i think it is incredibly important that not only do they have a skin in the game as far as health care concerns, but also with the costs concern. if we have all americans responsible, a we will have market forces that everyone is talking about. we do not have the market forces today merely the way we should. " we have before us today is a government solution -- what we had today -- have today is a government solution. i think we need to put the patient involved. first of all, we understand and we talk about the safeway model. i talk a lot about this.

basically what they have done is incentivize through lower premiums, healthier choices. . .

there are bassic principles i believe we can put into a health care reform bill that will address what senator cantwell talked about. the costs. not addressed in this bill because it supposedly isn't the jurisdiction of the committee is getting rid of frivolous lawsuits, the practice of defensive medicine, known as medical liability reform. well, unfortunately, the judiciary committee isn't taking this up to be able to marry a good medical liability reform bill into the we should address

this. but that's all. we need to have real medical liability reform to help control the costs and to decrease defensive medicine. the other thing i believe my colleague senator ensign has championed for years is the idea of small business health plans. allowing small businesses to join together i believe even across state lines they should be able to do that so that they can provide their insurance at a cost competitive rate like big businesses can. i believe that individuals should be able to buy into the same kind of market and do it across state lines as well. and then the last thing that we can do to help the patient be in that financial accountability loop and this is a real function for government, is that we have the information to be able to provide consumers on cost and quality of health care around the country. because we collect that information through medicare and medicaid. so we can provide transparency on cost and quality of hospitals, of doctors, and so that if the consumers then shopping, they can shop especially through technology

today, they can shop for cost and quality and bring in true market forces to decrease costs in our health care system today. so, mr. chairman, i hope as we can go forward we can look at the true reasons the costs are out of control in the health care system today and not just put more government solutions on to a government caused problem but actually bring in true market reforms that will help control the costs where we don't have a bureaucrat, whether it's a private sector bureaucrat in a health--in an h.m.o. or any kind of managed care operation, rationing care, and we don't have a government bureaucrat rationing care. those kind of health care decisions should be made between the doctor or the health care provider and the patient. not by some bureaucrat out there that is just worried more about the cost than they are about the quality of the care that someone is receiving.

i look forward, we have a lot of amendments that are substantive amendments that i believe that can make a difference in this bill. i hope that we can improve the bill and do it in way that's in a bipartisan way. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. we have three senators left and a vote just this moment began. we have a senator cornyn, senator rockefeller, senator roberts. senator cornyn. >> talk -- thank you, mr. chairman. i want to join those in applauding you and senator grassley, senator snow, senator conrad, senatorencey for your good work. i know wasn't easy. the six of you are under a lot of pressures. i think it's clear to me there is strong bipartisan recognition our health care system needs reform and this bill reflects a good faith effort to try to move us in that direction. health care costs as we know

have more than doubled for american families over the last decade. seniors are counting on medicare, but we also know it has $38 trillion of unfunded liabilities, about three times the national debt. medicaid we know imposes huge unfunded costs on state taxpayers and produces unacceptably low outcomes for patients. and our current government health programs are riddled with waste and fraud and abuse to the sum of some $90 billion a year just for medicaid and medicare. and the fear of frivolous litigation has encouraged defensive medicine which increases america's health care bills by some estimate up to 9% every year. and as we know unless of people lack health insurance. we agree on the need to fix the system and so i think there's -- there are some commonsense solution that is we could all support. some of which are reflected in this bill, some of which are not. for example, making private coverage more affordable.

realigning incentives to providers to focus on value over volume. creating incentives for patients to take better care of ourselves so we are healthier and more productive. and of course cutting the waub in our current entitlement programs. and i think these could be the core of a bipartisan approach. i'm sorry to say that despite your good work this bill as it currently stands i think would make many of our current problems worse. here are my specific concerns. first, this proposal would increase government spending, at least $1.6 trillion over 10 years, according to one analysis. the $856 billion price tag as we know doesn't tell the whole story because it's not for a full 10 years of implementation. nor does it include the so-called doc fix except for one year. when you start the clock in

2013, of course, the full first full year of implementation the bill goes up. we know already that the american people are weary of excessive government spending and they feel like washington ask not appropriately responsive to their concerns we have seen on our tv screens and town hall meetings across the country. several studies have shown that middle class families will see higher premiums because of the new taxes in the proposal. premiums in the individual market would go up by 10% according to one study. in my state alone in texas, the individual insurance market, 91% of the current policies in place don't comply with the minimum actuarial value required under this bill. so again their costs are going to go up substantially. small group insurance premiums would jump by 15% in ohio. and up to 25% in california, according to one study. of course this proposal also

takes a big chunk out of medicare. any savings found in medicare, i believe, should be dedicated to making that program solvent. this proposal cuts $125 billion out of medicare advantage that's now covers roughly 10 million seniors. if that passes in the current form t. would break president obama's promise that people can keep what they have now if they like it. medicaid as we know already imposes huge costs on state taxpayers and crowds out other priorities like education, law enforcement, and the like. in my state the texas health and human services commission has given me estimates that suggest that this proposal would increase texas medicaid costs by $20 billion over the next 10 years. and expand the number of texans on medicaid by roughly 10%. of 2.5 million more. medicaid of course we know is an important program, but it demonstrably delivers lower

health outcomes than private insurance and of course there is the $30 billion fraud that i mention add moment ago. this proposal includes $350 billion in new taxes, not including the individual and employer mandates. we know that we are in the midst of a recession. hoping and praying for recovery. but raising taxes during a recession is not the way to create jobs. we know that the proposal imposes a new tax for those who do not abide by the individual mandate. this new tax is as much as $950 a year for individual and $3,800 for a family. the white house says this isn't really a tax, but i think that defies the question that if the i.r.s. is going to collect it, what do you call it if not a tax? for business, the employer pay or play provision is a huge provision. one grocery chain in my statement estimates this provision will cost them $10 million in additional taxes.

most economists agree that the employer mandates have the effects of reducing wages. when you put the taxes and mandates together, total bill over the next 20 years is more than $2 trillion. this proposal not only includes -- excuse me includes only a one-year fix for the physician payment under the medicare program. the cost of future fixes as we know is not included during the entire 10-year budget window. this proposal outsources the future of our seniors' health care to an un-elected government board. this board could reduce access to medical care with very limited congressional view, in other words by rationing. while medical liability reform as we have heard this proposal includes only a sense of the senate when we have as the president called for demonstration projects, namely the laboratories of democracy like texas where we have seen that bringing common sense medical liability reform dramatically brings down the cost of medical liability insurance and increases

patients' access to doctors. with respect, mr. chairman, despite your outstanding efforts this proposal has major flaws. i plan to offer several amendments like my colleagues, but i think in the end my biggest concern is this proposal taxes too much and grows government too much. and i would hope but i'm not optimistic that this process together with the marrying of this bill with the health, education, and labor pensions committee product and as the bill moves across the floor i'm concerned that it will not move more in the direction of more choice and lower cost but one that will lurch to the left in a way that will result in higher costs and less choices for the american people. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator. we don't have much time left. senator rockefeller has deferred to senator roberts. speak now or back. it's up to you. we have about six, seven minutes. >> i think we better go ahead

and vote, mr. chairman. i don't mind riding drag in this posse. i appreciate you letting me ride in the posse. the last shall be first and the first shall be last. i can submit my statement for the record and then perhaps give it wednesday when we go to mark up -- what would you suggest, sir? >> i suggest you submit it for the record or if you wish to speak, give your statement, you do it when we come back about 2:45. >> 2:45. >> all right, sir. i will do that. >> ok. we have consent to meet today. the senate has consent to meet. we'll continue meeting through the day. senator rockefeller and senator roberts are the two remaining speakers before we go to placing down the modified mark and go to amendments. the committee's in recess until 2:45. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> senate finance committee has been meeting for about three hours and 157b minutes taking a break until about 2:45 eastern. this first day markup session of the senate finance committee. we'd like to hear what you heard so far. your thoughts on the proposed health care legislation. the number is 202-585-3885 for democrats. 202-585-3886 for republicans. others, independents, 202-585-3887. make sure you turn down your

television or radio if you listen on c-span radio. again this is the first of several days what's expected to be several days on this senate finance committee. one of two senate bills, senate health care bills. this morning the opening statements of most of the senators. a couple left. and they will proceed to review of the bill, overview of the bill, and specific recommendations in the form of some 564 amendments that have been presented. we've got about 15 minutes before the u.s. house comes in. we are going to take your phone calls. also if we see some members at the stakeout low -- location. we'll go there. from hammond, indiana. kathleen on the yems democrats line. good afternoon, go ahead. caller: i watched this whole thick and i think it's about time that they are finally doing this. i have had my share of insurance problems. my son is one of those 20-something's that has no health care because he's in

school and he can't afford to buy it. so i'm living the life here. so i am totally appalled at what i was hearing out of every single republican on that panel. >> specifically, what one thing were you appalled at you heard from the senators? caller: that like chuck grassley and john ensign. and/orin hatch. it's the same lies and the spin about the big government takeover and the -- it's like, you know what, they are living up there in their ivory towers with their never to worry about health care -- >> kathleen. thanks for the call. mesa, arizona. jim, republican calder, hi? i called you jim go ahead. caller: jan. i really like you.

i like the way you let people talk. and you're fair. the lady that just talked, she couldn't give you any specifics. i have a son-in-law who has worked his tail off and paid for his own bills. he's a dentist. he owes a fortune to schooling. when they say this tort reform isn't a big deal, he pays big money. a dentist. he's just a general practitioner. the general dentistry that everybody wants is general dentistry. it is a big deal. they do need tort reform. when my son-in-law and daughter, she's a schoolteacher wee, in denver, 10 years ago, going to school, when they finished she was in pregnant. they were in kaiser. they come across straight line to arizona. their insurance is gone. they had no insurance for their baby. this is what democrats are driving me crazey. what is wrong going from state to state? that is what -- they want choices? let's go from state to state.

>> jan, outside of the -- you talked about tort reform and insurance. your son-in-law pays? what about the issue of getting folks insured that don't have or can't afford coverage now? how do you suppose we should do that? caller: i think if there's just a few of them that need it, i think we could in our own state do something. we have a thing called access here in arizona. and it helps people that don't have money have health care. it pays for their babies. it pays for things they need. i think it's supposed to be pretty good around the country looking at it. >> a couple more calls herement thanks. dallas, texas, mike. how are you? caller: thank you for letting me speak. i'm a retired military officer. my wife is currently still working. she just recently changed from one company to the next. when she did her premiums, she wasn't allowed to take her policy with her, and her

premiums suddenly skyrocketed to the point where i'm having to pitch in some of my retirement just to pay for her insurance. i'll hang up and listen. >> mike, are you still there? give us an idea if it's ok what she pays in a premium per month month. caller: right now she's currently paying just for herself alone $172. >> how about you? you said you're ex-military? caller: i get mine through the military. i don't pay anything. i'm retired military. but she said to me the other day, she said, you know, we are independent, i guess you would call us moderate independents. looking at both sliles, these guys are arguing -- both sides of the aisle. i would like to see them put it to the test and do this. let them sign on to this bill first. if it works in a year, then present it to the american public for a vote. >> thanks for the input. about 10 more minutes of your calls and reactions. senate finance committee met

this morning for over three years. this is the first day of markup session. we have the u.s. house gaveling in here shortly for general speeches, for morning hour. we'll show that to you when the committee resumes this afternoon, you can follow coverage on c-span3 and also online at c-span.org. adam on our democrats line, what did you hear this morning? caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. >> adam, i tell you what. give us a call back. you're breaking up and it's just sort of painful to hear. another democratic caller. this is emporia, kansas. joan, hi? caller: hi. i would just -- i have been listening to c-span since this started. my husband is retired. he was in the army. i feel sorry for all the young kids right now that they don't have insurance. this is a great country and it hurts. it hurts that we are going through this. but these senators that are up there, the republicans, let them go on the plan for a while. i agree with the gentleman that

called. let them go on the plan for a while and see if it works, because i don't think it's going to work. i think the people that are falling through the cracks, already falling through the cracks, are going to be worse. >> chairman maximum baucus started this session today saying i look forward to coin struckive floor debate starting early next week. first they have to work their way through this markup session. here's a bit what the chairman had to say this morning. >> despite what some people might say, this is no government takeover. no takeover of health care. we have built our plan on an exchange marketplace that allows choice among private health insurance company products, each individual will be able to choose their own plan. our plan does not include a public option. mandate and we paid for every cent. >> back to phone calls. philip in queens, good afternoon. caller: good afternoon. i'm a republican.

but i want the -- the president was elected. they have the senate, they have the house of representatives. they are in control. they were elected to rule, to govern. so govern. republicans, you have your positions. they have theirs. let them have what they want. this country is resilient enough. it is their right, democrats are right, and the republicans are wrong, and the republicans will suffer the consequences f we believe in our principles, let swing one way or the other. thanks very much. >> thanks for your call. to bakersfield, california. good morning to fill -- anthony in bakersfield, hi. caller: thank you for letting me speak. i'm with what mike said. i'm with the republicans and i just see that the republicans, democrats are both of the same

party. why don't we just let those two parties in washington, d.c., let them have their health care. and if it works for them, let them bring it back out. >> anthony, did you watch much of the session this morning? the markup session? caller: yeah, i have been watching it for a couple days now. today and yesterday what's been going on. >> jason, a democrat there. hi. caller: hi. thank you for having me on. i'd like to make one comment and one question. first, the country seems to have two types of insurance. one for people to can afford private and other is state owned insurances such as germany. the other thing is i don't see and i have been watching c-span, don't remember them recalling anything about the trigger option. i didn't know if that was something that was still in table? >> this is the first day of

what's expected to be several days of discussion on this bill. the opening statements first, then they'll look at the bill as it stands now. the $856 billion proposal out of senate finance. lots to come including about consideration of some 564 amendments. just a reminder to our viewers that we not only have coverage on line of the markup session throughout the day and the remainder of this week, but also lots there in terms of the bill. you can link to the bill. and also tomorrow the house energy and commerce committee will be meeting to consider additional amendments to their legislation, republican amendments, that's 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. we'll have that live on c-span.org as well. first, though, a look at chuck grassley, the ranking republican from this morning. and some comments he made, opening statements this morning. >> now we are here the cry of impatience as won out and the artificial deadline was put in charge of this process. they have put moving quickly over moving correctly.

it would be the same as if you had a house that was half built when the contractor declared it done and said here's your house, move in tomorrow. would you move your family in if it didn't have windows, running water, without a roof? do that. likewise their deadline causing the ends to our bipartisan work before it was done is just as absurd. >> senator chuck grassley of iowa, part of his opening statement this morning before the senate finance committee. republican craig in grand forks, north dakota. go ahead. caller: hi. i was calling because i have been a republican for a very long time now, but i am very offended by some of the things that are coming out of the republicans right now, and especially not going in these markup sessions but in their general comments. my wife and i, we have a

2-year-old, and my company has some insurance but they have been backing off of that since the economy tanked. we are paying almost $700 a month for health insurance. we are two healthy adults with a 2-year-old. we pay $750 a month for our mortgage. >> is that $750 a month a cobra plan? that is your health coverage? caller: that is my health care coverage with my employer because my company's been suffering, so they have been passing on more and more of those costs to us. we are at a point now where we can barely afford -- can't afford to stay with this company much longer. i'm trying to find another job. but in this economy it's impossible. >> craig, what did you hear in this discussion this morning that will affect you? what do you hear you like or dislike? caller: i'm praying that we get some kind of public option. i have been writing to my senator, senator conrad, who has

been following this issue pretty closely. i can't understand why they think a co-op or these marketing solutions that they constantly refer to are going to do anything -- >> are you not too keen on his idea of co-ops. caller: no, not at all. i haven't voted for him. i haven't seen any reason to change that pattern. >> u.s. house gavels in a couple minutes. course here on c-span. coming in for morning hour for general speeches. their legislative business starts at 2:00. and this coverage, our coverage of the markup session, senate finance committee, will continue this afternoon on c-span.org. sherlock, california. next up is joyce. good afternoon. go ahead. california. joyce, are you there? we'll go to taylor, taylor in -- taylor, michigan. caller: the thing is i have been

voting against for the public option, first the single payer. it worked in canada. it worked in britain. you never see them upset about their health care. what gets me the most, every one of them when you guys had them by the insurance company and how much they got for the campaign? >> did you hear any hope of that in the opening statements this morning, don? caller: yeah, but the thing is these guys lie. i wish somebody could prove they are lying. every time they get on it they lie. >> next up, judeth, a republican from cumberland, maryland, hi. caller: one thing i didn't hear and nobody talks about is we don't have enough doctors in this country to add 20 million people to a health care roll. i think the ratio in this country is about one patient -- one doctor to every 416. in a lot ofure peaian countries

sess it's one to 216. talk about ratio. if they add this many people and don't do something about the number of doctors, there will be -- there will not be enough doctors to see everybody. >> a note here about senator byrd, robert byrd of west virginia, associated press and other news agencies reporting the senator has been taken to a hospital after a fall yesterday evening. sherlock, california, joyce on our others line. hi, joyce. are you there? caller: yes, i'm a former county government employee. my husband was also a building inspector. i had to take a disability retirement and this economy, he has lost his job and is on his fourth unemployment. we could not afford cobra, so i

had to sign him up through the county. we are going to lose our house because it's going on and on and on. >> joyce, how much would cobra have cost you and your husband? caller: we pay -- his cover would have been close to $900 a month. >> a couple more minutes. we are going to cut -- end it there because the u.s. house as you can see is coming in. coverage this afternoon, c-span.org senate finance committee. this is morning hour in the house. coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c. september 22, 2009. i hereby appoint the honorable donna f. edwards to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker

of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 6, 2009, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to 30 minutes and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks and insert extraneous material into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, on sunday an historic event took place in havana, cuba. 2.2 million attended an all-star concert made up of the top pop, salsa stars. the concert known as paz sin

fronteras was the dream of cuban grammy winner juanez and miguel bozella of spain. the message of the peace without borders concert is to circumvent politicians and using the medium of music, speak directly to young people and encourage them to think in fresh ways. the change -- to change their way of thinking and leave behind the old way of politics, hatreds and have locked too many people into violence, poverty and dispair, dividing them from one another. it's an attempt to break down barriers and ask people to join in common purpose. both the united states and cuban governments helped facilitate the concert. including providing juanez and his company of 15 international and cuban artists full control

over message and staging. the departments of state, treasury and commerce and especially secretary of state hillary clinton ought to be commended for providing in record time the various licenses and authorities required for u.s. musicians, technicians, musical and production equipment to travel and enter cuba. this is the second peace without borders concert organized by juanez in what he hopes will be a series of concerts in the atmosphere in places where people, if not -- in the hemisphere in places where people, if not politicses will be open to a message of change and young people. the first such concert took place last year on the peace bridge on the border of colombia and venezuela when military tensions escalated between the two countries. i applaud juanez and all of the participating artists for their courage, their vision and commitment to working together to communicate directly to the

cuban people through the language of music. more than just a rock concert, this massive cultural event in havana was a moving and emotional testament, even to many of its critics about the power of the human spirit to reach across barriers during times of tension and opportunity. the ripples and waves created by this concert are just beginning to be felt in cuba, the united states and throughout the hemisphere. i very much look forward to supporting other paz sin fronteras initiatives in the future. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, for five minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. our ambassador, susan rice, our permanent representative to the united nations, has emphasized that the u.s. is taking a new

approach to the u.n. as part of its broader new era of engagement. instead of protecting the investment of our tax dollars, instead of conditioning our contributions on real reform, the u.s. has adopted a strategy of money now, maybe reform later. at the u.n. general assembly as it begins its new session next week or this week, there's perhaps no better time to evaluate its effectiveness thus far of this so-called new approach. well, let's see what they've resulted. in march, the u.s. sent an observer to participate in the u.n. so-called human rights council which is dominated by dictatorships like china, cuba and saudi arabia and is notoriously anti-israel. despite u.s. engagement, the council stayed true to form. what did they do? overwhelmingly passed five separate resolutions condemning israel. passing no resolutions condemning human rights violations by the regimes in iran, in syria, sudan, cuba,

zimbabwe or many or dictatorships. true to form, the council appointed a panel recently released a report accusing israel of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity for defending its citizens against rocket and mortar fire from islamic militants in gaza. when it comes to the council's biases and backwardness there's no end in sight, there's no change in sight. yet, the u.s. silently nods and sends millions of our taxpayer dollars with no questions asked. there's also unrwa, the united nations relief works agency, the u.n. discredited biased agency for palestinian refugees. this year alone we have given unrwa a record of $260 million. in return, unrwa continues to compromise its strictly humanitarian mandate by engaging in propaganda against israel and in favor of hamas.

