noyou have a situation where they can go overseas and basically pay somebody pennies to do the same work we would do here and they can win of live off those pennies because what's also happened here is people, you know they dnd manned their minimum wage and i'll all for people getting a fair wage, but the problem is what has happened is that since our currency is so devalued and they can get so much for so little over there, it actually, what it does is it makes it harder for companies to operate here. so i propose us pretty much starting over the whole system again, getting rid of the fed and basically one of the other points i want to make is -- host: we'll finish with that is there a federal reserve role in all this? . guest: if they are complaining about china, they are diverting people from the real problem

which are that problems are here in washington, d.c., that spends too much and regulates too much. >> the house is gaveling in for legislative work. five bills are scheduled for today, including authorization for state department programs in 2013. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from arkansas, mr. griffin, and the gentleman from florida, mr. deutch, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from arkansas. mr. griffin: mr. speaker, i ask

unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on s. 1959, as amended, currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. griffin: mr. speaker, yumeds. -- i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. griffin: i thank my senate colleague, mr. burr and mr. rogers of michigan for their work on this issue. this directs the secretary of state to submit a report to congress dealing if the haqqani network meets the criteria for terrorist organization under current law. if the secretary determines that the haqqani network does not meet the criteria, the secretary shall provide a detailed justification as to which criteria have not been met. the bill also provides a sense of congress that the secretary of state should designate the network as a foreign terrorist

organization. the haqqani network is an insurgent group fighting against u.s.-led nato forces in the government of afghanistan. haqqani and his son lead the network which is now based in pakistan but operates on both sides of the afghanistan-pakistan border. for about two years the pakistani government has sought to facilitate a compromise between the haqqani network and the government of afghanistan. however, the -- it is provided to provide al qaeda safe havens in haqqani-controlled areas. it has the influence to bring the haqqani network to the negotiating table. the obama administration has been considering formally designating the haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization under u.s. law but

has yet to act. seven haqqani leaders have been under u.s. sanctions since 2008, and in 2011, secretary clinton designated operational commander had a cabby under executive order 1724, thereby blocking movements of his assets but not those under the umbrella haqqani network. since 2008, several attacks have been linked or attributed to the haqqani network. in addition to kidnapping of journalists and bombings of hotels and embassies, they are blamed for the attacks on the u.s. embassy and in nearby places in kabul, september, 2011. ryan crocker blamed the haqqani network for the 19-hour kabul attack which killed four police officers, three coalition soldiers and four civilians. two dozen more soldiers and

civilians were injured. the obama administration insists on negotiating with the haqqani network despite unsuccessful attempts in the past. secretary clinton has indicated these negotiations may be necessary again in order to establish sustainable peace in afghanistan. however, the haqqani network has been permitted to evade designation as a foreign terrorist organization. congress' frustration with the obama administration's overdue review of the haqqani network is clearly evidenced by this legislation. according to u.s. military commanders, the haqqani network is highly resilient and is one of the biggest threats to the u.s.-led nato forces and the afghan government in the current war. this straightforward legislation simply directs the secretary of state to analyze whether the haqqani network meets the standards for

designation as a foreign terrorist organization under federal law and report those findings back to congress. it also expresses the sense of congress that the haqqani network should be designated as a foreign terrorist network. the bill does not, however, require that the president designate the haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization. this is a carefully limited bill, and as i noted earlier, similar legislation was passed by the senate without opposition. i urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan, bicameral legislation, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, i rise in cautious support of s. 1959, the haqqani network terrorist designation act. despite its name, this bill does not require the u.s. state department to say it is a terrorist designation.

rather, it explains whether the hi canny network meets the statutory requirements for that designation. more importantly, the bill preserves the authority of the state department to make this determination without congressional interference. let's be clear, the haqqani network is a dangerous organization and sworn enemy of the united states. from its base, the network of insurgents led by haqqani and his family has for years fought u.s. and allied forces in afghanistan. they are responsible for several high-profile acts of terror, including an attack on the united states embassy on september 13, 2011, that left 16 afghans dead. one tool out of many for fighting an organization like the haqqani network is to designate a group a terrorist organization under section 219. once a group receives that formal designation, the full weight of the federal government is brought to bear,

including criminal penalties for the provision of material support to the organization, restrictions on travel and seizure of assets. it is a proper tool if the circumstances is unambiguous. the situation in anything but ambiguous. the united states is engaged in delicate negotiations with the government of pakistan as it prepares to drawdown troops and end the war in afghanistan. in just the last few weeks, our diplomatic corps have reopened our lines of communication watt pakistani government. it may be that in this context there is a diplomatic or strategic benefit to holding back on the formal designation of the haqqani network as a terrorist network. perhaps just for the time being. the state department has already designated several individuals in the haqqani network as terrorists. if there is a reason that secretary of state clinton has not formally designated the

entire network, then we ought to defer to her judgment. a requirement for some of the reasoning behind that is a fair request. even if the haqqani network meets the statutory criteria as a foreign terrorist organization, even if that tool's available to us, secretary clinton will be -- will make that decision when they determines it is useful and appropriate to do so. i thank the speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from arkansas. mr. griffin: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 1959 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6018 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6018, a bill to authorize appropriations for the department of state for fiscal year 2013, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlelady from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, and the gentleman from california, mr. berman, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlelady from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i thank the speaker and i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill, h.r. 6018. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i thank the speaker. i want to thank the ranking member and indeed all of the members on both sides of the aisle for all of the work that has gone into the drafting of

this carefully targeted state department authorization bill for fiscal year 2013. despite significant efforts by the committee on foreign affairs, the department of state has been operating without legislative authority for nearly a decade. the last authorization bill to become law, co-authored by our esteemed former chairman, henry hyde, and tom lantos, was enacted in september of 2002. the lack of authorities in the intervening years has eroded congress' foreign policy leverage with the department of state. by enacting this bill, congress will repair this lapse, strengthen our foreign policy oversight and fulfill our obligation to the american public. the text authorizes basic operations for the state department, the broadcasting board of governors and the peace corps at fiscally responsible levels coordinated

with the appropriations committee. this bill does not include any foreign aid authority. h.r. 6018 contains important management reforms to increase the efficiency, the accountability and the safety of our personnel overseas. it reflects bipartisan concern that congress needs to have a stronger oversight role in the state department's expanding activities to promote cybersecurity with other governments around the world. it establishes important jurisdiction and oversight authority for the department's strategic counterterrorism center, which is already operational. by maintaining current funding for independent audits, inspections and investigations of the state department and the peace corps, h.r. 6018 ensures that, while we are tightening our belts, we will continue to fair it out -- feherty out

waste, fraud and abuse. this will help american businesses i will removing unreasonable obstacles and streamlining the arms control process, by exporting selected equipment and parts. at the same time, it will enhance u.s. security by increasing safeguards against the transfer of sensitive u.s. technologies to state sponsors of terrorism, to china and to other countries subject to u.s. arms embargos. for all of these reasons, mr. speaker, h.r. 6018 deserves the bipartisan support that it has received so far and passage by the house this evening. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: well, thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of s. 2165 -- no, i do not.

i do that later. this time i rise in support of the fiscal year 2013 foreign relations authorization act. mr. speaker, this bill establishes the basis for our embassies to function and our diplomats to promote u.s. national interests around the world. it provides some of the authorities and resources our state department needs to promote peaceful international cooperation, protect u.s. national security and demonstrate the values and principles that define us as a nation. all around the world, our foreign and civil service officers operate on the front lines of the fight against global terrorism, putting their lives at risk to protect the lives of innocents. by shortchanging our diplomats, we

on balance i do support this bill. it's not perfect. the authorization numbers are well below the requested levels, lower than what i think is needed to exert strong and effective leadership. in a perfect world, i would have preferred a more comprehensive bill that authorizes the full range of our global activities. but the distinguished chairman and her staff have worked with us dill geptly over the past few weeks to make the changes necessary to arrive at a text that we can support. so i think the chairman for her hard work on the bill

ms. ros-lehtinen: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i would like to thank all of the members that have worked with us and help put the state department back on the books for the first time in a decade. i want to thank also the appropriations, the budget and the intelligence committees for their helpful consultations throughout this process and finally, i would like to thank the ranking member, my good friend from california, mr. berman. he has dedicated so many hours, both he and his staff in making this important bill possible. and i would like to thank him for that. and i thank rick kessler, dick campbell, daniel silverberg,

david fithe, and daniel harsha and our staff director and all of our hard-working foreign affairs zaff and doug anderson and jamie mccormick and with that, mr. speaker, i urge adoption of the bill and i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules? those opposed no. ms. ros-lehtinen: i i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote will rise and remain standing until counted. pursuant to clause 8, rule 20, further proceedings on the question will be postponed.

i i the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i move that the house pass the senate bill 2165. the speaker pro tempore: clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: an act to enhance strategic cooperation between the united states and israel and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlelady from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen and the gentleman from california, mr. berman, each will control 20 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady may proceed. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask that members may have five legislative days to include ex train yossyouse remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i rise in strong support of the united states-israel enhanced security cooperation act of 2012.

