author of the cover story. the house is about to go into session. they are continuing their debate and discussion on defense appropriations. they will be coming in in just a minute. thank you for joining us today on "washington journal." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

from government was there in the wee hours of the morning when we were doing our regular jobs at the same time working to start our business. small businesses operate in a world of bottom lines washington knows very little about. unlike washington, they don't have the luxury to deficit spend, print more money or profess as, quote, spending cuts, lower than anticipated growth. when the president claimed the american system allowed the askess to thrive, he made a dangerous -- allowed the success to thrive, he made a

dangerous error. it does not permit them to drive. that language suggests government is a benefactor possessing the authority to give or take the blessings of open commerce as it sees fit. no, government does not allow you to thrive. government, when it operates in its constitutional capacity, does not object -- obstruct your thriving. ask small business owners today and they'll likely tell you they exist in spite of government's burdens and interference. government already obligates small businesses to pay more than $10,000 per employee each year to comply with federal regulations. that is money they are not directing toward hiring new employees, but even with that knowledge, washington's regulatory tsunami continues. so do the taxes. in a faltering economy, job creation is a paramount importance, and when you raise taxes in a faltering economy, job creation is thwarted. the president acknowledged as much in 2009, but his policies run to the contrary.

perhaps the president's lack of familiarity with running a business in a recession is responsible for his insistence on increasing taxes on 940,000 small business tax filers in 2013. perhaps it's because he doesn't know the ends and outs of private sector creation that he's willing to risk 710,000 american jobs on his tax crusade. we who know the private sector want to spare him that lesson. taxes will devastate our economy. to grow it every american should benefit from an extension of tax relief. mr. speaker, washington didn't buy the american dream for the millions of small businesses that comprised the backbone of our economy, nor did washington show up sick when the shift needed to be covered, missed soccer games because a shipment had to be received or work graveyard because someone had to do that. americans did that. too quickly we forget that everything the government has it takes from taxpayers and if taxpayers do poorly so does the government. so washington must remain mindful. in the policies it imposes make

it harder for small businesses to grow and create jobs and eliminate their ability to invest, it is washington that will find itself in crisis as it is now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: there is a battle about the very existence of public broadcasting. we thought we were past this when 15 months ago the house republican leadership targeted n.p.r. and tried to defund the corporation for public broadcasting. luckily last year 170 million people who don't just listen to or watch public broadcasting but depend on it, unleashed an unprecedented show of support. as a result, the republican leadership walked back. one good thing about last year's budget was a requirement to have a study about

alternatives to funding public broadcasting so that people would have hard facts for this year's budget discussion. well, that study is in and it clearly shows that there is no viable alternative to federal funding for public broadcasting. many of the proposals that have been suggested would actually result in less money overall for public broadcasting in the long term. yet, the house appropriations bill marked up yesterday would slash funding now, defend -- defund n.p.r. federal support and end public broadcasting as we know it within two years. i had dinner with concern burns last night and we discussed it. he pointed out that his five or six projects in the pipeline would be never seen if this budget goes forward. so enjoy his program about the dust bowl this november because

you will never be able to see the roosevelts, jackie robinson, vietnam, hemmingway, all will never be finished or seen if the republican budget proposal is approved. the problem is that governor romney, who has singled out public broadcasting as one of five projects that he would defund and the republicans, listen to a tiny fraction of the american public that is even a minority in their own party. polls show that 2/3f republicans surveyed would either keep federal funding for broadcasting as it is or increase it. what resonates with republican primary voters is not what america wants, needs or believes. the unprecedented threat comes at exactly the time americans need public broadcasting the most. n.p.r. news, the object of greatest republicans scorn, is

the most trusted brand in american news media. pbs shows like "sesame streets" have helped three generations of parents raise their children with effective commercial-free educational programming. locally owned news is becoming only a memory for most america as large corporations buy up local stations and newspapers. there's no money to be made by commercial stations that cater to the special needs of rural and smalltown america. luckily public broadcasting is there because their mission is to serve, not make money. we must stop this attack on the critical service, especially for rural and smalltown america. it's time for the 170 million americans who depend upon public broadcasting every month to again fight back and for congress to finally listen. the radical proposal to slash

public broadcasting, defund n.p.r. and terminate public broadcasting as we know it is a powerful symbol of how far out of step the republican leadership is from the country they're supposed to represent. there's no reason to make public broadcasting a partisan issue. public broadcasting has broad support from republicans, independents and democrats alike. that's why pbs and its member stations were named number one in public trust and, quote, excellent use of taxpayer dollars for the ninth consecutive year. it's time for people who believe in public broadcasting to stand up to this extremism and settle the question once and for all about the future of public broadcasting. unless we fight now, there may be nothing left to protect. the speaker pro tempore: the

chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota, mr. cravaack, for five minutes. mr. cravaack: thank you, mr. speaker. for far too long, over 30 years, in fact, minnesotan students have been faced with an 86,000-acre problem. when minnesota became a state in 1858, sections 13 and -- 16 and 36 of every township were set aside for the benefit of schools. the states could use, sell or lease. the federal government created the boundary waters canoe area wilderness. these state school trust lands within the boundary waters cannot be timbered, harvested, leased or utilized for their minerals. thus, they are not generating money for the school trust. end result, approximately 86,000 acres of state trust

lands are currently locked within the boundaries -- the boundary water canoe area, unable to produce critical funding for minnesota public education. ultimately, congress got us into this situation and congress is going to have to get us out. on june 8, the natural resources committee subcommittee on national parks, forest and public lands conducted a comprehensive hearing on this legislation. our goal, preserve and protect the boundary waters and allow state-owned school trust lands to raise revenue for minnesota's education through utilizing our timber and mineral resources. it is imperative that we solve this long standing problem. minnesota law specifies that these lands must earn money for school trust lands. in fact, the state has a constitutional responsibility to earn a financial return from the lands to fund the education system. that is why i introduced h.r.

5544, the minnesota education investment and employment act, which will give state-owned school trust lands trapped in the boundary waters to the federal government in exchange for federal government-owned land outside the boundary waters. this legislation is needed for the federal government to execute the bipartisan plan recently agreed to by the minnesota legislature and signed by the governor. our economy cannot wait. our kids in the classroom shouldn't either. this legislation will produce new opportunities to create well-paying jobs and additional revenue for our schools. minnesota school trust lands are 154-year investment in the future. times are tight. and our schools and teachers could use some help. currently some of the school districts in minnesota, including mine in north branch, minnesota, have classes with up to 40 students and have scaled back to a four-day school week. just recently the largest paper in minnesota, "the minneapolis

star tribune" penned an opinion piece stating that the enactment of this legislation would be a boom for the eighth district of minnesota and our economy as well. unfortunately, special interests are attempting to derail this broad bipartisan land swap which includes jobs for minnesotans and additional revenue to fund our schools. to swap these lands trapped in the boundary water for lands located outside the boundary waters is simply to execute a federal action. our state, its people and our students should not endure years of litigation and disingenuous delay. importantly, minnesota education investment employment act would not eliminate a single acre of boundary waters land. in fact, the federal -- it would add federal land to the whole existing boundaries making the boundary water canoe area whole. . it is an important and vital aspect of minnesota, we will

take care of it. as an aside, the bill guarantees minnesotans will retain their existing hunting and fishing rights in the boundary waters. now more than ever it is our duty as minnesota leaders to honor the state's obligations owned to minnesota's students and restore the integrity of the boundary water canoe area wilderness. this is a team effort and i am ready and willing to work with all stakeholders and my colleagues to put minnesota schools first. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. gutierrez, for five minutes. mr. gutierrez: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to announce today more than 100 of my colleagues have joined me in writing to president obama to thank him for his action to use prosecute torial discretion to stop deportation for dream act eligible immigrants.

we are pledging our continued and strong support for this polcy. my colleagues and i, 104 of us, are standing together to make clear that we think america's a better place with the immigrants who will be helped by this new policy. of course not everyone agrees. progress doesn't always mean consensus. my colleague, mr. king of iowa, wants to sue the president. take him to court, because mr. king is determined to deport every last young person who is dream act eligible. mitt romney says he would veto the dream act and does not support the protection of the very young people. let's remind ourselves exactly who the republican candidate for president believes should be deported. dream act eligible young people who have lived in america for more than five years. most of them were brought to our nation as children. many of them as infants, yet babies. they stayed away from crime, they attended our high schools and colleges, they are no

different from your children or my children. they regularly excel at schools, some are valedictorians, they are athletes, musicians and leaders, many want to serve our nation in the military, they are leaders in their high school hotc. they are in every sense of the world except for the very exclusive sense promote bide mr. king and mr. romney, outstanding young americans. apparently when mr. king and mr. romney look at the winner of your high school science fair or a young immigrant eager to become a soldier, they see a threat to our national security. sensible americans see their friends and neighbors, young people who want to make america better, they want these young people to be treated fairly and they also want our nation to be safe. so, mr. speaker, i would ask mr. king and mr. romney a question. in a world where our law enforcement officials have limited time and resources who should they be focused on investigating, detaining,

putting behind bars, rounding up, and deporting? the captain of your high school chess team or drug smuggler? i know the answer. i think most americans would agree. immigrants who break the law should face serious consequences. immigrants who are busy studying for exams should be left alon. that's not just my opinion or opinion of advocates or 104 of my colleagues. key despite those few who would like to sue the president and force him to kick high school kids out of this country, president obama's actually legally and responsibly using prosecutorial discretion to leave young people alone and focus instead on criminals. it's the consensus legal opinion among experts, even the support has weighed in. in the arizona decision last month, the supreme court wrote, quote, a principal feature of the removal system is the broad

discretion exercised by immigration officials. federal officials as in the initial matter must decide whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all. whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all. supreme court. and if the supreme court's opinion is not enough, then i submit the opinion from members of congress. including members i don't often agree with when it comes to immigration. these include lamar smith, the chairman of our judiciary committee, david dreier, chairman of the rules committee, and even brian bilbray, chairman of the house anti-immigration caucus. just a few years ago as this letter notes, they would- -weighed in forcibly on prosecutorial discretion. in a letter to the previous president's administration, the staunch opponents of immigration reform enthusiastically defended prosecutorial discretion writing, quote, the principal of prosecutorial discretion is well

established. they wrote, the legal experts at immigration service, quote, apparently well grounded in case law, should show that immigration service has prosecutorial discretion in the initiation, the beginning, and the termination of deportation. it's simple, really. and the members of congress who signed this letter with me today, the supreme court, prom -- president obama, yes, even lamar smith and dozens of his colleagues a few years ago get it. it's time to leave hardworking immigrants alone. when we do, our law enforcement officials can focus on watching tsh-catching the actual bad guys. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that this letter signed by 104 members of congress to president obama thanking him for granting deferred action to dream elinlibility imgrantyuth be submitted for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. -- dream eligible immigrant

youth be submitted for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. shimkus, for five minutes. mr. shimkus: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i come to the floor once again to reiterate federal law. a law that was passed in 1982 called the nuclear waste policy act, and the amendments offered in 1987 which said that yucca mountain would be the long-term geological repository for our nuclear waste in this country. and it's unfortunate i have to keep coming down on the floor to address this issue because of the administration's position to defund, derail, and stop and actually break federal law. so to do that not only do i just talk about the legal aspects of the federal law, but i have been

going around the country in identifying locations where we currently have high level nuclear waste. and asking the basic question, would you rather have it at location a or location b? and so today we return to pennsylvania to a power plant called limerick. limerick has 1,143 metric united states uranium of spent fuel on site. at limerick the waste is stored above the ground in pools and casks. it is 20 feet above the ground water. and it is on the schuylkill river. that is where we currently see high level nuclear waste. compare that to where we should by federal law store high level nuclear waste. in a place defined in law under

