dahlkemper talked about. the consumer confidence numbers comes out every month for i think the last seven months we've had consumer confidence on the rise. we've had another jump in consumer confidence, and this is a chart that talks about the increase in household wealth and how american household wealth is beginning to recover. $17.5 trillion of household wealth wiped out under president bush. and under president obama we've already recovered $5 trillion of that household wealth. and when people have their wealth restored, when they have resources again, they start spending money. that's why those retail sale numbers are going up. because when you have your wealth restored you gain more confidence in your ability to make some spending decisions that you might not have made and ultimately these -- we are going in the right direction. i mean, every chart that we put up -- i have to laugh at some of our friends on the other side of the aisle who -- i mean, just -- you know, the expression, your glass is half f

dahlkemper: mr. towns from new york, ms. woolsey from california, mrs. dahlkemper from california, ms. kaptur from ohio and mr. defazio from oregon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. moran, kansas, town, new york. without oojection, the gentleman from nebraska is recognized for five minutes. mr. fortenberry: mr. speaker, on tuesday morning, under the beautiful prairie sky, u.s. army specialist blaine edward reding was laid to rest in an old and is he convenient platts moth, nebrassa, cemetery. specialist reding was a 22-year-old newly wed, married just 10 weeks to nicky, before a roadside bomb took his life in afghanistan on june 7. he died along with four other soldiers, two of whom were his ccose friends. blaine reding followed a tradition, a family tradition, of service to our nation. in the footsteps of his father and grandfath

dahlkemper. mrs. dahlkemper: i want to thank mr. dingell for hosting this special order so we can celebrate mr. ron gettelfinger. i came to congress with a promise of standing up for workers' rights, a day when mr. gettelfinger had when working for the ford motor company. he enhanced a vision of organized labor. ron's eight years as president of the u.a.w. has ushered in a number of defining accomplishments for the american worker. he fought vigorously to assure worker protections in major trade agreements. while understanding that a reformed health care system will better serve america's work force and our entire country. ron's success is defined a willingness to work with industry and construct bipartisan agreements that achieve results, a strategy i admire and wish we would see more of here in congress. as we emerge from the worst recession, worst economic crisis since the great depression, ron's leadership has been stall wartwart. as americans see thousands of jobs overseas, ron made sure that good-paying jobs stayed here in the

dahlkemper: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of my bill, h.r. 5623, the home buyers assistance and improvement act of 2010. i particularly would like to thank the leader, chairman levin, and particular for helping advance this legislation which will extend tomorrow's closing deadline to those eligible for the home buyers tax credit. the national association of realtors estimates that 180,000 families, including over 5,800 in my home state of pennsylvania alone, signed contracts for new homes by their april 30 deadline but have not yet finished their closing. one realtor in my district estimated that there are 20 of these such closings which have not been able to be completed yet. due to the turmoil in the housing market and overwhelming success of the tax credit, lenders in federal programs have not been able to keep up with the demand and that's what's created the backlog. the home buyer assistance and improvement act will provide time to clear this bottleneck and make sure that these new homeow

dahlkemper: i thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak in support of one of the nation's closest allies, israel. -- ms. schwartz: it is apparent that the organizers of the six -- of the flotilla intentionally sought to confront israeli security forces to and defy the embargo of gaza established by israel and egypt. the organizers, the activists as they call them rerksjected means offered by israel that's been talked about tonight to deliver humanitarian aid used by internationally accepted organizations, including the red cross, repeatedly to get that aid to gaza. the resuing altercation and loss of life could have been avoided had the organizes of the flotilla agreed to the repeated offers to dock at one of their ports and allow the overland transfer of humanitarian aid to gaza. israel has the right to defend and protect herself, the blockade exists because it needs to prevent arms being smuggled to gaza and protect the citizens of israel who have been subject to thousands of rocket attacks. hamas, which is recognized internationally as an enemy of israel and a terrorist organiz

dahlkemper: manufauring haadded mo than 125,000 jo this year. companielike acutech, a manufacturing of aerospace parts, have been perforng wel and ring new employees despite the recession. strong economy is one that makes things. prodes goods and productthat people want to buy he and all over e world. americans n- attitude and entreprenrship will continue to lead us out othis recessi. i amro to support our americ mufacturers and i urge my colagues to do the same and i yield back. the speaker pro tre: the gentleladyields back. for what purpose ds th gentlan fromontana rise? >> addre house foon minute. the speaker p tpore: without objection. mr. rahall: too many peoplin ston, d.c., are underhe impression that theecond andnnecessary.s -- obsolete mr. rehberg: while we can stop gun control coness, proessis in washington, d., bureaucrats will use every tactic at their disposal to disarm the americanublic inuding banni firrms on public lands. that's why i've sponsored t ire armsreedom on federal lands act withepsentatives rob bishop and paul broun. th

dahlkemper: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the sisters of st. joseph of northwestern pennsylvania. this year marks the 150th anniversary of service to the diocese oferee -- of erry by the -- erie by the sisters. they have provided quality eddcation for our children, including establishing schools like my alma mater, villa ma raea -- maria academy. they started the st. vincent hospital and school of nursing. the dedication of the sisters of st. joseph has no bounds. they serve as nurses, teachers, social worker, and community leaders. as a former student of the sisters, i'm eternally grateful for their love and guidance. mr. speaker, it is my privilege to honor the sisters of st. joseph of northwestern pennsylvania today and i thank them for their 150 years of service to our community. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection,

dahlkemper to act as speaker pro tempore on this day.igned, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 6, 2009the chair will now recognize meers fr lists submitted by the majority and minority leers for morning hour debate. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares th house in recess until 10:00 a.m. today. host: among the items for the house this afternoon include a small business lending in build. this program will continue until 10:00 a.m. when the house comes in. we will have a discussion of health care coming up in about 15 minutes or so. our guest will be neera tanden, chief operating officer from the center for american progress. in the meantime, we will open the phones for you to talk about any topic that you like. we will have those numbers on the bottom of the screen for you in just a second. but some articles in the meantime, money and investing section, "wall street journal." they are talking about this financial overhaul bill and t

dahlkemper: mr. speake checks ll go out in t mail to 189,000 seniors across pennsylvia, including thousands in my district in western pennsylvania. this will help them pay for prescription drugs. ese $250 chec are on their y to seniors who fall victim to the prescription drug doughnut hole in medicare. the $250 checks are just the first step in reducing prescription drug prices for seniors under the new health care reform. next year seniors ithe doughnut hole will get a 50% discount on name brand prescription drugs and a 75% discount on generics. the averagpennsylvania senior will save $700 next year on prescription drugs because of the health care reform bill. this is a down payment on reducing prescription drug cost for seniors and eventually closing the doughnut hole altogether. i'm proud that our health care reform legislation is helping seniors during this difficult time. and yield back the balce of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her me. for what purp