it contains six of the seven outstanding appropriations bills. mr. speaker, in all candor, i must admit i have a slightly different perspective on the appropriations process than i did three years ago. then in the minority i requested why the majority wasn't able to finish their bills on time. i realize now that in many cases finishing the bills in a timely fashion wasn't always the fault of the majority in the house but rather a result of the dysfunction in the senate. now, three years later the situation is similar. we, this house, this democratic majority, did our job. we passed every single bill in a timely way, and we did so responsibly. in many cases joined by many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. for example, the homeland security bill passed with 389 votes, including the support of my good friend from california. now, despite our hard work to move this process forward, i am sure that the gentleman from san dimas is going to protest about the process here, that this bill is made up of six bills and i'm sure he'll come up with so

it's the department of defense appropriations bill. and can you imagine in the midst of a war when the bravest men and women in our nation are risking their lives at war, the republicans are filibustering the bill to pay their salaries, the bill to pay for the equipment they need to stay safe, the bill to pay for the medical care of these soldiers, sailors, air men, marines and their families? it's unthinkable. this is a bill that passed over in the house of representatives overwhelmingly. i think the number was 394-35. 164 republicans voted for it because we want to stand behind our troops. but last night only three republican senators out of 40 would step up and say we should go forward on this bill. only three. the rest of them, led by the minority leader and the minority whip, have said we will stop this bill if this is the only way we can stop the health care debate. why did they pick this bill, of all bills, a bill where we should be standing in solidarity twaoeupbd our troops -- behind our troops. we now have split into partisan

these were six different appropriations bills. hree of those six bills were not subject to senate amendment and debate. we went above and beyond the regular order and produced an omnibus package. again, it was a package in excess of a trillion dollars worth of spending. about a 12% increase over the year previous. shortly before that, about a week prior to the action on the omnibus, the e.p.a., the environmental protection agency, issued an endangerment finding. this endangerment finding, for those that have been following this issue, i think many recognize that the potential cost to this country, the burden, the financial burden that could be placed on this country if we advance through the regulatory process as opposed to the legislative process, these -- these regulatory burdens, i think it is clear that the cost and the impact to this country and our nation's economy is truly in danger. so when we talk about an endangerment finding coming out of the e.p.a., it really is just that. it endangers our economy. iten banks jobs, it e

it is a bill to fund our troops, the department of defense appropriations bill and can you imagine in the midst of the war when the bravest men and women in the nation are risking their lives at war the republicans are filibustering the bill to pay their salaries? the bill to pay for the equipment they need to stay safe? the bill to pay for the medical care of these soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and families? it is unthinkable. this is a bill that passed over in the house of representatives overwhelmingly. i think the number was 394 to 35. 164 republicans voted for it because we want to stand behind our troops. but last night only three republican senators out of 40 would step up and say we should go forward on this bill. only three. the rest of them, led by the minority leader and the minority whip said we will stop this bill if this is the only way we can stop the healthcare debate. why did they take this bill of all bills? a bill where we should be standing in solidarity behind our troops. we now have split into partisan camps. there is nothing partisan about standing behind o

yet, you have appropriations bill, this one being, representing again, as i said earlier, six appropriations bill, individual bills that didn't get done earlier packaged into one big spending bill that is a 12% increase over the previous year. how, mr. president, can we go to the american people and justify year-over-year spending increases that are 12% when they're having to balance their budgets and tighten their belts and live in an economy -- some people losing their jobs, but certainly everybody struggling to survive out there. that's true for small business is. that's true for families. that's true for, i think, pretty much everybody, it seems like except the united states congress. here in washington, d.c. we seem not to be listening to what's happening in america, because marking spending bills up at 12% over last year's level at a time when the c.p.i. is actually running in the negative -- you've got negative cost-of-living increase -- and yet we are marking up appropriations bills that represent a 12% increase over last year's spending level? and you put that on top of a stimulus b

me, senate appropriations committee. there were three bills that received 30-0 votes in the senate appropriations committee and three others that were reported out 29-1, to give you an idea of the kind of support that we had. we brought up the commerce-, justice, and science appropriation bill on october 6. it took us a month to finish that bill on the floor because of the delay tactics of the other side. that's just the reality of what we face. and we'd run ourselves into the ground day after day, week after week with amendments relating to things of little or no consequence. i cannot count how many acorns -- amendments that we voted on. it would be a forest of oak trees if those acorns were planted. but we voted on them regularly, religiously. we made sure we took care of acorn but we didn't take care of the people's business because those amendments just wasted our time. i have a statement here relative to the omnibus bill and my particular appropriation bill, and without objection, i would like to ask that it be entered into the record aft