the nuclear waste policy act, yucca mountain, in nevada. currently, we have been only working on it for about 30 years, and we have only spent about $15 billion to study, research, and ascertain that yucca mountain is a suitable location. so at yucca mountain since we spent approximately 30 years, $15 billion, how much nuclear waste do we have on site? skeer row. -- zero. if we had it where would it be stored? it would be stored 1,000 feet under ground. it would be stored feet above the water table. and it would be over 100 miles from the colorado river. there's no safer place in the country and there's no more studied location than yucca mountain. and it just makes sense. what is the better location? next to a major river that feeds

into a major metropolitan area like philadelphia, pennsylvania? or underneath a mountain in a desert? i would submit to you that underneath a mountain under a desert is the proper location. so what's the holdup? the holdup is the senator from nevada, harry reid, but more compelling are the other senators from his party who are allowing senator reed to block this, which is a detriment to their own state. so we are going to talk about two in particular. we are looking at four senators from the two states, start casey, senator toomey, senator rockefeller, senator manchin. senator toomey supports it. the alternative is what we have now highly radioactive waste located at 139 sites in 39

states, including nuclear high plants in the lehigh valley, that cannot be as safe and secure as burying this stuff deep in yucca mountain. so the other senator is quoted as saying he has question marks here because being a senator for 5 1/2 years, we don't know his position of whether he thinks storing high level nuclear waste at limerick is a better plan than placing it underneath a mountain in a desert. he understands the concern and need. he is quoted as saying as a senator from a state with nine commercial reactors, this being one, and 10 million people living within 50 miles of those reactors, can i tell you that national security is extremely important to pennsylvania. and so my question, which is the question posed here, is, will you state a position on whether you think yucca mountain is that location since it's in federal

law? so why is this important? as i have been coming down to the floor for the past year and a half, we have done a tally sheet about where do senators stand based upon their vote or public comments. we have 55 senators say yes, yucca mountain is the place we ought to go. of course if you follow it closely in the parliamentary processes, you need 60 to move a bill in the senate. so we are five short. we need senator casey to get on record and support yucca mountain. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. butterfield, for five minutes. mr. butterfield: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today to pay tribute to north carolina's state representative, william l. waynewright, whose earthly journey has ended. representative waynewright died on tuesday of this week, july

17, 2012, at the age of 64 after a brief illness. representative waynewright was a dear personal friend and leader in the first congressional kiss trict. he was definitely a democratic leader of the north carolina house of representatives and formerly the speaker pro tempore pore rarery of the house. in each position -- speaker pro tempore in the house. in each position he was the first african-american to hold the position. in addition to serving the citizens in craven and lenore counties, he was a tenured pastor and presiding elderly of the new burn district of the african methodist zion church. for more than 40 years representative waynewright taught god's word in pulpits across america.

he counseled those in need. he visited the sick and was friend to all. in the general assembly, mr. speaker, representative waynewright was a leader among leaders. he was chairman of the legislative black caucus. he served as vice chairman of the finance committee. he was also a member of the commerce and job development subcommittee on business and labor. and the committee on health and human services, homeland security, military, and veterans' affairs, and even the committee on insurance. north carolina goff goff revealed -- north carolina governor said this of the representative, whether he was in the pulpit or the legislature, we in waynewright's 3r50euors -- priorities without question and his devotion without peer. he served the lord and people of north carolina with courage. with humility and with love. he and i arrived at the general assembly about the same time. from neighboring districts he was wiser in the ways of both

politics and the human spirit. ever since and up to his last days i relied on his invaluable counsel and i will always treasure his friendship, heaven is a richer place today. those were the words of north carolina governor, bev purdue. the county commissioner said, he worked around the clock for the history education center and he was able to get things done. he wanted to help people who could not help themselves. . those were the words of county commissioner johnny sampson. in closing, mr. speaker, it must be said that north carolina sbetter because of the life and work of william wainwright. william had endless energy and passion for the people he served. we will miss this giant of a

man. may god bless his memory and provide comfort to his beloved family and his community. i thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. westmoreland, for five minutes. mr. westmoreland: thank you, mr. speaker. and i come before you today with a great sadness but with a sense of pride to honor one of georgia's own heroes, private first class brandon d. goodine. on june 7 brandon gave the ultimate sacrifice when his unit was attacked with improvised explosive device by enemy forces in kandahar province in afghanistan while he was supporting operation enduring freedom. brandon was a beloved father. he was a husband, a brother and a son. he was taken from us much too soon, but not without accomplishing some great

things. he believed that his greatest accomplishment was his 3-year-old daughter, kathryn. brandon became a father at a young age, but devoted his life to making sure kathryn had everything she needed. in fact, his reason for joining the army was so he could be sure she was taken care of. her birth game him direction and purpose in life, helping him believe he could accomplish anything. everything that brandon did was for kathryn. giving everything 110% was what brandon did. he was just an all-around great guy, striving to make something of himself. brandon attended henry county high school and later joined the navy rotc at greenville high school. on may 2, 2011, he joined the army and proudly served as a scout with bravo troop, fourth battalion, 73rd calvary regiment of the 82nd airborne division from fort bragg, north

carolina. in his unit, he was a brother to his fellow paratroopers. they remember not only laughing and having fun with him but his kindness and generosity that he showed them. going out of his way to volunteer or help someone was not unusual for brandon, but on june 7, he was assigned to a mission to prevent the enemy from freely attacking peaceful communities in afghanistan. he bravely gave his life doing what he did best, helping others and giving them a chance for a better life. his commitment to his daughter, his family and our country inspired his older brother, christopher, to enlist in the army three months later. brandon's mother, mandy, said she was not only proud to be his mother but his friend. he was a hero to his family, a role model for his three sisters, a beloved son, a brother, a loving father and a dedicated husband to his wife, nicole. one of the biggest tributes to brandon's life has been the support from the community.

when brandon was being transported home for the last time, flags were placed along the road to honor him and his sacrifice. he was laid to rest on june 18, by his close friends and family in georgia. i'm proud to stand here before you to honor the life of brandon c. goodine and to thank him for his service to our country. brandon has left a lasting impression on those who he has touched and his bravery will never be forgotten. we extend our deepest sympathy to mandy, duane, kathryn, any coal and all -- nicole and all brandon's families and friends and we will never forget his great sacrifice for his nation so that we may all live free. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. quigley, for five minutes. mr. quigley: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, anecdotal science with science, i would be standing here proclaiming that

global warming is real, just step outside. it is severely hot. oppressive. simply unenjoyable. often i feel as if i'm standing behind an 18-wheeler blowing heat and exhaust in my face. but, no, i'm just walking my chicks in -- my dogs in chicago, no less. the city of snow. snow, the stuff that embolden those who said global warming was a farce. just think of that snow piled up against your door, they said. but global warming is part of a larger climate crisis, climate change, something of meaning, scientists, say, more extreme storms, more severe droughts, deadly heat waves, rising sea levels and more acidic oceans, to name a few. you might have noticed, i am citing a union of concern scientists, nor the group of folks who said that the weather was extreme. it would do us word to heed the

word of science and not the remarks of a few casual observers. i don't make my case that global warming is real because it's hot. just as it doesn't follow that global warming isn't real when it's cold. extreme weather is climate change. over 200 peer reviewed scientific studies have concluded that global warming is real and potentially catastrophic. no scientific peer reviewed studies have found the opposite. none. as of july 3, 56% of the continental united states was experiencing drought conditions. this marks the largest area affected by drought in the 12-year record kept by the u.s. drought monitor. scientists note that temperature records reveal a long-term trend for warming. that is in picking up speed. the first decade of this century was the warmest on record, according to noaa's state of climate in the 2010

report. it is real because science tells us so. we have sustained 1,644 record heat days from january to june of 2012. we have endured 63 is days of record rainfall. we have shoveled our way out of 98 days of record snowfall. the prolong heat wave this past spring include the hottest march since record keeping began in 1895. 671 records were broken, according to the national weather service. april marked the end of the warmest 12-month stretch ever in the united states. so what does all this snow, rain, heat, drought, ocean acidity and ranging forest fires mean? scientists say it's global warming. scientists say that our warming climate is causing more and more extreme weather events and they can and will get worse by our inaction.

several weeks of snow again which prompted taunts by members of congress do not disprove scientific fact. at the same time, today's untenable heat does not solidify my stance. local temperatures taken as individual tatea has nothing to do with the long-term trend of global warming. to get a real read on global warming, scientists rely on changes in weather over a long period of time. looking at high and low temperature data from recent decades shows that new record highs occurred nearly twice as often as new record lows. so, no, my belief in global warming is not sprung with a conversation with my neighbor, nora, people i'm sitting with sweating at a cubs game. my belief in global warming is born out of respect and knowledge of sound science that tells us that global warming is real. as winston churchill said, i never worry about action but only about inaction. my concern, my fear is that we

have gone too far -- we have gone too far to save the planet we've neglected to protect because we've trade science for reading the wind. global warming is real and the extreme weather and sound science demonstrate that this is so. let us know the crippling fear of inaction no longer. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. bilirakis, for five minutes. mr. bilirakis: mr. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bilirakis: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today not only as a member of this esteemed body but as a member of the house foreign affairs committee and also as co-chair of the hellanic caucus. i stand here to recall a memory that has plagued the hellanic community for the past 35 years.

even though the turkic evasion of cyprus took place on july 20,1974, the suffering of the victims has not subsided. this anniversary is a time for america to respectfully remember the brutal turkish military invasion of cyprus, to mourn those who have lost their lives and to condemn the continued occupation. over 5,000 sipryans were killed in 1974 and including four americans of cypria descent has gone missing. forced expulsion on the occupied land have left nearly 200,000 people displaced. they were kicked out of their homes, making them refugees in their own country, mr. speaker. these properties have unlawfully distributed and are currently being used by tens of

thousands of legal settlers from turkey. to this day, greek cyprias are prevented from returning to their homes and properties. another tragic result of this 38-year occupation is the division among greek and turkish cyprias who have been separated among ethnic lines. this unnatural division of the island nation is a crime against society and a crime against the people of cyprus that can only be resolved by ending turkey's illegal occupation. mr. speaker, 38 years is too long. on the occasion of this anniversary, we need to take a long hard look at our own commitment toward helping cyprus reach a lasting and enduring peace, free from occupation, division and oppression. a few years ago the u.s. house had the wisdom and foresight to

unanimously pass h.r. 405, a measure i introduced which expressed strong support from this body for the implementation of the july 8 agreement. last month, mr. engel and i introduced house resolution 676, to expose and halt the illegal colonization of the republic of cyprus with non-cypriat residents. to allow cyprus to exploit its energy resources without illegal interference from turkey. the republic of cry plus has also worked alongside its european neighbors to bring about a stronger integration of turkish and greek interests for the good of the island and its people. this has included a partial lifting on restriction of movement across the cease-fire line that continues to forcibly

divide cyprus. mr. speaker, i believe that because of this continued integration between greek and turkish people and the political successes that the republic of cyprus so readily wants to share with its neighbors, it is possible to bring closure to this 38-year occupation. and now as cyprus takes over the e.u. presidency, the first time since 2004. cyprus has been a long and faithful ally of the united states. it continues to work with us in the global war on terrorism and has supported our efforts in both afghanistan and iraq. mr. speaker, 38 years is too long. it's long enough. it is time to have cyprus a cyprus that is once again unified without turkish occupation of troops, foreign illegal settlers, where human rights is a fundamental for all

cypriats. all ir respective of national or religious background is eligible currently to enjoy all rights provided for by the constitution and international convention signed by cyprus. the only obstacle, mr. speaker, is the government of turkey. we americans as friends of the cypriat people owe it to them to do everything in our power to support peace and an end to turkey's 38-year illegal occupation of cyprus. thank you, mr. speaker, and i'd like to yield the balance of my time to mr. royce. thank you. mr. royce: i thank the gentleman for yielding, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. towns. for five minutes. mr. towns: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i come to the floor today to recognize the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time

ock -- reverend jacob underwood, the founder of the great baptist church of new york's section of brooklyn. he is a very unusual person and has done some great things. for instance, when the people of east new york were complaining about the lack of housing, reverend underwood pulled a group together and started building houses, and he established the towers because the fact that people were complaining about not having housing. and then they came to him to talk about the inadequate schools and, of course, at that point in time, he pulled some folks together and started a school. and, of course, when they were talking about jobs and all of that, he also provided jobs. i just recall recently talking to brother lee in the east new york section who indicated that reverend underwood gave him a job and that as a result now he has a house and family and he went on to say how excited he was about that job that

reverend underwood provided. . he was the kind of person, he didn't believe in just complaining and sitting around and just talking about what needs to be done, he was the kind of person that would go and get it done. of course we need more people like him today because reverend underwood was a very progressive person and had an agenda in promoting human welfare and social reform in the church. and the community. when people would say, you can't do that, he would just say, watch me, because all things are possible with god. he's a very strong man of faith and he just felt that with a little support that he could accomplish anything that he wanted to accomplish. pastor underwood also established a soup kitchen, and one of the first daycare centers in the east new york section of brooklyn.

