code has delegated this responsibility to the secretary of commerce and within the department of commerce to the bureau of the census. let me be very clear on this point. the constitution stipulates that congress shall direct how the census is to be conducted and congress delegated this responsibility to the bureau of the census, not the office of the white house chief of staff. the united states census should remain independent of politics. it should not be directed by political operatives working out of the white house. such a move is especially troubling considering the census at the time was considering entering into a national partnership with acorn, an organization ripe with internal corruption and that was responsible for multiple instances of vote fraud in the 2008 presidential election. asking an organization like acorn to help recruit the 1.4 million temporary workers that will go door to door is akin to inviting the fox into the hen house. an estimated $3 billion in federal funds are distributed annually on the basis of census data, according to census officials. all the people

congressional democrats to curtail debate and the number of amendments offered to h.r. 2847, the commerce, justice, science and related agencies appropriations act of 2010 effectively ended the process to deal with runaway federal spending in a positive and responsible manner. and whereas, the actions taken have resulted in indignity being visited upon the house of representatives. therefore, it -- be it resolved that the congress develop a clear plan for dealing with runaway federal spending. two, the house of representatives return to its best traditions of an open and transparent appropriations process without a preprinting requirement. and, three, that the house rules committee shall report out open rules for all general openingses bills throughout the remainder of the 111th congress. the speaker pro tempore: under the rule 9, a resolution offered from the floor by a member other than the majority leader or minority leader as a question of the privileges of the house has immediate precedence only at a time designated by the chair within two legislative days after the resolution is pro

thousands of chambers of commerces that exist all over the country? i will not yield because i probably have 15 seconds. mr. chairman, i would ask for a no vote on this -- yes vote on this amendment to remove this $100,000 and save a little bit. and start now by not doing this sort of thing anymore that is just not in critical nature. given the deficits we have. thank you. . the chair: all time having expired, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it -- the amendment is not agreed to. the gentleman from california. mr. campbell: i request a recorded vote. the chair: further proceedings on the amendment of the gentleman from california will be postponed. the gentleman from west virginia. mr. mollohan: move to strike the requisite number of words. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mollohan: i thank the chairman. mr. chairman, i yield one minute to the the gentleman from new york, mr. meeks. the chair: in s

chairman, i rise to -- in regard to h.r. 2847, legislation on appropriating funds for commerce, justice and science and related agencies for 2010. mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume in general debate. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mollohan: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, if this is june, it must be appropriation season. and so today, i'm pleased to present to the house the first of the appropriation bills for fiscal year 2010, h.r. 2847, the commerce, justice, science and related agencies appropriation bill. while the summer may be hot and humid, as is typical in the nation's capital, our days and nights need not belong for the house to fully consider this and the other 11 appropriation bills in regular order, or so we hope. i want to thank the ranking member of this subcommittee with most sincerity for his assistance, help, counsel, guidance in the development of this bill. mr. wolf, mr. frank wolf of virginia was chairman of this committee for a number of years. served on it for a great number of years. we served on it together. he brings to

program within the department of commerce is charged to do. so there's a perfect match here. to create jobs. to get people to become small business owners. to maintain low overhead. i think that that's what the american people want. and by doing this, saving jobs, not only in one area, but in many areas. to me that is something that should be applauded. not something that should be be taken away. we match the very definition of what the department of commerce has talked about. a perfect match. and we give in this process daylight so that the american people can understand we are trying to help them. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the time of the gentleman from west virginia has expired. mr. campbell: may inquire of the chair how much time i have remaining? the chair: 1:15. mr. campbell: thank you. i would like to point out to the gentleman from new york as well that this -- we could not find this earmark request on your website, which i believe is something that the committee rules require. we could not find that. so that is o

bob rush of illinois chairs the commerce committee on consumer protection. this is 2 1/2 hours. >> good morning. today is a joint hearing of the subcommittee's on commerce, trade, and consumer protection and communications technology and the internet. i want to welcome all of you to this hearing, and i want to just give you some advance notice that in about 20 minutes, we will be called to the floor for a series of votes. some have estimated to be -- we are scheduled for about 27 votes on the floor, which is certainly going to extend the hearing. we ask that you be patient with us. we will try to conduct this hearing and be mindful of your time, but our actions will be dictated by the house schedule and the votes on the floor. i now want to recognize myself for five minutes of opening statements. as i indicated, today, the two subcommittees, commerce and consumer protection, are combining our commitment to privacy -- and resources to conduct the import hearing on behavioral advertising and consumer protections. i want to just take a moment to think the chair

