ireland and portugal may not be far behind. the warnings are numerous but i fear that they are being ignored. we have to get control of our federal budget or there's not going to be anyone big enough to bail us out. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. perlmutter: thank you, mr. speaker. listening to my friend from pennsylvania i'd remind him as well as others that the last month of george bush this country lost 780,000 jobs in one month. ok. 14 months later, 15 months later we gained some 400,000 jobs in this country, but in the process down here in the recession after the bush administration we lost eight million jobs. we have a long way to go to put those people back to work, but for democrats that's job number one, to continue to add jobs and put people back to work. when president bush left it was a $

to those who have lost a loved one in the service of our nation, i recall a famous headstone in irelandeaves the heartache -- "death leaves a heartache no one can heal. love leaves a memory no one can steal." no one can steal the memory from you. i can tell you from my own personal experience tt eventually, the pain and heartache that you now feel will eventually, god willing, be replaced by the joyful memory of the son or daughte husband or wife, father or mother that you loved so dearly and lost. gergel and my joshed jill and my prayer for you -- jill and my prer for you is that th healing will come. today is a day of mournful cry. we mourn those who we've lost and we take great pride in the lives they lived and the service they provided and the nation they created, saved and strengthened. earlier this month, stephen banco, who was kind enough to sendy wife some of his speeches right after we were elected, stephen van gogh, who won many medals in vietnam -- stephen banco, who won several medals in vietnam said, "most people think of the battlefield as a province of hate, fear and ange

there is an acronym that as portugal, ireland, italy, greece, and spain. they are close to the breaking point. if you look at g.d.p. and put america in with the trajectory of where we are going, we are very close to where it should be. the imf recently said in 2015 america will be were greece is, and it will actually be worse. the president put together this debt commission where there are people on both sides of the aisle. the recently had an economist in. he took the entire amount of deaths from governments and others. -- of debt from government and others. his numbers came out when he said you hit 90%, you lose 1% of growth. you may think 1% is not enough, but if america is projected to only grow at 3%, you're losing only 1/3 of your entire percentage abroad. in march they had over 18% unemployment. you need job growth. before we had our town hall, i wanted to give you exactly where rearm. i believe this is an biggest crisis before us, and we cannot ignore it. we want to do a lot for everybody, but there comes a point when you cannot do anything for any

caller: i am from ireland. i was a principal of a school. i will give you a view from the outside looking in, how i see america, the economy and so many different things. socially, before the presidential elections, i had never once heard and lower class mentioned. about 20% of americans are scavenging. they are basically just existing. i have a brother in ireland. i have a daughter who is doing a doctorate on economics. i am here five years. we traveled around. we saw people living that we in ireland would consider a third world conditions. they are never mentioned or talked about. in education, i see no interest in education. i was a principal of the school in ireland. the standards i would have to be so superior to hear. that would be in the whole public school system. money was ploughed into public education. attorneys are parasites over here. every second advertisement on attorneysn isare inciting people to go after companies or small companies. people are basically trying to exist, trying to get them to actually sue. host: we move on t

their predecessors the largest budget deficit of any economy in europe, with the single exception of ireland. one pound in every four we spend is being borrowed. what we have not inherited from our predecessors is a credible plan to reduce their record deficit-this at the very moment when fear about the sustainability of sovereign debt is the greatest risk to the recovery of european economies. questions that were asked about the liquidity and solvency of banking systems are now being asked about the liquidity and solvency of some of the governments who stand behind those banks. i do not want those questions ever to be asked of this country. that is why we have set a brisk pace since taking office. in the past seven weeks, we have announced, conducted and completed a review of this year's spending and identified £6 billion of savings. we have announced, established and received the report of the independent office for budget responsibility. the power that the chancellor has enjoyed for centuries to determine the growth and fiscal forecasts now resides ith an independent body immune to the te

