the frontlines in europe and in the heat of the jungles and swamps of burma and the pacific islands, even the roar of our bombers and fighters in the air and the guns of our ships at sea will not drown out the message of christmas which come to the earts of our fighting men. president roosevelt goes on, the tide of battle is turned but slowly, but inexorably, against those who sought to destroy civilization. we pray this day may come soon, we pray until then god will protect our gallant men and women in the uniforms of the united nations, that he will receive into his infinite grace those who make their supreme sacrifice in the cause of racheseness and the cause of love of him and his teachings.

him and ze his did president roosevelt. president roosevelt finishes by saying, with we pray that with victory will come a new day of peace on earth in which all the nations of earth will join together for all time, that in the spirit of christmas, the holy day, may that spirit live and grow throughout the world in all the years to come. and then finally he closed with this, madam speaker. this is franklin roosevelt, january 20, 1945. this is part of his last inaugural address. and as i finish with this, let -- may i say, madam speaker, that i know all of us here in the house and the senate, no matter what our persuasions, have the same very best wishes

as franklin roosevelt had for our american troops, our men and women in uniform today, just as those wishes were made 68 years ago. this was 1945. roosevelt said, as i stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office, in the presence of my fellow countrymen, in the presence of god, i know that it is america's purpose that we shall not fail. the almighty gods that blessed our land in many ways. he has given our people stout hearts, strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. he has given to our country a faith which has become the hope

of all people in an anguished world. roosevelt finishes, president franklin roosevelt finishes by , ing, so we pray to him now for the vision to see our way clearly, to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men, to the achievement f his, capitalized his, will to peace on earth. roosevelt finishes by saying, , i know sence of god that it is america's purpose that we shall not fail. madam speaker, if we keep that same faith of franklin roosevelt in his official

capacity as president of the united states, he is right. god will not let us fail. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for 30 minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the speaker for yielding and i thank the leader, leader pelosi, for the time and as well the speaker. it is always appropriate when we rise in this wonderful holiday season to wish americans of all faith a wonderful and blessed time with their family. to wish my colleagues a wonderful time with their families. and to reflect a moment on the

greatness of this country, that has experienced its challenges of which i believe the members of this body and the other body are committed to solving. but i thought it was important today, as we leave for the recess in our districts, where we will be engaging with our constituents, and this coming saturday i will hold the 19th annual toys for kids that i have hosted for the past 19 years at the george r. brown convention center, a way of giving back, but a way of hearing the joys and sounds of children enjoying themselves. so i would like to make this time that i have, these few minutes, a time of joy and happiness, but i also think we must be honest and it should be

a time of confronting reality and the truth. and so i wanted to go back for a moment on work that was just accomplished, just a few hours a when this body voted on the al that was given by negotiators to the house and will be given again to the senate on the bipartisan budget act of 2013. as many americans know, we experienced a horrific shutdown ust a few weeks ago, unwarranted, bearing no results and hurting millions of people around the nation. i remember coming to the floor some 56 times to ask my

republican friends to cease and desist and to open the government. open the government. so i understand the frustration and exhaustion of the american people and the hardworking federal employees who could take it no more. and ask for some minimal way to avoid the atrocious and catastrophic closing of the basis of whim he and opposition to an established law, the affordable care act. an hat came of it was additional $1.012 trillion that would be spent over fiscal year 2014 and twifert. -- 2015. and would would allow the restoration of head start seats hat were lost, child care,

housing assistance, educational dollars for higher education, research dollars, the same needs that i expressed during the shutdown that were being enied, the addition of these dollars, minimal that they were, but enough to give us a boost over last year's expenditures and to save some of the needs that americans had that were lost. i support that and congratulate that step made. and it got us past sequester. which was trickery that was offered as a hammer over a commission and committee that was supposed to design a grand bargain of moving america forward. but what we also attained in this budget act, although

painful, was the maintenance of our social security and medicare for our seniors and the insurance that those funds would not be tampered with. and that any reform would include the widespread opportunity for members to engage their seniors and others who were receiving these benefits so that there would be a compliance with the commitment that many of us, such as myself, has made, continued protection of medicare and social security. in the course of that, this congress has never abandoned the unemployed. and so it was proposed by the democratic conferees to include unemployment insurance and, yes, the s.r.g. that would provide seniors with their doctors, the s.g.r.

that would provide seniors with their doctors by fixing the sustainable growth rate. that was supposed to be the proposal, madam speaker. and tragically, in the constructed, contradictory, conflicted, misrepresented bill that came to the floor through the rules committee, they, with the doctors -- with the darkness of the night, included the s.g.r., but they left out the helping of the most vull nerble people -- vulnerable people. twice on the floor today i asked that we not go home so at we could vote on the 11 van hollen-lee amendment that would have restored and would have been paid for, the unemployment insurance. i continue to ask tonight that we not go home, that we be

called back to ensure that that uninsurance continues. i intend to introduce legislation very quickly to require the congress to come back and for there to be an independent up-or-down vote on actually restoring the unemployment insurance so that it would not expire on december 28, and as well for the legislation to be passed by the senate and signed by the president. i would also respectfully ask, humbly on this holiday season, as the president has done often, to please continue to push the house and the senate to return in order to make a difference. let me pause for a moment and share with you why this is so important. the uninsured are not criminals.

and let me clarify, those who are not getting unemployment insurance are not criminals. as i heard a member on the other side of the aisle, republican chairman of the budget committee, indicating that they'd stopped criminals from getting unemployment insurance. i thought that was the most dastardly statement that could ever be said in the history of the congress. i'm shocked. i don't know and i have not run into criminals who are getting unemployment insurance. but i will tell that you 1.3 million jobless workers will lose their unemployment benefits on december 28, 2013. please remember that these are individuals who have worked. this is not a handout. they paid rked and for insurance. they have benefited through their work that would warrant insurance, that would cover them when they were unemployed and looking for work. a number of -- a figure was given by my friend and colleague, congressman levin, who said, when the wal-mart opened in this area for 600 jobs, madam speaker, 23,000

people applied. does that suggest they're criminals or people who don't want to work? in 2014, 3.6 million workers will lose access to benefits because of the lack of action of this congress. in texas, 68,000 -- 68 rgs 900 jobless workers -- 68,the 900 workers will lose -- 68 sts 900 workers will lose their jobless benefits. the unemployment rates have improved, but nationally they're 7%. the minimum weekly benefits available in texas are such that i can assure you it would not break the bank. so i am committed. the pain is deep in many of us, that we would close these doors and not for a moment have a solution to the unemployment benefits. so many members have worked on

it. the hearing was held last week by the democratic leader and democratic members listening to the pain of many, but i can move the numbers up to 50. if we went on the streets and found 50 unemployed, their stories would be so moving it would bring tears to our eyes. it's not as if we had been -- had overdone it. for this congress, led by the republicans, pass aed only 57 bill -- passed only 57 bills mpared to 2010, 258, 2011, 90. 2009, 15. so there's plenty of time to do some work. and the reason why i think this is so potent tent, because this is in the backdrop of my having the honor and privilege of joining my fellow colleagues, members of the congressional black caucus, congressman from

illinois, congressman -- a nator from texas, to go to the memorial of madiba, nelson mandela. we spoke about him just a few hours ago on the floor of the house. but i just want to make mention of him again, holding up candle light service that was held in houston, texas. two names i want to put in the record, representative al edwards and former counselman. and i wanted to express my appreciation with families who have been entrenched in issues of justice and freedom and around freedom and apartheid. the ill gray, and then

congressional black caucus that lifted up the apartheid -- anti- apartheid movement in congress with the sanctions bill that was joined in which the other body as was mentioned earlier before. the service was so moving. thep president's words were so potent. it was the most significant tribute of that day. thank you, president obama. it called upon all of us to walk in his footsteps and reminded of the needs of the vulnerable and always, as john lewis said, get in the way of what is not good to make it good. it was not good for this congress to leave and not do what was right and that is the passage of the unemployment insurance. and so i want to call upon my

colleagues to push toward this floor and the republican speaker to find a way to undo the trick erie of the rules committee to put in the sustainable growth rate, the s. gfment r. and not put into the rule the opportunity to give unemployment insurance to the needy and desperate and people who have worked who are not looking for a handout. and that will be the intent of my legislation, to make the point that we should be here, to make the point that we can pass it. and i want to thank the democratic leadership for putting in the previous question, the vote for us to go on record that we are appalled and outraged that december 28 will come without extending the unemployment insurance. it does not make any sense. and for the spirited, emotional time that i have, well worth it

to say, i was there and to be there and to watch head of state after head of state, and to see the joy in that massive stadium and to listen to the songs of the people of south africa in to language so beautiful and match it with the voices of the texan to say "we are in our hands," to be able to put it together and then come back and not in the spirit of nelson mandela, who believed in the importance of being courageous, we find ourselves with no insurance. and so i believe that there are things that we left undone. and i look to have us come and to fix them.