he really believed in helping others. he was not the kind of person if you asked him for help that he would call a press conference. some people if you ask hem for help the first thing they want to do is call a press conference and let the world know you have asked them for help. he was not kind that of person. he would make a decision to help you and very quietly and just do it and was happy over the fact that he was in a position to do it for you. pastor underwood served on the local school board and he was very big on voter registration. a lot of the people in the area were not registered, but he sort of talked to them and called a meeting together to encourage us to get involved. as a result a lot of folks were recommend sterd in that community. he would -- registered in that community. he was also on the civil rights committee, he was the first elected chairman of the east new york community corporation back in those days, and president of the new york progressive state

congress. he served twice as moderator of the new york missionary baptist association. what a great man. of course he was chairman of the brownsville east new york clergy association and president of the new york progressive state convention and corresponding secretary of the president's department of the progressive national baptist convention. he also was the president of the african-american clergy and elected officials association of brooklyn. and he currently serves as the chairman of the churchs united for -- churches united for world action. at the age of 84 he decided to start another church. not in new york but in the state of his birth, south carolina. of course let me conclude and thank reverend for his inspiration and commitment to

making the world a better place for all of us to live. he was a great -- he's a great teacher, he's a great innovator, great educator, and of course he believed that he has an obligation and responsibility to help others. that is what it's all about. now at the age of 86, on hisle th -- on his 86th birthday, he said he was not through organizing and doing things. i would say to reverend underwood and to those who actually know him, the world is a better place because of the fact that this man has been here for 86 years making a difference, doing things on behalf of people. he can truly say that this world is better because of his involvement. on that note i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, for five minutes. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker.

remember back in school when your math teacher expected you to show your work when solving a math problem? made sense. remember on a page, even if it was correct, didn't suffice because your teacher wanted you to demonstrate knew how to solve the problem. then the outcome was a grade on a quiz or test, but what about when we are talking about hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars? why do we take on blind faith the cost estimates produced by one of the most influential accounting firms in the united states, the congressional budget office. in 1974, the grow c.b.o. -- congressional budget office, c.b.o., was formed, to give congress independent, nonpartisan objective analysis of legislation. in addition the c.b.o. is required by law to produce a cost estimate or score for every bill coming out of committee of either chamber of commerce. that sounds good in theory, but the problem is no one knows how c.b.o. arrives at their numbers and they won't tell us.

they don't have to. c.b.o. is not required to show their work like we were required in school when announcing economic impact results. members of congress rely on the c.b.o. score favorable or budget neutral score makes a difference for a bill's success or failure. if there are savings, chances are better that the bill will get a vote on the floor. if it's budget neutral, it may still get a vote. what happens if the analysis was wrong and it turns out to lead to big deficits? what if congress failed to call up a bill for a vote because the c.b.o. scored it as deficit spending when really it could lead to substantial savings? the price of an inaccurate estimate right now is extremely high. our national debt is closing in on $16 trillion. major safety nets like medicare and medicaid are heading for bankruptcy, and congress has to act to bring us back from the brink of a fiscal cliff. it is crucial for policy makers to have all available information about the true cost and that's why i introduced h.r. 6134, the c.b.o. transparency

act so lawmakers and the public have an opportunity to review c.b.o.'s work. today you can access hospital visits, information, and air quality levels used to produce major leg lations by the e.p.a. and others, but you can't find out how the c.b.o. scored things. like any scientific study, opening up the details of c.b.o. analysis for greater inspection and peer review will enable us to better understand how decisions are made. now, this bill isn't about pointing out inaccuracies of c.b.o.'s estimates, what we are doing here is using transparency to enhance the credibility of a congressional budget office. once the information is out there, it can be reviewed by congress and all americans. is the information correct? did they consider all the facts? was something left out? was their analysis done right? in 2009 at the university of chicago researcher revealed c.b.o. grossly under-the-estimated possession savings from changes enacted by congress for medicare and medicaid. for instance, c.b.o. overestimated the cost of medicare part d by 40%.

in the 1980's c.b.o. predicted spending and hospital stays under the new law would be $19 more billion expect than the actual cost. congress changed it and this encouraged shorter stays leading to fewer diagnostic services. but c.b.o. didn't predict and by 1986 actual spending for payments was lower. it also estimated that hospitals reporting infection rates would cost over $30 million over five years. turns out when they report infection rates they pay attention and the savings has been billions of dollars over five years. when the c.b.o. says the stimulus saved 3.3 million jobs or tax rates don't impact decisions by individuals and businesses or cutting spending will grow economic growth, we currently have no way of stunned jng the conclusion. c.b.o. has reached out by we can't figure out how they got there. i hope all my colleagues will join me in this effort, transparency is the cornerstone

of sound government, i urge democrats and republicans to sign on to this bipartisan, good government bill, h.r. 6136 the c.b.o. transparency act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from california, miss spehr, for five minutes. -- miss spehr -- ms. speier for five minutes. ms. speier: i rise again today to talk about military sexual trauma. it's a cancer, it's ubiquitous, it's unabated and regrettably unaddressed. there was tailhook in 1991. there was aberdeen in 1996. there was scandals at the military academy. there were hearings, there were reports, there were toothless recommendations. here we are again with yet another scandal. at this very moment military training instructor louise walker stands before a court-martial for raping -- louis walker stands before a

court martial for raping. walker's job is to train freshly minuted air force recruits, many in their teens. in all there are 28 charges against him and 10 victims. walker is a sexual predator. on tuesday, a victim testified that right after graduating from boot camp walker approached her while she sat outside on a bench waiting for a bus that would take her to technical training school. walker came up and ordered her to get some bleach from a supply room. and then he followed her. once inside, he closed the door and took off his training instructor hat. i'm not here for bleach, am i, he said? while walker had intercourse with her on the couch, she wondered, my god, i hope he has a condom on. on wednesday another victim testified that while on laundry detail one day, walker showed up and told her to follow him to get some towels but to wait five minutes so the surveillance

cameras would not capture them going up together. once inside the dorm, he pulled her into a flight office, kissed her, and told her to perform oral sex on him. she said she did what she was told. walker's defense attorneys argue because the women never force fully resisted the sex was consensual. defense also argues that because the women never came forward to report the incident, there must not have been -- they must not have felt victimized. if this happens in any high school in this country, a prized english teacher, band instructor, had sex with his students we would be outraged and demand action. that teacher would be fired. yet at lackland where some of the recruits are just 18 or 19 years old, we rationalize the behavior of the perpetrator and blame the victim. apparently we have a different definition of zero tolerance for sex offenders in the military

world than we do for them in the civilian world. what does zero tolerance mean in the military? is that just a catch phrase? the 35,000 air force recruits who funnel through lackland each year are mostly confined to the base for 6 1/2 weeks of training. they get one three-minute phone call once a week. recruits live and breathe basic training and follow each and every order of their instructor. one rape victim said, nothing a military training instructor says ends with a question mark. walk certificate not the only predator charged, seven additional training instructors have been charged with sexual misconduct with trainees. at least another five are under investigation. one instructor, staff sergeant craig le blanc, bragged his conquest to his colleagues who waited a month before they reported the incident. out of loyalty the colleagues

stayed quiet. once he finally reported le blanc's misconduct with recruits, that instructor was ostracized by fellow training instructors for being a tattle tar heel. is this really a culture of zero tolerance? congress needs to investigate and hold and independent hearing on the widespread sex abuse at the air force base. in the last three years since louis walker started working at lackland, roughly 21,000 female air m.e.p. have cycled through the base. have they been interviewed by investigators to determine if they, too, had been raped? how widespread is this epidemic? at lackland out of the 31 identified victims, only one has reported the crime. why are victims scared to come forward? internal investigations will not get to the bottom of this. congress needs to act. i call for a hearing in june and

received no response. last week i was joined by a bipartisan group of 77 members of congress calling for a hearing. we have received no response. i'm sick of waiting for action. the 19,000 members of our military who are raped each and every year deserve better than catch phrases. they deserve justice. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. there's a new small business in my district in southeast texas. cool blast lemmon aid stand, run by the southern sisters of texas. clara is seven, eliza is four. their newees employee is little brother irick who recently was hired to join the team. they even have their own facebook page with 867 followers. on their facebook page they say

this about their business, we are entrepreneurs who started a lemonade stand for lemonade day. we are going to continue to work to earn money to spend it on things we would like. they also share with our two chosen charities, meals on wheels, and paws for texas rescue. mr. speaker, they learned all of these lessons without any interference from the federal government. . their father andrew said this. they did it all only their own. nobody helped them except us. my wife and i both run our own businesses so running a lemonade stand was showing them what they could do. they were curious how we got money for things. mr. speaker, the girls stood out in 100-degree texas humid heat serving customers instead of being like many other kids, going to the local swimming pool. each day they opened for business, the girls learned valuable lessons. lessons about budgets.

lessons about capitalism and lessons about life. clara says, quote, you learn how to make change. we learned about customer service, that we should always be nice to customers. we learned how to advertise, and we donated some of the money to charity to help some other people out. we might buy a gift for our brother since he's our new employee. after one lemonade day in houston, the girls said they made enough money to pay their investors back in full. mr. speaker, when was the last time you heard of a 7-year-old using those business terms? these kids are getting on-the-job business training that no government, especially the federal government, gave them. they are practicing americanism. in america we teach our kids the value of work and to work hard and entrepreneurship. we teach our kids from a young age that success does not come

without sacrifice. perseverance and responsibility pays off. these are the lessons that our children need to learn, not the lessons of trying to depend on government. you see, these kids made it without government doing anything except getting out of their way. so, mr. speaker, the next time you see the president telling successful businesses in america come from business owner, even kids, and not the federal government and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from new york, mrs. maloney, for five minutes. mrs. maloney: i thank the speaker for my recognition and i rise as the founder and co-chair of the hellanic caucus to speak on the 38th anniversary of the 1974 illegal turkish occupation and invasion of sigh plus. we must make sure that the

passage of time that the cyprus issue is the result of an illegal invasion and ongoing occupation. it is long overdufort turkey to withdraw its troops from cyprus so that the island can move forward as a nation. they occupied cyprus with more than 48,000 troop. turkey has repeatedly ignored many of the united nations resolutions pertaining to cyprus and has continued to occupy the island in complete violation of international law. the destruction of religious and cultural sites and artifacts continues unabated and a long list of turkish actions that flag rantly disrespect the rights and religious freedom of the people. in the last congress, the

hellanic caucus passed a resolution in the house calling for the protection of these religious sites and artifacts in turkish-occupied areas. we have also worked on a resolution that is introduced by mr. bilirakis and mr. engel, h.r. 676, which is calls upon the -- to halt the republic of turkey's illegal colonization of the republic of cyprus with non-cypriot populations. they are moving people onto the island. it is reported there are 500,000 cypriot people in the turkish area, so the population, no one knows how many more people they're moving in. and in cyprus in its efforts to control all of its territory to end turkey's occupation and to exploit its energy resources

without illegal interference by turkey. in 2011, they discovered gas in the cypriot area. the noble energy company, a private energy company from texas, discovered that a field off the coast of cyprus may hold as much as 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. the first discovery off the divided island nation. this is tremendously important for energy independence and for an ally to be able to support america, our energy needs and the beginning of drilling sent war ships and fighter jets. turkey invaded the island in 1974 and turkey does not recognize the greek cypriot