debt that meets or exceeds that that we see in countries like greece or spain or ireland or italy. the european union threatens to collapse under the financial stress that they have because they have loaned money -- it's almost like they're sitting at a poker table playing for chipping that are writing each our i.o.u.'s around the table. at some time you have to pay fo- the drinks and the food that's coming along. those chickens are coming home to roost in europe. we don't need to be there in america. we're a different kind of people. we have a unique vitality in our character, in our soul. one of the things that is part of that vitality is that we've skimmed the cream off of the crop of every civilization in the world. everybody that were immigrants to the united states, they didn't get people who were sitting out there on the porch that didn't go to work. these were the entrepreneurs, the creative ones, the ones that had a dream, that were frustrated because they had the shackles of a dictator that kept them from using freedom to grow their own lifetime success. can you imagine i

it was ireland. in descending order, and germany, great britain, canada, france, switzerland, mexico, norway, the netherlands, and italy. switzerland was ahead of mexico. in 2000, the top 10 countries of foreign born americans was by a tremendous margin, mexico, china, the philippines, india, cuba, vietnam, all salvadoran, correa, the dominican republic, and canada. no european countries in the top 10 in 2000. three of countries of foreign birth in every census from 1850-1980. now it is not even in the top 10. the first nine on the list of developing countries only canada has an advanced industrialized economy and a middle-class majority. of the 10, only 1 cents caucasian immigrants to the united states. we get a tremendous advantage from many of these immigrants of highly educated people with much saw after skills. in many cases, they are who they were 150 years ago. pour, poorly educated, agrarian, at an incredibly hard working. they are also younger than other americans sell more likely to pay int

last year, i told -- i tapped them ready to serve as my ambassador to ireland. i invited both the steelers and the penguins to the white house to celebrate their championships. [applause] seeing how the black hawks are headed to philadelphia tonight with a 2-0 lead in the stanley cup finals, i am glad that we on this side of the state. [laughter] i noticed a couple people said there were rooting for the black hawks which tells you something about the rivalry between pittsburgh and philly. of course, we meet here at an incredibly difficult time for america. among other things, a time when the worst environmental disaster of its kind in our nation's history is threatening the gulf coast and the people who live there. right now, stopping this oil spill and contain the damage is the top priority not just in my administration but of the entire country. we are waging this battle every minute of every day. at the same time, we are continuing our efforts to rebuild from an economic disaster. it has touched the lives of nearly every american. that is what i want to talk

the settlement in northern ireland. he won a nobel peace prize for that. caller: god bless our troops and their faailies. we have the finest intelligence in the world's. do we do it all right? maybe sometimes we make mistakes, but od bless the people that go through the information. my second point is, and please answer this for me if you could. sandy berger went in and stole classified documents out of the archives and stole them. he shredded them. what would be so important -- i know bill clinton was behind it. there is no question in my mind, but he stole those documents and shred them.. what could be so dammed for the clinton administration to do this? please answer. . . nswe guest: i wish i uld enr. am not awe ything in e puic recd your fi point, abo troo in thtellence ommunity, i age withou. i served invarious embassies arou with the military, particularly the army. the qualifications of our armed forces today is nothing short of spectacular. i aggee with you on that, absent thee. i agree with yyu on the quality o

based on our own colonial experience and our recent experience in northern ireland, isn't it clear thatsooner or later however controversial it may be that hamas will have to be brought into the circle of discussions? >> hamas must forswear violence and recognize the state of israel. that has been a longstanding position of the british government and the united nations and the european union and the united states and russia. i referred to the need to -- for them to make concrete moves toward those principles for the rest of the international community to engage with them. i continue to believe that is the right position. that is one we have in common with our allies and the whole of the international community. that position must be sustained. >> mr. speaker, in welcoming the foreign secretary's statement and his condemnation of the loss of innocent lives, may i ask if he recognizes that those innocent lives might well have been -- might well have included any of the u.k. citizens who were present in a situation in which the israelis committed a war crime of piracy in international wate

andy ireland, congressman from florida and his wife nancy, would you stand? [applause] i will test your knowledge of politics. we have a former vice presidential candidate. i think the correct year was 1976 part he was vice president for ronald reagan when he ran for the presidency, dick and clear schweigert are here. he was the senator from pennsylvania and secretary of hhs a few years back. we are heavily loaded with pennsylvania's. tom ridge is here tonight. we are delighted to have the governor here. [applause] the former secretary of the department of homeland security. i want to introduce two people who are very important to us because they helped us with the appropriations of the wilson center at the united states congress. they may be the most important people here so far as i am concerned. [laughter] janey james and chris tobeck are here. [applause] they do marvelous work on the step of the appropriations committee. i am delighted that jim leach is here who is chairman of the national endowment of the humanities and a former colleague of mine on our

