mr. pitts: mr. -- madam speaker, i ask that members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pitts: madam speaker, i seek recognition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman may proceed. does the gentleman wish to call up the bill? mr. pitts: that is correct. i move that we take up h.r. 358. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 133, h.r. 358, a bill to amend the patient protection and affordable care act to modify special rules relating to coverage of abortion services under such act. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 430, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on energy and commerce printed in this bill is adopted and the bill as amended is considered read. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. pitts, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control

mr. pitts. >> seat no. 1 has been vacant maybe a year and a half. although he might not necessarily have the proper credentials, it would be good if that seat was filled. the thing about it is, like i mentioned before, i did have five letters from different organizations regarding my work, regarding homelessness, homeless issues. some people say i have been combative. i am definitely an impassioned. we should have services that work for the citizens that we are paying for. it should also help the homeless exit homelessness. i have done several things between the 10 meetings, feeding the poor and homeless, just a little bit of what i could. just to throw this out zero quick. i do not know if you have it. i did submit five letters. this is part of it. that is just one of them. this one is from several members of the local homeless coordinating board. the other one is martin depores. commissioner elsbernd: we have that one. >> i do not think i submitted this one, but this one is from david beale. he came and spoke on my behalf as well. i think the thin

mr. pitts. >> i wonder if you could open a public comment on items six? commissioner elsbernd: we had already done that. this is item three. seeing no other members of the public, public comment is closed on item three. can we send this item for without objection? commissioner farrell: that will be the order. commissioner elsbernd: you were not here when we did item three. -- item six. we are going to reopen the item. we have continued into the call of the chair. >> i appreciate it. for me, the thing is, when i looked at the quarterly report, i felt like there was not enough ideas regarding recommendations. i think there were only several. for me, all my three years of experience, i feel -- attending several meetings between mental health and sro task force, local homeless coordinating board, i just believe it could've been done better. i think i have several things --

mr. pitts. >> i wonder if you could open a public comment on items six? commissioner elsbernd: we had already done that. this is item three. seeing no other members of the public, public comment is closed on item three. can we send this item for without objection? commissioner farrell: that will be the order. commissioner elsbernd: you were not here when we did item three. -- item six. we are going to reopen the item. we have continued into the call of the chair. >> i appreciate it.

you, mr. pitts. i do not to deborah. the elisabeth -- elizabeth. ramon lacayo. >> good morning. i was born in san francisco but i would move to nicaragua. i was there to help impoverished citizens to provide them free medicines. in 2005, i was the director of the campaign. i worked with the illiterate nicaraguan citizens. in 2008, and 2009, i became a public defender in nicaragua. now i am back in san francisco. i am eager to work with the homeless community. i have heard that -- i have learned that they need somebody to hear them, to make them feel that they are not just a bowl of soup. i want to also help the spanish speakers, being a spanish speaker myself. i want to help in all i can with the san francisco homeless community. i am committed to finishing my term if appointed. any questions? commissioner elsbernd: you live outside of san francisco now? >> yes. commissioner elsbernd: mr. upshaw?no. is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. the matter is in our hands. commissioner farrell: as a matter of process, i would be open to either scenario. give

mr. pitts of pennsylvania, failed to provide a statement citing congress' constitutional authority to enact it. mr. pitts' statement of constitutional authority for the protect life act cites no provision of the constitution or any amendment to the constitution. therefore, i'd like to request of him or members on the other side to share with us the basis for this bill which violates the fundamental right to policy upheld by the supreme court. it restricts women's access to health care and imposes further regulations on health insurance coverage. it's clear that the the protect life act lacks both constitutional and moral integrity. let me insert additionally some feelings that have been expressed in public and i take the prerogative of using them here on the floor. h.r. 358 comes on top of votes by the republican-led house to eliminate all federal funding for title 10, the national family planning program, to eliminate funding for all other reproductive health programs offering breast and cervi

mr. pitts: mr. speaker, i'd like to welcome members of the hospital and health system association of pennsylvania to washington today. hospitals are an essential piece of pennsylvania's economy. annually the total economic benefit for our state is $2.7 billion a year. more than 16,000 pennsylvanians are employed by hospitals and they are paid an average salary of more than 52,000 a year. in my home district, lancaster general hospital is now the largest employer. doctors, workers, and others are contributing to our economy and saving lives and they are coming up with new ways to save lives, new methods to improve health and ways to reduce the cost of care. and working in a hospital is not easy. doctors, nurses, and administrators help individuals and families who are hurting or struggling with illness and disease and they work long hours performing difficult tasks. we thank our hospital professionals for their service, and as chairman of the energy and commerce health subcommittee, i will always lis