government. this is what they have brought to the island of cyprus. there have been some successes for cyprus. in may of 2004, cyprus, with the support of the united states, joined the european union and during the second half of this year, cyprus took over the very important and prestigious position of presidency of the council of european union. this is the first time cyprus presided over the council of the e.u. since it became a member of it in 2004. yesterday, a group of hellanic caucus members met with a group of leaders from the district that i am honored to represent. they included phil christopher, peter and other national leaders of the cypriot-american community and other greek leaders. they came to participate in the hearings before the senate foreign relations committee on

the confirmation hearing for mr. caney. he was nominated by president obama to be the next u.s. ambassador of cyprus and we are hopeful that the confirmation will move forward. we are also concerned about a bill that has been put forward that gives preferential treatment to turkey over other countries on contracts and activities that take place on american indian areas. and this has caused a great deal of concern with the members of the caucus, and i now want to express my opposition to the indian tribal trade and investment demonstration project act. this bill would give preferential treatment to turkish businesses to engage in investment activities on indian tribal lands. and i question why they are

being singled out for this consideration given the illegal occupation that continues. i request unanimous consent to put the remainder of my comments into the record and to express my strong support for cyprus and the vital role it is playing in european affairs and the strong ally they have been to the united states. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. royce, for five minutes. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, july 20 marks the 38th anniversary of the turkish invasion of the island of cyprus. that invasion claimed the lives of about 5,000 cypriots. in the neighborhood of 200,000 people were forcibly expeled from their homes during that time period. to put that in perspective,

that was a third of the population of the country. if this were to happen in the united states, it would be the equivalent of 100,000 people being -- becoming refugees in their own land. and as we stand here today, that occupation continues. there's over 30,000 turkish troops on the island. they're stationed on over a third of cyprus, and sadly that occupied area of this beautiful land is one of the most millerized areas in the world. i have seen this -- militarized areas in the world. i have seen this on both sides of the divide. it is really tragic that despite the wishes of cypriots on both sides of that line that this cannot be resolved. and the cyprus-turkey issue, unlike many others, is one that the international community has been able to reel on. there have been 75 resolutions adopted in the security

council. more than 13 by the general assembly calling for the return of the refugees to their homes and to their properties and for the withdrawal of those turkish troops from cyprus. president demetrice -- dimitris christofias, his commitment to finding a solution, greatly impressed me in he reached out to turkish cypriots. i had my own opportunity when i was in northern cyprus to talk to cypriots, turkish cypriots, and they confirmed that their desire was to find a resolution to this problem, to find a way to have turkish troops leave

the island and there's certainly no lack of good will, i think, on the side -- in terms of the cypriot community. so since 2008, there have been these full-fledged negotiations with leaders of the turkish cypriot community. i think that the problem here is that everyone needs a reliable partner, a reasonable partner, and i question whether turkey is listening in that process. i have not seen yet. i point out that cyprus and the united states share a deep and abiding commitment to upholding the ideals of freedom, democracy, justice, human rights, the international rule of law. after the lebanon crisis in 2006, if you recall, cyprus

served as the principle transit location for people evacuating from lebanon. i had constituents that went through cyprus at that time. in the 1983 bay cute barracks bombings, it was cyprus who provided the staging ground for rescue efforts after that bombing, but i point out also that since the discovery of gas reserves in the eastern mediterranean, the u.s. has advocated including revenue sharing from energy resources in those cyprus settlement talks urging they be shared with the cypriot communities on both sides of that rhine. it's important to note there are concrete efforts under way by the heads of the respected communities to reunify greek and turkish cypriots alike want to see that solution and, again, in my view, what stands in the way here is turkey at the present time.

and i wish they would reconsider their position. you can see the extent to which cyprus is willing to compromise with these newly discovered energy resources. greek cypriot leaders are willing in principle to share the benefits of future gas production with turkish cypriots. their only request is that revenues not be shared with those 30,000-plus turkish soldiers on the island, and that's still not good enough for turkey. you know, mr. speaker, 38 years of occupation, needless militarization in this part of the world, this divide should have ended long, long ago. interest is still time to right this wrong. i hope turkey reconsiders, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. clarke, for five minutes. mr. clarke: thank you, mr. speaker, and i would ask -- have the opportunity to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

mr. clarke: thank you, mr. speaker. recently i introduced a resolution in this house calling the illiteracy of our african-american and hispanic men in this country to be a national crisis. by teaching our young men how to read we can help build their character, we can save their lives, we can also reduce violent crime. because many of our young men will no longer be on the streets. they will be in the schools and they'll also have the skills that they need to get good-paying jobs. today, i wish to offer that resolution in recognition of the memory of a great man of honor, marcell deion jackson.

we need more men like mr. jackson. marcell jackson recently gave his life in defense of another. he was a courageous member of detroit 300, which is a community organization committed to the -- to deter crime in the streets of detroit. . if we help give our young men hope, hope through education, hope by building their character, by reading inspiring books, hope that they can have a better life, raise a family, that will save lives and make metro detroit and our country a better place to live. marcel jackson lived and died so that we who live in detroit could have a better life there.

mr. speaker, i ask this house to recognize the memory of the life of marcel dion jackson, a great man of honor. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. schilling, for five minutes. mr. schilling: thank you, mr. speaker. i wish to rise and say just a few words in the hopor of the remarkable life and note the passing of a constituent of mine and an accomplished small business man from central illinois. a business man named mel feldman. i had the privilege of meeting him in 2010 when he shared with me the story of his life and the times and i'd like to share some of those with you. encap sue late about what we love about our country and central illinois. mel was born in 1913.

he was born in poe lapd in 1913 which he and his family fled soon thereafter to he scape the programs that arose during the first world war. they eventually settled in st. louis where mel studied engineering. he became a career in the radio business which was hustling the job that was a remote engineer with kmlx during the 1930's where he courted his wife, ruth, while doing remote broadcasts of big band concerts on saturday night. later he was an engineer and sidekick of a young broadcaster named hari-kari whom we are family with. -- hari-kari -- harry carey whom we are all familiar with. they worked on a shoestring budget and eventually bought two other radio stations and came to employ nearly 100 workers. he and his wife became pillars

of the community at the synagogue there in the central illinois area where she helped run the preschool. in the 1980's they sold their stations and retired choosing to remain in the area to be near their family. to go from the streets of eastern europe to the prosperity and stability of central illinois in the 21st century is a journey that is difficult for many of us to fathom. it is to the enormous benefit of our community that people like mel came to the united states and braved wars and oppression and poverty and all kinds of other tribulations for the chance to settle down and raise their families amongst us. they are one of the things that make illinois such a great and rewarding place to live and raise our families. america holds much to immigrants in central illinois owes much to the contributions of mel and ruth whose legacy goes beyond the radio stations he established and the synagogue they served and the family they raised. their lives touched and bettered

so many friends and neighbors in peoria who i know are mourning mel's passing but at the same time celebrating his life. with that i yield back. the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 4155, an act to direct the head of each federal department and agency to treat relevant military training as sufficient to satisfy training or certification requirements for federal licenses. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house

>> live coverage when members return here on c-span. >> as remarks now from house minority leader nancy pelosi, she held a briefing earlier today. >> good morning. yesterday i joined our

distinguished house democratic whip, steny hoyer, our assistant democratic leader, mr. clyburn, and ranking member leaven in a letter -- ranking member of the ways and means committee, mr. levin, and sending a letter to speaker boehner and ways and means chairman, dave camp, asking for a markup of tax cut legislation for the middle income talkts. everyone agrees that -- tax cuts. everyone agrees we should have a middle income tax cut. tax legislation will soon be brought to the floor. we think a matter of this magnitude should have a markup in committee. where both parties can offer amendments and we have a full discussion in committee before it comes to the floor. the middle income tax cut is something, again, that the president has put forth that we all agree should happen. tax cuts for everyone up to

$250,000 a year. that means if you make more than that you still get a tax cut up to that level of income. so everyone gets a tax cut. it appears the republicans have made their choice. they are not going to have -- hopefully they will have a markup, but so far we don't see evidence of it. they made their decision that they are going to hold these middle income tax cuts hostage to tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country. 98% of the american people will benefit from these middle income tax cuts. in fact 100% will benefit, but the other 2% will get an additional benefit under the republican plan. it increases the deficit, it does not create jobs, it does not take us forward in the growth that we need in our economy. from what we have heard, obviously jobs are a pre-eminent concern we have.

it's an answer to every family's challenge, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. four focus -- our focus has been on jobs, middle income tax cuts, and fiscal soundness. we have heard from the minutes of the fed and statements of the fed chair and the rest that some of the head winds that the growth of our economy is facing relate to availability of credit, what's happening in the housing market, what's happening overseas, and fiscal stability. fiscal stability is something congress can do something about. and we can do something about it now. we can do something about it now. we can't wait until -- why should we wait until a lame duck when that certainty is really important? important to america's workers, america's families, america's businesses to our economy. we would hope by having a markup, hear the arguments on

each side, go to the floor, choice will be made, but the fact is beyond the tax cuts and the jobs, growth, certainty that will spring from that, all of that contributes to our fiscal stability. it's really necessary. we should be about it now. if you want me to i'll talk more about where we are. august 1, one year ago, almost one year ago, august 1, we had the vote on the floor with about lifting the debt ceiling. but in order to do that republicans insisted on the budget control act. 174 of them voted for it. including the speaker of the house, mr. boehner, and the majority leader, mr. cantor. they both voted for that. it established a cap on spending. took us forward, sent us to the stable, the supercommittee, in order to come forth with a package of growth, for deficit

reduction, and to avoid sequestration. as i say 174 republicans voted for that, and it wasn't long before the supercommittee did not succeed because they would not include revenue if we were -- we knew there had to be cuts. we knew we needed growth as part of growing the economy and producing revenue, and we needed revenue. you know what happened then. when the situation we learned one year later, let's make this a better summer. let's not let august 1 pass. remove all doubt that that's the path we are going to go down without holding us hostage to those high income tax cuts which again increase the deficit and do not create jobs. any questions? >> one of the appropriations bills that was not successfully

marked up last year is the labor-h bill. there are a lot of social issues in that bill. sometimes controversial. but one of the issues in that bill is to defund the affordable care act. many republicans have sent a letter to the speaker saying they would not -- urging him not to put a bill on the floor that would not defund the health care law. how do you see that issue playing out as we get to the fall, september 30, and forcing the issue of keeping government opened? >> when you say social issues in the bill are you referring to the fact they want to defund planned parenthood? is that the social issue? >> the health care. >> that's an economic and health issue. i didn't know what you meant by social issue. the defunding of planned parenthood, which is part of what their markup was about, was it yesterday, they officially mark up yesterday, that was what i know was in the mix. i didn't know if they were finished with that markup.

