hollow halls of congress. it is a sham. but it was not democrat that took this ill-advised proposal down. it was republicans. of the course of six weeks, they caucused and contorted themselves in trying to obtain 218 votes to they could not. even as we debate a different bill now. then another curious thing

according to the publication transportation"weekly" they orderedmica to reintroduce the extension as a stand-alone bill which can then be considered by the rules committee. that bill is hr-7246. it was then noted that after still more discussion among themselves, republican leaders ordered mica to reintroduce this as a stand-alone bill. confused? anybody confused? that bill is now a chart-4281 troyer currently debating. bono knows what we will debate in the next hour and yet during the course of this week and last week, the republican leadership could have scheduled a

bipartisan, non-controversial senate-passed bill for consideration by this body. it could have been brought up at any time. by the speaker, passed by this body in a bipartisan fashion and signed into law. i make these points to illustrate the fact -- the fast and loose means by which the republican leadership has been dealing with an extremely serious matter. instead of spinning their wheels in pursuit of the bill-conceived hr-7 which slashes investment in federal aid to highways by $15.8 billion from current levels at a time when more spending is needed to address structural division bridges and maintain our highway system, reduces highway funding to all the states, hr-7 cuts america's commitment to infrastructure. instead proposes to fund transit with general revenue fund which is

offset on the backs of workers. h.r. 7 contains a bogus pay-for by linking up opening anwr and changes oil and gas leasing which -- and h.r. 7 has an inclusion of a buy america light requirement. it does not include amtrak and the federal railroad loan program while trying to crack down on d.o.t.'s waiver authority. it places a road block by elimiting and in some cases outright waiving nepa. and h.r. 7 eliminates osha protections for hazmat workers and allows bad actors to continue to receive hazmat compliant exemptions. so this body could have considered and passed the other body's bipartisan bill which passed that body by a vote of 74-22. that's half of the republican

members in the other body, and we know how difficult it is to get that other body to get 60 votes to cut off debate on any resolution or any bill, even one saying i love mother would be hard to pass in that body. yet, for a transportation bill, they came up with 72 votes. that bill continues current funding levels, sustaining approximately 1.9 million jobs. the states will receive $3.8 billion more in highway construction funding than h.r. 7 over the course of two years. the senate bipartisan bill eliminates many of the gaping loopholes in current law buy american requirements, and the senate bipartisan bill does not contain poison pills like h.r. 7 such as provisions to strip osha requirements for hazmat workers and efforts to finance highway constructions on the

back of middle class workers. i would note, mr. speaker, that we have tried, we have tried by every means available to us on this side of the aisle to have the senate-passed bill brought up for consideration in the house and not just through procedural motions. yesterday, representatives defazio, corrine brown, tip bishop and myself submitted that measure to the rules committee asking them to make it in order as an amendment to the pending measure so we could vote on it today. we were denied, instead, we are on the floor today with the republican leadership proposal to kick the can down the road for another 90 days so they can convince their conference to support something they have not been able to do over the last six weeks. the fact of the matter is we need to be investing more. we need to be investing more, not less. if we are to keep pace with china, india and our other international competitors. today, china spends 9% of its

g.d.p. per year on infrastructure. india spends 5%. the u.s. only vests 1.9%. -- invests only 1.9%. the inability of the republican leadership to reach across party lines, the house democrats to address this bill is leaving america stuck in a ditch. putting american businesses at a disadvantage with companies around the world. in 2008, a blue ribbon commission established as a result of the last multiyear surface transportation bill reported that the federal government must invest a minimum of $62 billion a year just to maintain our nation's roads and bridges in their present, inadequate condition. this bill comes nowhere close to that. instead, it leaves america down the opposite path. president lyndon b. johnson once said, in large measure, america's history is a history

of her transportation. i say, let us seize the moment to move forward without procedural gimmicks, without partisan brinksmanship and do what is right for america, for the american worker, for america's families and for america's values. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia reserves his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. mica: mr. speaker, i yield myself 30 second and then two minutes i'd like to yield to the chair of the highway subcommittee. mr. speaker, my colleagues, let's just deal with the facts, and i'd ask unanimous consent that this chart or the information therein be included in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. mica: the fact is that the democrats had six amendments, one month, 2.5 months, nine months, two months, when they controlled the house of representatives, the senate, by huge majority and the white house. they couldn't even get it to committee.