mr. pitts: we found that billions of dollars in slush funds that the secretary of health and human services controls without any input from congress, we found a class act, long-term care insurance plan that is so broken that h.h.s. had to stop planning for its implementation. we've seen health care premiums climb faster despite promises that the law would save every american family $2,500 per year. we've seen federal courts reject as unconstitutional the notion that the government can force to you buy insurance. i need much more than one minute to catalog all the ways this bill is hurting job growth and destroying health care innovation, simply put this is a rolling train wreck and the american people know it, we need to listen to them and repeal this destructive and unconstitutional bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california? >> revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you. mr. sp

mr. chairman. >> chair thanks the gentleman. we'll go in the order in which you're seated, and the chair recognizes congressman deutsche for five minutes at this time. >> thank you, chairman pitts and stearns and for the opportunity to discuss the class act. i'm pleased to be joined by mr. kennedy and grateful for the commitment to making the late senator kennedy's dream of dignity and hope for elderly, disabled, and others a reality. they captured the failure of the long term care system in saying "too often they have to give up the american dream, the dignity of a job, a home, and a family so they can qualify for medicaid, the only program that will support them. " class brought so many americans hope because it was the first real path to delivering real affordable long term care. just 10% of americans over age 50 have long term care insurance, yet 70% of them need long term care at some point. the remaining 90% of americans rely on medicaid, and that's why over a third of its dollars go towards long term care and cuts demand we make affordable cost effective long term care insurance available to the american people. the current system incentivizes poverty and forces seniors

mr. obama drove african americans to the polls in 2008 and won 92% of the black vote. one of those voters was candice pitts who we met today in emporia. >> somebody needs to bring some jobs here. >> reporter: upset that friends and neighbors are out of work, candice says her vote is not guaranteed in 2012. >> i can say that right now that no one right now can count on my vote. no one. not a republican, democrat, no one. because i'm still undecided. it's too many issues that i think need to be addressed and i'm just going to wait a little bit and see. >> reporter: and listen to the president try to appeal to independent-minded voters earlier today in jamestown, north carolina, as he presented himself as the president of the people not of one party. >> i'm not the democratic president or a republican president i'm the president. ( applause ) >> reporter: it's that type of bipartisan appeal that has been magic with independent voters and the president won independents here in virginia in the last election, now more than half disapprove of the job he's doing. >> pelley: norah, thank you very much. the deal is

pitts amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: thank you very much, madam speaker. the protect life act amends the patient protection and affordable care act to prohibit federal funds from being used to pay for abortion services or any health plan that includes such service. it also imposes new restrictions on health insurance coverage for termination care and expands conscience protection laws while limiting access to reproductive health services. at a time when our nation is facing great economic uncertainty, and millions of americans are in need of jobs, please somebody tell me why we are here considering a bill that is a direct attack on a woman's actually protected right to choose and that does not create one single job? let's be serious here. republicans have yet to pass a jobs bill. instead of getting down to the business of creating jobs, they are bringing to the house floor a deeply flawed and deeply divisive bill that will not pass the senate and would be vetoed if it reached the president's desk. they know tha

mr. speaker. i rise today to state my strident opposition to h.r. 358 proposed by my colleague, representative pitts, which we'll be considering later on today. h.r. 358 includes several truly unprecedented restrictions on abortion coverages, coverages which by the way our supreme court has determined that our -- are rights of women and it would limit access to abortion services for all women, regardless of their health status, economic circumstance and age, or any other consideration. this bill would also impose sweeping refusal provisions that not only undermine women's health care and women's rights, but actually endanger women's lives. it's not hyperbole to say the provisions of the pitts bill represents an extreme and callous attack on women's health. first, h.r. 358 would effectively end abortion coverage for women in state insurance exchanges. both for those who receive subsidies to buy coverage or for those who use their own private money to buy coverage. this would mean that millions of women contrary to what we have promised them through the affordable care act that they would be able to k

pitts. and finally on friday the house will consider h.r. 2273, the coal residual and reuse act, sponsored by mr. mckinley of virginia. the three boiler mact bills are all part of the house republican plan for america's job creators. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his information. before i talk about the american jobs act, does the majority leader have an estimate from either c.b.o. or any economists on how many bills -- how many jobs over the next 24 months the bills to which you refer as the house republican plan for americans jobs creators, do you have any information on how many jobs might be created in the next 24 months as a result of passage of those bills? mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i say to the gentleman, i am very entertained by the nature of his question since i guess it starts from the fact that some might believe that congress creates jobs. but i would say in general to the speaker that what we need to be doing here is to create an environment where entrepreneurs and small businesses and investors can actually feel confident again to put