it will be interesting to see if they are even able to bring a labor-hhs bill to the floor. the simple fact that that is a bill about jobs, it's about education, it's about our work force, it's about the health and well-being, the -- funding of the national institutes of health and all that that implies in terms of research, about c.d.c. and prevention. it's about so many things that are central to the well-being of the american people. and yet they have cut i think about -- i haven't seen the final product, but about $6 billion there that -- from that bill in order to fund some of their own endeavors. all of this at the expense of health, education, and jobs for the american people. so i -- you'll have to talk to the speaker about -- it's hard to see that he would want to

subject some of the members of his caucus to a vote on a bill that is so destructive. when i served on that committee, i know the brief of it very well because in terms of hiv-aids, women's health, it's a fabulous place to be because it's about another source of the strength of america. the well-being of the american people. our chairman, way back , when used to say it was lam -- >> minority leader pelosi from a short time ooling. all this briefing is is available online at c-span.org. live now house speaker john boehner holding his legislative briefing this morning. >> this week an independent report from ernst & young indicating that the president's call for increased taxes will cost our economy more than 700,000 jobs. why are democrats willing to support a tax hike for thousands

of small businesses at a time when our economy is struggling? i think the president explained himself when he told america's job creators, you didn't build that. the president believes the job creators and entrepreneurs of this country owe their success to the government. he's telling american small business entrepreneurs in effect, so, you owe us. now it's time to pay up. that philosophy explains a lot about the president's economic policies and why they failed. because they are completely wrong. our nation was build built on the fices and hard work of entrepreneurs and frankly we ought to be thanking them. we owe them a government that stay us ott of their way and gives them the freedom to grow, create jobs -- out of their way and gives them the freedom to grow, create jobs, and pursue the american people. we need to lay the groundwork for tax reform and closes tax loop hells and lowers rates for all, including american companies. this will keep some jobs in

america, and bring some of the jobs that have gone overseas back home. the house will lay the ground work for this type of reform in the coming weeks. the president's tax hike will hit nearly the same time as our military is being hit with arbitrary cuts that will endanger our security. these are the same cuts the president's own secretary of defense says will hollow out our armed forces. the see querser -- sequester is happening because the president didn't lead. he wanted an increase in the debt ceiling without spending cuts and reforms that are truly needed to reduce our deficit and our debt. he wanted an increase in the debt ceiling so that he wouldn't have to deal with it twice before his election. so rather than agree to tax an entitle reform so everyone knows that are needed, the president d senate democrats gave us the sequester.

promising that the cuts would never actually happen. some of those same democrats are threatening to drive us off the fiscal cliff, tang our economy all in their quest for higher taxes. the house has already passed legislation to replace the looming defense cuts with commonsense reforms. we have done our job. the president hasn't lifted a finger to work with the congress on jobs or to resolve these big issues. he department even have time to meet with his own jobs counsel. he's out there complaining every day looking for somebody else to blame. the republicans only control one half of one third of our government. but we are the only ones in this town who have offered a plan to address both the threat to our security that's poised by the defense sequester, and the threat to our economy posed by the coming tax hike. listen, republicans are leading on jobs.

while this white house has checked out, and i frankly think the american people deserve better. >> speaker boehner, in regards to the tremendous drought that's affecting the midwest--there was a little interview in washington state in 2007, -- i digress. >> i didn't have a tie on then. >> terrible drought has been affecting the -- >> simple rule, if you have a tie on -- do you have a question? >> drought affecting the midwest, there's some speculation senate democrats say they would like to send disaster relief to the farm bill. what is congress prepared to do to help out those farmers whose crops are being decimated by

this drought? >> there is no question there is a real threat throughout the midwest because of the dry conditions. most farmers that -- in my district take -- avail themselves of crop insurance. that's why it's in the farm bill. that's why our government subsidizes the cost of crop insurance to encourage farmers to buy that. in most case it is should be sufficient to deal with this problem. >> mr. speaker, i would like to ask you with the indulgence of my colleague, is there memorable or favorite moment that you have of the convention either as a kid or teenager watching it or as an attendee that you could share with us? >> i think when i had the chance to chair the 2008 convention and address the convention is probably the highlight of my convention moments.

>> followingup, what do you plan to do with the farm bill that the agriculture committee passed. >> no decisions have been made on the farm bill yet. >> last week you said no decision, then all your people ran around said we are not going to do the farm bill. now this week you're saying no decision -- >> no decision has been made. >> when you'll have a decision? >> when we have one we'll let you know. >> speaker boehner, congressman michelle bachmann sent a letter and four other house republicans sent a letter to i.g.'s about the influence of groups like the muslim brotherhood and federal government, and specifically mentioned the chief of staff, to secretary of state hillary clinton and basically said that she had ties to the muslim brotherhood through her family and they also showed sentiments

state department policy has become more friendly to the muslim brotherhood and other islamic groups. do you have a concern -- do you think it's appropriate she and these members would ask for this letter, especially as a member of the house intelligence committee? >> i haven't seen the letter, but -- i don't know yuma, but from everything i do know of her, she has a sterling character. i think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous. >> would you consider taking her off the intelligence committee? congresswoman bachman? >> i don't know that that's related at all. >> do you support repeal of the jackson-vanik, do you think it will come to the floor before the recess? >> i think long term it's likely to be repealed, but i think we are waiting for senate action before we make any decisions on

how we move forward. in addition to that, if the administration is serious about expanding trade with the russians, i think it would be very helpful if they were more forthcoming, and would go out and promote what they say they want. >> governor romney released the 2010 tax return. you have not released your returns. should you release your returns and should members of congress release their returns? >> i never released my tax returns. that's my private business just like it's your own private business. it shouldn't be. it's a sideshow. that's all it is. the american people are asking the question where are the jobs, not where are the tax returns? it's a sideshow created because the president can't talk about his record.

he can't go out and run on his record so he's got to create these sideshows to try to distract the american people from their real issues that they are concerned about. >> nancy pelosi has said in an interview with politico that she's not encouraging democratic members to go to the convention. she thinks it's time better spent campaigning in their home districts. do you share that idea? do you prefer your members stay home and campaign rather than -- >> listen, they all got themselves elected to congress somehow. they can make their own decision about whether they want to go to one convention or the other. >> do you think that says something about the democratic convention? she's telling them to stay home and campaign rather than -- >> you'll have to ask her. i don't quite understand it. members want to come to the convention, they are more than welcomed to. i could care less. >> 2008 when nancy pelosi was speaker she had submitted a list -- advice to then candidate

obama about the president. she in particular mentioned -- has the obama campaign reached out to you for advice on the vice presidential pick? >> no. >> have you offered any? >> no. >> have they spoken to you about paul ryan or anybody? >> no. governor romney is more than capable of picking his own vice presidential candidate. >> mr. speaker, the senate keeps talking about doing a stopgap measure for about six months to handle the sequester, would you be willing to look at that to bide more time to figure things out? >> the house has acted to replace the sequester. we passed a bill in may. it's sitting in the senate since may.

the house will vote here in the next couple weeks to extend all the current tax rates and outline our principles for reforms our tax codes next year. i would hope that the senate would act. there is no reason to 2008 until after the election to deal with what's a very serious issue. the house has acted. i'm not going to -- i don't want to speak for the senate. they need to act. the sooner they act, the better. >> line-item veto, something the white house wants, you want, some democrats, some in the senate want. why do you think this is not going to happen? who is to blame? >> i have long support add line-item veto, but if anybody thinks this is some silver bullet that will solve our financial crisis, they are kidding themselves. we don't have earmarks anymore, so the need for something like a line-item veto is lessened, but

i would still support giving the president line-item veto, i always have. but what we really need is we need a president who will lead and lead our country. we have a $1.3 trillion budget deficit this year, a $16 trillion national debt. we have a sequester that's about to hollow out our military. and yet the president's been campaigning since last labor day. he's checked out. i think what the american people want from their elected representative, from the president to all of us, it's a deal with the issues confronting our country. we are here ready, willing, and able. >> a number of defense contractors have warned that they may issue warning letters before the election giving notice of layoffs and all that. how concerned are you and the republicans about something like that? who does that pressure more?

do you think the president or the republicans? >> i have heard rumors to the effect that these letters are likely to come. i think it's important for the office of management and budget in the administration to come forward and to outline to the american people just how they intend to implement the sequester. because right now there are more unanswered questions than there are answered questions. with regard to how the sequester will work and where the cuts will come from. but remember one thing, we have the see querser -- sequester because the president of the united states for his own convenience only wanted to deal with the debt limit once before the election. it was the president and the majority leader of the senate who promised to work with us to make sure that we got an outcome of the supercommittee. they did nothing to help. matter of fact i would argue they worked to undermine the work of the supercommittee and

thus we have the sequester. it is time for them to lead. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> if you missed any of this briefing it is available in the c-span video library. the u.s. house is set to gavel back in at noon eastern. they'll continue debating $519 billion in defense department spending. members are working on amendments with republican leaders allowing as many as members want to bring up. leadership is also saying that a final passage vote will happen today. the house live when they return in about 15 minutes here on c-span. until then the a.p. is reporting this morning that russia and china have again vetoed a western backed u.n. resolution threatening nonmilitary sanctions against syria. they are aimed at stepping up pressure on president assad's government to end that conflict. we discussed the situation in syria this morning on

"washington journal." host: now on your screen is representative eliot engel, a democrat of new york and long time member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman engel, before we went to break we showed this headline from "usa today," bombing may signal belt meltdown in syria. and a similar one in the financial times this morning, actually their lead editorial, beginning of the end for assad. what's your assessment from your perch on the foreign affairs committee? guest: first of all i hope it's the beginning of the end for assad. he is a brutal dictator. his father before him was just as brutal. the assad family's ruled for 40 years. they run a police state. cause all kinds of opposition on a very, very brutal. and i think the syrian people deserve better. this may very well be the tipping point in this battle. we have seen these battles before, there are countries,

it's always at a point which it seems to tip. and the very bold insurgent bomb in damascus yesterday, which killed the defense minister, the former defense minister who is assad's brother-in-law, and high ranking security officials, this went to the very inner core of the security system of this nation which has been beating back the rebels. the inner sanctum so to speak. if the rebels can get this far and be that successful, it may very well cause some people who are wavering hire ups in the regime to bolt and join the opposition. this may be the beginning of the end for assad. host: i want to read a little from this "usa today" article and see what you think. president obama refused request from assad opponents and some in congress to arm the rebels. saying it would make matters worse. he let that will role to saudi arabia, qatar, and turkey which

could harm peace in the region and u.s. interests. that's according to pletka of the american enterprise institute. would you have liked to see the u.s. do more? guest: i would. think the u.s. is doing plenty. there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes we don't read about in the papers. i certainly think it's in the best interest of the united states, of strategic interest to see assad go. if there was rationale to get involved, it was gaddafi in libya. some question whether that was in the u.s. national interest. it's certainly in my opinion in the u.s. national interest to see assad go because syria is the closest ally to iran. if assad went it would be a big blow to the iranian government. and certainly we know that iran is not a friend of the united states, and so i think that the case for this being in the u.s. national interest to see assad

go is very, very great. iran uses skiera. they are reportedly the uranium guard. there are thousands of troops, thousands of hezbollah troops in syria. all put there and aided and abetted by iran. so at a time when we are very concerned about iran developing a nuclear bomb and iran's aggressiveness to see the syrian regime fall, iran yeas major ally is -- iran yeas major ally is a major plow. host: eliot engel a democrat of new york and long-time member of the house foreign affairs committee. from the "wall street journal" this morning, iran and hezbollah announce attack call for dialogue. iranian officials and hezbollah leaders announced wednesday's bass in damascus that killed -- denounced women's blast in

damascus that killed, calling them acts of terrorism, saying they were the result of armed foreign meddling in syria aimed at undermining the so-called actioncies of resistance. guest: there you have it the iranian regime desperately trying to save the syrian regime. these are two bad players in the region. back in 2004 i sponsored what was called the syria accountability act which was passed, signed into law by then president bush, which slashed sanctions on syria. first time we had american sanctions on syria for aiding and abetting terrorism, for having chemical weapons. by the way the chemical weapons that syria has needs to be safeguarded. that's another worry as well. that assad will not in desperation turn them on his own

people. he has killed so many of his own people that is something that needs to be secure. host: are you confident that he has chemical weapons? guest: i'm pretty confident. that's what the reports all indicate. we think if the regime is going down the tubes he might be tempted to use it. but if the hierarchy in syria sees that it's a ship that's sinking, they may bail out and he may not have a chance. he's not going to go quietly in my opinion. he's been offered all kinds of deals behind the scenes where he could lead, where there could be a transition. he's he rejected them all -- he's rejected them all and killed so many of his own people. what makes the blast different yesterday was it was in damascus, the capital of the country. and we are the inner sanctum of the syrian regime. before you had the rebels getting up in places which were rebel strongholds. yesterday the rebels took it to

assad right in the heart of damascus. that may be a game changer. he's not going easily. he's going to hang on for a while more. host: you can also contact us electronically as well as by phone. our email journal at c-span.org or make a comment on twitter, twitter.co movement slash c-spanwj. leon panetta talked about syria. here's what he had to say. >> it's obvious that what is happening in syria represents a real escalation in the fighting. and that all of the concerns that we have expressed about the need for assad to step down, the need for peaceful transition, the need to achieve a peaceful solution to that situation, that

are by ignoring those appeals by the international community, that the violence there has only gotten worse and the loss of lives has only increased. which tells us that this is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control. for that reason it's extremely important that the international community with other countries that have concerns in that area have to bring maximum pressure on assad to do what's right, to step down and allow for that peaceful transition. guest: i agree with the secretary but i personally think that assad's chances of stepping down are very remote. that's not in his d.n.a. this is a brutal dictator who will fight to the end until he sees the writing on the wall. he may then flee.