sreenivasan: osborne said britain currently has the largest budget deficit of any european economy except ireland. on wall street today, stocks were down on new concerns about the housing and banking sectors. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 149 points to close at 10,293. the nasdaq fell 27 points to close above 2261. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to gwen. >> ifill: the $700 billion financial rescue program known as tarp is set to wind down this fall two years after it was created, but there are still questions about its effectiveness. that was the subject of a capitol hill hearing today. judy woodruff has the story. >> woodruff: when congress authorized a rescue for banks and other institutions at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, it created an oversight panel to ensure accountability. chaired by harvard law professor elizabeth warren, the panel has spent months grilling industry officials. today it heard testimony from treasury secretary timothy geithner. >> to date, more than half of all the money dispersed through the tarp has been repaid. tarp inv

there is recognition in northern ireland that america recognize that those comments are doing damage to your companies. >> if there were no oil spill of the scale of deep water horizon off the coast of northern ireland, i think that he would be among the first people who would be insisting that we do whatever we possibly could to stop that and it would be absolutely enormous. the skill of this -- the scale of this, in terms of trying to compare to valdez, it is not exactly the same. you're looking at 200 barrels a day of oil escaping. hear, the latest estimate is 50,000 barrels a day. the sheer scale, frankly, we have to ask fellow politicians to understand the reaction we would be making if this was going on in our waters. >> i wonder if i can press the secretary of state for a more full answer to my hon. friend's question in regard to investment in other technology. -- other technology? it needs to be matched, particularly in the context of sheffield, by ending the uncertainty. wouud the secretary of state support a wishing to see a speedy end to that uncertainty and a confirmation

drawing on our own colonial experience and lso on our recent experience in northern ireland, is it not clear that sooner or later, however controversial it may be, that hamas have to be brought into the circle of discussions? >> i always listen o my right and honorable and learned friend. he will be aware of the principles that have been very clear for some years that hamas must accept previous agreements and recognize the state of israel. that has been the longstanding tradition of british government and the un and the rest of the quartet. what i referred to earlier is the need for them to make concrete movement toward those principles in order for the rest of the international community to engage with them. i continue to believe that is the right position and one that we have in common. that must be sustained. >> in welcoming -- may i ask if he recognizes that those innocent lives may have well included any of the 37 citizens that were present in a situation in which we see is released committing a war crime of piracy in international waters, kidnapping and murder and all of this and

even the dead of loss i use is from ireland. -- even that dental floss i use is from ireland. the only time i like to eat those with and candies and other rock and is -- ribbon candies and rock candies, they are made in mexico, canada we hardly produce anything anymore. and of course, it all started with motels and hotels quite a number of years back. i don't even think we own our own of anything anymore. sure, it looks like they are run by our own people, but america has been bought out. wake up. guest: i would just say that foreign investment is a good thing. we are better off because foreigners want to invest in the u.s. economy. there are over 5 million americans who work for foreign- owned companies and those jobs pay an average of 30% more than the average wage. assets -- companies are still overwhelmingly owned by americans. it is a good thing when foreigners want to invest in the u.s. a third of our automobile workers in the united states work for foreign-owned affiliates. this is one reason why the import-export picture seems a little skewed. the kinds of things we im

. -- 1 boat here on this entire ireland for the pelicans. >> at different times of the day -- >> there are so many birds, and they all have oil on their bellies. >> we are right on the gulf of mexico. this is the gulf of mexico right here. >> it is about 70 miles from here, and it is coming directly into the gulf of mexico and into the basin, which is where we are right now. >> they need a place closer. >> how far do they have to travel, when they were already in distress? that is ridiculous. >> we came from our growtmyrtle. >> shame on bp. >> these are all doable things. it is just a question of resources and putting people to work. >> the experts, people who know how to clean the birds -- what are they putting restrictions? nobody can answer this? look at this bird flying around, he is just going to gather up more oil. >> i think we need to start heading back. >> listen to what the sheriff says. >> they are just staging. whenever the weather gets bad like that, they get inside and everybody comes into their boats to wait it out. as soon as the weather breaks, they will be back out th