but i also want to join as the co-chair of the congressional children's caucus to be able to acknowledge the loved ones who have come now for almost a year and do so on december 14 and on december 14, in houston, the mothers that demand action at 3:30 in the afternoon, be lighting cappedles and mourning the tragedy of sandy hook. you how unacceptable to note that we have not been able to pass comprehensive gun safety laws that we have not been able to deal with the universal background check. in atlanta actuality, we have done nothing. maybe this will raise the concern of my colleague to know that gun violence continues to kill children. .45 caliber pistols killed lucas

in ohio. he was hidden under the couch by his father but found it and shot himself through the right eye. his mother called 911 and said it was bad. in georgia, an 11-year-old was riding in the backup truck, and he thought he removed all the bullets and tragically it fired mouth.od poured from her in houston, a party of 19 was shot, two teenagers was dead or the killing of braff joran who was shot a few weeks ago. i mourn with sandy hook families with those they have lost. gun people die from

violence annually. those jid, 71,000. it looks as if we can find a way to be able to stop this violence. in tribute to to those families who mourn, maybe someone looking will look at this heart that is on the web site of the sandy hook families, that names every one of those who lost their lives due to a , azed gunman, with guns, guns hot his mother and emphasize the need for mental health and the need for the securing of guns and the need for universal background checks. not gun control. but gun regulation to be able to save lives. to those families, i pray with

you and mourn with you. that is not all that was left undone. for i have over the years introduced legislation every the n re-authorizing juvenile block grant and as well in preventing bullying and intervening. the bill h.r. 2585, juvenile accountability block grant re-authorization and bullying prevention and intervention act of 2013, to allow under the juvenile block granted, pointing communities across america to address the question of prevention of bullying and intervention and students are ither a victim or a bully. 90% of students have personally

witnessed some type of bullying and 70% of students report incidents of bullying. i believe that we are called upon. there is a cry to help the families in sandy hook and to be able to intervene in a child's life to insure that they do not suffer from the siege of gun violence or bullying that occurs in nation's schools. december 10, the same day of the memorial for our mandela. as a member of the human rights commission here in the united states congress, i want to acknowledge that the human rights have become central to the conversation regarding peace, security and development and tying it all into what i have said, human rights calls for us to be as concerned for the vulnerable who are unemployed without insurance,

unemployment insurance. it calls for us to do more in terms of a budget that looks to lift america to create jobs, to provide for child care, head start and education. human rights calls for us to stamp out the cancer, the devastation of gun violence and violence against children, using guns. it calls for us to act with a greater humanity towards our seniors. it calls for us as well to respond to the call by the families, the families who are fasting and immediately move to passing comprehensive immigration reform. that's what human rights is all about. and over the years, i have introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill. but i'm ready to be able to ask that h.r. 5, which is a bipartisan initiative proposed

by the h.r. 15, proposed by the members of the democratic caucus and as well, the bipartisan legislation that -- that has been signed on to bip democrats and republicans, that has been ntroduced with 190 sponsors, a simple bill that has the senate language and h.r. 1417, combined to make a bill, h.r. 1417, a bipartisan initiative passed out of homeland security that i helped author, the question is, are we going to leave and leave behind mothers who are torn away from children who are being deported because we haven't passed immigration reform. there are those who desperately

call and show up for various cases, cases that because of the bag log and the inability to get into the courthouse, they would have been able to stay with their families. but we don't have laws and these people are vulnerable because they don't have the access to the courts of representation that is necessary to plead their case. today, in the judiciary, we held a hearing whether we are abusing asylum. there isn't any evidence that any of those people are abusing the asylum request. if we could get a comprehensive approach, and help our dreamers, the very same young people that come into our office that are brilliant and they are being denied and losing the brain power of america because we

don't have comprehensive immigration reform. and so it is a crisis, long overdue that should be addressed. and the families that were fasting that have dismantled their tents today that came to this congress pleading with this disturbs pleading, it me that it seems that we can't listen to the bleeding heart. we have turned our shoulders and our back. and woy simply hope that in the litany of things that i have to red that we would come some solution. let me quickly mention the issues of education and needs in my own district. i want the children of our

school districts to come and feel welcomed and loved. and one instruction that i have to my friends who work so hard in education in my own community, listening to a principal that was arrested from shady dale elementary school for theft. that principal replaced a good principal that was not retain by the school district or two individuals who were involved with the same high school that barbara jordan wept to. and they were arrested for cocaine and marijuana. it removed them from the very same school that the principal that the children loved was fired from or removed from. and look what we came to. individuals who were arrested for drug possession who had to be removed from the school.

one who is a principal, one who is over principal. and another individual who had to be removed from an elementary school whose principal was taken away. madam speaker, the list of challenges that i have given is not without the recognition that we live in the greatest country in the world. and we are able to do most of what we put our minds to. i want my colleagues to have a wonderful holiday season, but at the same time, i did not want to leave here without expressing the commitment of so many and myself that we must have a love of humanity. we must have live the human rights international day that .as celebrated on december 10 we must be the defender of human

rights. we must ensure that the economic social, cultural, civil and political rights around the world and in the united states are protected. and we must reach out to those souls who languish here in the united states, 11 million, who need to vr us address the issue of their dignity and their status. we must stop the unending deportation, ripping children from mothers and fathers. . we must pay attention to the mourning families of sandy hook and respond to their pain, in their name and the many others , pass by gun violence the universal background check. nd we must ensure again that we protect those who cannot

speak for themselves. my closing words are, again, let us come back to extend the unemployment insurance. et us move quickly to pass comprehensive immigration reform. let us protect our seniors, our soldiers, and let us go home to register and enroll as many uninsured americans who need health care as possible and congratulations on the now one million-plus that are enrolled. et us be sure to remember that there are others who suffer during this season and we can be tasked, we can be tasked with making their lives better by coming together as a congress and answering their call from the array of issues

that i have brought to this congress and this body tonight. i ask for us to act. with that, madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas yields back. the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to section 1238-b-3 of the floyd d. spence national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2001, 22, u.s.c., 7002 as amended and the order of the house of january 3, 2013, of the following individual on the part of the house to the united states china economic and security review commission for a term expiring on december 31, 2015. the clerk: mr. daniel m. slain of ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment, effective december 16, 2013, pursuant to section 2 of the civil rights commission

amendments act of 1994, 42, u.s.c., 1975 note, and the order of the house of january 3, 2013, of the following individual on the part of the house to the commission on licenses for a term expiring december 15, 2019. the clerk: mr. peter n. carseno of cleveland, ohio. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek to be recognized? ms. jackson lee: madam speaker, i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. accordingly, pursuant to house resolution 434, the house stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. on monday, december 16,

