mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i urge all members to support the passage of this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: i still continue to reserve. does he have any more speakers? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, on that note i would like to yield back as well and to say to my colleagues i think this is a very honorable thing to do. i think we all should applaud mr. smith and the smith family for his outstanding service. on that note i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5051. those in fav

mr. mccotter: thank you, mr. speaker. the bill in question is h.r. 3936. what it does is good government. it allows emplors the space they need to make sure they meet the pension obligations that they have to their workers. it is not a government bailout, taxpayer funds are not involved. unless, of course, these institutions, these unions, and their pension plans fail. it is a wonderful idea by my colleague pat tiberi. it is endorsed by many, many business groups and i would hope that over the course the coming hours, the truth will out. again, you can't always believe what you see on tv, except that it was a very handsome likeness of congressman latourette that appears on fox news. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, over a month has gone by sinls the april 15 deadline for congress to pass its annual budget resolution. house democrats, though, haven't even bothered to offer up a proposal.