and deny that tape to at least be vetted to determine the harshness of what happened to a child. child sexual abuse case, 90,000 are reported, but the numbers of unreported abuse is far greater because it is documentsed that children wait at least two years before they are willing to tell even family members. why? , because we as adults have made

it so harsh, so accuse torrey for the child. the child is in fact the defendant, the wrong person, and god forbid don't accuse a famous adult for then you are completely maligned. thrown on the trash heap of life. the boys that mr. sandusky was allegedly accused of acting against happened to be vulnerable children, vulnerable families, at-risk children, parents, single mothers who were looking for a male role model, isn't that allowed in america? aren't we familiar with raising that impoverished child up and giving the opportunity to be raised up by their bootstraps, getting some wonderful male role model, in the instance of girls a woman role model, isn't that the american way? that everybody has a door opened to the greatest country in the world. .

but that trust was violated and those children, now basically grownups, did not survive and will not survive the mental conditions that will be subjected or having them subjected. mr. speaker, as i close, let me say that children have died because of child sexual abuse. join me in supporting this legislation, to be able to say zero tolerance for the cover-up of sexual abuse of children. it's -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: we must be that lobbyist. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from california, ms. lee, for five minutes. ms. lee: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise with my colleagues today to call for an immediate extension of the emergency unemployment benefit, including those who have hit the 99-week limit. also, i want to ask for the

extension of the payroll tax holiday for millions of americans. i also urge my colleagues to reject attempts to attach these urgently needed economic recovery actions with partisan proposals to gut the clean air act and support big oil at the expense of middle and low-income individuals. republicans in the house have already tried to pass hundreds of anti-environmental bills, amendments and policy riders. apparently this is not enough. now, republicans want to combine repealing important clean air act provisions with the extension of the payroll tax cut. ironically, mr. speaker, repealing these clean air act standards for industrial boilers would cost our economy $21 billion to $52 billion per year in higher health care costs resulting from asthma, lung cancer, emergency department visits, hospitalizations and premature

deaths. not surprisingly, republicans have also included expediting approval of the keystone pipeline in exchange for payroll tax extension. this is unacceptable. the proposed route for the keystone pipeline is currently being reviewed and revisited by the state department. also, past state department environmental impact statements have been found to lack key information on the real and potential environmental impacts of the pipeline. republican politicians must stop playing games with the american people and holding hostage the recovery of our entire economy just to score political points with their extreme tea party base. instead of ramping special interest policy riders and polluter giveaways in a tax extender package, congress must focus on those policies which are demonstrated job creators which is unemployment

extensions, payroll tax cut. we must not fail -- excuse me, unemployment compensation extension. we must not fail the american people and we must not fail to extend these critical benefits before they've run out. i call on republicans to quickly bring a clean bill to the floor that extends emergency unemployment benefits for the millions of job seekers who continue to struggle to find the job in the middle of an economic disaster that the careless deregulation of the banks, two wars and tax cuts for the wealthy created. also, it's really unconscionable that while we're trying to increase the time limit for unemployment compensation, past 99 weeks, the republicans now want to reverse this to 59 weeks. this is just downright mean-spirited. so let's have an up or down vote on a clean bill that extends the temporary reduction of the payroll tax cut for millions of americans who really could not afford a tax

hike. let's have an up and down vote on a clean bill that doesn't have giveaway the -- and let's keep americans out of poverty. failing to extend these critical benefits would endanger the public health of our communities and cost the economy over half million jobs. we can't afford to ignore the needs of the millions of americans who have run out of time and who are now losing their homes, falling out of the middle class and relying more and more on government assistance. we really should be taking actions to implement targeted programs and policies that ensure that we are a nation that truly will provide ladders of opportunity and the removal of barriers to the american dream. we should be taking strong action to protect public health and the full implementation of the clean air act as a tool for cleaning up pollution from

these power plants and commercial boilers. we also should be working with other countries to reduce the impacts of climate change and to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts. this is nothing short of a national emergency, and we must do more to support middle and low-income families, protect the health of our communities and support our hospitals and local businesses and get people back to work. this really should be a moral imperative during this holiday season. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. reed, for five minutes. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to express my support for h.r. 3630, the middle-class tax relief and job creation act of 2011. first and foremost, i was glad to hear my colleague on the other side of the aisle recognize that lowering taxes, be them payroll taxes, income

taxes, or whatever taxes you want to refer to, but lowering taxes is a job creation policy initiative that should be supported by both sides of the aisle. now, i'm concerned about the payroll tax cut that has continued in this payroll tax bill today because these are the revenue sources for social security. but i have come to the conclusion that allowing all americans to keep more money in their pocket rather than allowing it to come to washington, d.c., and to fuel the beast that has been created here in washington and is causing the national debt crisis that we now face and the out-of-control spending in washington, i believe allowing americans to keep more money in their pocket is a better policy position to take once and for all. and so i support the extension of the payroll tax rate where

it is at. this is not the time in in -- in this economic climate to take money out of hardworking american families and small businesses and their financial resources that they have to work on as they go forward putting people back to work. so i support the extension of the payroll tax cut. but i would have to be very sensitive and clear with all americans that this type of tax policy must be offset by a reduction in the spendinges that the root cause of the crisis we now face in washington, d.c. so we must offset these tax cuts and we will do and have done that in this bill. i also apple glad -- i also am glad to see that the reforms will go into law. right now we are at 99 weeks of

unemployment. the president in his own proposal says we need to reduce those weeks of unemployment by 20 weeks. we in this bill want to go further. and we will reduce the number of weeks to 59. why? not because we're cold-hearted, not because we're mean-spirited, but we are being open and honest with the american people in saying there is a cost to this indefinite unemployment extension policies that coming from the other side of the aisle. what we have to do is realize that we have to live within our means once and for all, and so what this does is it lowers those numbers of weeks. it puts in commonsense reforms by making it a requirement that people are looking for a job. it gives the states the flexibility to implement drug testing and drug screening to make sure that the work force of america has the ability to go back to work when those jobs

are available. i have been back in my district and we do town halls all the time, and what i heard from small business owners across our district is that one of the main reasons they cannot hire individuals is because they simply cannot pass a drug test. this commonsense reform that's contained in this bill will allow us to develop the work force of america in a stronger, in a better fashion so that people can be put back to work once and for all. the other issue in this bill i have been supportive of is the doc fix. a lot of providers in america are facing massive cuts, be it obamacare, affordable care act, whatever you may call it, and we're also seeing it in the potential sequestration we will see next year. what we're doing in this bill is giving certainty to our providers over the next two years they'll know their reimbursement rates. that's critical to the future of our health care industry,

and, therefore, we support it, but we cannot be satisfied with this temporary solution. we must come up with a permanent fix to the doc fix, so two years from now we are not back in the situation we find ourselves today. and the final point that has caused me to support this bill as vigorously as i will today is it is a jobs bill. the keystone pipeline piece of legislation that is attached to this is being used as a political football. the president has said we can't wait to put people back to work. well, in this bill with the stroke of a pen the president will be able to put 20,000 families back to work with one signature, his signature. to me that's what we should be doing in this chamber. that's why i ask my colleagues to support this legislation, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen, for five minutes. mr. cohen: thank you, mr.

chairman. over the last three years, much progress has been made in an effort to recover from the economic fallout, the great recession, the president inherited from the previous administration. more needs to be done to stabilize our economy and create jobs for millions of americans still out of work. that progress may get derailed this week if the republican majority refuses to extend tax cuts for 160 million americans and unemployment benefits for 1.3 million americans. you'd think congressional republicans, who routinely label democrats as the party of taxes which is something oliver wendall holmes said that's the price we pay for civilization, that's what taxes are. i'm buffed, but you listen to the other side, they got all kind of reasons. they got extensions. they got all kind of riders. the bottom line is it's a political fight to defeat the president of the united states.

it's been their political agenda since he was elected. every day my republican colleagues come to the house floor to call for lower taxes, particularly for the millionaires. they call them the job creators. yet, when the time comes to support a democratic payroll tax proposal that lowers taxes and creates jobs, republicans support is not found. a family making $50,000 a year and struggling would save $1,500 next year. but this tax cut does more than put money in the pocket of 160 million hardworking americans and sure they won't see a tax increase, it creates jobs. mark zandi, the previous republican presidential candidate, john mccain's economic advisor, said expend panding the tax cut can -- expanding the tax cut can create 250,000 jobs. 160 million americans is not enough for my colleagues on the other side. they want more enticement to support a payroll tax cut.