2013, as a further mark in respect to the late nelson mandela, former president of the republic of the bill. 13r0eu7 without objection. mr. ryan: i yield myself three minutes. rise -- i rise on behalf of the bipartisan budget agreement. s the first time since 1986 that a divided congress has done what we're about to do. here's what the bill does. it reduces the deficit by $23

billion. it does not raise taxes. and it cuts spending in a smarter way. we take temporary, across the board cuts, and replace them with targeted, permanent reforms. and these reforms, they take place immediately. first, we cut waste. we stop paying medicaid bills that deadbeat dads ought to cover. we stop sending unemployment checks to criminals. second, we go after corporate welfare. we eliminate a government ram for energy companies. we eliminate a carveout in the student loan program. third, we start to address the real problem and that is auto pilot spending. we ask new federal employees to contribute a little bit more toward their retirement. we ask private companies to cover a little bit more of their own pension guarantees. these savings build up over time. and this bill saves more than if we did nothing this bill isn't

as far as i'd like. it's not near the breadth and scope of the budget we passed yerler. but that's how it works in divided government. that's the nature of compromise. in a divided government you don't get everything you want. but i think this bill is a firm step in the right direction. it's not perfect, it's a start. that's how it works in divided government. i also think, mr. speaker, it gives us the added benefit of preventing washington from this lurch from crisis to crisis. we're bringing stability to the budget process. that will help build confidence and that confidence will help our economy. i'll be the first to admit, we have a lot more work to do. i've been bringing budgets to this floor for five years. that -- that balance the budget, that pay off the debt, that reform entitlement programs. that's what we want to do. that's what we're going to keep working on doing. but in this divided government, we're going to take the steps we

can take and this step we think is one in the right direction. we need to help strengthen the economy. we need to help create jobs and take-home pay. the bottom line is, this first step is designed to help improve people's lives. it's designed to make this government work at a basic functioning level. and by passing this, we'll reduce the deficit. we came here to get something done, we always lock horns, we always argue, we never agree, i think it's about time for once in a long time, we find common ground and agree and that is what this bill does and that is what i ask my colleagues to consider in support -- and support this agreement. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from minnesota -- om msmed

mr. van hollen: i thank the gentleman. this agreement is far from perfect. it is not the budget agreement i or many of my colleagues would have written. but i do believe that on balance, at the margin, it represents a small but positive step forward. mr. speaker, i would not have been able to say that as recently as this past monday and early tuesday but as a result of changes made, i think this is a positive step forward. i want to commend my fellow conferees on the house side, mr. clyburn, ms.low wie, as well as the efforts of leader pelosi, to make the changes necessary. as a result of those changes, this is an agreement that many of our colleagues can now support. and that is for many reasons. but most of all, it results in a

situation where we will avoid the very deep and harmful cuts from the sequester which if this congress does not act will automatically take effect a few weeks from now. and those very deep and unproductive, across the board cuts will create an unnecessary drag on the economy at a time when economic growth is building but still not nearly where it is. it will have a negative impact on job growth. and it will eat away at important national priorities and investments. as a result of this agreement, in fiscal year 2014, we will be able to invest $25 billion more in vital national areas than we ere in fiscal year 2013. of those $25 billion investments, $22.5 billion will

be in important areas of investment -- domestic investment. in areas of education, research, like medical research at the national institutes of health. it will also provide, as chairman ryan said, some certainty which is very important at this point in time. and without this agreement, you would be guaranteed additional furloughs of federal employees in the coming year. so i think it is a positive step forward. i do, mr. speaker, want to express my extreme disappointment on one -- in one area. the agreement itself, as chairman ryan acknowledged and senator murray recognized, decided not to include what we call the doc fix and decided we would not include unemployment insurance compensation extension. many of us argued that we should

include both of those in this agreement. in fact, house democrats proposed a -- an agreement along those lines. we believe that if we're going to do the doc fix, which we think is important, taking -- making sure that doctors who provide services to medicare patients are fully compensated, we should also make sure that individuals who are on long-term unemployment will not be left out in the cold three days after christmas. it was decided that those elements would not be in the agreement itself, and yet, last night, at the 11th hour, the house republican majority decided to insert the doc fix within this agreement. we support that doc fix but we are very troubled that we've not even been allowed to vote to extend unemployment compensation. but the reality, mr. speaker, is even without that, if we leave here without this agreement we're not going to get extension

of unemployment insurance, because the speaker won't allow us to have a vote on that, so the only thing we would accomplish by defeating this budget agreement would be to go home with a lot of uncertainty and with a sequester guaranteed to hit in january. that is not a good result. this agreement is a better result. i'll talk a little bit later about what we believe we should be doing in this congress. as the chairman said this agreement doesn't match his vision, nor does it match ours. and we put forward a proposal that would focus a lot more on job creation, to try to invest more in our national infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our broadband, to put people back to work right now. and accomplish important national priorities. we believe we should be focusing on early education, investing more in our future so we have job growth not only now from additional investments but ensure greater job growth in the future.

there are other things that we think were important in part of this agreement which are not in here but we continue to fight for in the days ahead. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i would like to yield four minutes to the gentleman from kentucky. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. rogers: i rise in strong support of h.j.res. 59, the ryan-murray budget agreement. first i want to commend chairman ryan on achieving a resolution to our immediate budget challenges. it takes a good deal of courage, it takes persistence, it takes dedication to reach a bipartisan agreement such as this. and i want the chairman of the budget committee to know that we deeply appreciate his hard work on our behalf.

great job. while everyone might not like everything in this bill, it is the best product that is achieveable right now. and i urge that it be passed. as our -- this agreement reflects a compromise in policies but not in our conservative principles. not only does this deal hold the line on spending, it actually puts a dent in our annual deficit, a very significant accomplishment. plus it opens the door for future progress on the problem of runaway entitlements. it paves the way toward budget and economic stability for the next two years. the legislation before us will also accomplish several other critically important goals. first and foremost it will turn off the potentially devastating

$20 billion sequestration cut to our national defense. even if congress provided what flexibility we could, which isn't much, a cut of this magnitude would cripple readiness programs and leave us all at risk. second, this bill will allow congress to avoid another shutdown shedown. and help us -- showdown. and help us return to regular order. as i have said many, many times before, the best way to trim spending, ensure wise investments of taxpayer dollar, and provide stability for our government and our economy, is to do appropriations bills on an annual basis, each one separately brought to the floor, as the constitution intends. this budget conference agreement will now permit bicameral negotiations on the fiscal year 2014 appropriations bills to

begin, allowing my committee to get to work and make the hard, thoughtful, responsible, line-by-line funding decisions that are congress' duty to make. it's important to remember that this is just the first step in the current budget process. my committee will now begin to negotiate and craft an omnibus appropriations bill that will fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year with the goal of completing it before the end of the c.r. january 15. the omnibus will reflect the budget outline that is the ryan-murray bill before us now and will make the hard choices to implement this budget agreement into actual funding levels. mr. speaker, this is a good bill. it makes a significant first step to putting us on a more stable and responsible fiscal

path. again, i want to commend the chairman, the ranking member and all the members of the conference committee for the hard work, difficult decisions that they had to make to bring this bill to us now. i urge our colleagues to support it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes to my colleague, friend, the gentlelady from maryland, on the transportation committee, ms. edwards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. edwards: thank you mr. speaker and thank you to the gentleman from maryland, my friend and colleague for all of your work in getting us to this point. to my friend also chairman ryan for getting us to this point. and to all the conferees. i am in support of the bipartisan budget act. though i support the agreement, it isn't the bill i would have written. it's not the bill that i would have written to fully protect federal employees, today's

employees and future employees. it's not the bill i would have written to protect 1.3 million americans who are about to lose their emergency unemployment insurance, 2 2,900 of them in maryland just at the holidays. it's not the bill that i would have written that would have reduced cost of living adjustments for our nation's military retirees. it's not the bill i would have written to protect the commuter tax credit. but you know what, i didn't write this legislation, mr. speaker, it's a compromise, it's a negotiation, it's not perfect but i support it. the agreement does ensure that federal employees, current federal employees will get their cost of living increases this year, they won't face the uncertainties of furloughs and they will face stability for the next couple of years this compromise rejects the draconian proposals in the chairman's budge that would have made federal employees take 5.5% for their retime at a cost of $20