in fact, unrwa's head says she doesn't even consider hamas to be a foreign terrorist organization, and her predecessor even admitted that members of hamas were on the payroll of unrwa saying, i don't see that as a crime. deputy secretary of state jacob liu testified before our foreign affairs committee in may and he said unrwa's activities received the highest level of scrutiny by the state department. but we don't even require unrwa to vet its employees and aid recipients through the u.s. watch list. turning to the u.n. general assembly, madam speaker, it remains silent in the face of intense repression and violent attacks by the iranian regime against peaceful demonstrators. yet, in late june and move swiftly to condemn and isolate the constitutional democratic government of honduras for acting in accordance with and in protection of the rule of law.

as for the leadership of the new session of the general assembly, it's a whose who of the world's worse regime. the president, the former foreign minister of libya, one of the vice presidents, from sudan. a vice chair of the legal committee, iran. but the u.s. has said nothing as such rogue regimes were selected for leadership, leadership positions at the u.n. administrations officials have said the u.n. is essentially -- is essential to our efforts to galvanized concerted actions that make americans safer and more secure. libya, sudan, iran, are you feeling secure now? one of the greatest threats to the security of our nation and a threat to our ally israel comes from the iranian regime and its nuclear program. this week for the first time a president of the united states will chair a meeting of the u.n. security council and will

have a golden opportunity to raise the threat of iran on a world stage. the council will even be holding a special summit on the general issue of nuclear nonproliferation, yet the actions of such countries like iran will be ignored. the u.s. will not push for increased sanctions on iran or any other regime that pursues nuclear capabilities or sponsors violent extremist groups. the international atomic energy agency continues to provide nuclear technical assistance to iran and syria, and the u.s. remains silent. the u.n. development program is accused of misusing funds in zimbabwe, in afghanistan and north korea, to name a few, and the u.s. continues to provide them with hundreds of millions of dollars every year in funding. no strings attached. madam speaker, enough is enough. let's put u.s. taxpayer dollars

to work for the american people and not for the u.n. where the inmates run the asylum. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from the northern mariana islands, mr. sablan, for one minute. mr. sablan: madam speaker, i have been explaining the issue of health care reform in the united states territories. here's the problem. reform is sorely needed for the american citizens living in the territories, but the bills currently before this house deny us that reform. under this bill, we will be required to purchase health insurance but we will not be eligible for the credits that help pay for it. even though more than 40% of those in the northern mariana islands live below the poverty level. cheap programs will be brought to an end but without an

exchange of public option in the territories, thousands of children will lose coverage. our medicare program will remain permanently underfunded. madam speaker, for health insurance reform to exclude some americans simply because of geography is wrong. it is discriminatory. and until it is remedied, my colleagues should know that this reform leaves behind many of those who need it the most. and i thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. stearns, for five minutes. mr. stearns: i ask unanimous consent to rgs. -- to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. stearns: madam speaker, eight years ago in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in america's history that we've ever faced, the united states sent troops to afghanistan. these troops were sent to accomplish a difficult mission but achievable mission. and despite the gains that have

been made to date, our mission has not been properly resourced and executed. as such, eight years later the fight rages on and terrorists are still plotting to hijack our planes, blow up our bridges, wreak havoc on our cities and murder innocent people. so the threat has not changed. afghanistan remains a crucial theater in the war against terrorism and extremist who is seek to destroy our way of life and it deserves our utmost attention and adequate resources. to his credit, president obama recognizes that our war in afghanistan does need these greater resources, but some within his administration and party are advocating a smaller footprint strategy calling for a reduction in the number of u.s. troops on the ground and a sole focus on al qaeda only instead of on the taliban-led insurgent coalition.

but a small footprint strategy did not work in iraq. what did work was a counterinsurgency strategy backed by the surge of american troops. in fact, it was this strong presence of american soldiers in iraq that encouraged iraqis to come forward with valuable intelligence which in turn led to more effective targeting of al qaeda and other insurgent groups. my colleagues, this can be done in afghanistan, but it also must include support by our european allies and our freedom-loving countries who desire to rid the world of terrorism. general mcchrystal, the u.s. commander in afghanistan, is advocating an expanded military effort within a new counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on protecting afghans from the intimidate tactics of the taliban through a troop surge. general mcchrystal is highly capable and accomplished officer with an extensive

counterinsurgency experience. yesterday, he warned that we need more forces within the next year and that without them our mission in afghanistan will likely result in failure. when it comes to military strategy, we should listen to those who know firsthand what the situation on the ground is in afghanistan. but, my colleagues, we must also look at the political sfrass of afghanistan, be sure its political leaders are representing the best interests of the afghan people and political corruption is eliminated. it's clear that the afghan military needs our help and our numbers -- but currently there are only 173,000 men in the afghan army and police. compare that with iraq. in that country, which is smaller and less populous, there are over 600,000 afghan army and police. clearly we need to train more afghan military personnel. unfortunately, though, for the past eight years, afghanistan

has not been a properly resourced war. the new strategy proposed by general mcchrystal and general david petraeus is focused on expanding and improving afghan forces with better training and embedded advisors and forming a true partnership and trust of afghan units and american units growing their force. but before we put more american troops in afghanistan we need a more deliberate plan with the afghan military that includes participation by our allies and adequate support from the afghan people and legitimate political leaders. the reality of the situation on the ground in afghanistan is that it would take another two years to expand afghanistan's forces to around 300,000 personnel. experts suggest that at least 360,000 afghan troops and police are needed to adequately fight the counterinsurgency and to effectively police the country's 33 million

inhabitants. this is the key to our success. one thing we must not forget is that a withdrawal at this critical juncture would destabilize pakistan, an ally in the region of instability and a country in position of nuclear weapons. so, my colleagues, we need a new strategy that can work, but this new strategy can work only if we require patience of the american people and a knowledge that this magnitude of importance is not going to be won overnight or from afar. the sacrifices we make overseas now will prevent another 9/11-style attack here at home and in the future. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until 2:00 p.m. >> taking a break now before starting lemming work at 2:00

p.m. eastern. 15 bills on the calendar today. including one extending unemployment benefits for the hardest hit states. also possible later this week work on providing temporary funding for the federal government. more live house coverage when the gavel comes down at 2:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. join book tv this saturday from the national book festival here in washington. we'll be live from 10:00 to 6:00 p.m. eastern. with authors dan balz, ken burns, and your calls, too. book tv every weekend on c-span2. a discussion on the obama administration's foreign policy agenda. this is hosted by a group called the foreign policy initiative. board of directors includes conservative columnist william kristol and robert kagen. this is just over an hour.

>> i think we'll get our evening session underway. for those who -- of you who are just joining us this evening, this is the final session of the day as part of the foreign policy initiatives conference advancing and defending democratcy. my name is jamie fly, executive director of the foreign policy initiative. some of have been with us so i'm happy you stayed on. this session is called voices of freedom, conversation with dissidents. and it's going to be moderated by jeff, president of radio for europe, radio liberty. jeff has been at radio free europe since early 2007. before assuming that role he was director of the institute in berlin and prior to joining aspen he was executive director of the new atlantic initiative of the american enterprise institute.

i'll turn it over to him to introduce the panelists and get us going. >> thank you very much. and warmest thanks to foreign policy nishtifment welcome to everybody here at the w hotel in washington and welcome to c-span audiences. we have a terrific program tighted a conversation -- voices of freedom, a conversation with dissidents. and we have two leaders from two leading countries. first, to my left, saad ibrahim who is a sociologist, a writer, scholar, currently affiliated with drew university. last year with harvard university. and is not only in egypt the leading i would say voice on behalf of a liberal order, order of pluralism, tolerance, respect for diversity but because of his writing and his intellectual hest -- heft well-known for his advocacy throughout the middle

east. welcome to you. >> thank you. >> and to my right ali afshari who similarly has a distinguished career in writing. also political activism and advocacy. both our colleagues tonight have spent time in the west, in their home countries, i'm sorry to say in prison, both of you, arrested for values that you care deeply about and that you fight for. ali has been involved in political campaigning, including for then the president of iran. among student groups in particular. and is an eloquent voice and spokesman for the reform minded cause of the liberal reform in iran today. welcome to you. we are delighted to have you. it seems to me that there are a number of things we'll want to talk about that i'd like to start with you, saad, if i may. one thing that washington -- we

in washington are guilty of is always looking to the past for a model for the present and future. if you read the op-ed pages in the united states and go to think tanks and meet with people in various agencies of government, they will often say, we have done this before. we know how to help and support dissidents. we know how to promote democracy because we did it during the cold war. we did, and it seems to me there must be lessons we can learn. also seems to me there must be differences. after all we are talking about at least in this panel principally about the greater middle east and countries with muslim majorities in a different time with different media. could you talk to us a little bit about what the differences are and how you engage western and american policymakers on what history tell us and what's different now? >> well, the cause is the same. fighting for democracy and freedom and defense of human rights is the common cause in

the middle east as it was in eastern and central europe as is anywhere else in the world. the way to help dissidents has to be particularized, it has to be country-based cases. because you have, for example, on this panel, two minimum wage or people, both are very important. pivotal. but the relationship with the u.s. is different. in the case of egypt it is a friendly dictatorship. friendly authoritative regime. friendly with the u.s. as a government. in the case of iran of course my colleague can speak about, a case the way it looks is that it is -- was a hostile regime. and therefore the case is

probably more clear-cut in the case of egypt it is more confused. >> maybe we can start there with egypt for a moment and then we'll come over to you, ali, about iran. what do you say to people in west european capitals in the united states and say, listen, we believe in freedom and democracy and we support you. we are sympathetic to your cause, but we have other equities. we care about the peace process. we care about stability. we care about fighting terrorism. we think that what is in place in egypt is autocratic, but maybe it's the best deal we can get right now. maybe it's realistic. what do you say to people like that? >> i say you have tried. in the case of egypt, for the last 28 years. and what have you gotten out of it? nothing. nothing in the peace process.

not one inch beyond what the late president sadat accomplished. not one iota. and yet the regime is using its role in the peace process to keep the pressure off. number two, the regime has skillfully recognized that there is what they would say pathological fear of islamists. so it views the incident of a good showing by hamas in palestinian or the muslim brothers somewhere else in the middle east to frighten you. and instead of being frightened you should have spoken to the true democrats who stand exactly in between the autocontracts -- auto contracts and the theocrats the likes of let's say the

mullahs in iran. don't want to speak on behalf of ally. or the taliban in afghanistan. so between in the public space between the auto contracts and theocrats there is a budding force. that budding force is the democrats. >> how would you recommend one in the case of egypt specifically, how does one support them? do they need material support? do they need money? do they need rhetorical support? should it come from the bully pulpit of the president of the united states? what kind of support is productive? what kind of support would be counterproductive? >> all of the above. ask the dissident. ask the democratic activist what they need. i cannot speak on behalf of all of them. i can speak myself. i need moral support first of all. i would demand that the american

administration whether it's republican or democrat administration, use creative condition at -- conditionality with an auto contractic regime because it's a friendly regime and say you are friendly but this is our values and we stand by it. and we have a constituency in our own country in the u.s. that demands that our friends should observe the minimum standards of human rights and of democracy. when you have done that with the soviet block before. you have done that with helsinki, 1975. with the soviet and the eastern block needed food, trade, aid, technology, you said yes. the nato countries we would advance all of the above if you open up your public space.

and when they did, and they signed on the line, that was the beginning of the dismantling of authoritativeism. we demand something like that. it doesn't have to be exactly, but the spirit of this creative kind of conditionality should be put in plays. -- place. >> try to articulate some set of standards and some measure of kibblet. ally, over to you. let me pick up from one thing, one thing that saad said which puzzles me or bewilleders me. it makes sense but i find it difficult and that was the point if you want to help support and work with dissidents from these countries, listen to them and listen to what they do want. as you know as president of radio free europe, radio liberty we broadcast to iran. we are not permitted by that regime to have a bureau inside the country. so out of prague where our headquarters sits we have 40

distinguished iranian colleagues. i ask them frequently what should the united states do? what should western policymakers do? what is the right set of policies or the right formula to support the democratically minded opposition movement? but the problem is, you know what the problem is going to be, we've got people as young as 25 and old as 75. some came out of the country this year. some came out 30 years ago. some were social democrats. some were green. some were christian democrats. some want a parliamentary democratcy. some want a presidential democracy. some want a monarchy. they want decent accountable government. but i asked them that they diverse, very complex group of people who want democracy in some way, what should we do? how do we support you? we get very different reactions. it's understandable we are not dealing with montho liths, how does -- monoliths, how does one

go through that? >> if you see and follow, it's not ideological and all different people, different generations, different ideology, different cultural review they come together and they just want freedom, better life. and human rights in iran. there is a constant about that. the problem that you mentioned on that it's diaspora outside of iran. also there is advancement. but the situation on that if you see there's some protest they have been held out of the iran and u.s. and europe you can see more people with different ideas, but in iran, special case in iran. you can not similar case in the muslim countries. it's different case. but i think that right now the

liberty and voice of america, right now they have more ways inside iran. they can refer to isolation. punishment the government wants to i am pose on that. if i want to ask -- answer to your questions, right now i cannot talk about the whole parts of the iranians dissidents because it's very different ideas. but there is a general consensus that human rights and people's -- right now in the administrations there is a change from the past administration. i agree, the militaristic approach was unsuccessful. but the current administration i believe that the current policy that they don't mention to human

rights and they just want to follow on the regime about the mutual issues and ability or security issues, i think simlar it goes in the iran election. first right now, it needs to focus on the issue as the one agenda that is not negotiable. the iran regime as a part of the pageant. i believe to condition a negotiation with the regime. then i believe that the continue to some project like giving grant to some democratic initiatives and also supporting the voice of america, radio, and some venue like that. the situation in iran become worse after the postelection. right now there is more crackdown against the democracy. .

for example, if you see mr. musabby, he has a very left agenda. he has no positive approach to the u.s. right now the -- follows the

revolution in iraq. i don't think that's true. it's how u.s. frames their policy against iranian regime. but i believe the -- it's useful because if you see that the active behavior of the regime, they fear about that. and every time they mention that. for example, many -- several times they mentioned that there is a possibility that we have a negotiation between ahmadinejad and obama in the u.n. gathering. that's the sign that the regime there is a relationship between them and iraq. >> in the case of iran, ali, we all agree that it's not one size fits all in one -- each

time has its case of the particulars. would you advise the united states to be bold and strong rhetorically, in a public manner, or would you recommend a quieter approach with back channels and reliance on the europeans to do certain things? what do you recommend to the white house right now? >> the quieter cooperation -- europe, that's the better situation. but if if they have the support, friday, the u.s. approach. but i believe tough diplomacy and it's iran yeas position -- they are an authoritarian regime. its behavior and it's flexible when they feel that it exists. if you show silent and weaker, they come -- they want more and ask more. and right now i believe if you

see what ahmadinejad says [inaudible] says they do not -- in the current situation, they don't want to compromise in the nuclear issue and they want to continue on that. he needs to have a hostile relationship. he wants to become the hero of muslims in the region. >> you mentioned the nike issue. i want to ask you what i asked him at the top of the program. ali, we care about human rights, but we have a nuclear issue to deal with. and anything that interferes or pushes that aside or draws attention away from that we're making a mistake. we like that, we want democracy in iran. we don't think it's happening soon. right now today we have to solve the nuclear issue. how do you answer them? >> i believe that in short term

the nuclear situation is more dangerous. i believe democracy, if the iranian people have found -- because right now iranians has a more positive approach to the u.s. if they find that the u.s. does not care about their situation, it may be a turn [inaudible] and a hostile approach, the anti-america approach [inaudible] and i believe long term u.s. damages from this approach. and also, i believe they have nuclear enrichment ability. i don't believe that anybody can stop that.

even if you say this and that, they can easily -- as we affirm that and build again. that ability. i'm -- if iran has a democracy and a rational government -- that's not the case. and as israel has in the region and pakistan has nuclear issues, it's not a problem. >> thank you. saad, let me go back to you. i think you call it the pathological fear that some of us have in the west of extremism in some other countries in the middle east. first question is, you would probably concede there is legitimate fear, however, maybe pathological is inappropriate but legitimate is appropriate. and second, related to that in a country like yours, are inspiring and convincing, but why -- why should people in the

west believe that there's a large constituency in egypt of people like you? could we be deceived, not by you deceiving us, but we're hearing what we want to hear? you're a liberal, you care about liberal values. but is there a large constituency for that in egypt? >> let me give you facts and figures the. in the last election in egypt, fraudulent as it may have been, this was in 2005. only 23% of the registered voters voted. and that's the government figures. 23%. where are the other 77%? these are registered voters. they didn't like the alternative.