what's the red meat that gets them to do this? well, partly -- and they have to break their pledge. they made a pledge to america. they said they wouldn't put extraneous legislation together with other legislation to pass a mass bill. it would circumvent the will of the american people. they promised to advance it one bill at a time. they stuffed environmental riders into a must-pass payroll tax cut bill. while helping millions of americans is something that republicans would support, the g.o.p. leadership felt they had to violate that pledge and cram divisive riders in the bill to get support of people who want to put a potentially dangerous and environmental sensitive areas of pipeline that has shown repeatedly, fair to be done in an appropriate way. something said would be a carbon bomb in the end of global warming. it would end their game.

despite the claims that riders would create jobs and stimulate the economy, reality doesn't -- the boiler mact provision in the bill would delay air toxic rules for 3 1/2 years. that would result in premature deaths. 17,000 heart attacks. nearly 19,000 hospital and emergency room visits. more than 1.2 million days of missed work and over 150,000 cases of asthma attacks. the health benefits of these regulations are estimated to save up to $67 billion and save all those lives. it's astonishing the republicans would consider delaying a public health rule that would prevend 8,000 premature deaths a year and save up to $67 billion, the sweetener that was needed to try to get these tax breaks for 160 million americans. i urge my colleagues to see the folly of their ways and put these harmful riders out of the bill, to stop their effort to just defeat president obama and do what's right for the american public to create jobs and to help people on

unemployment which will stimulate our economy. in their pledge to america, they describe what they called circumventing the will of the american people. that's what they're doing today. the will of the american people is not to have deaths and injuries, environmental policies but to create jobs and to help people through this difficult recession. i would ask that we defeat this bill, come back and work together and do what's right for the american people. i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. is there further debate? seeing none, pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1er the chair

the big two versions of an amendment to require a balanced federal budgets. democrats and republicans have proposed different budgets. c-span2 rate is live as former new jersey senator jon corzine will be answering questions on the mf global bankruptcy. hearing is underway now on c- span 3. we are going to take you to yesterday's debate in the rules committee on the package proposed payroll tax cut package which would extend the tax cut. but also include that keystone pipeline, asking for the president to approve that. we will show you as much of the debate as we can until the house gavels in at noon eastern.

virginia fox of nor>> we're ver >> we are awaiting the arrival of the ranking member mr. levin. ranking member, mr. levin. but in light of the fact we have a quorum here, i don't want to keep any of our members wait sog we'll say any prepared statement will without objection appear in the record and we appreciate your summary. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you for having me here. the middle class tax relief and job creation act. there are four important facts about this bill. it's about strengthening our economy and getting americans back to work. two, it prevents massive cuts to

doctors working in the medicare program to protect america's seniors and the disabled. three, it adopts a number of the president's legislative initiatives which represent the bipartisan cooperation americans are demanding and fourth it's fully paid for with spending cuts, not job-killing tax cuts. the cbo table shows the bill saves about a billion dollars and adding in the flood prevention savings, the savings is closer to a billion dollars. many provisions are in the ways and means commit tee and here today to outline those visions. this bill extends for one year the payroll tax holiday to help families struggling in this economy. a worker would see his or her takehome pay decline by about a thousand dollars in 2012. compared to 2012. employers are helped, too.

job creators see more demand for their products and the president has endorsed both of these po poli policies. the bill would extend unemployment benefits skemed to expire at the end of the month reforming the program and windsing down recent expansions of the program. since 2008, past extensions of unemployment benefits added $180 billion to the debt. this program, hour, is paid for and contains significant reform such as, one, allowing states to screen and test ui recipients for drug abuse, overturning a 1960s-era department of labor ban on doing so. requiring all unemployment recipients to, one, search for work. two, be in a ged program if they have not finished high school. three, participate in reemployment services. implementing measures and giving states a flexibility to design their own reemployment programs similar to flexibility of the

president referenced when discussing the georgia works program. in addition to reforming ui, we extend the program and reduce the maximum number of benefit weeks by mid-2012 reflecting the normal level typically available following recessions. fazing out 20 of those weeks is the president's policy. we also end ui for millionaires, the bill says earning $1 million you have to pay back your unemployment benefits though not in the jurisdiction of the committee, the bill applies a similar policy to food stamps. next, the legislation prevents a 27% cut to doctors serving medicare patients and replaces it with 1% updates in 2012 and 2013. the update is the longest that congress has provided since 2004. which will give us time to develop a permanent solution. in addition to the medicare doc fix, the legislation extends temporary medicare payment

programs. four extended and we are making reforms to some of those programs and requiring additional studies of cms to get better data of how they're working. the programs are therapy cap exception process, qi, ambulance payment add-ones and adjustments for physician office visits sometimes called gpci. in the health care world the legislation also adopts a recommendation from president obama that reduces subsidies to high income seniors by requiring them to pay a greater share of the part d and b premiums. this reduces spending by $13 billion in the next decade. exchange subsidies. similar to previous good government changes enacted by overwhelm bipartisan majorities and signed in to law by the president. and repeals provisions in current law that hurt physician-owned hospitals. the legislation extends through september 30th, 2012, the temporary assistance for needy

families which is set to expire on december 31st of this year. the extension is bipartisan, bicam ral reforms and close the current strip club loophole of funds not accessed at atms and strip clubs, liquor sfotores an casinos. it makes necessary change to child tax credit program requiring one spouse to include a social security number on their tax return to claim the credit. just as you have to do filing for the earned income tax credit. second, this legislation reduces social security overpayments by improving the coordination with states and local governments incorporating another recommendation from president obama. the middle class tax relief and job creation act incorporates more than a dozen proposals the president offered, supported or assigned in to law in one variation or another. more than 90% of the bill is paid for with such policies.

the bill's paid for, it's bipartisan and will help get our economy back on track. with that, i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much, chairman kemp. i want to say to you, congratulations. obviously, we have a really serious -- we've been joined by mr. levin. if you would like to offer some thoughts, mr. kemp completed his testimony. without objection, any prepared statement you have will appear in the record. we welcome your summary. yep. >> yes. >> it was the abridged version. >> i'm sorry i missed your statement. it is.

well, though i didn't hear the statement, i think the path is clear. and that is, instead of trying to find common ground here, we're headed for a confrontation on the floor tomorrow. the president has already indicated his objection as we have. so let me just highlight a few of the issues. one relates to unemployment insurance. in this period of historically high unemployment and long-term unemployment, this proposal would reduce the federal program from 73 to 33 weeks. >> if you could move the microphone back. >> back? okay. it's too loud. so it would cut it more than

half. and we don't have the final figures yet, but it is clear that well over a million people would be deprived of unemployment insurance. at a time when people are looking for work. the estimate is four people for every job. and i find this to be if i might say so a heartless and i think a mindless and i think a reckless way to proceed. so, i don't know how that's defended. also, there are provisions that allow a waiver to ten states to

move away from unemployment insurance altogether. and then there are other provisions. i don't understand why they would be there. you lose your benefits unless you're working towards a ged. i think it's important for people to have geds, to make that an absolute requirement for unemployment benefits. so i think we're essentially at this moment of the historically highest percentage of people who are unemployed long time, this is in record, in our records. we had none in the depression. we're essentially cutting the federal program by 40 weeks.

the majority of states would be affected, including the state that mr. camp and i live in. and i don't see how people can go home and have voted for this. and look people in the eye and tell them that they're out in the cold. essentially, if this were to prevail for the holiday, you have an empty package. so i very much oppose what's provided here. i think we need to also take a careful look at the health provisions. i think they in many respects are a mistake. i don't know if anyone has thought through carefully enough the changes that would be made

relating to medicare. and over time what would happen to those on medicare and the premium that they would pay. and while income relating has been discussed by the president, it was part of an effort at a basic reform and essentially what you would do would be to have a forever provision for senior citizens in terms of their medicare provision for one year reduction. so some of the extenders are included but others aren't. and it's hard to understand why some are in there and some are not. in terms of provisions relating to hospitals, i think there is

an essentially harsh impact by the omission of some of the provisions and the bad debt provision that is in here. and i think it's interesting that someone has inserted in here a provision relating to physician-owned hospitals. this is what we used to call in the ways and means committee a kind of a rifle shot. so we only saw this bill on friday. there was no effort to sit down and work on this in a bipartisan basis. we're now in the process of working on a substitute and i would ask this committee to agree to let us present a substitute if that's what we decide to do.