billion but that's not in this bill. this agreement does roll back sequestration cuts using spending cuts and new revenue. and the agreement increases nondefense discretionary spend big replacing almost 2/3 of this year's cuts, bringing the funding to $77 billion above the republicans' preferred budget levels. the agreement doesn't cut social security, medicare, or medicaid benefits, not by a single penny. what the agreement does is allows congress and this nation to get out of the dysfunction and the on instruction and to get on to the other business of protecting the american people, perhaps allowing us to focus on unemployment insurance extension, immigration, infrastructure investment and all the things that it takes to protect our economy. i support of this legislation, let's get on with it. with that, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i give myself three minutes.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. . mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i want to walk you through a chart. in 2011 congress passed the budget control act. that set discretionary spending at this level up here, the blue line. it said that this thing we commonly call the supercommittee, was supposed to go and cut $1.2 trillion out of mandatory spending, auto pilot spending, the nondiscretionary part of the budget, the big, fast-growing part that congress rarely addresses. and if it didn't happen, then the sequester would kick in. that's this red line. that's where we are now, because the sequester has kicked in. and what we face in january is another round of sequester cuts, $20 billion, that hits solely on defense spending in the military. a lot of us are concerned about that. hen we have 85% of our troops, our brigades not ready, that's

a problem. when we have people in afghanistan and we need to reset our equipment and we're not where we need to be, that's a problem. that's a concern of ours. but what we do not want to do is lose any of the fiscal progress that was made by this act. in fact, we want to go farther. so what this bill does is it says, for this -- rest of this half fiscal year, fiscal year 2014, and the upcoming fiscal year, fiscal year 2015, it changes the discretionary .0012 ng to go to $1 trillion and back to $-- $1.012 trillion and back today 1.014 trillion, back to where we are with skeft -- sequester. that means that 92% of sequester is still in tact. for the next year and a half, this bill preserves 70% of the sequester. but we pay for that 30% that is given back. let me explain what that means,

just in a quick dollars and cent -- dollars and cents sense. this bill achieves $85 billion in mandatory savings. the things we talked about a minute ago. all those various permanent spending cuts. it gives back or relieves some of the -- from the sequester $63 billion in spending. half to defense, half to domestic spending like mr. van hollen was talking about. the result is a net deficit reduction of $23 billion. so, from the budget control act of 2011, this advances fiscal responsibility to the tune of $23 billion. to put it this way, another way, two years ago when we passed the first house republican budget, when we came into the majority, the appropriation number we were looking for then was $1.019 trillion. then in 2012 the appropriation bill we were fighting for then was $1.028 trillion. giving myself another minute to explain -- the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for one additional minute. mr. ryan: the budget control act would have had us at $1.058 trillion. this agreement puts us at $1.012 trillion. under this agreement, we would not hit that discretionary spending number of $1.019 trillion, the one we asked for two years ago, we wouldn't hit that number until the year 2017. so with respect to a fiscal track record, we're ahead of schedule. d we are replacing some of these across-the-board spending cuts that don't set priorities, that don't -- that treat the efficient and inefficient programs the same with smarter, permanent spending cuts in the auto pilot part of spending, that part that congress all too often ignores. mr. speaker, this is good government, it's also divided government. and under divided government, we need to take steps in the right direction, and to make divided government work, you can't ask each other to

compromise a core principle because we don't do that here. we ask each other to find some common ground to advance the common good and that's what this agreement does and that is why i ask my colleagues to support it. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i think this agreement is an acknowledgment, at least a majority on both sides, certainly on the democratic side, a strong majority, that the sequester is a dumb and unproductive way to cut spending or to reduce the deficit. what this agreement does is prevent that full sequester from taking place over the next two years. we believe that we should address and substitute the remaining sequester through a balanced approach of additional targeted cuts, but, mr. speaker, we also think we should close some of these special interest tax loopholes that benefit nobody except

certain narrow interests that sometimes have undue sway here in the congress. but as my colleague said, we have different approaches than our republican -- and our republican colleagues have refused to close a single one of those tax breaks or preferences for the purpose either of reducing the sequester or reducing the deficit. so we have different approaches. we wouldn't have chosen the offsets that are in here. to pay for the sequester replacement. they are the result of a negotiation. but as i said earlier, i believe on balance this is an important step forward. and one of the people who was very important in this process was my good friend and colleague from new york, the ranking member of the appropriations committee and one of the conferees, mrs. lowey. the speaker pro tempore: how much time? mr. van hollen: two minutes, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for two minutes. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, the budget deal is a breakthrough in a difficult budget year and

a dysfunctional congress. as with any compromise, there are elements i oppose, yet this agreement should help us do our jobs for the american people and end the shutdown standoff. it provides some relief from the devastating impacts of the sequester cuts on our economy and american families. keeping sequestration in place through fiscal year 2014 would cost up to an estimated $1.6 -- 1.6 million jobs. now, the house and senate must restore regular order to craft bills that instead create new jobs and protect important priorities like medical research, security and infrastructure upgrades, and early education. this agreement restores over 60% of the sequester on nondefense discretionary spending in 2014, restores those bills to roughly the f.y.

2013 enacted presequester levels. it would hold defense funding levels roughly consistent with the 2013 level after sequester. the bill before us includes elements frankly i don't like. fails to address others it should. first i'm deeply upset that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle insisted on extending the 2% sequester on medicare providers for an additional two years as part of the package's offsets. we should not extends this sequester burden. it is also unconscionable that the deal does not extend long-term unemployment benefits. even with the progress our economy has made since the depths of the recession, there is still 1.3 million fewer jobs today than six years ago. four million americans have been looking for work for more than six months, more than 1.3

million of them -- 30 seconds? mr. van hollen: i yield the gentlelady another 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. mrs. lowey: more than 1.3 million of them will lose their benefits and for some the only income they have, just three days after christmas and three days before the new year. today's bill will provide some economic certainty about fiscal policy over the next two years, which should boost growth and job creation. because we cannot continue lurching from crisis to crisis and despite my misgivings about the extension of medicare provider cuts and failure to address long-term unemployment, i will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from iowa, mr. latham, for the purposes of colloquy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from iowa is recognized for two minutes. mr. latham: thank you, mr. speaker. and i will yield the two minutes to the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch. mr. welch: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from wisconsin,

regarding the not-for profit student loans provisions. is it your understanding and intent that the not-for profit servicing provision in this act does not require the termination of existing federal loan servicing contracts of any not-for profit services who are currently serving -- servicing federal loans, and it's the further understanding and intent of the gentleman from wisconsin that the education department will continue to enter into contracts with not-for profit services base odd on their performance? mr. ryan: will the gentleman yield? mr. welch: yes. mr. ryan: it is the legislative intent that existing contracts are not terminated by this bill. and that they will be permitted to -- tted to compete with the department of education's title 4 services for additional accounts. i yield back to the colleague. mr. latham: mr. speaker, will the gentleman yield? mr. welch: i yield to the gentleman from iowa. mr. latham: i rise to associate myself with the comments of the managers and am pleased to note it is their intent that the use

of not-for profit services continues and that not-for profit servicers will be permitted to compete in future -- in the future for additional accounts. i yield back to the gentleman from vermont. mr. welch: i yield to the gentleman from minnesota. >> i thank the gentleman. i also rise to associate with the comments of the managers and am pleased to know it is their intent that the use of not-for profit services continues and that not-for profit servicers will be permitted to compete in the future for additional accounts and i yield back to my colleague from vermont. mr. welch: i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield three minutes to a good friend and colleague, one of the conferees who worked with us to move this agreement to a place where it was

supported by many of us on the democratic side, the assistant democratic leader, mr. clipe burn. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina -- clyburn. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for three minutes. mr. clyburn: thank you very much, mr. speaker. let me thank my friend, mr. van hollen, for yielding me this time. and i want to thank him and mrs. lowey, for the tremendous work that they did in keeping this effort moving forward in a very positive way. i also want to thank chairman ryan for the great work he has done on this and the manner within which he got his work done. we don't talk a whole lot on this side of the capitol about the other side, but i also want to thank senator patty murray for all of her work. i had the great privilege of working with her on the