barton from energy and commerce, mr. mckeon from the workforce committee, generally brown-waite and charles boustany are going to come and talk about elements of the plan. we'll be working with the grafting -- drafting folks on and hopefully have -- while we're almost always last in line with the resources available in the congress these days, we're going to be working hard now to bring these concepts into legislative language as quickly as we can. mr. kemp. >> thank you, roy. dave camp from michigan. thank you for your leadership on the solutions group. i want to thank leader boehner and whip eric cantor for their leadership on this issue, as well as all my colleague here and those who aren't here to really make it possible for us to come forward with an american solution to health care. the president said this should have a uniquely american solution. we have an american plan. one that we believe has been said will really focus on affordability, accessibility and availability. and the question is, how do we do that? we

this title may be cited as the department of commerce appropriations act 2010. title 3, department of justice, general administrations, salaries and expensed, $118, 488,000. mr. boswell: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. boswell of iowa. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 552, the gentleman from iowa and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from iowa for five minutes. mr. boswell: thank you. i'd like to thank chairman mollohan and ranking member wolf for their hard work on h.r. 2847, the commerce, justice, science, and related agencies appropriations act of 2010. this amendment would provide an increase of $2.5 million for the national criminal history improvement program. i have brought this issue to the floor for several years now and it consistently receives bipartisan support. i thank my colleagues for their continued support and their commitment to law enforcement officers and public safety. i believe that this increase i

and we had a number of energy and commerce republicans, mr. gingrich, dr. gingrich who is here, walked at a key time and later scored. mr. skalise who is here played second base some. and also did some base running and scored. so mr. pitts who he came out and watched the game. [laughter] >> and luckily didn't try to play. although we could have used his bombing skills from the vietnam war. so any way, we raised quite a bit of money for charity and had a good time. and we now see mike doyle and you see that he's grinning from ear to ear, just congratulate him and tell him to take pity on the downtrodden republicans who didn't quite have the stuff last night. [laughter] >> on this hearing, mr. chairman, i do want to thank you, thank mr. boucher, mr. sterns, mr. rodanovich, for working in a bipartisan fashion to protect the privacy and security of every american's personal information. i'm glad that we are working on this in a bipartisan way. i especially appreciate chairman roush's agreement to act on the republicans' data security bill. that bill has implica

gr and the department of commerce during the clinton administration. david goode joins the tata sons group in 2005. after a 34 year career at the state department. at state, david was the director of the office of india, nepal, sri lanka and multi-affairs. following a three-year stint as american council judgment in mumbai. arvind panagariya, professor of indian political economy at columbia university. as well as a nonresident senior fellow working institution. he has also worked for the asian development bank, world bank, imf, injuries capacities. he has also published extensively including a recent book i-india, the emerging giant. my colleague claude barfield is a resident scholar here at aei. is the author or editor of a number of books on trade and science policy. and has also served as an advisor to the office of the u.s. trade representative. our format will follow the one of the prior panel. each panelist will present eight to 10 minute remarks. we will then open up the floor for questions. so with that, i will turn the discussion over to susa

chamber of commerce. it has many newspaper endorsements. as you can see, newspapers in every part of the country support this legislation. i'll read just a few. "the sacramento bee" -- the country needs to reclaim its status as a global magnet for visitors even in the post/9/11 climate and congress can help by passing the travel promotion act by the end of this year. the "dallas morning news," september 6: "the travel promotion act is a sensible first step toward putting the welcome mat back on america's doorstep. the orlando sentinel "charging travelers $10 on promotion to bring in all that money makes sense." "detroit free press," september 5, 2008, "doesn't it make sense to encourage at no cost to taxpayers foreign visiters to come here and leave some money? there's no good reason not to pass this bill." and finally, i leave the best to last, the "duluth news tribune," duluth, minnesota, may 18, 2009: "ideas to bolster economic recovery without plunging the nation any deeper into debt would be welcome by taxpayers from coast to coast." t

