it is amazing that sometimes the advocates for the bills are really the ones that stop the bill from happening. it is over the issue that 10% on each side, which amounts to 20%, that we are not going to get resolved. they are both right, but they are not common ground. is by legislating. you put out a bill that's 80% of the whole issue -- not 100% of the whole issue. that's comprehensive. you put out the 80% that both sides agree on. and then you allow amendments on it. that's something we haven't been doing around here for a long time. and if you don't allow amendments, first of all, it has to go to committee. the committee is where the people intensely interested in that particular bill preside,

work. exert their efforts. that's where they want to concentrate. that's where when you have a bill that comes to committee, you can have maybe 200, 300 amendments in committee. and the chairman and the ranking member -- that's the name we give to the person with the most seniority in the minority -- can sit down together and sort through these amendments. and out of the 200, there are probably 100 that nobody would really in their right mind offer. and out of the remaining ones, you'll find that there are people on both sides that have very similar ideas on how to solve that problem. and you get those people to sit down together, take a look at all the amendments that are similar to that and see if they can't come up with a single amendment that will solve that part of the problem. and you know what? they do. now, it might not be 100% of what they want. it's probably again only 80% of what they want. but it's something they can all agree on. here's the really magnificent part that helps it get through

committee. they can all say it was my idea. they can all go to the media and put out the release that they solved this particular problem. and that helps a lot around here. so committee work extremely important. when a bill comes out of committee, it's not perfect. now, when senator kennedy and i were working the bills, we not only recognized they weren't perfect, but we were able to talk to some people. we weren't able to solve their problem by the time the amendment process came up in committee, but we promised to work with them until a bill got to the floor, and not to take the bill to the floor until we had a solution to that problem. or the right for them to offer an amendment. and that helped a lot to get the bill out of committee. if you get the bill out of committee in a bipartisan way, meaning people from both sides of the aisle, both the republicans and the democrats and the independents support the bill, then you've got a chance of bringing it to the floor and actually getting some time to do

a debate. and the debate part's important. that's kind of where we bring america along on it. there's coverage on the committee process, but that's a little harder to follow. the debate here is where we bring america along on whatever ideas we have. and the debate here is very important. now, over time there's been this process, the leaders invent some things that actually concentrates power in the hands of the leaders rather than the body as a whole. but it's the filibuster process. that filibuster process can be manufactured. i got to tell you a couple of stories. one bill that i worked on around here had a solution for health care. i called it small business health plans. and the idea behind the bill was that small businesses could get together through their association or any way they

wanted to, across state lines, even nationwide to form a buying group big enough to take on the biggest of the insurance companies. think about that. the power to take on the biggest of the insurance companies. and, yes, there was some opposition to that; called it insurance companies. many of them worked with us and began to understand how they could participate in the process and went along with it. one of the biggest in the nation had some ads out of massachusetts that opposed the bill and eventually helped to keep the bill from ever happening. but the biggest thing that kept the bill from happening -- could i get unanimous consent for another ten minutes or the right for the officer to speak and then come back to me again?

mrs. boxer: i'm wondering if you'll use five minutes and then i will speak? mr. enzi: if i could have a couple of more minutes? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: when it came to the floor, senator frist filled the tree. filling the tree means nobody can make another amendment to the bill. here's the catch. after this thing came out of committee we had people that had a problem with the bill, and we had one amendment that would have solved those problems. with the tree filled, that one amendment can't come up. that one amendment can't happen. so what happens? we talked about the bill and how it lacked this particular part. i kept explaining how we had an amendment that would take care of that. everybody in the chamber knew that that amendment was not going to happen.

and consequently, on a process vote, it was killed with just over 40 votes. that's what happens with a filibuster. had that amendment been possible, we would have had one of the things in place for health care. just one. but it would have solved a lot of things for a lot of businesses, and that's where a lot of people work in this country. it's where jobs are. so that's how you can do it. my second story would be -- and this one is much shorter -- this year we brought senator -- senator harkin and i brought an f.d.a. bill to the floor. when it got to the floor, we explained to the leader that there were going to be 14 amendments. eight of them would be brought up and fail, the other six would be withdrawn. a week later we finally got to start on the amendments for that bill. there was worry that there would be some extraneous ones thrown in. we already had agreement from, i guess you could say the most

conservative and most liberal from each of our sides, that they would not bring up the peripheral amendments. and they didn't. so a week later, when we finally got the start to vote, and we could have done that the same day, we finished up in a day and a half. what we had were eight votes that got defeated and six amendments that were withdrawn. we wound up exactly where we knew we were going to be, and the bill passed here 96-1. that's how the committee process can work. that's how not having a filibuster can work. and that's what we need to get back to. we need to be legislating, not dealmaking, and i'll talk later about some of the dealmaking that we do. we've seen t

>> you can see the light at the top of the capital. at least one of the houses capital is in session. they are currently in recess. the rules committee is getting ready to meet to discuss the fiscal cliff legislation. joining us from the house side of the capital -- give us an update. where do we stand right now? >> as you said, we are about to see the rules committee go into session. a meeting that would be involved in setting the ground rules on the fiscal cliff deal. it is our understanding of the agreement will be to simply set up a house-floor vote.

the senate passed somewhere early this morning. hours after midnight where everyone was spending the new year. that measure is going to get a clean vote in the house within the next couple of hours. the rules committee will set up the ground rules. >> what was the spending amendment they were talking about and who is behind it? >> there was talk by house republican leadership attempting to pay through the cost of the senate bill or some sort of legislation.

the house has previously voted on the spending package, primarily with gop support. what happened was, a decision was made by john boehner and other house leaders to only go in the direction of amending the senate bill if they would have the 217, 218 votes necessary in order to actually get the amendment through the house, pass the bill with an amendment, and send it back to the senate. members coming out of a republican meeting indicated they do not have the votes. they will put a clean vote on the floor on the senate bill. >> it is being reported now that the chair of the house rules committee is moving ahead with the meeting time at 8:10, which is right now.

an emergency meeting of the rules committee. he is not waiting for cameras to get put into place we are unable to bring the start of that. . we will keep you updated. is there tension between speaker boehner and eric kanter during this process? >> as we have seen, there has been talk of that in the media. every time it comes up, as it has come up again tonight, people are quick to reflect reports from the caucus meeting this afternoon were that the two walked in to gather, they are

trying to avoid anything the cause is the perception there is a rift between the two of them the kigali on these issues, so we are at the same pattern we are normally at. there is chatter about that. >> a tweet that the house will vote at the 9:00 p.m. hour. if you have a question, let us know. we do not want to keep you passed -- away from what you need to be doing. we appreciate you stopping the process to be with our viewers. he will be with us for a few minutes.

do you have a common or a question? >> the one thing i would like to know, how could the speaker of the house have so much authority? why do you not let the president to his job and stop being so racist? that is all is. it is about his color. it is sickening. you will do this to the poor people but not tax the rich? they deserve to be taxed. why should they be allowed to have all of this money and we have nothing? >> let's get a response.

>> under the agreement that was worked out, and voted on this morning the senate, which was -- this morning, the senate says taxes will be allowed to increase. did. already dead pari ?" speaker boehner be challenged for the election? -- >> will speaker boehner be challenged for the election?

>> nothing at this point. >> how many democrats will vote for this legislation? >> it sounds like there will be an overwhelming vote among democrats. the sentiment was biden is very good at making sales pitches for his plan.

there were mines changed with in the room. >> jim of cnn sends out this week. -- tweet. how could the senate passed this 89-8 and yet it is so hard to get it done in the house? >> this is not the first time this has happened. there was a payroll tax cut extension. when you are elected, you have

voters from all over the state. you have a lot of people with similar views about the world. when you are talking to your base back home, that is the way it works. one house member, a republican, was saying he had to watch out for his own voters more than the electorate in general. >> thank you for holding. you are on the air. >> hello. i want to know why he. i worked at a company for five years.

i am unemployed now. i am getting unemployment. hi husband doesn't work. it was a single family income. i want to know and understand how a cameo -- can you try to raise everyone's taxes and make the poor and like me -- and i am struggling to keep my home right now. nobody wants to come to an agreement on the fiscal cliff. >> i saw a report by the washington post that 71% of people will have their taxes raised by this deal? >> what you are referring to is the tax holiday, a separate provision that when in several years ago that gay people, it reduced the amount of money they

had to pay taxes. the deduction most of us see from our paycheck goes into social security and doesn't to medicare. .hat expired on new year's day your paycheck goes down somewhat. shot is an accurate statement. cash -- that is an accurate statement. >> democrat line. >> the naming of the tax cut. what is the difference between the name of the bush tax cut and obamacare went is supposed to be

all about the american people. ? this goes back to it being a racial situation because of obamacare upheld and obama being predominantly more for the citizens of the country, whereas republicans are protecting folks like the coke brothers and the 2%. >> one of the items in this agreement shows that speaks a little bit to some of this was the lady take tax was resolved -- the state tax was resolved.

it only applies on income -- inheritance, only $5 million roughly. there are some democrats and liberals that always wanted to see that lower. this deal maintains the five million-plus exemption level before you have to start paying a state tax. that speaks to that a little bit. >> the next call from arizona on our independent line. >> good evening. i am calling because everybody i

know here in arizona, we are all talking about how in at these republicans in the house are -- how in that -- how inept these republicans in the house are. >> as it turns out, and it took maneuvering to get there, but as we said at the outset, the meeting, there was going to be a vote on that senate bill, and the democrats really pushed boehner to make sure he planted that vote and it looks like he came up with a way among house republicans and among -- for boehner to have the vote come up in a way that is acceptable to his caucus, even if many of them

will vote against the final plan, which we very easily could see a majority of republicans opposing it and relying on democratic votes to pass it. >> time for a few more calls. republican line. >> yes. i would like to know why no one can stick to a budget like my family could. my family had to make cuts. growing up, mother and daddy, the mother worked until she was 82. daddy was a teacher for 47 years. every year, they had to stick to a budget. they said, we cannot take a vacation. i would like to know why congress cannot do that? . >> that is one of those big, recurring institutional questions. this deal really does not

address the spending side. that is largely what caused the problem with republicans when they learned of the details of the measure. many did not learn about it until this morning exactly how it would be pieced together. that is the next debate. what democrats are saying as well as republicans who are on board with the plan, is that there is another debate to be had another day on long-term spending priority and that might be the date that happens. when you make a budget, there is a revenue side, inflows and outflows. they are dealing with a piece of it now and claiming they will deal with the rest of it another day. it is fair to say the track

record is not too great. i wrote a story in september for roll call basically predicting this kicking the can around maneuver. >> are those the house bells going off that we heard? >> you are hearing the house bell's in the background. that probably means something is about to happen on the floor very soon. >> within 50 minutes usually they will be in session? is that right? >> that is the typical rule. an unforeseen development. usually about 15 minutes before they come back. >> we will let you go. we appreciate your time. it was said this would add approximately $4 trillion to the deficit over the next nine years.

that came out just about the time the republicans were meeting in a conference meeting earlier today. did that affect the view of the bill? >> it probably affected the view for some members. for those of us hanging around in the senate last night, on new year's eve, waiting for things to develop, we kind of saw that one coming. the score on this measure, while the tax was not available until really early this morning, was not a terrible surprise. a lot of these provisions floating around on capitol hill for many years, some of the provisions that increase the deficit are extensions of tax cuts or are one of the big-

ticket items like getting rid of the need to catch the alternative tax. it was a tax not indexed for inflation when it was first enacted. a lot of these things are numbers everyone has always known. the $4 trillion is not a surprise. >> with roll-call, he has been very gracious to update us on what is happening in the house of representatives. i look forward to seeing you again on c-span. >> thank you. >> as we mentioned, as we heard in the background, we heard the house bells go off. in about 15 minutes, they will come back into session. they will start a series of votes. we have not gotten the exact vote yet.

but again. our producer up on capitol hill sends regular e-mails to a lot of folks here. he said to keep us updated on what is coming on. there is sometimes minute by minute. it is not always structured. this is the last e-mail sent about two minutes ago. "we are heading into the home stretch. we should expect the house backs down for a vote on a roll. then, assuming the rule passes, there will likely be an hour debate, followed by an up or down vote by the senate amendment. that is the bill the senate passed earlier this morning. more exact times are forthcoming once the house actually returns.

" that is an update as we play it minute by minute. we have got a few minutes left. we will keep an eye on the senate. -- on the house. a lot of members spoke about the fiscal cliff. very quickly, here are a couple.

when the debt ceiling has to be increased at the end of february, and when the sequester past to be dealt with at the very same time. all we have done is to stumble forward into an even less predictable situation with far fewer resources. >> for what purpose does the judge on an for missouri seek to have resignation?

>> i will vote for this even though i do not like it. the reason is i was trying to look for some last-minute gifts and i stumbled across a section with to relent will end magic's club. i thought, if i could get some of the stuff, would not it be great if we could glue ourselves to each other across the aisle? after all, if we are sticking together, we will be able to address the problems facing our

country. one nation under god. we are supposed to work together and stick together. class people, rise and got the job done. was a little bit late. now it is our term. the sadness -- the senate passed it. let's show the american people this congress is not broken. we are not so dysfunctional we cannot work together for and

come to an agreement and compromise. let's get this done. please support the fiscal cliff bills today. >> we are about to have a hold your nose vote here in the house of representatives. many of us will wrestle with the problem. we do have an opportunity to stabilize taxation for 99% of all americans to extend an appreciation. two loans are stabilized in the

calendar year 2013. there is a lot in this package that is good. there is a lot in this package not just at all. it must be addressed or it will have a huge drag on the united states economy. once again, revisit the issue for the first time in american history. it is not a perfect package. it is something that gets us by while we tackle the large issues in the next congress.

>> we are confronted with a bill that, if the vote full voting- age allow us to go over the ceiling or we can try to come together and pass something that neither tside of the aisle will agree with 100 percent. -- 100%. we do not have to can to new fighting. we have got to make sure parrot what i fin. maybe we are moving in the right direction and maybe we are moving toward -- forward.