supercommittee and we didn't get much done. i was on the so-called biden group, along with mr. van hollen, and we didn't get anything done. but i'm pleased that this time of year to say that the third time seems to be the charm. this is not the product that i would have written if i were writing it and i'm sure that it's not the product that any of my democratic colleagues would write. i'm always concerned about the meat ax approach to dealing with the budget. nd so this effort takes that ay and allows us to approach ending in a way that is much

more conducive to running a government. we didn't get everything -- nobody gets everything they want in trying to reach common ground. but it's important for me to note at this time some things that were taken off the table. there are no cuts to social security. there are no benefit cuts to those receiving medicare or medicaid. and there's no targeting of federal employees for additional cuts. and the relief from the quester, in both defense and essential services, is very, very real and significant. it's also important to note what this bill does not do. and i am very concerned about

the fact that we were not able to make unemployment insurance a part of this effort. mr. van hollen: i yield the gentleman another 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. clyburn: thank you. and i am hopeful that when we get back here after the first of the year, that we will move and do as we have done in the unemployment insurance, make it retroactive until january 1, so those people who find themselves unemployed for no fault of their own -- through no fault of their own can find some relief going into the next holiday season. . so hopefully we'll do something on the minimum wage. these are things i think we need to do coming back after the first of the year and i thank the gentleman for yielding me time and i yield

back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: first, i'd like to yield myself 30 seconds just to respond to my friend from south carolina, mr. cry burn. i want him to know -- mr. clyburn. i want him to know that the time spent, that was not time wasted. that was productive time, because the findings from those groups were used in this agreement. the work that they did on all of those policies were work that we borrowed from to put this together. i want him to know that was productive use of his time which helped in turn produce this result. mr. clyburn: thank you very much. you're vy kind. -- you're very kind. mr. ryan: i yield three minutes to our distinguished whip, mr. mccarthy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. mccarthy: i want to thank the chairman of the budget committee for finding the leadership, finding the common ground, but actually moving this entire house. when i first came to congress, debate was always about more

spending, always about, what will the future hold? ever since the republican took the majority within the first four months we produced a budget to put us on a path with a much different approach. it was a path led by our chairman and a path that would actually grow jobs and move us in a new direction. the challenge of what we had was in the senate there was no budget. the last time since i've been here the senate produced the budget the ipad wasn't produced. but this house moved to no budget no pay and the senate began to move, but they came up with a different number than we hadded, and we found a stale -- we had had. and we found a stalemate that the country was frustrated with, we were frustrated with and we knew this was not congress designed. so with this agreement, it moves us in a much different place. every year that congress failed to pass a budget it ceded its power intended by our founders to be held by congress to the

zeck of tiff branch. as house -- executive branch. as house republicans helped make smarter spending decisions, the standards set by this agreement will be critically important. the budget agreement takes steps to reform mandatory spending that starts out slow but compounds over the years and results in a growing spending reduction year over year. it also moves us closer to a more responsible entitlement reform that leads to a balanced budget, paying down our debt economic ustainable futh. today is a new day. today is a day in the right direction and shows the common ground that this body and the senate can take as well and i thank all those involved and i ask for a vetio 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 maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield 1 1/2 minutes to a terrific member of the ways and means committee, mr. neal. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. neal: thank you, mr. van

hollen. thank you, mr. speaker. i think that the previous speaker forgot to mention the bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 totaling $2.3 trillion. the war in iraq was conveniently left out. the process of sequestration was ill-considered and the result is all around us. listen, i was happy to have it until i heard that the republicans were responsible for all of the good things in it and the democrats were only responsible for the revenue side. revenue is about 16% of gross domestic product right now. those are the eisenhower years. we need to have this discussion. now, let me say this as well. mr. ryan deserves to be credited, as does mr. van hollen, for the measure that's in front of us today. if we get past some of the acura moany, maybe we can -- acramony, maybe we can move forward. the automobile sector is doing much better. the private sector in general is. americans are shedding debt, but not to miss the point there is a very allusive term that

needs to be addressed today and that's the term confidence. the government shutdown shaved one to two points off the gross domestic product. that's reality. that's not fiction. we need to get past again the harsh language that has now taken over this institution and provide investors and provide the american people with the idea of some confidence to unleash the forces of that $2 trillion that's sitting here domestically and another $1 trillion that's sitting offshore. this is the sort of conversation that we need to have. this is a confidence-building measure. and it does lighten up some of the spending caps, again, that would have caused grave damage to the economy. we should have found the time to help out on the issue of unemployment benefits. mr. speaker, we did the doc fix this morning. i favored it. $8 billion over three months. we could have found money in this budget to extend unemployment benefits to the american families. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two

minutes. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, there are a couple other factors that i think members should weigh as we look at this legislation. number one is, if we do not pass this legislation, we face a fiscal impasse on january 15 and therefore a potential government shutdown at that time and then we face a fiscal impact at the end of september and a possible government shutdown at that time. i don't know of anyone in this body that thinks these government shutdowns are productive or useful or helpful to our economy. and so by having this agreement in place, we prevent those two episodes from occurring, and we prevent those two government shutdowns. oint number two, for too long, for three years this body, congress, the legislative branch, the one that the founders envisioned in the constitution would be exercising the power of the purse, the branch of government of s the representative

the people that's supposed to decide how money is spent, well, we've been ceding that authority to the executive branch by pass whag we call -- passing what we call continuing resolutions. so the spending priorities that were set three years ago are still in place, and then we just keep writing these blank checks to the administration and they set the priorities. that's not partisan thing. that's an stoonl thing. that's a -- institutional thing. that's a separate of powers thing. democrats and republicans alike believe we should do our jobs, that we should exercise the power of the purse, that the legislative branch should bring back its authority to do this. this does that by restarting the appropriations process, by agreeing to these numbers, hich are bipartisan numbers, mutually agreed to numbers, by not doing continuing resolutions, we are reclaiming the power of the purse. i'll give myself another

minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. ryan: there are those of us who are worried about regulations, who are worried about the exercise of power at the executive branch, who are worried about a sense of less accountability among the executive branch. we do lots of oversight hearings. we do dozens a week. but oversight pails in comparison when it doesn't -- pales in comparison when it doesn't have any fiscal force behind it. by reclaiming the power of the purse, by having congress write the budgets and approve and decide the budgets of the executive agencies, that gives us a far stronger hand in affecting effective oversight, in conducting oversight. by using the power of the purse, along with effective oversight, we can do our jobs as the legislative branch in conducting oversight of the

executive branch and setting priorities. my friends have their priorities and we have our priorities and sometimes we meet, sometimes we don't. at least congress gets to set the priorities on how the money sent to us from hardworking taxpayers is spent. that's one of the things that's accomplished in this agreement. that, along with all these other reasons is why i really encourage all of our members to support this agreement. with that i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield a minute and a half to my friend, the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, i want to thank my colleagues for arriving at a budget deal. when we asked our democratic conferees to negotiate the best deal they could, we did it knowing they were negotiating with colleagues whose priority is debt reduction, not jobs. even though the federal government' deficit is the smallest since 2008. given the republican

priorities, they had a heavy task of partially lifting the sequester, protecting social security, medicare, and medicaid and averting shutdown. and so i think that's good, but there are parts of the deal that leave me very uncomfortable. i can't possibly imagine leaving this place, leaving all those americans, over a million people without any means of substan nens other than their -- substance other than their local food shelf. it's not right and it's bad for the economy because the people who got those unemployment insurance checks would be able to spend them with local vendors which would actually help our economy. that's not going to happen unless something happens. i heard estimates as high as 310,000 jobs could be lost if omething isn't done. also, the $6 billion for future federal employee's retirement, i'm very disturbed about that because we need good people working for the federal government. how can we attract the best people to work for this country if we're -- every time we got