>> well, thank you very much, mr. levin. appreciate your being here and i have to say that your testimony was not quite as bul yebt and encouraging as the testimony from mr. camp as he is attempting to address, i believe, the exact same goal of ensuring that people do have access to those benefits, but at the time if you look at the fact of $180 billion as he said in his testimony added to the deficit since we have had this, bringing about reforms, not just ged but looking at the other kinds of reforms i think is a responsible way so i happen to believe that this is a package that has been discussed and considered for a long period of time. a number of these reforms have been out there. mr. camp has been a great proponent to both of those. i say thanks to both of you. you described the proponent as a

confrontation. i hope very much that the president will be supportive of this. the democrats will. i mean, i have heard a number of democrats talk positively about some of these proposals that have been before us. and so, it's my hope that we'll be able to move ahead, get this done and ensuring that the american people who truly are in need will have access to benefits, but at the same time bring about reforms and as the title of the bill says, focus on job creation and economic growth which is -- >> i don't think cutting a billion people from unemployment -- >> if i may finish my statement. >> okay. >> thank you very much. i believe that if we can focus on the issue of job creation and economic growth, getting to the root cause of the problem here, which is, i believe, what this legislation is designed to do, will go a long ways of addressing the concerns of the people about whom you are talking today. and so, i don't have any

questions for you, gentlemen, other than to say thank you very much for being here and i do appreciate the time and effort and i hope very much that we can enjoy bipartisan support on this. mr. sessions? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to welcome both of you, the ranking member and the chairman of the committee of the ways and means committee. we have received good bit of legislation that has been very important to this committee. we have had some success in our ability to more fully understand the ramifications of job creation and the reason why republicans continue to bring bills to the floor of the house of representatives with job creation, investment opportunities, tax advantages to employers and the chance for us to streamline programs to the benefit of employers since our nation is in key need of job

employment numbers to rise. i would note today and i think the chairman of the committee aptly stated this. that our country is facing a very difficult time with the long-term unemployment that comes as a result of excessive washington spending, too many rules and regulations. and an administration that i believe is tone deaf in understanding the part of this equation that has contributed to the demise of our economy. today, i note, mr. chairman, that you have brought us a bill that also talks about keystone pipeline. which would be a job creator, which would allow the united states to have an advantage, i believe, in the coming years. if, in fact, any sort of problem occurred in the middle east,

where we had a delay in receiving needed and necessary oil, it would reduce our oil dependency by some 8%. i've been led to believe. it would provide us with a catalyst for many, many more jobs. it would provide us with the opportunity to ensure a stable supply of energy from our neighbors to the north. and it would provide this country with the benefit of having less cost in the price at the pump. and so, i believe that all of these things added up along with the compromise as you suggest about the things which the president indicated that the president wanted are all to a package that while may be not perfect, maybe i would not have written everything the same way, i think it's a real advantage and i wonder if the chairman would take a second and

highlight those things which might be involved in job creation, job enrichment and the advantage to taxpayers and consumers with the pipeline. >> thank you, mr. sessions. the pipeline issue's not in the jurisdiction of the ways and means and committee, but it is one that i think will be very moving forward and i strongly support and i think the key thing is we have a decision. it requires that the president issue a permit for the pipeline within 60 days and/or find it's not in the national interest to proceed. right now, the issue is delayed until after 2013 and given the difficult nature of people's ability to find jobs and the high level of unemployment we have, certainly to have a project of this size and magnitude -- i was just at an event this morning with an area chamber of commerce in my district and talked about the jobs created in michigan if, in

fact, this project were to go forward. so it would be a very positive thing in terms of, obviously, energy independence, but also, for much-needed job creation. i think that's why you're seeing groups as varied as the teamsters and afl-cio come on board and say it's essential that we have this pipeline and it's not enough to wait until 2013 and pass this along. there's tens of thousands of pipeline under this area in oklahoma that is already of concern. we just think it is so important for jobs moving forward. i'm glad it was included in the bill and look forward to supporting it strongly on the floor. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. i believe the kinds of legislation that republican chairmen have beening to the rules committee again highlight the commitment i believe your party and my party has to putting ideas forth on

the table that will provide us an opportunity to have ab agenda to work with the president. i believe job creation is among the most important. i want to thank both of you for being here today. i yield back my time. >> getting ready to recognize the ranking member, glad to welcome bob slaughter to the committee again. we're happy to have him. merry christmas to you. >> actually, he does. we discussed it pretty thoroughly on a nine-mile ride down from rochester to washington. thank you very famuch. i appreciate both of you gentlemen is. i agree with mr. levin there's not a lot we'll be able to do here. i think this is one of the most punishing bills i've ever seen. we're saying to people who are unemployed, how dare you lose your job! the nerve of some people to lose

their job, we're not going to help had you out a bit. i can't understand that attitude. they're suffering enough out there, yet we're saying we don't care. we've already invited a nation scorned hearing the debt limit debate and cr continuing resolution crisis and now you are returning to the well the same exact brinksmanship that let to our nation's credit downgrade. instead of extending a tax cut to the middle class and assistance to the unemployed, which normally the congress of the united states would do without a whole lot of grief, majority is holding the middle class hostage in order to extract concessions for their friends and big oil. furthermore, instead of asking those with the most to help those with the least, today's bill asks millions of seniors to pay more for health care to pay for it and in exchange the majority will graciously continue the unemployment insurance programs even though

they're cut by more than half of the maximum number of weeks provided in these programs as a usual matter. they cut these needed benefits during one of the longest economic slumps in american history, and paul krugman, nobel laureate and great economist said today we are in a depression. adding to the fact that the united states' economy is in such bad shape, the economies of europe and our concern about them. why can't this grand ole party help the middle class without demanding a quid pro quo? why can't they serve the middle class without playing secret santa for special interests like the keystone xl. we don't know where that oil is going to go. i've heard most people saying once it removes itself from the united states and refined in texas it will be put on ships and likely sent to asia. it would be nice if we knew that before we insisted on putting that pipeline through. the good news is the majority's holiday giveaways will never make it past our colleagues in

the senate, and they face a near-certain presidential veto. and with any luck this bad movie will come to an end and we can finally take serious steps to help the middle class families and provide unqualified assistance to the unemployed who are struggling simply just to live. thank you very much. i have no questions. i don't think it would matter. >> thank you very much a, mr. chairman. it is amazing the use of language in this committee. i think there probably is no committee that has more distortion of the american language -- the english language than here in the committee. i wanted to go over some points with the chairman for a moment

and ask him if i have the essence of this bill, because i think it is important that we emphasize that. but before i do that, comments the ranking member made, made me think that we must always remind our colleagues about a little history. when they took over the congress in january 2007, we had a 4.5% unemployment rate. so, while they decry the unemployment rate, we have to remind the american people that it's a result of their policies that we have such a high unemployment rate. it was only after they took over the congresses that the unemployment rate started going up. it's a pretty close correlation with their policies on spend spend spend that we saw the unemployment rate go up. but, mr. chairman, check me if i'm wrong because, as i talk to

the people in my district are, i want to be able to give, again, the essence of this bill. i want to boil it down as much as i possibly can. fi first of all, the policies here are bipartisan. i believe i heard you say that 90% of what's being proposed has been proposed by either the president or our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> it reduces waste, fraud and abuse in several different areas. it reduces unnecessary rules and regulations. it helps to create an environment where jobs can be created so that we can go off after this horrible unemployment rate created by our friends across the aisle, who so much decry these policies. it will deal with something my constituents are very concerned about, and i get a lot of letters about, and that is drug

screen i screening that would be required before people can draw these generous benefits that they get. it will help us bring down energy costs. it will help the unemployed get skills that they need. i see job -- i see -- all over my district i see advertisements for jobs. all the time. so it's a little hard for me to understand why we have sufficient a high unemployment rate. it cuts the deficit and, contrary to what our colleague said, it really asks the wealthy to do more in terms of paying for their benefits. tell me what i've left out, mr. camp, in trying to summarize this. >> well, you've hit on a lot of the points. 90% of the bill that funds the bill are from the prison's bipartisan policies. in particular with regard to ui,

it is very important it that the unemployment insurance program not just be about writing checks but be about finding reemployment for people who are out of work. that's why it's compared with the reforms that i think are needed in this program. one, having a meaningful requirement to search for work. there's a patch work quilt of responsibilities, and my friends on the other side made basically the entire after the average of 26 weeks all a federal program in terms of unemployment benefits. this was shared between state and federal. because it has become, with stimulus, virtually all a federal program beyond 26 weeks we think it's important to have standardization in terms of searching for work. obviously there are exceptions to the ged requirement if in fact a reare sip yent is too old. so we've tried to bring some commonsense exceptions to some of these exceptions.