this week the senate commerce committee held a confirmation hearing in which he addressed the expansion of broadband in the u.s., media ownership rules, and the so-called fairness doctrine. >> host: well, the senate commerce committee this week held nomination hearings on julius general caw sky to be the new fcc chief, and joining us to talk about that, andrew feinberg and fawn johnson of dow jones news wire. mr. feinberg, before we review the hearing itself, give us a little background on julius genachowski. >> guest: well, the guy's been everywhere. he's been at the fcc, he's been in the private sector on both the entertainment side, he's been with venture capitalists actually right here in washington with launch box digital which is a d.c.-based start-up incubator, and he's sort of been a tech con cigly yea to the obama campaign all the way through, and now he's probably going to be our next fcc chairman barring anything horrible or strange. >> host: fawn johnson, given his background what do we know about him now, and where do you think he'll take the fcc? >> guest: well, we know he

line, if you get a chance, a task force of representatives from the ports homeland security, the commerce department could possibly come up with some ideas of a threshold of entry that could give us some degree of protection, or at least send a signal to the world that we are looking at the quality of the products that are coming in. secondly, cosponsored senator demint legislation dealing with the consumer product safety improvement act which i voted for an chairman pryor spent a lot of time on, but it did have a lot of unintended consequences won by way of example i have eight, soon-to-be nine grandchildren. one of my daughters-in-law the mother of three all under five sheers the largest secondhand clothing sale and second heart book swap in the history of mankind, i think. but it raises a ton of money for the church. when that law passed within weeks they were called by their attorneys and told to cancel both those sales because of the potential effect and legal liability that was put on them as a secondhand seller of a product they neither manufactured nor took any responsibility for.

. >> denied on c-span, a house commerce oversight subcommittee talks to gm and chrysler heads about why they're closing auto dealerships. they also get reactions from several dealers who are being closed. here is a portion. >> was discontinuing these dealers are unnecessary for chrysler's survival? the answer is, absolutely, yes. today's auto industry could not support the dealers in the marketplace. we've gone from 17 million sales in 2006 to less than 10 million today. it is not profitable or viable. >> of like to mention to the committee the human element of the actions of gm and chrysler. with our closing, these people will be subjected to serious economic hardship. i had numerous offers to sell my business. i have had that right taken away. my family will be left with a single purpose dealership facility with no tenant. this is senseless. my grandfather it paid for carlyle separate -- chevrolet with his labors. it took nearly 20 years to pay my parents for carlyle chevrolet. it took gm and chrysler a mere 24 hours to take carlyle's chevrolet for me. >> members of the house commerce

the speaker pro tempore: in lieu of the amendment recommended by the committee on energy and commerce printed in the bill, the amendment in the nature of a substitute, consisting of the tech of h.r. 2998 modified by the amendment printed in house report 111-185 is adopted and the bill is considered read. after three hours of debate on the bill, as amended, with 2 1/2 hours equally divided and control by the chairman and raking minority member of energy and commerce, and 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman of and ranking member of the committee of ways and means, it shall be in order to consider a further amendment in the nature of the substitute printed in part b of the report if offered by the gentleman from virginiaing mr. forbes, or his designee, which shall be considered read, shall be debatable for 30 minutes equally controlled by an opponent and a proponent. the gentleman new york -- the gentleman will control 30 minutes of the bait. the gentleman from california. mr. waxman: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to rhett rhett

also served as the acting undersecretary for commerce in the security field back in 2005. speaking third will be george perkovich who's the v.p. for studies at the carnegie endowment and also runs carnegie's nonproliferation program. george has written a very fine book on india's nuclear weapons program and his most recent book is abolishing nuclear weapons which i just think just came out. and for cleanup is dan blumenthal who's a resident fellow here in aei in asian studies. dan was the senior director in the office of secretary of defense for the office handling china, taiwan and mongolian affairs and is a long time serving member on the u.s.-china economic and security commission. since we only have about an hour, i've asked our panelists to speak for about eight minutes, which should leave us plenty of time for follow-up questions and discussion. but again, as danny said when we do turn to questions, please identify yourself and try to make it a question. so if that is an introduction, susan, you're up. >> good morning. i'm pleased to be here with a distinguished pane