there is an acronym they call pigs, portugal, ireland, italy, greece and spain. they are all in a financial crisis. they are very close to the breaking point. and if you look based upon g.d.p., if you put america in there and the protectory of where we are going, we are very close to where greece is to be. the i.m.f. came out to say in 2015 america will be where greece is. and it will actually be worse. the president put together a debt commission where there are people on both sides of the aisle. they recently had an communist in. he took the entire amount of debt from government and others for the united states. his percentage comes to 90% of g.d.p. his numbers come out and say when you hit 90% you lose 1% of growth. now think for a minute, 1% is not a lot. if america is protected to only grow at 3% you are losing a third of your entire percentage of growth. we are in the middle of a recession. you need job growth. so why i layout before we have our communication and our town hall, i wanted to give you exactly where we are. i believe this is the biggest crisis

human smuggling, exportation in northern ireland. human smuggling in spain. money laundering and extortion in italy. gang violence in mexico. in mexico, the drug cartels have become so bold with their counterfeiting that one group and another group now identify their counterfeit goods with their logo placed on the packaging. a serious problem. the link to terrorism is there ken holt carla -- and i hope carla speaks to that. it is a serious problem that we need to do something about. there are several things that i think are required. i applaud the center for hosting this symposium today to bring attention to the serious and growing problem of organized influence on piracy. not every act of piracy cannot be linked to organized crime. not everyone growing marijuana is related to organized drug cartels. there is a strong link between a lot of the activity that occurs and organized crime. this is an example of a recent blockbuster film and how quickly activities breads. let's talk about "iron man 2." before that film was shown, we identified 24 unique recordings

our country has the highest budget deficit of any country in europe, with the exception of ireland. dealing with this inheritance from our predecessor is the single greatest economic challenge the new government faces. for what business will invest with confidence if they fear ever higher deficits will lead to ever higher taxes? what family will spend with confidence if they fear ever higher debt meaning ever higher interest rates? that is why we have moved at a brisk pace in the six weeks since the general election. we announced, conducted, and completed a review of this year's spending and identified over 6 billion pounds of savings. we announced, established, and received the report of the independent office for refund -- office for budget responsibility. and we should thank him for the hard work over the recent weeks to do that. [applause] the power that the chancellor has enjoyed for decades to determine the growth and fiscal forecasts now resides with an independent body immune to the temptations of the political cycle. budget making in britain has been changed forever. no lon

there is recognition in northern ireland that america cognize that those comments are doing damage to your companies. >> if there were no oil spill of the scale of deep water horizon ofthe coasof northern ireland, i think that he would bamong the first people who would be insisting thate do whatever we possibly could to stop that and it would be absutely enormous. thskill of this -- the scale ofhis, in terms of trying to compare to valdez, it is not exactly the same. you'reooking at 200 barrels a day of oil escaping. hear, the latest estimate is 50,000 barrels a day. the sheer ale, frankly, we have to ask fellow politicians to understand the reaction we would be making his was going on in our waters. >> i wonder if i can press the secretary of state for a more full answer to my hon. frid's question in regardo investment in other technology. -- other technology? it needs to be matched, particularly in the context of sheffield, by ending the uncertainty. wouud the secretarof state support a wishing to see a eedy end to that uncertainty and a confirmation of that support? >> when i was d

to those who have lost a loved one in the service to our nation, i recall the famous headstone in ireland "death leaves a heartache no one can heal. love leaves a memory no one can steal." no one can steal the memory from you. i can tell you from my own personal experience, that eventually the pain and heartache you now feel will eventually, god willing, be replaced by the joyful memory of the son or daughter, husband, wife, father or mother that you loved so dearly and lost. jill and my prayer for you is that that day will come sooner rather than later, but it will come. i promise you. today is a day in which sarraute mixes with incredible pride. -- sorrow mixes with incredible pride. we mourn those who we have lost. we take great pride in the service they provided to the nation they created, saved and strengthened. earlier this month, stephen banco was kind enough to send my wife jill some of his speeches after we were elected. he spoke of the dedication of a purple heart memorial in buffalo, new york. he said, "most people think the battlefield -- think of the battlefield as a product

