what kind of reaction have you gotten? guest: it is and inflammatory topic. more than i have expected. host: liza mundy has been our guest talking about her cover story in "time" magazine "washington journal" -- "the richer sex" is her book. liza mundy. the house is now in session. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., march 21, 2012. i hereby appoint the honorable renee ellmers 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 17, 2012, 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, madam speaker. for many, tomorrow is just an ordinary thursday like any other day, but for hundreds of millions of people who have access to clean water and billions who have access to adequate sanitation, this ordinary thursday is part of a daily struggle. but this thursday is world water day where those of us fortunate enough to live in

developed countries are encouraged to reflect on just how fundamental fresh water is to our health, our children's well-being and how much we take for granted. we've never had to try to work that hard to find drinking water. we don't have to choose between drinking dirty water and going thirsty. for many of us, fresh water is so safe, abundant. it's hard to even imagine life without it, but on this world water day we should reflect that every 20 seconds a child dies needlessly from water-borne disease. today and every day women will spend 200 million hours collecting water. this week three million students will miss school because they lack access to clean water or sanitation. indeed, half the people who are sick around the world today are

sick needlessly from water-borne disease. there is a vision, there is a knowledge to do something about it, but sadly we don't have the resources and we actually don't have the plan. the united states is not only having an obligation, i think, to do the right thing and save lives, but it's also in our self-interest to provide access to safe water. united states security experts testified before this congress that water problems will contribute to the instability in states important to the united states' national security interests. with all the problems the world faces, congress needs to prioritize programs that deliver the highest return on investment with substantial multiply effects. when it comes to foreign assistance, increasing access to clean water is the most effective use of taxpayer dollars. the world health organization

estimates that up to $34 is saved for every dollar invested , saved from health care costs and resulting in increased economic productivity. indeed, it affects other efforts of our aid. we're trying to eradicate diseases like hiv-aids and tuberculosis, but taking the medicine with dirty water compounds the problems in terms of diarrheal diseases that results from that dirty water. madam speaker, since we passed the water for the world legislation seven years ago where chairman of the foreign relations committee, henry hyde, senator reid and senator frist were my partners, we've increased our leadership globally. we owe a debt of gratitude to secretary clinton who has made water a cornerstone of her work

while at the helm of the state department, but we do need to do more. and one simple step, an area where we find broad bipartisan support is the water for the world act that is co-sponsored with my friend and colleague from texas, mr. poe. this legislation strengthens the capacity of usaid and the state department, increases aid effectiveness, transparency, accountability for sanitation, water and hygiene, and it has no net cost, according to the c.b.o. i strongly urge my colleagues to co-sponsor this legislation and hope that we can move it forward in this congress as there has been movement in the senate. millions of lives will be transformed. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, for five minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker, and i would like to begin my remarks by

commending all of the citizens and young students in my congressional district and indeed throughout the country who have worked so hard to raise awareness about joseph coney and his brutal crimes, as we can see in this poster. there's coney and these are just a few of the photos of so many innocents who have been mutilated by coney and his thugs. joseph coney is a mass murderer whose campaign of violence against innocent civilians spans decades. the predatory forces doing his bidding is known as the lords resistance army, or l.r.a., and they have perpetrated some of the worst human rights abuses in our time. the l.r.a. has mutilated, rape and murdered tens of thousands of innocent people, many of whom are children. they target remote villages butchering civilians, abducting women and children to serve as

sex slaves and fighters. coney's bloody reach now extends to the democratic republic of the congo, the central african republic and the newly formed republic of south sudan. one measure that we could accomplish would be for the u.n. peacekeeping missions in the region to more effectively coordinate their actions, share information related to coney and the l.r.a. because this is a threat that crosses many international borders. i'd like to thank my colleague, congressman ed royce, for introducing a new bill, h.r. 4077, which i proudly support. h.r. 4077 would authorize the secretary of state to use the state department's rewards program to gain intelligence and strengthen the capacity of those who are actively engaged in fighting transnational organized crime and also apply it to the search for coney and the l.r.a. this program has served as a

valuable incentive for those with crucial information to come forward and help round up foreign nationals wanted for a range of brutal crimes and activities that threaten regional and global security and stability and u.s. national security interests. it would be an important tool in helping bring coney and his circle of thugs, the lords resistance army, to justice. i'd also like to thank congressman jim mcgovern for introducing house resolution 583 of which i am also a proud co-sponsor. mr. mcgovern's resolution echos current law and puts the house on record in strong support of u.s. efforts to counter the lords resistance army. it urges the president to work closely with congress to address critical gaps in u.s. strategy and to enhance u.s. support for the regional measures already there to fight the lords resistance army. as we have seen over the past 25 years, coney's assault on

innocent lives have no limits. now is the time to help bring joseph coney and his federal criminals to justice. as a nation knows that we have done all we can to end this ongoing tragedy and hold this evil man accountable for all of his crimes. i thank all of the young people throughout my district who have communicated through twitter and facebook and different modes of social media to express their outrage over coney's evil deeds, but now let's take action. let's pass these bills. i thank the speaker for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. gutierrez, for five minutes. mr. gutierrez: last thursday

different kind of march madness took place in the ncaa basketball tournament. in a game between kansas state and mississippi state, a puerto rican point guard for kansas state was met with taunts from mississippi state students while he was getting ready to shoot a free throw. the taunt, where's your green card? that's not the only march madness. earlier this month in stone -- san antonio, texas, had a trophy presentation and their chant was, u.s.a.! u.s.a.! why did they chant u.s.a.? because their team had defeated san antonio thomas edson high school, a team of mostly latino players. one u.s. citizen asked to produce his green card. one entire team of americans

taunted as if they were foreigners. these young people subjected to hatred, bigotry handled it well. rodriguez ignored the taunt and played a great game. if he hadn't been busy helping kansas state to play the game, he would have mentioned that he is part of miami or that all puerto ricans are americans. i'm proud that thomas edison students kept their cool. mississippi state and alamo heights have apologized for the taunts. that's an important step in the right direction. but that's not the issue. the issue is white people thinks it's ok to treat latinos as if they're second rate americans. why so many americans think that being latino means being a suspect in our own country. why they look at a young man named rodriguez and think he doesn't belong in this country. because misguided kids taunting latinos isn't really the disease. you see, it's just a symptom.

the heart of the sickness is more troubling. the truth is when it comes to latinos and immigrants far too many so-called leaders in our nation are starting the taunts. on the campaign trail and on talk radio and on tv and even here in this chamber, there are leaders that act like the biggest bullies in the schoolyard. if elected officials have no boundaries when it comes to scapegoating and demonizing immigrants and latinos, why should people at a basketball game know any better? why does an american, a puerto rican citizen basketball player get taunted by a green card? it's easier to understand when you hear the frontrunner for republican nomination for president promoting a national immigration policy that makes all latinos look like suspects and all immigrants look like criminals. mitt romney has said that the arizona anti-immigrant law, a law that essentially demants racial profiling of anyone who looks like they might be undocumented, is a model for

our nation. but that's not all mitt romney has said to american latinos. he has said that all 11 million immigrants, most of them latinos, should self-deport even if they've lived here since they were children and have american citizen children families. he's even gone as far, mitt romney, to attack the first latino supreme court justice. he believes that justice sotomayor is unqualified to serve on the supreme court. he's proud of the support of anti-immigrant extremists, including the author of arizona's anti-immigrant law. he's attacked the dream act, a perfectly reasonable bill, and mitt romney's hardly a lone voice. it's sad. one member of this house said he would be for any measure to stop illegal immigrants, quote, short of shooting them, making hanging them. gassing them? one other colleague called undocumented immigrants, a colleague of ours here, a

slow-rolling, slow-motion terrorist attack on the united states. pat buchanan wrote a book. folks like buchanan and limbaugh regularly use words like hordes and swarms to describe immigrants. maybe mitt romney is saying what he needs to say just to get the republican immigration and maybe some elected officials think their extreme rhetoric doesn't carry outside the halls of congress. but you know what, america knows better, and so do a group of kansas basketball players and a group of great kids from san antonio, texas. they know that words matter very much. and here's my advice to the romneys and buchanans of the world and a few of my colleagues here in the house. instead of bullies, why don't you be leaders? and why don't you try words that brings people together instead of insults that tears our nation apart? the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman

from michigan, mr. walberg, for five minutes. mr. walberg: thank you, madam speaker. this friday, march 23, marks the second anniversary of president obama's health care law. after two years, it's clear the law has already left more victims in its path than people it was meant to help. and unfortunately, along with the 20 million employees who will probably lose employer-sponsored health care, it may be our seniors who take the hardest hit. millions of seniors and disabled americans rely on medicare, yet the program is in danger. according to the centers for medicare and medicaid services, with the baby bomber generation about to retire, if nothing is done to the program the program will be bankrupt in 10 years. . instead of making medicare stronger through transparent and responsible reform, the 3rezz has decided -- the president has decided to cut more than $500 billion from the program.

money which then -- will then be used to fund his new health care law. if taking nearly half a trillion dollars from the nearly crippled program is bad enough, he's handpicked a special panel to slash away at the program even more. he knows our country is facing a budget shortfall, but instead of implementing responsible and transparent reforms, the president wants to take away benefits from medicare recipients to fund his agenda for new entitlements. the panel known as the independent payment advisory board, or ipap, is a group of un-elected and unaccountable bureaucrats who will be given power to ration care and even desire seniors lifesaving treatments. its members are not required to hold public hearings or disclose their meetings. their salaries will be paid directly out of trust funds used to pay medicare beneficiaries' health care claims. worse yet, doctors and patients

cannot challenge the ipap's decision in court. without a /5 majority in both chambers, congress has no power to change decisions. while this select group rakes in the perks, it will be the seniors left holding the short end of the stick. the health care law and ipap in particular will threaten their access to quality care. medicare is already known for its low reimbursement rates. physicians receive about 20% less from medicare than private health plans. forcing many to stop accepting patients just to stay in business. seniors will be left with fewer options and they may even be told they can no longer see their own doctor. that's why when i talk to seniors in my district they are scared of this law. they are worried about being left with fewer options. they are worried about not being able to see their own doctor. and they are worried about the government setting even -- cutting even more from the program. it's not just my district where

this concern is prevalent. according to a recent nationwide poll, 60% of our nation's seniors have an unfavorable view of the law. access to quality care for seniors should be a top priority and will remain so with me. i believe health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and their doctors. not by bureaucrats in washington who are burdening seniors and future generations with less choice, fewer services, and more debt. house republicans remain committed to strengthening and reforming medicare to protect today's seniors and make sure the program is still there for the next again racial. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott, for five minutes. mr. scott: thank you very much,

madam speaker. ladies and gentlemen of the congress, monica pearson with wsb television in atlanta, georgia, is indeed a true pioneer and a trail blazer -- trailblazer in television news. she broke barriers as a african-american and as a woman. as a news anchor for wsb television starting in 1975. 1975 was an important year and turning point, especially in the south. so it's very important for us to understand the significance of monica hoffman appearing as a nightly anchor, as the first african-american and first woman in the south at wsb television in 1975. and now 38 years later monica is

retiring. monica pearson brought a special talent, a sparkling personality, hard work, and a high nobility of purpose that appealed to everybody, to people of all races, and she became endeared to everybody from every walk of life. what a great american story is monica pearson. she paved the way for other african-americans and women to become news anchors and to become television journalists throughout the south. and so it is most fitting that we gather here today as she announces her retirement on the part of the united states congress to give her this special commendation. and also we give a special

commendation to wsb television and the cox enterprises management for making that critical decision at that important time in the history of the united states. and so because of her talent, because of her hard work, we in the congress of the united states recognize with high distinction monica pearson, an outstanding american. madam speaker, i'd like to submit my longer statement for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. gingrey, for five minutes. mr. gingrey: madam speaker, thank you very much. madam speaker, you'll notice that members from georgia on both sides of the aisle are taking the opportunity this morning during special order

time to recognize monica coffman -- monica coreman. we just heard from our colleague, representative david scott. i want to commend my friend, david scott, for organizing this tribute on behalf of one great lady. and i rise today as well to recognize monica coffman for her historic and outstanding achievements in broadcast journalism. atlanta is sad to see her retire from wsb and cox broadcasting, but we are very, very proud of her legacy. for the past 37 years she has brought atlanta the news from her coverage of the 1996 olympics, to her famous monica coffman close-ups of world leaders and celebrities. to her award winning work on issues such as the holocaust and domestic abuse.