they could not get it to committee. these are the facts. i yield now to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. mr. duncan: i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. let me just say this, chairman mica has performed great leadership of the transportation and infrastructure committee and tried in every way possible to work with everybody he possibly could. his path has been made much more difficult by the rule prohibiting earmarks. as he just mentioned, the other side couldn't bring a bill out of committee and to this floor, a highway bill in the last congress when they controlled the house, the senate and the white house and still allowed earmarks. so we are in a very difficult situation at this point, and that's why we are here today asking for this 90-day extension. h.r. 4281 extends the surface transportation programs through june 30 at funding levels consistent with the fiscal year 012 transportation appropriations bill passed in

november. this extension is clean and does not add any policy provisions. without this extension the highway transit and highway safety programs are set to expire this saturday. this legislation will allow these programs to continue to operate as the spring construction season kicks off. if congress fails to pass this extension by saturday, it will cost the highway trust fund about $1 billion a week in lost revenue and put the brakes on 134,000 highway projects and 5,700 transit projects across the nation. states that seek to be reimbursed for their federal-aid highway and transit programs will not receive fund for the work they completed. it would furlough 3,500 of their employees and work on environmental permits and project approvals for new construction projects would come to a stretching halt. over 280,000 construction workers, mr. speaker, working on highway and bridge projects today could lose their jobs if congress cannot pass this -- cannot pass this extension.

this country simply cannot afford a loss of such magnitude during our tenous road to economic recovery. "time" has an article this week saying this recovery is a wimpy recovery and it's based on pint up demand. we need to pass this extension so we can work towards completing and finalizing h.r. 7, our long-term authorization reform bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee's time has expired. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i yield at this time four minutes to the gentleman from oregon, a distinguished ranking member on our subcommittee on highways and transit, mr. defazio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for four minutes. mr. defazio: this could or should be the most important job creating bill in america, investing in our nation's infrastructure, making our nation more competitive in the international economy, more efficiently moving goods and people. the current system, a legacy of the 1950's, is falling apart.

now, the republicans are telling us that this 90-day extension will be good for america. it will not be good for america because we have a better option before us, a bill passed the united states senate, bipartisan bill with 22 republican senators, half the republican senators supporting that bill which would give us more funding without creating deficit and create more jobs than their pie in the sky bill, h.r. 7, which they can't even get out of their own caucus here because their own caucus is split. there are a number of republicans who do not believe we should have a national transportation system. . think want to go back to pre-1950's. the speaker was forced to say to his caucus, we are not making the claim that spending taxpayer money on transportation projects creates jobs. we won't make that claim. what makes this a jobs bill is it removes government barriers

getting in the way of economic growth. that's not what all people engaged in rebuilding the nation's infrastructure think. they think investment equals jobs. if we do this 90-day extension the association of general contractors says that states will cut back to 50% to 40% of their planned projects because of the uncertainty created by this 90-day extension. we are going to lose half of the proposed projects this construction season, around america, tens of thousands of jobs, needed investment, because they got a bunch of bozos in their caucus who don't believe we should have a national transportation system. they are fighting among themselves. give us a vote. let us vote on the senate bill. it doesn't create deficit. it does create jobs. it does give us the investment we need. the gentleman who spoke just before me, the gentleman from tennessee, who is a good friend, under the bill they are trying

to pry out of their caucus, which the secretary of transportation called the worst transportation bill in history, by the way the secretary is a republican that served in this house for more than a decade. he says it's the worst bill ever in terms of policy and lack of investment. in the case of the gentleman from tennessee, their h.r. 7, if they could get it out of caucus, they can't, would cost his state $444 million over five years. lost investment. $444 million. that's more than 10,000 jobs lost. we have an opportunity today to take up a two-year bill, provide the certainty. not only for construction jobs, for engineering jobs, where people who manufacture construction equipment, for people with made in america requirements who construction transportation equipment. our buses, our light rail, our streetcars all the things that need building and replacing just for the existing system, let alon beginning to have a vision of building on a 21st century