>> we expect them back any minute now. we do not know yet exactly what all happened -- what will happen.

what we are hearing from several different sources is the rules committee is going to bring it up and it will be a straight up or down vote on the senate bill. the house will come back into session any minute now. off.ight have to cut an let's hear more voices. here are tweets -- let's hear voices on the phone. linda, what do you think? >> i do not think they know how

to cut a budget. my family had to cut things whenever we had to do without. we could not go on vacation. sometimes, mother had to work overtime at western union. she worked until she was 82. she worked until she was 82. my dad was a teacher for 27 years. >> this is william, independent line. you are on c-span. >> the latest election, there were 169 million what -- registered voters.

with regard to the senate, it was a little bit lighter. with the congress, it was fortunate. we have a congress with a mandate for the people. some percentage are republicans and democrats. it is time for republicans to put their foot down and say, more people are represented by then in theongress b senate. if it does not work out, you have the third branch. this is all about who gets the way forward. the president' has not changed. we have a brand new congress coming in in a couple of days. if they put down their foot and do nothing, the next congress can say, we have a bigger mandate and we represent more people. we will do it our way. compromise is not necessary again.

>> that was william. joanna tweets -- george is in pennsylvania. >> i have to file its first. you would think i would know what to do. >> to what company house resolu? providing for consideration of the senate amendments to the bill h.r. 8, to extend certain tax relief provisions enacted in 2001 and 2003 and to provide for expedited consideration of a bill providing for comprehensive tax reform and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: ordered

to the house calendar and ordered printed. mr. dreier: happy new year and by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 844 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 844, resolved that upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be in order to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 8 to extend certain tax relief provisions enacted in 2001 and 2003 and to provide for expedited consideration of a bill providing for comprehensive tax reform and for other purposes, with a senate amendments thereto and to consider in the house without intervention of any point of order a single motion offered by the chair of the committee on ways and means or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendments. the senate amendments and the motion shall be considered as read. the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and

ranking member by the committee on ways and means. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on adoption or demand for division of the question. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one hour. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, thank you very much. i will say that all time yielded will be for debate purposes only and i'm happy to yield 30 minutes to my good friend from rochester, new york, ms. slaughter. pending that, i yield myself such time as i may consume and i will say all time i will be yielding will be for debate purposes only and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dreier: the measure before us and the process that brought us here has been the source of a great deal of understandable consternation. virtually no one believes that what we have before us tonight

is a long-term solution to this problem. and most bemoan the fact that we have stretched the far reaches of our deadline to actually get here. now, i'm privileged to be in my fourth decade as a member of this body, and it's true, i don't believe that in those decades that i ever actually spent new year's eve and/or new year's day in this building, but working up to a deadline is hardly unprecedented in this institution. as we all know, h.r. 8, the concurring in the senate amendment with this rule, that h.r. 8 passed last august 1. went over to the other body and it passed by 256 to 171 last august 1 and it went over there and we have been waiting. sea now it's come back to us and it is before us.

and i will say that we are addressing this right up to the deadline. but i can remember as i know colleagues of mine on both sides of the aisle can recall, there have been many deadlines that have approached and it's a fact of life. when you have deadlines -- i can recall well in school, i had a great international relations professor in college and at the beginning of the class, he would give us these spots around the world. back then, we didn't have google and had to spend time finding obscure spots and almost every time, when did we do it? just when we were approaching that deadline and professor rude knew that very well and laughed as we were struggling. similarly, this notion of approaching a deadline and trying to deal with an issue is something that happens in this institution and this is another example where that's the case.

the issues that we are attempting to address tonight with this vote are as important as they are challenging. the range of ideas that have been proposed as solutions are as disparate as they are numerous. this body, like our nation, has been deeply divided over how to proceed. an agreement has been extraordinarily elusive. we all know that. the bill before us is not the grand bargain that i and i think most of my colleagues, had hoped we would have been able to achieve. but what we're doing this evening, mr. speaker, is a very essential bridge to what i hope will be comprehensive, long-term solution. . just hours ago at midnight, we

did neck nick -- technically go over that bridge but we went over the bridge. we are pulling ourselves back and we are ensuring that -- ensuring that taxes are not increased on 99% of our fellow americans. i know that i'm not alone when i say that i had high hopes for a package of sweeping tax reform and something that i think has to be acknowledged and i'm very saddened it's not included in here, entitlement reform. we all know and you know very well, mr. speaker, that entitlement reform is the only way to successfully get our arms around this massive 16 -- now i guess it's $16.25 trillion national debt. willie sutton said he robbed banks because that's where the

money is, we know that entitlement reform will be essential to get our fiscal house in order. i'm saddened that this is not part of it. we have repeatedly passed out of the house of representatives meaningful, meaningful reform in a number of these areas. it's truly unfortunate that our friends in the other body have not engaged thus far in these efforts but mr. speaker, the legislation that is before us, which again as we all know passed at 2:00 this morning, earlier today, in the senate, will avert the economic crisis and set the stage for the very hard work that must be done in the coming weeks. now, mr. speaker, pro tem, you and i won't be here for that work to take place but i know you share my view that our colleagues have a unique

opportunity as the 113th congress begins its work at noon on thursday to take on this challenge. i'm one who believes we have a unique opportunity because of the fact that there is divided government because we have a president of one party who regularly talks about the need for this kind of reform and i congratulate him for that, and we have a house of representatives, the people's house has the responsibility of dealing with tax issues that this body soft the other party. our party, mr. speaker. in light of that, i think since there is a consensus on the need to tackle these issues, we can do this.

the first step is to pass this rule with what i'm confident will be bipartisan support. i appreciate the kind words of the distinguished ranking member, my friend from rochester, ms. slallingter, in supporting this effort we have. at the end of the day, once we go into the debate, on concurring with the senate amendment which this rule calls on us to do, there will be strong bipartisan support for that measure. at this juncture, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. woolsey: i thank my colleague -- ms. slaughter: i thank my colleague for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. i want to begin my saying to my colleague mr. dreier what we have served together here on the rules committee, i think that his knowledge of both rules committee and its

functions and the trials of house are unsurpassed and i think he will be very greatly missed. i want to wish him the best in his new endeavors, nothing but happiness and joy, thank you and i've learned a great deal from you, david. thank you for that. the legislation before me as my colleague said is no great victory. it's only a partial answer to a much larger problem. it sets the nation up for another fiscal showdown in mere months. as we vote, let every member of this chamber reflect on the dysfunctional legislative process and the irresponsible leadership that brought us here today and the need for the majority to come back to the bargaining table in good faith as our work continues and i share mr. dreier's hope that from now on, we will put this all behind us and that this next term will be a bipartisan term. let history show that the fiscal cliff and the dire

economic consequences that would come with it were the deliberate creation of this house. because of partisan actions taken by the majority, the body pushed our nation closer to a self-ecreated economic recession and the greatest displacement of workers the nation has known since 1929. the idea behind the fiscal cliff was that the potential for self-inflicted wounds would force congress to address the growing deficit and debt. from the beginning the plan was falled -- was flawed. over the last 10 years, our deficit has ballooned because of the cost of two wars and massive unpaid for tax cuts. discussion over the cost of war, the conflicts that have cost the lives of thousands of americans and forever changed the face of american families, has been almost nonexistent. at the same time, the majority's desire to protect tax cuts for millionaires and

billionaires quickly hardened into intransigence and led taos where we are today. -- led us to where we are today. just a week ago today it looked like congress was close to a solution until the house majority walked away. instead of seizing a historic opportunity for compromise, the majority introduced a so called plan b which quickly morphed into plan c. before being scrapped altogether. leaving us almost no time tie vert the fiscal cliff. by making tax cuts for billionaires an millionaires their biggest priority the majority not only endangered our economy but led the house through legislative process that violated any sense of regular order and transparency. indeed, if my -- as my colleagues and i sat in rules committee last week, the legislation we were considering was changing by the minute. leaving us to guess at what would actually be included in any bill that required our

vote. sadly, such dysfunctional governing comes as little surprise. for the past two year the majority has had a combination of extreme partisanship -- of partisanship and extremism resulting in the least productive congress in history. in 2011, they threatened to default on our nation's debt this dangerous and irresponsible approach rattled investors around the world and led to the first ever downgrade of our nation's credit. in addition, over the last two year the majority has voted more than 33 times to repeal the historic affordable care act, despite knowing full well that the repeal votes would never be signed into law because the senate would not do that bill. in so doing, they took up valuable time from other legislative priorities and cbs news reports that these votes

to consistently always trying to repeal health care, those votes, mr. speaker, cost the american taxpayer almost $50 million. for over a year and a half and unproductive governing failed to provide solutions to the american people and coming out of the november elections, our mandate was clear. the american people demanded an end to the political theater and the dangerous legislative games. they demanded that we finally get to work and solve the looming fiscal cliff in a balanced, responsible and bipartisan way. in the middle of last july all other members sent a letter to the speaker asking that we begin in july to find a solution to the fiscal cliff and sequestration. we call for a bipartisan approach and something we could get finished before the august

recess so that we could spare the americans and other people in the world and financial markets the worry that we have put them through. we got our answer tonight. so unfortunately, today, what we are doing here does not give the american people a solution worthy of their full approval and i'm sure we don't have it. the legislation before us fails to seriously address the deficit and debt, protects too many wealthy americans and sets the nation up for another round of high stakes negotiations. however what we do have before us is a way to avert the worst of the fiscal cliff and returning fairness, we hope, to the tax code. millions of americans will be spared a tax increase and valuable tax extensions for middle class families and students will remain in place. in addition, today's legislation extends unemployment insurance for

millions of americans struggling to find work. in closing, this legislation is far from perfect and the process that has led us here is an utter disgrace. yet in this time of crisis, we must act first and foremost to try to protect the american economy and today's legislation will do that. in the coming weeks we must continue the hard work of creating a fair tax code and ensuring we reduce our deficit in a balanced, responsible, and bipartisan way. as we do, i urge my fellow members to avoid brinksmanship and partisan games and to come to the table in good faith on behalf of all the people who sent us here and put their faith in us. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i yield myself such time as i might consume, first to express my appreciation to my friend from rochester for

her generous and kind remarks and to secondly say i'd like to associate myself not necessarily with -- i'd like to associate myself with some of what she said. i obviously can't associate myself with all of those remarks as you know, mr. speaker, but i will say that as we look at our quest for a bipartisan solution for this problem, i think that we have with the action we're about to take here taken a very important first step. i'm reminded of the fact that the author of the u.s. constitution, james madison, famously described the process of law making as an ugly, messy, difficult process, that's by design, mr. speaker. it's by design because if we look back at our framers, they were fleeing the tyranny of king george. why? because that maniac was making

unilateral decisions that played a role in ruining the lives of his fellow countrymen. so the framers came forward in structuring our government, the three branches, they wanted to ensure no individual got too much power. when it comes to law making, putting into place this great compromise, the connecticut compromise, it established a bicameral legislative structure. so i was talking one time, mr. speaker, with the first woom -- woman, now there are two, but the first woman to serve as a president of any of the 54 countries on the continent of after chasm she gave a brilliant speech before a joint session of congress. she's the president of liberia, ellen johnson serley. i was sitting in liberia. i said to her, james madison,

by design, said this is to be an ugly, messy, difficult process. i'll never forget how she looked at me and said, david, you've forgotten one thing. yes, it is an ugly, messy, difficult process but you have to add the fact that it works. and as difficult as it has been to get to this point, we need to realize that it's an ugly, messy, difficult process, this is a very small step, it's a first step in our quest for tax reform and entitlement reform which will get us back onto a path toward economic growth and the kind of prosperity that we want and that the american people deserve and it will create a greater degree of certainty, we all know that uncertainty is the enemy of prosperity and so making permanent these tax cuts for 99% of the american people is a

very important step in our quest to ep sure that there is that degree of -- to ensure that there is a degree of certainty. mr. speaker, i will say again that i do associate myself with some of the things that my friend from rochester said and i do, again, appreciate her very kind remarks. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. polis: i want to begin by acknowledging the long service of our chair in the house, this could be the last time we have the opportunity to debate here on the house floor and i want to express my gratitude to the great patriotism of my colleagues, both democrat and republican, particularly those in their lame duck period who have chosen to stay and work, in many cases without an office, without a home, we see

them roaming the halls of the capitol. i applaud their patriotism in fulfilling the will of their voters for the 112th congress. . what we have before us has some good aspects and some aspects that need to be improved. the question is on what side is there more weight? i think it's important to talk about what this bill does and what it doesn't do. first, briefly what it doesn't do. and my own senator from colorado was one of the small group of senators who voted against this because he, like myself, is an advocate of a comprehensive budget solution. restoring fiscal integrity to our country. along the parameters what have the supercommittee attempted but failed to accomplish, along the parameters of what the bowles simpson commission, the gang of eight, have attempted to accomplish, which we know could only be accomplished in a bipartisan manner. but is so important to the future of our country. to balance the budget and restore the fiscal integrity. this bill is not that bill. however, what this bill does is it ensures that the american people will not have the largest

tax increase in the history of our country tomorrow. $2,000 a year out of the pocket of families making $80,000 a year. almost $4,000 a year out of the pocket of families making $150,000 a year. what does that mean to families? it might be the money that helps them stay above water on their mortgage. it might be the money that allows their child to attend college. beyond the ramifications at the family level, there's the aggregate effect across our economy. when families don't have that money they're not able to spend that money, to buy products, buy products that need to be produced, have jobs in america and create jobs. i think we need to make sure that we don't raise taxes on the american people. the best way to do that is by supporting this bill. anybody opposing this bill is supporting the largest tax increase in the history of the country. i call upon my colleagues, democratic and republican, to remove this tax burden from the middle class and ensure the taxes don't go up tomorrow.

i encourage my colleagues to support the rule and the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time and i'd inquire of my friend how many speakers she has remaining on her side? ms. slaughter: i believe i have three, mr. speaker. mr. dreier: i anxiously look forward to their remarks. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: i add my appreciation to mr. dreier as well and ask the question, why are we here think? know why i'm here. to protect working -- i know why i'm here. to protect working american, the vulnerable and the middle class. at the end of the clinton administration we had $5 trillion in surplus and it went out the window with tax cuts, bush tax cuts, and wars that we could not pay for. so i stand here today to say

that working class and the vulnerable have the unemployment insurance and earned income tax and cuts in their taxes that they really need. but we still have work to do. want to make sure that we restore some very serious cuts that impact on the health care of americans and we have work to do on the sequestration and our fight is the same fight with the alcio. we want to make sure that the working americans don't pay for the rich getting richer. we're going to cut against cuts and what we have to do today is to make sure that we can go forward. but we should not do it without the understanding that there's some restoration work and there's some fight work in the sequestration. it will not be done on the backs of those who cannot pay but we will work together as americans and that is what i hope we will see as we go forward and i want to thank the senate for putting that bill forward that now we have to address. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york.

ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, when i spoke earlier i referred to a letter that we had sent to the speaker and i did not ask to insert it in the record. may i ask unanimous consent to do that, please? the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. slaughter: thank you very much. i'm happy to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from ohio is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: i thank the ranking member for yielding. tonight the american people's hopes are for this congress to pass a bipartisan bill to meet our nation's financial obligations, to give some certainty to our financial markets and to keep our economy growing through new job creation. this is a great victory for the middle class whose taxes will not go up tomorrow. in places like ohio what does it mean? it means doctors who treat medicare patients are going to receive fair reimbursement and those seniors won't be turned away. it means that unemployment compensation will be extended to the unemployed who remain in places like norwalk, ohio, and

lima and people who haven't gone back to work yet in manufacturing centers across states like ohio. this house surely should follow the lead of the senate which passed this bill by 89-8 last night. this is the time for the house to act. i rise in strong support of the rule and strong support of the bill. let's do what the american people have been waiting for for months. ranking member, i yield back my remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i'd like to ask unanimous consent that all members have -- traditionally would ask for five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the measure before us. but since the new congress is going to be sworn in at noon on thursday, i ask that all the legislative days remaining in the 112th congress be provided for members to revise and extend their remarks on this resolution before us. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i

yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. mr. scott: thank you very much. and, ladies and gentlemen of the congress and the united states of america, we stand here today and we're witnessing something, that there's been a great hunger among the american people for. and that is to see finally democrats and republicans working together for the good of the united states. we're going to have that today. we're going to have a bill, all may not vote for it, but i think what is important here is that this is a product of a true compromise with republicans and with democrats, putting the united states of america foremost. and i think we ought to have a tip of the hat to president barack obama. i think to leader mcconnell in the senate and certainly to our

vice president, joe biden. and to the leadership of nancy pelosi, steny hoyer, jim clyburn, and over on our side, and i know that our republican friendses have had a tussle here. but our tip of the hat to you as well. and certainly to my friend david dreier who is in his ending time as the chairman of the rules committee. good luck, my friend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you. i appreciate the moment. i just -- this has been a very interesting couple of days. ones that i would normally have spent with friends in memphis drinking champagne and looking forward to the new year. it's been an honor serving with you, mr. dreier. you are an outstanding member, as ms. slaughter said, and there are lots of other people on the

aisle who are fine republicans who i'm friendses with and think the world of -- friends with and think the world of. but i'm happy this day ended the way it did. and somehow, we're going to end up not falling off the fiscal cliff and i think that's wonderful. so i thank ms. slaughter for the time and i thank speaker boehner for whatever he's done to produce this -- what i suspect will be a positive result for the american people. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i'll continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i have no further requests for time and i'm prepared to close if he has no further speakers. mr. speaker, failure to avert the fiscal cliff could lead the nation back into an economic recession and create the largest displacement of workers in the nation's history. the dangers are avoidable and it is our solemn obligation to avert the fiscal cliff and protect the american people. and as i said earlier today, this legislation is far from

perfect but in this time of crisis, legislators must act. in the months to come we will face more fiscal challenges and be asked to act again. when that time comes, i hope that we will avoid the brinksmanship we've seen today to come to the table in good faith. if we do, i'm confident that we can finish our work and provide solutions for a better future for america. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: thank you very much, mr. speaker. with that i yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, on the 29th of february of this year i stood here in this well and announced that i was leaving congress. and when i did that i said that this institution is as great as it has ever been.

the reason i said that is that congress is a reflection of the people. and it means that when america is guided, congress is divided -- divide, congress is divided. that doesn't mean that we as leaders, mr. speaker, can't work to bridge this divide. while political division is a current reality, it is not our fate. i believe that as an institution congress can and must forge new consensus and restore hope and optimism for future generations. optimism, mr. speaker, as you know very well, is what we as americans are all about. and i've got to tell you, mr. speaker, that that optimism has been validated again and again

and again. actually there are positive signs. while it gets very little attention, we have come together to craft solutions. the issue that i've been involved in, that frankly has been the most unifying issue around here for us, has been the trade issue. a year ago democrats and republicans came together and passed our long-pending, they'd been pending for over half a decade, free trade agreements with colombia, panama and south korea, with strong bipartisan votes. additionally, mr. speaker, our very first action following november's very, very deeply polarizing election was to join together to strengthen our hand against russia's outrageous actions by passing permanent

normal trade relations. we did it with one of the largest bipartisan and bicameral votes that a trade bill has ever seen. and, mr. speaker, i would like to make the case that these consensus-driven solutions should be a model for the 113 gget congress. -- 113th congress. today we are proceeding with a critical step to avert a serious economic downturn. but this is only the beginning of the work that must be done as we all know. ultimately, mr. speaker, we must reach an agreement that combines, as i said earlier, meaningful entitlement reform with new revenues in a way that puts us back on a path towards growth and prosperity. if we're going to accomplish this we must work together. republicans and democrats,

congress and the white house, the federal government and the states, the public sector and the private sector. mr. speaker, some might say that saying those things is a cliche. but as we all know, members are going to have to engage in rigorous debate and there needs to be that clash of ideas, a rigorous debate, but it needs to be done in good faith and with a spirit of compromise. now, i realize that some argue that compromise is a sign of weakness. in fact, one of the great strengths, mr. speaker, of our nation's founders was their ability to compromise. the very structure of this institution, the united states congress, the very structure of our institution, which joins the people's house, where we're all

privileged to serve, with the state-focused united states senate was known as what? the connecticut compromise or the great compromise. that's the very basis of our founders. too often we forget that while we should never, we should never compromise our principles, we must always, mr. speaker, we must always be prepared to compromise in the service of our principles. . aeconomist described the element of compromise in what justice brandeis described the state of georgia. the conservative republican governor, our former house colleague nathan deal, and the liberal mayor of atlanta reed

are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, yet they have managed to bridge that divide through a commitment to results. mr. speaker, together, they have achieved significant gains for the good of georgia. mr. speaker, congress and the white house are perfectly capable of following that same model for the good of our country. americans may be politically divided, but they are united in their desire to see their leaders in washington achieve results. now, mr. speaker, we know it's far from perfect, but i hope that this bipartisan agreement can lay the foundation for continued work to address the tremendous challenges that we face as a nation. millions of americans are out of

work. the national debt, as a percentage of gross domestic product, is too high. upheaval exists in nearly every region across the globe. education and immigration reform must happen. the potential for a crippling cyber attack continues to be a threat. climate change is a fact of life and most recently, most recently, mr. speaker, our families are realing from the tragedy of newtown. they're asking how we can prevent it from ever happening again and how we can keep guns from getting into the hands of dangerous people. these are the great challenges to which we all must rise, for which we all must find real solutions. i look forward to continuing to

do my small part, as i follow the madisonian directive and return to california as a private citizen. it's been an incredible honor, mr. speaker, an incredible honor for me to serve and in what i describe and i know the senate takes this label, this is the greatest deliberative body known to man and i consider it an amazing honor to serve here. as i depart, and i hope there is no correlation to my departure, i believe that the united states congress can actually be better than it has ever been. with that, i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the

yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 396 and the nays are nine.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 408, are 10. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. would members clear the well. clear the aisles.

the speaker pro tempore: let the house be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp rise? mr. camp: pursuant to house resolution 844, i call up the bill h.r. 8 and i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the amendments and designate the motion.

the clerk: h.r. 8, an act to extend certain tax relief provisions enacted in 2001 and 2003 and to provide for expedited consideration of a bill providing for comprehensive tax reform and for other purposes. senate amendment, motion by mr. camp. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 844, the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member by the committee on ways and means. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 8 and i yield myself such time as i may

consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: i rise today to urge what a colleague from georgia called a legacy vote, making permanent the tax cuts republicans enacted back in 2001 and 2003. i couldn't agree more. and let me say why. because we're making permanent tax policies republicans originally crafted. now back then, despite having the majority in the house, a majority in the senate and a republican in the white house, those policies were only temporary. that's because democrats refused to join republicans in providing tax relief for working families. after more than a decade of criticizing these tax cuts, democrats are finally joining with republic cast in making these tax cuts permanent. republicans and the american people are getting something really important, permanent tax relief. as big as that is, and it's the first step when it comes to taxes, this legislation settles the legal of revenue washington

should bring in. next, we need to make the tax code simpler and fairer for families and small businesses. and we need to pursue comprehensive and fundamental tax reform to create the jobs we need and to make american businesses and workers competitive in the global marketplace. simply put, the tax code is a nightmare. it's too complex, too time consuming and too costly. about 60% of individual taxpayers have to hire others to do their tax returns because the code is too complicated. as a result, if tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the united states and would consume 6.1 billion hours, the equivalent of more than three million full-time workers and yes it's too costly. in 2008 alone, taxpayers spent $163 billion complying with the individual and corporate income

tax rule. add to that, the u.s. has the highest corporate tax rate and outdated worldwide system of taxation and it's not too difficult to imagine why many don't view america as an attractive place to invest and hire. nothing about the bill we are considering tonight changes any of those realities. that's why the ways and means committee will pursue comprehensive tax reform in the next congress. by making republican tax cuts permanent, we are one step closer to comprehensive tax reform that will help strengthen our economy and create more and higher paychecks for american workers. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and get us one step closer to tax reform and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: this is a bipartisan bill and i will try to keep it within that spirit to the extent

possible. as we are here today on january 1, hours away from people, americans returning to work, markets reopening around the world, around the world, and all eyes focusing on whether this institution can govern. this legislation allows us to get done what we need to get done. this bill is vital for our nation's economic well-being and i want to emphasize for its standing as the world's most important economy. it is vital for 114 million middle-class families. it is vital for two million unemployed american workers who need continuation of their insurance while they continue to

look for it, it is vital for 30 million middle-income americans who would have been hit by the alternative minimum tax and it's vital for 25 and i emphasize this, 25 million working families and students who benefit from the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit and the american opportunity tax credit, which helps families pay for college and it's vital for physicians and millions of their patients who would have been hurt by drastic cuts in medicare reimbursement rates. it's also vital for businesses through an extension of important tax provisions such as the r&d credit and also renewable energy incentives that must continue in this great country of ours and encourage

business investments. but i want to emphasize this somewhat in contrast to what our chairman has said. this legislation breaks the iron barrier that for far too long has prevented additional tax revenues from the very wealthiest. it raises $620 billion in revenue by achieving the president's goal of asking the wealthiest 2% of americans to pay more while protecting 98% of families -- that's right, that's what it does, 97% -- i want to emphasize this contrary to propoganda coming from the other side. 97% of small businesses from any tax increase. and this needs to be emphasized especially in view, mr. chairman, of your comments. this package is vital for future

deficit reduction efforts. setting the stage for a balanced approach from here on out by delaying sequestration through one-to-one revenue to spending cuts. yesterday, president obama said he is committed to deficit reduction, but he emphasized several times, and i quote, that we got to do this in a balanced, responsible way with additional revenues as well as spending cuts. so, i urge its passage. this bill sets the important precedent i mentioned in terms of additional receive news as well as spending cuts. the time is urgent. the time is now. we should support this legislation. i reserve the balance of our

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i yield three minutes to the distinguished chairman, the gentleman from california, mr. issa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. issa: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. issa: mr. speaker, i would like to be speaking for this bill, but i can't. in the 12 years, almost to the day that i have served in this body, i voted for every tax cut, every tax cut. and i remember many of my colleagues, many of them friends to my right here, who each time we voted for them said where is the pay-go, where is the pay-for. mr. speaker, those $4 trillion of debt and deficit, there is know pay-for and no anticipation of a pay-for. in the last night or the last two days of a congress to say that two months from now, a new

congress is going to do what we are not doing here today is not something i would like to do. i want americans to have lower taxes, but the other day in conference, one of my colleagues pointed out that if, in fact, you're spending the money, you're taxing our future generation. we are taxing $1.2 trillion next year. we are taxing $1.2 trillion. we won't collect it, but taxing $1.2 trillion of deficit. the chairman of the committee of the ways and means committee, mr. camp, rightfully so said, we also aren't simplifying the tax code and not making it better or fairer and not getting rid of the nascar loophole or the electric motor scooter low-speed loophole and not getting rid of a lot of tax things that are

here. we aren't taking things that the president said he would be for, like getting the calculation of changing the consumer price index for federal security work force and pensions, which would reduce the deficit. i cannot believe that this tax cut will, in fact, be followed with the spending cuts to offset any part of the $4 trillion we are putting on the backs of future generations. i thank all of you who will vote for it. i can't bring myself to vote for it tonight and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: we democrats said on ways and means time after time when republicans passed tax cuts and never brought one dollar to the table to pay for them. they thought that was a way to promote economic growth.

how wrong they were. it's now my privilege to yield one minute to a person who has the title leader, but who has been so much more than a leader, who has valiantly led our efforts and we owe to nancy pelosi a real debt of gratitude for our being where we are today. with real pleasure, i yield one minute to our distinguished leader, the gentlelady from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: i thank the gentleman and thank him for his leadership on the ways and means committee and bringing clarity on this important subject we are dealing with this evening. my colleagues, many of us began the day with vice president of the united states coming to the democratic caucus and speaking to us about legislation that

passed the senate last night 89 to 8. that is absolutely historic. it was legislation that he helped negotiate working with the republican and democratic leaders in the united states senate. it was a remarkable accomplishment because as we all know, while we share the same goals, we sometimes have different paths to achieving them and reconciling our differences is a monumental task, especially with the time growing short. so we appreciate the leadership -- we appreciate the leadership of the vice president. we appreciate the leadership of the republican and democratic leaders in the senate. and we thank speaker boehner for bringing this legislation to the floor. hopefully we can duplicate the strong bipartisan vote that the legislation received in the united states senate.