as the first woman and african-american news anchor in atlanta, miss coffman broke both race and gender barriers. she has won more than 30 local and southern regional emmy awards for her talent, for her reporting, and those close-up interviews. miss coffman has also been named university of georgia's broadcaster of the year in 2001 and the georgia association of broadcasters' 1992 citizen broadcaster of the year. madam speaker, i will always remember however, one evening, july -- gosh i guess it was 2002 , it was actually november of 2002 when i was first running

for congress and that election night in a very, very close race , it went deep into the night, and finally about 11:00 it was news time at wsb and sure enough i had to go downstairs and get ready to be interviewed by monica coffman in regard to my race for congress. at that point we were behind. all counties except one had reported and i was behind. and monica was very sweet and kind to me. she could tell that i was a little nervous and worried and scared and she said, you know, have you picked up the phone yet to call your opponent to congratulate him on his victory? and i said, monica, i haven't. i'm not going to do that until the last vote is counted. and then shortly after hanging up the phone and being off the air, i get a call from my opponent telling me congratulations. indeed, those final precincts

came in and dr. gingrey, dr. phil was a new member from the 11th congressional district of georgia. i'll always remember monica coffman very kindly from that night. madam speaker, i ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the contributions and accomplishments of this great community leader, monica coffman pearson. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop, for five minutes. mr. bishop: request permission to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bishop: madam speaker, i am honored to join my colleagues from the georgia delegation in paying tribute to one of our nation's most tenured and pre-eminent broadcast television news anchors, monica coffman pearson. for more than 30 years she

served as the channel 2 action news nightly anchor at wsb-tv in atlanta where she used her superior media talents to educate, inform, and enlighten millions of viewers about current events that impacted our lives and influenced activities all around the world. prior to becoming one of atlanta's most watched and influential television journalists, monica worked as a reporter at the louisville times and whas-tv in kentucky. madam speaker, monica pearson is an award winning journalist who has been recognized on numerous occasions for other outstanding professional abilities and remarkable occupational achievements. however, she is much more than just an accomplished journalist. she is a loving wife, mother, mentor, friend, and role model to many.

madam speaker, my wife and i would like to extend our personal congratulations to monica pearson and to her family as they celebrate and reflect upon her outstanding career as one of our nation's leading broadcast journalists and admired media personalities. kentucky may have named her, but georgia claimed her and we are all better because she came our way. congratulations to you, monica coffman pearson. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. westmoreland, for five minutes. mr. westmoreland: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i come to the floor this morning with great sadness but also great honor to honor the service of one of

georgia's own, captain nichlas whitlock. on february 18, 2012, at camp lemonah in djibouti, africa, he gave the ultimate sacrifice while returning from a mission in support of operation enduring freedom. he was born to the proud parents of jimmy and claire whitlock on december 10, 1982. even at a young nick showed the maturity that he was full of integrity, and even in high school during one of his assignments he was given -- he was asked what he would describe a leader as. he wrote, a leader is a person that is in charge of a group. someone that everyone looks up to and wants to be like. a leader is also someone that is

willing to complete their goals and give 100% no matter what. a leader is willing to stand up for what he believes in even if he is alone. i want to be a leader because i think that is what god has called me to be. for all the young people that mr. -- madam speaker, that might be watching, we are always looking for a hero. i think many of you -- our young people can look, especially after listening to some of the things that nick did with his life, that he's a hero. nick lived on his own words and to say he was a leader is an understatement. he understood that success is achieved through hard work, faith, and dedication and lived every day as an opportunity to improve himself and the lives of others. nick graduate interested noonian high school in 2001 as an honor

graduate and was recognized for his outstanding achievements in both football and baseball. nick achieved his eagle scout rank and strove to use the skills he learned to influence every aspect of his life. he attended mercer university and called for the mercer bears baseball team. most notable nick's many campus activities were his leadership roles as mercer ambassador, president of his fraternity, sigma alpha epsilon, and senator at large for the student government association. in 2005, nick graduated with a bachelor of business administration degree and in 2011 he went on to earn his master's degree in business administration from the university of florida. . while studying at mercy, nick earned his pilot's license and was accepted in the u.s. air

force in 2006. nick trained with euro-nato joint jet pilot training program. 2008 he received his wings and was assigned to the air force special operations. he became part of the special operations squadron, which we heard about in the paper and news, and was promoted to captain in november of 2010 where he was assigned to the u-28-a aircraft. november proved to be one to celebrate as nick married the love of his life, ashley, the same month of his promotion. nick spread the happiness he found in both his marriage and life through his involvement in organizations such as alaska's healing hearts, a nonprofit organization enabling disabled military veterans to participate in outdoor activities. nick was serving on his fifth deployment in africa when an accident occurred while his aircraft was returning from a

mission taking not only his life but three of his fellow comrades. nick was laid to rest at forest lawn cemetery in his hometown in noonan, georgia, following a heart felt share -- ceremony at the baptist church. his friends said he wanted to become a better father, a better son. nick's wife said he was consider the and generous. he was a true gentleman. they both prayed for god so that their blessings would not stop with them but excontinued to everyone he met. his parents love and pride for nick unwavering faith, integrity and intelligence is never ending. they talked often about how though he was not the smartest, biggest or fastest, that he used every ounce of what he was

given to his highest potential. he was physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight in the eyes of the father. and the family. i am both honored and proud that a soldier from my district served with such courage and conviction. nick embodied all the qualities of an ideal husband, son, brother, friend, and i'd like to ask for unanimous consent for 30 more seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the chair cannot entertain that request. the chair cannot entertain that question. mr. westmoreland: well, i'll go outside the rules and let me say this, nick, we miss you, and until we meet again in the presence of our lord, i want to use a nice southern saying, nick, you done good. thank you, sir. the speaker pro tempore: the

chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, for five minutes. mr. defazio: this is a photograph from 1956 before we had a national transportation policy in the united states of america. if the republicans are successful with their budget and with their vision, this will be the future for the united states of america. there's a substantial number of republicans on that side who've drunk the cool aid of a guy -- kool aid of a guy named grover norquist and we should devolve transportation to the states. that is -- that's right. our national transportation policy will be set by the 50 different state. well, this is 1956, before we

had a transportation policy. this is brand spanking new kansas turnpike. look where it ends, a farmer's field in oklahoma because oklahoma chose not to build their section. that's the way things used to be and that's the way they want things to be again. we are now on the precipice of basically walking away from investment in our nation's infrastructure. 150,000 bridges need to be repaired. 40,000 of the pavement needs to be totally replacement, not just an overlay. we have a $70 million backlog in our major urban areas in our transit, and that's not even talking about building an efficient twifert -- 21st century transportation system to deliver people and goods more efficiently. and what's their proposal? 31% cut in an already inadequate budget or maybe no money at all.

actually, it's a bid odd. mr. ryan's budget, according to the congressional budget office, would not be enough to fund the uncontrolable outlays, i.e., projects already under way by the states for which the federal government has contracted to reimburse at the end of the construction of these projects. his budget wouldn't even meet that number. and in terms of authorizing the bill, they decided for the first time in history to make this a partisan history. dwight david eisenhower, republican president, he came up with the idea of a national transportation network. ronald reagan put transit into the highway trust fund. they want to take out ronald reagan's step of putting transit in the highway trust fund as an interim step before they do away with the program altogether. that's pretty extraordinary stuff. their vision is that we will go back to this state of affairs

in america. we cannot afford that. next week or the week after the highway funding -- temporary high waugh funding expires. the senate passed a bipartisan bill by overwhelming majority. the republican leadership has threatened their right-wing deaf lutionist, do away -- devolutionist, do away with it. we may continue the current system with some improvements for a couple years. that's a threat. that's what passes for a threat unless we pass our crazy h.r. 7 which does away with funding and dismantles the program over the longer term or the ryan budget which would end the program next year. but they won't let us vote on that because they know a bunch of democrats, just like in the senate where democrats and republicans came together and passed a transportation bill, they know that would happen here. so they got 80 or so ultra

right-wingers who wouldn't pass it. big deal. we could have a bipartisan bill next week putting millions of americans back to work, rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure in this country. but instead they want to devolve us back to a future. smaller government. yeah, that's great, guys. that's transportation policy for the united states of america competing in a world economy set by the 50 states without funding. what a great vision. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from washington, mrs. mcmorris rodgers, for five minutes. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today on march 21, a very special day, to celebrate the many contributions of those with down syndrome or also known as 21. today, march 21 has been officially designated by the united nations as world down

syndrome day. and the date is significant in and of itself because down syndrome, the origins of down syndrome and the underlying cause is a duplicate 21st chromosomes. we are born with 21 pairs, an x and a y, the down syndrome has an extra 21. three and 21 and today is march 21. the reason it is called down syndrome is because these characteristics were found out by dr. down. he had a caring heart. therefore we call it down syndrome today. five years ago my husband and i gave birth to a beautiful baby boy whose name is cole and he was born with that extra 21st chromosome and cole has given me an extra perspective of being a mother and for also being a member of congress. cole's birth has given me a

whole new purpose for serving in congress and he reminds me every day of the significance, the tremendous positive impact that every single person has on this world. and the fact that he has down syndrome today only makes me more curious as to the impact he's going to have both on our lives and in this world. he's an inspiration and he makes me a better person. through cole i've been introduced and welcomed by the disabilities community, a wonderful group of people in america who every day also celebrate the tremendous impact and the potential of every life in this world. i find myself grateful to so many who've walked this path before me and have improved the opportunities that cole as well as anyone with disabilities is going to have. today, there's greater opportunities through early intervention, education, advanced education and lots of opportunities for independent living. however, there's so much more that needs to be done, and so

today it's my turn to help carry the baton, to help work to unleash the potential of all those living with disabilities. i'm proud to co-chair the congressional down syndrome caucus with representative pete sessions, representative steve van hollen and delegate eleanor holmes norton and we are committed to working on policies that are going to enhance the quality of life for those living with down syndrome and other disabilities. and it's within the walls of congress that we will do just that. we're working to pass legislation, hold briefings and promote policies that will help those with down syndrome all across the country. so today is world down syndrome day, and a few minutes from now at the united nations headquarters, there's going to be a poem read. it's called "welcome to holland." the author is emily peril kinsly and i thought i -- pearl kinsly and i thought i wanted

to read it to all of you today. welcome to holland. i'm often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with disability, to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. it's like this. when you're going to have a baby it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to italy. you buy a bunch of guide booking and make your wonderful plans, the coliseum, the michelangelo, david, you may learn some handy phrases in italian. it's all very exciting. after months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. you pack your bags and off you go. several hours later the plane lands. the stewardess comes in and says, welcome to holland. holland? you say. what do you mean, holland? i signed up for italy. i'm supposed to be in italy. all my life i dreamed of going to italy. but there's been a change in the flight plan.