it may be one of the most important, the defense appropriation bill. it was passed by the committee in september an represents the only remaining bill -- and represents the only remaining bill left for us to pass this year and which we want to do before we adjourn at end of this period before christmas. these bills, as i said, were reported out of committee with overwhelming bipartisan votes. nine of the bills were -- nine of the 12 were reported unanimously. however, when we move these bills to the floor, we run -- ran into these obstacles. at one point when we were considering, for example, the question of extending unemployment benefits to millions of americans who have lost their jobs, exhausted their savings, lost their health insurance and stand to lose their homes, there was an argument made by one senator on the other side of the aisle that he didn't want us to call this bill until he had a chance to offer another amendment -- another amendment on the acorn organization. we have had a series of these amendments. we have flogged this group mercil

the other bill i'd like to talk about is the defense department appropriations bill, this bill waives the demand, requirement, that the chairman of the appropriations committee post on the internet the earmarks and/or plusups depending how you want to call those in this bill. some 1,700 of them we are told. some good, some bad. we ought to know what's in there. they were shortly posted on the internet last night for a brief period of time and taken down. madam speaker, i would like to know what's in this bill that embarrasses the majority. they would not allow this transparency to come before us for us to look at it. like i said i'm not against for or any of those, but we don't know what they are. by not posting them until after this bill is voted on sometime between now and the indof the year we are going to be voting blind one more time at the specific request of the majority. it is your responsibility, madam chairman, through your -- the appropriations committee to have posted these earmarks on the internet so that those of us could look at them and see them. we are not going to se

in about an hour or less, we'll be voting for the defense appropriation bill. this is a bill which is critically important to our nation's defense and security, as secretary gates reminded us today in a letter to the united states senate. it's also a bill that's important to the men and women in uniform, those who are in harm's way overseas, literally risking their lives while we meet in the safety of this senate chamber. the bill contains a 3.4% pay raise for our military, richly deserved for the men and women who serve us. it also will be a pay raise appreciated by their families, many of whom wait patiently for the return of their loved one. there's money in this as well for families -- military families to make sure that not only the service members but their spouses and children have health care. it's a very basic requirement of life and one that we want to provide for all of our men and women in uniform and their families. there is certainly an allotment and allocation in here for equipment which our men and women in uniform will need to perform their miss

we need to adopt this appropriation bill. now, we've got pay raises and we've got health programs in this bill. we add $1.3 billion more than the president requested for the defense health program. this covers shortfalls that exist in private-sector care. it increases funds for medical research, including what's called t.b.i., which are the brain injuries, as well as the ptsd, which have so afflicted our troops in these wars. we add additional funds for those programs. the quicker this bill is signed, the faster those funds get appropriated and spent, the better off our wounded warriors who suffer from t.b.i. and from psychological health are going to be. in afghanistan now, one of the key issues is going to be whether or not we can get the afghan troops trained quickly enough, supported quickly enou enough, given the equipment that they need so that they hopefully, earlier rather than later, can join with us, partner with us and take responsibility for their own security. regardless of people's differences over the policies a

but what i want to talk about today is the defense appropriations bill. whatever disagreements we may have on health care, they have absolutely nothing to do with the defense spending bill. funding for our troops in iraq, afghanistan, and around the world as well as for defense, health, and other critical programs, should not be dragged into this debate. we should be able to separate the two issues and pass this defense bill swiftly and overwhelmingly. senator inouye and several other of my colleagues have already discussed the importance of this bill's funding provisions to our ongoing operations in iraq and afghanistan and to our overall nation's defense. i'd like to spend a few minutes on the importance of this bill to the home state of minnesota where the president, the presiding officer here, also resides. mr. president, there are currently over 1,300 members of the minnesota national guard employed in iraq. these deploying members are with the 34th infantry division, the famous red bulls, longest serving unit in iraq. they assume command of all u.s.

for several weeks, i have been saying where are the appropriations bills? under federal law, we're supposed to have those done by october 1, october 12. -- october 1. see, this is december 10. it must be past that deadline. well, here comes the bills. they're all packed into one. there won't be the debate that we would normally get if we handled them one by one. it's fascinating to me that one of them is health and human services. all year, we've heard how health is what's breaking the people of this nation, how important health care is, why we have to do health care reform under strict deadlines, strict deadlines that have shifted a number of times and are irrelevant to getting a good bill, but health care is that important. and it is 1/6 of the nation's economy. so why haven't we had the health care appropriations debate before october 1? why did it get put off until now? well, i guess it's because all the earmarks weren't ready yet, or maybe it's because they thought that this bill ought to pass and solve all of the problems. i think the bill could pass -