and why is that important? it's important because the american people told us in the election they wanted us to work together. they have their differences, too. they understand this agreement. they also understand compromise. and that is what this legislation represents. i listened to the previous speaker who said he was voting for the bill for what was not in it. that is an interesting approach. we can judge all the legislation that we vote on it for what is in it or vote against it for what is not in it. you balance the equities. where do you come out in terms of making a choice? and i hope the choice that the american people will make tonight is to reflect the will and heed the call of the american people to work together

and follow the lead of the senate with strong bipartisan support. what do they want us to do? what are their priorities? they want us to create jobs. they want us to grow the economy. they want us to invest in education. they want us to reduce the deficit. they want us to strengthen the middle class. and that is what this legislation does. it does so in a way, in a way that is not complete, but is an important first step. we talk much about what would happen, all the gloom and doom of what would happen if we went over the cliff. well, let's talk instead about what happens if we don't go over the cliff, and i believe we will not seeing the vote on the rule this evening. i believe that we will heed the american people, come together with a strong vote. . we will increase the confidence

of consumers, of the markets, of businesses, of employers to hire more. we will extend unemployment insurance to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. this is very, very important. not only to those individuals but to our economy, because this is money that is spent immediately, injecting demand into the economy, creating jobs. we will extends permanent tax relief for the middle class -- extend permanent tax relief for the middle class. more than 98% of american taxpayers, more than 97% of america's small businesses. we will support our middle class, strengthen it, by supporting child tax credits, credits for higher education, american opportunity credits, earned income tax credit and the like. our distinguished ranking member went through some of the provisions but it's important to see them in light of what they mean to america's working families. and by doing this, by voting for

this agreement we will demonstrate that we have listened to the american people, we have heeded their call once again to work together in a bipartisan way. i want to salute president obama. he campaigned on strengthening the middle class. i think all of us probably did. and this is one way for us to fulfill that promise. yes to all of those who say this doesn't -- all the other things that don't happen in the bill. , no i don't know any piece of ledge -- no, i don't know any piece of legislation that i voted for that did everything that i thought it should do. but this is a very, very strong first step as we go into the new year. let us send a message to the american people that, again, while this bill doesn't accomplish all that we need to do to grow the economy, reduce the deficit and strengthen the middle class, it is a good way for us to have a happy start to

a new year, by taking this first step. i hope that you balance the equities, the pros and cons of this legislation, that you will weigh heavily in favor of the message that it sends to the kitchen tables of america about the respect we have for them, meeting their needs, meeting their challenges, honoring their aspirations. this great middle class is the backbone of our democracy. let us all be very patriotic tonight, support our middle class, support our democracy, vote aye on this strong bipartisan legislation which passed 89-8 in the united states senate. let's step up to the plate to do that in the house of representatives. i urge my colleagues to vote aye and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: mr. speaker, i yield myself 45 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: this is the first step

. and now that we have permanently settled how much revenue the government's going to take out of the economy, we can move on to next steps. we can and will pursue comprehensive tax reform this year, in 2013. and next steps, we need to address the fundamental drivers of our deficits and debt and that is out-of-control spending. and with that i urge support for this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time is reserved. mr. levin: i yield myself 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i just don't want the chairman's statement that this settles permanently how much revenue will be made available. the president has made clear there has to be a balanced approach and no one should be misled into thinking otherwise. no one. i now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from new york, mr. rangel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is

recognized for two minutes. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rangel: well, this is no courage for me to be voting for this bill. it reminds me of the jokes they used to have on lennox avenue where someone stopped hitting you in the head with a hammer and you're supposed to say thank you so much for the relief. we created this monster. we're the ones that have said, at least the congress has said and the majority in the house, that do what you have to do but for god's sake, don't ask the top 2% of the wealthiest people in this civilized country to pay their fair share. and while you're thinking about taxing people, why don't you start talking about cutting people off from unemployment compensation? why don't you think about not providing so much for the sick and the ages? why don't you start privatizing these things? this was not the america that i knew when i came to the congress. this was something that people,

a handful of people from nowhere came here and started preaching that we had to destroy big government. and the vulnerable, who had no lobbyist, who had no one to come to, were saved by us, by responsible people bhowho came together and said -- people who came together and said basically, have you lost your mind? what are you doing? how can you go home and tell the people this is what you've created? and so we paused and common sense has prevailed and we can at least go home and say not now. but they're coming again. they have all types of words that they're using like the debt ceiling. but all it means is that they're coming after us and they're coming after the president. then we're talking about sequestration. what will it mean? cutting benefits off of people who need them the most. and with all due regards to the other body, for once doing what the house could not get together in doing, we never seen saw how

they paid for some of these things. things that we would have handled differently when we had to pay for those doctors who work very hard for the medicare and people are saying, how are you paying for them? and everyone had amnesia and not knowing. well, after it's over, they'll get paid, but this congress will make certain that the providers of health care are not penalized for this congress doing the right thing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp. mr. camp: i yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. gohmert: thank you. i just wanted to thank so many on the other side, after all these years, for finally acknowledging publicly that 98% of the bush tax cuts help the middle class. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan.

mr. levin. mr. levin: i'll -- i will yield to my temptation to respond and i will now yield two minutes to another distinguished gentleman, a member of our committee, mr. neal of massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. neal: thank you, mr. levin, and at this late hour, let me point something out and take exception to what chairman camp said. at the outset of his remarks. we're here tonight because despite what the gentleman from texas just said as well, you can't cut taxes by $2.3 trillion over 12 years and fight two wars. when you heard the argument before that was so popular, it's the people's money, it's going to promote economic growth, the most anemic economic growth that america's had since hoover became president. do you know what the people's responsibility? those veterans hospitals, 1,700,000 new veterans.

45,000 wounded. and do you know what the republican whip said during those crucial years? cutting taxes in a time of war is patriotic. so much for sacrifice for all of us. when you look back at to how we got to this problem, revenue at 15% of g.d.p., that's an eisenhower figure headed toward truman. we've argued in this town about 19% to 21%. . for the better part of 30 years. 15% of revenue with g.d.p. 12 years of tax cuts. now, this represents a reasonable step forward tonight. and i want to say with some personal satisfaction i'm delighted with what we have finally done to put to rest alternative minimum tax. a million families in massachusetts were threatened with alternative minimum tax.

it was the responsible position tonight. but i want to give you a number. you know what these patches have cost us? $2.2 trillion. over the life of a.m.t. the theology that we heard that was so popular in this institution, tax cuts pay for themselves. you can't find a mainstream economist today in america that will acknowledge that problem. this is a reasonable step forward. vote for this measure and let's get on to fundamental tax reform. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. levin. this evening we're expected to vote on an item that has many

commendable and important items. unfortunately too many are of short duration, much is left out and most importantly we're losing a real opportunity for reform. the s.g.r. is left in a year to torment medical providers again. the a.t.m. mine is patched and i appreciate the advocacy of my friend, mr. neal, but in fact we all know that it should at a minimum be reformed if not repealed. we have a body blow to the alternative energy industry and somehow it's given a year's reprieve but it's not what they need or what they deserve. and because we refuse at a moment of opportunity to deal meaningfully with the national debt, and remember the budget from my republican friends, authored by my colleague, mr. ryan, would have required $6

trillion head room in the debt ceiling. now, we cannot continue to have the world's largest and most expensive military by far, the lowest taxes of any of the major economies, the most expensive and inefficient health care and continue to allow our country's infrastructure to fall apart while america ages and grows. this proposal represents absolutely the least we could have done under these circumstances and tragically institutionals for the next congress the -- institutionalizes for the next congress the madness of self-inflicted deadlines that have no reality to them. that drives the american public crazy. and with good reason. not only can we do better, i would suggest that we must do

better. may i have 20 more seconds? mr. levin: surely. 20 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 20 seconds. mr. blumenauer: it's probably going to pass with overwhelming bipartisan support. so be it. i can only hope that that spirit of taking a risk on both sides of the aisle and both parties and the administration, that the obama administration and the new congress get serious about reform and delivering services more cost-effectively in ways ironically that people on both sides of the aisle agree with but are absent in this proposal. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: he reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: now i yield two minutes to another member of the ways and means committee, mr. pascrell of new jersey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes.

mr. pascrell: the american people are the real winners here tonight. not anyone who navigates these halls. let's make that clear. we don't have a perfect bill in front of us. in fact, we've never had a perfect bill in front of us. but this is a bill which will provide for the much-needed certainty to millions of middle class american families, that their income taxes will not increase. since the recession in 2008, there's been a 25% increase in the number of families below the poverty line in my home state of new jersey. i'm sure we'll see more as a result of the devastation of hurricane sandy, least we forget before tomorrow that we need to respond to that storm as all of us responded to the other catastrophes over the past 10 to 15 years. we should not have exceptions.

particularly from those states who are donor states. if you want to get into nichols and dimes -- ni -- nichols and dimes, then let's get into. it we want everybody to step up to the plate. we've been able to help families in need by extending the earned income tax credit to $563 -- 563,000 new jersey taxpayers who earn an average of -- will earn an average of $2,169 more because of the program. we have also helped 460,000 new jersey families take advantage of the child tax credit, many of you, rarledfuls which state you come from -- regardless of which state you come exr, -- from, your constituents have taken advantage of that program. and almost 400,000 have been able to use the education tax credits. least we forget what we've done on the alternative minimum tax.

the chairman will tell you, of the ways and means committee, how many times alternative minimum tax comes up. and yet we did nothing about it, pushing it patch to patch, year to year. in just one county in my district, 87% of the families -- mr. levin: i yield an additional 30 seconds. mr. pascrell: i ask for a vote on this legislation so we can all be proud and be happy for a change and we wake up -- when we wake up in the morning. thank you. . the speaker pro tempore: mr. camp reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield to congresswoman schwartz from pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. schwartz: i rise this evening in strong support of the job protection -- prevention act of 2012. bypassing this bill, congress provides certainty for middle class families. this legislation which passed the senate with overwhelming

bipartisan support permanently extends tax cuts to 99% of american families and small businesses. it protects seniors' access to doctors and expands affordability to college for millions of young people and investments that build economic growth and jobs in this country and averts the fiscal cliff and the harmful economic consequences that might have resulted. as we close out this congress we reach resolution on a major issue facing this congress and our nation, fair tax policies for our families and our businesses. there's more work to do. and in the next congress, my guess is that it will be just as difficult to reach bipartisan solutions. but that doesn't mean it can't be done. and tonight's vote i hope demonstrates that it can and benefitsally can families and american businesses and america's future and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: i still reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. moran: tonight, we will pass 83 provisions that remove federal revenue totaling $9.3 trillion. all of the deficit financed. we will add billions more this year to reducing the deficit, so if we have a $1.3 trillion deficit this year, it will bring it down to $1.24 trillion. many of us feel that deficits doesn't matter, but it does matter, because we have another deficit, we have a deficit in the education of our children. and investment in the infrastructure of our country and we will have none of those resources to make that investment after we make this vote tonight.

and the problem is we set up three more fiscal cliffs. we have to deal with the debt ceiling. we are going to have to deal with the continuing resolution expiration and we are going to have to deal with the sequester. and all that's left is spending cuts. the only question we have to ask ourselves, what programs do we cut and how deep do we cut. we are going to look back and regret even though 95% of us will vote for it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentleman from new york, mr. engel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. engel: i rise today to support this bill, because essentially, we have two choices here, we either vote for this bill and prevent us from going

over the cliff or we go over the cliff. and that would certainly wreak havoc with the markets, with everything else. but it never should have come to this. we should have been negotiating and passing -- the american people are really fed up with what they see in a dysfunctional congress. harry truman back in 1948 when he was running for president, campaigned against the 80th and called it the do-nothing congress. that do nothing congress passed three times as many bills as the 112th congress did. here we are at the last minute and rushing to pass this bill, it never should have happened this way. i commend president obama and vice president biden for protecting the middle class and doing the best that they can. my friends and colleagues, we are going to have to work and meet in the sensible center and not play these games. the american people don't want

it. president obama won re-election campaigning for the middle class. this keeps those priorities and we ought to support it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, continues to reserve. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to danny davis who will soon be joining us on ways and means. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. davis: i have never seen a compromise where everybody got everything that they wanted or liked everything that they got. i certainly don't like everything that i see in this bill. a and i certainly didn't get everything that i wanted, but i do like the fact that senior citizens can go to the doctors because they're being paid a reasonable rate. i don't like the fact that some of the health programs in my communities in disproportionate

hospitals all across the country are being cut. i just got two phone calls a few minutes ago from two constituents, one from oak park, illinois. one from westchester, and they both did all they could do to convince me to vote against this bill. and after listening to them, i thanked them, but then i told them, do you know that 320,000 people in our state relied upon unemployment insurance benefits last year? i don't know how i could face those individuals with no hope, no possibility, no idea that they're going to have a check in the mail. but when i go to church on sunday, i know i will see people with the assurance that pretty soon an unemployment check is in the mail.

and that's one of the reasons that, yes, i will vote for this bill, because it's good legislation. people need it right now, not next year, not next month, not next week. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i now, with pleasure, yield three minutes to another member of our leadership, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. clyburn. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for three minutes. mr. clyburn: thank you, mr. speaker and i appreciate the gentleman yielding me time. it's about time the house put aside supreme partisanship and work together on a compromise to address the nation's most pressing issues. in reality, it's far past time that we put aside extreme

partisanship. during the entire time of the 112th congress, we have seen narrow political interests placed ahead of the public interests. here we are on new year's night. considering bipartisan legislation to provide middle-class tax cuts, require the wealthiest once again to pay their fair share so we can grow the economy, create jobs and protect the most vulnerable in our society. it is indeed well past time we got about the people's business. mr. speaker, in 2011, i served on the biden group of both republican and democratic representatives and senators who worked with the vice president on our nation's fiscal issues. we made good progress in those

talks until our republican friends walked away fearing the wrath of the tea party. i also served on the joint select committee on deficit reduction, the so-called super committee, that spent countless hours discussing these issues in detail. it was very clear that the elements of a fair and balanced fiscal plan were achievable. but at the end of the process, the republican leaders refused to compromise and the super committee failed. so here we are, while this is not a perfect bill and i have serious concerns about some of the cuts it contains, it does contain the element of fairness. this bill protects the middle class -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 60 seconds. mr. clyburn: it protects the

middle class people in a progressive tax code than we have had in a very long time and budget cuts could do more damage to our national defense and important domestic priorities. mr. speaker, i hope that the partisanship of the 112th congress will end this week with the end of the 112th congress. and i'm hopeful that the 113th congress can work together toward honorable compromises that gets the people's business done. i urge a yes vote. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: we want to hear from our whip, distinguished the gentleman from maryland who has worked so hard on these issues

for decades. mr. hoyer. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for how much time? mr. levin: three minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank mr. camp for his leadership. there is a time for partisanship and there is a time for making political points and that time has been and will be again. that time is not tonight. all of us have traveled throughout this country and we have heard our constituents and our neighbors and our friends say, please don't have us go over the cliff. we're not sure exactly what going over the cliff means, but they deeply feel that it will not be good to go over that cliff. and so we come to this floor tonight with almost everyone who has spoken said this bill is not perfect. and of course that observation

could be applied to any and all bills that we consider in this house. compromise is not the art of perfection. by its very definition, a compromise contains elements that neither side likes, but it also contains pieces, both sides can embrace. what we'll do tonight is not only adopt a piece of legislation that will give literally tens of millions of americans the assurance that their taxes will not be raised, millions of small businesses that their taxes will not be raised, millions of people who through no fault of their own are struggling to find a job and try to keep bread on their table, the assurance that we will be there to help. tonight, we will come together and do something else.