they've landed in holland and there you must stay. the important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, pesky place filled with famine and disease. it's just a different place. so you must go out and buy new guide books and you must learn a whole new language and you will meet a whole new group of people you would have never met. it's just a different place. it's slower paced than italy, less flashy than italy, but after you've been there for a while you catch your breath, you look around, you begin to notice that holland has windmills and holland has tulips and holland even has recommend brandts. -- rembrandts. but everybody is busy and going to italy and they're bragging about the wonderful time you have there. and you say, yes, i was supposed to go. that is what i planned and the pain of that will never, ever,

ever go away, but the loss of that dream is a very significant loss, but if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to go to italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about holland. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, in about six weeks the rainy season will begin in sudan. villagers will no longer be able to plant or harvest their crops. the roads will become impasseable. it is a time of year when people live off their harvest, their orchards and their land. but there is no food in the states of south kordofan and blue nile inside sudan. not because of drought. not because locusts have destroyed crops. no, madam speaker. this is a deliberate man-made

catastrophe made by sudanese president bashir. for years they have been dropping bombs in villages and fields. the people of the nuba mountains, primarily of black african dei sent, cannot work their fields for fear of being -- desent cannot work in their fields for fear of being bombed. roberts rokts bombard their villages. they carry out a scorch of policy. the people of south chord fanned and blue nile are suffering from malnutrition and a shortage of food. they are crossing into the newly independent nation of south sudan, setting up refugee camps along the northern borders. mainly women and children, they arrive traumatized, exhausted and malnourishes -- malnourished. he wants no witnesses to his

deliberate use of mass starvation as a weapon against his own people. . the clock is ticking madam speaker, because the rainy season is coming and no one will be able to get food into the areas. but the bombs will continue to fall from the sky. take a look at these photographs. the first one is a remarkable satellite image of villages being bombed in sudan. over here you see them flying north back towards the sudanese air base. right here you see smoke plumes rising from civilian villages. fields and/or chards being bombed. these are not military targets. it's not even a truck or pickup that might be used for military purposes. all you see is villages, huts, orchards. they don't do precision bombing, madam speaker. they just open up the back bay of the airplane and roll out

barrels of explosives. this is an image, madam speaker of the bombing of civilians. this is a war crime that took place on march 8. here, madam speaker, are the targets of the bombs and rockets. children, madam speaker, hiding and starving in caves. this photo was taken by john presenteder gast -- prenderghast, and george clooney. they saw the planes and rockets striking villages. the sthrithe mixture is from the satellite sentinal project set up by mr. clooney and digital globe which has donated millions of dollars of imagery from its satellites in an effort to provide an early warning system for human security in this rougeon of sudan. last friday i stood on the steps of the sudanese embassy with george clooney and jim moran and jim olver and al green. we were joined by georgia's father and journalist nick

clooney, john pendergast, our former colleague, tom andrews, martin luther king the iii, the president of the naacp, nicole lee, president of transafrica forum, fay williams, chair of the national congress of black women, activist dick gregory, rabbis david sapperstein and steve gahough. and ian schwab with the american jewish world service. we had a simple message. let food and humanitarian aid reach the suffering people of blue nile. stop raping, killing, and bombing innocent women, children, and men. i commend the obama administration for pressuring khartoum to let food reach these desperate people. more must be done. i urge the president to engage china to also demand unfettered access for human aaron aid. madam speaker, the world must increase the pressure on president bashir or watch

another crime against humanity take place in sudan. we must not be silent. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the lady from california, ms. speier, for five minutes. 7 -- ms. speier: thank you, madam speaker. i rise again today to highlight the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military. this is the 17th time that i stood here on the house floor to tell the story of a brave member of our military who has been raped or sexually assaulted by a fellow service member. today i will tell you the story of elie hell mer -- helmer who served at the prestigious marine barracks at washington, d.c. from 2005 to 2006. the marines who serve here in washington are known throughout the military as the tip of the sword. they perform ceremonial roles and participate in the silent

drill platoon. they are the creme de la creme. you will notice that elie's story follows the exact same pattern as the dozens of stories i told before and probably the same pattern of the estimated 19,000 rapes and sexual assaults that occur in the military in 2010. this is the pattern of the epidemic. this is elie's story. the harassment started as soon as she arrived in washington. lieutenant hhelmer was told she was selected to be the public affairs officer of the barracks based on her appearance. she was told that command want add good looking female officer to serve as a, quote, poster child. in addition to her role in the public affairs, she was also notified by mail that she was made a sexual assault and response coordinator. no one told her what the role required and the only thing she knew about the position was that

she would be appointed to do it. in march of 2005, a captain continually commented on her appearance and began to harass her. he told the lieutenant that he picked her to be a public affairs officer because she was the prettiest. he made sexual advances and kept sending her social emails. she spurned his advances and complained to the marine barracks' equal opportunity officer and provide a copies of the emails and details of the harassment. the marine corps did nothing. the following year the marine corps named lieutenant helmer to serve as the first female ceremonial parade flanking officer. part of her responsibilities was to attend a pub call for st. patrick's day that had been endorsed by the kohl member. when she objected to going, her superior, a major, told her it was a mandatory work event. the pub crawl involved a group

of marine officers identified in t-shirts going from bar to bar to bar on capitol hill drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, all paid for by the marine corps. lieutenant helmer was required to drink shots at the same pace as the large male officers. on those occasion when is she drank watttory keep herself from becoming intoxicated she was required by her boss to drink an extra shot as punishment. as a result of the fourth consumption of alcohol -- forced consumption of alcohol that night she became very intoxicated and left to find a cab to go home. her superior told her she needed to come with him to his office to discuss a business matter. when they reached his office, the major tried to kiss her. lieutenant helmer resisted and the major grabbed her, knocking her over, and hitting her head against the wall. she lost consciousness at that point. when she awoke, she found herself lying on the floor in

the major's office wearing his shorts. the major was found naked from the waist down, passed out on the floor nearby. after lieutenant helmer left the major's office, she reported it to her command that she had been raped. her colonel discouraged her from asking for a rape kit examination saying it would, quote, be out of his hands, unquote. in spite of the colonel's objections, lieutenants helmer sought and obtained a rape kit and medical examination. despite the medical and circumstance evidence of the rape, the navy criminal investigative services initially refused to investigate. claiming the lieutenant's inability to recall her rape precluded any investigation. after a delay that destroyed the crime scene, the ncis eventually conduct add very brief investigation and concluded that nothing could be done in light of lieutenant helmer's lack of consciousness during the assault. in addition, the marine corps,

quote, lost helmer's rape kit. the lieutenant complained to the major's superior, although that marine officer admitted to the ncis investigation was woefully inadequate and removed the major from his command position. he refused to press charges or take any further steps to punish the rapist. instead, he told lieutenant helmer you're from colorado, you're tough. you need to pick yourself up and dust yourself off. he then remarked, quote, i can't babysit you-all the time. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from american samoa, mr. faleomavaega. for five minutes. mr. faleomavaega: madam speaker, to my colleagues here in this great chamber of the people's house, the house of representatives, i know of no other place in the world, only in america that a man whose

father was a devout muslim from kenyan africa, who was married to a white woman from the great state of kansas, and with all due respect to our birther friends, this man was born in the great state of hawaii, this man is none other than barack hussein obama, our president, madam speaker. our president of all of the united states of america and its territories. i want to share with my colleagues one of the most critical issues as advocated seriously by president obama and that is in the field of education. i commend president obama for his commitment to providing every child in america access to a complete and competitive education all the way from cradle to career. in recent years the united states has drastically fallen behind other countries when it comes to education. the most recent program for international student assessment report published in 2009, researchers ranked the performance of 15-year-olds

internationally and found that the united states ranked 17th in reading, 24th in science, and 30 nth math. to make america competitive once again, madam speaker, president obama has introduced several key initiatives that focus on early childhood investigation, reforming and investing in k-12 education, and restoring america's leadership in higher education. in its first major action of his presidency, president obama signed the american recovery and reinvestment act which makes significant investments in education. the act included $5 billion for early learning programs as well as programs for children with special needs. the president also introduced accountability standards for the head start to ensure that early childhood programs are continuing to deliver quality service. in addition, nine states have also received approximately $500

million from the race to the top early learning challenge fund to create systems of high quality earlry learning -- early learning and development programs. the president also set a goal for the united states to have the highest proportion of college graduates by the year 2020. to reach this goal, the president also focused on k-12 teaching and learning. the american recovery reinvestment act provided $77 billion to strengthen elementary and secondary education, including $48.6 billion to stabilize state education budgets and to encourage states to ensure that all schools have highly qualified teachers, improve achievement in low performance schools, and ensure college career readiness. the president also has invested to make sure that teachers are supported as professionals in the classroom while also holding them more accountable. effective teachers will be

rewarded as states would be encouraged to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom. the president has also supported innovation in classroom, such as the expansion of high quality charter schools, investments in the race to the top competition between states and also providing flexibility for states who are looking for greater relief under the no child left behind act. the president also introduced the educate to innovate campaign which is also -- to improve, which is also aid to improve participation and performance of american students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. president obama has also introduced measures to make college more affordable. under the president's leadership, the maximum pell grant amount has been raised to $5,500. the pay-as-you-earn proposal will also give about $1.5 million students the ability to cap loan payments at 10% of their monthly income and also

allow debt forgiveness balance at 20 years of payments. the president also -- the plans will also enable and students and college graduates to consolidate their loans and reduce interest rates. colleges and universities will also be rewarded based on their ability to offer relatively lower tuition costs and provide value to especially low-income students. madam speaker, if we prepare america's children with a high quality education, we enable them to succeed in today's global economy. furthermore, our ability to educate america's children will determine the economic competitiveness of our great nation. as our president has recently stated, no issue will have a bigger impact on the future performance of our economy than education. once again, madam speaker, i commend president obama by his commitment in helping our children succeed from cradle to career. i thank him for his bold leadership and vision for the

future of our children and great nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. lewis, for five minutes. mr. lewis: madam speaker, for more than 30 years monica pearson has been the voice of wsb-tv, the atlanta abc station. she's a caring individual and one of the most loved television anchors in the nation. you can always see her up in metro atlanta, somewhere serving and sharing, giving back to the community of people who have supported her for many, many years. . when monica delivers the news she believes it because they believe in her and they know she believes in them. she didn't just read the news, but as a member of the

community, she tried to discover the truth. and we trust what she said. though she may be leaving, she's not retiring from her involvement with our city, our state and our nation. i wish monica and her husband, john, the very best. we love her. she's been good for our city, for our state and for our nation. madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from -- the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, for five minutes. mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, today i rise in tribute to retiring wsb-tv anchor monica pearson, who

brought atlanta the evening news for almost four decades. and before i go into that, something is compelling me to expose the virtues of a glass of coal -- cold ice tea in the middle of the day after a hard morning at work outside, you come in and you enjoy that lunch with the glass of ice tea. it's a southern tradition. and i want to use that in talking about monica pearson. monica is the recipient of numerous awards including more than 35 emmys, and she broke

the color barrier and the gender barrier by becoming the first black female to serve as evening news anchor in the atlanta broadcast market. she's known for her commitment to excellence, her commitment to professionalism, and also for her optimism and her compassion, and she's also known for sharing her talents with -- by mentoring aspiring female news anchors across the nation. and it was marian pittman, the news director at wsb-tv, who worked with monica for more than 15 years that said that

monica is to wsb what sweet tea is to atlanta. yes, she was a quenching force when she arrived in atlanta. it was at a time where atlanta had recently elected a blunt spoken man of action, jackson as the mayor of atlanta. it was a time of transformation. and at those kinds of periods you have a lot of turmoil going on among people. one group losing control. the other group taking control. and it was at difficult moments during that time politically and people were polarized and divided, and then monica arrived on the scene. a young, beautiful, personable,

nonthreatening, cheerful person. wsb-tv did something that was revolutionary. they made her the first african-american and the first female to have that evening news slot. and boy, i tell you, you talking about a glass of -- you talking about a glass of ice tea in a hot time, that's what she was. monica was so enthusiastic. she still is. upbeat and she just lit up the tv screens. i personally just couldn't keep my eyes off of her.

she was so cheerful. her laugh and her smile are still ineffect -- are still infectuous. monica pearson closeups, she interviewed world leaders, elected officials and celebrities and many of the people that she interviewed were just astonished the depth of her preparation for the interviews. while we all wish her god speed in her well-deserved retirement, we can take heart that she will continue to be a fixture on the atlanta scene, always ready with a smile and an inciteful word. monica pearson is and will remain an atlanta treasure and

a glass of good cold ice tea. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. sarbanes, for five minutes. mr. sarbanes: thank you, madam speaker. this week we're marking the second anniversary of the passage of the affordable care act, and i wanted to take a few minutes to speak to a number of groups that have bep fitted from the health care reform, a reform -- benefited from the health care reform, a reform i strong slee supported. if you -- strongly supported. if you think back at the time of debate, millions of people were struggling to access the health care system. so let me speak to the struggles of two or three particular groups. many adults across the country

had had the experience of trying to get health care coverage, health care insurance and discovering that because they had a pre-existing condition, as it's so called, that they would be denied that coverage. and if you look at some of the policies even today, you can see that the list of pre-existing conditions is a long one. you don't have to have some kind of exotic disease or condition, diabetes, hypertension, other things that plague millions of americans across the country could be the basis for an insurance company denying coverage to you. as difficult as that experience was for many adults to have when they went to try to purchase coverage because they had a pre-existing condition, the most heartwrenching stories we heard were of parents who had a child that suffered from

pre-existing condition and that child was unable to get health insurance coverage. it literally was tearing the hearts out of families across this country. one of the things that the affordable care act put in place was a prohibition against denying coverage for children based on a pre-existing condition. es that now law as a result of the -- that is now law as a result of the affordable care act, and those that argue that we should repeal the affordable care act, i cannot believe they want to go back to a time when a family would have to look at their child who had a pre-existing condition and know they couldn't get coverage, couldn't provide health care for that child. i can't believe that we want to go back to that. a second group that benefited are young people, many of whom after they graduated from college could no longer stay on

the health insurance plan of their parents because it wasn't provided for. under the affordable care act, if you're a young person you can now stay on your parent's health insurance plan until age 26. this is making a huge difference for millions of americans across the country. already hundreds of thousands have taken advantage of the opportunity to stay on the insurance plan of their parents which means that young people, many of whom think they're invincible but then something happens to them and they need that health insurance coverage, now they'll have it. it's still in place because under the affordable care act there's now a requirement that health insurance plans cover young people until age 26. i cannot believe that those who want to repeal the affordable care act want to go back to a situation where millions of young people can't access that health insurance coverage.