and this was the same party and president that promised to scrub each one of these appropriation bills and get rid of the unnecessary ones. so we'll be talking a lot about this -- about that in this bill. six bills, not one, six bills totaling $450 billion, 409 pages of earmarks, 4,752 earmarks totaling $3.7 billion, and spending on domestic programs has increased by 14%. milcon and veteran spending has increased by 5%. now, i just met recently with the governor of my state. we are suffering under incredible economic difficulties. they're have the greatest financial crisis in the history of my state. couldn't they use some of thi this $3.7 billion in earmarks to pay for some of the essential services that they're having to be cut back not only in my state, all over america? no, the beat goes on. it's business as usual here in washington. and do not be surprised at the anger of the american people over this kind of -- this way of doing business. bills of 1,351 pages long filled with earmarks and pork that is -- that's got nothing to do with the betterment of our nation. so we'll be talk

here we are today, wrapping six appropriation bills together. we are going to spend half a trillion dollars, and it's got over 5,000 earmarks in the bill. things like $292,000 for the elimination of slum and blight in scranton, pennsylvania. $300,000 for a music and education program at new york city's carnegie hall where they pay the employee who runs this program $530,000 a year in salary and benefits. and there's plenty in here for washington as well. $1350,000 for the national buildling museum. $250,000 for wolf trap center for the performing arts in our concert venue. and i don't know how worthy any of these projects are, i do have to ask the question, are they more important than our kids and grandkids who have to pay the debt? because we don't have the money to spend on this. it's our kids and grandkids that are going to pay for it. and yet we can't find ways to cut spending. before the president took office, he said, he wants to go through the budget and these bills line by line and page by page. after congress passed the $410 billion omn

, and i have some things to say about the appropriations bill, too. i usually don't talk for very long down here, but i have some of that pent-up passion from all of the calls and things that i've gotten sew and so i'm going it talk about -- and so i'm going to talk about both spending and health care. and i'll start with the spending because we just voted for a bill here that costs $487.8 billion and senators didn't have any ability to debate the critical issues within that bill. of the six bills, three -- finance services, labor,- h.s., and state foreign opposes -- were air-dropped into conference with no opportunity for debate on this floo floor. so we had no opportunity for consideration. now, the transportation bill, the h.u.d. bill, received a 23% increase over last year. the state foreign ops bill received a 33% increase over last year. collectively, the six appropriations bills account for a 12% increase in federal spending over last year. our national deficit for the past fiscal year stands at $1.4 trillion. i don't see that going down at all

nelson: madam president, we here have in front of us appropriations bills. we have heavy matters of the deficit. we have heavy matters of how that we're going to get the united states government to bring its fiscal house in order. i remind the senate that it was the last time that we have had a surplus was in 2001, and if we had been wise and had not cut the revenue of this country so significantly, we could have been good stewards of that healthy surplus and we could have paid off the national debt over a 12-year period, and we wouldn't be where we are today, but we are, and in these matters that are weighing heavily on us, it seems that our attention is being continuously diverted to other things, such as white house party crashers and the unfortunate circumstances that one of the most famous athletes finds himself in, tiger woods. we have a debate about the health care bill, and it seems like that in the course of last summer that the whole health care was about one subject, and that was the question of a public option. and we now know that all the expert

it's the department of defense appropriations bill. ou imagine in the midst of a war when the bravest men and women in our nation are risking their lives at war, the republicans are filibustering the bill to pay their salaries, the bill to pay for the equipment they need to stay safe, the bill to pay for the medical care of these soldiers, sailors, air men, marines and their families? it's unthinkable. this is a bill that passed over in the house of representatives overwhelmingly. i think the number was 394-35. 164 republicans voted for it because we want to stand behind our troops. but last night only three republican senators out of 40 would step up and say we should go forward on this bill. only three. the rest of them, led by the minority leader and the minority whip, have said we will stop this bill if this is the only way we can stop the health care debate. why did they pick this bill, of all bills, a bill where we should be standing in solidarity twaoeupbd our troops -- behind our troops. we now have split into partisan camps. th

but there's been no effort by your side to hold the appropriations bill. i have been on the house floor. i say to my colleague, your appropriations bills are 13% of last year, almost every one of them are 13%, 18%, one was almost 20%. how can you justify bills that are so large. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, mr. stearns is indeed my friend, we are classmates. he conveniently left out the four years when bill clinton left a balanced budget to america. when the deficits were eliminated and the debt was coming down. that's the key consideration in this debate. this is about paying for our veterans' hospitals, paying for the war in iraq, paying for the war in afghanistan and making sure the social security checks get out on january 1. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized. mr. heller: may i inquire about the time remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada controls 8 1/2 minutes, the gentleman from massachusetts 5 3/4 minutes. mr. helle