to solve a budget problem we're going into their piggy bank? if we eliminated accelerated depreciation, we would be 3/4 of the way there on these federal employee's retirement benefits -- federal employees' retirement benefits. i'm glad we didn't look to close any loopholes, and that's a shame so i remain disappointed. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. i think i'll reserve at this time. i'm waiting for the leader. he's on his way. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. may i inquire as to how much time remains on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland has 12 minutes remaining, and the gentleman from wisconsin has 11 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, at this time i yield a minute and a half to the gentlelady from

california, great member of the armed services committee, mrs. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mrs. davis: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, we have taken a first step to come together. well, it's a bigger step than we have seen in a while, but let's remember it is only a first step. and i think people have said a small step, but it is a step and i, as excited as some of you are saying that we have been able to do that. however, and more than that, unfortunately, we have not been able to come together to keep up the safety net for 1.3 million unemployed americans by extending emergency unemployment insurance. and in fact, the problem of long-term unemployment is not even addressed. it wasn't -- even discussed at length. if you want to pull away the safety net and leave people

with nothing, well, at least, at least have some creative solutions for getting them back to work. now, like many of you, i have to go back to my district, i have to go back to my constituents in san diego who have been struggling to find work for so long and tell them that we could not come together o preserve their only means of sustenance. so remember, as we take this step forward, let us keep working forward to extend unemployment benefits for those in desperate need and start, let us start coming up with some bigger solutions to getting people back to work. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from indiana, a member of the budget committee, mr. rokita. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana is

recognized for two minutes. mr. rokita: i thank the chairman. i thank him for his leadership, not only on this issue but on so many of the bills and issues that come before this congress, and i also thank the leadership on the other side of the budget committee and the other side of this congress for their leadership in coming together as well. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of this bipartisan budget legislation. as you know, mr. speaker, i'm one of the folks around here who is considered by some affectionately, some by others not so affectionately as a budget hawk. i came to reduce our spending and get as much value for every dollar we take from the taxpayer, and more increasingly, from the children of tomorrow, from those who don't exist who are taxed. i am actively, in my opinion, engaged in them. i will say on this house floor

that this budget is a better deal than the current sequestration law because it makes spending reforms beyond sequestration that will continue on after sequestration expires. the reforms start immediately and compound over time. by the way, mr. speaker, i'm not talking about trading real sequester savings from magic beams. these are reforms that will and once this bill passes once the president signs it. and again, compound over time. finally, mr. speaker, we're starting to open the door and address what is actually causing our deficits and debt and that is our entitlement programs and i applaud the chairman of the budget committee. i applaud the ranking member and others in the senate who are supporting this measure because

we're timely able to get to discuss and solve what is the major problem that this country is facing at this time. like the others who have spoken, i look forward to having more of these discussions and getting to the business of solving mr. cantor: ti thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise today in support of the bipartisan budget act of 2013 pfment mr. speaker, in a divided government, the american people

expect members of both parties to find common ground to move america forward. while this budget agreement is not perfect, it is a step forward towards bridging our differences and bringing fiscal responsibility to washington. the legislation before the house today will reduce our deficit. it will make long-term pension reforms and it will do so without raising taxes on the hard-working middle-class families of our country. this budget deal protects our national security at home and around the world while making dramatic cuts to our national defense as a result of the sequester. mr. speaker, i think we can all agree that arbitrary indiscriminate across-the-board spending cuts are not the smartest way to cut spending. last year, republicans passed two bills that would have replaced the sequester cuts.

this bill before us is a reflection of our priority to replace the sequester with permanent savings that will responsibly reduce our deficit. this legislation will allow congress to concentrate on appropriating taxpayer funds to our country's highest priorities. let's stand together and show the american people that we are focused on reining washington's spending habits while growing our economy. i want to thank the chairman of the budget committee, mr. ryan, for his perseverance in his quest to rein the wasteful spending to work towards balancing our budget. i want to thank him for his tenacity in the negotiations that he had with senator murray to arisk at this deal. i thank him and his entire committee for their hard work.

this is a bipartisan budget agreement, one that has not been frequently seen in terms of bipartisan agreement on this floor. and i urge my colleagues in the house to support this agreement. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: i thank you, mr. speaker. i want to just emphasize a point that we both made which is that if we had our druggetters, we would have approached this issue differently. and i say with respect to some of the offsets, there are many of us who would have preferred to see the closures of many special interest tax breaks as part of the offsets in this legislation. i hope as we go forward, we would agree that's also a kind of wasteful spending in the tax code. if you give a special interest in this country some tax preference not enjoyed by

others, you're simply raising the burden on everybody else. it's simply a form of spending through the tax code. so, mr. speaker, as we address these issues going forward, whether it's replacing the sequester or reducing the deficit, as part of a balanced approach, we think we should take those into account as well. we also propose as part of this measure applying some of the excessive subsidies that we give to ag businesses as part of the offsets and our colleagues rejected those. this is a product of compromise. but i do want to let people know that it had been our premps to close some of those special interest tax breaks and use some of those excessive agriculture subsidies as offsets rather than some of the provisions that are before us. with that, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin.

mr. ryan: i would like to yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio, the speaker of the house, is recognized for one minute. the speaker: let me thank chairman ryan and his senate counterparts and democrats and republicans on both sides of the capitol who worked hard to bring this agreement together. my colleagues, i think it's pretty simple. if you are for reducing the budget deficit, then you should be voting for this bill. if you are for cutting the size of government, you should be supporting this budget. if you are for preventing tax increases, you should be voting for this budget. you are for entitlement reform, you ought to be voting for this budget. these are things that i came here to do and this budget does them. it's a -- is it perfect, does it go far enough? no, not at all. it will take a lot more work to

get our arms around our debt and our deficit. but this budget is a positive step in that direction. it's progress. it's doing what the american people expect us to do. it's coming together and finding common ground. stick to our principles, but find common ground. so again, i commend chairman ryan and chairman murray for their work. and i urge all of my colleagues to vote for this budget. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. the chairman of the budget committee have any other speakers? mr. ryan: i don't. mr. van hollen: we are waiting for mr. hoyer to arrive. so if i could reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from from

arkansas, mr. womack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. womack: i thank chairman ryan for his great leadership informinging this particular agreement and putting us in a position to end on a positive note here as we approach the christmas and the holiday season. mr. speaker, i'm going to bring a couple of different perspectives to the floor as i analyze this budget deal. the first perspective i have is being a former mayor. for 12 years in a city in northwest arkansas there was enormous economic development. i sat at the table many times talking about issues and trying to balance the needs of our community against what the wants of our community were and i never ever ended any of those negotiations getting everything that i wanted, but i always looked for an opportunity to

find a common ground and to advance the economic development issues of our city where we could find that type of consensus. mr. speaker, i also bring the perspective of an appropriator, someone who came to congress in 2011, was immediately assigned to the appropriations committee and i have been frustrated through this entire process living from c.r. to c.r. and never ever having the opportunity to do what appropriators are purposed in doing. and this agreement, while not perfect, as has already been mentioned by most every speaker, gives us an opportunity to take government shutdowns off the table, to restore some much needed fubbed funding to something that is important to all of us and that is our national defense and as an appropriator, gives us the opportunity to do our jobs and quick c emp ding to the administration down the street.

from that perspective, mr. speaker, i think this is the right deal at the right time. it gives us an opportunity to give some certainty to the american public who is looking to this congress to be able to work together to try to find the solutions that move america forward. with that, i urge support and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield four minutes to our distinguished whip and somebody who has been working very hard on these budget issues and working with us also to make sure that this is done in as fair and equitable manner as possible and worked with us very

closely to make sure that federal employees do not take a disproportionate share of the burden and as a result of our efforts, current federal employees will not be asked to bear additional burdens after having already borne so much of the burden. with that, i yield four minutes to my friend, mr. hoyer. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: the gentlemen from maryland are happy to be here, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: i'm ecstatic, too. mr. hoyer: america is advantaged work ong two people who the budget committee who have great intellect, great integrity and care about america. mr. ryan from wisconsin and mr.