and let me talk about the third group. our seniors who two years ago were dealing with the situation of having to come out of pocket for prescription drugs because of the so-called doughnut hole under the prescription drug benefit program. and under the affordable care act we put in place the opportunity now to begin closing the doughnut hole and making sure that seniors who are in the doughnut hole have access to 50% discount on prescription drugs, brand name prescription drugs. so now our seniors, many of whom before were making a choice of do i cover the cost of food, do i pay the rent or do i cover the cost of my prescription drugs because they were having to come out of pocket, now many of them don't have to make that terrible choice because of the assistance provided by the affordable care act. i cannot believe that those who

are urging repeal of health care reform want to take our seniors back to a place where they have to make that terrible choice between whether to cover the rent, buy food or pay for their prescription drugs. so, madam speaker, there's so many good things already in place as a result of the health care reform, and i cannot believe that those who want to repeal it want to deny our children, want to deny our young people, want to deny our seniors the benefits that it provides. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from florida, ms. wilson, for five minutes. ms. wilson: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, travon martin

was a 17-year-old young boy who lived in my district and attended school within walking distance of my home. i have known his family most of my life and they're pleading, begging, pleading, crying for justice. the whole city of miami is pleading for justice as they try to remain calm. every day i will announce to america how long justice for trayvon martin has been delayed by using this chart. today marks the 25th day. trayvon martin was murdered 25 days ago and still there has been no arrest. the evidence is overwhelming.

every single day new evidence emerges and still there is no arrest. to date the f.b.i., the d.o.j., the florida department of law enforcement, the state attorney's office are all involved in investigations surrounding his death. and still there has been no arrests. what does it take? what more does it take? the eyes of people pleading for justice in this congress and everywhere i go are watching florida. the grand jury has been selected, and the grand jury is not reflective of trayvon's family nor trayvon. that must be corrected immediately. i've heard from trayvon's

family. i heard from his brother, his uncle, his classmates, his teachers, community leaders, the school superintendent. i even spoke to my mother begin late last night. everyone is calling for justice. what happened to trayvon was a classic example of racial profiling quickly followed by murder of our dear, sweet trayvon martin. do you know that it took three days, three whole days for the police to release trayvon's body from the morgue to be shipped to miami for a burial and the funeral simply because the police department would not submit the necessary paperwork? sanford police, do your duty. arrest the murderer today. 25 days is much too long. we must stand up for justice. we must stand up trayvon and we must stand up for our children.

i yield back my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from florida, ms. brown, for five minutes. ms. brown: thank you. thank you. before i begin let me just mention that today visiting us in the capitol is the former mayor of jacksonville, mr. payton. i want to welcome him to his capitol. i want to thank the the gentlewoman from moi for her -- from miami for her comments and really all of our colleagues from both sides of the aisle. this is a very tough time for us coming from being the

representative from sanford, florida. i want to commend, first of all, the mayor and the county commissioner, ms. williams, and the city manager. we met friday for over five hours discussing what we could do to bring some kind of clarity to this situation. this is a tragic situation and having met with the family, met with the mother, it was very, very difficult to talk with the mother and father and know that i truly feel that justice has not taken place. in a society that we live in, it's very important that we have to feel that the criminal justice system is fair. and it's fair to all parties. i cannot stand before you today

saying that i feel that the system operated fairly. one of the first things i asked to happen is that there be an arrest. well, we don't have an arrest. it's 25 days. the second thing i ask that we release the tapes. and we have released the 9-1-1 tapes and i've got to tell you it has taken a life of its own because the things that was told to me in the meeting is not the things that was reflected in the text. so you have the media looking into it, and i call them the fourth branch of government. they can verify what's on the tapes. they can verify whether or not you would take someone's comment as to what they said happened

when this young man is not there to tell his side of the story. we have a person that everyone talks about was over the neighborhood watch. i want to point out self-appointed over the neighborhood watch. self-appointed. that means was not trained. clearly if you listen to the tapes the police dispatcher told him to stand down. less than five minutes later this young man was dead. he was just walking at the time and he was a black african-american that on the tape that looked suspicious. it was raining and you're looking suspicious in a neighborhood just walking on the sidewalk. and he started following him and the dispatcher said clearly,

more than once, we need you not to follow this young man. we are on the way. we will handle it. less than five minutes later this young man is dead. this is not acceptable. in this society. i have asked that the justice department, and i want to thank all the tricaucuses on weighing in for the importance of having an independent investigation. and that's the justice department. and they have committed there will be no stones unturned and that they will look into what has happened as far as the violation of his civil rights. whether it's a hate crime, but in addition we want to make sure that we have an independent review of how the police force has handled this situation. i have some grave concerns when i discuss some of the things

that have happened. for example, he was drug tested and he was tested -- he didn't have any alcohol in his system. yet the person who did the shooting was not tested in any manner. no drug test. no alcohol test. no lie detector test. it's just his word that he felt threatened. so therefore he shot to kill. that's unacceptable. we are a better society than that and we are going to work to make sure that this will never happen again. to whom god has given much, much is expected. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. brown: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until 12:00 noon today.

>> what did kennedy do when he was sworn in in 1961? he lowered taxes. he lowered the top rate from 93% to 70%. he instituted the investment tax credit so people could invest in businesses. those are the things that he did and he was able to help the country get back on track economically. what did ronald reagan do when he inherited a difficult environment? he lowered taxes and simplified tax rates. this is happening around the world, too. this is brand new news from great britain. george osborne on wednesday said government will accelerate a cut in the corporate tax rate. they are going to lower their corporate tax rate from 26% to 25%. the same thing that we are proposing to do. in addition, instead of raising

taxes on higher income workers, they are lowering the top tax rate. here's the reason they said they did it. many of you may recall they raised tax rates in 2009 on individuals. and it didn't work. it said, the higher tax rates created massive distortions and raised little extra revenue. osborne said other changes to tax laws would ensure the nation's wealthiest would pay five times more tax than under the current law. that's the reason for that is you have greater economic growth. what we want to do is grow the economic pie for everybody and produce higher revenues for the government because we have higher activity. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: thank -- >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. i will finish up then. thank you, mr. chairman. our colleagues on the other side, particularly the president of the united states, want to demonize the most successful -- house republicans want to demonize the code. this is the internal revenue

code. over 10,000 pages long of complexity. there are volumes and volumes of additional pages that explain these 10,000 pages of which hardly any of it is at all readable. and while it's commendable to say let's attack big oil, it's even politically advantageous to say let's attack big oil. get rid of those subsidies for nasty big oil. if you are going to ignore big auto, big solar, big technology, big labor you are going to ignore everybody else because it's not politically expedient, you solved nothing. the real problem here is a big complex, cumbersome tax code that no american understands. no american understands this. what our plan does, what the house plan does, mr. chairman, is it closes and eliminates corporate welfare, finally. it gets the government out of the way of picking winners and losers. it lets our natural free economy choose who will win, who will lose. and it allows americans,

particularly the lowest income americans. to excel and grow and expand their own businesses and their own opportunity. you can never, ever pull the poor out of poverty. i ask never bring the poorest of americans up by simply pulling someone else down. our plan cleans up this tax code. it reduces rates. eliminates loopholes. and simplifies the tax code. it finally does what both sides have said they wanted to do for decades. and with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you. at this time i'd like to yield 10 minutes to mr. cole to talk about ensuring a strong national defense. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i yield myself three minutes to start. normally on our side of the aisle we are very critical of the president for spending too much. the one area in this budget where in our view he spends too little is actually defending the country over the next decade. under the president's budget

we'll reduce what this committee projected last year on defense by $500 billion. it's easy to talk about that just in terms of dollars and cents, but i think you ought to convert it into what it really means. less manpower, less capability. we'll actually lee dues the number of soldiers we have by 72,000 in the next five years. we'll reduce the numbers of marines we have by 20,000 in the next five years. we'll retire over 200 aircraft permanently next year over a five-year period. we'll reduce the number of tactical fighter wings we have from 61 down to 54. the end of the budget window we'll actually have 25 fewer combat ships than we projected having. that in -- at a time that we live in that's very dangerous. these cuts will be compounded unless we'll be able to see quester. the president agrees with us

that see quester is a bad idea. to give you an idea if that would happen on top of what the president has proposed in his budget, you can eliminate another 100,000 soldiers in the united states army. those are the projections of the american military. so dealing with see quester is an extraordinary -- sequester is an extraordinarily defensive thing for the country. the president doesn't want it to happen but in his budget has presented us no way to avert sequester. the republican budget does that and does it in a responsible way. this budget does what the supercommittee should have done and looks at long-term entitlement spending, makes appropriate adjustments there but maintains our defense capability in the meantime. in addition, this budget restores $200 billion of the $500 billion that the president proposed to cut from defense. and we trust our colleagues on the house armed services committee, on the house defense appropriations subcommittee, to

work with the american military, work with the administration, as to how best to use those additional resources. yet at the end of that process it's worth noting we still make a tremendous contribution to deficit reduction and defense. this committee will spend $300 billion less in a 10-year period than we projected we would spend only a year ago. it's not as if defense is somehow escaping the budget imperative that we are all dealing with. it's just making a responsible contribution. history's taught us when it comes to defense first place is the only safe place. this budget preserves our ability to defend ourselves, work with, and defend our allies and nothing, my colleagues, is more expensive than war. war brought on by weakness is the most dangerous war of all. so i want to commend my colleagues on the budget committee and our chairman for acting i think in a very responsible way dealing with the fiscal challenge we have, but understanding that in the end of the day government's primary

obligation is to defend its people and we are able to do that under this budget. with that i'd like to yield three minutes to my colleague from california who also sits on the defense appropriations subcommittee, a long time member of the house armed services committee, mr. calvert. >> thank you. thank you, mr. cole. i appreciate you sharing the time. we are still a country at war. just left a meeting with general allen and -- for the last hour going over what's going on in afghanistan and the commander in that region. we have 90,000 combat forces as you-all know deployed in afghanistan. we have no intention of staying there indefinitely but we must ensure our troops have the equipment and the support they need to accomplish the mission. we also must ensure that promises made to our veterans are kept. we have emerging threats and turmoil across the globe.

we have near peer threats such as rise in china and russia. rogue regimes such as iran and north korea. north korea just announced the other day they are going to go ahead with a test on intercontinental missile. if you-all think they are just testing satellites in space, it's an interesting theory. we have asymmetrical threats from groups such as aqap, al qaeda organizations. joint chiefs of staff dempsey right here in this room told this committee this is the most dangerous time that he's experienced in his lock decorated 38-year career in the military. this is not the time, as mr. cole pointed out, further cuts would further destabilize and increase the risk to our forces and the ability to secure the homeland. the president's budget provides the bear minimum of our forces for f.y. 2013, would devastate them in later years, and a planned $487 billion cuts over

10 years. the g.o.p. budget on the other hand ensures that congress fulfills the constitution requirement for a strong national defense. it also recognizes the fiscal realities it face -- face us by incorporating the recommended statements. i just want to point out again on the impacts of the sequestration, both the method and the accounts, amounts, we have -- we have on our ability to protect our vital interests, our national interests around the world, make no mistakes, sequestration would decimate the military that we are ceding american military superiority. this is an unacceptable choice and the g.o.p. budget rejects sequestration. instead this budget, the g.o.p. budget, tackles sequestration head on by taught thoughtfully

and responsibly dealing with the real drivers of our national debt, mandatory spending programs. so the choice is clear. we can either continue to bury our collective heads in the sand as the president's budget does, or we can be honest with the american people and make the hard choices now that will ensure that america continues to be the beacon of opportunity and success. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: >> thank you. next, mr. chairman, would like to recognize my good friend, mr. aiken, who spent his entire career on the house armed services committee, one of the recognized experts on defense issues. mr. aiken: thank you. i think sometimes as we get into the numbers and look at the details, maybe we must sort of the big picture. i'd like to stand back and look at a couple 100 years of american history. and we have a pattern in american history and that is that we are always not prepared for the next war. and we weren't prepared for the war of independence, the war of 1812, they burned the capitol.