with all this, we continue to spend and spend and spend, and every time we pass an appropriations billwith increased spending and load it up with earmarks, we are robbing future generations of americans of their ability to attain the american dream. 43 cents out of every dollar that's spent in this bill is borrowed, and it's borrowed from our children and our grandchildren, and unfortunately generations after this. this is the greatest act of generational theft that's been committed in the history of this country. now let me just go through a few of these, if i might, and remind people really the context that this is in. my home state of arizona, 48% of the homes, quote -- under water "meaning they are worth less than the mortgage payments people are having to pay on them. we have small business people losing credit everywhere. and instead of trying to fix their problems and help them out, it's business as usual here in the senate of the united states of america and the congress. $200,000 for the washington national opera in washington, d.c., for set design, installation, and performin

with all this, we continue to spend and spend and spend, and every time we pass an appropriations billwith increased spending and load it up with earmarks, we are robbing future generations of americans of their ability to attain the american dream. 43 cents out of every dollar that's spent in this bill is borrowed, and it's borrowed from our children and our grandchildren, and unfortunately generations after this. this is the greatest act of generational theft that's been committed in the history of this country. now let me just go through a few of these, if i might, and remind people really the context that this is in. my home state of arizona, 48% of the homes, quote -- under water "meaning they are worth less than the mortgage payments people are having to pay on them. we have small business people losing credit everywhere. and instead of trying to fix their problems and help them out, it's business as usual here in the senate of the united states of america and the congress. $200,000 for the washington national opera in washington, d.c., for set design, installation, and performin

inouye: i rise to address the department of defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010. mr. president, as you know, this afternoon the the senate received this measure from the house which represents a compromise between the the bill passed by the house last july and what we passed this past october. since passage of the senate measure, vice chairman cochran and i and our staffs have spent countless hours in discussion with our colleagues in the house to flesh out the differences between our two bills. the product that the senate will consider represents the work of our discussions. while this is a house measure, i can assure my colleagues that it is a very fair and balanced product. the defense appropriations portion of this measure totals $636.3 billion in discretionary spending including more than $128 billion for the cost of our ongoing efforts in iraq and afghanistan. in total the defense bill is $3.8 billion below the request of the president and within the subcommittee's allocation. this bill represents the hard work over the past year of all the members of the defense

bill. let's send it back to the conferees and the appropriators and say come back with a bill that's more responsible, and then we'll pass them. we're not going to not pass legislation to fund these things. don't let anybody say that, but the question is what kind of increases can we justify, and i'm worried about it. the american people are worried about it. we assume congress needs to get worried about it. if not, we're going to have some new people in congress and some new people are going to fix it because it can be fixed if we show determination. i thank the chair and would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise this afternoon to speak about health care and the bill that is on the floor that we have been debating now for a number of days, the patient protection and affordable care act. i wanted to provide first a brief overview, but in particular to focus on provisions that relate to our children and then get into some detail about -- about those provisions and the important programs that are contained wit

six different bills were not enacted during the regular appropriations cycle, and the temporary billen funding the government until now expires december 18, so they have a short window to get this finished so the government can go want funding at elevated levels, not the same level it has been funded at the last couple years. >> can you tell us why the vote was held open longer than usual? >> the problems did not have to do with it being controversial, it was more the senators just were not there. senator lieberman is an orthodox jew, and he often times on saturday walks from his home from georgetown and he walks over and a rise. almost an hour had gone by before he arrived, and he was wearing an orange scarf and it was exciting when the cast the votes and people could finally lead and catch their flights because senator mccaskill was waiting on the sideline to see if she was going to need to change her vote to get the 60 votes required to move forward on this bill. she wanted to vote against the bill and she did not want to have to change her vote. so lieberman arrived in time and s

madam speaker, the bill like every appropriations bill this year was slammed through the house in july under an unprecedented closed and restrictive rule. all the name of completing these bills, and i quote, regular order. the senate even with all of its scheduling issues managed to pass a regular bill in an open process with amendments and i might add by september 17. this bill should have been considered and passed by every -- by early october at the latest. instead here we are now in december. according to the plan as presented to me, chairman obey is planning on lumping five other bills with this bill to create an omnibus. three of those bills, financial service, foreign operations, and the labor-h bills weren't even considered on the senate floor. two of the other bills, military construction, v.a., and commerce, justice, sciences bills have passed both the house and senate and there is no reason these bills shouldn't have their own freestanding conferences. in fact, the commerce, justice, science bill was supposed to go to anches on november 17 but that conference got yanked due