system. our competitor nations around the world are doing it and they are so dispentic on their side they are arguing over whether or not the federal government should be involved in transportation. that's nuts. we settled that debate 60 years ago when dwight david eisenhower said this doesn't work. we have states building turn pikes that end in farmer's fields because the adjoining states couldn't afford to build their section of the turnpike. he said we need a coordinated national transportation policy. we have an opportunity to improve on the one we have today by passing the senate bill that does do some streamlining. it does do things that will help us spend the money more efficiently. and it maintains current levels of spending instead of reductions and it does not have the uncertainty of a 90-day bill that will cost us half, half of the proposed projects this construction season. give us that chance. let us have that vote. what are you afraid of? you afraid it might pass? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. mica: mr. speaker, i yield myself 30 seconds.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. mica: first of all, mr. speaker, i don't think it's appropriate that members of my conference be referred to as bozos. i think that we have dedicated americans, ladies and gentlemen, who serve this country in the congress well. the gentleman who just spoke, on september 23, 2009, said don't play politics with investments in our infrastructure. don't pay politics with the economy. don't play politics with people's jobs. don't bring america to a screeching halt. on october 1 and walk away from our obligation to extend this program. also, mr. speaker, yielding myself 15 additional seconds that this was an attempt by the other side when they controlled the house in huge numbers, they could not pass that extension nor could they pass, i'm told, any extension freestanding.

i yield back the balance -- i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves his time of the the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from oregon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: i still agree with that quote. we shouldn't play politics. it's never been a partisan issue. you have made it into a partisan issue. that quote was when you were opposing a 90 dash day extension. i was saying don't play politics by opposing a 90 dash day extension at that point in time. we are too far down the road and we didn't have an alternative then. we have an alternative now. pass the senate bill. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind members to address their remarks to the chair. the gentleman from florida. mr. mica: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve his time. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i'm honored to yield two minutes to the distinguished ranking member on the house education and work force committee, the gentleman from california, mr. miller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. miller: mr. speaker, americans all over the country know that our economy is

improving, that the unemployed number is coming down, people are finding jobs. small businesses are doing better, but it's a very fragile recovery, this infrastructure bill that is waiting in the senate, that was passed 74-22, is key to continuing the economic growth going in this country for businesses, for families, for people seeking jobs that have been laid off for a very long time. but now what we see here today is the conscious decision, because rather than give the obama administration and president obama any help with the continuing growth in the economy, which these jobs would mean if we had a long-term ex tension of the highway bill, for all across america they have decided that they'll do a short-term extension. this is a party that's complained about uncertainty in the economy, uncertainty in the business community. with a 90 dash day extension, cities, counties, and state

governments are going to have to rethink what they contract for. with a 90 dash day extension -- 90-day extension, then we'll need another 90 days. this construction season will be gone for equipment manufacturers, for engineers, for construction workers, all across the country. in our local communities that are in desperate need of infrastructure improvement. but they have made a decision that they are going to fight president obama with the jobs that belong to middle class americans all across the country. jobs that people need today to feed their families. they have made a decision, inject uncertainty. those contracts, those jobs won't be let. and that will somehow be a victory for the republicans in the house, but it will be a disaster for american families, for american workers, and for american businesses. this kind of cold-blooded political calculation to use the jobs of american working people

as political cannon fodder for your agenda to defeat the obama administration is outrageous. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman from california has expired. mr. miller: when you -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: and their family income and economic growth in our community -- the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman from california -- the time of the gentleman from california has expired. mr. miller: this is a critical issue. for the american people. their families, their livelihood. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is no longer recognized. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. rahall: i yield another 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. mica: -- mr. rahall: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to yield at this time

to the chair of the rail subcommittee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. shuster, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. shuster: thank you, mr. speaker. i wish the gentleman from california would have showed that kind of passion when the stimulus bill was passed two years ago and come to the floor and said that stimulus bill should be a infrastructure bill. and there's only a very, very small portion, i think about $68 billion of that $800 billion stimulus package, that went to the infrastructure of this country. where was the gentleman when that outrage was happening? if you want a real stimulation, which we believe this stimulates the economy, this helps put concrete on the roads and repairs our bridges and puts people to work, this bill will do that. an 18-month bill is not going to put any kind of certainty out there.