until he thinks he's down the tubes he's not leaving easily. again we have been playing a role behind the scenes with other interested countries, turkey, saudi arabia, and others. there are lots of things happening. but this is a brutal dictator who is digging in his heels. host: has israel gone on alert at all with everything going on right across the border? guest: these are taking a good long look at what's happening and they are securing their borders and do have people at the borders. initially both the united states and israel was slow in my opinion moving to call for assad's out ofer. the worry was what you have and you don't know what's going to come afterwards. in fact some people here in washington are saying, who are the rebels? we don't know who they are. do they have elements of al qaeda. do they have other kind of elements? what comes next? i have always felt and i feel it

even more strongly now, that it's worth a chance to push assad out because this is a guy who has murdered so many people. if it was a rational for the international community to be concerned in libya because gaddafi murdered his own people, i think he makes gaddafi look like a piker. again i think it's in the u.s. national interest because of the iranian connection to syria to get rid of the syrian regime. i know that we are doing lots of things with our allies behind the scenes. hopefully it won't be too long until assad is out. host: what about the russian connection? guest: that's a problem and that complicates it. russia has blocked the united states when we have gone to the u.n. to try to get sanctions on syria, russia's blocked it. russia has a port for its military in syria and fighting to keep the regime because the

syrian regime is an ally of russia. that complicates it. the two best allies of the syrian regime are russia and iran. i think we have to keep the pressure on russia. there are things that russia wants and needs. and the united states can be either helpful or obstructionist. and i think we need to push russia. i know that president obama has spoken with president putin on a number of occasions and obviously syria was one of the topics that they spoke about. we need to just keep pushing the russians because they are a major impediment to us having the international community's full weight pushed for the removal of assad and his brutal regime. host: our guest is representative eliot engel democrat from new york. first call for him comes from steve an independent in phoenix, arizona. hi, steven. steve, you with us? he is gone. we will move on to pennsylvania.

alice, democrat, you're on the air. caller: good morning. i saw two programs, david pollack was on a couple weeks ago and just two days ago josh lambis was on and both telegraphed that, yes, we need to assassinate assad. since when did the united states get into the assassination business? we have adopted israel's tactics. israel is a pariah state. it is dangerous to the people of the united states and the people of the world. guest: well, i don't think anyone's talking about assassinating assad. we are talking about perhaps helping the rebels to hem him leave -- help him leave. i think that's what we are talking about. in terms of israel, israel is the only democracy in the middle east and strong ally of the united states and i think the caller's characterization was

way off base. host: next call from tamm rack, florida, tony, independent line. go ahead with your comment or question. caller: good morning. i wonder i keep hearing about the innocent syrian people that assad is atacking and yet still these people bombed, commit add terrorist bombing incident. they have killed over 4,000 syrians. this is a straight civil war. if we are going to pick a side, pick a side, but don't try to make it seem like it's some attack by a dictator. assad was elected, he was elected. haven't we learned not to get entangled in these things and start to spin a whole series of lines and provocations? guest: i don't think we can work with this guy and i think any elections he may have been elected in were a sham and phony

elections. i don't think anybody thinks they were serious elections held in syria. they have ruled with an iron fist. they conduct a police state. assad's father ruled before him. this is a bad guy who is the antithesis of everything the united states stands for. and i think it's in our national interest to see him removed and certainly in my opinion in the syrian people's national interest. he has murdered his people. this is not a war -- it is a civil war. it's turned into a civil war. and the international red cross last week has called it a civil war. this is not a civil war between two innocent parties. this is a brutal regime that's killed people. it's killed their own people. have ruled with an iron fist. the worst kind of police state tactics. you have an insurgency trying to throw the dictator out of the

country. in my estimation this is not a struggle that the united states has no concerns. we do have a concern. as i mentioned before iran is next door. iran desperately wants assad to stay. iran wants assad to continue to carry out his wishes. we had a war between lebanon and syria back in 2006 and as part of the -- sorry, lebanon and israel in 2006, and as part of the agreement to end that war, lebanon was essentially supposed to demilitarize. what's happened is iran has sent in all kinds of missiles through syria into lebanon. hezbollah terrorists and they are the biggest ally of hezbollah and the terrorists it's all assad. i just think that it's not in the best interest of the united

states to see assad continue. more importantly it's not in the best interest of the syrian people. that's why you have this uprising. host: tweet from gary, comes in for you. stay out of syria. as harsh as it sounds, i don't care how many die in syria. it's not our business. let them slug it out to the bitter end. guest: i respectfully disagree. no one is talking about putting u.s. ground troops on the ground. no one is talking about the u.s. participating in another war in the middle east. this is just aiding the insurgents to try to throw a brutal dictator, the yolk -- yoke of his control off the country. host: have you been to damascus as a member of the foreign affairs committee? guest: no, i haven't. i had the opportunity a number of times but i declined. when we wrote the syria

accountability act back in 2004, i just decided that it was not a place for me to go. but i want to just mention the syria accountability act because i think it's very important. back in the 1970's the u.s. state department issued a list of countries that engaged in terrorism. and syria was a chartered member of that list. and every year after that it was certified for 25 years that syria was part of a small contingent of nations that aided and abetted terrorism. and yet it was the only country on that list back in 2003 with which we had normal diplomatic relations. i didn't think it made sense if we are saying syria aids and abets terrorism, we ought to put our money where our mouth is. >> this conversation with congressman eliot engel is available in the c-span video library if you would like to see it again. live now to the u.s. capitol

where the house is about to gavel back in to debate amendments to the $519 billion defense department spending bill for fiscal year 2013. members are expecting a vote on final passage sometime around 5:00 eastern this afternoon. live to the house floor.

the speaker: the house will be in session. the prayer will be offered by our guest chaplain, the reverend jeffrey baihe, st. john the baptist catholic church, louisiana. the chaplain: gracious god and father, we humbly ask that you bestow upon us the gift of humility. humble us in your sight, our creator. it is only from you, our god, that the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are derived, not from any king, government, or congress. let us always see ourselves as stewards of these rights and the servants of the people created in your image and likeness. like our founding fathers, we are to protect, ensure, and

safeguard those rights. guard us from the evils of pride and power that plague self-interest -- that place self-interest before the common good. give us the courage of our convictions and not simply a belief based on convenience. never let a wish bone replace our back bone, for it is you alone to whom one day we will always be accountable. give us the courage and strength to serve and care for your people. we ask this through our god and father, amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and anoubs -- announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approve the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlelady from kansas, ms. jenkins.

ms. jenkins: please join me in saluting the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: without objection the gentleman from louisiana, mr. cassidy, is recognized for one minute. mr. cassidy: thank you, mr. speaker. it is my privilege to invite father bayhi here to speak. he's a native of baton runal, ordained in 1979, with many academic achievements but he's best known for his spiritual stewardship of his pa riggsers. you can see this both in his calling and ministry with the actives ehe currently does. he has worked with mother theresa's church in calcutta. he currently is the director of

little rock ministries, he's written several books, talking about his experience with the mother theresa ministries. he's worked in prison systems for the criminally insane, he's worked with youth, etc., etc., etc. his prayer for us reflected his life, accountability to god and service. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain 15 further requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlelady from kansas seek recognition? ms. jenkins: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jenkins: despite my strenuous objection, two years ago this week, the dodd-frank

bill was passed. only 1/3 of the rules are written and we've added 9,000 pages of regulations and $7 billion in compliance costs. by trying toolve a poorly understood financial crisis, washington created a regulatory nightmare. new agencies like the consumer financial protection bureau have slowed the credit lifeline that's vital to the creation and survival of american small businesses. by impeding borrowing, experts predict dodd-frank will reduce annual job creation by 4.3%, hindering economic growth. instead of using crises as excuses to expand our overreaching government, we should target regulation at the root of the problem and work to protect both consumers and our innovating entrepreneurs. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent

to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. green: i rise in support of the make it in america plan, a series of bills from the democrats to put america back to work in my district in texas, we hold job fairs to help constituents find jobs and make better lives for themselves and their families. the american public consistently sites -- cites job growth as a concern. make it in america focuses on competition, informsing in infrastructure, clean energy jobs, increased education, smart tax policies and smart regulations. unfortunately, the majority in the 112th congress has failed to bring those job creating plans to the floor for a vote and continue -- continually refuse to put forward a comprehensive jobs plan. congress must focus our legislative priorities, create good middle class jobs and

increase america's competitiveness around the globe. by creating these jobs, the other areas of our economy will be stimulated. i urge us to take up these bipartisan bills and help the american people get back to work. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed to inform the house that the senate has passed h.r. 1670 in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from west virginia seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> i rise to support hundreds of working coal miners in west virginia, on april 1, 2010, the

e.p.a. issued guidance on the clean water act that bypasses the normal process for promulgating water quality standards. ms. ka pee -- mrs. capito: in other words, the e.p.a. has taken over the state's prerogative on water quality. despite a 2011 federal court decision that rejected the e.p.a.'s interpretation of its authority, the regulatory permitting process for surface mining has essentially been halted in the appalachian region. hundreds of permits will expire in the next 18 months in west virginia alone. failure to act on these permits will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs in west virginia and recently, actually, we have experienced a loss of 1,000 coal mining jobs. the e.p.a. should exercise its permitting and regulatory authority under the clean water act in a manner that considers the impacts on jobs and the economy in west virginia and other coal mining states. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thanks to the supreme court decision citizens united, corporations can now make unlimited toe nations without disclosing who they are. ms. chu: the result is a government for hire to the highest bidder. think about it are you a corrupt oil company that hates those safeguards that protect americans' health but restrict your ability to drill, baby, drill? no problem. find a candidate that will turn a blind eye and donate until they win. or maybe you're a billionaire on wall street who leverage aid way the saves of the american people for a big paycheck in 2008 but now you're being held back by wall street reform. not to worry. buy a candidate with a superp.a.c., no one needs to know who you are. twice this week, the disclose act which would end this madness and provide

transparency has come up in the senate and twice this week republicans blocked it on a party line vote. americans should ask the g.o.p., why? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute mrs. biggert: massive tax increases loom on our horizon. if congress doesn't act before january 1, middle class families will see a return of the marriage pement, the a.m.t., higher rates on dividends, capital gains and tax hikes on income. according to new study the president's new tax plan would cost us more than $700 -- more than 700,000 american johns. we hear from neighborhood businesses back home who say

congress can't raise taxes in a recession and expect the economy to generate new jobs. yet some of my colleagues seemed con tept to tax anyone who might have enough revenue to hire and then hope the voters blame someone else when it hurts the middle class. i don't care about the blame game. i care about jobs and the economy. let's stop the tax hikes, extend current rates, and work immediately on effective reforms to lower rates, close roop local -- loopholes and promote frothe. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to express my shocking disappointment with the republican -- some republican members of the other body in opposing the senate ratification of the law of the sea treaty. this ratification is essential to protect american interests.