yesterday the house passed a 2010 defense appropriations bill. we are here to call for quick passage of this without delay. we could've passed a bill yesterday. we could've passed it today. we should pass it as quickly as possible. first and foremost, this bill provides the funding for our military forces across the globe and ensure they have the proper equipment, proper quality of life, to ensure that they continue to do their job as they face the threats better posed against the united states. but it also assists countless americans who are hit hardest by these difficult times. people love love their jobs through no fault of their own. it would help them to literally put food on the table, pay the rent, keep the heat on in the wintertime, provide help with health insurance and do other things that are necessary while also contributing to the economy of the united states. our bill includes a short-term extension until the end of february of several critical safety programs. it extends unemployment benefits, including increased payout and longer d

that is an appropriation in this bill.et me repeat, support -- $2.7 million to support surgical operations in outer space. now, there's a lot of compelling issues before the american people. surgical operations in outer space at the university of nebraska? i guess the university of nebraska has some kind of expertise that they need $2.7 million so that we could support surgical operations in outer space? i wonder when the next surgical operation is scheduled in outer space. maybe we ought to -- maybe we ought to go into that. i mean, i will be spending more time on the floor on this, i say to my colleagues, but $30,000 for woodstock film festival youth initiative. you know, woodstock was a pretty neat experience but do we need to spend $30,000 to revisit that one? there's $200,000 to renovate and construct the laredo little theater in texas. my frerntiond friends, the nexte in laredo, be sure to stop by the theater and see $200,000 of your money which is going to renovate and construct this little theater in lor laredo, t.

we're going to stick a $1.8 trillion debt ceiling increase into a defense appropriations bill so that everybody feels guilty about voting against it if they do -- and i will for the first time because i believe it's wrong. i believe it's wrong, and it shouldn't be done. well, mr. president, let me just say this. sometimes you have to say no. you know, as my children grew up, the toughest thing was to look at those kids and say "no." "i want this." "what do you want for christmas?" "i want this." "no." when i started work, i was always told in sales the toughest thing you're going to have to do is to say no. i'll buy it for you, but i'll only pay this much. no. well, we're at that point where the american people have said prioritize. we've got to look at communities. we've got to look at states, and we've got to have guts enough to say no. you know. mr. president, wealth is not created by government. wealth is not created by states. the government steals wealth when the opportunity is available. communities will grow and they will be healthy and states will grow and they will be health

but everyone should understand that procedurally no one can stop us from moving to the appropriations bills it is bipartisan. we've worked closely with the republicans on this matter. and we automatically go off the health care bill when we get on this. so we're waiting for the score to come back from the congressional budget office. so there is a lot we can do until we get that done, which will be next week. so no time is lost on health care. and we have to work until the end of the year, so we've got to do this bill. so whenever we hear from the republicans, the senators will know what their schedules will be. we frankly, mr. president, could complete our work today and come back and we could work something out even so that we could have a monday vote. but whatever the republicans want, that's what we will be happy to cooperate with. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 3590, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 175, h.r. 3590, an act to amend the internal

the multi-trillion dollar bills by unanimous consent and by the way that build the omnibus appropriations bill, six bills totaling 450 billion, 1,000 crandon 51 pages long, 4,750 to earmarks totaling $3.7 billion in by the way spending on domestic programs increased by 14%, except for veterans which has increased by only 5%, so the majority leader wants us to go out for the weekend after keeping us in all last weekend and here we have an unspecified proposal that none of us know the details of the cost so i'm supposed to go home to arizona this week in and say my friends we have been working on health care reform for a year and guess what? i can tell you nothing. we need to stay in and we need to know what the proposals are. we need to tell the american people what is going on behind closed doors. >> with the senator from arizona yield? i recall our good friend the majority leader telling us that we would be here the next two weekends in the recall our friend the majority leader saying monday of this week we would be here this weekend. my assumption was we were here to deal with this important

again, with respect to the defense appropriation bill, it is essential that we passed that bill and is essential that we passed the debt limit. it is essential that we extend, in my opinion, unemployment insurance and cobra. it is essential that we extend the patriot act for at least 90 days while the legislative committees are trying to complete that, so there are a number of things clearly that i think it is necessary for us to do because of time limits. as my friend knows, health care does not have a time limit and it will depend upon what action the senate takes and when it takes it. >> i thank the gentleman, mr. speaker, and would ask about the speaker's plan to copenhagen. copenhagen. i think there are about 30 members going with the speaker to copenhagen, scheduled to depart wednesday evening next week, and would like to ask whether that will impabblingt our schedule for work next week, or does he expect that we will be in for five days with the speaker gone. mr. hoyer: i don't know if the speaker will be gone, if we have business to do. i think you're probably scheduled to be o