with 37 and a half hours left to go in the 112th congress, we will display to all of our constituents that yes, in the final analysis, we have the ability to come together, to act not as republicans, not as democrats, but as americans. 435 of us sent by our friends and neighbors to do the best we can. realizing that there are 435 points of view that sit in this chamber. and that what we strive to do is to reconcile those differences to create consensus, for without consensus, democracy cannot work. there will be time for partisan differences. there will be time for partisan confrontation in the days of the 113th congress. but this night, as we end the

112th congress, as we have strived mightly to come to an agreement with great difficulty and realizing that all of us have very strong feelings, i severely regret that this is not a big, bold, balanced plan. mr. levin: i yield two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional two minutes. mr. hoyer: i realize this isn't a big, bold, balanced plan. we had the opportunity to reach such an agreement in a bipartisan fashion. and we will not reach a big, bold and balanced plan without bipartisan because the decisions we will have to make will be too difficult, not to be done in a bipartisan fashion. . but tonight we take a step, a positive step. and the people watching us, mr. speaker, on television tonight,

and reading about their congress tomorrow and seeing that we were able to act, not perfectly, but in a bipartisan fashion, to try to take a step towards fiscal responsibility, fiscal stability and, yes, caring for those who most need our help in this country. so i urge my colleagues, as the leader of my party in this congress urged us, to support this legislation. not as a democrat, not as a republican. but as an american who understands that our people believe that action is necessary . and i would urge all of us, as we close this debate, to do so in a way that brings us together , not drive us apart.

that reaches out to the best in us, not to the partisan in us. mr. speaker, it is time for this congress to come together, address this issue, and act together and pass this bill. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. royce. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. i think what gets lost in the 30-second sound bites on the fiscal cliff is the real cliff facing this country. in the form of a massive waive of entitlement obble -- wave of entitlement obligations. government accounting doesn't tell the whole story. the actual liabilities of the federal government, the present value of medicare and medicaid and social security programs

already exceed $86 trillion. by 2040 our entitlement obligations will consume all of the average postwar projected tax revenue. we have to come to grips with that -- grips with that. that means that every dollar collected by the i.r.s. would go to pay social security, medicare or medicaid, without reforms. we will have to go out and borrow to pay for other spending should that happen. it is unfortunate that the president wasn't willing to engage on this front and it is unfortunate that the senate leader continues to deny the crisis. on the day of the new year's rebslusions -- resolutions, let's hope senator reid and president obama resolve to be honest about the crisis our nation faces with the coming wave of entitlement obligations. making these programs solvent and reining neisse in these

trillion-dollar deficits -- reining in these trillion-dollar deficits which every economist will tell you is unsustainable. this must be done in 2013. but without the legislation before us today, without this bill, millions of americans would see their tax rates go up and that would provide a systemic shock to our already weak economy. this plan that we're about to vote on locks in a reduced tax rate for middle class families who otherwise would have seen $3,000 in higher taxes on average. it permanently holds down the death tax which impacts so many small businesses. it permanently protects the middle class from the alternative minimum tax and it adjustments -- adjusts that for inflation. the plan does away with a new entitlement program created in obamacare and it makes permanent a 15% capital gains and

dividends rate for income up to $400,000 for singles and $450,000 for married couples. and a 20% rate for those above. that rate would have gone to 39.6% for dividends. that would have been very injurious for our capital markets. that would be very injurious for economic growth if we allowed that to happen. so tax relief has been achieved. now is the time for the president to work with congress to address government overspending, the underlying problem. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: are you ready to close? i'll do the same. you know, i regret the last statements. it is not correct to say that the president has not been interested in deficit reduction.

that is not true. it was the republican leadership in this house that walked away from a big package. so i think it is troublesome that you come here apparently saying you're going to vote for this bill by launching an unfair, untrue representation of what's been going on. so, i want to very clear. because -- to be very clear. because my guess is that the chairman will talk again, that there has been a permanent level of revenue set by this bill. that is not correct. and if that's an effort to get votes on your side, i want the record to be clear. so i'm going to close by reading from the president's statement of yesterday.

i want to make clure that any agreement we have to deal with these automatic spending cuts that are being threatened for next month, those also have to be balanced. because, remember, my principle has always been let's do things in a balanced, responsible way. now, the same is true for any deficit -- future deficit agreement. obviously we are going to have to do more to reduce our debt and our deficit. i am willing to do more. he already has done substantial. but it's going to have to be balanced. we're going to have to do it in a balanced way. and then he talks about the need

to address medicare. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: thank you. i yield myself such times at i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: we've heard some talk about what does the fiscal cliff mean and i would say that i agree with my friend from maryland. that if we didn't address the fiscal cliff issue, every single american would see a tax increase. and it would be a big tax increase. it would be the biggest tax increase in the history of the country. so that's why it's so important we're here tonight, acting in a permanent way, and i would say all also to my friend from michigan, he's corrected, this is a permanent tax policy, these are permanent tax provisions we're putting in this bill. and that permanently sets the baseline, that permanently sets how much money the government can take out of the economy. now, because of this, this is the largest tax cut in american history.

and i think that's helpful because the best way to grow our economy -- to get out of our debt and deficit is to grow our economy. and we can do that through comprehensive and fundamental tax reform and this is just the first step. to getting to the ability, to strengthen our economy, create the jobs we so badly need. we've had years of anemic economic growth. we have projected anemic economic growth in 2013. it is so important that we try to create jobs and grow the economy and we can do that through comprehensive pro-growth tax reform that lowers rates, broadens the base and simplifies a tax code that is far too complex. as i said in my opening statement, the tax code's a nightmare and it is. it's getting almost late enough to have a nightmare ourselves. but let me just say that we not only need to grow the economy but we also need to address the fundamental causes of our debts and deficits and that's out-of-control spending,

obligations that we have not got the financial where will to meet. we need to -- wrble to meet. we need to strengthen those programs but we also need to address the problem that is out of spending. so -- that is out-of-control spending. so this is the first step. this sets the stage for comprehensive and fundamental tax reform and then addressing out-of-control spending. this will be several steps. this is an important one. this is a critical one for fought toture of the country and i urge a yes vote and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant u.s. to to the resolution, 844rks the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion by the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have. it the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on the motion to concur will be followed by a five-minute vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass senate joint resolution 44 if ordered. this is a 15-minute vote.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 257, the nays are 167. the motion is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing h.j.res. 44 which

the clerk will report by title. the clerk: senate select resolution 44, joint resolution granting the consent of congress to the state and prove ins emergency management assistance and memorandum of understanding. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the joint resolution. those thotion -- those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rule is swebleded, joint resolution is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question suspending the rules and concurring. the speaker pro tempore: h.r. 6328, an act to amend title 49, united states code, to direct the assistant secretary of homeland security, transportation security administration to transfer unclaimed clothing recovered at airport security checkpoints to local veterans organizations and to our charitable organizations and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment. those in favor say aye.

those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing s. 34782 -- 3472. the speaker pro tempore: senate 3472, an act to amend the family educational rights and privacy act of 1974, to provide improvements to such acts. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and concurring to the senate amendment h.r. 6029. the clerk: h.r. 6029, an act to amend title 18, united states code, to provide for increased penalties for foreign and economic espionage and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in

the senate amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is eye greed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules concurring to senate amendment h.r. 6621 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: h.r. 6621, an act to correct and improve certain provisions of the leahy-smith america invents act and title 35, united states code. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing senate 3331 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: senate 3331, an act to provide for universal intercountry adoption accreditation standards and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the

question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspected -- suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing senate 2318 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: senate 2318, an to act rise the secretary of state to pay an award to combat transnational organized crime and for information concerning foreign nationals wanted by international criminal tribunals and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. . the speaker pro tempore: question on suspending the rules in concurring in the senate 20776. the clerk: an act to amend to

clarify the statutory authority for the long-standing department of justice on requests of state and local authorities with respect to certain serious violent crimes and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspend, the senate amendment is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and agreeing to h concurrent resolution 145. the clerk: concurrent resolution calling for universal condemnation of the north korean missile launch. the speaker pro tempore: will the house suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the concurrent resolution is agreed to.

and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is question on suspending the rules and agreeing to house resolution 134 as amended. the clerk: house resolution 1344 condemning the government of the iran for persecution and continuing violation of the international covenants on human rights. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the ruse and pass the resolution. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and geeg to houseries lution 834. the clerk: resolution urging the governments of europe a european union to designate hezbollah as a terrorist organization and impose sanctions and have the president provide information to the european allies and to

support of the government of bulgaria investing the july 18, 2012 terrorist attack. the speaker pro tempore: will the house suspend the rules and agree to the house resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- mr. kucinich: i request a recorded vote.

mr. kucinich: i withdraw my request for a recorded vote and ask unanimous consent to put a statement in the record concerning this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without obion. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and solution is agreed to and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio seek recognition? >> revise and extend my remarks. the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. mrs. schmidt: this is the last speech that i will ever give in this house and it saddens me the way i have to leave, because we leave as a divided caucus and a divided house. the american public expects more from us. the american public also expects us to recognize that we are spending their money and we are spending ourselves into a debt that we will not be able to repay and our children and our grandchildren will be the heirs of our misspending of our

taxpayer dollars. i voted no tonight, because we were increasing our debt limit at an unprecedented proportion. my dear colleagues in this house, as i leave this body, i ask you to be conservative in your votes on spending. remember, we have children and grandchildren that will be saddled with this debt. we are a great country. we are a great country because we can afford to pay our bills. let us not go down the path of fiscal irresponsibility. god bless this institution and god bless the united states of america. and thank you for the seven years and four months i was able to honor the 2nd congressional district. god bless all of you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired.

for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. hoyer: speak out of order for one minute. mr. hoyer: i have been informed we will be having no further votes in this congress. i am deeply disappointed at that information. we have millions of our fellow citizens who have been badly damaged by a storm called sandy. overwhelmingly the united states senate passed some relief. i can't remember a time when we had a very serious storm, tornado, fire, flood where we did not act. this congress is apparently leaving town without responding to that emergency. there's not one of us, not one

of us in this congress that could not be in the same position. i live in a coastal state, but whether you live in the midwest or the far west, whether you live in the south, east, north or the west, you could be and your citizens could be and your neighbors could be confronted by a natural disaster or for that matter, a manmade disaster and our fellow citizens would expect us to respond as the united states senate has responded. it was my belief and assurance was given to me, not 100%, and the gentleman who gave it to me did not make this decision, but i'm deeply disappointed, mr. speaker, and the people who have been damaged by sandy, including

governor christie a republican, and governor cuomo should be deeply disappointed and angry that this congress would adjourn without addressing the pain of our fellow citizens. i have been to new york. i have walked the beaches. i have seen their homes that have been destroyed with my colleague, greg meeks. i have talked to to members of congress. congressman crowley, congressman pallone, congressman rothman, all who have had their citizens deeply damaged by the ravages of the perhaps storm of historical proportions that struck the northeast. none of us is immune, not from a

tornado, flood or a fire. i deeply regret that i can't change this opinion, but it's not what we ought to be doing that. there are republicans that are grieved by this action and democrats on this floor who are deeply grieved by this action. this is not the right thing to do. i would hope it would be reconsidered. we have asked our members to stay here. every one of them. knowing full well they wanted to go home, just for a day toe see their families. mr. speaker, i would hope this decision would be reconsidered. i would hope that we would say to those citizens, we're here for you, one country, one nation.

i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> address the house for one minute. i seek unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. engel: mr. speaker -- mr. nadler: the distinguished the gentleman from maryland said what had to be said. but i want to add, i have been in this house for 20 years. we have seen droughts. we have seen storms, we have seen earthquakes, wildfires out west, this congress has never, never failed to vote emergency appropriations for the aid of the states, never. hurricane sandy struck on october 29. eight, nine weeks ago. it's unprecedented that it should take so long and yet we are going to adjourn sinedine.

it is unprecedented and disgusting. i can understand -- i would not sympathesize, but i could understand with members who said that the amount requested is too much, we should change it, quibble with it and debate it, but to ignore it, ignore the plight of millions of american citizens, unprecedented, disgusting, unworthy of the leadership of this house, she should hang their heads in shame. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? does gentleman seek unanimous consent? the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: let me lend my voice to those who spoke earlier. my district was devastated by the storm. i have thousands of people who do not have homes and living in temporary circumstances.