department of commerce and trade policy. one question i had was basically how does india's relationships with the bricks going to play out both in terms of competition and. [inaudible] >> i mean, currency finance is currently not a big issue, and on trade really if you ask me we all love to talk breaks, but in the end it's going to be -- you know, if you look at the progress, russia happens to be a bit large, so it's in á@ rbáx if you look at it if i'm not mistaken, china has become india's largest trading partner, so trade side india and china their relationship has grown enormously rapidly, i think more rapidly than any other trade relationship of india with another country. so that's roughly where -- >> if i might just add to that, though, i think india's relationship with china, trade relationship with china is an interesting and complex one because at the same time that it is rapidly growing, it's filed more trade actions, many trade actions against china because going back to what i said earlier, well, india seeks to c

commerce justice science and homeland security appropriations bills. and madam speaker, i'd ask the gentleman does he expect the house as is its custom to consider these bills under an open rule? i yield. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. it certainly will be our intent to proceed with an open rule on the consideration of the commerce, justice, state bill. i guess it's science now bill. the intent of course as the gentleman knows based upon our discussions is that we will finish all 12 appropriation bills individually between now and the 30th of july. this will give the senate and house the opportunity to agree on a conversation -- conference report on the 12 appropriation bills and hopefully enact those bills and send them to the president prior to the onset of the fiscal year october 1. if we do that, of course, it will be unusual and it's an ambitious schedule. but because of that it will be necessary for us to consider these bills in an effective but also efficient fashion. and stay within time constraints that will allow us to accompl

speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, a member of the commerce, justice, science scomme, mr. schiff. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. schiff: i thank the gentleman for yielding. at the outset, i want to congratulate the chairman for the extraordinary job he's done in putting this bill together. in particular, i wanted to highlight a couple of key investments in the bill in the areas of law ens for -- enforcement and science. in particular we invest over $800 million in the cops program that's been successful in putting additional cops on the beat and deterring criminal activity and keeping our communities safe that is a vital investment. the legislation also makes a very important investigation optometrist those who live in the border states in a program called scaap which provides assistance to states that have to incarcerate illegal immigrants and bear the costs of flaws in our federal immigration policy. furthermore, the bill makes a very key investment, very substantial investment in d.n.a. technology and back log reduc

in lieu of the amendment recommended by the committee on energy and commerce now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of h.r. 2998 modified by the amendment printed in part a of the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution shall be considered as adopted. the bill as amended shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions of the bill as amended are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill as amended on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one, three hours of debate with 2 1/2 hours equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce. and 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means. two, the further amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part b of the report of the committee on rules if offered by representative forbes of virginia or his designee which shall be in order without i

next, former energy and commerce committee chairman, john dingell, stated in a hearing on cap and trade, and i quote, nobody in this country realizes that cap and trade is a tax, and it's a big one. as recently as this week, congressman gene green of texas stated in an op-ed instituting a cap on a nationwide greenhouse gas emissions will raise the price of energy for consumers and businesses alike. madam speaker, i'm confused. why on this earth would my friends on your side of the aisle create such a big tax on all american families and businesses during a time that a recession is so serious? why are we rushing to do this with $1 trillion spending plan that will such have a large impact on the american people on killing jobs and making it more difficult for us to come out of this recession? on june 15 i received a letter from the texas comptroller of public accounts stating that the current plan to implement mandatory mission caps would weigh far more heavily on texas than any other region in the country. it goes on to note that, and i quote, based on rising fuel prices as a result of t

the commerce department predicts that we'll lose another 247 jobs this year. remember, this isn't about airport c.e.o.'s. this is about the -- the people that -- the janitors that work at the airports, this is about the maids that are doing the beds, this is about the rate rests that are working at the restaurants of course, this is about the people that do the flowers for the hotels and for the banquets and for the business traveler. these are real jobs in america. this has always been a country that opened its arms to people from around the world. that's why we're so great, and we have to bring that back. we have to bring people in to visit this country. the travel promotion act will do just that, and by boosting travel to the u.s., it will give a boost to our economy. so it's a win-win for the tourism industry, for jobs for america, and for the american people. senator dorgan went through the bill. i did want to emphasize that not only will this consist of travel promotion and promoting our country like other countries have been doing for years and been lea

the use of the word irresponsible gives me pause because if the appropriations subcommittee for commerce, justice, state -- commerce, justice, science has done anything during the last six months, it has responsibly considered the administration's requests with regard to funding of these accounts. indeed, our appropriations committee has cut $200 million from the administration's request at the same time, we have filled a lot of holes the administration left. $300 million for scaap. we filled that hole, which the administration requested zero for that on the floor here yesterday we added another $100 million to scaap because it has such support, broad, bipartisan support in this house. . we restored $400 million to this legislation, money to help our local police, our local sheriffs, our state police as they do their job in very tough times. as a matter of fact back home, providing safety to our citizens. this legislation has been very responsibly considered. and while our appropriation is less than the president requested, it still goes a long way to adequately fund all the accounts in