mr. farr: for over 30 dwhreerks united states navy and coast guard, both under republican an democratic administrations, former secretaries of state and u.s. military personnel have been consistent and strong proponents of the u.s. joining the law of the sea convention. defense secretary panetta recently said not since we acquired the lands of america west and alaska have we had such a great opportunity to expand u.s. sovereignty. former secretary of defense robert gates said the lew of the sea provides clear guidance on appropriate use of maritime do main. as the world's major maritime power with the longest coastline, the u.s. has more to gain from legal certainty and public order in the world's oceans than any other country. it has been supported by every president since ronald reagan. the time is due for the other body to take leadership role and ratify the treaty. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one

minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today to express my support for funding army depots and arsenals. army studies have shown reducing these will have a negative impact on the army base. i have the privilege of representing the corpus christi depot. mr. farenthold: it costs $7 knoll repair a damaged helicopter versus $17 million for a new one. ccad produced more than $47 million in cost savings for the army. the depot shares a great relationship with the community, employing over 6,000 civilians, 56% of which are veterans. the army depot serves as the largest facility for the repair and overhaul of army education

helicopters. the army would be unable to sustain max wum combat power for the war fighter. i look forward to ensuring the corpus christi army depot and other army depots and arsenals continue to play a vital role in our military. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: flops the gentlelady seek recognition? --for what purpose does the gentlelady seek recognition? without objection. mrs. christensen: with the international aids conference less than a week away i ask my colleagues to celebrate and honor those who have lost their bat until this disease and remind everyone we still have much work to do in sub-saharan africa, caribbean, and asia, but also in the united states where more than one million people, a disproportionate number of whom are people of color, living with hiv-aids today. they account for 64% of all new h.i.v. infections yet only about 28% of the population. the aids case rate among

african-americans is nearly 10 times heighter than that of whites, and one recent study found while 2% of all black in u.s. compared to only .2% of all whites are h.i.v.-positive. in the virgin islands we are extremely hard hit with the third largest aids rate in the nation. the conference offers all of us an opportunity to reinvigorate our commitment to battling this disease, to reinforce existing relationships, and forge new ones with leaders in the fight against hiv-aids, and to take significant steps toward making hiv-aids a disease of the past. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i am proud to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of six athletes from illinois' 14th congressional district who will represent the united states at the 2012 olympics in london. twin brothers, grant and ross

james will both compete as part of the men's rogue team. track and field athletes evan jaeger will compete in the steeplechase. anna will travel to london as an alternative member of the women's gymnastics team. and charlie jane will serve as alternate for the equestrian team. the men's volleyball team will include sean rooney. each of these men and women are making us so proud as they represent illinois and the united states this summer. the house of representatives wishes them the best of luck. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. mcdermott: move to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, wonders never cease, i picked up the hill this morning which is the local newspaper that most people read once in a while and there was the words of one of the best republican doctors that ever served in the congress.

bill frist has said, he's encouraging his republican colleagues to embrace the insurance exchange which is central to president obama's health care plan. he said, originally it was a republican idea, the state insurance exchanges, will offer a menu of private insurance plans to pick and choose from for all the required set of benefits to those without employer-sponsored health care insurance. here's a republican doctor who was majority leader in the senate. contrast him to who we have there now. we have 31 times in this body tried to repeal this. and here you have a republican drl -- doctor who was majority leader of the senate saying we ought to do it. read it and weep. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

for what purpose does the gentlelady from alabama seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. roby: thank you, mr. speaker. once again president obama displays his lack of leadership and refuses to take charge in order to avoid the forthcoming devastating ramifications associated with sequester. that's why i enthusiastically agreed to co-sponsor h.r. 5872, the sequestration transparency act of 2012. for months the house armed services committee has repeatedly asked d.o.d. and o.m.b. for specifics of how sequestration would be implemented and its impact. in response we received nothing. h.r. 5587 is implemented the president will be forced to forgo is laisez faire attitude and be forward to detail the administration's plans to implement the sequestration cut. he will be forced to include an estimate of the sequestration percentages and amounts necessary to achieve the

reduction for both defense and nondefense categories. of course the impact op our military family and their personnel cannot be overstated. frankly it's inexcusable these men and women who sacrifice so much for our nation should suffer through these uncertainties while senate democrats in the white house refuse to offer a specific proposal to fix the see quester. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i come to the house floor to talk about the extraordinary transformation in the city of buffalo and buffalo's waterfront. mr. higgins: the national publication, the economists had declared last week the city of buffalo is back in business. buffalo was once an industrial economy and industrial working waterfront. today there's a transformation of public places along the water's edge.

attracting some 800,000 people from all over buffalo, western new york, and southern ontario into the city of buffalo. there are 425 cultural and arts events. four years ago there were none. buffalo's last 36 months have been a period of great progress with tens of millions of dollars, private sector investment, following the public investment of infrastructure that has transformed buffalo's waterfront. the last 36 months have been a period of great progress. the next 36 months are poised to be a period of even greater progress. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to honor the brave firefighters, the sheriff's department officials, policemen, first responders who fought the hyde park fire near fort collins, colorado, and those who

cared so deeply for their neighbors and communities by providing a helping hand. mr. gardner: the hyde park fire was the most destructive in northern colorado. the burning of over 87,000 acres, destroying 259 homes, and displacing hundreds of families for weeks. at its peak over 2,000 firefighters, national guardsmen, law enforcement, and others braved extremely rugged terrain, 100-plus degree temperatures, and high winds to battle this complex and fast moving fire. in some cases local volunteer firefighters fought on the fire line for the good of the community. despite knowing that their own homes would likely be burned to the ground. as science popped up across the front range of colorado thanking those brave men and women for their service, this congress salutes you. because of the brave and immense efforts of these firefighters, lives were saved, homes were preserved, and generations to come will be able to continue to enjoy some of the most beautiful and gentleman messic forested

areas in the country as we work to restore those areas that were lost. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. gardner: i'm proud to recognize them. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. moran: to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. moran: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor gale pennybacker, an award winning, long time television journalist who has offered local news in the district, maryland, and especially virginia for the abc channel 7 news team since 1986. during that time as the virginia bureau chief, gale has garnered the respect of law enforcement, legislators, and everyday citizens alike. she has covered the capital region's top stories for the last quarter century, including the september 11 ter remember attacks, and the clum wine high school massacre. she's reported directly from the persian gulf during the iraq war, and conducted exclusive interviews with nationally known individuals and earning several

edward r. muro -- murro awards. active in her community she's been deeply involved in a variety of civic associations, including the alzheimer's association and american diabetes association. in recognition by the northern virginia victims coalition for the objective, fair, and compassionate portrayal of crime victims is a testament to respect for all persons in their situation. mr. speaker n. conclusion i'm honored to ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating her upon her retirement from abc 7. her dedication to making news reporting a reliable source of information has made her an institution in our community. while gale's familiar face will be missed, we wish her only the best as she begins the next phase of her life. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

i rise today to honor the memory of a great man, mr. william raspberry who died tuesday at the age of 76. he was hired by "the washington post" straight out of the army and worked his way up from teletype operator to the op-ed page. mr. nunnelee: at the time he was only one of a handful of nationally syndicated and widely read african-american columnists. though he lived most of his life away from mississippi, he never forgot okalona. he devoted much of his time in retirement to the foundation that bears his name that helped at-risk families be prepared for entrance into kindergarten. he was a model of how to talk about complicated and divisive issues in a respectful and civil tone. in fact, he once said, perhaps it was when i found myself trying to write in such a way that people who didn't agree

with me would at least hear me. then i found they were talking back to me in similarly civil tones. and it felt good. his attitude would be a model for all of us to debate public policy. william was a fine man and a great mississippian. and he will be missed. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? ms. johnson: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. johnson: thank you very much, mr. speaker. every sit zen heard of equal opportunity to make it in america. last week i along with the democratic whip, steny hoyer, and other members of the democratic caucus, unveiled a plan to jump-start growth in the united states manufacturing industry and support job creation that we so desperately

need. my bill, the violencing innovative manufacturing act of 2012, makes investments to spur innovation and increase the competitiveness of american manufacturers. in order for america to make it, we need to maintain the capacity to manufacture new and innovative products right here at home in america. to make it in america it will do just that and, mr. speaker, i would say let all of us face and focus on our responsibility to america's business and press ahead to make it all in america. thank you. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. pitts: to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, last week i had the privilege of meeting shen yuc the only known

defector to escape from one of the many concentration camps operated by the communist government in north korea. he was born in the camp and faced starvation, torture, and brainwashing on a routine basis. which is described in the book "escape from camp 14." on the same day the authorities executed both his brother and his mother in front of him for attempting to plan an escape, he knew nothing of the outside world, only living day to day doing whatever was needed to survive. heartbreakingly, this included informing the guards when he heard about his family's escape plan. years later a new prisoner came to the camp from pyongyang and he began to learn about the outside world and then began to long to escape. by some estimates as many as 200,000 people are held in the brutal gulags like shen. as we negotiate with the gangster movement of north korea over the nuclear weapons program, we cannot forget about

these human rights atrocities perpetrated against millions of their own people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from maryland seek recognition? ms. edwards: move to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. edwards: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to urge us to reclaim the security that middle class americans have lost over the last decade. beginning in 2001, republicans passed trillions of dollars in tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthiest americans. we were told these tax cuts would unleash a toronto of job creation and economic growth -- a torrent of job creation and economic growth. middle class families saw their budgets shrink in tandem with rising poverty and the slowest rate of job creation in half a century. while lesson learned, it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthy yet expire but not at the expense of middle class families. it's time to extend without delay or uncertainty tax cuts for all families, for all income up to $250,000.

if we don't, it will be a disaster and tax hike will result for those middle class families. mr. speaker, it's unacceptable, particularly when republicans are holding these tax cuts hostage, so that wealthy americans continue to reap the benefits of a broken system that hasn't worked to the advantage of most americans and exploded our deficit. lesson learned, let's not let tax cuts expire for people whose income is up to $250,000. with that i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise to congratulate the little league softball team for winning. we can be proud to be represented by this group of young women as they compete for the finals this week. as the father of three girls involved in our community, i understand the dedication

required of the players and their families to achieve this success. the team will head to bristol, connecticut, where they compete against nine other state champions for the title. mr. fitzpatrick: congratulations to the coaches, the players, -- congratulations once again to everybody who took part in this historic run. we wish all the players and coaches and their parents the best. i'm proud and honored to see a local team go so far. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. >> i rise to extend my congratulations to the people

of moral bay on the coast of california. they won the award for coastal and ocean management from noaa. mrs. capps: this is for its ground breaking work with other coastal communs in california, local fishermen, and the nature con -- nature conservancy to preserve fishing activity and build long-term economic and environmental resiliency on california's central coast. the partners realized this bay and other communities are working water fronts and need to respond to the changing needs of the fisheries. morel bay's management were determined to make this work. it's great to see this recognition of their courage and their hard work to improve the bay's leading industry.

again, i congratulate the city and its innovative partners for earning this acknowledgment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and rhett re-my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to say thank you to the small business owners who have used their hard work and ingenuity to build a business from the ground up. we know that jobs are not created by bureaucrats in washington, d.c. we know our greatest successes succeed because they pour their hearts and soul into their dreams. in our current economy, congress should be doing everything it can to minimize the burdens on these entrepreneurs. mr. yoder: yet day-by-tai, new regulations and taxes pile up making it harder for them to succeed and have good jobs and grow the economy. as thousands of small business

owners rise at the crack of dawn once again to build on the american dream, we say thank you. it's their hard work and determination and it's the tireless effort of every working american that has built the most prosperous nation the world has ever seen. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. schakowsky: the international aids conference couldn't be returning to america at a better time. this could mark the turning -- turning point in the hiv-aids epidemic. new research is allowing us to picture the possibility of a generation free of this disease. despite grave promise -- great promise, there's still much to do. now more than ever, committee, -- america was remain committed to leading the fight against hiv-aids, combating the process here at home and aprod. our continued support is vital

to developing new treatments and prevention techniques and finding a cure. we must continue to do everything we can to increase access to treatment for affected individuals around the globe, including the availability of life-saving drugs. let this conference serve as a reminder of america's contribution to combating this epidemic and a rallying cry for why we can't turn back now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from north dakota seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remark. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. berg: last week, the house ag committee reported out of committee an ag bill. i ask for this important measure to be brought to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. agriculture is the back bone of north dakota's economy.