i would like to thank the distinguished majority leader and minority whip, mr. cantor and mr. hoyer, for sponsoring the house version of this legislation as well as senators boxer and isakson who sponsored the senate version that this house is considering today. for over 64 years since the united states recognized israel just 11 minutes after its creation, the democratic jewish state of israel has been one of our closest allies. our shared commitment to peace and to freedom have been the foundation of a special bond that has reinforced the safety and the security of both of our countries. we have forged a defense partnership that has yielded advanced technologies and policies that have benefited both of our nations and helped to keep our citizens secure. our faiths are tied together. a threat to one of our countries

is a threat to both. and so as the yirneian regime races towards nuclear weapons and sponsor hamas and hezbollah, we must work together to counter this growing threat, mr. speaker and while the united states and israel are targeted by many of the same threats, israel's proximity to the iran-syria-hamas-hezbollah nexus leaves us no rule. our goal is to ensure that israel has the ability to protect its citizens against the dangers that touch their lives every day against the rockets, against the bombs, against the missiles that their enemies stockpile while making well publicized threats every day against the jewish state. and how do we achieve this goal, mr. speaker? by increasing the totality of

our bilateral security relations. that means increasing joint missile defense systems, joint military exercises and intelligence cooperation. we get to learn from them, and they get to learn from us. and we all sleep a little more soundly knowing that we have done all we can to help our citizens. it also means providing increased access defense articles and ammunitions to israel with a host of hostility against the jewish state, it is critical that the united states stand four-scare with israel. this legislation extends the authority to provide loan guarantees to the israeli government that provides the jewish state with a cushion of support in times of need and at no costs to the american taxpayer. mr. speaker, our ally israel needs our help and we are situated to lend a friend this

hand while strengthening our own security in the process. let us stand together today and say that we support a strong and secure israel, not only because israel is our friend and ally, but also because a strong and secure israel means a strong and secure america. now is a particularly important time to send that message as we face the looming specter of this sequester that we're all talking about and working hard to prevent. mr. speaker, if nothing is done to avert this crisis, we will face an almost $450 million cut to security assistance to israel. this would include over $100 million in cuts to cooperative missile defense programs. these cuts would damage the security of our nation and our ally israel, and they must be averted. and with that, mr. speaker.

i'm so pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the co-author of this legislation, our leader, mr. cantor, for as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. cantor: i thank the speaker. and i thank the gentlelady from florida for her leadership on this issue. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the u.s.-israel enhanced security cooperation act. as the gentlelady just said, mr. speaker, i, together with my counterpart, steny hoyer, chairman ros-lehtinen, the gentleman from california, ranking member, howard berman, in may, introduced this bill and the house passed it with nearly you unanimous support. at a time when we are facing huge fiscal challenges, this bill makes it clear that no matter what, the united states always stands strong in our support for israel with whom we

share a commitment to freedom, a respect for human life, and a commitment to security. among other things, this bill allows for the continuation of long-standing loan guarantees to israel. we restate the importance of maintaining israel's military edge and we improve military and intelligence cooperation, particularly with respect to joint missile defense. we also reiterate our commitment to stand with israel in international forums like the united nations where israel often finds itself in an unfriendly environment. and we encourage nato to welcome an expanded role for israel. our investment in israel's security is an investment in american security. beyond this bipartisan expression of america's support for israel, there is much the united states can do to protect

our interests and the interests of our closest allies in the middle east. but we cannot do so as a spectator. the u.s. must lead. we cannot rely on vladimir putin and kofi anan to broker the peace or stand by while iran and russia protect assad, one of the most active state sponsors of terrorism and we cannot and must not allow iran to acquire nuclear weapons capability. mr. speaker, we must meet the threat iran poses to israel, its neighbors and the world with strength and engagement. we cannot allow situations in the region to unfold without our leadership. in fact, during my recent trips to the region, i have found there is more agreement on the need for u.s. leadership than

anything else. today, mr. speaker, the house will send this bipartisan to the president and differ the -- deliver the message that during this pivotalal period in the middle east, the united states stands tall for our ally israel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of s. 2165, the united states-israel enhanced security cooperation act of 2012 and yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. berman: i want to thank first of all, majority leader cantor and minority whip hoyer for bringing this bill back to the floor of the house so we can accept the senate's constructive additions and send it to the president's desk. i also would like to thank as did my chairman, senators boxer and isakson and senator collins

for their leadership on this resolution in the senate. and finally, i would like to thank my friend and chairman, the gentlelady from florida, for her continued leadership on the issue of u.s.-israel relationship. members should recall that in may we passed the house version of this bill, h.r. 4133 by a near unanimous vote. we will be taking another vote today because the senate has added an important extension of military stockpile reserve authorities. i strongly support this addition and thank the senate for its contribution. mr. speaker, since its founding, israel has faced enumerable challenges to its survival, but the serious threats it faces today are unprecedented. deadly cross-border attacks have taken israeli-arab and israeli jewish lives. they penetrate gaza in the form

of rocket attacks. the iron dome anti-missile system funded in part by the united states has changed the rules of the game. in fact, iron dome has been successful in intercepting a remarkable 90% of incoming rockets aimed at once defenseless population centers. there are a couple of iron dome batteries operational in israel in order to protect israel's eight million citizens. as 2165 retains language from the iron dome support act bipartisan legislation i introduced, which now has nearly 110 co-sponsors expressing support for providing israel assistance to produce additional iron dome batteries. this pledges to assist israel with its efforts to form a peace negotiated settlement that

results in two states living side by side in peace and in security. despite all the obstacles in acheesk this goal, we cannot give up trying, as peace is profoundly in israel's strategic interests. i applaud prime minister netanyahu's willingness to negotiate anywhere any time. the palestinians should ta take him up on that offer instid of pursuing a campaign to delegitimate mies israel at the u.n. and elsewhere. the greatest threat to u.s. and israeli security is that posed by iran's nuclear weapons program. i hope this problem can be solved diplomatically. but only massive pressure from the united states and our allies has any chance of persuading iran to give up its quest for nuclear arms. we are currently negotiating a sanctions bill with the senate,

the iran arms reduction act which the house passed late last year. that bill would dramatically increase the economic pressure on iran. the bill before us today makes clear that the u.s. congress will continue to help israel meet the iranian threat. . the iranian nuclear program is not the only threats faced by israel. recent events in egypt and syria, along with the presence of hamas requires help from danger in all direction. to that end this bill once again reaffirms our determination to support israel qualitative military edge against any possible combination of regional threat. and reinforcing that commitment to israel's security, this bill extends for four years a loan

guaranteed program for israel that was initiated in 2003. the extension is based on legislation that chairman ros-lehtinen and i introduced in march. mr. speaker, our relationship with our ally israel is one of the most important and closest that we have with any nation in the world. the united states and israel face many of the same threats and we share the same values. israel's defense minister said he could hardly remember a better period of u.s. support and cooperation, and i quote, and common u.s.-israel strategic understanding than the current one. passage of this bill will help ensure that this cooperation continues into the future. i encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm so pleased to yield four minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from new jersey, mr.

smith, who is the chairman of the foreign affairs subcommittee on africa, global health and human rights. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for four minutes. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i thank the distinguished the gentlelady, the chairman of the committee, for her leadership. in defense of israel as well as my good friend and ranking member, mr. berman. these two individuals work hard every day for the peace, security of our friend and ally, israel. this is a must-pass bill, mr. speaker, as we must reiterate our support for the nation of israel. our friend and ally, israel, lives under the daily threat of indiscriminate rocket attacks on their homes and businesses, terrorism on public transit and the unapologetic, undeterred and unacceptable exowe sention threat of iran. throughout the signature to the genocide convention of 1956, iran's anti-semitic leader, ahmadinejad, has repeatedly threatened to wipe israel off the face of the earth. iran has ignored its commitment

not to pursue nuclear weapons under the aye. the -- under the iaea. israel is defending itself at best but more often attacking and undermining it at every opportunity. most recently and amazingly, the united nations allowed iran to be elected to the 15-member general committee of the u.n. arms trade treaty conference which is allegedly developing a treaty regulating the international sale of conventional arms. iran does after all have considerable experience in this area. iran has been arming its -- israel's neighbors for decades. freedom house report on the world which assesses the civil liberties of every nation on earth shows that israel is surrounded by nations that profoundly disrespect the political and civil liberties of their own citizens. these nations actively foment

hate against israel and have human rights records among the worse in the world. syria has shown its true colors. we cannot sit by and wait for iran to have the opportunity. deterrence remains the best guarantors of peace and that has certainly been the case in the middle east. s. 2165 enhances israel's ability to defend itself. when israel's military superiority was unclear in the eyes of its enemies, soon after it was created, soon israel was tested with war and they won again and again. israel's enemies have relied on cowardly acts of terrorism. they attacked with gaza rockets, with the flotilla. mr. speaker, s. 2165 provides assistance for several programs that are effective in deterring

attack and defending israel, including for the iron dome, israel's successful means of defending itself against missiles and rockets, targeting israeli homes and businesses. with this bill, israel will be better equipped for any scenario. with this bill we also reassert our country's moral obligation and unshakeable commitment to give israel every assistance. the u.s. reaffirms in word and indeed our dedication to the defense of the jewish state. s. 2165 expands u.s. military intelligence and civilian cooperation with israel, including an offer to the israeli air force for any additional training opportunities in the u.s. to compensate for israel's limited airspace and other enhanced cooperation on intelligence sharing. israel has shown itself to be a great friend in the united states, not only setting the standard for democracy and human rights in the region but

by being trustworthy with loans, always repaying loans on time and in full. this bill recognizes israel's dependability with an extension of the loan guarantee program for israel. the bill reaffirms that the only viable option for peace and security in the region is an i veily state and a -- israeli state and a palestinian state standing side by side. again, i ask for members to support this important bill, and i thank the gentlelady for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: yes. i'm very pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman representing american samoa and the ranking democrat on the asia and pacific islands, mr. faleomavaega. mr. faleomavaega: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to extend and revise my

remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. faleomavaega: mr. speaker, i want to associate myself, especially with the remarks made by the gentlelady from florida, our distinguished chairwoman of the committee on foreign affairs and my senior ranking member, the gentleman from california, mr. berman, for their leadership in bringing this legislation before the body. our members for consideration and approval. i think there's absolutely no question in terms of the provisions provided in this bill. we want to be absolutely certain that our government is in no way any less in terms of our efforts to make sure that the security of the state of israel is assured. and i want to commend, again, the gentlelady from florida, and also my good friend from new jersey, mr. smith, for their comments in assuring and getting every absolute notice to countries of the world know where the united states stands as far as the defense of israel. and with that i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i'm so pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. chabot, who is the chairman of the foreign affairs subcommittee on middle east and vouth asia and deals with these issues every day. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. chabot: thank you very much, madam chair. i really appreciate the great leadership that chairwoman ros-lehtinen has presented on this issue and so many issues around the world, as well as mr. berman, the ranking member, both of them together in a bipartisan manner have really done a great job i think for our country and we appreciate that. despite the tremendous progress that's been made toward ensuring israel's continued security, critical challenges still remain. now, perhaps more than at any time since the 1973 yom can i pour war, they -- yom kippur

war, it's also ushered will be a period of profound instability. and while we must certainly should be working with arab countries in this time of transition, we must not forget israel, the middle east only established democracy and our friend and ally which faces unprecedented threats to its security. some of these are threats that israel has not had to deal with in a very long time. to the west, israel faces new and untested egyptian leadership which has sent some troubling messages about its intentions for egyptian-israeli bilateral relations. to the north, fighting in syria is continuing to intensify. and all signs suggest that the country may collapse into

full-scale civil war. other threats are sadly perennial. to israel's north and west, terrorists remain poised to attack, and otherwise disrupt normal life for millions of israeli citizens. to the east, the iranian threat looms large on the horizon. and threats -- and they threaten israel and the entire region with the prospect of a nuclear weapons capable radical regime right next door. there's no question that the illicit iranian nuclear program must remain at the very top of our priority list. it's certainly at the top of israel's priority list. the nuclear program is, however, a symptom of the disease rather than the disease itself. the nuclear program is a paramount challenge to u.s. core national security interests as well as those of our allies and it must be addressed. and as long as this regime is in power and the region

continues to experience the kind of instability we are now witnessing, we must commit ourselves fully to doing everything we can to help aid israel in securing itself. i urge the adoption of this very important resolution, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. ms. ros-lehtinen: we reserves the balance of our time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california. mr. berman: how much time remains on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 13 1/2 minutes, and the gentlewoman from florida 5 1/2 minutes. mr. berman: i'm very pleased to yield to our distinguished whip five minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. again, as i do repeatedly when i rise to speak on issues related to our closest ally in the middle east, israel, and the relationship between our two countries to congratulate the chairman of the committee,

the gentlelady from florida, ileana ros-lehtinen, for her leadership on this issue and focus on the importance not only of the relationship but on the importance of making sure that israel is strong and able to defend herself. and also to congratulate the gentleman from california, mr. berman. i don't know anybody who for a longer period of time has focused on the issue of keeping the relationship between israel and the united states strong and vibrant and open and who has on this floor, in committee and in our caucus and around this country educated people any more than he has to the necessity to keep this relationship strong and to keep israel strong. so i rise to thank both of them for bringing this issue to the

floor. mr. speaker, i was proud to co-sponsor this legislation with my friend, the majority leader, mr. cantor. that piece of legislation, which ms. ros-lehtinen and mr. berman brought to the floor some months ago, passed here with a vote of 411-2, showing the overwhelming bipartisan support this issue has. this is clearly an issue unlike so many that we deal with that enjoys not only bipartisan support between the two parties but support of philosophical perspectives from all over this caucus and this country. we don't always see eye to eye on matters of policy, but we always find common ground when it comes to strengthening the u.s.-israel relationship. this is the case for two very

important reasons. first, because the united states and israel are linked by history and by the common glue of shared values -- drauks, free enterprise, respect for human rights and the rule of law. . secondly because a strong israel is in america's national security interest. we make that point almost every time we speak because it is important for all of our constituents, our fellow americans to understand that the investment that we make in israel, the investment in terms of time, in terms of support, in terms of finances, in terms of military assistance, are all in the interests of the united states of america and its citizens. yes, it is to israel's benefit as well.

but primarily the united states acts because it sees as critical to its own interest the safety, security and sovreignty of israel. military and security ties with israel help the pentagon and our intelligence agencies track threats to americans at home and abroad. and they enable us to partner on the development of technologies that help keep our people safe. the number one regional threat, of course, as all of us know is the prospect of a nuclear iran. that is of great concern to every nation in the world. nonproliferation of nuclear weapons is a principal tenet of the nation of the world, adopted by the united nations and treaties. iran must not be allowed to

obtain nuclear weapons as it will destabilize the region and threaten american targets in that part of the world. it is important to note that there are some 250,000 americans within the range of iranian missiles. and of course, there are untold economic interests of the united states and of the international community. enhanced security cooperation with israel is one of the many tools we have to help prevent iran from acheesk nuclear weapons and protect assets in the region. this bill strengthens that cooperation in several ways. it authorizes aid for the u.s.-israel iron dome defense. a critical investment -- may i have another -- the speaker pro tempore: the the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hoyer: it provides israel

with additional weaponry. again as a first-line of defense for the united states as well as for israel. furthermore, this bill extends loan guarantees for israel and encourages expanded israeli role in nato. mr. speaker, it is so encouraging to see that even while we may divide on other matters, this house will pass the legislation before us with strong overwhelming bipartisan support. that sends a message that hopefully cannot be missed. a clarity of purpose expressed by this congress, the policy-making body of this nation that speaks for all the people of our nation. hopefully those who would pose a threat and risk to us and to our allies would take note of that

purpose. let us continue to ensure that close u.s.-israel ties is an issue that units us as americans. the house overwhelmingly passed this measure earlier this year 411 to 2. and now the senate has sent it back to us for final consideration. i congratulate my friends, senator boxer and the republican leadership of the senate as well. i hope we can pass it again today. i know we will. and i hope it's with even debater support. and i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this bill. for america, for israel, for international security. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i only have some closing remarks and have no further requests for time. so i will wait for mr. berman to

yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. berman: after what we just heard, i would not have any further speakers and we are prepared to yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i would close with these closing remarks and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the united states-israel enhanced security cooperation act of 2012 states -- and it makes it very clear that u.s. policy is to, one, reaffirm the commitment of israel's security as a jewish state. also, to provide israel with the military capabilities to defend herself and present preserve its military edge, also to expand

military and civilian cooperation, and to assist in negotiated settlement of the israeli-palestinian conflict that results in two states living side by side in peace and security, which is all of our goals. and also, encourages israel's neighbors to recognize israel's right to exist as a jewish state. this bill expresses the sense of congress that the united states should take specified actions to assist in the defense of israel. it amends the 2005 department of defense appropriations act to extend authority to transfer certain department of defense items to israel. and it amends the foreign assistance act of 1961 to extend authority to make additions to foreign-based defense stockpiles and lastly, it amends the emergency wartime supplemental appropriations act of 2003 to extend specified loan guarantee

authority to israel. this is in the u.s. national security interest and i hope that the house overwhelmingly passes this important bill. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate bill 2165. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask that the house suspend the rules and pass senate bill 2009. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 2009, an act to improve the administration of programs in the insular areas and for other purposes.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen and the gentleman from from american samoa, mr. faleomavaega each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on senate bill 2009. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i rise in support of senate bill 2009, the insular areas act, a brief bill that passed the senate unanimously in december before being transmitted to the house and referred to multiple committees. the bill consists of three short he sections. the first section would shift to the department of energy the responsibility for department of

interior-funded radiological monitoring at former u.s. nuclear test sites, has long been overseen by the committee on natural resources. the second section, which confirms the continuing eligibility of u.s. manage straits to participate in judicial exchange programs is primarily overseen by the committee on the judiciary. and the third section involving a domestic work force issue is overseen by the committee on education and the work force. all of these committees have reviewed the bill, waived additional action and consented to today's suspension consideration of the bill. i want to thank those committees for their consideration and their input. and at this point, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the letters from the chairman of judiciary, mr. smith , the chairman of the education and work force committee, chairman kline on this bill.

thank you. and with that, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from from american samoa. mr. faleomavaega: i express my deep appreciation to the gentlelady from florida, chairman of the house committee on foreign affairs and certainly my colleague, senior ranking member of the committee, mr. berman from california. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to extend and revise my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. faleomavaega: i ask unanimous consent that the full text of my statement be made part of the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . mr. faleomavaega: statement with reference to the people where the dome is located and i would like to add that also. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . mr. faleomavaega: i would like to express my most sincere appreciation to our speaker of the house, john boehner, majority leader, eric cantor and our minority leader, nancy

pelosi, minority whip, steny hoyer, and ms. ros-lehtinen and mr. berman, john kline and george miller, chairman smith and ranking member conyers, chairman doc hastings and ranking member ed markey and certainly senator jeff bingaman and senator murkowski who serve as chairman and ranking member of the senate committee on energy and natural resources for all they have done on behalf of the insular areas. i cannot thank my colleagues enough for standing with me because i know that passage of this bill is only possible today due to their support. i thank the committee and staff leadership for their working in close association with my office which will benefited the associated states of micro neice

yeah and the territory of american samoa. as my chairman alluded to about the section, it is very simple. this is located -- for the benefit of information to my colleagues, the area is located in the marshal islands. this is where we exploded 43 of our nuclear bombs out of the 67 nuclear bombs that we exploded in our testing program from 1943 to 1962. in the process, this is where we exploded our hydrogen bomb, which is only 700 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb we exploded over japan. only about a couple hundred miles away, we exploded the most powerful and first hydrogen bomb

that was ever exploded on this planet and known as the bubble shot and 1,300 times more powerful than the bombs that we dropped in japan. just to give my colleagues a sense of understanding and appreciation of what we did in this, we had to collect all the debris, all the nuclear waste materials as a result of the 43 bombs that we exploded for purposes of preventing nuclear contamination from getting into the water, into the ocean and all of that. well, it's starting to leak and serious problems and nuclear contamination in what we have done in burning nuclear waste materials. and this provision is just simply, the congress directs the secretary of energy to do a

monitoring program and see what is happening after some 40 years that we did all this to minimize damage not only to property but to the lives of these people in the marshall islands. authorizes the secretary of energy to go over there and find out what is going on and make sure that the underground water -- so these people can survive properly and what's good about this bill, mr. speaker, it doesn't require any offsets or worry about any financial -- it will be funded by the technical assistance program that is provided by the office of insular affairs. the second provision in this bill, mr. speaker, simply authorizes -- authorizes our judges to go there and serve temporarily in the courts of these associated states. that's all it does. doesn't require any more expense.