but if you don't have a job, it's important to get the training and skills and get that ged so you will be employable in the future. states have been really are asking for the flexibility to be able to do these re-employment programs if they apply they can receive waivers for. i think that's going to be essential to actually getting people who are receiving a benefit into the job market. one of the concerns -- the president has suggested reducing this this program by 20 weeks. we think it's important to go back to the historical level of 59 weeks, which is more than half of the current plan. so my colleagues are wrong when they say this is cutting by more than half. it's not accurate. >> i said the federal program. federal program is 73 weeks, cut to 33. >> you'll have an opportunity. the entire program will be 59 weeks, but four states even after six months, this is a gradual phase-down to 59 weeks, many more states will be at 79 weeks and at the end four states will still stay on a 79-week plan.

but it's important because i hear from many employers and business people saying, look, 99 weeks is just too long because people are out of the market for too long. they lose their skill set. then the fast-changing economy, we need to have an effort to really get them back, get them ready for work, get them back into the workforce sooner than that. this goes down to the historical level that in past recessions, '82, '92, this is more the historical level of unemployment levels that were offered. in the '80s, the recession, unemployment rates spiked up as high as they have been in this long recession. yes, they're higher, in '82. but the unemployment level was about where we hope to move to, but it's a gradual phase-down to it, not all at once. i think it's an important thing to do. so i think particularly on the unemployment side. and we're extending benefits

here to more than 5 million recipie recipients. they want to talk about who's being denied, but we're extending these unemployment benefits and we're paying for it and we're not doing it in an irresponsible way, which added $180 billion to the deficit over the nine various extensions that were given since 2008. >> well, i can remember when unemployment benefits were 11 weeks. i was never on unemployment but my father was, and i remember it very well, had whwhen it was on weeks. then it gradually got more and mored and more and more. and it -- i think what you're doing is the appropriate thing to do, and i want to say i appreciate what you and the committee staff and the other committee members have done in order to bring us what i think is a very sensible bill which

attacks, again -- provides much to the adding to the deficit, which we know is the biggest concern people have. >> also, we add data standardization, a bipartisan proposal to really get at the waste and fraud and abuse in some of these program ares. some of it is checks are going to the wrong people. it's not all fraud, but some of it is. if we can standardize the data, we can actually bring program integrity to this program are, something very important that we do. we also deny unemployment insurance to millionaires. that's a loophole that's been allowed. there's actually -- if we enact this provision, it reduces federal deficits by $20 million between 2012 and 2021. so a significant number of millionaires have been receiving unemployment insurance. we think that's wrong, that it should be stopped. that's part of the reforms we're trying to bring to this program. >> accountability is another issue that's major with i think our constituents in bringing some accountability.

i think the approach that we take to not give benefits to people of means as opposed to taking more money from those people to give to the federal government when there is no accountability is the right provo. thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you both for being here. >> thank you. let me just begin by making it clear that there are millions of people in this country who are struggling. and they have been waiting for us to do something, to help them out, to help them get through this difficult time as they look for a job. really it's shameful that we're here at this late hour trying to find a way to extend a helping hand to people in need, trying to find a way to extend a payroll tax cut to middle classes families. we should have done this a long are time ago. before i get into the substance, let me talk a bit about the process here. it's my understanding that this bill was presented on friday, am

i correct on that? just a cull ouple of days ago, . it's also my understanding that this bill has been referred to 12 out of 21 committees, am i correct on that? that's half the committees so it's been refer are ered -- how hearings on this presented bill have we had over the weekend? has there been a markup on this? one of the committees by the way is the rules committee. we didn't do a hearing or markup on this bill either. this bill, just so my colleagues understand this, is 369 pages, both sides -- here it is -- already i understand there's one drafting error, that is pretty substantial that needs to be fixed with a self-executing rule, an amendment to automatically be put in.

i don't know how many other errors are in here. as we put this thing together in this rapid fashion. i point this out because i recall that the republican pledge to america, which stated that they will end the practices of packaging unpopular bill with must-pass legislation to circumvent the will of the american people. instead, we will advance major legislation one issue at a time. but that's a broken promise. that promise has been broken with this monstrosity we have here today. you know, i -- you know, i don't know how many other mistakes are in this bill that will have to be fixed at a later date, but i remind my colleagues there was a time when they were concerned about bills of this magnitude being rushed to the house floor without proper vetting. there's no hearings, no markups.

half the committees in this entire house of representatives received a referral for this bill, including the rules committee. and here we are bringing this bill to the floor. over the weekend i was -- before i understood what was happening here i was a little bit heartened because i heard the minority leader mitch mcconnell and i heard the speaker of the house had said that at long last they favored afternoon extension of the payroll tax cut and extension of unemployment insurance. i'm a little puzzled. if they're for these things, then why are they demanding a ransom in order for us to get these things? it's a pretty big ransom here. you know, ranking member ms. slaughter mentioned a number of them, but this bill is pretty comprehensive. i mean, it rolls back the clean

air act rules by the epa. i don't even know which ones they are. it's being rushed to the floor. i'm told there's a number of rolebacks in this bill. there are chaks nges in terms o eligibility for certain benefits that, again, one would like to think would have to go through a very thoughtful hearing process before they're all of a sudden made into law. we have -- i mean, a whole bunch of policy writeriders in here. but basically in order for middle classes families to not pay higher taxes next year and in order to make sure people unemployed get something, although it's been much reduced as mr. levin pointed out, and in order to make sure seniors have access to doctors through medicare, then in order to get that we've got to dismantle the clean air act, dismantle health care reform, force approval of a massive controversial pipeline

and make it harder for working families to claim the child tax credit and more and more and more. i mean, my expectation is that this is so off the mark that, as the ranking member said, the senate will not approve this. but that we're wasting time as we're coming to the end of the year going through this exercise. maybe it's some red meat for the base, but i think people are tired of that at this point. i think they want us to similar spli do what is right, and that is to extend the payroll tax cut to help people with their un unemployment insurance and get this doc fix in place so we can move on and hopefully actually do something about jobs. i strongly disagree, you know, with the statements of my colleagues on the republican side that this congress is about jobs. it's been about everything but

jobs. and i think the record on job creation out of this congress is lousy. and i hope that, you know, once we get through all this that perhaps we will get serious about the issue of jobs and putting people back to work. but this, this is like political extortion. if we accepted this, accept all of these other provisions that have nothing to do with what the issue at hand is, which is middle class tax relief and helping people with unemployment insurance and getting this doc fix in place. but all this other stuff, again, look how long -- i mean, who's read this? who's had a chance to go over this? one drafting error had already? i don't know how many more are going to be in here. this is not the way we should be doing this, and i regret very much that we're not dealing with the clean bill, we're dealing with this christmas tree. i guess we'll bring it to the

floor tomorrow and dispose of it one way or the other and then have to come back here, if we're serious about providing an extension of the middle class tax relief. we'll have to come back here and do it again. mr. levin? >> i just want to read the number of states that would lose 40 weeks of unemployment benefits next year under the bill -- alabama, california, connecticut, d.c., florida, georgia, illinois, idaho, indiana, kentucky, michigan, missouri, nevada, new jersey, north carolina, ohio, oregon, rhode island, south carolina, tennessee, texas, and washington. and the other states would lose between 14 and 34. so when it comes to unemployment

insurance, this is the opposite of a christmas tree. >> right. >> and i just want to say one word to take michigan as an example. in a misguided way, the state reduced the state benefit to 20 we weeks. you add 33 to 20, it ththat's 5. and some of those 53 weeks under our federal program will be diminish diminished. this, mr. dryer, is the highest number of long-term unemployed in the record of this country. so to compare it with early 2000 and the '90s and '80s in terms of unemployed is frightfully

misguided. [ inaudible ] but take how long it's lasted. >> and, as many on your side said, if we only pass stimulus, our unemployment rate would be 6%. >> okay, look, we can argue -- i'll take back my time. >> your policies certainly haven't worked very well. >> let's not argue about the policies because i think you're wrong. >> it's a fact. >> focus on the unemployed. >> you promised 6%s the rules committee is online at the c-span2 library. the house is coming in next to debate the bill which would extend the social security tax cut and force the president to approve a controversial international oil pipeline, the keystone xl oil pipeline. it blocks a pay cut from medicare doctors and give them a

1% and increase. the bill is paid for by cutting parts of the health care law pleasing federal worker pay, increasing charges by fannie mae and freddie mac, among other provisions. the house also has seven other bills for debate today. the senate is debating two measures to amend the constitution to require a balanced budget.