our great state leads the nation in nine different commodities. this farm bill takes into consideration the unique things within our state and within many other states as it relates to agriculture and those commodities. specifically, it implements a strong crop insurance program. that would be so beneficial in times like these where we're facing severe drought in much of our nation. north dakota's farmers and ranchers need the stability that this farm bill can bring. it needs to be a long-term authorization. it's now -- now is the time for the house to act. for farmers and ranchers across this country, now is the time to ensure that we act on this important piece of legislation and get it re-authorized for the long-term. the time for the farm bill is now. thank you. with that, i yield back the remainder of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak for one minute and rthrth -- and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> i rise to recognize stunt, a new competitive team sport that includes the athletic parts of cheerleading, including stunts and tumbling ands toing. they created this ncaa emerging sport to provide new opportunities for female athletes to compete while allowing traditional cheerleading to remain a vital part of the school's program. as co-chairman of the congressional caucus on youth sports, it is my pleasure to highlight the success of stunt and commend the inaugural players of this sport. your pioneering efforts will

inspire the next generation of stunt athletes. mr. mcintyre: god bless you for your efforts to involve more young female athletes in healthy physical activities. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to urge the president to sign the veterans' jobs act this body has a duty to make sure that every veteran, our brave men and women returning home and 200,000 leaving active duty every year, to ensure they have jobs available to them and they are actually certified to be able to accept those jobs. we invest billions of dollars every year to give the best training in the world to our young men and women that are serving our country. yet when they leave active duty, most times they're not certified for the very jobs they're trying to get.

mr. denham: our brave men and women deserve the opportunity to jump into these fields. why should they need two or three extra years of training to duplicate the training they've already had that often times is much better training that they had on active duty. we have a duty to pass this bill, to have it signed into law and to not let a day go by that these veterans return home and make sure they've got the certification to immediately enter our work force. i urge the president once again to sign this important legislation that both bodies have passed now on a bipartisan level and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. lee: for the first time in -- >> for the first time we have the chance to --

ms. lee: i knew we could not bring the conference back to the united states until the discriminatory immigration ban on people living with h.i.v. was lifted. in 2007, i introduced a bill to repeal the ban. few believed it could be done but through bipartisan support we achieved this goal and i want to thank members who are still here for their support in that effort. this week, the return of the conference is an important opportunity to shine a global spotlight on the fight against aids in the african-american community and communities of color and the national spotlight on the ongoing global epidemic. yesterday, i introduced new legislation to do just that. ending the h.i.v.-aids epidemic act articulates the policy and framework to achieve an aids-free generation in the united states and abroad. i urge all my colleagues to support us so we can begin to bring an end to aids here at home and around the world. thank you and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend hi remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. funding the military is imperative and funding the troops at home and abroad is vital. but overfunding it at the expense of domestic programs is not vital. it's $8 billion more than agreed upon. that means real programs in our home districts which many constituents rely on will be cut or go unfunded. mr. cleaver: every family in this nation knows what it is to make a budget and the reasons behind needing it. this bill blatantly ignores the need and purpose of a budget. certain aspects of the bill are hundreds of millions of dollars above requested levels.

if a family tried to live like that, they would be in dire straits. designating money when it's above and beyond what is needed, is nothing more than a gratuitous earmarks. i'm in favor of ear it is marks but i'm not in favor of trying to trick the public. i believe earmarks are right, it is our constitutional responsibility as members of the house. but tricking the public by adding $8 billion more is obscene. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. at a time when the republican majority has in another wasted effort repealed health care reform for the 33rd time, at a time when we will not see on this floor a vote to extend tax cuts for the middle class, now the republican majority is planning to literally take food

out of the mouths of families and children by cutting $16.5 billion from the snap program in the farm bill. mr. grijalva: this cuts three million families and children from the program at a time when one in seven american families depend on some supplemental food assistance. as the republican majority fiddles away, we know there's a crisis. 58% of all food bank clients receiving snap benefits need assistance from them. the resulting demand to food banks will put additional pressure on our communities and on families. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> i ask unanimous consent that all members -- mr. young: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on

the further consideration of h.r. 5856, and that i may include tabular material on the same. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. young: pursuant to houseres. lose -- the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 717, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union. will the gentleman from california, mr. denham, kindly take the chair. the chair: the house is in the commell house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 5856 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 20 13 -- 2013 and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose on wednesday, july 18, 2012, the amendment offered by the gentleman from iowa, mr. king, had been disposed of and the bill had been read through page 153, line

15. for what purpose does the gentleman from iowa seek recognition? mr. king: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. king of iowa. at the end of the bill before the short title insert the following new section, section, none of the fund made available by this act may be used in contravention of section 7 of title 1, united states code. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for fufe -- five minutes. mr. king: thank you, mr. chairman. this is the doma limitation amendment. we have seen this last year where it passed out of the house of representatives with a substantial vote. and it says as it reads none of the funds made available by this act may be used in contravention of the defense of marriage act which passed here in this congress in 1996. and what we have seen since the passage of the defense of marriage act is -- it is an effort on the part of the executive branch to undermine, i

believe, marriage between one man and one woman within our military ranks. we sue the president of the united states make -- saw the president of the united states make some commence along the way that his position was evolving on marriage which seems the to the department of defense issued two memorandums, one on september 21rk the secretary of defense memorandum that identified facilities and it says that the facilities, military facilities, may be -- should be made on -- the use of them should be made on a sexual orientation neutral basis. that's same-sex marrge is on u.s. military bases and u.s. facilities. second memorandum came nine days later to our military chaplains and it says, a military chaplain may officiate any private ceremony on or off a military's installation. that's not just permission, that's implied encouragement to conduct same-sex marriages on our military bases, conducted by

our chaplains who are presumably all under the payroll of the united states government. this same-sex marriage that has been taking place on our military base, where otherwise legal around the world, contravenes the defense of marriage act. the defense of marriage act means this, actually says specifically this, marriage means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife and the word spouse refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. pretty simple statute being contravened by the directives of the president of the united states as exercised through the secretary of defense. i would point out that the president has demonstrated disrespect for the constitution and rule of law on multiple occasions. i just came from the judiciary committee where i reminded secretary napolitano of the same thing. when congress acts or directs within the authority of the

constitution, our legislative authority, and the president of the united states or his executives who are empowered by him, seek to undermine the law of the united states, instead of coming here to this congress and asking for the law to be changed or simply accept the idea they have given an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states and rule of law and to take care of article 2, section 3, that the laws be faithfully executed. that's not happening, mr. chairman. this amendment prohibits the use of military facilities or the pay of military chaplains to being used to contravene the defense of marriage act. that act is something that the president has now stepped out and said he sports same-sex marriage in the united states. that is apparently the most recent evolution of his position. but an evolving position by the president of the united states cannot be allowed to contravene the will of the people of the united states as expressed through the statutes of the united states as signed by the previous president, bill

clinton, in september of 1996. and so i urge the adoption of this amendment. it prohibits the utilization of any of these funds that are in the defense appropriations bill to be used to contravene the defense of marriage act. i urge its adoption. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? >> i rise to strike the requisite number of words. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. dicks: mr. chairman, i rise in strong opposition to the amendment. this amendment is being offered for purely political reasons. as the gentleman know, the demens of marriage act is already current law -- defense of marriage act is already current law, despite the successful repeal of don't-ask, don't-tell, under doma same-sex marriage spouses are not entitled to the same benefits as other married couples. this amendment only seeks to divide this house. he knows the current law already

prohibits same-sex spouses from independently shopping at military commissaries, using base gyms, or benefiting from subsidized health care. i do believe we should have the debate of the effects of doma on our service members and their families, but introducing this discriminatory amendment to the bill is not the place. i urge my colleagues to oppose this divisive amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. -- the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida, for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. young: i rise to support the amendment. the gentleman has explained it very thoroughly. easy to understand. the house has spoken many, many times strongly on the issue. i provide my support for the king amendment. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from iowa, mr. king. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. dicks: on that i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from iowa will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from -- gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: many -- ms. lee: amendment number 60.

the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by ms. lee of california, at the end of the bill before the short title, add the following new section, section, funds made available by this act for operations of the armed forces -- ms. lee: unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read and printed in the record. the chair: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. young: mr. chairman, i reserve a point of order on the gentlelady's amendment. the chair: point of order is reserved. the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. ms. lee: thank you, mr. chairman. this amendment is straightforward. it would put a responsible end to combat operations in afghanistan by limiting funding to the safe and orderly withdrawal of united states troops and military contractors. 11 years after congress wrote a blank check for war without end, which i could not support, the united states is still in afghanistan. ever since that vote i have introduced this lee amendment to responsibly and safely bring our

troops home on numerous occasions and every opportunity. it's past time that congress catch up, have the debate, and pass this amendment. today we have the opportunity to stand squarely with the world weary -- war weary american people who want to bring our troops home. it is clear that the american people have been far ahead of congress in supporting an end to the war in afghanistan. the -- the people across this land want to bring this war to an end and it is past time for congress to answer the call. after a half trillion dollars in direct cost, not a penny paid for, we talk about deficit reduction, when we should have been actually investing in jobs in our economy here at home, it is really time now to say enough is enough. it is crucial to our economy and the future of this country that we stop pouring billions on counterproductive military presence in afghanistan.

it is no wonder that seven out of 10 americans oppose the war in afghanistan. the american people have made it clear that the war should end. it should not go on for another year. nor two years. and surely not for another decade or more. mr. chairman, the cost of the war are unacceptable, particularly when we ask what we gain by keeping our troops in afghanistan through 2014. the war in afghanistan has already taken the lives of over 2,000 soldiers, injured tens of thousands more, and drained our treasury of over half a trillion dollars. these costs will only go up as we spend trillions of dollars on long-term care for our veterans which of course we must do. as the daughter of a military veteran i know firsthand the sacrifices and the commitment involved with defending our nation. but the truth is our troops have bhnut -- put in an impossible situation. there is no military solution,

and it's past time to end the war and bring our troops home. quite frankly it's time to use these savings from ending the war to create jobs here at home. we need to provide for the health care and economic security of our returning troops by rebuilding the american economy. the american people have made it clear that the war should end. not an extra day, not an extra dollar should be spent extending the decade-long war in afghanistan. after 11 long years now, it's time to bring our troops home. i yield the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. young: mr. chairman, thank you. i make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriations bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule 21. the rule states in pertinent part, an amendment to a general

appropriations bill shall not be in order if changing existing law. the amendment gives affirmative direction in effect and so i ask for a ruling from the chair. the chair: any member wish to be heard on the point of order? if not the chair will rule. the chair finds this amendment includes language imparting direction on the expenditure of funds. the amendment therefore constitutes legislation in violation of clause 2 of rule 21. the point of order is sustained and the amendment is not in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? mr. young: mr. chairman, i rise to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. young: i do so to make just a very brief announcement. it has always been my policy when presenting the defense appropriations bill for years

and years in the past that if any amendment is out of order and subject to a point of order that i would allow the introducer of that amendment at least the five minutes to discuss the amendment before raising the point of order. and i expedite, i would like to move this bill a little quicker than maybe we had anticipated. i just make that announcement. we will continue to allow you to have on a point of order continue to have your debate time before raising the point of order. but i would hope that everybody would be respectful of the time. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. gosar of arizona. at the end of the bill before the short title, add the

following, section, none of the funds made available by this act may be used -- may be obligated or expended for assistance to the following entities. one, the government of iran. two, the government of syria. three, hamas. four, hezbollah. five, the muslim brotherhood. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. gosar: mr. chairman, i rise today in support of my amendment to h.r. 5856, the department of defense appropriation act of fiscal year 2013. the amendment seeks to halt any potential department of defense funding from being used to aid states and organizations that pose real threats to the international community. my amendment is simple. it prohibits any d.o.d. funds from being spent on the governments of iran, government of syria, the muslim brotherhood, hamas, and hezbollah. the cases against each of these organizations are well documented. each of them has either sponsored terror activities,