traditional extenders. it's embarrassment, mr. chairman, this country has i think it's 130 of them, they're either one year or 18 months congress continually addresses this question, should we extend these extenders or not. if any american business person, any american thinks about this and wonders whether or not anything's going to be extended next year has got to wonder why in the world aren't they permanent or why aren't they eliminated? why do we always have to go down this road? say nothing of all the angst and turmoil and frustration it causes members of congress, especially on the tax writing committees. nevertheless they're here and some that are very, very important. which it clearly should be extended. these are growth provisions. these help the economy. the r & d tax credit for example. very, very important to our country's competitiveness and it clearly should be extended. there are others. what about equity? some states have income taxes, other states don't have income taxes. they got sales tax

brady would like to speak on one of the extenders. >> all right. one of the health extenders. okay. >> but we can go in order if there is anybody would like to speak on one of the extenders. mr. levin, anyone on your side? >> does mr. brady want to say a few words and i'll say a few. >> i'll be very brief, mr. chairman there is a provision in the house package that essentially says if you like your hospital, you can keep it. that isn't the case today. as you know in regions -- every region has a different mix of how they provide health care. some are for profit hospitals. some nonprofit. some academic tied to a university. others are physician owned hospitals. those are all born of a need and meet that need. unfortunately, current law includes a ban on any new physician-owned hospitals. and this hurts patients and hurts the communities. and at the time it was enacted, it actually stopped approximately 40 new hospitals dead in their tracks from being built and actually serve the community they're in. this common sense provision allows these types of hospitals to be created wher

that must be addressed and should be extended at least for as long as the medicare extenders. transitional medical assistant, which provides health insurance for families transitioning from welfare to work must be extended. and we should do so without adding onerous reporting requirements that cause people to lose health coverage. and like wise, the individual key y program that helps low income seniors afford their medicare programs must be extended. i know the purpose of today's meeting isn't to discuss offsets, and i believe much of this package is emergency spending and should not require offsets. however, there are certainly ways to offset provisions of this bill without harming medicare, cutting medicaid, and undermining the affordable care act. we do not need to raise premiums for millions of seniors and families, nor do we need to jeopardize the promise of medicare at affordable private health insurance coverage for american families. we must categorically reject these provisions from the house bill. if we put aside ideology, we can find ways to remain fiscally respons

i believe their estimates have suggested that extending the, extending the expiring tax rates, except 20r the highest tax rates, the budgetary effect is about three-quarters or four-fifths of the total amount. so only a quarter or a fifth of the $5.4 billion is attributable to what happens to the expiration of the lower versions of the highest tax rates. >> of the total here, i think about four-fifths is the effect of extending all the tax revisions except the highest rates. so one-fifth, roughly is the effect of extending the higher rates. and one needs to be little careful about describing that as

accept the changing and extend for a year. it's deficit neutral. it doesn't cost taxpayers anything. and it's pretty much a no-brainer to me at this point. i think the senator was going to say a few words, excuse me, senator casey. >> thank you, senator baucus, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, you started this morning by reading what the words say, which is important. it is temporary. it's assistance to needy families. and i think it's really about two issues, really. one is trying to achieve self-sufficient efficiency in the lives of people who have really struggled, and also getting back to work, which is vital. i think that's why we're getting the kind of consensus we are. in program is a lifeline for families that have be so devastated, especially in the aftermath of this recession. and i know there are a lot of reforms that the committees of jurisdiction can deal with and should deal with. but i also believe that getting an agreement right now to extend this is very important. just this fall, the joint economic committee, the democratic staff put t

we're here to extend for one year the cut in the payroll tax. that's the primary reason why we're here, as well as extended ui benefits and fixing the sgr. and also frankly, deal with the so-called traditional extenders. that's the primary reason we're here, beginning with the payroll tax cut extension. and i think it's -- we've all been around here, most of us have been around here long enough to know that sometimes side issues reach an importance that is disproportionate to the issue at hand. but nevertheless, they're there. and we are 535 members of congress. each has his or her own point of view. some have those views held very, very strongly, and i respect that. but i just think it's important to kind of keep in mind the principle reason why we're here. payroll tax, ui, sgr, and to some degree, the traditional extenders. so with that, let me turn to senator cardin. senator cardin is going to lead off on boiler mact. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i agree with senator baucus' initial comment whether this should be in this package. let