i have municipalities who have expended millions of dollars trying to do the cleanup. and if we don't take action tonight and we let this house adjourn without taking action on the supplemental for the hurricane, we will suffer a great deal. many of these towns are waiting for the money to come through to provide funding for municipal services, for emergency services. many of them are completely broke at this time in terms of their ability to provide help for their residents. this is a very serious matter. this need is immediate. this can't wait until next week or next month. there is no way that can happen without having a tremendous negative impact on the residents of my district. i implore the speaker, please reconsider this decision. it is just not possible for us to continue without having some relief from the federal government. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i stand up here to join my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and associate my words with the the gentleman from maryland. even though my district was not impacted by the devastation of hurricane sandy, it is right and just to take up this bill and i ask our speaker to readdress the decision. and i join my colleagues across the aisle to ask for that relief so we can get to the people that need it the aid that they so are in need of on this day. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> address the house. mr. crowley: let me join my colleagues in my sadness that we are here at 11:30 on the 1st of

january with time running out. we just had a historic vote, a bipartisan vote, something people didn't think we could do here, but we did do that. and now we are letting this opportunity slip away when people's homes have been destroyed, when people's businesses have been destroyed. when tens of thousands of people who have suffered over nine weeks have nothing to show for from this congress that we would walk away without doing our part to help the people suffering in new york, in new jersey, connecticut and pennsylvania and other parts of the country, is outrageous. it is simply outrageous. we have done our part and worked with our colleagues. and i thank mr. king, mr. reed and grimm working with us. we need to get this done for our constituency and it has failed. mr. speaker, please reconsider

and bring this bill to the floor before we leave this congress. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? >> mr. speaker, tonight's action not to hold this vote on the supplemental is absolutely indefensible. there are thousands and thousands of people throughout long island, rockaway, staten island, new jersey, throughout the northeast, who are homeless tonight, who are without jobs, who have lost their business. this is absolutely indefensible. the fact is every bit of documentation that was required by the leadership of this house was provided by governor quomeow, governor christie, mayor bloomberg, everybody played by the rules except tonight when the rug was pulled out from under us. absolutely indefensible. we have a moral obligation to hold this vote. the people who are out of their homes, the people who are cold, people without food, the people who have lost jobs, they don't have the time to wait.

we cannot just walk away from our responsibilities. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i'm sitting here in shock this evening. this is supposed to be the people's house. we are the united states house of representatives. there are americans that are suffering because of an act of nature. it is our obligation not as democrats, not as republicans, but as americans to make sure that we come to the aid of americans. and that's why in this issue democrats and republicans have worked together. mr. meeks: in any kind of crisis, especially when it goes to natural disasters, we've always come together. how can we at this critical point turn our backs on

americans? this is not supposed to happen here. it happens other places. mr. speaker, we cannot turn our backs on our citizens who need us. some who will not have a place to stay for a long period of time. people who have suffered, people who need food. we are americans. this is what's supposed to separate us from everyone else. i am absolutely shocked. mr. speaker, you have to reconsider. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i have been a member of this body for 24 years. and i don't think i've ever been as angry as i am tonight. this is unconscionable. you know, in the last debate i got up and i said that when president truman campaigned he campaigned against the 80th do-nothing congress and that do-nothing congress passed three times as many bills as this current do-nothing congress. mr. engel: and isn't this a fitting way for this do-nothing

congress to end? by doing nothing. to help the polite of millions of people who are -- plight of millions of people who are suffering in all of our zricts. this is an absolute disgrace and the speaker should hang his head in shame for not allowing this to come up. this is again not a republican or a democratic issue. it's an american issue. i have voted for aid for katrina, for all places, all over the country. and for us in the northeast to be treated this way is absolutely unconscionable. i would ask the speaker to reconsider and i would tell you that i have never been angrier than i am right now. i'm usually proud of this house. tonight i am ashamed. shame on you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i want to add my voice to those who have spoken here tonight. we need to be there, for all

those in need now after hurricane soonedsy. i come from upstate new york and this is a bipartisan effort and i just want to thank all my colleagues here in this house who helped my district after hurricanes irene and lee. heartbreaking, devastating losses all across the region and this body came together to provide the requisite help so that we could begin that long road to recovery. and we need to be there for all of our american people who need help after storms and as now, for hurricane sandy, we need to come together, i ask the speaker to reconsider, to have this aid so that we can get this aid, so we can help our country get back up on track. with that i yield back. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i represent the northeastern part of the state of new jersey. millions of new jerseyans, millions of folks in new york and pennsylvania and connecticut

suffered devastating damage. about $60 billion worth of damage from a natural disaster. and i too, as my republican and democratic colleagues have said, have voted time after time for relief from natural disasters. and i urge the speaker to reconsider this unconscionable, inexplicable refusal to let us vote on disaster relief for the millions who are still suffering in new york, new jersey and connecticut. we provide lots of revenue for the united states of america, we're a donor state to the states who get a lot more federal aid than we give to those in jersey and new york. we do. this but -- we're due. this but the question for the american people, mr. speaker, is why is the speaker of the house doing this? mr. rothman: what is going on in his caucus or in his mind, mr. speaker, that would say we're not going to allow a discussion and a vote on aid that will

address $60 billion worth of damages to tens of millions of american citizens in the northeast? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i'm from new orleans. mr. richmond: we weren't affected by sandy but we were great beneficiaries to help us in a time of our greatest need. and it's appalling that this house can't come together when we have so many americans in need. one of the mottos of our service is that no man left behind. well, tonight, mr. speaker, you're leaving millions of childrens, fathers, mothers, left behind in the cold. and as we took one step closer to a financial solvency and

averted a financial bankruptcy today, we just took one humongous leap toward a moral bankruptcy. this house can't justify to ourselves, to our neighbors, our pastors ourks priests that the actions we're taking today are right, that they follow in the motto of this great country. today is a very shameful day, but more than being shameful, the fact that we are not addressing the needs of the sandy victims is not just shameful, it's sinful. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i ask that the speaker reconsider. i want to thank eric cantor who has worked tirelessly throughout these many days, right up until the last couple of minuteses. today families lack housing, businesses are in shambles and municipalities have been decimated. mr. smith: 346,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed in new

jersey, with 22,000 units today uninhabitble. approximately 100,000 new storm-related unemployment claims have been filed in new jersey. 100,000. over 235,000 people have already registered with fema for individual assistance. this is a dire crisis. people are hurting. i talk to people in my district who have been malaffected and they're looking to offer help and they're looking for timely help. we need to pass this. please, mr. speaker, reconsider. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from new york seek recognition? without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i truly feel betrayed this evening. i left this floor with an understanding that this bill was going to be brought to the floor. mrs. lowey: one of congress' most basic responsibilities is to help families. communities, businesses recover. yet republicans refuse to act to

help the victims of sandy as expeditiously as we know we can. we can pass this bill tomorrow with bipartisan support. yet the republicans will adjourn this session, allow this bill to be buried and make sure that the people of our communities not get the help that they need. disaster knows no boundaries. this body has acted with speed and compassion to help americans throughout the country in disaster after disaster. dysfunction, mr. speaker, in this congress shouldn't result in punishing victims of sandy in new york, new jersey, connecticut and pennsylvania. this is a sad day. i urge the majority to reconsider the decision to not put the supplemental on the floor and i want to thank our leader, mr. hoyer, leader madam pelosi, and all those who have been advocating for sandy.

we need to do this and we need to do it before we adjourn. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> it is with an extremely heavy heart that i stand here almost in disbelief and somewhat ashamed that i am to take to this floor, when i'm thinking about friends and neighbors that lost more than their homes, more than their worldly possessions, more than the businesses they've worked for their entire lives. they lost family members and now i have to go home and tell them their new year's gift is that they're going to wait even longer, even longer for something they should have had over a month ago. mr. grimm: it's inexcusable.

and i am here tonight saying to myself, for the first time, that i'm not proud of the decision my team has made. it was the wrong decision and i am going to be respectful and ask that the speaker reconsider his decision because it's not -- it's not about politics, it's about human lives and human dignity and i pray that he understands that. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? the gentleman is recognized. mr. rangel: i know there are many people watching us late this night that truly don't believe that the house of representatives can turn their back on any americans in any part of this great nation. but, mr. speaker, maybe you

could help us by reminding the people that we have a switch board down here. it's 202-225-3121. they may not be be able to do anything because the leadership just walked away, without the courtsy of saying that they didn't have time to deal with the millions of people whose lives have been affected. but maybe, mr. speaker, if you could remind americans who are watching that maybe they should call and ask the congress and ask the speaker, please reconsider, we've got -- we're going to be here tomorrow. we were told to be here tomorrow. whatever happened to make someone angry tonight, the people that are suffering as a result of this disaster, they're not responsible. don't make them pay for it.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise not as a person from a state that was directly affected, because my state of pennsylvania, while impacted, nowhere near the devastation of that which i saw in new york and new jersey and parts of connecticut. in fact, i was in new york a week ago in an elevator and that, a man, who was telling me how happy he was that he finally had a chance to get out of the pickup truck that he had been sleeping in since the storm. mr. meehan: he was hoping for the first time to get back to his home. his story is just one of hundreds of thousands through this devastated region. we have stepped up for our neighbors and -- in our parties of -- parts of our country because these acts of nature are larger than any individual.

we must be larger than that. support the ability to give that support to those in this time of need. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pelosi: mr. speaker, if you've ever had a natural disaster affect your area or if you have ever visited a natural disaster, be it in california, my home state, or on the east coast or in the midwest, where it's iowa and the floods or missouri in recent times, and spoke to -- listened to the pain and the voices and saw the fright in the eyes of the people affected, you would wonder why we are not bringing this legislation to the floor. . because it isn't about a

natural disaster, it's about human experience. when i was a brand new member of congress in the late 1980's, we were affected by an earthquake. i bring that up because the very next day after the earthquake, the chairman of the appropriations committee, mr. whitten, came to the floor of the house, without anyone going to the house, went to the floor of the house, and said to the people of california, congress will honor our responsibility to the american people. we will put forth what meets the needs of the people. we need to work together to get that done. it was such a comfort. now these were just words. it was such a comfort to the people to hear that and to know that a chairman would act upon that. and for the past few weeks, i

know that our colleagues from new york, new jersey, connecticut, some in pennsylvania, other surrounding areas, have been assuring their constituents and the people of their areas that federal government would be there for them. it is a social compact. it is the most important tie they have. again, if you would hear their personal stories. they will never be made whole. the rug has been pulled out from under them in terms of their housing, their belongings, their memories. the rug has been been pulled out. tonight, this house of representatives is going to pull the rug out again from them legislatively. just to remind the senate of the united states in a bipartisan fashion, passed a $60.4 billion

assistance program for this natural disaster. it met the documented needs that were put forth by the people of the region, by governor christie, by governor quoumo, by governor maloloy. documented needs. again, it's not going to make everyone whole emotionally in their personal belongings and memories, but it is a sign of respect. we cannot let what happened stand and that the resources will be there to try to return them to some sense of order and home and home life. so i don't know if any decision has been made -- i hope not. i hope that as the leadership meets and considers an agenda, possible agenda for tomorrow

that would reconsider this, because this goes deep into the hearts of people as they feel a sense of helplessness for something they had no responsibility for, a natural disaster. i remember last year, and we visited some of the places where the homes were uprooted. it's earth, wind and fire. and when something like that happens, wind, water, fires, everything kind of thing assaulting people. let's not be part of that assault by putting doubts in their minds as to whether there is an appreciation of what they have lost, a respect for who they are and honoring of our social compact that the government will be there when people are in need. and again, i hashingen to jamie whitten, we never had a moment to fear that our needs would be met.

let's not let this night pass as it never happened. let's replace the impression that is out there that tomorrow we will take up the senate bill or take up up the compromise that has been worked out, but we cannot leave here doing nothing. that would be a with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> seek unanimous consent to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> as a retiring member, i'm proud to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to urge action on this important issue. over the past two years, i have often been frustrated by the actions of the senate or the inactions of the senate where we would send bill after bill over there and not that they would vote it down, but just wouldn't

vote. they wouldn't allow the will of the people to be expressed. if we conclude at noon thursday without voting on this issue, we are denying the will of the people. we aren't allowing that to happen. the will of the people, one thing they are comfortable in spending their money on is helping their fellow americans. there is great need in new jersey, new york and elsewhere and we need to stand together. and i hope we will come to that decision that it's never too late to do the right thing and right thing is for the will of the people to be expressed and for this issue to be voted and let the members express their opinions through their votes and if that happens, the will of the people will send aid to people badly in need. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? does the gentleman seek

unanimous consent? the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i am very dismayed by what i have heard tonight that we would allow citizens in this nation like any of us who would think at a time when natural disaster that they could depend on their congress, their nation, the people of this country. pain pain -- mr. payne: many times, we have come to the aid of citizens of this nation. why not now? what is different now? new york, new jersey and connecticut, parts of pennsylvania have been devastated. my district, not as much, but we still have issues there that need to be addressed. just the other day, i was on

vacation with my children and i got a call and there was a leak in my house from the roof. i did not realize there was a 10-foot patch of my roof missing from sandy. i had the wherewithal to take care of it. but there are hundreds of thousands of residents in those states that need our help. i was told by a member of this body who who was laid to rest this year that this was a great body to serve in. please, let me know that he was telling the truth. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> seek permission to address the house for one minute and seek unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> my congressional district is

across the state of new jersey. mr. dent: we were very much impacted. what i noticed most, new jersey and new york license plates in my congressional district, we were sheltering the evacuees. looking for friends and family looking for a place to be comfortable. it would be wise for leadership to reconsider. frankly i'm not yet convinced that this legislation addresses the concerns we have in the commonwealth of pennsylvania but i'm willing to have it right. having witnessed what happened to our friends in new jersey and new york, it is imperative to stay here. all of us have places to be in other places, but it's important, our friends or struggling and we need to get the work done. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek

recognition? . >> one out of many, we help each other, we always have. mr. holt: my district and many around were badly affected by one of the largest storms, one of the most spen i have storms, one of the worst storms in history. there are thousands of people who aren't going back to their homes. they deserve our help. i wish i could speak as articulately and in such a measured manner, but i'm afraid my anger is going to get the better of me. some weeks ago, someone said some me, you know, you aren't going to help from the house of representatives because these are blue states. they voted for a democrat for president. now i would like to think, and

mr. king and mr. smith, and governor christie would like to think that this is not a partisan matter, but i have to wonder, what could be going on here. why would we not help each other as this house has always done? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. are there any other requests for one-minute speeches? for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> this is the last chance that i will be able to address the house. mr. bilbray: six and a half years ago i came to the house and stand here in a special election. and i would like to say what i said then. i come from the 50th district of

california, classic coastal community. after five years, they returned me to the house. and the 50th district deemed that recycled congressman when it came to my election. i would just ask that both sides understand what a great privilege it is to represent the great 50th. in leaving, i want to hear one thing. one of the major issues you are going to address is the issue of immigration and those of us in california understand that. i would ask the one place that democrats and republicans should be able to agree on this, especially with the budget crisis is where are we going to stop the practice of people who are committing a crime by employing illegal immigrants and take the tax deduction away and require that if a business wants to claim a business deduction for employing somebody that we make sure those employees are illegal just by e-verify.

i'm going to miss a lot of faces around here in washington. but coming from san diego, i will not miss the weather. god bless and thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. bilbray: i move that the house do adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. accordingly the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. for morning hour debate. mr. speaker -- mr. speaker.