i correct myself, it will create certainty, the certainty is that it will bankrupt the trust fund. in less than two years. our bill that we have been trying to pass here, a five-year bill, that's what the people back in the states want. the gentleman from oregon, i'm surprised who's been a long-time member of the committee knows that a long-term transportation bill is better for the states. it's better for the folks that build roads and employ people and that's what we need here. that's what we are trying to get a. -- get at. i will not yield. i not the gentleman has plenty of time. he can respond on his time. this is a clean extension. it gives us the time to work a five-year bill which as i said members on the transportation infrastructure committee know that a five-year bill is something that would put certainty out there to the folks in the states, the folks that are going to buy trucks, they are going to hire people, expand

their businesses to build and rebuild these bridges and roads throughout the country. it doesn't make any sense to do an 18-month extension is basically what the senate does and along the way bankrupting the trust fund. our bill, five-year bill has significant reforms in it. would the gentleman yield 30 seconds? mr. mica: 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. shuster: has significant reforms in it that will shorten the time frame to build a highway. we all sit around here and talk about streamlining government. that's what this bill does. eliminating the departments, consolidating departments in the transportation and shortening the time line from 14 to 15 years to seven to eight years. it's tough to quantify the savings we all know time is money. all of us have seen these projects go on year after year. they balloon, cost overruns. this bill is going to solve a lot of those problems. we need to pass the 90 dash day extension to be able to continue work on a real solution to our infrastructure. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i would remind the

gentleman from pennsylvania the bill he is promoting h.r. 7, his home state of pennsylvania, a cut of $948 million. it destroys some 32,983 good-paying jobs. for fiscal year 2016, for the state of pennsylvania, the level of funding will be less than that for fiscal year 2004. that's what h.r. 7 would mean to the gentleman's home state of pennsylvania. he would not yield to me i will not yield to you. i'm proud to yield three minutes to the gentleman from missouri, a valued member of our committee, mr. carnahan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for three minutes. mr. carnahan: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in strong opposition to yet another lame, shortsighted extension of our surface transportation system. and thank nick rahall and peter defazio for their staunch support of a real transportation jobs bill. this kick the can down the road extension fails, it fails to

make progress rebuilding america just at the time when our construction season is starting off this year. our states, our local governments need certainty to invest, to plan, to build america's infrastructure. and this night, yes ninth short-term extension only extends uncertainty this congress has repeatedly created. in a bipartisan fashion, by a vote of 74-22, rare in the senate these days, they passed a responsible two-year, two million jobs bill that is a better path for the american people and the economy. this includes an estimated 36,500 jobs in my home state of missouri. the construction sector, especially our building trades, have been particularly hard hit by this recession with 1.9 million jobs lost at the depth

of the recession. currently there are 1.4 million unemployed construction workers. let's put them back to work. i sit on the transportation committee where six weeks ago the republican majority passed out a completely partisan transportation bill for the first time in history. their bill would kill over half a million jobs and cut investment in 45 states and the district of columbia and was dead on arrival in this house. so it's no surprise that here six weeks later we have not seen any action on the floor because there's no support for their job-killing proposal. and now we are delaying again with yet another extension instead of taking up a true commow mize -- compromise passed by our colleagues in the senate. i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor when the senate bill was introduced in the house, h.r. 14. it's time the house take up that bill, that bipartisan bill. let's pass it. let's send it to the president. infrastructure is a national and urgent priority.

and this body needs to start treating it that way. infrastructure is one of the few areas where virtually everyone except the isolated and out-of-touch republican majority agrees on what we need to do. from the chamber of commerce to the afl-cio to everyone's transportation leaders back home , let's pass this let's pass this bill and send it to the president's desk before it expires. our building trades are yearning for this, are yearning to go back to work. i call on my colleagues to reject another short-term extension, pass h.r. 13, to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expire.