van hollen from maryland. the american public sometimes is not sure that it has the kind of quality that if they were here sitting in the budget committee or on the floor listening to these two gentlemen, who have disagreements, but who represent their positions well. mr. speaker, i voted for every budget compromise that has been over the past three years , without fail. the results, however, invariably have been an unremitting undermining of our efforts to reach a balanced fiscal policy and to invest in that which will secure our future. the economy, education, infrastructure, national security and innovation. and while each of those bills was preferable to default on our debt or the shutting down of our government, they have been simply stopgap measures that

have not been from congresses shale created and all too frequent fiscal crises. the headlines regarding this agreement put it in perspective. an op ed in the "new york times" said quote, congress avoids reality again, closed quote. the "wall street journal" calls it the least bad budget deal. and while "usa today" headline says minimalist budget deal beats another shutdown. the editorial concludes with this, however. quote, unless we come to grips with the fiscal issue, we will be inflicting a huge financial burden on our children. i agree. the deal before us today does not deal with the fundamental issue of long-term fiscal

stability. my friend, mr. ryan, says he wants to do that. my friend, mr. van hollen, says he wants to do that. i think senator murray wants to do that. we have not done that. we have not dealt with the underlying issues that prevent us from going down a fiscally sustainable path. it does not replace the full sequester, which chairman hal rogers has correctly described as ill-advised and unrealistic. i sat on this floor when we considered the gentleman's budget that if there were no democrats in the house of representatives, they could not implement that budget. i believe that. i believe it because the figures not related to priorities or vision or that which we needed to accomplish as a country, but

on a number. 967. that's an opinion shared by all of the republican appropriation subcommittee chairmen and wrote a letter to that effect. nor does this agreement deal with the issue of the debt limit . . and which has historically been an infelix point to further reduce not only discretionary spending on both sides, mainly on the nondefense side, but also to reach once again into the pockets of federal employees. now, i'm someone who represents 62,000 federal employees, and i recommended zero colas the first two years we did zero colas. why? the economy was in trouble and it was necessary for federal employees, like everybody else, to participate.

mr. van hollen: i yield a minute. mr. hoyer: if we fail to resolve this issue now, it will simply plunge us into another manufactured crisis which will quickly undermine the stability and confidence that some believe this agreement is bringing. the fact that this agreement deals temporarily with preventing a cut in medicare's physician reimbursement is welcomed, but for our fiscal sustainability, it needs to be dealt with on a permanent basis. i'm pleased that the house ways and means committee and the house finance committee had legislation to do so. however, it's unconscionable that the budget deal before us today does not extend unemployment insurance which helps those who are most at risk in our society, and if we don't not help them, 200,000 jobs are expected to be lost. on december 28, 1.3 million americans will lose unemployment insurance if we do an additional

three million by 2014. the house should not leave toum without ensuring that individuals -- town without ensuring that individuals have unemployment insurance. finally, mr. speaker -- if you got an additional minute? mr. van hollen: 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: this turns to middle class workers. i'll submit the balance of my statement. let me close with this. this agreement is better than the alternative, but it misses a huge opportunity to do what the american people expect us to do and that is put this country on a fiscally sustainable path. i would urge my friend from wisconsin and i urge my friend om maryland, my colleague, summon up the courage, much of which you've already shown, to help us put this country on a fiscally sustainable path and,

yes, make tough decisions, and i'll join with the gentleman from wisconsin and the gentleman from maryland in helping us get the votes for those tough decisions that are necessary, but it needs to be a balanced deal. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: no more speakers and reserve the right to close. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, at this time i yield one minute to the gentlelady from texas, great member of the judiciary committee, ms. sheila jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: i want to thank the gentleman for his kindness in yielding. as i indicated earlier today that even the "time" magazine recognized that the better of all of us is when we extend ourselves to the most vulnerable, acknowledging pope francis. and so i want to ask the

chairman of the budget committee, because he heard so many of us, indicate that there is value to this budget deal, chairman ryan. question, if se a i could, to you, if i could. you heard us say that we, too, appreciate the bipartisanship. i disagree with so much of it in terms of the sequester and what has been done as it relates for nutrition, for the unemployed, but would you not hold us back, would you not join us in putting on the floor n amendment that would provide for the extension of unemployment that will not run out december 28 for the hardworking americans, 68,000 in texas, 1.3 million, would you not do that? mr. ryan: i'll defer to the speaker's comments. ms. jackson lee: well, we get no answer. all i can say is that this budget is a deal that i want to thank mr. value holen for the work that's -- van hollen for the work that's been done, mrs. lowey, mr. clyburn, but i believe we should not leave

here today, leave here this week without having a free standing, and i wish the gentleman would own up to honesty and to answer the question, but put on the floor of the house the opportunity for those who have worked to be able to get unemployment insurance, not a handout, but unemployment insurance. i know, mr. ryan, we can carry out bipartisanship, at least to that point and be able to work on behalf of the american people, carrying forward the need to ensure that we have housing, education, childcare, all of that, a little bit is happening under this particular budget. that's why many of us are interested in moving forward getting rid of the sequester, keeping the doors opened, but i would think that there's enough bipartisanship on both sides of the aisle to be able to extend the unemployment insurance and we should not leave here. i ask the president to convene us, to call us, to call the senate, call the house and make sure we vote on that. i thank the gentleman for the hard work that you have engaged in and also how far you have brought us. ith that i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland has one minute remaining. mr. van hollen: is the gentleman prepared to close? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. hoyer's right. this agreement does not address the comprehensive issues that we need to address. we need to address those in a balanced way, and that means working on both additional smart, targeted spending cuts but also closing special interest tax breaks. but what this agreement does do is make sure that in the next several weeks we do not move to a full sequester, very deep across-the-board cuts which will hurt the economy. instead, it provides more room to invest in vital areas like education and research. that is a positive note. that is a positive bipartisan note. i do want to say, mr. speaker,

however, and this is not the result of anything the chairman of the budget committee does. there's also a sour note in leaving here without having to address the unemployment insurance. this agreement didn't include the doc fix and it didn't include unemployment insurance. we should be dealing with both those issues together. we're only dealing with one of them now. so i hope as we go forward we will address those issues and we should not leave town until we address the unemployment issue but let's at the same time take this small positive step forward. i thank the speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. the gentleman from wisconsin has 5 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, there are many reasons why i encourage my colleagues to support this bipartisan budget agreement. number one, by doing this we reduce the deficit by $23

billion. if we don't do this we don't $23 e the deficit by billion. that means we're reducing it versus doing nothing. a step in the right direction. a move toward fiscal responsibility, not near as far as we want to go but at least going in the direction we want to go. the budget we passed here in the house, just like the prior two budgets that we passed here in the house, represents the full extent of our ambition, our vision and our goals. it balances the budget within 10 years. it reforms the tax code without raising taxes. it reforms our entitlement programs that were vital and were made in the 20th century so they work for the 21st century. it pays off our debt so that we do not leave our children a nation of debt. that's our goal. that's our vision. that's our destiny.

with the bipartisan budget agreement we couldn't accomplish that because we have different opinions, we have different objectives. hat's why we work for common ground. that's why we took our budget, all the different budgets that were offered, we laid them on top of each other and we looked for common ground. we went through the federal budget program by program, line by line. we discussed and debated these things and we saw where is it we agree needs reforming? where is it that we agree taxpayer money is being wasted? where is it we agree that cronyism and corporate welfare should go away? where is it that we agree that some reform for autopilot mandatory spending ought to occur? and where we found that agreement we put it in this agreement. that's the way it's supposed to work. so we see this as a step in the right direction on the way our ultimate ling

goal. second thing we accomplished that's very important to us, and mr. van hollen kind of mentioned it. this does not raise taxes. hardworking taxpayers have worked hard and long enough that we need to work on spending instead of taking more from them. third thing, we're taking permanent spending cuts to pay for temporary sequester relief. we think that's a good idea. the savings clearly take time to accrue in this agreement, and that's because we're changing permanent law and those permanent law changes that are made by this act start accruing and compounding that savings so that the savings keep growing and compounding on and on and on. the funny thing about autopilot spending, we call mandatory spending, is it compounds away rom you and spends so much more but if you get reforms, if you get savings, those savings compound as well. this does that. permanent spending cuts to pay for some temporary sequester relief. now what is a sequester?