there was an autocratic regime that's been in power nearly 25 years. corrupt, inept. and then there was an alternative, the muslim brother, organized, solid, coherent. but they have a vision that the majority does not like. and therefore, as we learned from the professor, whose wife is with us, when voters are under pressure they abstain. when they're two competing things or two undesirable alternatives then choose between the undesirable, you cannot do that, you stay. and that's a constituency that the democrats, like myself, are counting on. the liberal who will be here in the states in less than two

months of the party of the future tapping. and it is that constituency that we like western democracies to keep encouraging and one way of encouraging is to support from the dictators in the region. even if they oppose us friendly, but i don't think a dictator can ever be friendly to a democracy, a genuine democracy. so he may be expedient but don't believe that he is really friendly. he is there for himself. >> well, that sounds convincing as well. but it seems to me that the united states is confronted with the reality of at times forging tactical relationships. i don't think anybody in this room -- i may be wrong -- but democrats, supporters of democracy support instantly breaking bilateral relations

with saudi arabia and isolating our undermining the regime. ever analogy, saad, is imperfect and this is an olympic analogy. what if someone said to you, we are for what you want but we don't want to destabilize this government? we don't want to revisit the iran where we get rid of the autocratic regime, the shah, and as well-intentioned as the motive was it was a disaster. what would you say to a critic like that? >> i would say besides a negative experience like iran, we have about 100 positive experiences that were liked. from the time of the portuguese uprising dictatorship. back in 1974 until today there has been a hundred countries like egypt, like iran who have made the transition.

and only one or two made the wrong transition. and therefore do not use that -- the exception. the exception of cases, the exception of negative cases to punish all the potential positive cases. and we have even countries which islamists ran for office and it wasn't the end of the world. they are very responsible. in kuwait, in jordan, in turkey. the oldest allies in the middle east, turkey. has been very close. well, justice and development party which is in islam's party, has run for election and has a [inaudible] so as a calling for conditionality, western

democracies should have similar creative conditionality. was even social movements and other political parties in that part of the world in the middle east that you will not recognize them, you will not deal with them if they don't respect the rules of the game. and you always have the card. and believe me, everybody wants to be recognized by the united states. even those who are being professional, bashing the united states right and left. yet, they want to be recognized by the united states. they realize that their legitimacy is contingent being recognized by western democracies. and that is not to be belittled. this is a very important thing. not to mention other incentives that you can give. >> thank you. let me ask, ali, one more question and then we'll open up the audience for questions and comments. ali, say a word about what is making iranian voters tick

right now. i met with an iranian who had come right out of tehran about 10 days ago in europe and this gentleman is from the capital, from tehran. he is a -- comes from hard science. he described himself as previously apolitical, not terribly involved in any particular cause or campaign. and he told me that he, his family, his friends, his colleagues are now highly motivated politically. he told me that the regime had gone too far, lied too much and crossed red lines and he would never accept this government again. that's one individual. an educated individual who had come out briefly to europe. is that representative? what could you tell us through your alliances, your networks, your source of information about what is making iranians tick right now couple months after the elections this

summer? >> interesting issues that i would like to talk about. right now the situation is different before the election. before the election people want to flauble knuckleball because they want to -- but after the election and what's happening in the policy, they -- [inaudible] people wants a more radical change. and what you talk about the gentleman that came out. it's true because it's very interesting that any part of the society, especially this generation, they didn't have any interest in politics in recent years. then, politicize during this movement.

and the democracy in iran. and as -- it showed that the movement is alive. and the [inaudible] to forcing them to force confession, raping, all of that has not been successful and cannot -- and i believe that the regime, they lost totally their legitimacy in society. and the military service, especially guards. plus other factors. but definitely it cannot work for the long term. and also another interesting issue is the gap because the

shiia's cost om should see by -- custom should see by his eye or eye of his agents [inaudible] . but just how many [inaudible] but the other thing, all of them announced monday would be one. and it shows that the gap between the clergy and government. >> and they're presumably gaps between the clergy, too, now? >> yes. and they no longer -- and they believe that -- he should be changed or his policy and his mind changed. i believe for that reason the

regime is not as strong as before. and there is a much more possibility for a change in iran. >> that's an exciting prospect. i think we should turn it over to our audience and invite our distinguished guests to ask questions. if you would please identify yourself. >> hi. abe greenwald. i have a question. the regime in iran says that they're cracking down or to preserve the principles of the revolution. similarly, or a mirror image, the reformers are often found talking about preserving the true spirit of the revolution. they chanted -- continue to chant. what's your sense?

is there a significant portion of a reform movement outside of the framework of the revolution? >> good question. first level is the challenge of the section of the regime. section off the [inaudible] that's an example. to single up this gap between those groups. there is something between the civil society forces and [inaudible] they just want democracy and a better life. at this moment they accept the leadership of musabi. because they show that -- betterment. and provide opportunity for people to choose what they want

in that process. but in the future i believe that more chant is for the agenda outside the frame of the regime. maybe some part of the revolution is in [inaudible] but they believe in the democracy of iran. i believe that mr. musabi, they don't have so much time to continue -- leadership in this situation. if they cannot -- in this process, it will happen -- situation in iran will happen. and probably have the same experience like the constitutional movement 100 years ago in iran's history. also, the islamic revolution.

that's most capable. >> thank you. take another question. this gentleman in the front row. if you wait one moment he's going to bring a microphone to you. >> i'm from the egyptian college in washington, d.c. this is a question for dr. saad. why do you think it's kind of great seemingly reluctance on the part of americans to really support the liberal pro-western forces in the middle east? and do you think that this thing that the americans usually give which is stability versus change is it an excuse or do they really believe that? >> well, i think that question should be directed toward the american policymaker. but if i may take a crack at it i think it is basically an

excuse. the democracy here likes to have democracy there and they want to maintain the status quo. and when i say the democracy i mean state department, american embassy in cairo and other capitals. the army, the pentagon. and when we were in practicing -- in prague three years ago, president bush surprised the meeting by declaring himself. this was a meeting of democratic forces, both in eastern europe and the third world. and he said -- the conversation was disdant and everybody laughed. said oh, i mean it.

i am a disdant in washington. do you see anyone from the state department with me? do you see anyone from the pentagon with me and he kept saying different institutions in the u.s. who, according to him, undermining his freedom. he still had 18 months at the time. this was june, 2007. and i'm going to keep trying. what i am really trying to say is that the bureaucracy in the u.s. as ever where seemed to outlive elected leaders. and unless you really overhold the bureaucracy to serve a given policy then the tendency is to go with the status quo. so every excuse -- and they mentioned some of the excuses. one is the peace process. and they said this is nonsense

and if they think that few barrack will deliver anything, we have a -- mubarak will deliver anything, we have something in arabic, this is like the devil aspiring to go to heaven. it will not help. and if they think that mubarak will deliver, he did not deliver. and probably noted when he was here two months ago, rekept saying, i have two more years. give me a chance. i have two more years. if he had not delivered in 28 years, you wonder why would make him immediately deliver to you. i hope he's right. i hope he'll deliver. maybe he has something up his sleeve but i keep saying, this is like the devil's aspiration to go to heaven. the other thing that is often -- already noted is that fear of the islamists. something that even as a secularrist myself i do not share.

and because i know that if a fair and free election is conducted in egypt today, according to the polling in the last election and other elections, the maximum they will get is 30%. and if they get 30%, they should be entitled to 30% of the seats in parliament. but it's not the majority and they will not be able to. that is my stand. but in order to convince the establishment in muslim democracies of all the -- it is taking me a lot of time. and it is an uphill fight. so i hope everybody here in this audience will at least debate this issue and put it on their agenda. and as i said, whatever you are afraid of, put ton the agenda. which takes me to one of the questions that ali was trying to answer. and what if there are many

voices in iran? what if there are many voices in egypt? even if you could not find a consensus, i think this voice should be reflected. that is the essence of pleuralism. that is the essence of democracy. let people in the west know there are more voices in iran, in egypt and elsewhere in the middle east. and as i said, so long as they expect the -- respect the rules of the game, put them to the test and make your continuous dealing or transacting with them contingent on respecting the rules of the democratic game. >> certainly, the essence of debate and pluralism in the united states. thank you. next question. >> mark, journalist. i have a question for saad ibrahim. you've been in favor of the

status quo faces the problem that leaders have -- hate the status quo don't live forever. egypt has been a ruler that's been in power for 28 years. and is aging. and there is likely to be a change in egypt in some way in the next few years. whether the establishments want it or not, i'm just wondering if you might be able to say anything about if a change takes place at the top, what the role of the u.s. government, western governments might be and whether that will be an opportunity if people that supports democracy might take an active role? >> thank you for the question. egyptians like to joke in politics. and the latest joke was on the

last birthday of mubarak, which is may 4, and 84 years of age. and the joke is that he was given territories as a gift. what is so particular? [inaudible] oh, really? we'll see. so the guy has aspiration for immortality. he does not think that he will die or that he will depart us. but his father died at the age of 94. he comes from a family that lives a long time. but having conveyed that, i think there are three standing scenarios on the scene right now. one scenario is inheritance scenario.

the north korean scenario. the kim jong il scenario. and that is giving his son the power. this is one scenario that the entire family and the ruling party are working to implement, to make it happen. the second scenario is an army takeover. because army has been really the ruler behind the scene or the power behind whatever for the last six years, -- 60 years, since 1952. and they may not accept the son , mubarak jr., to be the ruler. especially because he is not very popular with the egyptian people. for reasons we will not get into right now. and then the third scenario is a national front scenario and

that is the scenario that i and many egyptians in the audience are working for. and that is to get the liberal democratic forces, whatever parties are on the scene to create and assume power probably with the help of some kind of a popular uprising, whatever, to prepare the country in the next four to five years for a true democratic governance. and the transitional model for going from nondemocratic to democratic has been again tried before, including chile, argentina, so on, portugal, spain. so we have models of transition that is orderly and under the international eye, watchful eye. and i think egyptians are capable of doing it.

after all, many people here may not know that egypt had its first parliament back in 1866. that was even before germany was created, before italy was created. so we have tradition. egyptians are capable. so, please do not underestimate what the democratic impulses are in my country or the region for that matter. not just egypt. ali mentioned the evolution in iran around the turn of the 20th century, 1904 or 1906. that was a constitutional revolution. we had a similar one in egypt 20 years earlier. so the region has all of these ingredients. it is a question of, again, enabling them to take hold and to strike and to be

sustainable. >> it seems to me, saad, there are two mistakes that we repeat time and again. and one mistake is falling into the trap of thinking that authoritarian regimes are stable. history shows that they are inherently unstable no matter how fierce or invincible they look. and one mistake, we keep repeating that mistake, ali, time and again too. we think that a certain country or certain culture can't be capable of democracy or liberal thought because of religion or because of history or because of some particular thing that's happened in its history. we've done that with china and taiwan and done that with korea until south korea. we did it with latin america. we did it sometime with germany and japan. we did it with portugal right until the 1970's. let's go to another question in

the audience. yes, sir. wait for the microphone. >> john hannah from the washington institute. i wonder if i can ask our iranian colleague a two-part question. one, what do you think -- i know this is very hard to predict, but what is the likelihood that the internal process in iran will give us a way out of the showdown we see coming over the iranian nuclear issue? change the -- changing the game so dramatically that a new resolution we don't see available becomes available. second, barring from that major discontinuity in iran internally, what's your best feeling based on the people you're talking to of the internal reaction to either crippling sanctions from the outside world however one defines those or military

action most likely by israel but perhaps by some broader coalition? thank you. >> your first question is i believe that the current situation, the iranian regime, they do not give up nuclear program. they will continue on that. but the nuclear is not a final destination. it's a tool in the hand of the regime. it's some political game. and they want to use this game to reach to the security policy in the region. and they continue and they have some chk and balance between the -- check and balance. i personally believe that if there is a very tough sanction against them, we are going to privy them to sell oil. i think that's the part that may be the iranian regime

change. but the second part, i affirmed my contact and i believe that the majority of the iranian people or the iranian political activists, they oppose the military especially from the israel right now. i think that maybe it will be a disaster in the region. and it increases the instability and tourism in the renal. sanction -- tourism in the region. but the sanction, may be useful. some sanction that just targets the regime and does not damage a lot of people's lives in iraq. but they need to consider human rights. for example, free election in iraq. not just a nuclear issue that was the goal of the sanction. besides the nuclear issue, also

free election, for example. and at the same time continue to negotiate with iran. some condition of negotiations about this process. i believe that it may work. >> question about military intervention. what i frequently heard before the elections in june 12 is something you alluded to. many iranian oppositions say, good heavens, if you do that it's going to push the opposition into the arms of the regime. they will find or feel they have to stand by their country and government against a foreign intervention. is that actually still the same today? you said many of the activists would oppose an intervention. but take israel aside, as john said, a broader international coalition felt obliged to strike at the nuclear facilities, how would the democratic opposition react today in the new light? in the new circumstances? >> the political opposition,

they oppose military. also, they oppose the continuing of the nuclear programs. [inaudible] international community. and they believe that it should stop temporarily that program. and they continue on that. but if they oppose the war, what if the war happened i'm not sure that they will join the regime. because we had a situation after -- during the second world war the allies, russia, britain and the u.s. have had to iran and asked the position -- at that time the opposition not only did it stop -- they

supported the -- attacking iran. and now i believe that israel is different. the international community, if they do [inaudible] against iran. before that people opposed that. but after that happened, i'm not sure that she supported the regime. >> ok. thank you. next question, please. >> thank you. ellen borg from the foreign policy initiative. i want to know if you can talk about being a political prisoner, what you think people are going through inside iran? and would both of you talk a little bit about what the differences when foreign countries intervene on your behalf, does it make a difference and what should they do?

>> right now or in my personal experience? >> personal. your personal experience. >> my personal experience, i was arrested several times, but the longest one was two years continuously. but the toughest one, that was for one year continuously i was inside the confinement and i got tortured physically and psychologically. in that time, they condemned me, sentenced me to overthrowing the regime by using the american agenda. they thought -- former head of the, he designed that plan. and sent to iran and the agent brought to me. because at that time i was a

student leader in iran. and they forced me to do a confession, tv confession and talked about that plan. and that's interesting. they gave me paper, but the hard line person in iran -- and there was an article. and they asked me to use that article to do my confession. and several times draft the -- with me and interrogators and they brought experts, interrogators. they sent me back and asked me to do some corrections. and after several times -- and fainlly they put me in front of the camera and i read from the papers.

and also i think four times every time, five, seven and eight hours practice in the prison much and in fact it was field. but they appear to the people it's voluntary interview and i asked for it. and that experience repeated for another political activist that is right now in the prison. and the same experience is repeated. and it's a policy of the regime that they use it. also, another bad experience that some activists faced in that recent -- is the rape. they did the rape against boys and girls in the prison. and one of the guys struggled

with that. he wrote a letter and officially and publicly mentioned that. and the regime shot down his political party. his magazine, his media. and tried to [inaudible] and part of the recent rally -- again, get energy to the people for the movement. and i believe it's hard for the regime to continue with this stuff. >> ali, thank you. saad, your experience, personal experience, having been arrested, politically imprisoned? >> well, i was in and out of prison three times. the first time was the worst because that's when torture took place and that's when i lost my health. that's why i am walking with a cane. i came out in a wheelchair.

and i had to later on four surgeries at john hopkins hospital in order to be able to stand. however, after that first experience, my case became a [inaudible] and it is the second time and third time that western democracies began to exert pressure on the mubarak regime. and there was the usual, the regimes -- see, western countries, especially like the u.s. is defending him it showed that he was an agent, a foreign agent. that was one of the charges. however, the prison term was interesting because when president bush suspended 150 million from the egyptian -- from the american aid to the mubarak regime and the

president read about it, said 150 million. and all of a sudden my stocks in prison -- [laughter] and this is not a laughing matter because usually it is killers that -- mostly feared. and drunk dealers who has a lot of money that can bribe anybody and they have a lot of comfort. and then comes a distant third political prisoners like myself. however, that was the exception. when a political prisoner was talked about as being worth 150 million, top boss, the drug dealers and the killers. and then 9/11 happened when i

was in prison, in my second imprisonment. and that was very interesting because once the bush administration began to do, you know, bombing of afghanistan and a lot of prisoners in one of the cell blocks began to request and to pressure the present authority to be transferred to my cellblock. again, believing the government allegation that i'm really an american agent. and therefore, if americans are so -- so they may bomb their own cellblock but they will not bomb the cellblock i was in. [laughter] so the prison authorities actually had to plead with me to explain that this is not going to happen because there was no room in my cellblock for all of those people who requested it. so there was some very interesting episodes. i put my own imagination to

work in prison in order to make the experience at least bearable and useful. especially because in my case i had been to that prison three times before my case. the first time when i was doing my research on islamic militants, some of my claim to fame is my early work with islamic militants some of whom were in prison. second one was a human rights offender. i used to frequent this prison and other prisons to investigate cases. and the third time when i went as a prisoner myself. and surprisingly i found some of the people i studied 20 years earlier still in prison. and they welcomed me, of course, in their own way in prison and they asked if i needed anything. of course, i was in solitary

confinement, by the way, but they managed to get to me through all kinds of tricks because they had been there for 20-plus years. they knew the ropes inside the prison. so there are many stories like that. and some are harsh, some are interesting, some are entertaining, but a lot of education, a lot of self-discovery. and a lot of, also, understanding the system because prison becomes a microcosm of society. and we have one here who was director and worked in one of the prisons sitting there. and he can testify to everything i'm saying. so, yes, it was a mixed experience. painful. lost three years of my life out of the 70 years i -- seven years i was convicted i spent three. and i was let go by the high

court. it's the only independent court that the regime has not succeeded yet in controlling. but otherwise they have created all kind of systems to the traditional system. like emergency courts, military courts. and i was convicted in the first and second time by one of those kangaroo courts, state security court. but ultimately when i went to the high court, me and 27 of my colleagues were actually put in prison with me. exonerated where the ruling was overturned and we were freed. >> saad, thank you. if seems to me we've been very fortunate for a number of reasons to have these two gentlemen with us in this program. we -- thanks to foreign policy

initiative, it was i think wise to have leading representatives from arguably the two most important countries in that part of the world for reasons of population. i think egypt is the largest i think with 83 million and iran -- >> 71 million. >> 71 million. just north of 720 million. and also because of the real existing and potential intellectual importance. sunni and shiia representively throughout the region. but above all, thanks to foreign policy initiative we have two gentlemen here in this program who are articulate, eloquent and is the last answers underscored genuinely courageous. and make -- have made and continue to make genuine sacrifice, something we can all learn from and inspires us. so, ali, thank you very much. saad, thank you very much. to foreign policy initiative, thank all of you. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> house members coming back to work, legislative work beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern. 15 bills on the calendar today including one extending unemployment benefits for the hardest hit states. also possible later this week, work on providing temporary funding for the federal government as the fiscal year looms october 1. more house coverage when they come back in 2:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. president obama today said middle east peace talks have to begin soon. those remarks became a meeting in new york with benjamin and music mude abbas. he's there for the u.n. general assembly meetings. his comments run about five

minutes. >> i have just concluded frank and productive bilateral meetings with prime minister netanyahu and president abbas. i'm now looking forward to this opportunity to hold the first meeting among the three of us since we took office. as i said throughout my campaign and at the beginning of my administration, the united states is committed to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the middle east. that includes a settlement of the israeli-palestinian conflict that results in two states. israel and palestinian. in which both the israeli people and the palestinian

people can live in both peace and security and realize aspirations of beater life with themselves and their children. that is why my secretary of state, hillary clinton, and my special enjoy, george mitchell, have worked tirelessly to create the context for permanent status negotiations. and we have made progress sibs i took office in -- since i took office in jfpblet and since israelis government took office in april. but we still have much further to go. pill stanians have strengthened their efforts on security -- palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security but they have to do more to move forward with negotiations. israelis have discussed important steps to withstand settlement activities. they need to translate that to real actions. and it remains important to promote peace.

simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations. it is time to move forward. it is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that's necessary to achieve our goals. permanent status negotiations must begin and begin soon. and more importantly, we must give those negotiations the opportunity to succeed. and so my message to these two leaders is clear. despite all the obstacles, despite all the history, despite all the mistrust, we have to find a way forward. in answeredless cycle of conflict and suffering. we cannot continue the same pattern of taking steps forward and then stepping back. success depends on all sides. and that's why i asked

secretary clinton and senator mitchell to carry forward the work we do here today. senator mitchell will meet with the israeli and palestinian negotiators next week. i asked the prime minister and the president to continue these intensive discussions by sending their teams back to washington next week. and i've asked the secretary of state to report to me on the status of these negotiations in mid october. all of us know it will not be easy but we are here today because it's the right thing to do. i look forward to speaking with my colleagues. i'm committed to pressing ahead in the weeks and months and years to come because it is absolutely critical that we get this issue resolved. it's not just critical for the israeli and palestinians. it's critical for the world. it is in the interest of the united states, and we are going to work as hard as necessary to

accomplish our goals. thanks. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> thank you, everybody. >> please exit the same door as we came in. thank you. >> thanks, guys. >> same doors. thank you. >> president obama earlier today in new york. back here in washington on capitol hill, the senate finance committee opened their session today. their markup session this morning over three hours this morning and back at it this afternoon.

2:45 eastern with this first day of markup. senate finance committee. that will be live on c-span3, and also c-span.org beginning at 2:45. earlier today, health care reporters set the scene for us on today's "washington journal." ce committee from julie. guest: good morning. host: i want to get your sense of what you expect to see today in the beginning of the markup of the healthcare bill. guest: today will be the introduction with opening statements. every senator will want to give their views on what they think of the bill. after that will be the walk- thru, when the staff sits down to talk about what is in it. the will not be a lot of legislative action today, just a preliminary. the real activity will probably not begin until tomorrow. host: there have been reports that there are over 500 amendments to the legislation?

guest: yes, 564. many have really been for show. senator orrin hatch has many amendments. he is worried it -- there's a part of the bill that would give some states a little harder time to come into compliance with the part of the bill concerning the tax on the very high-cost health plan. many states have more expensive insurance. so, and in the 17 high-cost states they would have this tax take effect and there would be a higher threshold. senator orrin hatch says he is not sure if that is constitutional. one of his amendments is kind of a joke and it says that it would exempt states that began with " u" and that is because his from

utah. but i expect it will go through as many as 100 amendments. senator max baucus would like to be finished this week. it is probably optimistic. host: what about the overall timeline assuming the get the market done within the next week? will they be on track to vote on it before the break for october? guest: that might be a little optimistic. the leadership must find a way to merge this with the one from the health committee from july. then they have to get it to the floor. there is a desire to do that quickly. that would be very quickly, though. it was want to take a bill to the senate floor in back it up to some sort of recess because that makes the senate vote, but i don't know if they can do it that fast. i expected to be on the floor sometime in october. host: are the balance between

the two parties still there? i know that olympia snowe from maine has gotten a lot of attention. guest: is pretty much where it stands. she is the only republican everyone thinks is in play. other than that all republicans say even though senator max baucus tried mightily to move this bill for enough to the right to get a couple of republicans -- he was of course closeted all those months with senator chuck grassley, signature enzi, and senator snowe -- he really could not get two of them. many say it is still too much government involved in the health industry. democrats say in the effort to get those republican votes he has moved the bill so far to the right that it is not generous enough for the middle-class. in fact, last night senator max baucus was planning on putting money back into the build -- $20 billion. that would be to try to make it

more generous, ease some penalties, make it a little more affordable. so, he has to get his democrats back in the fold. host: held liable is the option to use budget reconciliation as a procedural tactic where democrats would only have to pass it with 51 votes? guest: they are still desperately hoping it will not have to. massachusetts is in the process of changing laws to appoint a senator to take the place of the late senator ted kennedy. there are still many moderate democrats who are very uncertain. they say they don't really want of vote on a bill that has no bipartisan support. budget reconciliation is a very last resort. there are many complicated things in the bill you cannot put into a budget reconciliation bill.

it would have to be a two-bill strategy. that second bill would be subject to regular filibuster with 60 votes. they could do that if they had to, but for right now they are still pursuing that desire to do this by -- >> the u.s. house gaveling in next. 15 bills on their agenda including one extending unemployment benefits for the hardest hit states. also possible later this week, work on providing temporary funding for the federal government. the senate resumes work this afternoon about 15 minutes, 2:15 eastern, back from their party caucus lunches to continue debate on interior and environment spending for fiscal year 2010, which begins on october 1. and just a reminder about our coverage this afternoon, senate finances committee marking up

-- fn committee marking up -- finance committee marking up health legislation. you can watch it on c-span3, follow it online at c-span.org and also nationwide, x.m. satellite radio channel 132 radio. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from florida, congresswoman ros-lehtinen. ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask the visitors to join us in our nation's pledge. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain

requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from arizona rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: recognized. mrs. kirkpatrick: mr. speaker, on august 28, chief tim mcelway was named the 2009 safety officer of the year by the international association of fire chiefs. a 30-year p.f.d. veteran, he heads his agency's training acquisition division. he literally wrote the book on safety and training requirements for the department. his accomplishments also extend beyond the prescott fire department. he sits on the arizona wildfire academy board of directors. helps oversee disaster response for his region, and has managed an organization that provides training to fire departments throughout the area.

he will be retiring in may, 2010, but his many contributions to the prescott fire department and to arizona will help keep our community safe for years to come. i congratulate chief mcleway for this much deserved honor. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida rise? ms. ros-lehtinen: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. today marks a historic event for the nation's most significant federal job training agency, the job corps celebrates its 45th anniversary today recognizing the agency's many years of service to america during which it has helped launched the careers of nearly three million disadvantaged youths. as part of the national job corps association celebration of this important anniversary, i'm proud to co-sponsor congressman jerry moran's resolution, h.con.res. 163, to designate

september 23 as national job corps day. since 1964, the job corps has created a network of 123 job corps septemberers in 48 states, the district of columbia, and puerto rico. as part of the 45th anniversary celebration, i am pleased that one of my areas job corps interns ezzmerraleda will be shadowing me tomorrow. additionally my local homestead job corps center is hosting an open house event on thursday, october 1, for the entire south florida community to attend. both locally and nationally, the job corps has definitely benefited america by producing payrolls for our country. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from nevada rise? >> i rise to address the house for one minute. and to rend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized. ms. berkley: thank you. mr. speaker, today the house will consider the unemployment

compensation extension act, the legislation would extend unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks for over 300,000 jobless workers who reside in high unemployment states and that are projected to run out of unemployment compensation by the end of september. this bill will serve as a lifeline aiding those who are still struggling to find work in las vegas and other parts of nevada. the once recession-proof economy of my district of las vegas has not been spared by the effects of this downturn. in fact nevada has been hit harder than any other state by the foreclosure crisis and our unemployment rate is -- has sproketted to over 13%. second highest in the nation. -- skyrocketed to over 13%. second highest in the nation. it's absolutely critical that congress step up and pass this federally funded extension of unemployment benefits. i support the bill we are considering today because it will help hardworking nevadans

get by until the situation improves, and it will, and they can return to work. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. this week the conference committee will meet on defense authorization. defense authorization. we are supposed to provide for the common defense. that is the number one job of this government. not all the social engineerings going on. guess what? we are going to be having discussion over a hate crimes bill in defense authorization. we are going to be talking about defending america and in the same bill taking away the rights of americans.

there is not one law that will be covered by that hate crimes bill that is not already in existence in every state in the union. every one of those crimes is covered. james byrd's defendants got the death penalty, the two most cull pabble, this will not do -- culpable. this will not do anything. if you want to have a discussion on hate crimes, let's have a head up on hate crimes. let's don't stick it in to something as important as defense authorization. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized for one minute. >> i rise today with a very sad duty of the reporting of tranlic passing of army private first class jeremiah monroe. he was taken from us on september 17, 2009, by a roadside bomb in afghanistan. just two months after his

deployment. he was assigned to the 630th route clearance company, seventh engineer battalion, 10th mountain division based in fort drum, new york. a beloved father, brother, son, friend, and soldier from warren county, jeremiah will be sorely missed by the entire adirondack and fort drum communities. he was just 31 years old. he quit his job last year as a tradesman to enlist in the army. he wanted to support his daughter and the extended family and serve the nation he loved and the ideals for which he gave the ultimate sacrifice. private first class monroe was willing to give his life in service to all of us and to the country that he loved. the expregs of our gratitude for his sacrifice -- expression of our gratitude for his sacrifice to our nation is beyond words. he's survived by his mother, his brother, and his 9-year-old daughter and her mother, michelle. on behalf of a grateful nation,

our thoughts and prayers are with the entire monroe family who lost four relatives in the last 18 months, including jeremiah's father, robert monroe sr. as we stand on this floor and debate the profound issues of our time, let us never forget the true cost of the freedoms we so often take for granted. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. smith: mr. speaker, guantanamo bay is a first class detention center that costs american taxpayers $100 million. but the administration is begging other countries around the world to accept the terrorists who are held there. in its attempt to farm out these terrorists, the administration may be sewing the seeds of future attacks as the u.s.a. will have little say to how long these terrorists are held. an interview with designated

terrorist abdul haig should give americans cause for concern. of the detainees who might be transferred to the island of pa lou, at least eight have admitted he was their leader. in a recently transmitted interview, haig is clear about his ties to the taliban and al qaeda. he glorifies attacks against americans and our allies and even blesses osama bin laden. so once again why are we closing a first class detention facility and putting terrorists in a position where they could do americans harm? the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise today to honor the life of mr. richard shadiac who was deceased last wednesday at age 80. he was the former commander in

chief executive officer of the american lebanese syrian associated charities which is the fundraising arm of st. jude's children research hospital. he leaves a wife and two children, richard who will take on his work, and a son, tom, who is distinguished in the entertainment industry. he served as c.e.o. of st. jude for over 13 years and he led an effort that raised millions of dollars for the purpose of research and treating childhood cancers and other diseases. st. jude children's research hospital is the leading hospital and research center on catastrophic illnesses in this nation. it is located in memphis, tennessee. it was founded by his good friend, danny thomas. after mr. thomas passed, he knew we need add new public face. and the new public face was the children. the children of st. jude who it serves. under his leadership, donations increased fourfold. he worked closely with the patients. he visited with them often and stayed in touch with the

families. and was a strong voice in the fight against cancer. he was important force here in washington. we represented the lebanese government at one point and one of the founders of the american arab groups that worked to better relation was our nation. our heart goes out to his family and the st. jude community and we will remember him for all of his good deeds and work that will save many children's lives. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, i have the honor to transmit a sealed envelope received from the white house on monday, september 21, 2009, at 8:15 p.m. and said to contain a message from the president whereby he notifies the congress he has extended the national emergency with respect to those who

commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism. with best wishes i am signed sincerely, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will read the message. the clerk: to the congress of the united states, section 202-d of the national emergencies act provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless prior to the anniversary date of its declaration the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism is to continue in effect beyond september 23, 2009. the crisis constituted by the grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists, including

the terrorist attacks on september 11, 2001, in new york and pennsylvania, and against the pentagon and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on united states nationals or the united states that led to the declaration of a national emergency on september 23, 2001, has not been resolved. these actions pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the united states. for these leans reasons i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism and maintain in force the competitive sanctions to respond to this threat -- comprehensive sanctions to respond to this threat. signed, barack obama, the white house, september 21, 2009. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed. .

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. recorded votes on postponed questions will be taken after 6:30 p.m. today. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 860 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 860, a bill to re-authorize the coral reef conservation act of 2000, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam, ms. bordallo, and the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop, letch will control 20 -- each will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam.

ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, last year the release of the monaco declaration made it apparent that ocean acidification is inevitable and will cause severe damage to coral reef eco systems. this consensus of over 150 scientists from 26 nations is a clear statement that we must take action now to reduce and eliminate stresses on corals so that they could be conserved for future generations. h.r. 860, the coral reef conservation act re-authorization and enhancement amendments of 2009 enhances the federal government's ability to respond to emergency situations and to protect reefs from damages caused by vessel groundings. it also codifies the u.s. coral reef task force which has worked tirelessly to build

partnerships and strategies for on-the-ground and in the water actions to conserve these ecosystems. there's an urgent need to pass h.r. 680 -- 860 to eliminate the stresses on these precious coral reef ecosystems. mr. speaker, my district of guam is one of the several u.s. coral reef task force jurisdictions. the health of coral reefs and waters surrounding the island's jurisdictions and off the state of florida is key to our economic standing and to the protection of our environment. h.r. 860 is therefore of particular importance to my district. re-authorizing the law will afford the territories the opportunity and the resources necessary to continue to develop and implement local action strategies for the conservation of our coral reefs in partnership with the federal government. so with that, mr. speaker, i ask members on both sides to

support its passage and look forward to the opportunity of working with leaders in the other body to enact this bill into law in this congress. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves her time. the chair recognizes representative chaffetz from utah. mr. chaffetz: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so recognized. mr. chaffetz: h.r. 860 re-authorizes the coral reef conservation act of 2000. that act provided grants for locally based actions to address locally identified threats to coral reefs. while h.r. 860, as introduced, was not a bill that ranking member hastings could support, i appreciate the efforts by subcommittee chair ms. bordallo, to address the concerns of our side of the aisle and make this a much better piece of legislation than it was before. this legislation has a long kay to go and faces hurdles in the senate. i hope we'll be a toible

continue to work cooperatively across the aisle to make sure they don't create regulatory burdens that indirectly affects coral reefs and does not create an industry for litigation. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the minority whether they have any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: yes, i'd like to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank my good friend for yielding me the time. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 860, the re-authorization of the coral reef conservation act. in addition to having the tremendous honor of representing the florida keys here in the united states congress, i'm also pleased to boast that my district is home to one of the most die verse ecosystems in the nation, if

not the world. the water surrounding my district, florida's 18th congressional district, is home to america's only living barrier coral reef which is also the second largest coral reef track in the world. the bill before us today, h.r. 860, would continue the federal government's efforts to protect and preserve the coral reef systems in the florida keys as well as in hawaii -- as well as in hawaii and in guam. coral reefs provide many economic and environmental and cultural benefits. particularly in my home district where tourism brings in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. as the reefs sustain damage every day, the ecosystem and tourism is threatened. this bill will increase federal oversight over the monitoring and rehabilitation efforts of our coral reef system while also promoting community based

conservation initiatives. in effect, local stakeholders and federal agencies will work together to develop regionally approved and appropriate management plans. one of the most important ways that this bill will help to protect coral reefs is by authorizing emergency responses to the physical damages that are sustained by coral reefs due to vessel groundings and impacts from dir elect fishing gear -- dire elect fishing gear. -- diralect fishing gear. i witnessed just how important our coral reefs are, not only to the environment but also for the education of our young people. in today's hyperlinked world, elementary students from idaho can tune in to educational broadcasts on the dangers of coral bleaches and offshore

drilling by the aquinox working in the aquarius. i had the pleasure of participating in a live question and answer session with local elementary school students on the issue of coral reef preservation. coral reefs are important to all americans, not just to those of us who are fortunate enough to live in coastal areas. and that is why i join my colleagues here today in strong support of h.r. 860, a bill which reaffirms the role of the federal government in protecting these precious coral reef resources for today and tomorrow's generation. thank you for the time, my good friend, thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank my wonderful friend for once again fighting for our nation's environment. i yield back. mr. chaffetz: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves.

the gentlewoman from guam, ms. bordallo. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i want to thank my colleagues, the gentlelady from florida, for her very strong words in support of this bill, congresswoman ros-lehtinen, and, of course, the manager of the bill from the opposite side of the aisle here, mr. chaffetz of utah. i want to thank them for their support, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, with no other speakers we'll yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i again urge members to support this bill. i thank them for their support on the floor here, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 860. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, bullpens, and without objection a motion to

reconsider is laid on the table. -- the bill is passed, and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1080, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 126, h.r. 1080, a bill to strengthen enforcement mechanisms to stop illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and for other purposes . the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam, ms. bordallo, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i rise in support of my bill, h.r. 1080, the illegal, unreported and unregulated

fishing enforcement act of 2009. the united states demonstrates strong leadership in fisheries management, both nationally and internationally. however, despite these efforts, many marine fish docks around the world are exploited or depleted which is driven in part by the persistence of illegal, unreported and unregulated or i.u.u. fishing. with an annual global value of over $10 billion, i.u.u. fishing undermines the united states fisheries management efforts and its fishermen, as well as efforts to sustainably manage fisheries in other countries. i.u.u. fishing in recent years have impinged, for example, the u.s. exclusive economic zone surrounding my district of guam and our neighboring mariana islands. this is a problem, mr. speaker, that is increasingly evidence itself elsewhere in the u.s. e.e.z. and must be addressed.