and the third proceedings that i want to share with my colleagues is simply to delay the increase of the minimum wage of my little territory of american samoa for the next three years. and as i said, mr. speaker, this is one of the most unusual bills. it has the support of four committee chairman and four ranking members. i don't know of any other bill that i ever heard or known and the fact that we have something that we can all work towards to in solving some of the serious problems affecting the lives of our fellow americans. that's all i'm asking for. and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: no further requests for time, so i continue to reserve. mr. faleomavaega: i yield my time back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida. .

ms. ros-lehtinen: i want to congratulate mr. faleomavaega for the warm way in which he works with every member of our committee and that is why it is a pleasure for all of us on the committee on foreign affairs to do everything that we can to help the gentleman because we know how important these bills are to him. as we can see, as we have heard , what we may consider to be a suspension bill that will not impact our daily lives, it impacts many thousands of people whom he has so proud -- whom he is so proud to represent in a very real and meaningful way. so i thank him for his gentle manners. i thank him for his graciousness. i thank him for the bills, the important bills that he brings to our attention, and i want to tell him what an honor it is for all of us on our committee to work with him in a bipartisan way and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time.

spero: the gentlewoman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate bill 2009. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker. spero: the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, on that i request the yeas and nays. spero: the yeas and nays are requested -- the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays have been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. further further will be postponed. the chair lays before the house a communication. clyde: the honorable, the speeber, how it's of representatives, sir, this is to notify you formally that -- the clerk: that i have been served with subpoena of documents issued by the supreme court of the state of new york, county of queens. after consultation with the

office of general council, i have determined that compliance with the subpoena is not consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. signed, sincerely, gary l. ackerman, member of congress. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in t-4 of rule 2 of the u.s. rules of house of the representatives, the clerk received the following message on july 17, 2012, at 12:53 p.m. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 205. with best wished, i am, signed, sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declaferes the news to recess until approximately 6:30

of the agency's actions over the past year. live coverage thursday morning at 10:00 eastern on c-span 3.

>> there has been a hostility to poverty. since the war on poverty, linden john roberts was the best president -- johnson was the best president and looked at poverty issues and spent money on it and talked about his social service programming. linden johnson. let's follow that -- i hate to say that, but richard nixon is actually the father of minority business development. and inside his minority business -- established the small business administration, minority business development agency, and use the term economic justice. richard nixon. economic justice. >> the former president of bennett college for women, regularly writes and comments on politics, education and african-american economic history. and live sunday, august 5, at noon eastern, your questions, calls, emails and tweets. for the author of "surviving and thriving: 365 facts in plaque economic history."

in depth, august, on c-span2's book tv. host: welcome to the program. guest: good to be here. host: you report taking a look at entrepreneurship in america. what were you trying to find out? guest: well, you know, this really stemmed from something very basic which is, when you walk the streets of america, you see the same stores in every city, you know, no matter where you go, it's just chain after chain after chain. and yet when you look at the numbers, when you hear the reports, you generally hear that entrepreneurship is still strong in america, that independent businesses are generally doing well. and so we were just trying to understand, you know, what's wrong with the numbers? why aren't the numbers kind of matching with what we see

around us? so that's kind of what inspired the report. and once we started looking we found that when you look at the number of total firms and the number of new firms created over the last 30, 40 years, there's been a slow general trend upwards. it's been a slow extension but it's been an extension nonetheless. what happens when you account for the population growth over that same time, you know, there's 77 million more workers in our economy, you see a drastic decline. so what we see is that per capita the number of new employer firms that we're creating has actually fallen by 50% between 1977 and 2010. host: so out of the full potential entrepreneurs out there, from that pool there's a less of a number than in years past. guest: yeah. of the proportion in 1977, for every 10,000 americans we created 35 new businesses. so these are businesses that hire at least one more person in addition to whoever owns the

firm. in 2010 that number had fallen to less than 17. just the level of per capita, number of americans who are creating new businesses, that's fallen 50%. host: i think if this is right this chart from the census bureau, kind of reflects that. it's that new firms per 10,000 workers. can you give a little more perspective on cha we're seeing chartwise here? guest: sure. what i was explaining, in 1977 you see that for every 10,000 americans we created 35 new businesses. so these are employer businesses, these are people who create jobs, who create new products, who create new services. and by 2010 that number had fallen to 17. i think one thing that's been most striking to us is how continuous and long standing the decline has been. if you look at averages across decades, with each successive decade we've been creating fewer new firms. so, you know, by all means, the financial crisis accelerated the drop, but it's clear just from looking at the graph that this is really a decline that's

been in play for a long time. host: how does your research treat the -- treat the idea of who's an entrepreneur? is it person who has to hire someone else or could it be someone who works for him or herself? guest: we looked at this two ways. one, at the firm level. and by firm we mean a business that's incorporated, that's registered, that pays payroll taxes, because it hires more people. and that's the graph week of been looking at. and we also looked at the number of self-employed. that means people who just work for themselves, who are in business for themselves, who don't necessarily hire other people. and one of the striking things we found, that even when you look at the number of self-employed americans, that too on a per capita basis has been falling. it peaked in the early 1990's and since then we've been seeing a decline. host: you start your research or at least the information from 1985, you conclude to

2010. guest: yeah. the couple of kind of data sources, we have one from the small business administration and that includes farmers. and then we have another data set from the bureau of labor statistics and that isolates nonfarm workers. so we see is a long standing decline. host: if there is a decline, what's the cause? guest: a report really doesn't presume to identify any smoking gun. we really wanted to lead with the numbers. a tremendous amount has changed in america over the last 30, 40 years. it would be simplistic to think there's one driving cause. but that said, we have seen a radical transformation in our political economy. and it kind of goes back to what i was saying earlier, it's evident on the streets. where we once had a lot of independent businesses, a lot of local businesses, a lot of variety, we now actually just see a handful of companies that control almost every industry. so, you know, take wal-mart. wal-mart now sells 1/3 of groceries in the united states. in certain metropolitan areas that number is as high as 50%. so this is business that 30, 40

years ago was divided among tens of thousands of grocers, of independent businesses, families who owned their own businesses. and a greater share of that is now instead controlled by one company. and we see that across sectors, across industries. so, again, we don't presume to think that there's only one cause but it's hard to ignore and i think there's good reason to think that these things are connected. host: on the -- you do highlight deficiencies made on the reagan administration on monopolies? guest: sure. what we saw in 1981 was the reagan administration came in and their d.o.j. rewrote the mergen guidelines and effectively what we've seen since then is very lax antitrust enforcement and that kind of opened the flood gates to mergers throughout the last few decades and kind of explains why we now see such immense concentration of economic power across industries. it should be said that reagan administration was certainly responsible for kind of writing this into law, but it was

something that was supported by both parties at that time. you had a lot of consumer advocates that were saying, high prices are bad, that we need to kind of change the rules in a way that are going to benefit consumers. so, the reagan administration definitely kind of finalized this, set it in stone. but it was something that crossed party lines. what we've seen since then is kind of lax enforcement. and it's continued. the recent cases that the obama administration has stopped, you know, the at&t-t-mobile merger, i'd say that's just stopping a bad situation from becoming horrific. i really quent call it rigorous enforcement by any means. host: we're talk about the state of entrepreneurship in america. your research conducted at their firm, you can ask her questions about it by calling us at 202-7347-001 for democrats, 202-737-002 for

republicans. you can send us a tweet and an email. first call for you comes from pensacola, florida fment this is frank on our independent line. go ahead. caller: yes, when she almost hit on what i was going to ask her. in 1977 i had started a business on wholesaling overstock material from factories in the united states. so it pretty much goes back to what you were saying in the very first segment that you showed today about attaining wealth in the united states. and when she said it, the laws changed in 1977 on borrowing money on stock that you were buying. they wanted you to have a larger reserve in it. and that knocked out almost all small businesses because when you buy stock and you sell it over the time frame and paying

it off, you only have your profits left over. where could you not turn around and borrow your own, what you were fixing to buy. so it really knocked out the whole american private-owned businesses. host: we'll leave it there. guest: yeah, absolutely. there's been a lot that's changed over the last 30, 40 years. financing is more difficult for small businesses to obtain, you know, we've seen stagnant wages cut into family savings. that's made it harder to take risk. the erosion of the safety net. so there are definitely multiple factors at play here. host: he specifically mentioned the banking industry. what's their role in this? guest: so, week of heard recently how businesses and entrepreneurs are having a hard time securing financing, you know, a lot of businesses' applications are being denied and a lot of people atrnt that to the recession and for sure we've seen lending tighten all across the board since then but what we also should look at is

how centralized our banking industry has become. basically we dismantled regulation over banking in the early 1990's and that unleashed consolidation across the industry. so in the mid 1990's we still had maybe 35, 40 commercial -- major commercial banks in the u.s. we now essentially have four. citigroup, wells fargo, bank of america and jpmorgan chase. so there are fewer players to get money from, these players are bigger, bigger banks generally don't lend to small businesses, to entrepreneurs. and this is a company -- kind of thedy -- disappearance of small, local banks. 0 years ago somebody in the community had an idea, wanted to take it to market, wanted to scale it, they would go to their local bank and the president of that bank would have both the local knowledge and the authority to make that loan. the president of your local bank of america neither has the knowledge nor the authority to make that loan. so we've seen that dynamic totally disappear.