mr. mica: i yield two mines -- minutes to mr. shuster. mr. shuster: are we going to spend less? yes. but i believe by streamlining we'll create more jobs. >> what are you waiting for? bring it up then. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, a valued member of our committee and the upon sor of h.r. 14, the every other body's nonpartisan, bipartisan transportation bill, which is twice as good as h r. 7. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. our republican colleagues are telling us we should forget about the 15 months since they crafted the highway bill. mr. bishop: they're telling us to forget about the last 16 weeks during which time their

bill imploded and the bipartisan map 21 bill passed the senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. now they're telling the american people they need three additional months to find the money an shape a policy, an effort that thus far has elieu them, that can garner the votes in the house and be signed by the president of the united states. it gets better. on the very same day that they make this outrageous argument, they will vote for a republican budget that slashes investment in transportation infrastructure by 46%. 46%. 46% reduction in transportation and infrastructure. if they're serious about this vote, if they're serious about seing this destructive level of funding enacted into law, how can we take them seriously when they talk about a five-year bill. they talk about certainty, how can we give the american people

or the construction industry or the construction workers certainty when they say, give us 90 more days an we'll craft a five-year bill, but in the meantime we'll cut spend big 40%. no reasonable person can take that seriously. to make that worse, at the end of today, we'll adjourn the house for two weeks. we're asking for a 90-day extension, and then for two weeks we're going to go home. this while construction workers are wondering where their next paycheck is coming from and how they're going to feed the families. if republicans want 09 more days, we should stay here and work through the bipartisan senate bill as the basis for these discussions. we know we can get it through the senate. i'm confident if republicans are released by their leadership to vote for it, they'll vote for it here in the house. let's pass h.r. 14.

i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. mr. mica: continuing to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: may i have a time check, please, madam speaker? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia has nine minutes. the gentleman from florida has 23 minutes. mr. rahall: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes at this time to the distinguished gentlelady from the district of columbia, the ranking member on our economic development and public buildings subcommittee on our -- eleanor holmes norton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady veck niced for two minutes. ms. norton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the american people will be puzzled by why we can't get out of this house what has traditionally been the most popular bill, the transportation bill, an they will hope we're not on the road

to the 30-plus f.a.a. extensions that we had before. you know it won't do to say, like two kids you did it too, we did it, you can do it, therefore we can do it. none of us should have done it. but in any case we know we don't have to do it this time. the senate has passed a bill that we could pass as well. so we know the compromise can happen because they passed a bill with more than 2/3 of their own house, including many republicans signing on, compromise is possible. if you believe in compromise. and i'm afraid this bill shows that we have a majority that does not. they are on record saying that they must have 218 votes from their caucus alone. that will say to the american people if we need to pass a bill that will have only people from our party voting for it, while the senate has passed a

bill with both parties compromising, which is the party that does not believe in compromise? you always have to compromise. there's not a lot of difference in the amount of money in these bills. $52 billion per year for the house, $54 billion per year for the senate. the problem is, poison pills, the problem is not treating the transportation bill as it has always been treated, as a bipartisan bill. the problem is not caring that you are having an effect on the recovery if you pass a series of 90-day bills. western be speeding the recovery instead of hanging, clinging to a bill that would kill half a million jobs. it's time to compromise. this city -- this side is holding out its hand for compromise, we need somebody on the other side to hold out theirs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from florida.

mr. mica: i'm going to continue to reserve and i will close at the appropriate time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. defazio: i want to reiterate the point i made earlier. outside of a minority of their caucus, i believe a majority of the united states house of representatives believe that federal investment using taxpayer dollars without creating deficit that federal investment in rebuilding our national infrastructure, the 150,000 bridges in the national

highway system that need substantial repair or replacement, the steel that goes into those bridges that's made in america, the workers are american workers, the engineers are american engineers. the $60 billion back log in our existing transit systems, let alone giving americans more fuel efficient transit options, $60 billion. buses made in america. light rail cars, made in america. these are manufacturing jobs. engineering jobs. high tech jobs. these are not just construction job. the construction industry itself is devastated with double digit unemployment. and passing this 90-day extension, according to the association of general contractors a very republican-leaning organization, 80% of their political contributions go to the republicans, so they are not partisan, they say it is going to mean the states will go to 40% or 50% reductions in their project this is summer because they are not assured beyond that 90 tais that

they're going to get their federal reimbursements, and many states, unlike this body and unlike the federal government, have constitutional balanced budget requirements. something we should have nationally. that's a debate for another day. but the point is that this temporary extension just cost us jobs and the bill we'll vote on later today, the ryan budget, would reduce transportation investments by 56% from current levels, which aren't even dealing with the already deteriorated infrastructure and not putting people back to work. so there's kind of a mixed message on their side. they say do 90 days and then we'll doe h.r. 7. h.r. 7 will reduce spending and cost half a million jobs. mr. hay ray hall: i yield the gentleman another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: it rill reduce spend big 56% on