>> a live view of the u.s. capital as it approaches midnight here in washington. the house now in recess until tomorrow. a lot of activity -- the headline the house passing the fiscal cliff abil. the breakdown of the house of representatives, passing 257- 157, with 85 republicans reporting -- supporting. we want to get your reaction. our phone lines are open. we will get to your calls in

just a moment. we did hear from the president about 40 minutes ago. he talked about this being a key first step in trying to bring certainty to the issue of taxes for 98% of all americans. the president is on board air force one, returning to hawaii. he'll be back to resume his vacation, which was interrupted when he came to washington after christmas, spending the new year holiday here. he was joined with in the briefing room by a -- by vice president joe biden. what, basically, did the house of representatives vote on? the package it does extend long term unemployment benefits for one year.

it was 4.2%, and it resumes its 6.2% level, and the alternative minimum tax has been adjusted permanently. also in the agreement tax rates for income is $400,000 and below remains unchanged. above that for an individual who tax rate of 39.6%. the capital gains tax goes up to 20%. you may remember the president wanted to keep it at $250,000. let's hear from you on the house vote today as we whatever the fiscal cliff, a term coined by ben bernanke. john is on the phone from connecticut. caller: i think it is good, but

i think we should have gotten a deeper -- i would have liked to have seen 250. i also find its disturbing it sound like we are being referred to as the people instead of fellow americans -- i find it disturbing it sounds like we are being referred to as the people instead of fellow americans. it sounds like congress is a noterent body, n.yand they are representing us, and i hope they will turn it around and start representing the people's will. >> you heard the back-and-forth. we expected the house to double out 30 minutes ago, but the last minute speeches by democratic and republican members dealing with the issue of hurricane sandy and the $60 billion package that as part of the relief effort -- the house is back tomorrow. the future of the legislation

remains uncertain. jack joins us from idaho. i would say good evening, because it is morning in washington but evening in idaho. >> witnessing this spectacle, it strikes me the total rancor -- when boehner is trying to make a deal with biden and the president has a pep rally, and boehner brings it to a vote. he knows how it is going to turn out, that is going to be a democratic victory, and the slaughter is striking, and with all the democrats coming on and

going through how the republicans got us in the mess, the rancor, the dislike on the part of democrats is appalling to me. >> thanks for the call. bill is joining us from tennessee on the republican line. you are on the air. caller: i am very disappointed by what congress is doing. i am young. i am 24 years old, and if this is what the future has to show for me, i am very upset. i cannot believe it went from something like freedom of speech, and in the end the speaker of the house just cut him off. >> where is your a bird directed? is it at political parties, congressional leadership?

caller: it is that the president a little because of the things he has done in the past, but he makes it up like a child, and it does not make any sense. he is asking us to forgive him for his past, but it is going to mess with my children's life when i have children in the future. i am so upset i cannot even talk about it. thank you for the opportunity. >> of what the house voted on was a clean version of the senate bill, as we heard from mitch mcconnell. this plan essentially just deals with the taxing part of the so- called fiscal cliff. the sequestration, the automatic spending cuts were not addressed. the bill the house passed tonight delays the spending cuts by two months, and that sets up another round of negotiations and political infighting when it

comes to raising the debt ceiling, because spending cuts will be part of the argument. james is joining us from virginia on the republican line. caller: i have been watching c- span and flipping through these news networks. they talk about winners and losers, and i think about the real losers. it is going to be the american people with all the jobs lost for taxes on the so-called rich, and i think it is a shame paul reiser and push through this bill -- i think it is a shame they pushed through this bill. >> our next caller on the line from georgia. caller: i am saddened by how the process turned out. after the election there were so many talks about how we are going to have to deal with it, but it took about two months for

this to happen, and i am pretty much saddened about it. i just hope our government can get back on top again, because if it is really -- because it is really disgraceful what we have come througo. this is not what the founding fathers started with. >> the cochairs of the simpson- bulls commission issued a statement that said the deal approved today is truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long-term fiscal problems, so they are not happy with the agreement that was worked out by the vice president, by republican leaders in the senate, and voted on by republicans and democrats, split essentially by 2/3 of the democrats and the number of

republicans voted with the majority, and we will have the breakdown on the screen tomorrow morning. we will have two members of congress. the democrat from oregon. we will come back with your phone calls in just a few minutes, but we want to take you to the white house, where the president was speaking to reporters, a joined by the vice- president. he is on his way to hawaii to resume his christmas holiday vacation. here is what he had to say. >> happy new year, everybody. a central premise of my campaign for president was to change the tax code that was too skewed to the wealthy at the expense of working class -- of middle-class americans. tonight we have done that. i will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of

americans while preventing a middle-class tax hike that could have sent the economy back into recession and obviously had a severe impact on families across america. i want to thank all the leaders of the house and senate. in particular, i want to thank the work that was done by my vice president joe biden as well as leader harry reid, speaker boehner, nancy pelosi, and mitch mcconnell. everybody worked hard on this, and i appreciate it. i want to thank you for your hard work. under this law, 98% of americans and 97% of small businesses will not see income taxes go up. millions of families will receive tax credits. companies will continue to receive tax credits for the research they do and a clean energy jobs they create.

2 million americans who were out of work cut out there on the pavement every day are going to continue to receive unemployment benefits as long as they are actively looking for a job, but i think we recognize this is one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy and brought an opportunity for everybody. the fact is the deficit is still too high, and we are still investing too little in the things that we need for the economy to grow as fast as it should. that is why speaker dinner and i originally tried to negotiate a larger agreed -- speaker boehner and i originally tried to negotiate a larger deal while providing investments in areas like education and job training. unfortunately, there was not enough support or time for that kind of large agreement in the lame-duck session of congress. that failure comes with a cross.

the domestic nature -- comes with a cost. the nature of this has made consumers less confident, but we are continuing to chip away at the problems step-by-step. last year i signed into law 1.7 trillion dollars in deficit reduction. tonight's agreement raises $620 billion in revenue from the wealthiest households in america, and there will be more deficit reduction as congress decides what to do about automatic spending cuts we have delayed two months. i want to make this point. i am very open to compromise. i agree with democrats and republicans that the aging population and rising cost of health care makes medicare the biggest contributor to our deficit. i believe we have got to find ways to reform the program without hurting seniors who

count on us to survive. i believe there is further unnecessary spending in government we can eliminate, but we cannot simply cut our way to prosperity. cutting spending has to go hand in hand with further reforms to our tax code so the wealthiest corporations and individuals cannot take advantage of loopholes and deductions that are not available to most americans, and we cannot keep cutting things like basic research and new technology and still expect to succeed in the 21st century economy, so we are going to have to continue to move forward with deficit- reduction, but we have to do it in a balanced way, making sure we are growing even as we get a handle on our spending. one last point i want to make. while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another debate with this congress about whether or not they should pay

bills they have already backed up through the laws they pass. -- they have already racked up through the laws they have passed. we cannot not pay bills we have already incurred. if congress refuses to give the united states government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the global economy would be catastrophic, far worse than the impact of the fiscal cliff. people will remember in 2011, the last time this course of , our recoverysent commo was put at risk. growth dropped. we cannot go down that path again. today's agreement enshrines the principle into law that will remain in place as long as i am president. the deficit needs to be reduced in a way that is a balance. everybody pays their fair share. everybody does their part.

that is how our economy works best. that is how we grow. the sum total of the budget agreement we have reached so far proved there is a path forward, that it is possible, if we focus not only on politics but on what is right for the country, and the one in hopefully we will focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with little less drama, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much. we can come together as democrats and republicans to cut spending and raise revenue and wait and reduces our deficit, protects the middle class, provide letters into the middle class for anybody willing to work hard. we can find a way to afford investments we need to grow and compete. we can settle this debate or at least not allow it to be so all consuming that it stops us from meeting a host of other

challenges we face, creating jobs, fixing our infrastructure, fixing our immigration system, protecting our planet from harmful affect of climate change, boosting domestic energy production, protecting our kids from the horrors of gun violence. it is an obligation to ourselves and to future generations, and i look forward to working with every single member of congress to meet this obligation in the new year, and i hope everybody gets a police the day off or a few days off so people can refresh themselves, because we are going to have a lot of work to do in 2013. happy new year. >> our brief statement, no questions, joined by joe biden in the briefing room. the president is enroute back to honolulu. he is or is to resume his vacation in hawaii.

it is out well 15 here in washington, d.c., and the house passing the senate version, a clean bill, which means no amendments put forward by the house of representatives. the final vote was to enter a 57-167 with 85 breaking away from the republican caucus. those opposed to the bill, 151 republicans, 16 democrats voting against the measure, and here is what the house voted on that will become the law of the land with the president signs it. in comes for people making over $400,000 for individuals, for under $50,000 for families. above that the tax rate would be 39.6%. the state's taxes going up to 40%. the first 5 million would be exempted and capital gains would go up to 20%.

also the sequestration across- the-board spending cuts have been delayed. it also extends long-term benefits for one year, and the social security tax resumes to 6.2%. the alternative minimum tax has been permanently adjusted, so you are talking about all this. we will get more phone calls in just a moment. sarah says, we avoided a cliff by climbing to a higher spot. not smart. you can join us. ronnie joins us from the line for independence. good morning. caller: what we have witnessed tonight is the most indebted government we have had in decades. now if the american people run

our household like the government has run it in the past couple years, we would have all been put in jail. with our congress spending money like it is, we need to pray they can do better, and hopefully they will, and i thank you for the opportunity to voice my opinion. >> we thank you for the call. james joins us from taxes -- texas. >> good evening. good morning rather. first of would like to say i am a c-span junkie, and i have been watching this process carefully this whole evening, and i would like to say i am a democrat, but i am a moderate democrat. i believe each one of us who claims to be americans, we should be winning region willing

to do our fair share. -- we should be willing to do our fair share. am i completely happy with the bill? no, but i am a firm believer that you do not cut off your nose to spite your face, even though the $250,000 was put up to $450,000, i think about those 2 million people who would have woken up in the morning and not had anything to look forward to to take care of their family. often we look at the altar premise of things, and we do not take into consideration there are people out of their suffering. i retired, and i lost my health insurance. as soon as i retired a couple years later, i started having problems with my heart, and i had a heart attack, and i had to

complete my savings, but think gone and now in a couple years are will be able to get into medicare and -- but thank god i will be able to get medicare. i hope other people will see the full impact of this deal and those things that happen to us will not happen to our children down the road. fixingfirm believer in-hous the deficit, but does the end not justify the means -- does the ends justify the means? >> the overall federal debt is 16.3, almost 16.4 trillion dollars.

the debate will move to spending issues in late february or early march. one conservative has this to save. wasn't the whole point of the fiscal cliff to force the government into reductions in spending? our caller joins us on the republican line. caller: i am not in a particular fan of television in the first place, but when it comes to our politics, i have been watching c-span. the only thing that shocked me was being on hold as i was , itening a little buit noticed it really caught me. one thing, and i was not into

politics, but when you have something of this magnitude about to take the united states down, you have an interest because it affects the world, not just the united states. we have a congress that is more open to see what they can put in their pockets instead of working together, and in the interest of supporting we the people, and i am hugely disappointed as an american, and if you know your history at all, taxes are only supposed to be helping the government a little bit, and that is all it is about, taxing. and it is kind of like we have a president who has walked off, and he is going to his vacation in hawaii, and this man has been

on more vacations than all the president's put together, and he is talking about cutbacks. if you are going to tell everybody what to do, practices what you preach. i appreciate sees them being there, representing the news as a whole, and giving us an insight as to what is going on within our government, and i am grateful for that, and we need to bring god back into our country because that is what is billed on. >> the president will be arriving in honolulu early tomorrow morning. one of our viewers saying thank you to congressmen eric kanter and mccarthy for voting no to this fiasco. the two yes votes in favor of the plan, john boehner, and also

paul ryan, who supported the measure. the breakdown showed there were 167 republicans -- 167 democrats and 85 republicans voting in favor of the measure. the final vote was 257-167. sean is joining us from charlotte common and north carolina. good morning. >> -- is joining us from charlotte, north carolina. >> good morning. >> we have lost some context in that most are considering it as an and build. -- considering it a senate bill. this all started -- the fiscal cliff was created by congress and the president during the last debt crisis, and at that.

the ratings agencies looked at the united states -- at that time the ratings agencies looked at the united states and said what fools we are. the fiscal cliff was created to demonstrate that we may be able to get our house in order, but things return to normal in terms of markets recovering, but what we did tonight is we added four trillion dollars to our deficit. that is what we did tonight. we added four trillion dollars to our deficit in the united states, and i have four young children, and i get to wake them up in the morning and asked them for an additional $40,000, so when people talk about their share, let's think about the fact that we are borrowing from the next generation and the 200 grand they already owe for services -- i get to ask them for another 40,000 tomorrow morning, so that is effectively

what we did tonight, which is completely irresponsible, and i pray the next congress really focuses on spending, because it has got to get under control. >> thanks for the call. the next congress will be sworn in on thursday. the house is in session tomorrow. any legislative business would get under way at noon. you have heard over the last half-hour on funding for hurricane sandy, a $16 billion appropriation bill that has been part of the discussion. it remains unclear whether it will come to the floor for a vote. one final comment from one of our viewers saying this is ridiculous. i am ashamed of the democrats and republicans. our last call is from florida, the democrats' line. >> you got to me. >> you get the last word.