we weren't ready for that. and we really weren't prepared for the great world wars. when it came to korea we launch add whole lot of marines with no real backup for them. and it's fortunate they didn't all get killed. time after time we have cut our defense because things looked peaceful. now today what we are talking about doing is cutting defense when things don't look peaceful, which seems to be a really bizarre thing for us to do. the republican budget turns that around and changes that and maintains at least what's a reasonable level of defense. we are going to be dealing with the same number of dollars in defense as we had last year. we are holding that constant. obviously the big sort of damocles is this idea of sequestration which was a bad idea to start with and it's not looking any better now. the democrat, secretary of

defense panetta, was asked about it. what did he say? he was asked is this like shooting yourself in the foot? he said, no. this is like shooting yourself in the head. i think that was probably a pretty apt summary of what this would do. we are dealing with the sequestration through a reconciliation and a reasonable process of trying to recover those savings that we know we need to take. i just want to call people's attention to the fact, though, that the sense that you could fix the problems in our budget by cutting defense just doesn't work mathematically. you could cut defense to zero, cut defense to zero and a whole lot of other discretionary spending and you can't begin to balance the budget this year. and so by -- you just can't get the money out of defense. if you do, you're going to pay a whale of a price when we end up having to go to war, a price in the lives of my sons and your sons and daughters.

so this is a pretty serious thing but we are taking care of that. you can't fix the problems by cutting defense. we are going to leave defense where it is. we are going to deal with sequestration. and even so, the world is a dangerous place. it's dangerous in the middle east. it's dangerous around china. it's dangerous around korea. people who sit in classified briefings continue to hear that all is not well internationally. it's the best way we go. >> i ask the gentleman can i have another minute minute and a half. >> two minutes. >> i'd like to close with mr. young of indiana who has worn the uniform of the united states. again has put himself in harm's way to protect all of us. so his reflexes are particularly

valuable. >> he i thank my colleague from oklahoma. i just add what my colleague said, any proposed cuts to our military budget ought to be strategy based. that's what we have heard on the armed services committee. -- clear, coherence, detailed, strategic analysis that would justify the sort of cuts we see in the president's budget. without those cuts i would say the president's budget would show absolutely no deficit reduction. all the other government agencies here at the federal level enjoy generous net increases during this challenging time, but it is defense that the president has indicated he wants to see bear all the cuts. our federal government's highest priority is to secure the common defense of the american people. and we need to make sure we are preserving that. we have hedged against future threats. we have recognize the that the

world hasn't gotten any safer in recent years in our own budget. in contrast the president's budget, he announced his new budget figures for defense and other areas at the same time he announced a new strategic review for our defense posture. the timing is uncanny. it seems to suggest that this was a budgetary exercise not a strategy driven exercise. i would just say moving forward i think this is an area where the federal government can make some improvements through the quarterly, every four year quadrennial defense review. i think that needs to be a moreau bust document. that should ultimately drive our defense spending. in the absence of an administration that is prepared to lay out a more coherent defense policy, we have taken a defense approach in this budget. i yield back. eeat this time i'd like to yield 10 minutes to mr. garrett for getting spending under control and putting a budget on the path to balance.

>> i thank the chairman. i yield myself two minutes of that and followed by rokita, mr. young and others who would like to speak for two minutes. thank you, mr. chairman. today house republicans are introducing a budget that enacts real spending discipline. it restores economic freedom. it protects the future of our national safety net programs, and makes america competitive again through pro-growth tax policies. to say that president obama and the senate democrats have failed to lead on the most predictable economic crisis in our nation's history would be a dramatic understatement. currently every second grader in this country is on the hook for about $50,000 of national debt, that's the share. yet president obama and senate democrats continue to overspend and borrow more money every year. senate democrats haven't been able to -- been in the gate debate at all. they failed to pass a budget for over 1,000 days. and the president's most recent attempt at a budget came a week late and added even trillions of dollars more to our national

debt. every family in this country understands the necessity of a balanced budget. every business does as well. families understand that spending your budget, especially in hard times, requires difficult choices. people across the country make those hard voices every day because they know they look to the future. they don't have the luxury of waiting for the next election cycle. neither does washington anymore. the american people deserve better. they are constantly asking their leaders in washington when will you stop borrowing our money from our kids? president obama's answer is never. would he like you to believe the problems are not that bad. he would like you to believe we can simply solve this problem by taxing billionaires more. the people of this country, they know better. republicans here know better. actually paying for all the spnding that president obama demands would actually mean huge tax increases on hardworking american families today. even with accounting gimmicks and massive tax increases, the president's budget never balances. when i asked this question to the o.m.b. director, he could never give me a specific answer.

he could never tell me when the president's budget balanced because it never does. the president's budget continues to take money away from our kids for perpetuity. this is a void in leadership that has substantial consequences for all americans and that is why we as republicans attempt to fill that void as republicans we will lead. i yield two minutes to mr. rokita. >> i thank my colleague for those comments and follow up by saying we have the respect to tell -- tell the american people through this budget the truth. we are in a seriousnies cal crisis -- serious fiscal crisis. as we'll talk all day today, all night tonight, all year last year, we'll continue telling people the truth. the old adage was, never touch that third rail of politics. never talk about medicare. never talk about social security or medicaid.

touch it and you will die. well, we have been touching it. for a year now. we'll continue to do it. so that we have that respect for the american people. and what i think a lot of people around this town forget is that every one of those constituents who may rely on these programs, they forget that these constituents also have grandchildren. they know that they'll have children of tomorrow. who speaks for them? maybe no one here in washington, but this budget speaks for them. and it puts them on equal par with the people in the here and now. this budget speaks for the children of tomorrow. this country's best asset, our posterity. i yield back. >> mr. lankford for two minutes. >> thank you. this will be a long day for all of us to get through the conversation. i hope we can have a great dialogue in it. last weekend, quick story, last

weekend i took my 15-year-old daughter to the church down the street from us and put her behind the wheel of my car. that's a terrifying moment for any parent, and we started driving around a parking lot that has no light poles in it in talking about the brakes and accelerator and turning and backing up and going through that process because i'm her dad. and i don't want her to have a wreck in the days to come. she'll have driver's ed and someone else will walkthrough all that on the big streets out there. i wanted to get started on that because it's coming soon. it's something we have all done. it's the same dynamic for us in look at our budget in some ways. we know we have a debt crisis coming. we know interest rates are about to skyrocket. we know all these things are coming. and we can either say, you know what, somebody else, somewhere down the road, is going to take care of this. or we are going to take responsibility. my personal belief is, we are all elected as leaders and as represent -- representatives of

our district. we all have different approaches, but we cannot sit back and do nothing. that's part of our great flussstration with the senate for three years now won't do a budget at all much it's part of our frustration with the president's budget because it alludes to the fact if it taxes people more we can get out of it. when we look at it it never gets to balance. it was part of my frustration when secretary geithner was here and i asked him a point-blank question, is balancing a bad thing? he skated around that question and said, we have to get started. i completely agree. we do have to start. we cannot rapidly shut down all spending. we cannot cut things off. these are families and people and lives that are involved in this. but to just sit back and do little when we know the problem is great, ignores the reality of what is coming. so as leaders i'm challenging all of us come together, let's have great dialogue on this, and

work through the process because something absolutely has to be done. with that i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. i want to thank the chairman and his staff for their tireless work on this particular product. it's a strong willingness to collaborate. on february 16, 2012, before this very committee, the secretary of treasury presented the -- this administration's fiscal year budget. and he said this comment. we are not coming before you to say we have a de-- defenive solution, what we do know we don't like yours. today, don't believe anyone on the republican side is saying that this budget resolution is the exclusive solution to the deficit crisis. as i have said in the past, that the american people deserve an honest debate. as has been shown over the many hearings held in this committee, there is nearly unanimous agreement to the size, scope, and immediate problem that this committee and the country faces

with our debt problem. we know the crisis is coming and it will be sudden. this administration, members on this committee on both sides of the aisle, know we rank just behind the countries like ireland, italy, and greece in our country's debt to g.d.p. ratio. we all understand without true entitlement reform the growth of new retirees will place an unsustainable burden on our country and benefits for all our children and grandchildren. there is a legal term known as willful negligence in theaire of torts. this is the conscious and volume theirry act that shows the reckless disregard for the consequences they have, that we have as legal duty to prevent. while this is only one vision, it still presents a solution to avoid the consequences that we all know exist. i believe and i swore an oath to defend this country, just as second panetta said before this committee, the greatest threat to this country is our debt. for us to do nothing that is worthwhile is worse than gross negligence. it is a violation of the oath that we all took to serve.

i look forward to passing this budget and getting this country back on a path to solvency. i yield back. >> mr. young. >> i thank my colleague. the last year on this committee we heard from all manner of different experts. economists, civil servants, government officials, you name it. with few exceptions there's been a recurring theme. we have heard time and again that a credible specific plan is needed to avoid fiscal catastrophe in this contry. like last year, the president has given us a semblance of a plan but it is vague and unfortunately gimmicky in many areas. it's a document that many in his own party cannot support. thus far my good friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle have not produced their own plan to get our nation back into fiscal balance and to restore economic growth in this country. i look forward to seeing that plan. i do understand some details may be forthcoming. i hope we have in there a plan

to save medicare from insolvency. but then there is this budget. the path to prosperity. it's a credible specific plan. the budget gets our spending under control, creates the conditions to let the private sector begin growing again, and it putsure country back on a path to -- puts our country back on a path to fiscal balance so it can begin to pay off this oppressive intergenerational debt. because of time limitations i won't go through all the numbers, but suffice it to say that according to c.b.o. our neutral referee, it reaches balance in the years ahead. it produces surpluses and it pays down the debt. some on this committee may not like this budget, but they cannot deny it clears the bar. it is a credible specific plan. we weren't sent here by our constituents because they thought we had all the answers, but they wanted us to be part of the solution. and that means embracing and putting forward and articulating and arguing for specific solutions to our nation's challenges.

i challenge others to adopt that approach and i commend our approach to your attention and support. thank you. >> yield to mr. garrett for closing. >> to say this. the american public is looking to washington right now for truth. the american public is looking to us for choices. they are looking to washington to finally lead to prevent this oncoming train wreck. mr. chairman, i want to thank you for your leadership in trying to avoid that train wreck. i yield back. >> i yield myself the rest of our time opposing. to thank my friend, mr. garrett, my fellow colleagues on this committee. we have a choice to make. we see this coming. we know a debt crisis is on our horizon. look no further than europe to see what it looks like when that happens. my daughter is 10. my son is 8 and my son, sam, is 7.

but the congressional budget office is telling us by the time they are in their mid to late 20's coming out of school, hopefully beginning a nice creering, starting a life for themselves, that's when the c.b.o. tells us the economy crashes. their computer can't conceive of a way in way the economy can continue past that point because of our debt. this is what they are telling us right now. if i had a dollar for every political consultant that told me don't touch these programs, don't touch medicare, medicaid, all of these things, because the other part is they are going to run these negative ads against you and you might lose your election. if i had a dollar for every one ever those people, we could probably retire the national debt. we can't afford to keep acting like politicians. this country needs leaders. what leaders do is they see a problem on the horizon, they

know what it's going to do to their country and their children , and they stop it from happening. they break the political gridlock and the conventional wisdom and put forward ideas and plans to stop a problem. what we are trying to do is to preempt bitter austerity. by putting a plan like this in place, which no budget is perfect, it's the result of consensus. it's the result of coming together and compromising with one another to get us on the right path. what we are trying to do is stop a debt crisis from happening in this country and to do it on our own terms. we don't affect medicare for people 55 and above in this plan. we are doing it in a gradual phase-in on our own terms. if the bond markets get us, if a debt crisis comes, which all the experts we have had in here tell us it could be within two years,

then it's austerity. it's cutting current seniors. pulling the rug out of those people who have already retired and organized their lives on these benefits. raising taxes, slowing down the economy, denying young people the careers and jobs and the prosperity that their parents told them they would get because that's what we do in this country. that's what's at stake here. i would simply conclude by saying this. failure to do something about this such as the senate not budgeting, such as the president with four budgets literally just ducking this issue, choosing not to fix it, failure is a choice. doing nothing is a choice. sticking with the status quo is a choice and that choice is to have a debt crisis. that choice is to deny my kids when they come out of school of a future. it's a choice to consign current seniors to a system of broken promises.