h.r. 1080 would strengthen and improve the enforcement authorities of various u.s. fisheries act and would authorize a cooperation and assistance program to help other countries develop the technical expertise to confront i.u.u. fishing. the bill is strongly supported by the u.s. fishing industry, the administration and marine conservation interests. and with that, mr. speaker, i ask members on both sides to support its passage, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, is recognized. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: so recognized. mr. chaffetz: h.r. 1080 will give the united states more tools to combat illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing, or i.u.u. fishing. this pirate fishing has hurt those fishermen and fishing nations to play by the rules. the only concern i have about this legislation that i think

the government does not sacrifice proprietary information from our domestic industries that will erode our competitiveness in the world's seafood market. this legislation walks that fine line but we need to keep an eye on those who will implement this legislation. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. i recognize the gentlelady from guam, ms. bordallo. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i recognize mr. baird from washington, and he can have as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. baird: i thank the chairman. i thank the gentlelady and i rise in strong support of h.r. 1080 and would like to speak to the prior bill. in marine sciences there is a shifting baseline which is where when you look today and say, well, what's the status of this ecosystem, you tend to look 10 years back on the assumption thaffings a good time window -- that was a good

time window. it may be substantially degraded from 10 years prior which was degraded from 10 years prior, etc. so as we try to restore these ecosystems, we need to understand that many of them have been profoundly degraded overtime and this shifting baseline is going in a negative direction and it's very hard to know where we're at. this legislation, h.r. 1080, and the prior legislation regarding coral reefs, is a shift in a positive direction. we are actually improving the protection of our marine resources which are so critical. i would urge my colleagues to, if they learn and remember nothing else about our marine ecosystems it would be the following number. 50%. 50% of the oxygen we are breathing as we speak today comes from the oceans. 50%. every other breath. and yet the oceans are subject to a -- from ocean acidification, to temperature increase, to overfishing, which this legislation deals with, to runoff, to harmful blooms, to

hypoxia, etc. i commend the gentlelady and the gentleman for their leadership on this, urge passage. we must make preservation of our oceans a much higher priority, not only for this body but for this country. and i urge passage of both this and the prior bill. i thank the gentlelady and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i'd just inquire of the other side, do they have additional speakers? ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i have no additional requests for time. and would inquire if the minority has any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i again urge members to support the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1080. those in favor say aye.

as amended. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. . for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2802 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2802, a bill to provide for an extension of the legislative authority of the adams memorial foundation to establish a commemorative work in honor of former president john adams and his legacy, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam, ms. bordallo, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all

members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, among the many statues and monuments in this city, there are none that honor our second president, john adams. nor the contributions made by his family to our nation's history. in 2001, congress authorized the adams memorial foundation to establish a memorial in the district of columbia and its environments. this authority will expire on december 2, 2009, but several more years are required to complete fundraising, final design, and construction. h.r. 2802 introduced by our distinguished colleague from massachusetts, representative delahunt, would extend the legislative authority necessary for this important endeavor for four additional years as recommended by the

administration. so, mr. speaker, we commend representative delahunt for his efforts in this legislation. we support passage of h.r. 2802, and urge its adoption by the house today. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. h.r. 2802 has been adequately explained by the majority and we support the legislation. we commend the work of mr. delahunt, the gentleman that he is. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. ms. bordallo: i have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the minority whether they have any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: no additional speakers. with that we will yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from utah is recognized. ms. bordallo: i again urge members to support the bill. i yield back the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2802 as amended. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3113. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 147, h.r. 3113, a bill to amend the wild and scenic rivers act to designate a segment of the elk river in the state of west virginia for study for potential addition to the national wild and scenic rivers system, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam, and the gentleman from utah, each will control 20 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, h.r. 3113 introduced by the chairman of the committee on natural resources, mr. nick rahall, reflects the continuing efforts by the people of pocahontas county west virginia to preserve and protect the most significant natural and historic resources that they are blessed with in that area. the pending legislation would have the national forest service conduct a study on a segment of the elk river within the county to determine its eligibility for designation under the wild and scenic rivers act. on behalf of chairman rahall, i would like to commend the pocahontas county commission for its leadership in this matter. with that i ask members on both

sides to support passage of this message -- measure. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. i recognize the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: we believe that the bill has been adequately explained and studied. we commend the efforts of mr. rahall and his working with the members on both sides of the aisle. with that we'll reserve the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from guam. ms. bordallo: i have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the minority whether they have any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: with no additional speakers at this time, mr. speaker, we yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah yields back. ms. bordallo: i again urge members to support the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2113 -- the question is will the

house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3113. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2265. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 143, h.r. 2265, a bill to amend the reclamation wastewater and ground water study and facilities act to authorize the secretary of the interior to participate in the magna water district water reuse and ground water recharge project, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam and the gentleman from utah each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, h.r. 2265 introduced by my colleague, who is assisting me in managing the built on the floor today, representative chaffetz from the state of utah, would direct the bureau of reclamation to participate in the planning, the design, and the construction of the magna water district water reuse and ground water recharge project. when constructed, this project will remove percolate from the contaminated ground water and create a new water supply for the community. title 16 water recycling projects like h.r. 2265 allow local communities to stretch their limited water supplies.

so i ask my colleagues to support the pass ang of this bill and i reserve the balance of my time -- passage of this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: are you recognized. mr. chaffetz: i appreciate the kind words and comments from my colleague, ms. bordallo. i want to thank my democratic colleagues for supporting this bill to help the magna water district meet unfunded federal mandates. my legislation authorizes limited federal assistance to help a community remove arsenic and percolate while while producing more high quality drinking water. we have very limited water supplies in the west and we need every tool in the waterer toolbox to help meet our water supply needs. this and similar legislation before us today will help stretch or supplies to meet the growing needs of our communities. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. recognize the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the

minority whether they have any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, with no additional speakers, we yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i again urge members to support this very important bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2265. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise sniss -- rise? ms. bordallo: i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2522. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number

144, h.r. 2522, a bill to raise the ceiling on the federal share of the cost of the calleguas municipal water district recycling project, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam and the gentleman from utah each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, h.r. 2522 introduced by our colleague, representative elton gallegly, would raise the existing authorization ceiling to authorize funds for phases two and three of the calleguas municipal water district recycling project. when these phases are completed, it is expected that the project

will produce 43,000 acre-feet of water annually. at a time when imported water is unreliable, the title 16 water recycling program is a tool that communities can use to create a reliable local supply to meet all of the future demands. so i ask my colleagues to support passage of this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: you are recognized. mr. chaffetz: i rise today to support h.r. 2522, legislation introduced by my natural resource committee colleague, elton gallegly, and co-sponsored by congresswoman lois capps. this legislation extends limited federal participation in the calleguas municipal water district recycling project. this project is already underway helping the community by recycling wastewater. they are entirely dependent on

imported water and this bill will help alleviate that by extending the cap on the project. because he's flying back to washington, d.c., from his district congressman gallegly is unable to be here on this bill. i ask unanimous consent to include his statement on the bill in the record at this point. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from guam is recognized. ms. bordallo: i have no additional requests for time and inquire of the minority whether they have additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: on this there are no additional speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: i again urge members to support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2522. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2741. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 145, h.r. 2741, a bill to amend the reclamation wastewater and ground water study and facilities act to authorization the secretary of interior to participate in the city of hermiston, oregon, water recycling and reuse project and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam and the gentleman from utah each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include

extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, h.r. 2741 introduced by our colleague, representative greg walden, would authorize the secretary of interior through the bureau of reclamation, to participate in the planning, design, and construction of the city of hermiston water recycling and reuse project. this legislation is a good example of how the title 16 water recycling program can be used in a predominantly agriculture community to meet water quality standards, create a new water supply for irrigation, and help endangered species in the umitilla river. i ask my colleagues to support 35sage of this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. .

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i ask unanimous consent to yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: this bill limits federal participation in a water recycling project for the city of hermiston, oregon. the goals of the bill that will help the city to provide extra water for endangered salmon and help irgait crops. it helps the city meet unfunded mandates. i ask my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: i yield to the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from organized is recognized. mr. walden: i want to thank my colleagues from utah and guam as well as the chairwoman of the subcommittee, grace napolitano from california, and the ranking member, tom

mcclintock from california as well and their staffs for working with me and the folks of the city of hermiston to move this bill through the committee process where it was unanimously aploffed and now awaits -- approved and now awaits floor action today. i stand in support of h.r. 2741 which as you heard authorizes the bureau of reclamation to help the city in the planning, design of the city of hermiston for the aurora recycling and reuse project. this bill is good for farmers and it's good for fish. it helps meets the endangered species act requirements for a list of salmon species in the umitilla river. it has strong local support from very diverse interests and has exactly the kind of partnership. the wastewater facility in hermiston is over 30 years old. it has outlived their usefulness. and with new environmental

requirements and needs, the community's come together with many parties to come up with this new proposal, and this legislation will help move that forward with a nice cost share between the federal government at 25% and local community at 75%. that project will achieve a list of objectives important to both the local community and federal environmental and federal obligations. first, it will enable the city to meet new pollution reduction requirements for the next 20-plus years. second, it will increase wastewater treatment capacity to match the growth in the region's economy and the human population. and third, 3,400 acre feed of class a water from the project will go back to the umatilla river. this is one of the key reasons that the confed rated tibes and the independent & reservation support the -- and the indian reservation support the legislation. the final component of the project is the drought

resistant water delivery of recycled water to the diverse agriculture community in the west extension irrigation district. now, this water will supplement current allegations. we all know a little extra water and a -- in a dry climate can help the farmers and the crops in a big way. it will comply with all aplickable rules and regulations. the federal partnership and the local investment will be enormous assistance to the -- as the project moves forward from drawing board to construction. i thank you again for your support and for the opportunity to speak in favor of h.r. 2741 and i look forward to continuing to work with you and the city of hermiston to ensure this project of great importance becomes a reality. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the minority whether they have any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, we have no additional speakers at this time and yield back the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah yields. the gentlelady from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i again urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2741. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 599. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 599, resolution honoring the minute man national historical park on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam and the gentleman from utah each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i

ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, house resolution 599 was introduced by our colleague from massachusetts, representative ed markey, and would recognize the 50th anniversary of the establishment of minute man national historical park in concord, massachusetts. minute man national historic park was established 50 years ago yesterday. it preserves for americans and the world the places and the landscapes along the route from boston to concord known as the battle road where the first battles of our war of independence were fought. the park also memorializes the renowned american soldiers, the minute men, trained volunteers who were always ready to march at a minute's notice. mr. speaker, house resolution

599 commemorates the enduring legacy of this nation's fight for freedom, liberty and democracy and pays tribute to a park that celebrates the birthplace of american independence. i commend representative markey and his co-sponsor, representative niki tsongas for their timely and diligent work on this resolution. i ask my colleagues to support passage of this measure, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: on april 19, 240 years ago, the commander in boston sent a detachment of troops to nearby lexington and concord to impose what i'm sure he thought was a perfectly reasonable gun-control measure. after all, there wasn't any reason to allow people to possess guns in a park like

green commons of those pleasant little toups. unfortunately, for general howe, the patriots disagreed. fortunately for us the men who stood their grounds at lexington, concord, at saratoga and yorktown are the men who wrote our constitution. and when they met in philadelphia decade later to form a more perfect union they still believed that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. they therefore set out to devise a government with only limited enumerated powers so that they, their descendents, hoped would be part of a free republic and not of an expanding government. our constitution was ratified by the very minute men who fought for freedom in the new england, the atlantic states and the south. that's why we have the -- and the mid-atlantic states and the south. they fought for the states rights, who will always have opponents. that's why they're in the constitution. so it's appropriate that we

take time to honor the minute men who left us a legacy of freedom on this the 50th anniversary of the minute man national historic park. and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the minority whether they have any additional speakers. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, with no additional speakers on our side, we'll yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance. the gentlewoman. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i urge members to support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 599. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise?

ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 688. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 688, resolution expressing support for the goals and ideals of the first annual national wild horse and burro adoption day taking place on september 26, 2009. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam, and the gentleman from utah each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution that is now under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, house resolution 688, introduced by our colleague from nevada, representative dinah titus -- dina tight tuss

expresses support for the goals and ideals of the first annual national wild horses and burro adoption day which takes place on september 26, 2009. in 1971 the congress passed the wild free roaming horse and burro act which sought to help the disappearance of these burros from the western range and created the wild horse and burro adoption program. house resolution 688 supports the first annual natio om guam.

ms. bordallo: mr. speaker, i yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from nevada, representative titus, the sponsor of this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank chairman rahall and subcommittee chair grijalva for bringing this timely resolution to the floor today. i rise in strong support of house resolution 68, a resolution i submitted with the delegation of nevada in support of national wild horse and burro adoption day. wild horses and burros are the free symbol of the american west. my state of nevada is home to more than half of the wild horses in the country, and our

state quarter depicts a trio of wild mustangs. the wild free roaming horses and burros act, which became law in 1971, gave the secretaries of agriculture and the interior responsibility for the humane, capture, removal and adoption of wild horses and burros. the agencies ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy range lands. but because these animals have no natural predators, herd sizes can increase dramatically in very short period of times. in order to maintain balance on the range lands, wild horses and burros are gathered and offered for adoption and sale. currently, there are some 31,000 wild horses in short term and long-term holding facilities with 18,000 young horses available for adoption. although reasonable people might disagree on the appropriate number of horses that should be allowed to roam free, ranchers, wild horse advocates, environmentalists,

animal lovers and taxpayers alike can agree that there is a pressing need to improve upon the adoption programs to remove horses from these holding facilities and place them in good adoptive homes. on september 26, 2009, a number of private organizations will assist with the adoption of excess wild horses and burros, in conjunction with the first national wild horse and burro adoption day. state b.l.m. offices as well as rescue centers, wild horse groups and environmentalist volunteers from all walks of life will be engaged in activities leading up to and on this important day. b.l.m., the american horse protection association, the mustang heritage foundation, the humane society of the united states, and wild horses forever all support national wild hort and burro adoption day. more than 65 adoption and

educational events will take place across the country in support of its goals. wild horse advocates have set a 1,000 horse and burro adoption goal for national wild horse and burro adoption day. this will save taxpayers $1.5 million. this process has already begun, as we saw last weekend with a successful adoption event in nevada. the resolution we are considering today supports the goals of national wild horse and burro adoption day to be held annually in conjunction with the secretaries of interior and agriculture. it also recognizes that creating a successful adoption model for wild horses and burros is consistent with the wild free roaming horse and burros act of 1971 and beneficial to the long-term interests of the people of the united states in protecting wild horses and burros. lastly, my resolution

encourages americans to adopt a wild horse or burro and own a living sim depol -- symbol of the historic and pioneer spirit of the american west, just as my sister did when she adopted a wild burro, sadie who is a nice addition to her ranch in pea vine canyon, nevada. more than 225,000 wild horses and burros have been adopted in 19 -- since 1973. by placing this renewed emphasis on the protection of wild horses and burro we protect the welfare of these majestic animals and save taxpayer dollars at the same timism urge passage of this important resolution and yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. >> we do urge the passage of h.res. 6 8 and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: i have no addition requests from time -- for time and inquire of the gentleman if he has more speakers? mr. chaffetz: we have no further speakers and i yield back my time. ms. bordallo: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 688. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam rise? ms. bordallo: i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 67 0. the speaker pro tempore: ethe clerk will report the title. the clerk: house resolution 670. resolution congratulating and saluting the hawk mountain sanctuary for celebrating its 75th anniversary, commending

the hawk mountain sanctuary for its contributions to the preservation of wildlife and the native ecology of the appalachian mountains and eastern pennsylvania and commending the hawk mountain sanctuary for its dedication to educating the public and the international community about wildlife conservation. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam and think gentleman from utah will each control 20 minutes. the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. bordallo: this year marks the 75th anniversary of the hawk mountain sang chir a research area and environmental education center. it was established in 1934 as the first ref refuge for birds of prey in the world. the sang chir, which is located

-- the sanctuary, which is located in the appalachian area , allows students to study birds of prey. the 2,600 acres provides year-round public access to pristine woodland trails,over looks and education programs that give students an up close and personal view of these majestic birds. i commend congressman dent from pennsylvania for introducing this resolution and i urge its passage and with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz 13k house resolution 670 would congratulate the houk mountain sanctuary as the first

sanctuary for birds of prey. since it was started, more than 60,000 people visit the sanctuary each year. this resolution also commends the sanctuary for its dedication to the conservation of wildlife and its efforts to to educate the public and the community in the role birds of 3r5eu play around the world. i would like to con gradge late congressman dent for his outstanding leadership in proposing this legislate and i want to join with him on congratulating the sanctuary on its 75th birthday. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from game. ms. bordallo: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: i yield as much

time as he may consume to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. dent. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dent: i rise today in strong support of this resolution which i introduced with my colleague from pennsylvania, tim holden. this fall, hawk mountain sang chir, located in beautiful burke county, pennsylvania. it's the world's first refuge for birds of prey. it has a rich history in pennsylvania and has become one of the preeminent wildlife sanctuaries in the united states. in 1934, noted wildlife conservationist rosalee edge was drawn to the area after learning large numbers of hawks were being killed as they migrated along the appalachian mountains. after this initial visit, edge leased 1,400 aches of the ridge for a more than $500 and opened it to the public as a place for local residents to view birtsdz

of prey in their -- birds of prey in their natural habitat. later the land was deeded to the hawk mountain sanctuary which oversaw the land and protection of the wildlife. since its modest beginnings in the 1930's, houk -- hawk mountain has remained a year-ound sanctuary. today, 16 full-time employees and a volunteer work forest of over 200 dedicated members help educate thousands of visitors each year about the value of preserving the native ecology of eastern pennsylvania. with a goal of providing a unique and engaging educational experience for its visitors, hawk mountain offers weekend programs for its residents, guided programs for students and groups and educational opportunities for groups.

the volunteers have contributed greatly to the effective conservation practices that help preserve vital ecosystems throughout the world. the sanctuary staff works with world class scientists, conservations, graduate students and interns to collect and analyze important information and test new conservation strategies. the natural beauty and value of hawk mountains of the achievements of the devoted staff have not gone unnoticed. in 1965, it was registered as a national landmark but the u.s. department of the interior, ranking it as one of the best examples of biological and geographical features in america. over 20 years late eric it received the chevron conservation award, which recognizescy cant contributions to the preservation of natural resources in the united states. mr. speaker, today's consideration of the resolution couldn't come at a more appropriate time.