-- potential unconstitutional provisions on the first amendment with regard to the regulation of commerce speech, but also in the fifth amendment with regard to whether it's a constitutional taking or not. so while that is going on, i will introduce legislation, i'll work with ms. harman, i'll work with others, i'll work with the chairman on how we can best incorporate this harm reduction strategy to truly improve public health, because i, madam speaker, i embrace the sincerity of mr. waxman and mr. kennedy that they truly want to improve public health in the country. but this legislation when we lock ourselves down to only what is presently available and that these nicotine replacement therapies only have a 7% success rate, i don't believe anyone here would endorse a 7% success rate as a good thing. it's failure. so we are going to have to go back to the drawing board here and figure out how we do a harm reduction strategy to improve public health. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana reserves his time of the the gentleman from california.

the democrats' climate change, quote, compromise, unquote bill passed by the energy and commerce committee is still a job killer that will hit every american with a national energy tax. this plan will have a devastating impact on the price at the pump and utility bills across the country. one estimate for a similar proposal found that families would pay more than $3,100 a year in extra energy costs. representative john dingell said it best. nobody in this country realizes that tax and trade is a tax and it's a great big one, end quote. even the president admitted that his energy plan would cause energy prices to "necessarily skyrocket," and that the costs will be passed on to consumers. various estimates suggest anywhere between 1.8 million and 7 million american jobs could be lost. manufacturing jobs will relocate to countries with less stringent environmental regulations like china and india, inflicting grader harm on american families and small businesses while doing even greater damage to the environment. the american people know we can do better. republicans also support a clean envir

. >> host: the senate commerce committee this week held nomination hearings on julius genachowski to be the new fcc chief, and joining us to talk about that this week on the communicators, andrew fine virga broadband census.org and fawn johnson of dow jones newswires. mr. feinberg, before we had reviewed the hearing itself, give us a little background on julius genachowski. >> guest: the guy has been everywhere. he is than that the fcc. he has been in the private sector on both the entertainment side. he has been a venture capitalist, actually weisser in washington with a d.c.-based start of incubator and he served-- sort have been a tech and city terry to the obama campaign all the way through. he is on the advisory committee, and now he is probably going to be our next sec chairman, barring anything horrible or strange. >> host: phone johnson, given his background what we know about him now and where do you think he will take the fcc? >> guest: we know he is passionate about the internet and this comes from the obama presidential campaign. he was one of the early supporters of obam

dingell, the chair emeritus of the energy and commerce committee. mr. stupak, all of our colleagues had an important role. mr. kildee. and our colleagues on the republican side of the aisle hopefully will have a good, strong bipartisan vote today on this legislation. because they have given -- you all have given us an opportunity to pass legislation that is a benefit to our economy and a benefit to our environment. we can create and save jobs while addressing the air pollution issue, so important to our children's health. we will do this by allowing americans to trade in their old gas guzzling vehicles and receive vouchers worth up to $4,500 to help pay for the new more fuel efficient cars and trucks. i go into the specifics. i know we heard it over and over again. this cars bill is quite a remarkable piece of legislation. and the timing is perfect. and when they trade in these cars they will strengthen america's auto industry, creating jobs and reducing layoffs and save more than 250 million gallons of gas. this has been tried and true around the world

it should be of particular concern of any nation that depends on the seas for their commerce. last year, combined maritime forces base in bahrain established a security patrol to keep shipping lanes safe. i encourage you to participate in this important mission. given the vast coastal areas that we are talking about, more than 1 million square miles, there are limits to patrolling alone. more must be done. members of the international community must work together to pursue an detour piracy under the security council resolution passed late last year. companies and ships must be more vigilant about staying in traffic corridors and should consider about increasing their security personnel. gulf nations