we reject that choice. we want to save this country. the american idea. we want an opportunity society with a safety net so that people can reach their potential. so that we are a society of upper mobility, of opportunity. we have work to do on that. we got to make sure that the rung on the ladder of opportunity is extended to everybody in every corner of this country, inner cities, rural areas, wherever we haven't had it. we are never going to be able to do that if we stick with the status quo and have a debt crisis. that's why we are offering this budget. with that, i yield for the purpose of the remainder of their time for their arguments to the minority, mr. van hollen. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. i would just point out that although the path for prosperity has a section entitled repairing the safety net, it's very hard

to see how cutting medicaid by 1/3, bly the year -- by the year 2022, repairs a safety net. it will expose seniors and kids to much greater hardship and to lots of vulnerability. i don't see how transferring medicare costs to seniors repairs the safety net. and one of the reasons you have to do those things in your budget is because you ask nothing of the folks at the very high end of the income ladder who have done so well. and that is the reason bipartisan groups that have looked at this budget challenge have said if we really want to reduce the deficit in a credible way, which i hope we all do, you have to take a balanced approach. otherwise you're asking middle income americans, you're asking seniors, and others to bear the entire brunt of deficit reduction while those folks who

have already gotten lots of breaks are getting even more in this budget. and we just don't think that's shared responsibility. with that i six minutes to ms. kaptur. >> i thank the ranking member, mr. van hollen, and wish to state that the best way to balance budgets is to put everybody back to work so we can -- they can pay their bills and the nation can pay our bills. the republican budget before us makes the wrong choices. it will actually blunt economic recovery which has been so hard to get started. and harm job creation in our country. but it's no real surprise that the republican budget is anti-jobs. with more than 400 days in the majority here in the house, the republicans have failed to propose a comprehensive jobs agenda. democrats have been working hard to dig us out of this job deficit hole that the bush administration left us in. as that chart so adequately

represents. we can see over the last 24 months the private sector has created 3.9 million private sector jobs in this country. but we know many americans are still out of work and the republican majority has taken little action, including in this budget, to yield two jobs. the republican budget ignores the president's job package completely, which contains provisions that would boost hiring, that would help our unemployed veterans, and would create opportunity for all american families. on the most critical near-term issue facing america today, jobs, this republican budget is a nonstarter. the vast majority of republicans voted no on democratic measures that save the auto industry in our country. along with the millions of high-paying jobs it represents, breathing new life into our industrial heartland. republicans oppose the payroll tax, cut extension for middle class families, which will help keep up demand so that businesses get customers and can hire more workers. republicans pushed for deep cuts

in key sectors that economists have warned will stall growth in our economy and job creation with it. of course republicans have proposing their own partisan transportation bill. and actually their proposal bankrupts the highway trust fund and would destroy thousands of jobs. meanwhile, their approach to curbing wall street abuse is to weaken oversight of organizations like the securities and exchange commission in this budget, the commodities future trading commission, the financial consumer protection bureau, cutting those budgets and seeking to block appointment of the bureau's director. their proposal would make it impossible to carry out necessary financial reforms leaving unchecked the same wall street excess that is created the mess we got into in the first place. republicans are trying to cut the legs out from the consumer financial protection bureau before it even becomes fully operational. the bureau exams big banks for violations of overdrafts, credit

card, mortgage rules, protects student loan borrowers, seniors, and service members. one lesson we learned from the financial crisis is you have to keep your eyes on those boys and girls up there on wall street and the way you to do is probably fund these agencies. i would like to yield the remaining time that i have to congressman ryan, a fantastic member from the state of ohio, who understands the needs for a jobs budget. >> i thank the gentlelady. we were dusting off ole political terms earlier. i think we need to dust off the old voodoo economic terms by the first president bush when he referred to the supply side economics going on here. in ohio we've got this saying that most states have, if if it sounds too good to be true it normally is. and the republican budget sounds from the other side like it is going to just solve every problem in the united states. cut taxes for everyone. cut services.

and there will be no real effect on average folks. the bottom line is one of the gentlemen said, you know, we are not prepared for war. and i'm concerned and many of us are that we're concerned our children aren't prepared for the economic war that they have to go out and fight. and as much as we need to deal with the long-term debt and deficits, if we don't make critical investments into education, into alternative energy sources, we are not going to be competitive. that's the bottom line. and here's where i think it all breaks down. on this chart that chairman -- ranking member van hollen presented with the success of the top 1%. we are 30th in health care results. and we spend more than every other country. we are 28th in infant mortality.

the united states we rank 28th in infant mortality. and we are cutting the medicaid budget by 1/3 in the next 10 years and not asking those people whose income has gone up dramatically over the past 10 or 20 years, we don't ask them to pay anything. >> this house budget committee hearing, markup, will likely continue all day. all day coverage at c-span.org and we'll have it within the hour on c-span3 television as well. the u.s. house gaveling in for an afternoon working on a bill that would repeal part of the 2010 health care law. live house coverage on c-span. >> oh, god we confess our hope for the future's challenge by present circumstances. as we read or watch the news, our faith often falters. thank you, god, for examples of

steadfastness and belief in the future. we thank you for people who plant trees though they may not live to enjoy them. we thank you for public service and grassroots folk who struggle to preserve our society so that our children and grandchildren may inherit an inhabitable world. we know, oh, god, that all people who believe and hope for the future are not necessarily doing it in your name. but we acknowledge them as yours and we pray that you help us, each of us, to join their ranks, restore our faith, remind us that you are our hope. for the sake of him who died young so that we all might have a future, we pray, amen. the speaker pro tempore: 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 1rk the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> i demand a vote on the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on -- the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it, the journal stands approved. >> i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. the point of order is withdrawn. the pledge of allegiance will be led today by the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter. ms. slaughter: thank you, madam speaker. and i would like everybody in the chamber to join me. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, great communities are made up of wonderful people. and atlanta is a great community. and monica cufeman has been an integral champion in making atlanta a great community. for nearly 40 years she's been an anchor on wsbtv in atlanta and now she's retiring. from her warm smile to her anxiously anticipated hair style, to her passion and her warmth for our beloved metro atlanta, we all love monica coffman. what a great champion of goodwill, southern charm and spirit she has been. mr. price: and for all the wonderful work she's given to our region, and our state and our nation, monica, we love you and we wish you god speed in your future activities and your future happiness. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise?

does the gentlelady seek unanimous consent? the gentlelady is recognized. ms. chu: a year aggie in afghanistan, harry lu was the victim of hazing. he was punched and kicked by his peers as they poured the contents of a sand bag over his face and mouth. this physical torture and hazing lasted a full three hours and 20 minutes. 22 minutes after his abusers stopped, harry killed himself. he was my nephew. the perpetrators were let off with virtually no punishment. that is why for months after his death, i have been calling for congressional hearings to look into the prove lens of hazing in the military. the military must implement a zero tolerance policy and must change the culture of hazing that is not only accepted but encouraged. and tomorrow, almost on the anniversary of his needless and

avoidable death, congress will act. i urge all of you to watch online the armed services -- armed service's committee hearing on hazing. we must hold the military accountable so no one will ever again have to go through what harry endured. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: request permission to ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: madam speaker, the gulf coast is known for its tropical storms, devastating hurricanes, wildfires and floods. and whenever such storms hit, c-130 aircrafts sweep in from fort wort, texas, as a moment -- fort worth, texas, at a moment's notice. they bring cargo to rescue civilians. the c-130's have carried out 423 gulf storm response missions, evacuated 300 storm victims and transported over 900 tons of emergency supplies to the gulf region alone.

but, madam speaker, for some reason the air force wants to remove the c-130's from texas and send them to montana. madam speaker, what's the last time you heard of a hurricane in montana? the expensive unwise transfer of the c-130's would cost taxpayers $100 million. the c-130's have come to the rescue in hurricanes katrina, rita, ike and gus staff. when i served in the c-130 unit at houston's he willington field in the 1970's i came to know how efficient these aircraft are. that's why they are nicknamed the hercules. keep these life-saving planes in the gulf where they are needed. don't send them to montana. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: madam speaker, i rise to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the united states peace corps. since its founding in 1961, the -- the peace corps has sent 100,000 american men and women

to serve in 139 countries. among the 9,000 serving around the world today, are residents of rhode island's first congressional district, sara, jenna, andrew, frank, daniel, peter and daniel. peace corps volunteers create new opportunities, expand development and encourage progress around the world. year after year these selfless men and women immerse themselves in the day to day life of a developing nation, collect with local residents and work with them to share information. with the implementation of new policies this year for the peace corps response program, even more volunteers will be eligible to help those most in need. i applaud the peace corps for its accomplishments, offer my thanks to the dedicated volunteers that make it so successful and thank them for the difference they're making in the world. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wilson: madam speaker, during the president's effort to lobby for the government

takeover of health care, he promised the american people his proposal would cost $940 billion and, quote, won't add a dime to the deficit and is paid for up front. the washington examiner editorialized last week, the president, quote, knew the funny numbers his administration were putting out, end of quote. but delivered a speech with blunders anyway. last week the congress congress -- the congressional budget office offered a report say thing -- stating that obamacare will cost $7.6 trillion. a figure almost double the initial price tag that he promised. based on these reports it is clear that the false claims are being exposed. house republicans have already voted to repeal the unconstitutional government takeover of health care which the nfib has said will destroy 1.6 million jobs. the senate now needs to vote. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized. ms. johnson: madam speaker, for decades women in this country have unfairly borne the burden of excessive health care costs. fortunately through the affordable care act, millions of women no longer have to worry about going bankrupt if they get sick. the affordable care act ensures that being a woman will no longer be treated as a pre-existing condition. the affordable care act bans insurance companies from requiring women to obtain a referral for access to necessary ob-gyn care and bans insurance companies from dropping women when they get sick or pregnant. despite these accomplishments in women's health, the war on women continues in texas. the governor, governor perry,

political decision to forego nearly $40 million in federal funding for the texas medicaid women's health care program would leave 130,000 women without access to preventive health services. despite these obstacles, i will continue to fight for the increased access to quality health care for women in texas. thank you, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new hampshire rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. today the congress will take up h.b. 5, protecting access to health care act. amongst other things this bill will repeal the independent payment advisory board, one of the many ill-conceived provisions that were part of the so-called affordable health care act. this independent advisory board basically is charged -- has charged 15 unelected officials

with making decisions about what's covered for both patients and -- below the age of 65, and medicare recipients. mr. bass: it is the affordable health care act's way of reducing costs, ie, telling doctors and patients -- i.e., telling doctors and patients what this he can -- they can and can't do. 15 unelected brewer cats in w.a.c., are going to tell what you you can do. they stand ahead of you and your doctor. now this bill did not make it to the floor last year. it has -- it will make it to the floor this year with bipartisan support. it costs $3.1 billion, which is made up with a tort law reform provision which has been added, but that shows that $3.1 billion is what's saved by denying americans access to health care that they've purchased or that they deserve. join me in repealing the independent payment advisory board. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the minority

leader rise? mr. hoyer: i ask to speak for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hoyer: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i thank the gentlewoman from new york for yielding time. i'm proud to stand with her and with other democratic members in support of the women's access to comprehensive, affordable health care. access that was greatly expanded by the affordable care act which passed two years aggie this week and which my republican colleagues want to repeal. thanks to health care reform, over 13 million previously uninsured women will gain access to health insurance. thanks to health reform, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to discriminate against women by charging them higher premiums than men for the same exact policy. or by denying them coverage altogether simply because they are women. thanks to health care reform, millions of women with private insurance will no longer have to pay for preventive services like

mammograms, cervical cancer screening, contraception and a host of other services. as a dad of three daughters, as a grandfather of two granddaughters and as a great-grandfather of one great-graund doctor, -- great- granddaughter, i am glad we did that. thanks to the act, preventive services are are already free for medicare beneficiaries. if i had the time i'd say the other benefits of this bill that we ought to keep and i will not join my friend from new hampshire in trying to repeal a provision of this act. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. broun: i rise today to give a tribute to a friend, a television broadcast icon. the talented and eloquent monica coffman pearson. in 1975 monica became the first african-american, in fact the