during the autumn months, visitors to hawk mountain have the opportunity to view numerous raptors of various species as they participate in their yearly migration through pennsylvania. currently they're in the midst of their annual hawk watch which runs from august 17 to december 15. in this period, theing an chair records the number of raptors migrating past its look out. they spotted 26 ospreys, four bald eagles and a single falcon in the skies over burkes county. hawk mountain provides a remarkable chance for bird enthusiasts and novices alike to view sometimes rare bird species. i commend hawk mountain for its contributions, its -- i applaud the sanctuary for its dedication to educating the

american public and international community about wildlife conservation. in fact, a sill bration of hawk mountain's 75th anniversary was declared a week ago saturday, on september 12. it was a joyous occasion for all who attended. i know i enjoyed it thoroughly as did hundreds of others who came to celebrate time at hawk mountain. finally i urge my colleagues to join me in saluting hawk mountain on its 75th anniversary and wish the sanctuary and its staff many, many more years of achievement and wish the visitors happy and engaging times there. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: i have no additional requests for time and inquire of the minority whether they have additional speakers? mr. chaffetz: with no additional speakers we yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from guam. ms. bordallo: i again urge members to support this bill and i want to thank my colleague from utah, mr.

chaffetz, for managing the bills on the floor today with me. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 670. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? >> good afternoon, mr. speaker. i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 441 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 441, resolution honoring the

historical contributions of catholic sisters in the united states. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: i ask consent that all members have five leng slative days in which to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. lynch: mr. speaker, i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lynch: on behalf of the committee on oversight and government reform, i'm pleased to present house resolution 441 for consideration. this legislation honors and commends catholic sisters for their humble service and courageous sacrifice throughout the united states history and additionally supports the goals of the women and spirit catholic sisters of america traveling exhibit. the legislation before us was introduced from may 14 of twibe

by marcy kaptur of ohio and was favorably reported out of the oversight committee by unanimous consent. notably, this measure enjoys the support of over 60 members of congress. mr. speaker, house resolution 441 honors the altruistic catholic sisters, whose passion for public service has helped shape our nation's social and cultural landscape. since arriving in the united states almost 300 years ago, catholic sisters established schools, colleges, homents, orphanages, homes will shelters and various other institutions to provide for those in need. these unsung heros have served millions of americans as nurses, as teachers, social workers and they continue to do so today. the catholic sisters have also helped educate countless young americans by establishing the nation's largest private school system and founding over 110 colleges and universities.

moreover, in 2005, roughly one in six hospital patients in the united states were treated in a catholic facility. there are many, many accomplishments which i could cite in support of this resolution and this traveling exhibit, but i think it's important to note just a few. the first catholic sisters in our country to live and work here and -- in service of our people were nine ursline sisters who journeyed from france to new orleans in 1727. at least nine sisters of the united states orders have been martyred since 1980 while working for human justice overseas. dorothy stang, a sister of notre dame was martyred in brazil in 2005. there were 32,000 catholic sisters in the united states who taught 400,000 children in

2,000 parochial schools by the year 1880. and there were 180,000 catholic sisters who taught nearly 4,500,000 children in 1965. and today there are approximately 59,000 catholic sisters still serving in the united states. i owe much of my own education to the good sisters of notre dame who taught me the fear of god, and i am forever in their debt. i ask all of our members to support this resolution, and i yield back the balance of my time. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i rise in support of house resolution 441, honoring the catholic sisters

in the united states who have contributed greatly to the catholic church and to the communities where they have lived and worked. the first catholic sisters to live in the united states came from france in 1727 and settled in new orleans. from the small beginning their presence and contributions to society grew over the years. there are about 59,000 catholic sisters in the united states. although their numbers have decreased over the years, their influence is strong and vital. catholic sisters founded staff and managed the largest private school systems in the united states. they founded more than 110 colleges and universities in the united states, thus providing educational opportunity for millions of young people. in addition to schools, the catholic sisters established hospitals, orphanages and other charitable institutions that have served millions of americans. catholic sisters have long been recognized for their fair and equal treatment of all persons. they have worked tirelessly for the eradication of racism and poverty in the united states and around the world. in recognition of the women who have added substantially to the lives of many of our citizens,

i stand to recognize the catholic sisters for their untiring dedication and many contributions to the fabric of the united states of america. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: mr. speaker, i don't believe we have any further speakers. i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, with no additional speakers on our side, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. in closing, i ask my friends on both sides of the aisle to take a moment to recognize the priceless contributions of the catholic sisters in america and thanking them for their humble service and courageous sacrifice throughout the united states history by agreeing to house resolution 441. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to

house resolution 441, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to, and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. lynch: mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask for the call of the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. lynch: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2215. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2215, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 140 mirman road in

garden city, michigan, as the john j. shivnen post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lynch: i now yield myself such time as i may consume. i am pleased to present h.r. 2215 for consideration. it will designate the postal facility locate thed at -- located at 140 merriman in michigan as the john j. shivnen post office building. h.r. 2215 was favorably

reported out of the oversight committee on september 10, 2009, by unanimous consent. additionally, this legislation enjoys the support of the entire michigan delegation. mr. speaker, the dedication of the garden city post office in honor of john j. shivnen is particularly fitting in light of mr. shivnen's dedicated and unpair lelled service to the united states post dl -- unparalleled service to the united states postal service and to the garden city community. he served as the postmaster of garneden city for 30 years. -- garden city for 30 years until his retirement in 1996. he was active member of the national association of postmasters of the united states for 40 years during which he served in multiple leadership compass its including area and county director, legislative chairman, parliamentarian and postmaster representative. moreover, mr. shivnen played and instrumental role with respect to the site selection and construction of the current garden city post office.

in addition to his professional contributions to the fwarden city community, mr. shivnen also demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community service. during his stewardship of the garden city post office, mr. shivnen established an annual christmas basket program through which disadvantaged local families received much-needed gift and food donations. mr. shivnen was also a dedicated member of the garden city alliance club service organization, and following his retirement, remaped an active member of several other community groups until his health no longer allowed him to continue. notably, among mr. shivnen's last community service projects was the creation of a replica of a rural post office located at the garden city historical museum. in support of this effort, mr. shivnen purchased the majority of the replica items, performed of the restoration himself and even paid for a portion of the contract work. in recognition of mr. shivnen's contributions to the project,

which was completed shortly before his passing, the garden city museum board honored mr. shivnen's legacy by hosting his wake at the museum. regrettably, mr. shivnen passed away in january of 2007. mr. speaker, it is my hope that we can honor his lifelong commitment to public and community service through the passage of this legislation to designate the garden city post office in his honor. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting h.r. 2215, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz. mr. chaffetz: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i rise in support of h.r. 2215, a resolution to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 140 merriman rode in garden city, michigan, as the john j. shivnen post office building. i also commend representative mccotter for bringing this forward to the body. a graduate of garden city high school, john shivnen believed

in humility and hard work and lived with these qualities throughout his life. appointed as postmaster, he served for 30 years, making him the longest serving postmaster in garden city. he was part of the site selection of the current garden city post office. he was also the active member of the national association of the past masters of the u.s. for 41 years serving in numerous leadership positions. mr. shivnen's passion for leadership was shown in his many efforts to help the community where he spent most of his life. he established the garden city post office annual christmas basket program and was an active member of the garden city lion's club. generous and compassionate, mr. shivnen's deep commitment to his community did not end after his retirement in 1996. he volunteered at the local senior center as a handyman and his last large community project was his creation of the replica of a rural post office

for the garden city historical museum. purchasing most of the replica items and working with others, the project continued until his declining death presented him -- prevented him from leaving his home. his dedication and service for his community is exemplary and it is fitting to name the garden post office in his honor. thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: mr. speaker, we have no further speakers, but i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from utah. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, with no additional speakers, we will yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. in closing i again urge my colleagues to support mr. mccotter and ourselves honoring mr. john j. shivnen through the

passage of h.r. 2215, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2215. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: mr. speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? lynch mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 163. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 163, concurrent resolution expressing support for designation of september 23, 2009, as national job corps day. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from massachusetts,

mr. lynch, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks . the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. lynch: thank you. i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lynch: mr. speaker, on behalf of the oversight committee, i'm pleased to present house concurrent resolution 163 for consideration. this legislation expresses support for the designation of september 23, 2009, as national job corps day. the measure before us was introduced on july 8, 2009, by my colleague, representative jerry moran of kansas, and was favorably reported out of the oversight committee on september 10, 2009, by unanimous consent. additionally, this legislation currently enjoys the support of over 65 members of congress. mr. speaker, house concurrent

resolution 163 supports the designation of september 23 as national job corps day. administered by the united states department of labor, the job corps is the nation's largest career technical training and educational program for young people over the age of 16. the job corps has a wide array of services, including job planning, job placement, residential housing, food services and drivers education. since the inception via the 1964 economic opportunity act, the job corps has provided countless young americans with the academic, vocational and social skills training needed to help them obtain meaningful jobs and pursue further educational opportunities. in light of the recent economic crisis, the various services and programs offered by the job corps have never been more important for america's youth in the entire nation. the job corps helps to ensure that america's work force remains capable of handling the

challenges of our rapidly changing world. notably, the job corps boasts 123 centers nationwide, including centers in the district of columbia and puerto rico, of these 123 centers, my own congressional district is the proud home of the job corps boston regional office. this terrific regional office overseas job corps centers in connecticut, maine, massachusetts, new jersey, new york, puerto rico, rhode island and vermont. in closing, i'm delighted to support house concurrent resolution 163, and i urge all of our friends and members to join me in recognizing the continuing success of the job corps. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, is recognized. mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i rise today to discuss house concurrent resolution 163, expressing support for the designation of september 23, 2009, as national

job corps day. the job corps organization has been training young adults for careers since 1964. job corps' mission is to, quote, attract eligible young people, teach them the skills to make them employable and independent, and place them in meaningful jobs or further education, end quote. by committing to this mission, job corps is able to successfully train thousands of youth in the united states each year. job corps involves youth in a free career development program which integrates the teaching of academic, vocational and employability skills and social competencies. this gives young people the opportunity to prepare themselves for a fruitful future. with help from the dedicated employees who ensure this program runs smoothly and effectively, these people should also be commended. keeping the nation's youth in programs like job corps helps steer the youth in the right direction. the staff have contributed millions of hours of community

service showing the importance of giving back to the united states of america. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. lynch: thank you, mr. speaker. i believe we have speakers on the way, but they're not here right now. i'll continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from utah has yielded his time. mr. chaffetz: i'll reserve the balance of my time. i have no additional speakers. mr. lynch: i don't want to hold up the business of the house. has the gentleman yielded? mr. chaffetz: i will yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah has yielded. mr. lynch: it looks like the gentleman is not here. i reserve for the purpose of closing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah yields the balance of miz time. mr. chaffetz: i yield.

mr. lynch: i again -- i thank the gentleman from utah for his courtesy. i urge my colleagues to support the designation of september 23, 2009, as national job corps day by agreeing to house concurrent resolution 163 and unless somebody comes in here very, very soon, i'm going to yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts yields back the balance of miz time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 163. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not appropriate. -- is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this measure will be postponed. for what purpose does the

gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. lynch: i moves that house suspend the rules and pass bill h.r. 2971. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2971, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 630 northeast killingsworth avenue in portland, oregon, as the dr. martin luther king jr. post office. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch, and the gentleman from utah, mr. chaffetz, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five sledge slative days in which to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ruled. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. lynch: i yield myself such time -- is it possible to --

mr. speaker, i would like at this time, on this bill, to yield my time to the gentleman from north dakota so that he may speak on the bill that just passed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. blumenauer: i thank my friend. i wanted to say some words on behalf of job corps and missed by moments, aparently, the formal opportunity to do that. i will add a statement to the record but let me say that as co-chair of the friends of job corps caucus, i believe so strongly in the promise of job corps and admire its 45-year track record in providing at-risk youth, the core job skills they need so they might move forward and make something of their lives. my statement will include data,

including the 60,000 youth every year choosing to enroll in job corps, the 58% of job corps that obtain the high school diploma or g.e.d. equivalent and graduate with jobs and job-related skills, pursuing service in the military and other alternatives, i have seen firsthand in the job center in north dakota youth getting after the business of turning their lives around and to see the new sense of self-escheme as they acquire skill, skills that will bring them job, jobs that will pay them living wages, so they might have, for the first time often in the life of their family a shot at leaving a better future for the children and grandchildren to follow. there's a reason why for 45 years, republicans and democrats alike have supported job corps. it works.

the president has told people contemplating walking away from school, not continuing their career, he said, you're not only quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country because we need those skills. for our country, i say we must not quit on these young people. that's why i look forward to the next 45 years of job corps support. i thank so much, mr. lynch, for giving me the chance to make these words and put it in the record. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves his time. the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i'm pleased we were able to find the time to talk about the bill right before it. i find that's appropriate and appreciate the gentleman's comments. i rise today to express my strong support for this bill designating the post office located at 630 northeast killingsworth avenue in portland, oregon, as the dr. martin luther king jr. post

office. dr. martin luther king jr. became one of the most important public figures of our time. his leadership in the civil rights movement helped make america the country it is today. because of his many accomplishments in the pursuant of justice and liberty, it's clear he deserve this is honor and recognition. he began his career as a baptist minister who was also a leading civil rights leader in the 1950's and 1960's. it's hard to forget his stirring and often-quoted "i have a dream" speech that established him as one of the great american orators of all time. his crusade to end all forms of racial inequity was crucial. his cry against segregation and other forms of discrimination brought this issue to the forefront of american culture. dr. king was awarded the nobel peace prize in 1964, which helped show the word that racial discrimination could be ended through nonviolent means. he was awarded the presidential

medal of freedom and congressional gold medal. in his recognition of many accomplishments for our country, congress established a national holiday as a tribute to his memory. as one of the most pivotal figures in the battle to end bigotry and discrimination on the basis of race, dr. king led the montgomery bus boycott in 1955, helped found the southern christian leadership conference in 1957, and was instrumental in orchestrating the famous birmingham, alabama, protests. realizing his message of freedom applied to all impoverished americans, he expanded his crusade to fair treatment for all citizens. he expanded his message to apply to all americans he expanded his outreach to all races and cultures he dedicated his lives to improving the issues this country holds dear. i would like to thank my

colleague, roy blumenauer, for introducing this legislation and reserve the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. lynch: i'm pleased to present h.r. 2971 for consideration. this legislation, as my colleague noted, will designate the united states postal facility located at 630 killingsworth avenue in portland, oregon as the dr. martin lulter king jr. post office. introduced on june 19, 2009, by my colleague representative earl blumenauer of oregon, h.r. 2971 was favorably reported out of the oversight committee on july 10, 2009, by unanimous consent. additionally this legislation enjoys the support of the entire oregon house delegation. mr. speaker, my friend from utah has articulated very well the life and legacy of dr. king

from his leadership on helping to organize the montgomery bus boycott in 1955, to his riveting "i have a dream" speech in front of the lincoln memorial, not far from this spot, and also the passion of his pursuit of nonviolent protests to change opinions, attitudes, and opportunity in this country. dr. king worked to remind this nation of its foundation in the natural god-given rights of all people so all people in this country would be free to preserve our goals and aspirations without limit. mr. speaker, it is my hope we can further honor the great life and legacy of dr. king by joining our colleague from the state of oregon in supporting the passage of this legislation

to designate the northeast killingsworth avenue post office in his honor. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting h.r. 2971 and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: i have no further desires for time and i'll continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah. mr. pa chaffetz: i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. lynch: i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of h.r. 2971 and yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2971. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

mr. lynch: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. lynch: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this will be postponed. for what purpose -- the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 3548 as

amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. h.r. 3548 a bill to amend toe supplemental act to provide for the temporary availability of certain additional emergency unemployment compensation and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott, and the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 3548. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, across america, there are people who are hanging on by a thin economic lifeline called unemployment insurance. without the passage of this bill, that thread will break for other one million workers before the end of this year.

plunging them and their families into an economic abyss and threatening to reverse the positive signs we are beginning to see in the economy. we could prevent that, this afternoon, by passing this bill. this legislation will provide an additional 13 weeks of extended benefits to individuals in hard-hit states, specifically those with a three-month average unemployment rate at or above 8.5%. it's important to note that this legislation is fully offset and does not increase the deficit. at the beginning of this year, america felt the bare knuckled brubt of what has already been called the great recession. excuse me. nearly 3/4 of a million jobs were lost in the month of january alone and we met the crisis head on. the steps we took earlier this year helped us turn away from an economic catastrophe and toward recovery.

don't take my word for it, former john mccain economic advisor mark zandee said, without the stimulus, job losses would have been immeasurably worse. even as economic indicators show improvement, we know we cannot replace seven million lost jobs overnight. recovery will take time. there are still six unemployed workers for every available job. so extended unemployment compensation isn't a convenience. it's a necessity. since i introduced this legislation two weeks ago, my office phones have been ringing nonstop with calls from americans all across the country who have exhausted or soon will exhaust their benefits asking when is it going to pass. i've heard from paraplegics who cannot find jobs because attorneys are competing against them for employment, from contractors who are still reeling from the collapse of the housing market and from

school teachers whose local school districts could not afford to keep them on the payroll. without quick action, they will become unable to afford their mortgages or health coverage. providing these americans with modest economic lifeline is not only the humane thing to do but it's in the economic interest of the country. every u.i. dollar generates $1.6 in positive impact -- $1.64 in the positive impact in the economy. that supports existing jobs and our fragile housing market. in other words, u.i., unemployment insurance, is a win for every american. i urge all members to support this bipartisan budget neutral bill to extend unemployment benefits, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker.

i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 3548, the unemployment compensation extension act. this legislation provides up to three months additional federal extended unemployment benefits to long-term unemployed individuals and states where the unemployment rate is 8.5% or higher. that's on top of the 18 months of state and federal unemployment benefits already available in places with un employment at those levels. folks could potentially up to 21 months of combined unemployment benefits. right now more than half of the states will benefit from this bill. an incredible 29 states are struggling with unemployment rates of 8.5% or higher. in my home state of kentucky, the unemployment rate is 11.1%, leaving more than one out of every 10 kentuckians out of work. that's a staggering number. the fact that we're here today discussing a measure that will provide americans with nearly two years' worth of unemployment benefits is yet another sign of the failure of this administration's stimulus plan to create jobs.