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. eternal god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. on this day, we ask your blessing on the men an women, citizens all, whose votes have populated this people's house. -- house. each member of this house has been given the sacred duty of representing them. this is a season of hope for many in our nation, for some religious hope, for some, celebratory hope, for others, hope for greater blessings in their lives. we ask that you might listen to the hopes of our nation. we ask your blessing as well on the members of this house whose

responsibilities are heavy, as the first session of this 112th congress nears its completion. give each member the wisdom to represent both local and national interests, a responsibility calling for the wisdom of solomon. grant them, if you will a double portion of such wisdom. bless us this day and every day, and may all that is done within the people's house be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker: amen. the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approve the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlelady from california, ms. hund. ms. hunt: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united

states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection -- the speaker: without objection, so order. mr. wilson: last friday, the national labor relations board announced they had approved the request of the association of machinists to withdraw its complaint against boeing. for the past year, the national labor relations board has played the role of a big labor bully by staaling the second line of the 787 dreamliner production in charleston. boeing chose to locate in south carolina due to its welcoming business climate, due in large part to right to work laws. instead of rewarding unions for their political investments, i urge me current administration to enact policies protecting

the rights of workers and allowing for the growth of small businesses creating jobs. the lesson of this nlrb intrusion is clear. don't locate in union states because if you enter, like a roach motel, you cannot leave. in conclusion, god bless our troops, we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. ms. chu: over 14 million americans are looking for war. that means for every job opening in the united states, four million are looking for employment. that mens another four million have given up looking altogether because companies aren't hiring. these are real people, not just numbers. ellen andrews lost her job last year. she has been supporting herself

an her 1-year-old son henry with her unemployment benefits to help keep the lights on and food in the house until she can get a job. but the republican plan will change all that. it will create 40 weeks of federal benefits out from under people like ellen and force partisan policies like the keystone pipeline onto a bill that should be all about helping american families. with the holidays around the corner, congress should be about giving america hope and security, not playing partisan politics. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, ordered. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> on september 10, pamela sent the following letter to me. stop anymore federal spending, less is better.

europe is a lesson for us. we live in the greatest nation on earth. pamela, you are right. if we're going to spread the blessings of the greatest opportunity society in history, then as we somewhere br this holiday season we need the promise of growth. ms. hayworth: your house of representatives, republicans and democrats alike, have as of today passed 27 bills, job growing, growth promoting bills that protect american workers and job creators from tax increases, roll back burdensome regulations and end the federal spending that suffocates the economic engine of enterprise and we keep them listed on a card so everybody knows. i urge the senate to act now to put those bills to work and put our people back to work. and give every american good reason to look forward to a happy new year in this land of opportunity. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one

minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, today the house will debate extending the payroll tax cut. i urge extending this tax cut. if we don't, tens of millions of new york families will see an average tax increase of $1,000 next year and as many as 400,000 jobs could be lost nationwide. but frackly, it is ridiculous that we are considering this legislation on the floor today with so many unrelated riders attached to the bill we know it is dead on arrival in the senate. mr. higgins: this will create anxiety in americans that their taxes will go up and create uncertainly when -- uncertainty in this season when so much of the economy is based on consumer confidence and spending. the same process that took us to the edge of a government shutdown, again choosing brinksmanship over leadership. i urbling the house to reject this bill and pass a clean

extension of the payroll tax cut that we know will pass the senate and become law immediately. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the u.n. agency unescro sent a message loud and clear that the u.n. accepts the creation of a palestinian state whether israel likes it or not. unesco recognized the palestinian state by raising the flag in front of the whole world. no surprise there, just another day in the u.n.'s bigotry against all things israel and another reason to cut u.n. funding. israel is the lone free and democratic country in the middle east. its people are under attack from jihaddists who wish to remove them if the earth all in the name of real job. the same radicals who wish to

kill israelis are also sworn enemies of america. intimidation and murder are not acceptable and must be rejected by the entire international community especially the u.n. we must make it clear that we stand with israel in their fight against hate and extremism, whether the u.n. likes it or not. that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentlewoman is recognized. >> this past weekend, i held a forum for small businesses and teamed them up with experts from the u.s. government to discuss strategies to get them into the global marketplace. it's a reminder to me of the vast, untapped potential that lies before us as we address the critical need for more jobs in this country. with nearly 90% of the world's consumers outside the u.s. and twhoifereds purchasing power in foreign countries we must help our small businesses learn to

export their products and service to other nations. ms. hochul: small businesses are looking for a shot at this marketplace but need our help. after all, small businesses that export their goods and services are one third less likely to fail than companies that do not export. therefore i'm urging every member of congress to work with their local businesses to help expose them to the amazing opportunities that await them if they're willing to leap into the global marketplace. i put our products and businesses up against any global competitor, any time, anywhere. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. gingrey: from georgia. to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. i rise to recognize the undefeated calhoun high school football team, the yellow jackets who won their first ever georgia high school association class a.a. state championship with a 27-24 win against the beauford high

school wolves last friday and a special shoutout to the superintendent, dr. michelle taylor, and principal greg green. for the past four years, calhoun has played beauford in the state championship and this year in truly nail biting fashion, calhoun prevailed in overtime on a 32-yard field goal by adam griffith. beauford is one of the best teams in the country, led by my friends, coach jeff simpson and athletic director dexter wood and they would have set a record had they won a fifth straight championship but calhoun was finally able to stop them. my congratulations to head coach hal lamb and the outstanding young athletes and their families, the whole high school community on this great victory you made us all proud. go yellow jackets. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

this week, the house will consider the iran threat reduction act to bolster anxiouses on the iranian regime. mr. quigley: as the international atomic energy agency reported, iraq could have -- iran could have a bomb in a year. we are out of time and have no choice but to enact the severest of sanctions to protect our ally, israel, our troops and the entire region. as the israeli prime minister warned, there is nothing to stop iran from exporting the bomb this bill will put in place debilitating sanctions on the central bank of iran which finances the nuclear program. the sanctions could deny those who do business with iran's central bank access to american markets. we are out of time and running out of options. this bill gives us more of both. i urbling my colleagues to pass h.r. 1905, cut off the central bank of iran and send a message that a nuclear iran is unacceptable. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, america is drowning in a sea of debt but instead of addressing our own financial problem here's at home, there is talk of another bailout. not for america, but for europe. recent reports indicate that the international monetary fund, of which the u.s. is the leading contributor, may intervene to bail out failing european countries. washington needs to be focusing on policies that grow the u.s. economy and create jobs here. not shipping hard-earned tax dollars overseas. for this reason, i have co-sponsored legislation to block the i.m.f. from sending $108 billion in u.s. funds for a european bailout. mr. buchanan: i urge my colleagues in congress to join me in this effort. taxpayer dollars should not be

used to bail out europe. we need to take care of america first. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. you know, we're running out of time. just in california, where i come from, 356,000 californians are at risk of losing critical unemployment benefits because this congress has failed to act. ms. hawn: these aren't just -- ms. hahn: these aren't just strangers, these are our friends, our neighbors, our families. these are proud americans who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs. they want to work. but because this congress has failed to act, jobs are hard to find. and instead of just voting on extending these unemployment benefits, my republican friends

have access to approve other unrelated controversial items in this bill. what i'm saying is, to my republican friends, can't we just vote on the unemployment benefits by themselvess? can't we debate the oil pipeline later? do we have to get clean air laws to extend benefits? let's vote on this on its own and give americans some hope. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi rise? . the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, today i rise to wish a very happy birthday to our national guard. as the only active noncommissioned officer in congress, this anniversary is a landmark that i'm personally very proud of. 375 years ago today on december 13, 1636, the massachusetts general court in salem declared

that all abled bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to join the militia. these men were called up upon when needed and we proudly continue this tradition of citizen service. today our national guard soldiers are called upon to serve both here in our communities and around the world in support of our current overseas operations. our nation's citizen soldiers dedicate themselves to the defense of our nation both here and abroad. i personally would like to thank all of my fellow guardsmen for the job they are doing and thank you to all our men and women in uniform and especially their families. thank you. happy birthday and god bless. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. and unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection so ordered. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. lofgren: the extraneous materials is a letter i'm sending to wells fargo bank about mrs. darlene bowland,