first female to anchor a daily evening news cast in atlanta. years later it was reveal thad she beat out jane polly and oprah winfrey for the coveted position. and just like these high profile women, monica has risen to achieve extraordinary success. for her diligent reporting and superb story telling, she has won 30 awards and numerous honors. however, monica does not simply report the evening news. i can confidently say that she is one of georgia's finest. throughout the years she has lent her voice in efforts to charitable causes within her community, living out her motto, it's what you do with what you have that makes you what you are. on behalf of the united states congress, it is my privilege to honor america's and atlanta's top news leader, monica coffman pearson. for her outstanding career and

significant contributions to broadcast journalism. we love you, monica, we'll miss you. and god bless you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i rise today to support the provisions in the affordable care act and close the gender gap in health care. beginning in 2014, health insurers cannot charge women more just because of their gender. health insurers cannot deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions like having survived cancer or having been pregnant or having been a victim of domestic violence, a condition that is almost as disproportion atly experienced by women as pregnancy. mr. miller: and health plans are will have to cover services like mammograms, screening for cervical cancer and, yes, contraception. republicans in congress are trying to block these and other reforms so that health insurers or employers or members of congress can make women's health and reproductive decisions

rather than trust those decisions to women. madam speaker, women can make those decisions. they really don't need hem from -- help from insurers or employers or politicians or radio talk show hosts. women want to make those important personal decisions for themselves and they should. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. olson: madam speaker, i rise to speak in strong support of h.r. 5, the path act. which will fix two of the worst problems with owe bam -- obamacare. it repeals the advisory board, a group of 15 bureaucrats who will ration health care for seniors on medicare. and h.r. 5 enacts medical liability reform. each year 1/4 of america's

doctors are hit with lawsuits. 90% of them are later found innocent. these frivolous lawsuits drive up costs and limit patient's time with their doctors. in 2003, my own state of texas enacted liability reforms bringing more than 14,000 new physicians to the lone star state. many of these doctors moved to rural areas, filling a critical gap in care. madam speaker, these reforms have lowered costs and increased access to care in texas and will do the same for america. i urge my colleagues to listen to the american people and support h.r. 5. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from connecticut rise? the gentlelady seek unanimous consent? the gentlelady is recognized with unanimous consent. ms. delauro: madam speaker, among the many beneficial

reforms for women in the affordable care act passed two years ago this week is an end to the discriminatory practice of gender rating in which individual women are charged more than men for the same coverage. we know for a fact these sorts of discriminatory policies are not something that insurers will just change on their own. according to a report that the national women's law center released earlier this week, over 90% of the best-selling plans in states that have not already banned gender rating still charge women more than men for the very same coverage. this costs women and their families approximately $1 billion a year. because we fought and we fought hard two years ago, gender rating will be a thing of the past in 2014. at long last a woman's health will be put on equal footing with that of her spouse, her

son, or her brother. this is just one of the many benefits for women in the affordable care act. i could not be more proud to have helped pass this piece of legislation which will transform women's health in this country. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. westmoreland: madam speaker, i would like to join with my other georgia colleagues today in congratulating monica coffman pearson on a distinguished career. ms. pearson known most of us has been watching it for a long time as monica coffman is retiring after more than 30 years as a nightly anchor for wsb-tv and channel 2 news in atlanta. i along with many georgians have welcomed her into my home every night while watching the news. although her retirement is well deserved, she will be missed by us all.

after graduating from the university of louisville, she began her career as a reporter for the louisville times. later she took part in a summer program for minority groups at the school of journalism, graduate school, at the university of new york. before coming to atlanta, ms. pearson worked in a public relations field and as an anchor forewhas-tv in louisville. even with her retirement i know she'll continue to be a role model for the citizens of georgia and continue using her helping hands to raise money for charity and local community organizations. i wish ms. pearson the best in her future endeavors, and monica, the nightly news will not be the same without you. thank you very much. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from new york seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you very much, madam speaker.

ms. slaughter: two years ago i was really honored to serve as the chair of the house committee on rules and bring this historic affordable care act to the house floor. it was one of my proudest moments. and i'm standing here today equally proud to defend that law from the ongoing war on women. when it comes to health care, women are classified as a pre-existing condition. for decades women have been routinely charged more for health insurance than a man who seeks the very same coverage. did you know that if a business employs more women than men it can choose to raise everybody's premiums? regardless of gender, to cover the highest cost which is in their mind of insuring women. women are only paid the standard insurance coverage but they also pay a separate cost for maternity coverage. in illinois, a 30-year-old woman must pay $278 a month and additional $270 month maternity

coverage in case she needs it. insurance companies claim that these added costs are because women are more likely to visit doctors, get checkups, take prescription drugs, and have illnesses. everyone knows that preventive care, everyone but the insurance companies apparently, it saves us money in the long run and we women, the majority in the united states, are tired of being second class citizens. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? >> to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? >> i do. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i'm a doctor and as a doctor who still treats patients i understand how important it is to have health care for the millions of americans who depend upon it. particularly medicare. therefore i fully support the repeal of the independent payment advisory board, a new government bureaucracy of 15 un-elected, unaccountable officials created by the president's health care law.

mr. cass youdy: as it turns out the ipap can only save money by slashing payments to physicians, to medicare vantage programs, and prescription drug plans, things that our seniors depend upon daily. i cannot imagine why my democratic colleagues support making it more difficult for a senior to obtain the care that she needs and deserves. the faith that centralized planning of the ipap will be successful in controlling costs brings to mind samuel johnson's quote regarding second 345eur7b8gs. it is a triumph of hope over experience. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from delaware seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carney: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to remember the reverend maurice moyer who died tuesday, march of, at age 93. reverend moyer was one of delaware's most respected and beloved citizens and a prominent

civil rights leader. as president of the wilmington branch of the naacp from 1960 to 1964, reverend moyer led the fight for open public accommodation and fair housing. he was part of the 1963 march on washington. and participated in the voting rights march from selma to montgomery in 1965. reverend moyer fought tirelessly for equal rights for all and was an inspiration for everyone who knew him. he did so much to make delaware and our country a better place for all of us. it was a privilege for me to know him personally and to join his family and friends for his 90th birthday party where we celebrated his incredible life and legacy. i will always remember reverend moyer's broad smile, his strong voice, and his kind heart. my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> to address the house for one

minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bilirakis: thank you. madam speaker, i rise today to express my concern with the independent payment advisory board. this un-elected bureaucracy is another example of the extreme flaws in the massive health care overhaul. the power that would be wielded by the ipad is unprecedented. more troubling it diminishes the oversight of the ability of congress, a fundamental element of our nation's system of checks and balances. many doctors and care providers in my home state of florida already are unable to accommodate the new medicare beneficiaries and the ipad will create further uncertainty and can certainly harm seniors' ability to access care. madam speaker, this health care bill is not working. we hear about major problems from every facet of the health

care system, both patients and providers. repealing the ipad is an important step in rolling back this deeply flawed and unpopular health care bill. i yield back the balance of my time. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from nevada rise? ms. berkley: to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. berkley: madam speaker, i feel as if it's deja vu all over again. just one year ago washington republicans proposed a plan to kill medicare by turning it over to private insurance companies. past the house. luckily it failed in the senate. now just one year later republicans are pushing yet another plan to kill medicare and devastate nevada's seniors by forcing them to pay thousands more out of their own pockets for health care. mr. speaker, it was a bad idea for nevada's seen when it was first proposed. it's a bad idea for nevada's seniors now.

unfortunately, these are the kinds of priorities we have come to expect from washington republicans. instead of strengthening medicare, washington republicans have spent this year trying to undermine it in order to pay for massive taxpayer give aways to big oil companies making billions of profits and tax breaks for corporations who are shipping our jobs overseas. it's a matter of getting our priorities straight and the republicans in washington just don't get it. we need to put nevada's seniors first, not big oil executives, not washington's -- wall street billionaires, we must focus on creating jobs and not killing medicare by turning it over to greedy insurance companies. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? >> yes. a the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman >> thank you. i rise in strong support of h.r. 5. a bill we are bringing to the floor today to repeal the

independent payment advisory board, a group of 15 un-elected bureaucrats here in washington, d.c., that under the president's health care law would be able to passion care for our nation's seniors. most hardworking american families out there would much rather the decisions between a patient and a doctor to be made on health care not some un-elected bureaucrat to be allowed to ration our grandmother's care. mr. scalise: that's why we are repealing this law hopefully it's going to accepted it over to the senate and we'll finally be able to get some good bipartisan support over there. as part of this reform we are also not just repealing we are replacing it with real commonsense medical liability reform. this is something that should have been in the president's law but of course his law wasn't about reform it was about a government takeover. we are actually putting in place legislation that would put commonsense medical liability reform in place according to the harvard school of public health. 40% of medical malpractice suits filed in the united states are, quote, without merit. what does that do?

that dramatically increases the cost of health care because so many doctors out there will tell you that many of the tests they run on us are not because of our health to look at health outcomes, it's to avoid frivolous lawsuits. we finally address that lowering the cost and improving quality of care. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. butterfield: over the past several months we have seen republicans wage war on women's health. nowhere can the republicans ill for limiting access to affordable quality health care be seen more clearly than in their attempt to dismantle the affordable care act. improving health care has long been a priority for women. reflecting their experiences as patients, mothers, and caregivers. for decades insurance companies have been able to deny coverage and charge higher rates for women simply because of their gender. thanks to the affordable care act, the greatest advancement for women's health in a generation, this will no longer

be legal. this law moves us closer to the day when essential women's health services are covered. prevention is a priority. care is coordinated. on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the affordable care act, i join my colleagues in protecting health care reform for women and i rebuke all attempts to continue scrimtorily health insurance policies that result in women paying more than men. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5 the health efficient accessible low cost timely health care act of 2011 which also contains h.r. 45 , the medicare decisions accountability act of 2011. i'm a co-sponsor of both these very important pieces of legislation. the independent payment advisory

board, ipab, must be repealed as this board will have extremely negative consequences on american families' health care. mr. latta: this board of unelected members will be making decisions for tens of thousands of medicare patients. the power to control the purse strings will give enormous power to control what type of care a patient receives. i strongly believe that physicians and parents are in the best position to decide their own health care and the ipab must be repealed. in addition, the health act is absolutely needed. i've been working on medical malpractice issues since my time in the ohio general assembly when we passed successful tort reform. the current system is broken and places a $210 billion burden on our nation's health system each year. h.r. 5 will be -- will bring savings for patients and doctors and is an important step in helping our medicare liability system, make sure that it works in this country. i support both bills and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? mrs. capps: to address the house

for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlelady seek unanimous consent? so recognized. mrs. capps: madam speaker, i rise to recognize the ways that young people in my congressional district and around the country are benefiting from the affordable care act. before health reform, young adults were the age group most likely to be uninsured, losing their coverage right after they left home and entered the work force. but thanks to the health reform law, 2 1/2 million young people including nearly 10,000 in my communities, now have health insurance. and some of them have reached out to tell us how the law is working for them and their families. jamie from santa barbara wrote, i got back on my parents' insurance and was finally able to visit the dentist and get a new prescription for eyeglasses that i desperately needed. maria says, as a recent graduate, i felt completely vulnerable. with health care reform, i'm now able to stay with my parents'

health insurance which has given me peace of mind while i search for employment. madam speaker, health reform is working for young people on california's central coast. we must ensure the law stays strong to keep them and their families healthy and i say the same for this entire nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from the northern mariana islands seek recognition? mr. sablan: address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sablan: thank you very much. madam speaker, 40 years ago a doctor founded what is known as tan holdings, the largest private employer in the northern mariana islands. over four decades, dr. tan, together with his wife and their children, nurtured their small homegrown business into an international powerhouse. tan holdings has become one of the region's most important tourism businesses with hotels, booking agencies and soon air.

the company also provides personal and corporate insurance to some of the world's best known consumer goods and islands, is active in real estate and publishes a newspaper. in addition to this business accomplishment, they have established a foundation which has donated millions of dollars to deserving causes and activities on our islands, setting an example of social responsibility. please join me in congratulating tan holdings for his 40 years, helping to build the economy of the northern mariana islands and economies throughout micronesia and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from maine seek recognition? ms. pingree: address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pingree: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, in the two years since its enadget, the affordable care act has truly improved health care for families in maine. it has given 190,000 seniors access to free preventive care and saved them over $5 million

in prescription drug costs. it has allowed 7,000 young adults to stay on their parents' insurance. and in maine it has helped 1,300 small businesses provide their employees with health coverage. more critical benefits are on the way. including banning insurance companies from charging women more. simply because of their gender. yet here we are again debating how to undo these successes. debating how to block women's access to contra septemberives. and this week considering propose -- contraceptives. and this week considering proposals how to dismantle medicare and shift the costs back to seniors. this must stop. we can't afford to go back to the status quo. denying women equal access to care or telling seniors they're on their own or letting families go bankrupt just because someone got sick. we must let the affordable care act stand so more americans have the chance to reap the benefits of true health care reform. thank you, i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from hawaii rise? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, it's been 236 years since we declared independence. but it's only been 92 years since women could vote. we have fought for equality. fighting our way from being second class citizens. one such battle is the discrimination in health care. for so long insurance companies have denied coverage for pre-existing conditions like pregnancy, breast cancer, c-sections and domestic abuse. 90% of the best selling plans charge women more. ms. hanabusa: some plans require women to even get a pre-authorization before they can seek ogbyn services. from -- ogbyn services. from 2014 that will no longer be the case. just a few months ago, efforts by -- ob-gyn services.