and i think that's something that's very much playing into this, too. host: our next caurl, springfield, massachusetts, patricia on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment is i'm wondering the impact employers paying for health insurance on entrepreneurship in america. i myself have chosen my jobs and whether or not to open my own business on the fact of the cost of health insurance. i need to provide it for myself and i would have wanted to provide it for my employees. when i hear about labor having issues in the news and they're arguing over benefits, it's usually the health insurance. the employer or the employee going to pay for it? a prior guest that you just had on talked about germany and how they were doing well there but they had more government intrusion and i believe germany has national health insurance. and for me i think that if you take health insurance out of the equation there would be a

lot more people who would be willing to open their own business and to hire employees but when they have to be concerned about who's going to pay the health insurance, it's a big problem. guest: i think she's absolutely right. i think both the skyrocketing cost of health care and the fact that it's not as readily available has definitely made americans more risk-averse. there's not as much of a safety net has made it difficult for them to make that leap and try a new venture. it would be really interesting for there to be studies to look at, kind of a country's safety net, how much health insurance they're able to provide nationally and rates of entrepreneurship. i think that would be a really fantastic thing to look at. host: debby on our republican line, this is from houston, tick. caller: good morning. i noticed that you mentioned a lot of big companies. that is not a small business person or the single entrepreneur. what about people that are of 1099 miss laneous?

such as road contractors and building contracters? these are the guys who make $250,000, maybe bring in $373,000, then they're subject to a.m.t. tax and they're subject to all kinds of corporate taxes but they don't -- [inaudible] also some of the corporate writeoffs but these are individuals. i was one of those. i used to have a book keeping service. until the banks went under, pulled their money from my contractors who lost their jobs . i lose my job. i'm an entrepreneur. i've been an entrepreneur for over 30 years. and i come from wall street. i've been in the corporate world. entrepreneurship is when you don't have to work for anybody. as far as health care goes and businesses, obama needs to regulate insurance companies, not us. not the people. guest: there have been really interesting trends in

self-employment. i think she knows what she was articulating about, wanting to still be your own boss. that's very much something we still seay cross america. and that's why the decline in self-employment was so striking. because even if you looked at the firms and you could see a decline there, you might think, you know, over the last 20 years we've seen a shift to kind of more flexible work arrangements, more people working for them selves. but i think the fact that we've seen a decline there should really worry us and again we don't presume to identify any single one factor. i think the main issue right now is acknowledging that there has been a decline and that it's a problem. why it's happening and what we can do to fix it are definitely questions that need more work. host: one of the things she brought up and other people who represent small businesses bring up is the idea of excessive regulation. where does that fall in your analysis? guest: we've all heard of poorly con received regulation, of the ice cream store that --

[inaudible] or was 20 feet too far from the nearest public bathroom. those kinds of instances definitely exist, they happen and when they do, it's absurd, local regulation there should be revisited. that said, it's hard to make the case that these fringe instances of excessive regulation are what is driving a drop of this magnitude. especially since what we've seen over the last 30 years is a wholesale move toward deregulation. so, absolutely there are instances of regulation that are poorly conceived and that nadarkhani inadvertently hurt small businesses but to say that is exclusively what's driving the decline i think is misguided. host: our guest, lina khan talking about entrepreneurship in america. our next call, independent line. caller: hi. i was wondering if mrs. khan has done any research on the trend that is taking place currently.

president obama, his initiative has been for -- to support education and academic research. and i was wondering if she was aware of the monopolyization of i.p., of innovation technology, by investment capital ifflets -- capitalists, that is publicly funded grants at our academic institutions? guest: i haven't specifically looked at that. i think it's definitely something that we should all be focused on. you have seen monopolyization across the board in almost every industry and even in high-tech sectors which is something that we've been good -- [inaudible] there being a lot of entrepreneurs, there's still a handful of big companies that kind of control a lot of that landscape. so, you know, take a lot of app developers who are now creating new applications, that this is a driving space for a lot of new entrepreneurship. i think what often gets left

out of the conversation is that these app developers are still working on apple's turf. even while there is room for entrepreneurship, often times it's happening on the land of some bigger company and i think that's a dynamic that we should be wary of. host: the research that our guest teaptpeamented in is featured in the "washington monthly" magazine. their july, 2012, issue. the slow motion collapse of american entrepreneurship. much of what she's been talking about here. and you can find that on the washington monthly website as well. this is also part of a larger analysis. guest: yeah. this is part of a larger report that we published through new america. and there we also look at how this has been affecting establishment formations. so the number of firms really looks at new independent businesses. establishments takes into account kind of businesses that are often times borne by the

same company and interestingly enough we saw a drop there. less dramatic than the independent businesses but it was interesting to see that even, you know, new chain stores are being formed at a slower rate. another thing that we really went into in our report was looking at how a lot of these companies, a lot of these self-employed are counted. one thing we came across was that a lot of this data gets very americay, very quickly. and we've seen both on the firm front and self-employed front are kind of a structural change in how these things work. so on the firm front we've seen more and more companies outsourcing, onshore outsourcing. so wal-mart, say, used to run its own warehouses 20, 30 years ago. it now outsources a lot of those operations to snyder logistics. snyder in turn outsources to another contracting company which in turn contracts out to another company which in turn turns to temp agencies. so you're seeing these chains of contracting that are

emerging. this in the numbers makes it look like there's a this whole ecosystem of new firms. even though a lot of those firms are really just performing work that was once done in house. a lot of these firms also are actually only serving one other company. so i think the there's a real question to be asked as whether these should be counted as independent businesses when they're still entirely dependent on one employer, you know, one client and often times it's the client at the top of the chain that's still calling the shots. that's also something that we've been seeing with self-employed. we've all heard of more and more people troo turning to more flexible work arrangements, we're a free agent nation, people are working on contracts as temps. often times those people are also counted as self-employed. even though the only thing that's changed is how their contract looks on paper. so they still have a boss and they're working for somebody else, just with fewer benefits. host: here is anderson,

california. guest: good morning. my name's gene. host: you're on, sir. go ahead. caller: ok, thank you. first-time caller. lina, the april 25 issue of "time" mags had a very interesting chart. i was sitting in a doctor's office and i had a belief that republicans basically tube the economy at the end of each economy, at the end of each administration, the economy is on a downward fall. well, this chart in april 25, page 25, "time" mags, shows spikes in unemployment as they occur at the end of each republican administration and the democrat administration brings the unemployment rate down and spike back up. i was just wondering if there's a correlation between entrepreneurship by -- new

entrepreneurs by administrations or, you know --, so i'll stop with that. take your answer and maybe i'll formulate another one. it's a little early in the morning out here. host: thank you for calling. guest: it's a great question. we've seen -- entrepreneurship rates have changed somewhat with the economic cycle. but there really hasn't been a correlation that you can map to administrations wheafments most strike something how continuous and long standing the decline has been. the average number of new firms created has been lower across decades. so even with the high-tech boom in the 1990's we were still creating fewer new firms than we were in the 1980's. that's been really surprising. so we really haven't been able to find some kind of match with political parties and how that's affecting this. again, i think this is

something that requires a lot more research. host: at the business website, the deal, there's a gentleman there who took a look at your research and had some questions about it as far as the way you did things. a couple of points he makes. he says in short they treat the past five decades as a kind of static system in which a few policy changes reduce antitrust and increase consolidation are the only two variables but that's not the case at all. even if you accept their argument that entrepreneurship was declining, there are other explanations besides reaganism, not to say clintonism, some of the things he cites was the rise of post war sbeshia with its malls and highways. he talks about globalization, immigration, the decline of industry and the rise of services and other things, in relating to the perspective he brings to your research. guest: again, we don't mean to suggest that there's only one cause that's driving this. some of those are good points and things that people often bring um. just look at immigration. in so far as u.s. policies have been shutting the door on a lot of immigrant entrepreneurs, week of all heard of people who

come here and they study to be engineers and have these new ideas and instead we show them the door. that's something that can be fixed by smarter immigration policies. often times people cite technology as something else that's been very disruptive force and no doubt it's really changed a lot of industries, you know, look at travel agents or book stores or record stores. amazon alone is changing -- challenging both small-scale but also big-box retailers. so, technology is definitely something that's disruptive and people always cite. that said, there are a lot of ways technology has helped entrepreneurship. with wireless credit card readers or automated book keeping. another factor is that a lot of the entrepreneurship that we have seen in recent decades has actually been in the high-tech sectors. so i think, again, this is something that requires a lot more study, a lot more research . our pointing to concentration in consolidation reflects how

fundamentally our political economy has changed on that front. it's really hard to deny, you just walk the streets and you see that. across industries. but again we don't mean to suggest that's the only factor. host: again the article in washington monthly is called "the slow motion collapse of american entrepreneurism." larry, independent line. go ahead. caller: yeah. good morning, good morning. i've got a company here i'm starting in minnesota and i've got all the product i need. it's over by a power plant here and it's all the stuff that came from these goofy liberal e.p.a. rulings. you got all of your heavy metals and all of this out of the smokestack and the slide piles and all of the stuff. here's the thing. i'm starting a new company and this is a product i need and my company is going to be called the american enterprise cookie

company. and they can only be given to republicans because they would be toxic to all the other people. and i'm sure if liddy gets electriced he'll get rid of all those rules for me. that would be just great. host: that was more tongue in cheek than anything else. from new york. our republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. -- [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> washington live airs every important morning on espan. the the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote resm maining electronic votes -- the remaining vote will be an electronic vote and will be conducted as a five-minute vote. this will be a 15-minute vote. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 6018 as

amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. clerk will report the title. the clerk: h.r. 6018, a bill to authorize appropriations for the department of state for fiscal year 2013 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 333, the nays are 61. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the house will come to order. the house will come to order.