it's across the board, it's accrued, it doesn't prioritize, it doesn't give congress a say so on how the money is spent. this is the third thing that i think is pretty good. in keeping 92% of the sequester intact, what this bill does is it says congress ought to decide how money is being spent, not the administration. so instead of deferring and delegating our power to the executive branch with continuing resolution after continuing resolution, we, republicans and democrats, the legislative branch are bringing that power back to congress so that the people's house, so that the legislature as the founders in the constitution intended, we decide how that money is being spent. we decide how to prioritize spending. that's our job. i also like the precedence this sets. we know we are always going to have fiscal pressure, because the sequester, as they mentioned, have not been lifted. it's always going to be here so it's always going to produce

pressure. i like the precedent that we're starting here. we're fought going back to the taxpayer. -- we're not going to go back to the taxpayer. we are going to ask the government to deal with less, and as we transfer permanent spending cuts for temporary relief, we're going to have more spending cuts than we give back in relief so we reduce the deficit further. $85 billion in mandatory savings to pay for $63 billion in sequester relief, that's a pretty good precedence. i'd like to add one or two more zeros at the end of these numbers, but i'll take the direction that we have right now. the other point is this. we've been at each other's throats for a long time. look, i was part of the last presidential election. we tried defeating this president. i wish we would have. elections have consequences, mr. speaker, and i fundamentally believe, this is my personal opinion. i know it's a slightly partisan

thing to say. to really do what we think needs to be done, we have to win some elections. and in the meantime, let's try to make this divided government work. i think our constituents are expecting a little more from us. they're expecting us to not keep shutting the government down. they're expecting us to pay the bills. they're expecting us to be accountable. they're expecting us to watch how the dollars are being spent, and they're expecting us to find common ground and that's what this does, and that's why i urge all of my colleagues to support >> after the debate, they pass the budget agreement. republicans and 163 democrats voted yay. democrats voted against the bill. continues on judicial

nominations. the senator from alabama speaking. let's listen in for a moment. >> i thought that was ok. i did not think we should filibuster. it seemed to be a reasonable compromise and a political body that would do the right thing for the confirmation process. we have been operating under that since 2002. . thought it was pretty good i was proud of the way that came out. therefore, president obama has had very few filibusters.

when this gang of 14 reach their agreement and it was adopted by the senate, there were 10 judges being filibustered. the first batch of judges present that bush nominated. what came out of it was that 5 are confirmed the 5 failed. without,were defeated in my opinion, anything like a justifiable basis to defeat those judges. that was the way was and we agreed to it. 5 judges were blocked and they never got to serve. 5 were confirmed. when i see the crocodiles and who orchestrated that -- senator mightily, complains but they would not even think

about ending the right to filibuster a judge. he was leading the filibuster. >> senator sessions talking about the filibuster rules in the senate that changed last month. has approvednate the nomination of multiple judges to the dz court of appeals and the western district court of new york. brian morris was confirmed at around 9:30 a.m. eastern time. there are hours of debate ahead, per -- including for president obama's nominee to lead homeland security. we will look at a couple of tweets at what is happening in the senate.

harry reid now to confirm every one of obama's nominee is, and the gop cannot do anything to stop them. from republican senator rand against thee out senate democrats use of the nuclear option. the death of the filibuster is the death of dialogue. he posted a video of his remarks. >> let me be very clear. this is a delicate diplomatic moment. we have a chance to address peacefully one of the most pressing national security concerns that the world faces implicationsgantic of the potential conflict. we are at a crossroads. we are at one of those hinge points in history. one path that lead to an enduring resolution about iran's nuclear program. the other path could lead to

hostilityhistology -- and conflict. i do not have to tell you that these are high-stakes. on c-span,kend secretary of state john kerry on white house members should not impose additional sanctions against iran. talks continue on freezing part of iran's nuclear program. watch saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern. tv, dick2's book cheney and his longtime cardiologist talk about the former vice president's history with heart disease. saturday night at 11 p.m.. the-span three, a look at free african men and slaves who fought for the union. sunday at 11 a.m. eastern. tonight, up on c-span treasury secretary jack lew on international finance issues. then chuck hagel talks about the effects of the agreement on

military preparedness. later, three doctors testify about the impact of the health care law on their patients. treasury secretary jack lew testify today on international finance systems. he appeared before the house financial services committee about u.s. financial regulation china'srade talks and currency manipulation. this is 90 minutes.

>> the committee will come to order. we are authorized to declare recess. statutorilythis required hearing is for the purpose of acquiring -- hearing the testimony.

i would like to make some preliminary comments. i want to thank the members and staff for their flexibility in scheduling. theue to the passing of late nelson mandela, in order to accommodate oath the number of the secretary for mr. mandela's funeral and memorial services, we move this hearing to this morning. the committee will feature a double feature. we will see the rest of you at 2:00 p.m. as well for our monetary policy hearing. members will have an opportunity for lots of quality bonding time today. i would like to also announce ahead of time that at 11:00 a.m., i will declare a short recess of the committee. myself for five minutes to give an opening statement.

to committee meets today receive the annual testimony of the secretary of the treasury about international monetary fund and the broader financial systems. these are important questions and must be raised, undoubtedly hard-working american taxpayers suffer from bailout fatigue. they have been forced to pay for the bailout of aig, fannie mae, freddie mac, chrysler, gm, thanks big and bank small, and the federal housing administration. many americans question the wisdom of supporting the imf and other multilateral financial in editions that take their hard- earned dollars and bailout other countries. americans do not want to be part of a bailout nation any more than they wish to be part of a bailout planet. the important question at the outset is whether the administration's credibility has whether itmised and

has compromised our ability to reform multilateral financial institutions. president's most awe-inspiring power may not be the ability to launch drone strikes, it is that when he speaks, the world listens. his words are backed by the moral authority of the united states. lately that moral authority has been under question by the words of our president. redline inis a syria, a deal with the raw dismantles numerous sanctions, but does not end the terrorist a nucleararch toward bomb, or revelations about spying on our allies, we live in a world where too many of our friends no longer trust us and to many of our adversaries no longer fear us. confidence innd credibility is not confined to land here at home. then he mistook obama at his word when he promised no fewer than 36 times that they could keep their health insurance if

they liked it. they now know better. over the last couple months, it they have brought welcome news from the job front. americans continued to suffer through the slowest and weakest recovery in generations. regardless of the wisdom, many americans now question our ability to continue supporting multilateral financial and editions like the imf. president obama took office five years ago, he was able to pass nearly every major piece of legislation he wanted. the stimulus, obamacare, dodd frank, the largest stimulus in our country's history. poverty is up and income and inequality -- income inequality is up. small businesses are drowning. americans in the labor force -- the number of americans in the labor force is at its lowest level in five years. anxiety abounds. just listen to what i hear from my constituents in the fifth congressional district of texas.

nancy wrote to tell me, i have been looking for a job for close to two years. god has blessed me with many jobs on and off, but that does not pay the bills. marcia, in texas, i have spent more time unemployed in the last four years than i have spent employed. john in my district rights that he has had to close his business and says, i am 70 years old and i'm trying to find a job. no one wants to hire a 70-year- old when so many younger people are out of work. these people deserve better than of thislts administration's economic policies. that brings us back to the central truth. the globalstrengthen economy without first strengthening and reforming the american economy. with respect for the rule of law, fundamental tax reform and tax relief, freezing federal red

and giving health care back to the american people. women ceased to spend money we do not have. our growing national debt is a threat to the economy. >> yet this president dismiss it is threat at every opportunity and i fear leads a parade of washington debt deniers. under the current policies we have it is not a question of whether a debt crisis will come, it is a matter of when. for the sake of our economy, our children, our