there is an acronym that as portugal, ireland, italy, greece, and spain. they are close to the breaking point. if you look at g.d.p. and put america in with the trajectory of where we are going, we are very close to where it should be. the imf recently said in 2015 america will be were greece is, and it will actually be worse. the president put together this debt commission where there are people on both sides of the aisle. the recently had an economist in. he took the entire amount of deaths from governments and others. -- of debt from government and others. his numbers came out when he said you hit 90%, you lose 1% of growth. you may thin 1% is not enough, but if america is projected to only grow at 3%, you're losing onl1/3 of your entire percentage abroad. in march they had over 18% unemployment. you needob growth. before we had our town hall, i wanted to givyou exactly where rearm. i believe this is an biggest crisis before us, and we cannot ignore it. we want to do a lot for everybody, but there comes a point when you cannot do anything for anyone, wh

to those of lost a loved one in the service of our nation, i recall the famous headstone in ireland.ollows -- death leaves a heartache no one can heal. love leads a memory -- leaves a memory no one can steal. no one can still the memory from you. i can tell you from my own personal experience that eventually the pain and heartache you now feel will eventually, coddling, be replaced by the joyful memory of the son or daughter, husband, wife, father, mother that you loved so dearly and lost. gillan my prayer for you is that it that day will come sooner rather than later, but it will come, i promise you. today is a day were sro mixes with incredible pride -- where sorrow mixes with incredible pride. we take great pride in the light that they lived and the service that they provided. the nation they created, saved, and strengthened. earlier this month, stephen was kind enough to send my wife some of his speeches when we were elected. he won two silver stars and other metals all in vietnam. he spoke at the dedication of a purple heart memorial in buffalo, new york. he said, and i quote, "

last year i stole dan rooney to serve as my ambassador to ireland. [laughter] to make it up, i invited both the steelers and the penguins to the white house to celebrate their championships. [applause] seeing how the blackhawks are headed to philly tonight with a 2-0 lead in the stanley cup final, i am just glad that we're on this side of the state. [laughter] i noticed a couple of people said they were rooting for the blackhawks which tell me something about the rivalry between pittsburgh and philly. we meet here at an incredibly difficult time for america. among other times, is a time when the worst environmental disaster of its kind in our nation's history is threatening the gulf coast and the people who live there. right now, stopping this oil spill and containing its damage is necessarily the top priority not just of my administration, but i think of the entire country. and we are waging this battle every minute of every day. but at the same time, we are continuing our efforts to recover and rebuild from an economic disaster that has touched the

andy ireland, congressman from florida and his wife nancy.[applause] i will test your knowledge of politics a little bit. we have a former vice presidential candidate. thank the right year was 1976. he was the vice president for ronald reagan when ronald reagan ran for the presidency, dick end clare schweitzer, would you stand up? [applause] he was the senator from pennsylvania and also secretary of hhs a few years back. we are heavily loaded with pennsylvanians. tom ridge is here tonight. we are delighted to have a governor here. [applause] the former secretary of the department of homeland security. i want to introduce two people who are very important to us because they help us with the appropriations of the wilson center at the united states congress. they may be the most important people here so far as i am concerned. [laughter] jenny james and chris topeck are here. would you stand? [applause] they do a marvelous work on the staff of the appropriations committee. i am delighted that jim leach is here who is chairman of the national endo

drawing on our colonial experience and our recent experience with northern ireland, is it clear that sooner or later, however controversial it will be, hamas will have to be brought into the circle of discussion? >> well, i always listen to my right hon. learned friend. he is sitting on the side of the house with great care on these matters. he will be aware of the core principle, which has been very clear, for some years, and as for a -- swears that if -- that have less force for its violence -- hamas for swears of violence and recognizes the state of israel. what i referred to earlier was the need for them to make concrete movement towards those principles in order for the rest of the international community to engage with them. i continue to believe that that is the right position. is the longstanding position, one that we have in common with our allies and the whole rest of the international community acting on the affairs of the middle east. that position remains the same. >> mr. speaker, in welcoming the town of the foreign secretary -- tone of the foreign secretary's statement