transportation. that is mind-boggling in the face of what confronts our nation, the challenges around the world, the need for jobs. there are people on the other side of the jobs that say the government can't create jobs. they're hung up on the semantic thing. the government isn't creating the job the government is investing taxpayer dollars, without por rowing, to let out private contracts to lowest and best bidders to build these projects with all products made in america, the strongest made in america requirement. so you can't tell me those things don't create jobs. those are investments, they create squobs. consumption, tax cuts, doesn't create jobs. they want more tax cuts instead of investment in america. that is so wrong. let us vote on the bipartisan senate bill. if 22 republican senators can support ha thill -- -- support that bill which would give us two years of stability, we ought to have a chance to vote on it in this house.

the speaker pro tempore: who yields time. mr. mica: continuing to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: i yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. connolly: i thank my friend from west virginia. madam speaker, america's commuters an businesses want us to speed up transportation improvements. however the house republicans have offered only a speed bump. we face a transportation crisis with bridges and roadways crumbling, millions of americans struck in gridlock and transit improvements languishing. we've known the transportation lapses on march p 1, severely jeopardizing projects and jobs in every one of our states. this is nothing more than a three-month band-aid. the republican plan was rejected on a bipartisan basis because it disinvests in america, cutting $361 million in my state of virginia alone. america needs a real transportation plan a plan that ep sures its states an

localities don't shut project this is sunday, a plan that creates jobs, putting the hard-hit construction strbak to work. thankfully, there is such a plan, it's bipartisan. this month the senate passed it. a two-year transportation plan on a vote of 74-22. including half of the republicans present. i urge republican leadership to bring forward the bipartisan senate bill. it's time to get america moving again. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- mr. mica: continuing to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from west virginia is recognized. mr. rahall: i'm honored to yield the cust mir one minute to the democratic leader of the house of representatives, the gentlelady from california, ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the minority leader is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank him for his tireless efforts on behalf of america's workers. for his attempts to bring to

the floor a bipartisan transportation bill as has been the custom in our house. and as we do have the opportunity to do by taking up the senate bill. the bill in the senate has bipartisan support, 74 plus one who was absent, but supporting the bill, 75 members of the senate support that legislation, it is bipartisan, it creates jobs, and it should be -- it is worthy of our support. it has the co-sponsorship of the chair and ranking member of the committee from chairwoman barbara boxer to ranking member senator inhofe, a wide array of philosophical thinking, all of it coming together around a bipartisan initiative. the american people have a right to know why the republicans in the senate, the democrats in the senate, the president of the united states,

the house democrats, all support this bipartisan bill, why the republicans in the house are odd man out. it calls to mind when they were odd person out on the payroll tax cut in december, when all the other parties had come together in a bipartisan way. but what is dangerous about what is happening here today is that this initiative, this kick the can down the road, this my way or no highway bill attitude is costing jobs, and i'm sure they have been reviewed, 41,000 in north carolina, 4,500 in illinois, 4,000 in maryland, the list goes on and on. just because of the delay an the uncertainty that is injected into the system. this costs the taxpayer more. small businesses suffer because they cannot proceed with contracts to go -- to go

forward. and it is a job loser as i menaced. this has nothing to recommend it except to be explained by the fact that the republicans can't even bring their own transportation bill to the floor and pass it. their own transportation bill is not a good bill. but at least it would take us to conference. they can't vote for their own bill. i don't know how that happens they have a bill they can't support. in addition to not being able to support their own bill, and it's interesting that the budget and transportation are on the floor at the same time, they have this bill and in the budget that they are going to be voting on today, they have cut transportation funding in half. from $90 billion to $46 billion. that's $44 billion worth of jobs, promotion of commerce,

improving the quality of life of the american people, building the infrastructure of america, and that means roads, mass transit, all of the rest of that. cut that in half. oh, by the way, give a tax break of over $300,000 to the wealthiest people in america. wealthy people get off fine. middle class people pay. small businesses pay. the taxpayer pays. job seekers and workers pay the price. so i think it's really important to understand what the bipartisan -- national governor's association has said, a string of short-term extensions will only increase uncertainty for state and local governments and the private sector. and so, again, i call the house back to its bipartisanship on this legislation.