68-year-old mother, fighting cancer in wells fargo bank. darlene lived in a modest home in san jose for 41 years until she was evicted a week before thanksgiving. at the time, two weeks from chemotherapy to pack up her own boxes. we appealed to the bank. they knew about her cancer and her chemotherapy, but they didn't care. she owned her home free and clear at one time but was the victim of a pay loan. a way to confuse and basically steal her home. mr. speaker, wells fargo earned record profits last year and in 2010 the c.e.o., john stump, earned more than $17 million in compensation. this christmas mrs. bow lapd will be couch surfing with chemotherapy. mr. stump will be enjoying his $17 million salary. while her home in san jose stays vacant. merry christmas from wells

fargo. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new hampshire rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. bass: mr. speaker, the weather is cold in the northeast. this year's no exception. and october we had a huge snowstorm. emergency declaration. residents of the northern states, maine, new hampshire, vermont are over 80% dependent on heating oil and we depended, in the case of new hampshire, 47,500,000 people on the low income energy assistance program. it is imperative this program be adequately funded this year. mr. speaker, the president and his budget submission this year proposed to cut liheap funding by 50%. i urge our appropriators to do better than that this year because there are a lot of people in the northeast that need this funding this year. i urge support for adequate

funding for low-income energy assistance. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker i rise today to speak about human rights day. this past saturday i was honored to speak in commemoration of human rights day, a day chosen to honor the universal declaration of 450uman rights. mrs. davis: the declaration was the world's first bill of rights . when many from all corners of the globe were fighting for basic freedoms, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear and repression, the declaration assured them that they were fighting the good fight. and they were on the right side of history. today i stand to recognize the men and women who are still fighting for these freedoms, including the seven democracy and land life activists and 15 youth activists who have been illegally detained by the vietnamese government. all individuals deserve the

right to peacefully express their concerns. i call on my colleagues to stand side by side with these brave individuals and raise their voice in demanding that the government of vietnam release all prisoners of conscience and uphold their commitment to human rights for all. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. pitts: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, today the house will vote to extend critical provisions to help those seeking jobs and we will do so without hurting job creators or adding to our national debt. today's tax relief and compensation act extends the tax holiday, preventing a tax increase for millions of americans. i'm glad to see we extend the doc fix for two years. preventing cuts that could lead many doctors to stop seeing medicare patients. the bill also shows that the government doesn't have to spend money to create jobs. much of the time it just has to get out of the way. the state department has already

declared that the planned route of the keystone pipeline is the safest option. that the contractor is taking every safety precaution. we can see more than 120,000 jobs directly and indirectly created without a dime of taxpayer money. our bill proves that you don't need to raise taxes on some americans to create jobs and provide essential benefits. we don't need to hurt job creators or add to future burdens in order to do the right thing. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, like so many of my colleagues i think we should prevent 160 million taxpayers from getting a lump of coal and a tax hike this year. mr. holt: but we should not undermine social security. last year it was a mistake to take the 2% tax cut from social security and say we'll cover the losses from general funds. we should not allow a one-year mistake to become a permanent attack on social security and on the livelihood of its

beneficiaries. social security should not be used as a rainy day fund or political bargaining chip, it should not be like another government agency that some years has a good budget and some years has the budget voted away. president roosevelt described it best. he said, we put these payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions. with those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program. here's a way to handle the problem and keep the mechanism of social security intact. make the changes within the existing system. let's cut the payroll tax for 160 million americans and make up the lost revenue by temporarily eliminating the cap on wages. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman's time has expired. mr. holt: we need social security for generations to come. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair will remind members to heed the gavel. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia

rise? mrs. capito: to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. speaker. americans have made their list for the holidays. drumroll, please. number 10, pass the doc fix for doctors who treat medicare patients. number nine, continue to the payroll tax holiday for americans workers. number eight, approve the keystone pipeline in the name of creating jobs. number seven, extend and reform employment benefits. number six, repayment of subsidies and reduce all fraud, waste, and abuse. number five, prevent the e.p.a. from destroying jobs by onerous oiler mact regulation. number four, alou businesses to expense their costly purchases. number three include spectrum options for broadband services. number two do this without adding to the deficit. number one, please create american jobs. to my colleagues, don't be a grinch. please help grant america's holiday wishes and to the president, make this your list, check it twice. americans want and needs jobs for the holidays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the

gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. mcgovern: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, we are the richest most prosperous nation in the world, but 49 million americans went hungry in 2009, 16 million were children. these numbers would be higher if it weren't for programs like snap, food stamps and w.i.c. we have a hunger crisis in america and not doing enough to prevent this scourge. during this holiday season the house and senate hunger caucuses are sponsoring the hour for hunger event. congresswoman emerson and i are encouraging everyone to volunteer one hour to fight hunger. viss ate food bank or food pantry. host a food drive, it's not hard but important and effective. host a conference on food and nutrition so we can develop and have a coordinated national strategy to end hunger in america once and for all. hunger is a political condition. all we need now is a political will to end it. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the

gentleman from oklahoma rise? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. soird, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. million lankford: millions of americans are jobless. in response, the house americans have passed more than 20 jobs bills. this past july the security act urged president obama to issue a final permitting decision on the keystone pipeline which will connect canada's rich soil sans -- oil sands to refineries on the east coast. the proposed pipeline would consist of over 1,700 miles of cable delivering crude oil each day. in my home state, this pipeline project is expected to add $1.2 billion in economic impact. this pipeline presents a unique chance for america to truly cull back our precurious dependence on middle east oil. in early november this year the obama administration made

unacceptable political decision to punt the approval of the keystone pipeline until after the presidential election. a few weeks ago i formally asked the secretary of state to approve the southern end of the pipeline from crushing oklahoma to the gulf. our country has waited for approval for three years. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? mr. yarmuth: request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yarmuth: the republican plan to extend the payroll tax is deeply flawed in many ways, perhaps the most egregious are the fundamental changes it would make to some of our nation's core institutions. without any discussion or debate. it would cut unemployment insurance benefits for one million americans and impose new restrictive limits on workers who have been laid off. it would require millions of seniors to pay more for health care by slashing funding designed to lower cost. it would roll back essential e.p.a. rules to keep our air clean. and it would actually increase the deficit by almost $26 billion over 10 years, according to the c.b.o. the vast majority of americans want the wealthiest to pay their

fair share so we could get the country back on track and preserve government institutions. we need a reasonable solution to keep middle class tax cuts in place and maintain funding for social security. republicans are saying, sure, we'll give you a tax cut, but we are going to slash your husband's unemployment benefits to pay for it. that's not a way for families to preserve their standard of living. mr. speaker, the american people want a government that is fair and just, not one that promotes economic imbalance and cynicism. i urge my colleagues to vote against h.r. 3630. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. last week the illinois farm bureau federation pulled polled its members about the long-term challenges confronting them. it shouldn't surprise anyone that the number one thing they named is government regulation. after all, washington bureaucrats too often know knowing about rural america and challenges confronting our farming families. they sought to burden them with new regulations on everything