the house will come to order. the chair would ask all present to rise for the purpose of a moment of silence. the chair asks that the house now observe a moment of silence in remembrance of our brave men and women in uniform who have given their lives in the service of our nation in iraq and afghanistan, and their families, and of all who serve in our armed forces and their families. without objection, five-minute voting will continue.

the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from florida, ms. -- of the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, to suspend the rules and pass s. 2009 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 2009, an act to improve the insular areas and other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 378, the nays are 11. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested of mr. platte of pennsylvania, mr. reyes for the balance of the week and mr. stivers from today through friday, july 27. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the requests are granted. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order.

the house will come to order. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas rise? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> i honor mr. howard taylor in being inducted into the arkansas agriculture hall of fame. he has been a pillar in his community. he demonstrated a strong commitment to our country as a member of the greatest generation. he was a prisoner of war following the battle of the bulge in germany. for his service, he earned a purple heart. he started out as a farmer growing corn and soy beans. soon after he moved to arkansas, he moved a 150-acre farm. he grows and processes, stores and sells, rice, soy beans,

oaths and wheat seed to farmers throughout arkansas. mr. taylor is able to produce a very high quality product. mr. taylor and his wife and six children own the farm and were named the farm family of the year. he has been a part of the board of directors and served as president for three years. the taylors are active in their local community and schools. congratulations to mr. taylor. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: are there any further requests for one-minutes? there being none, under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from texas, mr. flores, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. flores: thank you, mr.

speaker. mr. speaker, on june 28, america lost another hero. army lieutenant colonel roy lynn tisdale grew up in texas and was a member of the corps of cadets. after graduating in 1993, he was commissioned as an army infantry officer and served two full tours in iraq, two full tours in afghanistan and made additional short visits to both theaters. at the time of his death, he was commander of the 525th brigade special troops batallion, 525th surveillance brigade, stationed in fort bragg, north carolina. lieutenant colonel tiddale on the other hand awards, bronze star medal, purple heart, army

commend dation medal, army achievement medal, joint military award, national service defense medal, afghanistan campaign medal, the iraq campaign medal, global war on terrorism service medal, the army service ribbon, the overseas service ribbon, nato ribbon, air assault badge, the expert infantry infantry meb badge and senior parachuteist badge. on july 5, the life of colonel tisdale was laid to rest at the field of honor in college station, texas. in response to the activities of an extremeist group that protested at american military funerals, majority came together to form a wall to prevent the protests from disrupting the

funeral and burial. america should be proud of this community of patriotic and respectful americans that came together to honor the service and sacrifice and to ensure he was given the respect he deserved. our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of lieutenant colonel tisdale and will be remembered. we thank him and his family for their sacrifice to our country. his sacrifice reflects the word of jesus. continuing a distinct issued heritage of military service for our country, he is the 27th texas aggie to die in our country since 9/11. he answered here when his country called. god bless our military men and

women. and god bless america. mr. speaker. i yield back to you for mr. jones. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina will control the remainder of the hour. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. this is 10 years ago that i was contacted by connie gruber on april 8 of the year 2000, 19 marines were killed in an mv-22 in arizona. i show this tonight because so many people do not understand. it is the kind of plane, a helicopter that can become a plane because it can go from the helicopter mode to an airplane

mode, and so therefore, the v-22, again at the time of this crash was still an experimental plane. in fact, at the time of the crash, you had secretary of defense, dick cheney, speaking out to congress, both house and senate, that he wanted to eliminate the program. he did not think the v-22 was the right investment by the united states marine corps. it so happens that one of the pilots, major brooks gruber and his wife live in the third district of north carolina, which i represent. the pilot was colonel john brow, his wife trish and his son michael and matthew live in california, maryland. and connie contacted me and i want to read, mr. speaker, what she said, and these are taken from a full letter, but just parts of it to make my point

tonight. general james jones is fully aware of my concerns, apparently supported generals in denying my request for a no-fault amendment to my husband's accident report. he has refused to help me. that is exactly the reason i felt it necessary to contact you as well as other respective leaders. she further stated in that letter to me, my husband's life was sacrificed for the osprey, the marine corps and this nation. i hope you understand why i cannot allow his good name to be sacrificed, too. please remember these 19 marines can no longer speak for themselves. i'm not afraid to speak for them and i believe somebody has to, even though it is easier to put to rest and forgotten. join me in doing the right thing in taking the time to address this important issue.

given the controversy of this aircraft and the marine corps' vested interest, surely there is an unbiased ethical way to and solve these pilots. help me in not only forwarding my letter in my request but by supporting it. mr. speaker, i want to show the face of the pilot. again for those who might be watching this tonight in their homes. this is an osprey, the v-22. at the time of this accident, there were many, many questions and i will touch on those in the next few minutes, mr. speaker. but this is the pilot -- his name is colonel john brow. the co-pilot is major brooks gruber. he is to the left of the poster of john brow. .

i cannot continue tonight without letting people know that shortly after the accident, there were three marines from my district in eastern north carolina, these three investigators, colonel mike morgan, i mentioned -- i'll mention his name several times in the next 30 minutes, and also colonel ron rah dish and major phil sack it is house, they were sent to arizona the day after the accident, 19 marines were killed and the two pilots i just mentioned. these three marines were sent there by the marine corps to investigate the accident. and they wrote what is called the jackman report. this is what the two wives are asking. the lawsuits are other, and i'll touch on that in a moment. bell boeing settled for millions of dollars to the 19 marines and their families and

all the two wives have been asking for two -- asking for, for 10 years, is a clarification of whether or not their husbands were at fault or not at fault. i'm going to show you tonight, mr. speaker, in the next 30 minutes, that the pilots were not at fault. all they would like for the united states marine corps, which i have great respect for, is to issue a letter on the commandant's stationery that says lieutenant colonel john brow, pilot, was not at fault for the accident on april 8, 2000, in arizona. then what connie gruber would like, the wife of the co-pilot, major brooks gruber, is, that my husband was not at fault for the accident that killed 19

marines. mr. speaker, again, the lawsuits are over. everything has been settled. all the two wives want is their husbands to lie in that grave and not feel that they're responsible for that accident. because mr. speaker, they were not responsible. i want to thank congressman steny hoyer from maryland for joining in this effort because john brow's wife, trish, her sons matthew and michael, live in california, maryland, they're his constituents. i want to thank norm dicks from the state of washington, i'm sorry he's not running for re-election, he's a fine gentleman and member of the house. but he is not running for re-election he has joined in and said, let us help you. the lawyer for the two

families, jim furman in texas, he has been -- who defended these two pilots and won the major award from bell-boeing, which has not been made public and cannot be they settled with the two wives of john brow and brooks gruber. jim furman has joined us and he has said their names need to be cleared. they were not at fault. in addition, the attorney for the 17 marines who were killed in the back of that plane, brian alexander and his associate, frances young in new york, he has joined. people like phil cool has joined, rex rivolo has joined. these were experts within the d.o.d. system that knew this plane and know that these gentlemen were not at fault.

even though he is deceased, god rest his soul, mike wallace did a major 60 minutes piece on this accident -- a major "60 minutes" piece on this accident two years after it happened, yet everything in that show showed that these two fellows were put into a situation they were not trained for, they did not know how to react to an issue call vortex ring state, i'll touch on that in a moment. the real stradge diof all this is all the families want is an official document that will say their husbands were not at fault. mr. speaker, it's gotten kind of ironic to me because we have spent 10 years, i'm not going to try to say to you, tonight, or anyone watching, that we have spent every darke every week, every month for 10 years, but this has been a 10-year

effort to do what is right for these two marines who gave their life for this country. i got very frustrated in march of 2010, i could not get the response from the marine corps that i would hope, not for me, because i'm a member of congress, but for the wives and children. to clear the names. i contacted trish brow and i said, trish, i need some help. i don't know who to contact but somebody's got to join me in this effort because i don't think i can get it done by myself. mr. speaker, i've always given credit to god for anything that i did that was worthwhile. but i needed help. she said have you ever spoken to colonel jim schafer. he was a friend of john brow, a friend of brooks gruber, and he was in the air, there were four v-22's flying and he was one of them. so i called colonel jim schafer

and he said to me, congressman, whatever i can do to help you clear the names of these two pilots, i will do it. he joined us and in fact in the year 2011, he and i made a presentation to the commandant of the marine corps and i thought jim schafer did a magnificent job. with tears in his eyes, he told the commandant, these fellows had not been trained, they were not equipped, the plane had no warning system to the vortex ring state that affects the sails on the twin engines. so therefore, he said, what can i do? i'm sorry but at that time we were not convincing enough to the marine corps to give the wives the two letters. mr. speaker, i'd like to share

with you that what created the problem after the accident on april 8 was actually the press release by the united states marine corps. the commandant at the time, a very fine gentleman, i've met with him several times, i think the world of him, we're not related even though my name is jones, is commandant jim jones. but the press release stated in july 27 of 2000, april 8 was the accident, this is the quote that gave the problem. unfortunately, the pilots' drive to accomplish that mission appears to have been the fatal factor. mr. speaker, i want to read that again. this is the press release from the united states marine corps after this tragic accident in arizona. unfortunately, the pilots' drive to accomplish that mission appears to have been the fatal factor. mr. speaker, again, i want to thank colonel mike morgan,

retired, colonel ron rah dish, retired, and phil sackhouse, major, retired, for joining me in trying to clear the names of these two pilots. it so happens in a recent email from counselor morgan, one of the three investigators, i read his quote, this is the crux of the issue. there's nothing in the jagman investigation that says that pilots are at fault. if you change pilots to flight leaders, this statement, in my opinion, is correct and the investigation brings this out. why is it clear to the blue ribbon panel that was set up after this accident and not the commandant of the marine corps' office? because at that time, the blue ribbon panel was not worried about fielding a new and controversial aircraft which i just talked about dick cheney being opposed to it.