the distinguished chairman, mr. mica, has been part of that bipartisanship in the past. now they come up with a bill that the republican secretary of transportation says is a job loser and is dangerous to public safety. the worst bill he's seen in 35 years of public service. his public service has been in this field. again, departing from bipartisanship. i urge my colleagues to not aid and abet the republicans that are going down this path. it is not a good one. but to urge them to bring up the senate bill. it can go to the president's desk today. putting people back to work immediately. i urge my colleagues to vote no and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. mica: continuing to reserve, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. rahall: time check please,

madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia has two minutes. and the gentleman from florida has 23 minutes. mr. rahall: 23? i guess it's not very popular on his side of the aisle. he doesn't seem to have many speakers coming over. i haven't noticed many members of his committee to speak in favor of this extension today. then i am prepared to close. i would take some time from the distinguished chairman if he would be willing to yield me some of his time. mr. mica: i yield him 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman would yield you 30 seconds. mr. rahall: that's about all we are getting out of h.r. 7, too. madam speaker, if the other side were serious about creating jobs, they would have worked in a bipartisan fashion in this body as the other body did to build a bill that could pass both bodies of the congress and be signed into law.

as the distinguished democratic leader has just said, everybody's onboard. except the leadership of the house of representatives on the republican side. just as this congress has done so many times before, i have been in this body over three decades, involved in every transportation bill we have done over that time. and every transportation bill we have done has been in a bipartisan fashion, passing this body by overwhelming margins. instead, today's leadership in this house has nowed -- plowed full speed ahead, writing a partisan proposal that is aimed at appealing to ideological spectrums of their party. last month the teamster general president wrote in a letter, i quote, how to eliminating osha protections for hazmat workers improve this nation's crumbling roads and bridge. how do loopholes put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job?

last month in a letter addressed to the speaker of this bod i why, the president of labors international union wrote, and i quote, the house must return to the principles of sound governance and bipartisanship that has historically characterized consideration of the surface transportation act. he further noted the offsets used to pay for this bill are also irresponsible. slashing the pay and retirement security of hardworking federal and postal employees is neither human nor fair. it is an unacceptable attack on the hardworking people who provide essential services for veterans, native americans, our parks clean, and help protect us from threats both foreign and domestic. and has already been noted, one of our key business groups in this country has found that the -- that being the associated general contractors has stated the following, the majority of the work is supposed to go out in spring and get done by the

fall. instead of spending 60% or 70% of their budgets, our small businesses are going to cut back to 50% or 40% to make sure they have some cash in the fall, end quote. that comes from one of the major business groups in this country. responsible for putting people to work, responsible for getting our economy moving again. i urge that we take up the -- the bipartisan senate bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. mica: i yield myself the balance of the time to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mica: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker and my colleagues, i think it might be time right now, madam speaker, that we call the capitol physician to come to the house floor. i think we should call the capitol physician because there appears to be on the other side a mass case of loss of memory. i think we need to clear up just

a few facts in what has been said here. we had the gentlelady from california who happened to be the speaker of the house, as i recall the other side controlled the house by a huge margin, the senate by a significant margin, at one point most of the time i think it was 60 votes where you could do anything, they controlled the white house for those two years. they could have done anything they wanted to do. president obama in fact sent secretary lahood to mr. oberstar and myself, i was the ranking republican, he was the chair, and cut the knees right out from the democrats and said, he wasn't doing any long-term bill. he was doing an 18-month bill which really sent a death signal to transportation infrastructure projects. in fact, the other side would be in the majority probably, and i

would be the ranking member if they had just done what they could have done. and then they tell you that we can't pass a bill. well, let's deal with the facts. they six times had to do extensions. not one extension was freestanding. in fact, one time they could not even pass the extension with the house, senate, and white house, in march of 2010 they had to -- they actually closed down programs. madam speaker, we may need the house physician because there is a case -- there are multiple cases of amnesia an we need to remind folks about the facts and what they forgotten. again, we are here to responsibly pass and even in the extensions i offered first a 90 dash day extension -- 90-day