from built milk to dust. but while those bureaucrats are trying to generate more regulations, here in the house we are working hard to cut it back. this year we have passed numerous pieces of legislation to roll back the most egregious rules proposed by the e.p.a. and others to ensure that america's family farmers have the regulatory certainty they need to survive and thrive over the next decade and beyond. now it's time for the senate to act. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from hawaii rise? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore:, so ordered. the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. ms. hanabusa: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i don't know what's the matter with us when we don't learn from history. after the great depression we passed the social security act. two major components, one is to keep our seniors safe in their years of retirement, and the second, the second to provide for those who may became unemployed through no fault of their own. the bill we are being asked to

vote on today is going to cut unemployment. cut unemployment, extend the portion which people have come to rely on for those who are looking for work and can't get it. and we are cutting the emergency portion of it as well by eliminating tiers. mr. speaker, more than anything else, the part that just bothers me and forces me to speak is that we are going to make people qualify for unemployment. they have to have a high school diploma or a g.e.d. equivalent. mr. speaker, my father went to the ninth grade. he worked through his whole life. imagine someone like him, and there are many people like my father, will not qualify for unemployment. will not qualify because they don't have a high school diploma. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, propestor tim grossclose from ucla published a

book "left turn, how libya media bias distorts the american mind." mr. smith: he uses clearly defined quantitative measures to see the bias of media outlets. he herb sure the political content of media outlets and converts it into a slant quotient of the outlet. to measure the bias to the political quoshents of the typical american voter and leaders. he concludes that the great majority of all national media outlets have a liberal bias. he also points out the conservative bias of a few outlets. but he concluded american is less than the liberal bias of most national media. he also sites evidence that the media has shifted the political views of americans and caused them to be more liberal. media bias is both real and unfortunate. .

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> i request permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today to applaud recent actions taken by the consumer financial bureau to better inform consumers. the cfpb's mission is to take the tricks and traps out of financial products we use every day like credit cards and mortgages. mrs. capps: even the senators from filibustering the act, the bureau is at work before -- for consumers. the know before you go helps consumers know what they're getting into when they borrow. they're asking consumers for their input on this important task. i encourage all citizens to

visit consumerfinance.gov and share their experiences and credit cards and loan agreements. consumers can file complaints about credit card companies or mortgage services and learn to protect thems from financial scams. for the first time, we have a dedicated watchdog looking out exclusively for the interest of consumers, take advantage of these resources. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> yesterday in leeward, kansas, i met with garrett. he is 4 years old and suffers from juvenile die pee tees. his story is touching and all too familiar to families across the country who suffer with stress and strain about juvenile diabetes and the right diet and right insulin and highest quality of life for

their children. mr. yoder: i was pleased to hear that last month the food and drug administration released new guidelines to speed up the development of new pan crees a systems. it's clear we need to do all we can to help bright children like fair rhett who need better tools to manage their disease and prevent life threatening complications. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. baca: plups in congress need too get started working together on a bipartisan package to extend payroll taxes for the middle class an renew unemployment benefits. the republican extender package reduces eligibility for unemployment benefits by 40 yeeks and would require everyone to have the benefit of a g.e.d. my dad only had a

third grade education and would not be eligible. it cuts $21 billion from affordable health care programs, causing 170,000 americans to become uninsured. republicans are asking seniors to pay more for medicare and asking federal employees to have serious cuts or frozen until the year 2015. yet they refuse to ask millionaires and billionaires to pay one more cent. no taxes, no jobs. no taxes, no jobs. let's pass a responsible plan to spend the payroll tax -- extend the payroll tax and unemployment benefits before it's too late. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from maryland rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so order, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. edwards: joyce called my office to say the extra money in her paycheck from the soon-to-expire payroll tax cut

is important to her and her family. she wondwheers i the republicans are for raising taxes when they were against it. working people like joyce would receive on average $1,000 next year. that's not a $10,000 bet, it's real money in the economy. republicans go out of their way to block job creation and protect tax cuts for the 1%ers, but want to raise taxes for the 99%ers. more than a million americans have been out of work for a lock time yet republicans want to be the grinch that stole christmas by denying an unemployment check so people who want to work but can't find work can buy groceries, pay rent and utilities and tide their families other. republicans want to go home for the holidays but want working people to pay more in taxes next year. the grinch became a good guy, scrooge found a heart and mr. potter changed his tune.

it's time for republicans to change too. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. davis: this weekend we had a party and a dance contest and two people would try to go under it. the d.j. would ask, how low can you go? can you duo to the floor? i submit if we refuse to provide unemployment tax extension, i'd have to ask the congress, how low can you go? can you go to the floor. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the peeker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the

rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on december 13, 2011, at 9:48 a.m., that the senate passed, with an amendment, h.r. 1801, with best wishes, i am, signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? mr. dreier: by direction of the committee on rules, i call up house resolution 491 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 99, house resolution 491, resolved that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h.r. 3630, to provide incentives for the creation of jobs and for other purposes. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. the amendment printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution shall be considered as adopted. the bill as amended shall be considered as read.

all points of order against provisions in the bill are waived, the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill as amened to final passage without intervening motion except, one, 90 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means and two, one motion to recommit with or without instructions. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from wisconsin rise? ms. moore: i raise a point of order against h.res. 491 because it violates section 141 of the budget act. it contains a waiver against all points of order upon, kgs of the bill which causes a violation of section 426, parena. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman makes a point of order that the resolution violates section 426-a.

the gentlewoman from wisconsin and a member opposed each will control 10 minutes of debate on the question of consideration. following debate, the chair will put the question, the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from wisconsin. ms. moore: thank you, mr. speaker. sadly, mr. speaker, we're here once again with my republican colleagues who are trying to ram through this fat cat tax extenders legislation providing mere crumbs from the master's table for working people that will neither help the american people weather this economic malaise, nor create a single job. and to add insult to injury, the rules committee has rejected all attempts to allow any amendments to this horrible piece of legislation. i propose four -- i proposed four amendments which were not considered and in fact the republican majority rejected a democratic substitute.

there's a song by the group, and i know mr. dreier will appreciate this, a group called cameo. called talking out the side of your neck. the lyrics are, talking out the side of your neck. so you can see we're back in the same old mess. seems like every time we get out of one situation, we're back into it all over again, all you people just watch, you talk, you better get it together or we won't get it done. we sit down while you cuss and fuss but guess who is suffering? nobody but us. that's exactly what the republicans are doing, talking out of both sides of their necks. they talk and talk and talk, making false claims to the middle class, false promises, when they are really trying to protect the interests of the 1%. and like the song suggests, the middle class are the ones who are suffering. once again, through this sham

piece of legislation, republicans claim to be creating jobs when the cruel thing is, is that 160 million workers are given a small payroll tax holiday but the cost is they are held hostage to the tax breakers in fat cats. additionally -- tax breaks for the fat cats. additionally, it adds over $25 billion to our nation's deficit. but those grinches don't stop there, mr. speaker. they are trying to steal the holiday spirit from hardworking americans. how? with this legislation. you know, our overall unemployment rate did drop from 9.1% recently to 8.6%. i am happy to be joined this afternoon, this morning, by some of my colleagues from the congressional black caucus, which we'll talk to you a little bit more about how this pertains to black unemployment.