this was the second plane behind the lead plane, it was night hawk 71 and night hawk 72. night hawk 72 crashed. in the official report, that lieutenant colonel morgan made reference to, and i want to read this, mr. speaker, the official investigation was released in the following months and the investigators, morgan, stackhouse, and ratisch, specify by saying, quote, during this investigation we found nothing that we would characterize as negligence, deliberate pilot error or maintenance/material failure. mr. speaker, the word deliberate bothered me so much that i wrote to colonel morgan and i said, will you please explain why you used the word deliberate?

i'll read his comments back to me, mr. speaker. my personal feeling and opinion supported by my interviews with the lead flight crew is that the mishap aircraft, that's 72, now, these two men were flying it, had no idea they had exceeded any flight parameters. they were merely trying to remain in position on a flight lead trying to salvage a bad approach. mr. speaker, what he is saying is that these two men, in a new, experimental airplane, they were following behind on -- they were falling behind on a mission that never should have been ordered by the marine corps to begin with and these two men are in the second plane and they're following the lead and the lead got into trouble. and they followed the lead. that is why i want to repeat again, mr. speaker, lieutenant colonel morgan, the word

deliberate, my personal feeling and opinion, supported by my interviews with the lead aircraft is that mishap aircraft had no idea they had exceeded any flight parameters. they were merely trying to remain in a position of a flight lead trying to salvage a bad approach. mr. speaker, he further states, and let me read this for the record, please, sir, brow and gruber did nothing but try to maintain position on their flight lead. did they fail to recognize they were in a dangerous situation? absolutely. were they properly trained for such a situation? absolutely not. mr. speaker, that's why this 10-year journey has mevent so much to me. i did not know these men. i know the families now. but to know that these marines

were in the cockpit of a v- 2, an experimental airplane, that bell-boeing did not do the research they should have done to prepare these men for what was coming, again, the problem is called vortex reinstate -- vortex ring state, this is known in airplanes, but not in the osprey. in these nay sails. it was not fully understood. in fact, tom mcdonald, experimental pilot for bell-boeing, spent 700 hours, mr. speaker, 700 hours trying to figure out after this crash what do you do? how do you react? how do you respond to vortex ring state? and mr. speaker, what is so sad, they now have wing systems on the software, they have a

voice that comes on the helmet that says sink, sink, sinninging, meaning you're in trouble, react. brow and gruber had none of that information. in fact, the manual in their lap the moment before they crashed and burned, it had one page and a paragraph on vortex ring state and mr. speaker, it was written by an army helicopter pilot who had never been in a v- 2. mr. speaker -- -- in a v-22. now the manual the pilots have, there's six pages about vortex ring state and how you react to that ring state. mr. speaker, i'm just going to take a few more minutes and then i will close tonight. i want to thank the staff for staying late for me to have this opportunity. but i do want to restate what

the investigators are saying. i contacted them and asked them if they would be willing to write me a letter that i could use in trying to clear the names of john brow and brooks gruber. and i'm going to read just parts of this, and then i'll close in just a few minutes, mr. speaker. . i do not believe it would be a surprise to anyone that it is my opinion that the mishap was not a result of pilot error but a perfect storm of circumstances. during the conduct of the investigation, we collected some 20 binders of evidence. i'm going to skip from one paragraph to another. this concludes compressed testing, that means they did not do the testing. they had no evaluate it.

created by deadlines. the omission of important testing, the action of the lead aircraft and would have affected the osprey in the real world situation and simulate real-world testing. mr. speaker, this is the whole thing and i'll close on this and read two others very quickly. stackhouse, one of the investigators said, for any record that reflects the mishap was the result of pilot error should be corrected that it was as a result of pilot error. it should be recounted and recanted. this is from one of the three investigators. this is from mike morgan. he supports my effort to clear the names of john brow and

brooks gruber. he further states that the judge advocate general report and other 20 binders of evidence focus on the consequences of encounter of vortex reinstate and flight management, lead aircraft as a key contributing factor among many. as a former u.s. m.c. flight leader, mission commander, they performed as model wingmen and doing exactly what is expected of a wingman on a tactical flight. the reason for reading that is that i want to restate the three investigators of the v-22 crash, they know that john brow and brooks gruber -- i'm a man of

strong religious faith, but i cannot imagine being the pilot and co-pilot with 17 young marines sitting in the back of your plane and you are hit with a situation that you don't understand and don't know how to react and no warning system, but something's not right. that plane is beginning to shake. and these gentlemen did everything that they could, john brow, and brooks gruber, they did everything they could do to save that flight. and yet, it was out of their control because they had not been trained. they flipped. and on april 8, a very unbelievable fire took place when the plane hit. all the wives are asking is one official document from the marine corps. and mr. speaker, i must say before i close tonight that i want to thank the marine corps.

they have agreed to meet with the two investigators. ron, i want to thank him for his strong letter, but he will not be here, but his letter will stand to speak for him. the marine corps has agreed to give us a meeting with the representative of the marine corps and try to come up with some language that will be acceptable to the two families. and i'm going to ask the commandant of the marine corps and i doubt if he will do it, but do something right for the corps that so many american people including myself have the greatest respect for. bring the two wives and children to your office and say i have an official letter for you that will clearly state that your husbands were not at fault for this accident. mr. speaker, i hope that's what

will come from this meeting in the next couple of weeks. it's one of those things in life that members of congress get involved in that you don't ask for, but you feel that there's a reason that someone has come to you, and say, my husband cannot defend himself anymore, but yet because of one press release that indicated these pilots were descending too quickly, they did not know what they were doing at the time. there was no indication on that panel that they were in trouble. so my hope is, mr. speaker, that the marine corps will give connie gruber and trish brow what they are asking for. and mr. speaker, because i want

to give god credit if we ever clear the name of these two pilots, i have asked god to please give me the energy and the strength to go with connie gruber and her daughter down in jacksonville, north carolina, to the grave of her husband and brooks' father, and i want to say to major gruber, sir, no one will ever question your integrity or your honor again. it has been done. you have no reason to rest -- you can rest in peace because you won't be blamed. and then, mr. speaker, i want to go with trish brow to arlington cemetery and stand with the two young boys that never got a chance to know their daddy.

they are in their 20's now, college students and i want to say the same thing to colonel brow. sir, your reputation is secured. you will not be blamed any longer for that crash on april 8. mr. speaker, with that, i will know that i have fulfilled my duty as a member of congress. i will fulfill my duty as a man who believes in the truth and integrity. it's very important in my life. and i will be able to say to connie and to trish, if ever anybody prints again that your husbands were at fault, you have an official document to call that newspaper, call that tv station, call that reporter and say, sir, i want a retracks. i will send you a document that says my husband and my father

and friend's husband was not at fault. i will tell you that four, five years ago, i was in jacksonville, north carolina, connie gruber invited me to a reunion of the church and i had a chance to meet brooks gruber's father. and that gentleman lives in naples, florida with his wife and he came out and we spoke. and he had tears in his eyes and he fought in korea for this country as a marine. and he said, congressman, i want to thank you for trying to clear my son's name. i said, mr. gruber, i will accept your kind words on behalf of my savior, jesus christ,

because christ was a man of humility. and i try to walk in the light of christ. and if we ever accomplish anything for this country, no matter what faith that my colleagues might be, just remember that accomplishing truth and integrity for john brow and brooks gruber will be god's will, and not mine. and that gives me one thought, and then i will close. it was said, 1,000 ago, to the living, we owe the truth. we owe -- to the living we owe respect, to the dead, we owe the truth. mr. speaker, always close on the floor of the house because it's time to get our troops out of afghanistan. bin laden is dead.

and al qaeda is dispersed around the world. i have seen too many without legs and arms. spending money we don't have over there. cutting programs for children and senior citizens in america. it doesn't make any sense. but on behalf of the families that i talked about tonight, colonel john brow's family, major brooks gruber's family and all of our men and uniform, i will close and yield back, i ask god to please bless our men and women in uniform. ask god to please bless the men and women in uniform and the children who has given their child who died in iraq and afghanistan and bless what -- us tomorrow.