extension, and i know speaker boehner talked to the senate and other leaders. no, we want to do a 60-day extension. some of the democrats felt like they were thrown under the bus. the 60-day extension that they asked us to do, they couldn't get the votes. they came down and spoke against yesterday. madam speaker, there's something wrong here. i think we really need to get the capitol physician involved because the amnesia is very, very serious on the other side. they had earmarks. the last bill was passed with 6,300 earmarks. they had earmarks. they had control. they couldn't even pass a freestanding bill and get it to committee, the full committee. so again i think the amnesia is pretty rampant on the other side. madam speaker, i'd like to inquire as to the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 17 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. mica: mr. speaker, i yield myself one half minute to close. because i don't want this to be delayed any further because i want americans to go back to work, i will yield back the 17 seconds. 30 seconds first, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. mica: we offer here today a long-term bill that will puts people who want jobs in this country back to work. without earmarks, without tax increases. the end of an era of the biggest gorilla of walking off with the most bananas is over. we will pass responsible legislation and we will get it done. as the cable guy says, ladie

>> ronald reagan was leaving this hotel after delivering a speech to the afl-cio. he is 15 feet from the president and agents are surrounded them and he shoots sixth shot. -- six shots. the path to the president is wide open and john hinckley has an effective range of 20-30 feet and has done target practice. >> march 30, 1981, the assassin john hinckley fire six shots and this weekend, we talk about the race to save a president sunday and 7:00 and 10:00 p.m..

on c-span 3. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney has received the endorsement of former president george h. w. bush. the two men left -- met last december in houston earlier this month, former florida governor jeb bush also endorsed mr. runyan. this meeting was held in president bush paused office in houston, texas. >> thank you all very much for coming and barbara and i are very proud to fully and enthusiastically endorse and support our old friend mitt romney. he is a good man. he will make a great president. we wish him well so we are delighted he is here. do you want to add anything? >> [inaudible] >> i think it is time for a

party to get behind a ann romney pamitt romney. he has waged a good fight. we have been convinced a long time that he is the man to do this job and get on and win the presidency. that is about it. with no further ado, here is the man. >> thank you, mr. president, it is an honor to be in your office in the cabinet-style chairs bags academic this is the jury sat in as president? >> i had to buy the mall. -- buy them all. [inaudible] wife was going to

[inaudible] >> in terms of beloved first ladies, i think your at the top of the list. >> you have a great family. i am very, very hopeful. this is, one of the most important elections in this country. i think it is most important to elected president. >> thank you. coming from the president and first lady, i am honored to have your endorsement and support. the president indicated we have been friends for some time. parents were also friends of the president and the first lady and having your support means a great deal to me on a personal basis, on a family basis, and on a national basis. i agree with the first lady that this is a critical election.

it is an election about the course of america. i think we are in may -- on a dangerous path and we need to select a nominee and get on with the campaign which will focus on two very different visions for america -- the one presented by president obama and another that would be presented by me if i become the nominee said that the american people could have a clear understanding of the past -- of where the path would lead depending on who they elect as president. a look for to being successful in honoring that endorsement by winning. i have a big day coming up next tuesday. with elections in wisconsin, maryland, and the district of columbia. hope to get a good number of delegates in those three contests. and be on my way to secure the nomination and take on the president.

with your endorsement, i will get a good boost for those contests and here in texas, i am told that they know you guys pretty well here. >> we've been here a long time. here.l do well i am convinced of that. >> i look forward to this process and i appreciate your help and we will see the rest of you on the trail. >> have you met with george w. bush or sought his investment? >> i have not. quist big from time to time. -- we speak from time to time.

i love that picture over there of the two presidents. a father and son, quite a legacy. [inaudible] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] for more information go to c- span.org/campaign 2012. we will have more campaign coverage today. president obama will be in vermont attended a fund-raiser in burlington. you can see live coverage just after 2:30 eastern here on c- span. this morning, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey will speak at a defense conference on the well-being of soldiers. live coverage gets started in one hour on c-span 2.

>> live sunday on and death, your questions are richard brooke kaiser. his books include "right time, right place" "george washington on leadership," and his latest on james madison. in a moment, "washington journal" with your calls, e- mail's, and tweets. former president clinton host a summit. it is part of the clinton global initiative. live coverage at 7:30 eastern. coming up in 45 minutes, we'll get an update on north korea. michael greene of the center for strategic international studies. we will speak to gretchen