now attempts are to repeal the affordable care act. this is an act that's been a great equalizer for women and children. don't let them turn the clock back. we should not have to do another 100 years to battle for equality. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. moran: madam speaker, today in sudan, tens of thousands of men, women and children are huddled in caves in the mountains in the blue nile state where they're hiding from aerial bombardment and rocket attacks unleashed by the sudanese government in khartoum. they have nothing to eat because they've not been able to plant crops this year. and although the world stands ready to provide life-saving assistance, that same government in khartoum refuses to allow them access to it. when the rainy season descends

on sudan in the coming weeks, it will be too late to get food in and these people will face starvation. madam speaker, for decades this congress and successive u.s. administration have expressed the will of the american people that we will not allow so many innocent people to die in a struggle for land and power. i ask my colleagues to condemn the sudanese government's assault on innocent people and denounce president bashir as i decision to use food -- about a sir -- bashir's decision to use food as a weapon of war. we have little economic or political interest in this situation, but we do have a profound moral obligation to speak out. khartoum must withdraw its armed forces, stop attacking civilians and allow humanitarian access immediately. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask for unanimous consent on the committee on house administration be discharged from further consideration of house concurrent resolution 108

and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 108, concurrent resolution permitting the use of the rotunda of the capitol for its ceremony as part of the commemoration of the days of remembrance of victims of the holocaust. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution? without objection, the current resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask for unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on the motion to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the

vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. any recorded vote on the postponed question will be taken later today. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and concur in senate amendments to bill h.r. 886. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 886, an act to require the secretary of the cherry to mint coins in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the nation's first federal law enforcement agency, the united states marshal service, senate amendments. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from ohio, mr. stivers, and the gentleman from north carolina, mr. miller, each will control 20 minutes. and the chair now recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. stivers: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection. mr. stivers: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. stivers: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to urge the house to concur in two minor amendments made by the senate to h.r. 886. introduced by the gentleman from arkansas, mr. womack, and passed by the house last december with more than 300 co-sponsors. the amendments which are unobjectionable merely certify that the coins produced under the program outlined in the bill will comply with existing law requiring that they be produced at no cost to the taxpayers. madam speaker, the 112th congresss ago, during the first session of the first congress, george washington signed into law the judiciary act. and appointed the first 13 men who formed the basis for the nation's first federal law enforcement agency. the marshals service will celebrate its 120th anniversary -- 125th anniversary in three years. this legislation authorizes issuance of coins recognizing

that anniversary. surcharges on the coin sales will generate funds for a number of law enforcement-related entities, primarily the u.s. marshals museum. i urge adoption of the bill as amended and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. miller: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. miller: thank you, madam speaker. the u.s. marshals and deputy marshal were created by the first congress in the judiciary act of 1789, the same legislation that established the federal judicial system. the marshals were given extensive authority to support the federal courts within their judicial districts and to carry out all lawful orders issued by judges, by congress or by the president. their first duty was to support the federal courts and they delivered -- they served summons, subpoenas, writs, warrants and other process issued by the courts, made any arrests necessary and handled

the prisoners. they disbursed the money. our marshals paid the fees and expenses of the clerk's courts, jurors, witnesses, they rented the courtrooms, jail space, what we probably now call a bailiff, the janitors and on and on. they ensured that the courts functioned smoothly. they took care of the details so that the judges and the lawyers could concentrate on the cases before them. they made sure that the water pitchers were filled, the prisoners were present, the jurors were available, the witnesses were on time. but that was really only part of what the marshals did. when george washington set up his first administration and congress first convened, they both quickly discovered a gap in the constitutional design of our government. it had no provision for any administrative structure throughout the country. both the congress and the executive were housed in the snation's capitol and no agency

was established -- designed to represent the federal government anywhere else. the need for a national organization quickly became apparent. congress and the president solved that in part by creating specialized agencies like customs and revenue collectors to levy taxes and tariffs. but there were still many other jocks of the federal government that needed to be done and no one to do them. the only officers available to do it were the marshals and they're deputies. so the marshals were pretty much the federal government throughout much of the country. and they pretty much did everything. they took the national census every 10 years until 1870, they distributed presidential proclamations, collected a variety of statistical information on commerce and manufacturing, they supplied the names of government employees for the national register and they performed other routine tasks that were really necessary for the central government, the federal government, to function effectively. over the past 200 years, congress and the president has

called on the marshals to do all manner of things, to carry out unusual and extraordinary missions like registering enemy aliens in time of war, capturing fugitive slaves from that lamentable period of our history, sealing the american border against armed services, excuse me, against armed exhibitions aimed at foreign countries and swapping spies with the soviet union, and they remained a law enforcement agency. within the last decade the marshals retrieved north carolina's, my state's, copy of the bill of rights in a sting operation, the copy, north carolina's copy had been stolen by sherman's men when sherman's army came through, came through raleigh after they went through atlanta and treated raleigh with the same loving attention and care that they had shown atlanta. . we are proud to have our copy back and thank the marshals for having done it. madam speaker, i support this

deserved honor for our marshal service, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from ohio. >> thank you, madam speaker. i recognize -- yield time to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. womack, as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas for as much time as he may consume. mr. womack: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for his time and i thank the gentleman from north carolina for his kind remarks. i want to thank the speaker of the house and leader cantor and chairman baucus for -- bachus for giving me the honor and privilege for helping shepherd this important piece of legislation through the house. as was already mentioned in previous remarks, this bill, 886, passed overwhelmingly through this house with i think only a single dissenting vote late last year in the first year of the 112th congress, and it's gone over to the senate and it's come back with an amendment that simply reassures the american

people that none of the production costs, other costs associated with the minting of this coin, that commemorates the 225th anniversary of the marshal service, will be borne by the taxpayers. it just further assures the discerning public out here the effort we are doing today, while honoring a great law enforcement agency in the u.s. marshal service, but at the same time does not cost the taxpayers any money. i urge strong support for this bill as amended and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. miller: we have no further speakers. i yield back my time as well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. stivers: thank you, madam speaker. i have no further speakers. did you yield back the balance of your time? i would just urge adoption and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: all time having been yielded back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in

the senate amendment to h.r. 886. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the gentleman from north carolina. mr. miller: on that i demand a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman ask for the yeas and nays? mr. miller: i do. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 519 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 119, house resolution 591, resolved, that any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 5, to improve patient access to health care services, and provide improved medical care by reducing the excessive burden the liability system places on the health care delivery system. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and amendments specified in this resolution and shall not exceed six hours equally divided among and

controlled by the respective chairs and ranking minority members of the committees on energy and commerce, the judiciary committee, and ways and means. after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. in lieu of the amendments recommended by the committees on energy and commerce and the judiciary now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the rules committee print 112-18, shall be considered as adopted in the house and in the committee of the whole. the bill as amended shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill as amended are waived. no further amendment to the bill as amended shall be in order except those printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution. if such further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member

designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole. all points of order against such further amendments are waived. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill as amended to the house with such further amendments as may have been adopted. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill as amended and any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for one hour. mr. nugeant: for the purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. hastings, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume.

during consideration of this resolution all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. nugent: madam speaker, i rise today in support of this rule, house resolution in front of you. house resolution provides a structured rule so that the house may consider h.r. 5, the health efficient accessible low cost timely health care act of 2011. the rule provides for six hours of debate on this vital issue. six hours, madam speaker. in my opinion the health act is one of the most imperative piece of legislation to come to the house, to the floor of the house in the 112th congress thus far. the bill repeals a particularly egregious part of government takeover of health care. the independent payment advisory board, or ipab. in case you are aware, ipab is

the 15-member panel created by obamacare created to reign in costs. they are un-elected bureaucrats, 15 of them, the majority are not doctors and the decision also have the force of law and go into effect automatically without the consent of congress. we'll get back to ipab in a moment. h.r. 5 also implements long needed medical malpractice tort reform. i hear all the time we need to bring down the cost of health care. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that government takeover of health care would do just that, reduce the cost of health care. in fact, president obama claimed it would lower premiums by $2,500 per family per year. we know that's just not the case. since inauguration day in 2009, premiums have risen by $2,213, almost the same amount the president promised he was going to save us.

the annual keyser foundation survey of employer provided insurance from the kverage family premiums totaled $12,860 in 2008, and are now $15,073 in 2011. moreover, c.b.o., congressional budget office, projects the law's new benefit mandates will force premiums to rise on top of that $15,000 by $2,100 per year per family. malpractice reform on the other hand will most definitely reduce the cost of health care. we have seen it what defensive medicine is. cat scans ordered, anti-biotics prescribed, blood tests conducted not because the doctor thought they were necessary, but because he or she was scared of -- if they didn't order them they would be sued for not prescribing them. department of health and human

services study said the defensive medicine crossed $70 billion to $126 billion a year. that's billion. c.b.o. estimates that a little more moderate stance putting a number around $54 billion. let me tell you, $54 billion, $70 billion, $126 billion that's a lot of money. in anybody's terms. i have heard from a lot of folks opposing the legislation because it defies states' rights. i have to say i'm particularly surprised to hear so many of my colleagues on the other side making this argument. i'm happy to see they have come to recognize the importance of state rights and state sovereignty. i hope that means we can count on them for their support and efforts moving forward to take federal power away from washington, d.c., and return that power back to the states where it belongs. where our founding fathers

envisioned that to be. i want to make -- take a moment to make it clear to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle why this bill, h.r. 5, does not, i repeat, dot not -- does not trample on the rights of our states. in the moderna, congress has enacted many tort reform statutes to supersede contrary state laws, including recent federal tort reform protecting vital domestic firearms industry. in judicial precedence have led little doubt about its constitutionality. even president reagan who is unabashed champion for the states established a special task force to study the need for tort reform that concluded the federal government should address tort reform across the board. folks are claiming the 10th amendment that states' rights aren't looking at the entirety of h.r. 5. he they are looking at all the provision that is make it clear

that the caps created in this bill only applies to states that don't already have their own caps. these provisions, flexy cap they are called, recognize that any state amount on caps takes precedent to this piece of legislation. that means if a state has $1 billion cap, good for them. let them keep it. it also means if a state has $100,000 cap, in can keep it -- they can keep it, too. if a state decides to pass a law and establish a cap on their own, to change their existing cap, they should go ahead and do it because h.r. 5 isn't going to do anything to stop them from doing that. h.r. 5 clearly, clearly ensures that the states' right to set their caps where they want them and when they want them. understand trial lawyers won't like the federal limit, an luckily i really worry about the american people as a whole not just what trial lawyers have to

say. i know this may be speculation, but i think that special interest groups and perhaps some of the new converts to the 10th amendment are hiding behind the states' rights argument because, in fact, they just don't want to see their own profits go down. but i fear that the state rights discussion is a red herring that only gets us off the most important issue, the issue that i started off with, the independent payment advisory board. plain and simple, ipab is going to cut health care that our nation's seniors can receive. medicare rationing board which is what this is, will decide the value of medical services impose price controls that will slash senior access to doctors and other health care providers. we see this happening already. the center for medicare and medicaid savings actually confirm that large reductions in

medicare payment rates would likely have serious, serious implications for beneficiary access to care. utilization, intensity, and the quality of that care. and as president obama's appointee as the medicare administrator said, the decision is not whether or not we will ration care, the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. h.r. 5 takes that choice away from the administrator, from ipab, from president obama. h.r. sets forth a new way forward. h.r. 5 sets forth a new way forward. a way that says we don't need washington bureaucrats who haven't even practiced medicine telling us what's best for us. we need to sit down with our doctors and come up with individual treatment plans. a way that actually does something about health care costs by removing frivolous