you know the government just provided an additional $30 million in this appropriations bill which just passed the congress. i think the president has either just signed it or is going to sign it for additional prosecutors and other folks helping in this process. i mean, the justice department, state governments, spend a fair amount of money on enforcement of copyright infringement and counterfeiting generally. much of the work is done, however, through ourselves through self-regulatory organizations. and we do a lot of work in the states as well. and so i can't give you a precise figure. it's probably a very tiny proportion, percentage, however, what's totally spent on law enforcement in this country. now as we see more and more piracy into the organized crime world, which our evidence is showing, a lot of the people who are doing organized criminal activities are moving into this area, then it's our hope that we can get the dollars spent up. >> there is a report that came out earlier this week from the information technology innovation foundation which basically said that digital pira

again, with respect to the defense appropriations bill, it is essential that we pass that bill. it's essential we extend, in my opinion, unemployment insurance and cobra. it's essential we extend the patriot act for at least 09 days while the legislative committees are trying to complete that so that there are a number of things clearly that i think it's necessary for us to do because of time limits, but as my friend knows, the health care -- health care does not have a time limit and it will depend on what action it's going to take and when it takes it. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman, mr. speaker, and i would ask about the speaker's plan to copenhagen. i think there are about 30 members going with the speaker to copenhagen, scheduled to depart wednesday evening next week, and would like to ask whether that will impabblingt our schedule for work next week, or does he expect that we will be in for five days with the speaker gone. mr. hoyer: i don't know if the speaker will be gone, if we have business to do. i think you're probably scheduled to be on that and i know i am, but

appropriations bill if it is attached to it. >> i did we talk about the hypocrisy and shamelessness of the democrats running congress to apply an increase in the debt ceiling behind the troops. i don't think if you talk to most of our troops they want to see their children they are fighting for a better tomorrow be saddled with $6,000 per person of additional debt by this bill. i don't think if you talk to the troops out there they would think it is fair to have to have their funding tied to a piece of legislation that actually at $6,000 of debt on to their children because the liberals in congress have a spending problem. and we are voting and we are voting to represent not only them but all americans who want to see fiscal responsibility restored in congress. we have stood behind our troops and we continue to. it's an insult to the troops to tie their funding to an increase in the debt ceiling. >> i'm confused. does that mean you are going to vote for the bill next week or are not? >> i oppose the increase in the debt ceiling. >> see you were going to vote against defense appropriati

president, the bill before us is clearly an appropriate exercise of the commerce clause. we further believe congress has power to enact this legislation pursuant to the taxing and spending power. the bill does not violate the tenth amendment because it is an appropriate exercise of powers delegated to the united states and because our bill fundamentally gives states the choice to participate in the exchanges themselves, or if they do not choose to do so, to allow the federal government to set up the exchanges fully within the provisions as determined by the supreme court under the tenth amendment. i urge my colleagues to vote against the point of order. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the constitutional point of order made by the senator from texas, mrs. hutchison, that the amendment violates the tenth amendment. the question is is the point of order well taken? the yeas and nays have been ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: is there any senator who has not voted or wishes to change h his or her vote? on this, the ayes ar

>> the biggest item is the last spending bill, the senate appropriations bill. there is a lot of doubt about what is going on this week. >> what are some of the concerns with getting the bill through the senate? >> first of all, that they have not paid that much -- they are having difficulty focusing on the big health-care talks over there. there are concerns about taxes, estate taxes, transportation extensions. >> would bring back house lawmakers over the weekend or early next week help to solve the problem? >> it would not solve alone the problem of the government expiring on at midnight on friday. house speaker nancy pelosi and was asking if they would come back saturday or stay through saturday instead of going home for the holidays. that would help get the bill passed. it would not guarantee senate action, so that they may have to come with a tenuous resolution to keep some government agencies are running. there is some talk about a resolution to last until december 23, but this is all very tentative at this point. >> can you tell us about some of the legisl

it very interesting that the gentleman has not raised this point with respect to the defense appropriations billt let me simply say that the explanatory statement for this bill is very short. it is on our website. it was posted there this morning. mr. lewis: the chairman certainly might have given us the courtesy of communicating that that was his intention ahead of time. and it's very clearly stated within the report that we would -- the members would have it available to them. obviously the chairman has chosen to ignore that side of the responsibility. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: could i inquire how much time is remaining on both size? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin controls 7 1/2 minutes. and the gentleman from california controls eight minutes. mr. obey: i yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. fattah: thank you, madam

hoping to renew that unanimous consent request tomorrow so that we can wrap up the omnibus appropriation bill and move quickly back to the debate on the health care bill. i'm hoping that we can do that in the interest of moving through some of the important amendments now pending. we expect two votes tomorrow on motions to waive points of order with respect to the consolidated appropriations conference report. those votes should require 60 affirmative votes. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. senators should also be prepared for votes saturday morning. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. >>> senators are waiting for the congressional budget office to estimate the cost of their newest version of health care legislation. we will hear from senate majority leader harry reid next on c-span2. after that, senate republicans talk about changes to the bill. later, treasury secretary timothy geithner talks about extending the troubled asset relief p