that energy and commerce committee you would hear was a microcosm of the larger house because of how many cole and oil patch kelvin sampson crats were there. they had to make more to the farm state democrats. they probably got 20 democrats from rural america to go along with this bill because of the negotiations they did with colin porter son the agriculture committee chairman, and then whipping in the last couple of days of other bills. they called it a fishing poll bill. you saw nancy pelosi personally on the floor lobbying members. >> speaking of those who closed the aisle, there were tefrl. >> the republican number was higher than people thought. there were eight all together. mary, crist smith and another from new jersey were the ones we most likely expected. david reicher from washington state was probably one that jumped out. he is in a tough district. he has had some very close re-elections, and that was a tough vote for him. he ultimately went for it. two our republican votes on the ball. >> the other yes, sirs were leonard lance. so those were surprising on the republican s

. >> another question i was asked by the senate commerce chair, senator rockefeller, was about the sec be more open to the public. >> you agree that the sec should be more open to the public? >> yes. >> how? >> it requires a commitment throughout the agency to principles of openness, transparency, fairness, fact based decision making. if confirmed, i would want to lead the sec in that direction. i do not see how it can be otherwise. the issues are too complex. we need an sec that a smart about technology, smart about the law, smart about economics, smart about the business, and navigating a complex communications world. so i think this is quite important. i had the same experience that you did in trying to navigate the fcc website. it should be a model for transparency, openness, and fairness. there's a lot of work to do, but i would like to see the fcc been modeled to communicate openly with the american people, and with all the constituencies interested in what the commission does. >> and along that same line, the senator had a statement he made. >> let me say however, it seems to me

for example, talking about the chamber of commerce. most people do not think of the chamber of commerce that is a benign force. they're opposition to the clean energy economy is one of the main obstacles we're facing to pursue that agenda. what we have been able to do is segment 22,000 small business leaders among our membership to a taken a vocal stand against the chamber of commerce in support of president obama clean energy bill. [applause] this issue of segmentation both in terms of constituency, a strategy, tactics is critical for measurable gain. we cannot do it in the absence of continuing to show the broad political momentum for transformative change. [applause] >> as a responsible moderator i need to cut this off but i want to know to the commitment of all of the group's up here. throughout the buildup to the election campaign, throughout the election and now is to broaden the activity and the engagement with the american people and not the intent to sit with our base and complain or simply focus on the people that we all bett

reported out of the energy and commerce committee, the so-called cap and trade legislation. many of us know it as cap and tax or as massive new energy tax on the american people. the agriculture committee has wisely decided to hold a hearing on this complex legislation and, in fact, the secretary of agriculture has been answering questions from members on both sides of the aisle for the past 3 1/2 hours, as members are almost uniformly opposed to the legislation, regardless of their party status and have expressed grave concerns about the impact this will have on america's farmers and ranchers, that it will have on rural america and indeed, the devastating impact that it will have on our economy and jobs and our standard of living as a whole. and i want to bring to the attention to the members of the house some of the concerns that we have raised. the impact of this legislation will have on our economy and our

subcommittee on the energy and commerce committee who has been a staunch supporter of this legislation and has looked after all the health matters that come before the congress, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank chairman waxman for his tireless work on this tobacco legislation. today is long overdue and he should be so proud of his -- the fact that this is finally passing today and going to the president's desk. as we pursue serious and historical health care reform, this legislation comes at the right time. smoking kills. smoking also is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a host of other illnesses. almost half a million americans die from their own cigarette smoking a year, and even more alarming, studies have estimated that more than six million children alive today will ultimately die from smoking. when president obama's call for health care reform, he cited the need to use our resources wisely and e

confirmed and when are you going to conclude your test and when can we get back with the senate commerce committees and house members in other states that are affected by the drywall and expedite this as soon as possible. but i'll have a full briefing and come up with a schedule of implementation working with you and making sure you are fully informed. >> great, i appreciate that. and i look forward to following up with regard to that specific timetable 'cause that right now it's on a very frustrating multimonth timetable. if i could have a couple more questions 'cause this is really important. this is also part of a broader issue, obviously, with china. and china is clearly the biggest problem worldwide with regard to many products. in louisiana another big concern is contaminated seafood. that's not your jurisdiction, i understand that. but my point is, it's clearly a pattern with regard to china. what are your thoughts about focusing on this chinese pattern to really get some significant new results across-the-board? >> if i'm confirmed one of the first things i will do is meet with a