briefly, while unemployment dropped for white men from 7 ppt 9% to 3.1%, back men had a spike from 6.2% to a deserving 16.5%. and of course according to the bureau of labor statistics, unemployment declined for every demographic group within the white community and increased for any democratic group within the african-american community. further this pill cuts the federal unemployment program by more than half in 2012, eliminating 40 weeks of benefits, cutting benefits so drastically for those workers and communities that have been most hurt by this recession. one of the most egregious aspects of this bill is that it promotes state drug testing for workers to qualify for unemployment benefits. mr. speaker, did the authors of this know about the constitution of the united

states of america? and this bill also imposes new limits on unemployment compensation by restricting benefits that employees have paid for. this is just outrageous. it's time to stop the double speak and give them real talk. and i urge all my colleagues to vote against this legislation. mr. speaker, how much time do i have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has six minutes remaining. ms. moore: six minutes remaining. ok. at this time i want to yield to one of my good friends in the congressional black caucus, the gentlelady from ohio, ms. marcia fudge. ms. fudge: thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: for how much time. merchandise fudge: i ask unanimous consent that i be given five legislative days to revise and extend into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so order. ms. fudge: i rise in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying bill. how in good conscience can we

allow states to fund reemployment programs with money that would otherwise be in the pockets of the unemployee. my amendment mandates transparency and accountability. it requires states to make public the amount of money taken from the checks of unemployed americans. it is not that i'm against reemployment, mr. speaker, but i am against decreasing the amount of money beneficiaries get every month. i mentioned karen from cleveland on the floor last week. she was laid off in march. her unemployment check is allowing her to keep her home and pay for expensive prescriptions. she relies on every single dollar. let's cut the partisan posturing and extend unemployment insurance without unnecessary riders. ms. moore: thank you so much. at this time, i would like to yield two minutes to my colleague from the virgin islands, representative dr. donna christensen.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. mrs. christensen: i rise in support of this point of order on h. resolution 401. here we go again with another misnamed bill to hold a bill hostage to republican pet projects that harm the environment and threaten public health. it's also a bill that's wasting time that could be used to create jobs and help the middle class because with these poison pills it is going nowhere. unfortunately, the good things in the bill are threatened because of these other provisions, the payroll tax deduction, the two-year s.g.r. fix, as well as one or two other health care provisions, good parts of the bill needed by our nation's families, our doctors and medicare pen fisharies. but they should not be weighed down by the provisions that allow the keystone pipeline to bypass registration lages, allow industrial boilers and incinerators to pollute an cuts billions of dollars of services

in the affordable care act. with millions of our fellow americans out of work it fails to provide the full extension of unemployment that is needed in this time of improved but still slow job creation, something the republican leadership has talked a lot about but d done nothing to help. what is it my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not understand about drug addiction being an illness? one of the republican governors try t.d. a similar proposal for food stamps in florida. not only was it bad policy, it yielded nothing, it unfairly branded poor people and wasted taxpayer dollars. i hear a lot about class warfare but real class warfare is protecting everything for the rich and punishing the poor, the middle class, the elderly and the unemployed. it has got to stop. i urge my colleagues to support this point of order, to vote against the rule and the bill, we need a clean extension of the payroll tax, 99 weeks of

unemployment and a two-year s.g.r. fix and it should not be paid for by taking funds from programs that are needed to protect the public's safety and health. . ms. moore: might i inquire about the remaining time on this side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has three minutes remaining. ms. moore: with that i would like -- mr. dreier: would the gentlewoman yields. i would be claiming time in opposition to the point of order my friend has raised and i'm not going to consume the entire amount of time, when i do that i'd like to yield one minute to my friend in the spirit of the season and spirit of bipartisanship. i'd just like to state that for the record. ms. moore: that is very kind of you, mr. dreier. i would now yield one minute to my good friend, representative from oakland, california, representative barbara lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: thank you very much. i want to thank the gentlelady for yielding time and for your leadership on the issue, so

critical to extending the safety net to those desperately looking for a job and need this bridge over troubled waters at this point. the republican bill would cut unemployment benefits to the millions of americans who are looking for work when there are roughly four people for every one job. it would reduce unemployment benefits down to 59 weeks from 99 weeks at a time when we are facing a serious crisis among our long-term unemployed. it makes no sense. makes no economic sense. and quite frankly it is hardless. the lee-scott amendment would relace these republican christmastime cuts with real extensions of unemployment benefits and would add an additional 1 weeks of unemployment insurance for -- 14 weeks of unemployment insurance for the millions of americans who have exhausted their benefits. but the republicans didn't make any amendments in order. no fixes allowed. this bill is really a sham. it's a shame. and it's a disgrace. it will cost our nation jobs and is a slap in the face to job seekers. we should really be about the

work of re-igniting the american dream. not make it a nightmare. ms. moore: thank you so much. i would now yield one minute to my good friend, mr. davis from illinois. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentlewoman from wisconsin for yielding. i rise in strong support of her opposition to this amendment. i rise in strong support to the passage of the underlying bill. this resolution fails to recognize that there are disproportionate opportunities and lack of opportunities for members of some groups such as minority groups who are african-american, who are hispanic, there's no consideration given to these facts and therefore i must be in opposition to the rule and to the bill. i yield back. ms. moore: thank you so much.

finally, i would yield one minute -- how much time do i have, mr. speaker? the speaker pro tempore: 1 1/2 minutes. ms. moore: i would yield one minute to my good friend sheila jackson lee. miss dreier: i remind her, when i claim my time i'll yield an additional minute to my friend. she certainly can feel free to yield any of that time. ms. moore: that is quite generous of you. i yield a minute and a half to my very eloquent colleague, representative sheila jackson lee from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for a minute and a half. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i join with my colleague from wisconsin in thanking the gentleman from california for his generosity. but i also thank my colleague, ms. moore, for astute assessment of that -- that causes me to pause and her point of order is whether or not this is what we call an unfunded mandate.

this bill that we will be discussing on the floor of the house. and even though the rule says that the points of order or the issues of being an unfunded mandate have been waived, please understand that that is an action that can be taken. it doesn't mean that it eliminates the truth. i raise the question whether this humongous bill that doesn't answer the crisis of what we are facing, which is six million people without unemployment insurance not able to pay mortgage, rent, food. to be able to have a quality of life. to generate income. to create some 700,000 jobs on the unemployment end. andle to pull 3.2 million people out of poverty. is now going by the wayside. the payroll tax cut now is shackled with unwanted baggage. and so i rise to argue the point of order as to unfunded mandate

and argue to support the position of mr. levin of the ways and means which is to declare the unemployment issue an emergency, to do the payroll tax, surtax on 1% of the american population for 10 years . starting in 2013. and the doc fix use and pay for with medicare savings. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: we should support the unemployed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. dreier: i rise to claim time in opposition to the point of order and in support of the proceeding with the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 10 minutes. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, with that as i said in the spirit of bipartisanship which is the basis of the underlying legislation and in the spirit of the christmas season, i'm happy to yield not just a minute, mr. speaker, but i'd like to yield a

minute and a half to my good friend from milwaukee with whom i share an affection for great fine music. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. ms. moore: thank you so much, mr. speaker. again i want to thank the gentleman for allowing our side to have some voice in this matter. he yelled at me -- yielded me time in the spirit of the season. i'll frame my remaining remarks in that frame. the season is the reason. 'tis almost treason to extend full benefits to corporations who are people and leave those who are unemployed feeble. the season is the reason to extend full benefits to the unemployed. it is almost a ploy to provide

tax breaks to corporations. and to lead the people -- leave the people with no resources. support my point of order. i ask my colleagues to support my point of order. it would be egregious if we were to move forward on this bill, on this resolution without considering the plight that it would put the unemployed in. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time. as i said to speak in opposition to the point of order and in support of our moving ahead with the resolution. my friend is a very, very thoughtful poet herself. and i have been the beneficiary of much of her fine work. she and i share an affection for r&b music and she quoted cameo

and talking out of the side of your neck. i don't really know that song but i'll have to check it out. i have to admit, mr. speaker. but what i'd like to do is, since we heard of the eloquence of cameo and the eloquence of gwen moore, the great poet, i would like to quote william shakespeare. william shakespeare said in such business action is eloquence. mr. speaker, we have before us a measure that is designed to do one thing and one thing only and that is to focus on getting our economy growing and generating job opportunities for the american people. the american people are hurting. we know that. there are people across this country hurting. as my friends have just outlined, there are individuals who have suffered greatly. and it is absolutely imperative that we do everything we can to ensure that they have job

opportunities and that those who are unable to find job opportunities have the assistance that they and their families need to proceed, especially during this time of year. any action that my colleagues are proposing on the other side will simply delay our effort that will ensure that we extend the payroll tax holiday for an additional year, and it will prevent us, it will prevent us from providing those benefits to people who are unable to find work today. so, mr. speaker, i will be discussing the underlying legislation when we proceed with consideration of this rule, but i urge my colleagues to oppose this point of order and allow us to proceed with consideration of the resolution so that we can put into place a legislative package that will get the american people back to work and

ensure opportunity for all. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. the question is, will the house now consider the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed say no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the question of consideration is decided in the affirmative. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from wisconsin rise? ms. moore: i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman requested the yeas and nays? ms. moore: yes. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays. a sufficient number having arisen, a yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. 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.]