ireland. then germany, great britain, canada, france switzerland, norway and italy. switzerland ahead of mexico of course by a tremendous margin, mexico. china, the philippines, cuba, el salvador, cuba, the domincan republic also more likely than average to have more children. this also require a more degree of social services tend to live in a house that has a low enough assessed value to not pay much into local municipal value to fund public schools. all three are vying for a top as someone who is trying to be a close observer of american culture under threat from people who speak languages of people other threats seem over blown keep an ear open depending on which coast you are the crowded streets of baltimore and cleveland. the news stands are bursting another one for socialist and union members the grandchildren of the children who run those streets are some of the same people worrying openly from all the data, my best advice is, don't worry what do you hear? every couple of minutes, adds for night schools cd rom languages. no one is developing these products, p

the british got kicked out of ireland. you know, people want their country. if somebody was invading maryland, i would be an insurgent. i don't understand how we call people and surgeons in their own country. host: this tweet from "democracy hurts." from "the wall street journal" this morning, u.s. congress passes no iran sanctions. also from "the wall street journal" this morning, the front page. the next call on whether or not to get out of afghanistan comes from the republican line from michigan. charles, you are on the air. caller: i would like to say -- we don't have the resources, we don't have the money. there are children starving here that needs those things without going to the war. we can't focus on 20 different things. we can only focus on one thing and that one thing is getting our jobs back in bringing everything back to michigan. thank you. host: the next call on our active duty line comes from don, long branch, new jersey. caller: yes. one of the reasons i believe we should get out, and it is something that is not talked about much is, is that

. -- 1 boat here on this entire ireland for the pelicans. >> at different times of the day -- >> there are so many birds, and they all have oil on their bellies. >> we are right on the gulf of mexico. this is the gulf of mexico right here. >> it is about 70 miles from here, and it is coming directly into the gulf of mexico and into the basin, which is where we are right now. >> they need a place closer. >> how far do they have to travel, when they were already in distress? that is ridiculous. >> we came from our growtmyrtle. >> shame on bp. >> these are all doable things. it is just a question of resources and putting people to work. >> the experts, people who know how to clean the birds -- what are they putting restrictions? nobody can answer this? look at this bird flying around, he is just going to gather up more oil. >> i think we need to start heading back. >> listen to what the sheriff says. >> they are just staging. whenever the weather gets bad like that, they get inside and everybody comes into their boats to wait it out. as soon as the weather breaks, they will be back out th

ireland is would beling and the european union countries have loaned money to each other. almost like being in a poker game and let's just say because of the overhead it's taken out by government. if we all sit down in a poker game and the house takes, let's say 45% of every pot, sooner or later, the people sitting around the table trying to exchange those dollars are exchanging i.o.u.'s. government has swallowed up too much of the proceeds and then they loan money to each other and the united states is borrowing money from around the world. in fact, the amount of money that's borrowed from the chinese is now approaching $1 trillion and americans have invested into american debt. but this debt is too hard a burden for us to carry. i put a poll up on -- polling question up on my website. and the news is full every day of the environmental calamenty in the gulf and -- calamity in the gulf and it's sad and we should shut off the leak and clean up the mess. but i asked, what is the greatest threat to america, the gulf oil leak or the debt and deficit that this country is carry

ireland is behind them and italy is behind them and spain is behind them. there are many nations that are in precarious financial stability. there is a tremendous responsibility in the united states. if we will get our house in order and drastically cut spending and have written tunnel reforms of social security and welfare and if we create a growth environment by dramatically cutting taxes for five years and making permanent killing of the death tax and getting rid of the alternative minimum tax, 34% corporate business tax is insane. we need to lower that to about a 9% level. i do not believe that anyone should be paying more than 21% of their income in tax to the federal government and have 100% expenses if someone buys a business item. maybe that will take a long weekend. you would not even wait 1/4 and you would see absolute robust growth here and the united states economy. you would see job increases. if you would just consider, and we, rather than spend one trillion dollars because that is the cost of s