>> that is great, because i am a democrat, of proud one. i love our president, and i was proud to see what i have seen in the house because a large group of republicans went ahead and voted with these democrats, and i have watched a lot of major votes, and it is always the democrats are nays and the republicans are yays. maybe they can act like adults and discuss what we need to discuss. >> the you think that will happen? >> i am hoping. this is the first time i have seen 80 something republicans voting for a bunch of democrats. if this can keep up maybe we can get things rolling. unless they get it together, if

this house is going to block the president, we are not going to get anything done. we are going to spend four years doing the same crap, and these guys need to realize most of us are working to get things done. >> i will stop you there. thanks for the call. the house of representatives passing the senate version of the bill that keeps in place the bush tax cut. the final vote was a slender 57-167. the house is back tomorrow. the senate is scheduled to be in session briefly. we will continue this discussion later in the morning. two members of congress will be joining us. a member of the house ways and means committee. a republican from south carolina

will be joining us. next, we want to share more of the debate earlier tonight as the house prepared to vote on the senate version of the fiscal cliff legislation. coverage earlier in the day here on c-span. >> thank you perry much. i am happy to yield such time as i might consume, and i will say that all time i will be yielding will be for the great purposes only, and i ask consent to revise my remarks. the measure before us and the process that brought us here has been the source of a great deal of understandable consternation. virtually no one believes what

we have before us tonight is a long-term solution to this problem, and most of the mon the fact that we have stretched the far reaches of our deadline to actually get here. i am privileged to be in the fourth decade as a member of this body, and it is true i do not believe in those decades i have never spent new year's eve and/or new year's day in this building, but working to a deadline is hardly an crescent region hardly unprecedented in this solution. -- working to a deadline is hardly unprecedented in this solution. one bill passed by 256-171 last august 1, and it went over there, and we have been waiting.

it has come back to us. it is before us, and i will say we are addressing this right to the deadline, but i can remember there have been many deadlines that have approached, and it is a fact of life. we have deadlines. i can recall in school i had a great international relations professor in college who would give us a geographic spots around the world. we did not have google, and we had to spend time finding these obscure spot, and almost every time, we did it just as we were approaching the deadline, and the professor understood that extraordinarily well, and he laughed as we were struggling. this notion of approaching a deadline and trying to deal with an issue is something that happens in this institution, and

this is another example where that is the case. the answers are as disparate as they are numerous. this body has been deeply divided over how to proceed. an agreement has been elusive. we all know that. the bill before us is not the grand bargain i and most of my colleagues hope we would be able to achieve, but what we are doing this evening is an essential bridge to what i hope will be a comprehensive, long- term solution. it will bring us back from the edge of the fiscal cliff, and i

know hours ago at midnight we did technically go over the bridge, but we are working hard to pull ourselves back from that cliff. we are ensuring the taxes are not increased on 99% of our fellow americans. i know i am not alone when i say i have high hopes for a package of sweeping tax reform and something i think has to be acknowledged, and i am sad and it is not included in here, but entitlement reform -- i am sad inned it is not included here, but entitlement reform is the only way we are going to get around this 16th and a quarter billion dollar debt.

we know entitlement reform is going to be essential if we are going to be able to get our fiscal house in order, and i am saddened to this is not part of it. we have repeatedly passed out of the house of representatives meaningful reform in a number of these areas. it is truly unfortunate our friends in the other body have not engaged thus far in these efforts, but the legislation that is before us, which we all know past the 2:00 this morning -- pass at 2:00 this morning, will avert the fiscal crisis and set the stage for the next few weeks. you and i will not be here for that work to take place, but i

know you share my view our colleagues have a unique opportunity of the 113th congress begins its work at noon on thursday to take on this challenge, and i am one who believes we have a unique opportunity because of the fact there is divided government, because we have of president of one party who talks about the need for this kind of reform. i congratulate him on that, and we have the house of representatives, the people's house has the responsibility of dealing with tax issues. in light of that, i think because there is a consensus on the need to tackle these issues, it can be done on a bipartisan way, so i hope that will happen.

the way to take that first step is to pass this rule with what i am confident will be bipartisan support, and i appreciate the kind words of the distinguished member of stairs in supporting this effort we have, and at the end of the day -- the distinguished member upstairs in supporting this effort we have, and at the end of the day we will have strong bipartisan support for the measure, so at this juncture, i will reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from california reserves. the gentlewoman from new york. >> thank you, and i thank my colleague for granting me 30 minutes. i yield such time as i consume. i want to begin by saying to my colleague we have served for many years together on the rules

committee. i think his knowledge of rules committee and its function and the rules of the house are unsurpassed, and i think he will be greatly missed. i want to wish him the very best in his endeavors and the rest of his life nothing but happy and joy. thank you. i feel i have learned a great deal. the legislation my colleague said is no great victory. it is only a partial answer to a much larger problem, and it sets the nation of four another fiscal showdown in year months. as we vote, -- it sets the nation up for another fiscal showdown in months. as we vote, we are aware of the need for the majority to come back in good faith as our work continues, and i share the hope that for now on -- from now on we will put this behind us.

but history shows the fiscal cliff and dire economic consequences that come with it are the deliberate creation of this house. the body has pushed our nation closer to an economic recession and the greatest displacement of workers this nation has known since 1929. the idea behind the fiscal cliff with the potential for a self- inflicted wound would force congress to address debt, but from the beginning, the plan was flawed. over the next 10 years, our deficit has caused to wars and massive tax cuts, yet discussion over the cost of war, conflicts that have cost the lives of thousands of americans and forever changed the face of american families, has been almost nonexistent. at the same time, the majority's

desire to protect tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires quickly hardened and has led us to where we are today. just a week ago today, it looked as though congress was close to a solution until the house majority walked away. instead of seizing a historic opportunity to compromise, the majority introduced a plan b, which quickly morris into -- morphed into plan b. by making tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires the biggest priority, the majority and not only endanger the economy, but they led the house in a manner that did not make any sense. the legislation we were considering was changing by the minute, leaving us to guess at

what would be included in any bill that would require our vote. sadly, such disfunction comes out little surprise. they have led a toxic combination of extremism and partisanship that has resulted in the 112 congress being the least productive in history. during the summer of 2011 the majority took our nation hostage and threatened to default on debt. this dangerous approach rattled investors around the world and led to the first ever downgrade of our nation's credit. in addition the nation has voted more than 33 times to appeal the affordable care act, despite knowing the repeal vote would never be signed into law, because the senate would not do that. in so doing, they took up

valuable time from other priorities, and cbs news reports of these votes to repeal health care, those votes cost the american taxpayer almost $50 million. for over a year and a half, this government failed to provide any solutions to the american people. in coming out of the november elections, our mandate was clear. the american people demanded an end to the political theater and the dangers of legislative gains. they demanded we finally get to work and solve the looming fiscal cliff in a bipartisan way. in the middle of last july's, all of the ranking committee members in the house of representatives were asking that we begin in july to find a solution to the fiscal cliff and sequestration.

we called for a bipartisan approach and something we could get finished before the august recess so we could spare americans and most of the people of the world the worry we have put them through. we got our answer tonight. unfortunately what we are doing does not give the american people a solution worthy of their approval, and i am sure we do not have it. the legislation fails to address the deficit and debt and sets the nation up for another round of high-stakes negotiations. when we do have before us is a project to begin the balanced budget. millions of americans will be spared from a tax increase. valuable tax increases for

students will remain in place. it extends unemployment insurance for millions of americans struggling to find work. in closing, this legislation is far from perfect, and the process that has led us here is a disgrace. we must act first and foremost to protect the american economy, and today's legislation will do that. we must continue the hard work of creating a fair tax code, yet insuring reduce the deficit in a bipartisan way. i urge my fellow members to avoid brinksmanship and partisan games and to come down to the table in good faith on behalf of those people who send us here and keep their faith in us. i reserve the balance of my time. >> i yield such time as i might consume.

i thank the gentleman for her kind remarks and say i would like to associate myself with some of what she said. i obviously cannot associate myself with all of those remarks, but i will say as we look of the quest for a bipartisan solution, i think we have taken a very important first step. i am reminded that the author of the u.s. constitution famously described the process of law making as an ugly, messy process. that is by design. if we look back at our framers, they were fleeing the tyranny of

king george. why? because that maniac was making unilateral decisions that played a role in ruining the lives of his fellow countrymen, so the framers came forward, and they wanted to insure no individual got too much power, and when it comes to law making, of putting into place this great compromise but established a bicameral legislative structure, did so i was talking one time with the first woman to serve as the president of any of the 54 countries in the continent of africa. she gave a brilliant speech. i was talking with her about the

legislative process. why was in liberia, and i said, james madison said this is to be a difficult, messy process, and i will never forget how she looked at me and said, you have forgotten one thing. yes, if it is an ugly, messy, difficult process, but you have that it works.t of as difficult as it has been to get to this point, we need to realize while this is a small step, it is the first step in our quest for tax reform and entitlement reform, which will get us on the path toward economic reform, and it will create a greater degree of certainty. we know uncertainty is the enemy of prosperity, so making

permanent these tax cuts is an important step in our quest to ensure there is a degree of certainty, so i will say again that i do associate myself with some of the things my friend from rochester said, and with that i reserve the balance of my time. >> i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from colorado. >> i want to begin by acknowledging the long service of our chair in the house, and this could be the last opportunity to debate on the house floor. i also want to express my gratitude to the great patriotism of my colleagues, particularly in the lame-duck period, who have chosen to work until the final hour, in many cases without an office, in many

cases without of home. you see them roaming the capital, and i applaud their patriotism. what we have before us, and i think members on both sides agree, certainly have a good aspect and some of but that need to improve. the question is on what side is there more weight. i think it is fair to talk about what this does and what it does not do. michael was one who voted against this because he is an advocate of a comprehensive budget solution, restoring fiscal integrity to our country, along the parameters of what the super committee failed to accomplish, which we know can only be accomplished in a bipartisan manner, but is so important to the future of our country, to balance the budget and restore fiscal integrity.

this bill is not the bill, but what it does is ensure the american people will not have the largest tax increase in the history of our country tomorrow. $2,000 a year out of families making $80,000 a year. what does that mean to families? it might be the money that helps them stay above water for their mortgage. it might be the money that helps the child go to college. there is the aggregate of fact across our economy. when families do not have that money they are not able to spend the money to create jobs. i think we need to make sure we do not raise taxes on the american people. the best way to do that is by supporting this bill. anyone opposing this bill is supporting the largest tax increase in our country.

i urge you to ensure taxes do not go up tomorrow. i encourage my colleagues to support the bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from california. >> i would inquire how many speakers she has remaining on her side. >> i believe i have three. >> i look forward to the remarks. >> can i yield one minute to the gentlewoman from taxes. >> the agenda to -- from t exas. >> the gentle lady from texas is recognized. >> i asked the question why are we here. i know i am here to protect working americans, the vulnerable and the middle class. at the end of the clinton administration we have five trillion dollars in surplus, and it went out the window with bush

tax cuts and wars we could not pay for. i stand here today to say working-class have their earned income taxes and cuts in their taxes they need, but we have work to do. i want to ensure our fight is the same fight. we are here to make sure the working americans and most vulnerable to not pay for the rich getting richer. we are going to fight against social security cuts and medicare cuts and medicaid cuts. what we have to do is make sure we go forward, but we should not do it without the understanding there is some restoration work. the sequestration will not be done on the backs of those who cannot pay. we will work together to make things better. that is what we will see as we go forward. i want to thank the senate.

i yield back. >> the gentle lady from new york. >> i referred to a letter. may i ask unanimous consent? i am happy to yield one minute. the gentlewoman from ohio. >> the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> tonight the american hopes are to pass a bipartisan bill to meet financial obligations to give some certainty to our financial markets and to keep our economy growing through new job creation. this is a great victory for the middle class, whose taxes will not go up tomorrow. in ohio in means doctors are going to receive fair reimbursement, and those seniors will not be turned away. it means unemployment compensation will be extended to

the unemployed, people who have not gone back to work yet in manufacturing centers across states like ohio. this house should follow the lead of the senate, which passed the bill by 89-8 last night. this is the time for the house to act. i rise in strong support of the bill. now let's see what the american people have been waiting for four months. i yield back. >> i would like to ask unanimous consent that all members would traditionally ask for 5 legislative days, but since the new congress is going to be sworn in at noon on thursday, i ask that all legislative days remaining be provided to revise and extend these remarks.

i reserve the balance of my time. >> i yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia. >> the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. >> thank you very much. we stand here today, and we are witnessing there has been a great hunger the american people have, and that is to see democrats and republicans working together for the good of the united states. we are going to have a bill. all may not vote for it, but i think what is important is this is a product of a true compromise with republicans and democrats putting the united states of america for most. i think we ought to have a tip of the hat to barack obama.

i thin to mitch mcconnell, joe biden, and the leadership of nancy pelosi, and on our side, and i know republican friends have had a tussle, but our tip of the have to you as well and certainly to my friend, david e hat to- a tip of that ha you as well and certainly to my friend, david dreier. >> i am pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from tennessee. >> i appreciate the moment. this has been an interesting couple of days, and when that would normally be spent drinking sherry region one that would normally be spent drinking champagne and looking for word now -- an interesting couple of

days, that would normally be spent drinking champagne and looking forward to the new year. it is good the way it ended up. we are going to end up not falling off the fiscal cliff. i thank you for the time, and i thank speaker dinner for what he has done. i yield -- speaker boehner for what he has done. >> i have a further request for time. the year to avert the fiscal cliff who will lead the nation into an -- failure to avert the fiscal cliff will lead the nation into a recession. it is our obligation to protect the american people, and i said

earlier, legislation is far from perfect. in the months to come we will face more fiscal challenges and be asked to act again. when the time comes i hope we will avoid brinkmanship we have seen and come to the table in good faith. if we do i am confident we will provide solutions for america. i yield back the balance of my time. by the gentleman from california is recognized. >> in february i stood here and announced i was leaving congress, and when i did that, i

said this institution is as great as it has ever been. the reason i said that is the congress is a reflection of the people, and it means when america is divided, congress is divided. that does not mean we as leaders cannot work to bridge this divide. while political division is a reality, it is not our faith. -- fate. i believe as an institution congress can and must restore hope and optimism for future generations. optimism is what we as americans are all about, and i have got to

tell you that optimism has been validated again and again and again. there are positive signs. while it gets little attention, we have come together to craft solutions. the issue that has been the most unifying issue for us has been the trade issue. a year ago democrats and republicans came together and passed our long pending free trade agreements on which columbia, -- with columbia, panama, and south korea, with strong votes. additionally, our first action following november's deeply following november's deeply polarizing election