nothing establishes that more clearly than the economic trends in states like the commonwealth of kentucky. since 2009 when the stimulus law was signed almost 38,000 kentuckians have been added to the unemployment rolls and it's surged from 9.3% in february to 11.1% today. in the past year nearly 123,000 kentuckians have claimed emergency unemployment benefits after their traditional benefits expired. every week between 800 and 1200 kentucky residents are running out of benefits. early this month the governor sent letter to the kentucky delegation stating that the loss of unemployment benefits would be devastating to many families and will only sink kentucky further behind in the race towards economic recovery. state and federal unemployment accounts are already drained and we're headed for more than $100 billion deficits in these supposed trust funds by the end of 2010. about $200 billion deficits by

the end of 2012. all of that spending will come at a huge price which could require a doubling or more of state payroll taxes and possibly federal tax hikes as well. payroll tax hikes mean a tax on jobs and ultimately on job creation which brings us back to the real point of jobs. in february, the administration promised the stimulus plan will create 3 1/2 million jobs. we're still waiting. while the administration claims to save three million or more jobs, in the real world, they've witnessed the destruction of three million jobs since the beginning of this year. the administration promised that national unemployment would not exceed 8%. it's now 9.7% nationally and the president says he now expects it to exceed 10% by the end of the year. larry summers, chair of the president's national economic council said that the level of unemployment is unacceptably high and will remain so for a number of years. it's time to provide much-needed help and assistance to the millions of americans who are struggling in states with outrageous unemployment

rates. they should not suffer for the failure of this administration's poll sifments i support these extended benefits and h.r. 3548 to help long-term unemployed workers in kentucky and other states where jobs are the hardest to find. but we need to move to the primary task of creating jobs instead of undermining job creation. until we do that we're missing the point. what americans want is jobs, not handouts from the government. but that's sure not what they're getting right now. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the majority leader, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman from washington, the chair of the subcommittee for yielding. i thank mr. davis for his support in facile stating this coming to the floor. mr. speaker, -- and facilitating this coming to the floor. mr. speaker, it's clear to me

and i think others that the economic policies that we put in place helping to -- are helping to pull our country out of recession. this month the blue chip economic survey confirmed that 81% of leading economists believe that the recession is over. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke recently stated that he agrees. nonpartisan economic analysts agree that the actions taken by the obama administration and our congress, including the american recovery and reinvestment act, were critical to stabilizing our economy and putting us back on a path to recovery. the nonpartisan congressional budget office, moody's, and the council of economic advisors, all concluded that our economy has approximately one million more jobs than it would have had if the recovery act had not been -- if the recovery act had not been passed. the recovery act kept six million americans from falling below the poverty line and reduce the severity of poverty

for 33 million americans. whether we're republicans or democrats, those are results we can all cheer because they mean economic security for the people we represent. however, mr. speaker, it's clear to all of us that unemployment remains a problem for millions of american families. the headlines may say that our recession is over, but for those individuals who remain out of work, this is still a time of hardship and struggle. according to the c.b.o., it has also become clear that the hole we are climbing out of was deeper than we knew. now we know that the economy was even worse shape than economists realized when president obama took office in january. though unemployment continues to strain families in all of our districts, job losses have been steadily decreasing under the last three months under this administration with last month's figures the best in

over a year. but while job losses have slowed, it will take some time before we can reverse the losses that economists agree began nearly two years ago and start creating enough jobs for people who have been out of work. long-term unemployment, mr. speaker, remains at its highest rate since we began measuring in 1948. over 33% of the total unemployed have been out of work for more than 26 weeks. thereby requiring this legislation. even as our country emerges from an economic crisis, hundreds of thousands of americans and their families face a more personal crisis. at the end of this month, if we do not act, their unemployment insurance will run out. even though they continue to look for work. many of these workers are middle-class americans. many of them lost their jobs without notice. according to a recent unemployment survey conducted by the center for work force

development at rutgers, and i quote, six in 10 of those whose employer had let them go had no advance warning. adding to the pain for many, nearly 4-10 said they had been employed by their company for more than three years and 1-10 for more than a decade. in other words, americans thought were stable jobs and made commitments based on those jobs like mortgages, college payments, auto payments found themselves out of work without warning leaving them and their families in dire straits. for their sake, this bill extends for up to 13 weeks the unemployment benefits of more than 300,000 american workers, our fellow citizens, through no fault of their own find themselves without a job, without a livelihood, without a way to support themselves and their families. i know that some argue that unemployment insurance can be

an incentive to not seek a job at all, but that argument doesn't hold water for the workers who are the target of this bill. workers in the states with unemployment rates over 8.5%. the states in which an honest effort to find work is most likely to be frustrated. we chose to target those workers who are still having difficult finding a job, not because they're failing to give their best effort but because the economic climate of their state is still difficult. now, very frankly, mr. speaker, my state will not qualify. that's the good news. but for those unemployed, the bad news perhaps. but not only is supporting job seeking work is the right thinking to do, extending unemployment insurance benefits all of us. that's because the money provided is quickly spent on necessary its which provides an immediate boost to local economies. mr. speaker, an extension of unemployment insurance is supported by a bipartisan coalition of governors who understand its benefits for

their economies and their families. they right that the unemployment -- they write that the unemployment benefits have, quote, offer relief each month for families across the country and have played a critical role in stabilizing the economy, and that these benefits, they say, must be extended. i would also add that because this bill is fully paid for it doesn't add to the deficit. in eight months we have come a long way. a long way in recovering from the recession inherited by this administration. but we cannot forget. we must not forget that those whom the recovery has not yet reached which is why i urge my colleagues to support this important bill and why i thank mr. mcdermott and mr. davis for their leadership in bringing this bill to the floor in an appropriate time frame so we can get relief to those people before their benefits run out. and i yield back the balance of

my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland yields. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis, is recognized. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert in the record a recent article about an innovative and bipartisan georgia program designed to help unemployed workers get back on the job quickly. the program's called georgia works, allows unemployed workers to go to work for selected businesses for up to 24 hours a week for eight weeks. unemployment benefits serve as the worker's salaries and the state pays up to $300 a month to cover childcare, transportation and related work costs. workers get a solid foot in the door to maintain and build work skills and taxpayers get lower taxes in the form of shorter unemployment benefits and a quicker return to work. this is a win-win program that other states will do well to replicate workers to get back to work more quickly. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i

yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it is vital this bill be before us, and i congratulate our chairman and the ranking member for bringing it here. they and our leader have outlined the facts. almost 15 million unemployed, the highest since 1939. and about a third have been long-term unemployed six months or more. and in august, 27 states saw their unemployment rates increase, and 42 states saw losses in jobs. so i urge we have three alternatives. we can say to the millions who are unemployed get looking, get

lost or you're getting some help. get looking, they're looking. they're looking. it's a requirement of unemployment comp. i want to read something was said over the phone to us this morning. a gentleman by the name of larry spani erving leski from michigan out of work since may, 2008, he has 10 weeks of benefits left. and if we don't extend it he'll exhaust those benefits before the end of the year. he said, and i quote, this was taken down by my office, you know, i never thought this would happen to me. i have never been unemployed before. this economy is unlike anything i could ever imagine. i am very grateful for each extension of benefits, but i really want to get back to

work. there is this misconception that people like me are sitting back and waiting for the next unemployment check. i really, really want to get back to work. i want to get back to doing my part and earning a paycheck. this unemployment is agony, it really is. i'm just waiting for the right phone call -- mr. mcdermott: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. mr. levin: thank you. and i will repeat what he said to conclude. i'm just waiting for the right phone call, come to work. i don't think this first alternative applies. he like millions of others are looking, six for every job. i don't think we can say to larry spanieleski, or millions

of others, get lost. that's not this country. so what we're saying today is, you're going to be getting some help. you've worked for it. he worked 20 years, a steelworker, and i think never unemployed before. i'm glad this is bipartisan. this needs a bipartisan response in the best traditions of this house and in the best traditions of our beloved country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance. the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott is recognized. mr. mcdermott: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: mr. davis is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank chairman

mcdermott for yielding and i want to commend him and the ranking member for expeditiously getting this legislation to the floor. mr. speaker, when president obama took office, we were in the middle of an economic recession, which showed itself for real in december of 2007. notwithstanding economic recovery are activities, stimulus activities, green initiatives, and other efforts that are beginning to take hold, we still hear the song, and i turned my radio on just the other day, i heard a song from probably the 1970's that said every morning about this time, she brings my breakfast to the bed, crying. get a job. it said, when i read the papers, i read it through and

through, trying to see if there's any work for me to do. unfortunately, for many people, there is no work for them to do at the moment. but we know that the time is coming. but in the meantime, they need help. the help we can give them today is the help of knowing that their unemployment benefits are extended. that's the very least we can do while we continue to work to try to make sure that our economy regroups, reenergizes itself, that that song does not have to be played, "get a job." i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis is recognized. mr. davis: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington,

mr. mcdermott is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers. if mr. davis wants to speak to end, then i'll speak and we'll be done. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky, mr. davis, is recognized. mr. davis: as i said in the opening statement, i truly urge support for h.r. 3548 to help unemployed workers in states with the highest unemployment rates, including my home state of kentucky. we also need to redouble our efforts to focus on creating jobs, especially those that would allow americans to take an all of the above energy policy. as our democratic majority leader in the state house said, if we would do that, we could have a third industrial revolution across the heartland. what americans want are jobs, not handouts. even as we help those in places where jobs are the hardest to find, promoting job growth should be our number one

priority. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott is recognized. mr. mcdermott: i want to begin by thanking the minority on the committee, the subcommittee, for being supportive of bringing this bill out here. we did not go through some of the usual procedures, we brought it out straight to the floor. i think that their cooperation should be recognized, because it is a reflection of the fact that everybody in this house cares about the american people. we all want people to have a job and we want them to have some way to sustain themselves until this economy begins to open up again. one of the interesting things about period in our economic history that's been pointed out by some economists, there have been three real recessions. one was 19 306789 -- was 1930. in in that recessionmark workers never returned to the work they did before. rather than going back to the

farms, they went, they moved to the cities and that was a major shift in what's happening. in the 1980 recession, many workers were able to go back to the work they'd done before. the question that our country faces right now is, will we be able to go back to what we had before, or will we create a new economy. i think that this bill will give us a chance to get the industries, the new industry the green industries and so forth up and running so we can return people to gainful employment. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3548 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- mr. davis: i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the

yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking the vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the house will stand in recess subject to the call of the chair.%

we haven't seen a lot of the flu outbreak. georgetown is at the head of the pack with about 50 cases reported. but that compares to the northwest, where at washington state university, they now have 2,000 cases on campus. so we're still seeing a relatively mild outbreak here. thankfully, mason is still at the bottom of the list, with only a handful of flu cases, and we hope that you're going to stay that way. we want ta talk about some strategies to do that one of the reasons we're here is to make it very clear that healthy

kids are at risk with this flu. it targets a younger population and even the invincible college students are likely to be targets of this flu and so we want to talk a little bit about ways to keep you safe and to keep you healthy. we've been working on ways to get information out in interesting ways, knowing that as the mother of two 20-somethings, i'm well aware of different community case strategies used by younger americans. it brings me to the other reason we're here, we get to announce today the winning video in our national p.s.a. contest, that's been held. you're going to find out, you'll be the first to know, who were the best videos in our contest and the expert panel who narrowed the selection and final he youtube audience where

over 50,000 people took place in the vote about the winner. but we're going to continue to have the same advice. important step, get vaccinated. right now, seasonal flu vaccine is available. you've already had one clinic here on campus. i think your director of health services has assured me there will be more. it's easy to do. but get that out of the way right now. by mid october, we'll have the availability of h1n1. i know there is a vaccination clinic planned here at the school. so again, easy to do. in the meantime, simple steps, wash your hands frequently, cough or sneeze into your elbow or a handkerchief, not into your hands, because hands transmit. wipe down computer beekey boards and doorknobs, things you touch all the time. it's a very easy way to transmit the flu. and if you're sick, stay home.

or stay in school. it's easier to pass this from person to person if you're in close proximity. so we've asked for schools to think about ways to get through to kids who might be sick and need to stay in a dorm room where to move, healthy roommates or sick kids, isolate a little bit so we don't spread this from person to person. so we're trying to mitigate as much as possible until we can vaccinate. that really is the best defense about getting this brand new flu virus. we're hopeful that you'll help us spread the word about prevention. we have a great website, www.flu.gov. hopefully you'll visit it and get the up to date information on a regular basis. now i'm pleased to turn over the floor to my great partner, secretary of education arnie dodd.

[applause] >> thank you so much, i'm flilled to be here at george mason. we talk about educating our way to a bet -- to a better economy. professor, i want to thank you for your leadership, give him a big round of applause. as secretary sebelius said, college campuses like here at george mason have so far, we think, done an extraordinary job of flarning h1n1. we've learned a tremendous amount from spring and the spirit of teamwork and cooperation has been remarkable. secretary sebelius at her team at h.s.s. and c.d.c. and others have been remarkable partners to make sure we keep our students safe and healthy. as she said, thus far, the d.c. area has been spared a major outbreak of the disease. we have seen campuses nationwide, both small schools

and large universities, impacted by h1n1. she said it's so important, this is a threat that owl of us must take seriously. when we created the h1n1 guidance this summer for colleges and university we set out to make it balanced, measured and as clear and concise as possible. most importantly, it reflects the best science available. our goal is simple to keep our students healthy, safe, and continuing to learn. we provided a menu of strategies institutions can use to keep their facilities open while doing what they can to reduce exposure of students, staff, and faculty to the flu, especially those at high risk for complications from the flu. based on the experience and knowledge gained last spring we recognize the potential benefits of preemptively dismissing students from schools are often outweighed by negative consequences and no one size fits all plan should be aflide schools. as secretary sebelius said,

you're at the front line of the virus and we ask you to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly and most importantly stay home from class if you're not dealing -- feeling well and showing symptoms of flu. your campus health center is a tremendous resource for you so please use it. we're asking students to rely on each other. your roommates, friends, and classmates are your best allies to combat the flu. make schuur you're helping out with missed assignments, bringing meals to each other and doing what it takes to keep those who have the virus away from campus and on the road to recovery. as secretary of education, i'm supposed to encourage you to stay in school, and i am, but i want to make sure we're taking appropriate actions to prevent the virus enter spreading. as secretary sebelius said, please get vaccinated when the vaccine is available in the coming weeks. i'm confident if all of us do our part, all of us step up, we

can combat the spread of this virus and we look forward to a great fall and winter, not just here at george mason but around the country. i'll turn it over to dr. bare yoss from the c.d.c. to give an update about the virus. >> thank you, secretary duncan and secretary sebelius. as secretary sebelius noted, colleges are being hit hard by the flu. our colleagues a thet american college health association have set up a terrific tracking system in order to be able to monitor flu cases at colleges and universities across the country. they're see regular ports of new cases of flu all across the country at colleges and universities. the cases are increasing every week. of course, the virus isn't only on college campuses, we are now -- there are now 21 states reporting widespread flu activity. so it's really spreading across

the country. this is something we don't normally see at this time of year. it's quite unusual to be having such widespread flu activity right now. and it's nearly all the novel h1n1 virus that we're seeing. as you've heard this virus is affecting young people. it's infecting young people more, affecting young people more than a seasonal influenza virus typically does. fit continues to be the dominant virus, we are expecting that the pattern will remain the same. although most cases with this virus have been less to moderately severe, when you start to see a lot of case that means you're more likely to see more hospitalizations and more deaths from the virus. that's why we all keep saying that vaccination is so important. you yao can and should go out right now and get your seasonal flu vaccine.

as you've heard, the h1n1 vaccine has been approved and will be available within the next few weeks. it's going to be starting to come out. college students are basically all within one of those -- those first priority groups. so you need to be thinking about when you can go and get both the seasonal flu vaccine and the h1n1 vaccine. meanwhile, please remember that there are a number of steps you can take in order to remain healthy and decrease the spread of the flu. first and foremost, stay home if you feel ill. stay in your dorm room if you live on campus. and if you become ill and you're in a group that is at higher risk for complications from the flu, then you really need to talk to your doctor, your health care provider, as soon as possible. those groups include people who have chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes, these are pretty common conditions

even among young people. you need to know that if you have those conditions or are pregnant, have other chronic conditions that put you at high risk that you need to speak a health care provider as soon as you can when you become ill in order to talk about anti-viral treatments. anti-virals do decrease the risk of serious complications and illness from the flu if they're taken early. at c.d.c., we'll continue to monitor the spread and the severity of the flu illness around the country. we'll be looking for any changes that might mean that the virus is becoming more severe. we've also released guidance for colleges and universities in order to help us all reach our goals of decreasing ex-pe sure to the flu while also balancing that with the -- with an attempt to maintain the vital academic activities that go on in colleges and universities. if things change, we might

release new guidance, but regardless, information and guidance that's up to date can all be found always at the flu.gov website. thank you, i'm going to turn it back to secretary duncan and secretary sebelius. [applause] >> we get to the fun part of the program we get to announce the winning video, the flu prevention p.s.a. was open to anyone over the age of 14 with a camcorder, digital camera or iphone. people were invited to produce p.s.a. on how to prevent the spread of the flu. they are posted on youtube and the public voted on the best p.s.a. this may be a nontraditional public health campaign, not something you expect from the federal bureaucracy, but h1n1 is not the sort of flu we've seen in recent years, we wanted to take it seriously. this is a way to spread the

word on prevention. our three finalists are with us here today. andrew stair is from la merida, california, his view of animated immune system is called "help stop flu." can you give him a round of applause. [applause] thank you so much. chris simblak is here, his video shows the importance of hand washing. it's called "the invisible flu." give him a rouvend of applause. [applause] . >> the third finalist had the winning video, rather than describe the video, i want you to see it yourself. before i tell you about it, though, and you get to see it, i want to say that our final finalist winner is also a doctor who has been doing

health videos of various kinds for a wile while, i'm anxious to see them, and also a parent of two wonderful young children who are in this target population so my guess is this is something that he takes up close and personal. let's look at his winning video. ♪ h1n1 protection intervention here i come to make your head numb got to stop the bug if you have it stay at home so you don't spread it coughed up germs spread wash your hands for protection count for 20 seconds it makes germ drice when you rub and let it dry

don't touch your eyes mouth nose face long-term outcome never sing again from the h1n1. >> i'm dr. john cloork. before i wrote my clerks i went to flu.gov and got some great information. log on to flu.gov and together we can stop the h 12346rbings1. -- the 4 -- the h1n1. [applause] >> dr. john clark, the hip-hop doctor, is ginning us on stage. we're pleased to have you here as the winner dr. clark. it's a $2,500 gift certificate. more importantly, his video will be shown as i think a number of the finalists will be shown on national tv, certainly on youtube and get our word out how important it is to protect from the h1n1 virus. >> thank you. first of all, i would like to thank god and my wife, she

actually suggested that i do a song on h1n1 so back in may, i started writing it and roughly -- actually august 13 is when i found out about the contest so i called up my cousin, we got the camera and went and filmed it, made it into the by the deadline. i would like to thank the voters, people who went on youtube, people who did blogs and twitter. i was kind of new to youtube, i learned a lot. i would also like to thank secretary sebelius and the u.s. department of health and human services because they got me involved in youtube and i think this was a great effort, it forced a lot of people who may have otherwise not looked at h1n1 prevention to get involved and of course all the finalists and everyone who entered a video, i think should be proud and consider themselves a winner because i think that every video may have impacted people and taught them about prevention.