yet we can vote at these times for appropriations bills that have a 14% increase in spending.ñr c.p.i. is minus 1.3%. it seems does anybody have any shame i wonder? now we are going to have a bill on the floor of the senate, that i'm going to go and debate today, has $2.5 billion to buy c-17's which everybody knows we neither need nor want. $2.5 billion. let me just ask you a question real quick. i know i haven't got much time. how much difference does this earmarking -- in that last bill it was $4.3 billion worth of earmarks and pork barrel projects. i will not comment on the money that was being spent on irritable bowel syndrome. you were here. you saw it. you saw it grow out of control. everybody says, well, it's sort of the standard way we do business. it's not the standard way we do business. we didn't used to have these earmarks and pork barrel spending. what's your view having watched this sausage making up close? >> senator, several things. one, as you know in a timical year over time earmarks are about 1% to 2% of spending. >> therefore they don't matter. >> no, no. t

appropriations bills since 2004. the reid health reform legislation does not. the hyde-weldon language ensures that strong conscience protections are in place for medical providers who oppose abortion. these strong protections which are currently federal law, currently federal law should also apply to the new programs created through the reid manager's package. the so-called abortion compromise does not stop there. the reid amendment also creates a state optout charade. as noted by cardinal daniel dinardo, the archbishop of galveston, houston, and the u.s. conference of the committee on pro-life activities, allowing, quote -- "individuals to opt out of abortion coverage actually underscores how radically the underlying senate bill would change abortion policy." excluding elective abortions from overall health plans is not a privilege that individuals should have to seek as an exception to the norm. in all other federal health programs, excluding abortion is the norm. and numerous opinion polls show that the great majority of americans do not want abortion cover

this is a critical moment in our history not only with the defense appropriations bill that the defense health care bill. it is to pass these measures and get prepared to come back and continue the work in a new year. anyone else? well, thank you all very, very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] he was not imposing figure. he was not a giant of his time. and yet he emerged as the nominee at a time when the party was populated by big figures. >> his mark on history includes manifest destiny and in his new biography of james k. polk, a country of vast designs, robert and mary looks at the life and times of our levins president sunday on c-span's q&a. >> now tomas perez of the assistant attorney general will be hearing about his agenda for his office with the justice department. the american constitution society for law and policy host this event. it's about an hour. >> good afternoon, everybody. i'd like to welcome you to today's event. i'm caroline fredrickson, the executive director of the american constitution society for law and policy. also known as acs. acs fo

also for your appropriations bill. this year, more children will be diagnosed with autism then with aids, diabetes, and cancer combined. autism research is still significantly underfunded despite greater public and congressional awareness. for example, leukemia affects one in 25,000 people but receives research funding for $310 million annually. pediatric aids affects one in 8000 children. ts its funding is tutored $55 million per year per it autism affects one in 150 individuals and yet nih funding for fiscal 2009 is estimated to be $122 million. most scientists agree that autism is caused by a combination of both genetic risk factors and environmental factors. we have discovered some of the autism rest jeans. we still know very little about the role of the embargo and how it interacts with these genes. we have come to understand that autism is not one disease but many different diseases that as many different causes and each costs will likely only explain a minority of cases per piece by piece, we must discover each

it very interesting that the gentleman has not raised this point with respect to the defense appropriations bill let me simply say that the explanatory statement for this bill is very short. it is on our website. it was posted there this morning. mr. lewis: the chairman certainly might have given us the courtesy of communicating that that was his intention ahead of time. and it's very clearly stated within the report that we would -- the members would have it available to them. obviously the chairman has chosen to ignore that side of the responsibility. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: could i inquire how much time is remaining on both size? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin controls 7 1/2 minutes. and the gentleman from california controls eight minutes. mr. obey: i yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. fattah: thank you, madam s

monday -- and i think this is somewhat true -- that congress regularly in acts earmarks and appropriations bills. the idea that car routes of individual senators is something unusual is probably not correct because these sorts of things happen fairly often. senator reid went as far to say if a democratic senator does not have something for their state or did not get something they want, then they probably are not doing that good a job as a senator. >host: we should point out that the subject of one of the editorials from "the wall street journal." tyler is joining us from stillwater, oklahoma, on the independent line. caller: first i would like to thank you very much for taking my call, and i'd like to ask -- i guess in a question form -- how it it do you think what needs to be done, in terms of what president obama -- when president obama was elected, the platform that he said this is what needs to be done, how are the compromises in the process such as the nebraska kickback or the louisiana purchase, these deals basically designed to get congressional figures reelected -- hardee's corrupting o