preempts state law in intrastate commerce but we can in interstate commerce, and i don't think thereis one vote on this committee for the practice of retroactively reviewing its policy to try to rescinded if you have a woman like my constituents, ms. beaton, who discovers that she is that breast cancer or you have somebody who needs a stem cell transplant, or even the young lady from california who just needed some blood work done. i mean, we will back you up on fraud and misrepresentation but i don't think you are going to get a vote at all on rescissions that are not material to the claim being processed. i don't know that that is a question. it is just a statement, so if you would like to comment on that, i would certainly like to give you the opportunity to do it. >> no one cares to insert? >> i would just reinforce that rescission would only occur when the information was material to the initial, if the situation, if the information was material to the underwriting decision. >> only in that case. >> mr. chairman, i am going to yield back. >> could i follow up on that? if it is m

for example, anna talked a lot about that chamber of commerce. most people in america still think of the chamber of commerce as this benign force that, you know, helps their local businesses. their opposition to africa, their opposition to the clean energy economy is one of the main obstacles we are facing in actually pursuing that agenda ando so what we have been able to do is segment 22,000 small business leaders who are among our membership who have now taken a vocal stand against the chamber of commerce in support of president obama clean energy. [applause] this issue of segmentation is a critical one for measurable gain but we can't do it in absence of continuing to show the broad political momentum for transformative change. >> as a responsible moderator i need toicate this off now but i want to note the commitment of all of the groups up here throughout the buildup to the election campaign, during the election campaign, and now, is to bloodthen activity and the engagement with the american people, to not be content to sit with our base and

speaker, i rise in opposition to the flake amendment to strike funding from the commerce, justice, and state appropriations bill for the jason project and i again do want to thank chairman mollohan in particular for his unwavering support of this important program. which ultimately results in being a public-private partnership, which i think is a great example of haw howe to invest in education. -- of how to invest in education. the jason project was first created by dr. bob ballard. many of you may remember, dr. ballard was the famed underwater explorer who found the die titanic. dr. ballard has a real passion for children and educating the next generation. i've had the opportunity to work with dr. ballard who is now at the university of rhode island, on science education issues, and i'm grateful for his work to establish the jason project and his dedication to training and inspiring future scientists. as congress addresses today's economic challenge we must be vigilant in giving our future generations the tools they need to succeed. the gentleman from arizona noted the deficit that o

our economy and our very lives is extensive and we should make sure that not just the energy and commerce committee, but every committee in the house fully vets this bill. the cap and trade proposal is really a $846 billion national energy tax that will hit nearly every american. moving into a cap and trade system will place the united states' economy at a distinct disadvantage, because it would place significant costs on every american business, farmer, manufacturer and american families. this bill will raise electric bills across the country by hindering the development of traditional energy sources while also ironically limiting the development of renewable energy. coal provides the majority of electricity generation in this country and this bill will effectively stop coal-fired power plants being built in the united states at a time when one new coal-fired electric generating plant is being built a week in china. they will use it to power the growth in their economy, taking jobs away from the united states and putting the same co-2 gas into the atmosphere that we are passing this legi

e and commerce secretary gary lauck affirmed their attention to form strong bilateral ties. one early sign of that is our intention to begin negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty per gal and of the revenue picture. another is our plan to reinvigorate the ceo forum and hold our first meeting on the margins of the u.n. general assembly this year in september. secretary clinton described human development, especially education and women's empowerment as another area that wilson keep -- seek cooperation between the united states in india. i just finished an excellent book by emphasis founder entitled: imagining india, the idea of a renewed nation. he says the new india as united by a respect for achievement, returning for a better life and an unprecedented believe that such a life is possible regardless of the cast or social and economic status. in short, the expectations of young indians are hyperion. he eloquently describes why analysts from goldman sachs to mckinsey are so optimistic about india's future. he states that all the working age population of other major ec

have you gotten any sense i guess from commerce rick ntia when they will likely get back to you all? >> no, obviously we are hoping it will be sin. i am fairly confident that things are on track. i don't see a huge problem here to be dealt with but i am going to be doing everything i can to make sure that is expedited. do we have any questions in my line? >> right now from john egger ten at broadcasting and cable. he says one group says that lots of the converter boxes won't be able to get the dtv signal because the propagation problems that require rooftop antennas. calling that a "fatal flaw in the transition." how do you you respond? >> i don't know that i heard it quite that way with generic box is being singled out. >> i think what he means is that, that there is a problem with propagation of the digital signal. >> there's no question about that. that is why i took pains to discuss that. i think that is an area where the commission really needs to conduct itself with great candor. there are problems. i think the witnesses have made that clear, mr. donovan and others today. there

