garamendi. we do -- every weekend i'm home and the weeks that i'm home because we're home many weeks now and this congress doesn't work them very much. we spend time at home. it's a beautiful thing for us but not a great thing for america because we need to be working on getting a jobs bill passed which hasn't been introduced by the majority yet, but professor stiggler talked about the cost of the loss of the surplus. the -- president clinton and democratic congress got in the late part of the 20th century. it was the two wars, voted for by this congress, supported by president bush, the bush tax cuts passed by this congress, proposed by president bush, and medicare part d. the president pushes his medicare plan to take care of insurance companies. that's what did it. those were the causes. the veterans, professor stig lets, and he has a woman that works with him, i think linda, they studied what it will cost in america for the veterans. the ones we need to employ we need to employ. but the ones

garamendi: well, mr. tonko, you and i were right here in the back of this house chamber earlier today and you were sharing with me the stories, the reality in your district. these are your constituents who have been harmed and we have our colleague, peter welch from vermont, who is also talking about the extraordinary damage done to the infrastructure in vermont. as we rebuild those communities as part of this american jobs act, people go to work in and those communities are able to once again stand on their own. share with us some of the things you have seen from your own district and the needs for infrastructure reproliferationment in your community. mr. tonko: well, it's amazing because there are situations -- i'll first go to peter's district, representative resm's district in vermont where route 4 has been wiped out. it's just about removed from the map, and what was just a couple miles worth of activity for some people to travel to work now becomes this tremendous securitiest route that may even tak

garamendi is recognized as the designee of the minority leader. mr. garamendi: mr. speaker, thank you very much. it's a great privilege to stand here on the floor of the house even at this late hour as we prepare to hear the president of the united states to come before the joint session of congress to talk about how america can get back on the right road, on the road to recovery, from this long recession and how we can create jobs here in the united states. for many, many months now, my colleagues and i have been on the floor and have submitted legislation time after time and week after week talking about specific programs to create jobs. i want to thank my colleague on the republican aisle for his presentation and the solution of doing away with regulations as the way of creating jobs. he mentioned getting government out of the way and he also mentioned the hoover dam. that was built with borrowed money. up, they borrowed money to build the dam and did create jobs. now, whether there are regulations or not, the fact is that the united states created an enormous in

garamendi: i thank you very much. it's always a privilege to yield to the rule committees and the good work they do. let me continue on here for a moment. i want to pick up the last issue that i talked about, which was lab technicians, retraining men and women, one of the key aspects of the president's jobs program is the fact that we have about three, about four million men and women who have served in the iraq and afghanistan theaters. many of those are still there but most have come home. when they leave the military, they have one of the highest unemployment rates of any group in the united states. this is simply wrong. these are men and women who have served this nation heroically and in considerable danger and in many, many cases having suffered grievous injuries. we need to pay special attention to them and recognize that they have acquired some very, very important skills. they know how to work, how to show up on time, how to take instructions. what they don't know is how to be a lab technician and don't know

garamendi: mr. speaker, yesterday i proposed to the rules committee an amendment about making it in america. one more way we can build jobs here in this country by using our own tax money. in the charter schools legislation, there's some $300 million a year authorized for the construction of charter schools, the enhancement and improvement of those schools. now where will the material come from? where will the heating and air-conditioning systems be manufactured? where will the limb burr and concrete and other materials, the high tech equipment come from? will it be american made or will it be made over in china and imported into the united states? it seems we're about to use $300 million of our tax money, that is the american taxpayers' money, bill some schools or to improve some charter schools. all well and good. but why don't we create some jobs in addition to that? why don't we put into this bill an amendment that simply says that the secretary of education in prioritizing the grants shall give

congressman john garamendi on w00t his conflict of interest should be investigated. >>> and everybody is talking about governor chris christie. >> can you see him as president? >> republicans might get their wish, but it could be a dpreem come true for democrats, too. >> we slaughter him with the quotes from himself saying he's not ready to be president. >> banks gone wild, which means my pet banksie is on the loose again. "politics nation" starts right now.. >>> tonight's lead. republicans still playing follow the leader. >> earlier this morning, anwar al awlaki, leader of al qaeda, was killed in yemen. it's a major blow to al qaeda's most active operational affiliate. >> the drone strike was yet another major blow to al qaeda. it took out the man behind the ft. hood massacre and the botched christmas day bombing. and his death comes just five months after the death of osama bin laden. it mae drive republicans crazy, probably does, but, folks, this is leadership. it makes comments like these downright laughable. >> we watch a president who once talked about his courage of convictions

we had congressman john garamendi. >> most of the action was on the streets in san francisco. as union members gathered to protest a lack of union contract at a couple hyatt hotel autos it is an opportunity to relax. this is labor's day bu. we think the best way to memorialize and celebrate history as well as what is going on presently sk out in the streets. >> coming up at 6:00 we'll take a look at state of organized labor and hear from union members tell me that their political clout has been greatly diminished. and we'll hear what they intend to do about it. >> all right, mark. democratic candidates have relied on organized labor but we're hearing reports that that support is waning. how are things shaping up at this point? >> well, you know, all politics is really a comparison. and i think it's going to depend on who gets the republican nomination. if you have somebody that labor sees as a particular threat, and a tea party candidate like michelle bachmann or rick perry, you might get a different reaction from labor than if it were someone that they didn't see as opposed t

garamendi, for five minutes. mr. garamendi: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to celebrate a very, very special birthday. it is the 50th birthday of the united states peace corps. an incredible organization that was started by president john f. kennedy and a whole lot of people thought this nation had an opportunity to reach out to the men and women of america, provide them with a challenge to go to -- out to the world to seek peace, to work for peace and to help developing nations meet their needs. whether it be in education, community development, economic development or other activities. and so it has been more than 200,000 americans, young and old, men and women have become peace corps volunteers. they have served in 139 countries around the world and today they serve in over 70 countries. it's been a terrific program. it has presented the very best face of america to millions of people around the world. today, there are leaders of many countries around this world that have been taught by peace corps volunteers in their high schools, in their g

garamendi. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this issue has been kept around for near on 50 years, and during that period what time, the american people, through their representatives, have recognized an extraordinary value in wilderness. there are indeed sacred places and there are indeed in this planet on which we live places that may have resource potential but they also have the potential of simply being what they are, underdeveloped, natural, the place for wildlife and mosquitos, but not a place that we would extract resources. anwr is such a place. it's unique. there is no other place on the planet like anwr. it doesn't exist. this is eight. this is the last that there is. is it worth a few days of oil supply for the nation? i think not. this far the american people have said let's leave it the way it is. the way that it came to us. natural and undisturbed. that's something very, very special that the american people have decided over the years not just here but other places including the smoky mountains to say let's leave