thanks again and long-term outcome we'll see the income never sick again from the h1n1 ♪ thank you. [applause] >> ok, now we're going to a question and answer session. >> so, i want to start the discussion off, i'm a college student myself and i know we are all busy, we spent hours studying after class, work out, have student activities, work part-time jobs as well and we have a great time on the

weekends, so, this is directed to all of you, how are we supposed to distinguish from getting run down, or a common cold or actually having the h1n1 flu and what do we need to do to get checked out. >> i'll take a crack at that and let the doctor follow up with the more serious signs. first of all, i think it really doesn't matter what kind of flu you have, the treatment is pretty much the same and most people will have a flu-like experience but not any serious ramifications. what we know about this flu, though, is it travels quickly. that's why we say stay home. go to bed, get some sleep, take something to keep your fever down, and drink lots of liquids. in a couple of days, most folks will be fine. try not to be in close proximity with a roommate or you know, your boyfriend or girlfriend or you know friends

at parties because that's a good way to share this. this flu travels very quickly so if you -- if you don't want to get other people sick, staying out of the traffic for a while. but i'd like dr. bare yoss to talk about those -- dr. bare yose too talk -- doctor barrios to talk about these cases where it is more important. we don't recommend everyone get tested, if you have a mild case, don't go to the doctor or emergency room, going to present like the flu for most folks. there are some cases that are more serious. >> sure. most folks of the time you can tell when you have the flu. versus a cold. typically, typical symptoms are fever with cough, sore throat, maybe runny and stuffy nose, body aches, and with this h1n1

virus a significant number of people have been experiencing things like vomiting and die reaa as well, which is not as common with the seasonal flu. those are sort of the basic things. they tend to be running their course in about two to four days in most cases, which are, as the secretary said, basically less severe. if somebody starts to develop symptoms like their skin is turning bluish or purplish or grayish, they have a -- their fever goes away and then comes back a few days later, their -- they're really lethargic, can't get out of bed, especially for children if they're really cranky and don't want to eat, don't want to drink, those are the kinds of symptoms you've got something really serious going on. and you need to talk to a health care provider right away. and this is one of those things that's very important on college campuses, we are

suggesting that people stay in their rooms if they're living on campus or stay at home 23 they're leaving off campus so it's really important that people get together with friends or family members or others in order to check on folks who are isolating in their rooms and make sure that they're not developing that kind of severe symptoms and need to be seen by a health care provider. >> the good news is the flu is pretty responsive to anti-virals, so again, everybody doesn't need to get tamiflu or relenza, they don't need to take it, but for people who are experiencing what dr. barrios just described, we recommend going to a health care provider. it's pretty responsive to anti-virals. the other thing that's scary that we've seen and i would just strongly urge people not to do it, is taking anti-virals to try and not get the flu. it's like the worst idea.

because what we're seeing is, people taking it in advance, it doesn't keep you from getting the flu and it may actually low you are your resistance so you get sicker if you get the flu. it's a catch-22. there are people who say my sister got the flu, so i'm going to take tamiflu to not get it or my college roommate got it, i'm going to get a prescription. that's bad advice. >> ok, well in general we want audience members to come up and ask questions so with that being said, if you have questions, come up, we'll call on you. another question i want to know, this is in general, it goes to the approach that students tend to be young and healthy, right, and in general, we want to know -- young and stupid we want to know why we should get vaccinated first, if we're so young and invincible. >> that comes to the final part of the sort of young and

invincible. i think this is a brand new virus. what we know is people don't have built in immunity and the younger you get, the less immunity you have. for some reason, older americans who usually are the victims of seasonal flu are more resistant to this 146rbings n 1 than anybody. we've got good vaccination news which is that feeks down to the age of 9 will only need one dose of vaccination, one shot or one dose and they have an immune response. younger children are beginning -- going to need two because they have less immunity. vaccination is the best defense about virus that you've never seen. what we know is that, even though it's just the flu, you know a lot of people are saying, what's the big deal? this is just the flu. just the flu every year kills 36,000 americans, over 200,000 people are hospitalized year in and year out.

there are millions of cases. so just the flu cutting thru schools and campuses and day care centers has a huge impact, not only on the health of younger folks, but also people need to stay home with their kids if their kids are sick they need to miss work, they need to -- schools might need to close. so we're -- we think vaccination, which actually gives you some immune response, not only this year but in years to follow, is by far the best idea. and it's easy. it's going to be easy here at mason. your school health center will have a site here and have vaccine available. we have ordered enough vaccine so everybody is going to be able to get vaccinated who wants it. but the target population, anybody who is pregnant, young americans from age 6 months to 24 years, care givers of infants, infants aren't

recommended for vaccination, so any parent or grandparent or nanny of a baby, we would strongly urge to be vaccinated. health care workers. i see we have some studying health care workers here. they need to be at the front of the line. they're more likely to be in touch with sickness. then older americans, particularly with underlying health conditions, asthma, diabetes, any of the chronic illnesses. so those are kind of the priority groups to hopefully get it earlier because those are the groups who we saw in the spring and summer who are likely to get sicker than others. but anybody who wants a vaccine, there'll be plenty available as it begins to roll along. >> all right. good answer. so my other question is, if a student gets sick with the flu and -- what would you advise a student to do, if they -- do you think there would be any

special arrangements do, we get a free pass to get out of class or practice? >> it is so important that anybody stay home when they become ill. this virus spreads from person to person really easily. you may not be at high risk, but the person next to you might be. and it's really hard to know. so it's really an important thing for your whole community that if you feel sick, you need to stay home. in our guidance for colleges and universities, we are recommending that they think about their policies they review policies for faculty and staff in order to make it easier for people to stay home when they're sick or need to care for a sick family member, and that also that they do think about the students as well, many students are going to push themselves to go to class to take a test, to -- or

to play on a sports team, all sorts of activities if they don't feel well. we're all used to doing that. in this case we need to make a shift in how we think about things and try to stay home. we ask faculty members and college and university administrators, do think about ways to make that easier for students to feel able to stay at home and recover. >> thank you. i remember you talking about how the odds of this becoming an outbreak are not so much, it's rare, but are there any situations in which it would be possible for a university to close or totally cancel classes because o-- because of the flu? >> i'll ask secretary duncan who has been working not only with college and universities, but also with schools across the country to talk about what we knew last spring and what we know now. >> we haven't seen any universities closed yet, which has been great. we're trying as much as we can to keep our institutions whether it's colleges or high

schools or elementary schools open, to keep sick kids out. we have seen about -- as of today, like 40 schools around the country, in three states, close. luckily they have been for short amounts of time. that decision, when to close, will be made at local levels, that's not something we decide, that's going to be local principals and health officials, but the time to close is when you have a critical mass of students or teachers unable to work, unable to show up. but we see the consequence of closing schools are pretty high. it's tough on working family, where do children go for day care, so as much as we can, we're trying to keep elementary schools, high schools, universities open, keep sick kids home or in the dorms. to date we haven't seen a university closed yet. universities have done creative things, creating dormitories for people who are sick, keeping them for a few days until they're over their fever. >> so i wanted to ask, what

does the vaccination entail, for those not good with needles and doctors, and will the school pay for the vaccination as well or will it be free? >> congress at the president's request appropriated money in the supplemental bill that was passed several months ago to say that the first priority, really is safety and security. what we knew is this was a brand new virus, nobody had immunity to it. it was spreading not only throughout this country but around the world. we have about 120 countries around the world seeing this virus. first of all they asked the department of health and human services to accelerate the development of the vaccine and you have to identify the virus, got to make sure you've got the right vaccine for the right virus and then we are now working with five manufacturers to produce the virus. the good news is, the clinical trial says we're right on target, got the right virus,

got a vaccine that's effective against that virus and there are no big red flags. we know that one dose will work for most folks. there'll be some choice of vaccine, some of the vaccine is going to be produced in a nasal mist. others will be traditional, you know in a syringe. so i don't know exactly what will arrive here at mason, but there may be choice of which vaccine to take. the vaccine is free. whether there'll be an administration charge is kind of left up to the places, but congress is really -- has really appropriated funds to get america vaccinated. we don't want a barrier of do you have health insurance or not, do you have the cash or not, we want to make sure that people are table get it. schools are great partners, giving the age of the target

population, we're going to have school sites, i think, across this country who are going to have vaccination campaigns and colleges and universities, health clinics, traditional doctors officers, so 90,000 sites have been identified by states who have done this planning and we're trying to make it as easy as possible for people to get vaccinated. >> ok. somebody else one at a time we can take questions from the audience. >> first of all, thank you dr. barrios, secretary duncan and secretary sebelius for coming to george mason today. my question is, once the vaccine becomes available, will it be available to all college campuses across the country or select campuses, and if it is select campuses, how are you selecting those campuss? >> we didn't do any of the selection at the department or the department of education. what was said to governors across the country is, you all need to work with your local health departments, and school officials and others, to

develop a vaccination plan. here's who the target population is. you all figure out what the best sites are in virginia and in california and in florida and in kansas and colorado to reach those populations and then we'll distribute the vaccine to those sites. so it all won't be available at the same time, the bulk will start flowing about the middle of october and then it will keep flowing, you know, every week. and so there'll be ramping up to a robust amount. there will be plenty of vaccine for everybody. but actually, the local health officials have determined what the best sites are in every location and hopefully that will be advertised well in states around the country where people can go, how to make it easy. in schools, anybody, you know, parents are going to have to sign consent forms for their kids, we're working closely with schools to get those

forms, into backpacks and home to parents so that there are -- there aren't those barriers to get kids vaccinated. >> i will add quickly, the vaccine is coming in the next couple of weeks, it's coming pretty soon. we want people to use the next couple of weeks to plan. forms are on the web now, parents should get them filled out now. universities and schools should be planning how to administer the vaccine. is a big university, if it's done here, how do you handle so many students? the next couple of weeks is critical so we have a smooth ability to get the vaccinations done as quickly as possible. >> we have one question, last question. >> i'm a resident advisor here for 73 residents, i've dealt with the flu in my hall already. i guess my question would be, normally you can have people go home and be sloirble isolated, but however in the dorms or the

residence halls, how do we plan for that isolation and how do we take further steps to make sure that the flu doesn't spread throughout the halls, even while they're isolated, especially in an parnlt setting? >> right. we are suggesting a variety of different ways you could go about doing this it's going to be different at every college and university, probably different from dorm to dorm within a university and how you can handle it. the most important thing is just to try to keep sick people away from healthy people as much as possible. if people can go home, back to their families' home off campus, that's the best first thing to do. as you heard, some places have taken people who are ill and put them into a separate housing situation in order to remove them from that area. if people have a single room or just one roommate, have a private bathroom, it's not a big deal. when you get into having a lot

of shared liveling spaces, shared bathrooms and kitchens, it becomes much more difficult. in those situations, think about other ways you can reduce the spread so that means things like, if the sick person needs to be in close contact within about six feet of other people, then -- and if they can tolerate it, they should wear a mask. and also, just cleaning, routine cleaning, nothing really crazy needs to go on, no fumigating necessary but you know, just sort of wiping down surfaces in the bathrooms and kitchens and common areas that people are frequently touching would be -- would go a huge way toward keeping the transmission down. >> this has been a great discussion. i want to thank you all for coming out today. if you want to get more flu on the -- more information about the flu, visit flu.gov.

i want to give a round of applause to our speakers. [applause] >> house members are on a break before holding recorded votes at 6:30 p.m. eastern. they'll be able to give special order speeches at this time. 15 bills on the calendar today, including one extending unemployment benefits for the hardest-hit states. also possible later this week, work on providing temporary funding for the federal government. more live house coverage when the gavel comes down here on c-span. and on c pan 3 -- on c-span3

now, live coverage of the senate markup of health care legislation. members have been working through amendments today and are expected to continue work in the committee through tomorrow and possibly the end of the week. you can see that hearing live right now on c-span3 and on c-span.org. >> see personal interviews with every supreme court justice, current and retired, during c-span's supreme court week. get an insider's view of the people and places that make up the nation's highest court. >> often, when i go home at night, the building is vacant and i walk through the great hall and i look around at the pillars and it really impresses upon me the importance of the work that we're doing. as many times as i've walked through that hall, it never ceases to have that impression on me. >> supreme court week, starts october 4 on c-span. and for a behind the scenes sneak peek, connect to c-span through twitter, facebook, and

youtube. >> up next, president obama on climate change from today's united nains general assembly meeting. he's followed by remarks from other world leaders taking part in the climate change summit. >> thank you. thank you very much. good morning. i want to thank the secretary general for organizing this summit and all the leaders who are participating. that so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing. our generation's response to this challenge will be judged by history. if we fail to meet it boldly, swiftly, and together, we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe. no nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can

escape the impact of climate change. rising sea levels threaten every coastline. more powerful storms and floods threaten every continent. more frequent droughts and crop failures breed tonguer and -- hunger and conflict in places where hunger and conflict already thrive. on shrinking islands, families are being forced to flee their homes as climate ref zwhreesm security and stability of each nation and all people, our prosperity, our health, and our safety are in jeopardy. and the time we have to reverse this tide is running out. and yet, we can reverse it. john f. kennedy once observed that our problems are manmade, therefore they may be solved by man. it is true that for too many years, mankind has been slow to

respond or even recognize the magnitude of the climate threat. it is true of my own country as well. we recognize that. but this is a new day. it is a new era. i'm proud to say that the united states has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history. we are making our government's largest ever investment in renewable energy, an investment aimed at doubling the generating capacity from wind and other renewable resources in three years. across america, entrepreneurs are constructing wind turbines and solar panels and batteries for hybrid cars with the help of loan guarantees and tax credits, projects that are creating new jobs and new industries. we're investing billions to cut energy waste in our homes, buildings, and appliances, helping american families save

money on energy bills in the process. we've proposed the very first national policy aimed at both increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and strucks a standard that will also save consumers money and our nation oil. we're moving forward with our nation's first offshore wind energy projects. we're investing billions to capture carbon pollution so we can clean up our coal plants and just this week, we announced for the first time ever, we'll begin tracking how much greenhouse gas pollution is being emitted throughout the country. late they are week, i'll work with my colleagues at the g20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so we can better address our climate challenge. already we know that the recent dop in overall u.s. emissions is due in part to steps that promote greater efficiency and greater use of renewable energy. most importantly, the house of

representatives passed an energy and climate bill in june that would finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy for american businesses and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. one committee has already acted on this bill in the senate. i look forward to engaging with others as we move forward. because no one nation can meet this challenge alone, the united states has also engaged more allies and partners in finding a solution than ever before. in april, we convened the first of what have now been six meetings of the major economies forum on energy and climate. in trinidad, i proposed an energy and climate partnership for americas. we worked to promote new technologies in the developinged were. we've put climate at the top of our diplomatic agenda when it comes to relationships with

countries like china, brazil, india, mexico, from the continent of africa to the continent of europe. taken together, these steps represent a historic recognition on behalf of the american people and their government. we understand the gravity they have climate threat. we are determined to act. we will meet our response to believe the future generations. but though many of our nation have taken bold action and share in this determination, we did not come here to celebrate progress today. we came because there is so much more progress to be made. we came because there's so much more work to be done. it is work that will not be easy. as we head toward copenhagen, there should be no illusions that the hardest part of our journey is in front of us. we seek sweeping but necessary change in the midst of a global

recession where every nation's most immediate priority is reviving their economy and putting people back to work. so all of us will face doubts and difficulties in our own capitals as we try to reach a lasting solution to the climate challenge. but i'm here today to say that difficulty is no excuse for complacency. unease is no excuse for inaction. we must not allow the perfect to become the enemy of progress. each of us must do what we can, when we can, to glow our economies without endangering our planet and we must all do it together. we must seize the opportunity to make copenhagen a significant step forward in the global fight against climate change. we also cannot allow the old divisions that have characterized the climate debate for so many years to block our progress. yes, the developed nations that caused much of the damage to

our climate over the last century still have a responsibility to lead. that includes the united states. we will continue to do so by investing in renewable energy and promoting greater efficient sid and slashing our emissions to reach the targets we set for 2020 and our long-term goal for 2050. but those rapidly growing and developing nations that will produce nearly all the growth in global carbon emissions in the decades ahead must do their part as well. some of these nations have already made great strides with the development and deployment of clean energy. still they need to commit to strong measures at home and agree to stand behind those commitments just as the developed nations must stand behind their own. we cannot meet this challenge unless all the largest emitters of greenhouse gas pollution act together. there's no other way. we must also energize our

efforts to put other developing nations, especially the poorest and most vulnerable on a path toward sustainable growth. these nations don't have the same resources to combat climate change as the united states or china do. but they have the most immediate stake in a solution. these are the nations already living with the unfolding effects of a climate change, famine, drought, disappearing coastal villages and the conflicts that arise from scarce resources. their future is no longer a choice between a growing economy and a greener planet because their survival depends on both. we'll do little good to alleviate poverty if you can no longer harvest your crops or find drinkable water. that's why we have a responsibility to provide the financial and technical assistance needed to help these nations adapt to the impacts of climate change and pursue low

carbon development. what we're seeking is not simply an agreement to limit greenhouse gags emissions we seeng an agreement to allow all nations to grow and raise living standards without endangering the planet. by developing and disseminating clean technology and sharing our know-how, we can help developing nations leapfrog dirty energy technologies and reduce dangerous emissions. mr. speaker, as we meet here today, the good news -- mr. secretary, as we meet here today, the good news is after too many years of action and denial, there's widespread recognition of the urgentcy of the challenge before us. we know what needs to be done. we know our planet's future depends on a global commitment to permanently reduce greenhouse gas pollution. we know that if we put the right rules and incentives in place, we will unleash the creative power of our best scientists and engineers and

entrepreneurs to build a better world. and so many nations have already take then first step on the journey toward that goal. but the journey is long. and the journey is hard. we don't have much time left to make that journey. it's a journey that will require each of us to persevere through setbacks and fight for every inch of progress, even when it comes in fits and starts. so let us begin. if we are flexible and pragmatic, if we can resolve to work tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose. a world that is safer, cleaner, and healthier than the one we found and a future worthy of our children. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i thank the president of the united states of america for his statement and count on his leadership and support in addressing the challenge. excellences, i invite his excellencecy, the president of margaves to provide the insight of a small island nation. president nashid, you have the floor. [applause]