speaker, house resolution 544 provides for the consideration of h.r. 2487, the departments of commerce, justice, science, and related agencies appropriations act of 2010. i want to thank the distinguished chairman of the committee and ranking member for reporting this bill that does not pay mere lip service for making communities safer but makes critical investments in our nation's communities. the bill provides $802 million for community-oriented police services, which we know as the cops program. 45% above the current funding level. as a former prosecutor i know how vitally important these programs are in assisting local law enforcement to hire and train new officers to participate in community policing, purchase and deploy new crime fighting techniques and technologies and develop and test new and innovative policing strategies. so often state and local governments are critical to the -- are critical of the federal government programs because they pass down mandates without funding them. but this bill appropriates money to put more police on the street, finds successful -- fund succ

that hearing held before the senate commerce committee begins live again and to 30:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 3. here on c-span2 we are ready for the senate's live seven coverage zero is here on c-span 2. mr. dorgan: just prior to lunch we had a vote on a cloture petition. the vote was 90-3. it was not some significant piece of public policy that will shake the earth. it was a vote on the question of whether we could actually proceed to something called "the travel promotion act." for those that don't know how the senate works, you have to have a motion to proceed. norm lail, a motion to proceed on a bill like that would be done by unanimous consent and take just a nanosecond, no problem. a motion to proceed approved, proceed then to the bill, have a debate on the bill, and en this vote on the bill. but this is something called the travel promotion act, which i'll describe. it's bipartisan. i have authored it along with senator john ensign, a republican from nevada. the two of us, along with many, many other cosponsors -- republicans and democrats in the senate -- have belie

the united states chamber of commerce, the rochester chamber of commerce, we agree to at least 90% to this bill and i think it needs to be stressed that's indeed the case. i'd like to share with you an example in rochester, new york, back in the early 1990s according to president bill clinton when he did a nationally televised speech on healthcare the last time around he said rochester, new york, was a community that got it right. it was the only community that got it right. what's transpired since is four years ago the u.s. chamber that i represented, the american medical association, the american hospitalization association, large insurers large companies came together in washington and their task was find programs and policies that can be rolled back to local communities. it didn't cost a lot of money. it could be done relatively quickly. it didn't require changes in law legislation. we took that seriously. we put together a consortium of seven large businesses, wegmans is one of them and we had very good results. for example, we put into place a regional health information organiz

chairman charles rangel from the ways and means committee, chairman henry waxman of the energy and commerce committee, chairman john dingell and a respected-- perspective subcommittee chairs, pete stark from the ways and means committee, frank balloon from managing comers and raw benders from the education and labor committee. today marks a historic moment in american assurgent quest to fix their broken health insurance system. for the past six months are three committees, the committees that of jurisdiction over healthcare and the house of work together an unprecedented manner to develop and present a healthcare reform discussion draft for congress and the american people that embodies president of hamas call for fundamental change in our healthcare system. president obama has assets to drop the reform bill that will control costs, guarantee choice and ensure quality and affordable healthcare coverage for all americans. i believe that our draft lives up to those essential principles. our discussion craft reflects months of hard work and the views of many of our colleagues. we have met with

right now the bill that's gone -- that passed out of the energy and commerce committee is a national energy tax on every single american. it's -- we call it cap and tax. the supporters call it cap and trade. but what it is in reality is it has serious problems for states such as mine in west virginia. we rely on 98% of the energy generation in our state is -- 98% of that is generated through coal. well naturally we are the second largest coal producing state in this nation. we've powered america for generations by giving of our natural resources across this country. and i'm proud to say we have a proud heritage not only of turning the lights on in america but also of the coal mining jobs and the coal mining community and families throughout my state. but this bill picks winners and losers because the heartland of which i consider west virginia -- and we just heard the gentleman from florida talk about solar, but the heartland which has relied on fossil fuels for generations to keep our manufacturing jobs, we're going to be the losers here. we're going to be the ones who are going to