god bless president obama and ask us, god please, god please, god please continue to bless america. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011rks the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the

minority leader. mr. garamendi: before we start on our special order, i want to thank my colleague from south carolina, walter jones. -- north carolina. walter, well, let me put it this way. mr. jones, every day and every week, you speak on this floor about the afghanistan war and previously, about the iraq war and you carry a message that is extremely important, one that i agree with, and one that i would hope that our colleagues here in congress would take up this issue in a very strong and determined way to bring this afghanistan war to an end. i thank the president for bringing the iraq war to an end. and now, there is yet another task for all of us to do, and that is to end this continued

use and abuse of the american soldiers. they endure much and it's time for us to bring them home. we thank them for their service. we see them as they return. some of my colleagues and i are working on a major effort to try to deal with more than 365,000 of those men and women who have returned who are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, dealing with everything from suicides to depression and other issues as they return home. and many of them still in the military are dealing with those issues. we have the traumatic brain issues. and so there is much to be done. and there will be much more to be done for those that are currently suffering. and the longer this war in afghanistan continues, the more men and women will be suffering

from all sorts of medical, physical and mental issues. walter, thanks so much what you are doing here on the floor, day in and day out and reminding us to end this war. i want to talk about america's middle class. the middle class in america has suffered. for the last 25 years, the american middle class is -- circumstances have stagnated and in the last five years, actually six years, have seriously declined. we have seen this in the statistics. we have seen it in the economic statistics. and the only way the american middle class has been able to sustain its economic position has been for both husband and wife or children to join in and provide income for the family. it is no longer a single person

sustaining the american middle class. it is about our policies here on the floor of congress and the senate that has led to the decline of the american middle class. specific policies have been enacted over the last two decades that have hallowed out the opportunities that the american middle class has counted on. specifically, manufacturing in america. once 20 million americans and their families were in the manufacturing sector. they enjoyed a good salary, a good hourly wage was available to them, such that one individual in that family working in the manufacturing sector was able to support the family, own a home, take a vacation, buy a boat, provide for the college education. that's not the case today.

only 11 million and a few thousand beyond that are actually engaged in manufacturing in america today. so what happened to the others? they lost their jobs. those jobs disappeared. not from the earth, but disappeared from america. . . think went overseas. they were jut sourced. american jobs were outsourced, why? they might say it's the nature of the free market system. indeed, that's part of it. but that's not all of it. a major part of it had to do with specific tax policies and other manufacturing and investing policies that were enacted by congress and remained on the books for some 20 years or more. we need to address that issue because if in fact it is the policies of this congress and

previous congresses that have led to the great outsourcing and decline of the american manufacturing sector and along with it, the american middle class, then there's something we can do about it. we make laws. we establish policies. if we find that there are policies that are contrary to the good ability of american economy to prosper and the middle class to prosper along with it, we ought to change those policies. that's what the make it in america agenda is all about. the make it in america agenda is specifically designed to rebuild the american manufacturing sector. this is an issue that's been taken up by the democratic caucus, led by our minority leader, mr. hoyer, excuse me, minority whipe, mr. hoyer, and carried on by my colleagues. and i. so we're going to talk a little bit about that. i notice that my colleague from

new york, mr. tonko, has joined us and mr. tonko, we were going to start out on health care, but we kind of morphed into the issue of the american manufacturing industry and the role of the middle class. now the middle class, i want off on manufacturing and the need to rebuild that and the make it in america agenda but also, a key part of the inability of the american middle class to sustain itself is health care. and the affordable health care act, which the supreme court recently confirmed was constitutional, is constitutional, is a major effort on the part of the democratic congress and president obama to provide not only health care but to lift up the american middle class. so let's hold for a moment the issue of make it in america. we'll come back to it in the latter half of this hour. let's take up the health care

agenda, which i know you wanted to speak to initially. while you to that, i'm going to run and get a couple of placards i want to talk about. mr. tonko from the great state of new york, part of the east-west team. mr. tonko: thank you. always a pleasure to join you. thank you for leading us in this important discussion here on the floor. it's important for us to recognize that for our business community to compete and compete effectively, they need to be able to contain costs, they need to have predictability -- predictability and stability in their day-to-day routine. i think the affordable care act takes us toward those goals. it is a predictable outcome. it enables our small business community to have a sound and well work force. i know that that is in the ethey are of the mindset -- the ether of the mindset of the

business community. they know a productive work force begins with the soundness of a health care plan. and we are the last industrialized nation to have come to the table to begin to resolve that dilemma and it has held become our business community. what we will have with this important affordable care act is the opportunity for exchanges to be developed, either along the state lines or in a national setting, that enables us to provide for the opportunities for business. and to do it in a way that is vastly improved over present situations. status quo, just about everyone agrees, would not cut it. it is unsustainable to continue with a system of health care delivery that we currently operate under. so that this, i believe, will be welcome news for our business community. they will have the opportunity

to address this dilemma, which is found -- which has found the small business community paying 18% to 22% more than industrial settings and get regular deuced services or a smaller service package than the industrial setting would get. so this allows for better services, at reduced premiums, that will enable them to have that affordability factor addressed and to go to the marketplace with that in operational motif is going to be, i think, a very strong enhancer for the competitive edge of the american business community. so, you know, underpinning supporting the small business community is important because as we know, it is the driver, it is producing the great majority of new jobs in the private sector in america today. if we can take that outcome and

enhance it by addressing a -- an affordable care act that impacts soundly and progressively and positively the small business community, then we're doing something to increase america's growth in jobs. and they co-it, we do it also, by having the ability to provide for various tax credits that go toward the small business community, especially for those that have 50 or fewer employees. so we have seen what an economic engine the small business community is since time beginning for this nation -- the small business community is. since time beginning for this nation, they have been the basis of job creation and economic recovery. if we treat the small business community with the respect, the dignity and the assuredness it requires, we have done

something, we will be doing something. representative gare men tee, i think it's important to understand and outline that the affordable care act, the beginning of providing that foundation for the small business community to have a sound work force which is essential in this very competitive sweep stakes for jobs and landing contracts in that international scenario where we all compete for the right to serve the general public. mr. fware men dee: mr. tonko, i'm pleased you brought that up. you reminded me of a rather lengthy article in the "sacramento bee." i am from california, sacramento is one of the hometown papers. so the "bee" was writing a major article on the exchange. in the affordable health care act there is an exchange. california was the first state in the nation to follow up on the affordable health care act's exchange portion and put in place a law to build an exchange.

least our republican friends think that's an awful sitch -- situation, governor schwarzenegger who was a republican, is a republican, signed that legislation before he left office almost two years ago now. this article is very efusive and upbeat about the establishment of a a -- of an exchange. they expect to have it online. what they talked about, a lot of it, was about individuals who could get insurance in a large pool and have the same opportunity for a reasonable priced policy as those in a big business. but they spent a lot of time talking about small businesses and how correct you are that the affordable health care act offered small businesses an extremely important and tier toffer unavailable opportunity to -- and heretofore unavailable opportunity to get insurance for the employer as well as employees and a very big subsidy is available for those companies that -- those small companies that choose to buy insurance.

up to 50% of the -- up to 50% of the cost of the insurance could be subsidized and the cost reduced to the employer. that's a lot of money. it's calculated about $4,000 per employee. if you're looking at an $8,000 or $9,000 policy. so it's really an important opportunity. why is that good for ms. be is? go ahead, mr. tonko. mr. tonko: people say, if the option is made available, which it is, why would they choose that? why spend, even if there's a tax credit made available, think about it. the sound business community leader is going to want to recruit and when you recruit and get the best employees, you offer the best package and you have, as a result, soundness in your work force. so the management style is driving that sort of benefit so that you will reach to the program so as to recruit and

retain quality workers. so i think that driving element will influence more than anything and then the tax credits will be -- will become part and parcel to that package which can be as great as 50%. this is a huge cost savings and a sound policy to which they're attaching. i think it's a benefit. mr. gare men tee: absolutely true. in addition to that, buzz of the exchange situation, an individual as well as a business finds themselves in a large pool. i was the insurance commissioner in california for eight years in the 1990's and then again in 2000, an eight-year hiatus in between. i understand in insurance, for it to work, you need a large, diverse population so that the risk is spread. an individual market today, you can't get that. but in the exchange, the concept is to allow all of these individuals and these small businesses to be part of

a very, very large pool. and they can take advantage of the spreading of the risk and therefore the lower cost and the subsidy on top of that. one more thing, i was at a bagel shop, you know, early morning, i needed a cup of coffee and a bagel, i stopped at a bagel shop, the owner and one or two employees, i think there were actually three, one was in the back, i didn't see that employee, but we were talking about health insurance. and there was some excitement by this employer because she could get insurance. it's for the employers as well as the two employees who were able to get insurance. previously she couldn't. a single mother, a new shop opening up, pretty good bagels and the coffee was very good, now she could get insurance. through the exchange. and you know, a new shop, income was going to be low. she could also get the subsidy.

for the first time in many, many years for this woman, a diversee, lost -- divorced, her husband went one way she went the other, she lost the insurance. now she can get insurance. this is part of the affordable health care act. it's designed to encourage businesses to provide insurance and in that process, as you say, find the good employees and keep them. it's very exciting. mr. tonko: i know we want to get into talk of job creation but if i might add, some of the dialogue in the district i represent, i'm sure it's not unique to the 21st district in new york, but people mentions if you have, there's a proliferation of small business that's been the driving force that's really built our economic recovery from this painful recession, but what you'll hear time and time again is, if i'm a small operation of 10, 15, 20 people, one person, just one person, in that work

force, impacted by catastrophic illness, will throw the actuarial science into a frenzy. and that means that your premiums will be adjusted in a way that makes it difficult as the employer to continue to afford that insurance or to have the co-payments from the employees. so as you're suggesting if you enter this large collection, called an exchange, where many more numbers than 10, 15, or 20 are in this concept together, it shaves those peaks. and the shock, the premium rate shock then is dulled, that's a good thing. mr. garamendi: let me take that a little further. i wish i had this law when i was insurance commissioner. i used to see this all the time. i'd get complaint well, had a consumer hot line, we would take several thousand calls a week. we'd always get