mr. walz: thank you, mr. speaker. pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on the speaker's journal. the speaker: the question is on demanding a vote for the speaker's journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the yeas have it. walswals i request the yeas and nays. the speaker: 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, further proceedings on this question are postponed. the pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentleman from minnesota, mr. walz. mr. walz: please stand and honor our nation with the pledge of allegiance. 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: this is the day for the call of the private calendar , without objection

and we'll put it on the floor and mr. walz will be our leader on this pause he's put it in the hopper. may i have 30 additional seconds? ms. slaughter: i yield the gentleman another minute. mr. hoyer: we'll put that on the floor and every member of this house, all 433 of us here, 435 members will have the opportunity to say to the american people, yes. yes, on december 12, we're going to tell you that on january 1, your taxes will not go up. give us that opportunity. give us that opportunity to say, yes, to the american middle class. give us the opportunity to say yes to certainty in our economy. give us the opportunity to say yes, we agree on something and aren't you proud of the fact that when we agree, your congress can act. let's say yes. vote no on the previous question and then vote yes for the middle class. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: i do appreciate the gentleman, my dear friend from maryland, who i have

and we'll put it on the floor and mr. walz will be our leader on this pause he's put it in the hopper. may i have 30 additional sends? ms. slaughter: i yield the gentleman another minute. mr. hoyer: we'll put that on the floor and every member of this house, all 433 of us here, 435 members will have the opportunity to say to the american people, yes. yes, on december 12, we're going to tell you that on january 1, your taxes will not go up. give us that opportunity. give us that opportunity to say, yes, to the american middle class. give us the opportunity to say yes to certainty in our economy. give us the opportunity to say yes, we agree on something and aren't you proud of the fact that when we agree, your congress can act. let's say yes. vote no on the previous question and then vote yes for the middle class. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentman from texas. mr. sessions: i do apprecia the gentleman, my dear friend from maryland, who i have not o

and so we are thrilled that mr. walz has taken the lead on this and i know we're anxious to try to get this going. while we may have disagreements, that should not stop us from moving forward where we both agree bipartisanly. we can get things done. with that let me welcome the incoming vice chairman of the democratic caucus, mr. crowley from new york. >> first -- thank you. i appreciate that round of applause. let me thank both john and javier for including me in this press conference and for welcoming me to the leadership of the house of the democratic caucus. i'm very pleased to be here at this very important moment in time in our nation's history as well. i agree with both john, javier, and i should say as well with tim walz and i won't steal your thunder, tim, what you do today is important not only i think for we as a caucus in terms of setting where we are at but i think also a strong message that the american people sent almost a month ago had a they want to see this congress working to get things done. they re-e

mr. walz: thank you, madam speaker. as more and more of our brave warriors return from afghanistan, more and more of them are looking for work. it's our duty as a nation to make sure that we are doing everything possible to get these troops re-employed. that's why i'd like to applaud both the senate and house for including in the national defense authorization act the helping iraq and afghanistan veterans return to employment. the hire act. what it does is establish a very commonsense process that encourages state credentialing authorities to consider certain military occupational training when granting licenses. it makes absolutely no sense to force a battlefield medic to spend time and federal dollars taking redundant training to be an e.m.t. it makes no sense for a state agency that wouldn't count hundreds of hours driving heavy equipment in afghanistan to get a c.d.r. license. the department of defense spends $140 billion a year training our military personnel, the best in the world, it would be ludicrous to not use