we held a hearing on autism two years ago in april of 2007 and fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill that was approved by the full committee last week includes a range of activities related to autism such as outreach and education, medical research and the interagency autism coordinating committee. the bill includes $14 million for a new program to help students with intellectual disabilities make the transaction -- transition to secondary education. we have an outstanding panel of witnesses to help us examine autism from many perspectives. research, treatment bleep it will intervention and another problem that hasn't received enough attention. how to address the needs of a growing population of adults with autism. let me just thank all the witnesses for coming here today. i will leave the record open for his introductory statement. we have two panels. we have dr. thomas insel and dr. gillian dawson and joshua cobs from iowa. dr. pickens boyd from minnesota and dana halverson from iowa. we have covered all the aspects we wanted to cover on autism with these two panels. we will open up wit

yet we can vote at these times for appropriations bills that have a 14% increase in spending.theñr c.p.i. is minus 1.3%. it seems does anybody have any shame i wonder? now we are going to have a bill on the floor of the senate, that i'm going to go and debate today, has $2.5 billion to buy c-17's which everybody knows we neither need nor want. $2.5 billion. let me just ask you a question real quick. i know i haven't got much time. how much difference does this earmarking -- in that last bill it was $4.3 billion worth of earmarks and pork barrel projects. i will not comment on the money that was being spent on irritable bowel syndrome. you were here. you saw it. you saw it grow out of control. everybody says, well, it's sort of the standard way we do business. it's not the standard way we do business. we didn't used to have these earmarks and pork barrel spending. what's your view having watched this sausage making up close? >> senator, several things. one, as you know in a timical year over time earmarks are about 1% to 2% of spending. >> therefore they don't matter. >> no, no

there was a provision tacked onto an appropriations bill called real i.d., to do that. unfortunately, it was tacked on without adequate consultation with the state's elected minister the driver's license program for the working with the national governors' association, working in cross party lines, it was developed and i urge you to see if you can move this legislation forward. the deadline is fast approaching and as mr. jimminy noted, this is something even if we extend the deadline, we have to for the 9/11 commission report which is to get to a more secure driver's license system. >> but you do support the pass id? >> absolutely and we are very interested and i think national security as we build the architecture of it, requires the take on that recommendation a move the agency forward. finally, we need to no, or we look forward to working with you on immigration reform. the president is committed to that. he is committed to reform that includes serious, effective been sustained enforcement that includes improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm way to

a lot of what has been said about the reason to obstruct to move to the appropriations bill was abouthe delay that was demonstrated this morning will not continue. we can move forward to a final passage. with that, allow me to introduce my colleague. >> thank you very much. beei served as mayor of alaska d this is linked to the military. we have over 4000 of our troops across the state of alaska. we also have a significant amount return and had become veterans. this is very important. i want to emphasize last night when i came in, a reporter asked me, what is like coming in. it was early for me. the fact is that we had to be there at 1:00. what i decided to go into this office to serve, the reason that i did so is because i believe that the system has to change. this is another example of why americans are outraged by what is going on in this important piece of legislation. the system here, this is a very simple piece of legislation. secretary gates is concerned that if if this is not passed, what the impact would be. it is critical that our troops have the resources. in this bill, i

bill back to the floor? >> after this debate over this and resentment the senate has shifted gears and moved to consider -- they are trying to finalize the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations spending bill, which provides money for the pentagon and other military operations, and looks as though that is quite be on the floor because republicans are, again, potentially forcing the closure process which takes several days. that could be on the floor until saturday afternoon or evening, and after that democrats are expected to turn attention back to the health care bill at that point. >> senator baucus told reporters today the senate may work on christmas day to pass health care reform. is that realistic or just a threat? >> it's definitely a threat. it's also a realistic. you know, with the kind of cumbersome rules in place in the senate and the fact the way that this bill is setting up procedurally democrats have to invoke cloture treat times to get, which is a movement to get to debate to even get to a vote on final passage, so it looks as though the best case scenario would be, i guess what i would say that target end date is now between the 23rd and the 25th. obviously th

the bill therefore appropriately allows students and staff to participate in clinics, including those that are adverse to the federal or d.c. government. however, and this is important, the bill continues to prohibit any actual conflict of interest involving specific parties. therefore, if the student or staff member is involved in a matter which would be a direct conflict of interest, they are not covered by this waiver. it would seem that this is a common sense solution to provide those students employed by the government the same opportunities as other students. i might say, mr. speaker, when this came to my attention, i thought that perhaps we could have a relatively simple, straightforward waiver exemption to take care of this problem, which was unanticipated by the congress when it passed the relevant law and therefore i would urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill and if the gentleman from tennessee has no other speakers, i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from tennessee. mr. cohen: mr. spe