extending the payroll tax will help in that regard. economists that i have seen are pretty much in agreement that gdp growth would decline by about 1.3% or about $200 billion if it were to expire. i think americans who experienced the tax cut need it for one more year. that will give it a little certainty d confidence that congress is not a yo-yo in acting up and down. i think certainty and predictability is very important here. i urge us to work together to extend it. it does help our economy. i wo casey now. senator casey is our lead person here on payroll tax cut extension for a year.casey, it'. >> i'm trying to my mic on. mr. chairman, thank you. mr. vice chair, thank you. on the payroll tax, one is a goal and the other two would be reasons to support the goal. the goal, obviously, and i believe this is bipartisan that we need to extend the payroll tax cut not just for a short period of time, but the rest of the year. the reminder of 2012. i think that is the basic goal that we are operating under. it is very important for two basi

but i want to take this time to talk about the energy extenders, the green energy extenders because here is an issue that i would hope we would be able to include in our package. and i mention that because we are still trying to catch up to have a level playing field on all sources of energy. we're not. the gas and oil industry has incredible incentives that are permanent and we're trying to make the secure and the opportunity to invest in renewable energies is very much compromised by the expiration of the tax incentives that help reduce. this is an issue that i've heard from more members of the senate, both democrats and republican. but a couple of my republican colleagues telling me please bring this up, that it's affecting their manufacturing, that they're starting to pull back. i give you an example in the production tax credit dealing with trash facilities. we have an opportunity in maryland to move forward with such a facility. it cannot be put into service until the first quarter of 2014. therefore, the tax credit has expired. it has expired. and we need to get redistrictability

extenders. it's embarrassment, mr. chairman, this country has i think it's 130 of them, they're either one year or 18 months congress continually

. >> more evidence that republicans don't want to extend this tax cut. they talk about extending it but are unwilling to do anything to make it a reality. >> democrats in the senate have the sort of decided to link up with the obama campaign and make sure that are on any bipartisan discussions that occur it actually doesn't lead to a bipartisan agreement. >> and so as they say, it's deja vu all over again as house senate conferrees continue to scramble trying to meet the deadline the end of this month to work out some sort of agreement to extend that payroll tax cut in place through the end of february. the president and congress wants to seep it extended through the end of this year. but this question, how do you pay for it? welcome to hour two of "washington today." thanks for being with us. meanwhile critics saying that the president is abandoning his appeals to limit the role of money in politics the president's campaign is now encouraging donors to give generously to the kind of fund-raising groups he once described as a threat to democracy. his spe

extending the payroll holiday. what is the cost of extending the payroll holiday through the end of this year and what would be the deficit added to that cost? >> if the lower payroll tax rate was extended through the end of this calendar year, it would add $75 billion to the fiscal year of 2012 deficit and $25 billion to the fiscal year deficit. 2013 starts in the last quarter of this calendar year. total is $100 billion. >> how many years are we shortening the life of social security if we continue the current rates? >> it has no direct effect on the social trust fund. depends on how you do it. the way that it's happened in the lower payroll tax rates so far is that general revenue has been transferred to the social security trust fund in the amount of the payroll tax receipts. so the trust fund has been held harmless in the lower payroll tax rate. and if you extended the payroll tax rate with the same provision as is in place now, the trust fund continue to be held harmless. if you didn't do that, then the trust

lawmakers expect to unveil a tentative deal on extending the payroll tax cut later today. on the rise. president obama's approval rating is the highest it's been in over a year. and little dog big win. malachi, a slow-moving pekinese and little dog big win. malachi, a slow-moving pekinese is america's top dogment >>> this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, february 15th, 2012. >>> good morning everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. congress hopes to send president obama legislation to renew the payroll tax cut by the end of the week. details of a tentative agreement to extend the tax cuts through the end of the year are being worked out today. it addresses long-term jobless benefits and doctors' pay. the agreement is a win for the president. it also takes the issue out of the election campaign. something that concerns republicans. susan mcginnis is in washington with details. good morning, susan. >> good morning, betty. this could be on the president's desk very soon. it is seen as win for the white house. it happened after republicans conceded that the

that must be addressed that should be extended for at least as long as the medicare extenders. it provides health insurance for family is transitioning from welfare to work. it must be extended. we should do so without adding onerous reporting requirements. seniors of for their medicare programs -- programs helping seniors up for their medicare programs must be extended. it should not require offsets. there are certainly ways to offset divisions of this bill without harming medicare, cutting medicaid, and undermining the affordable care act. we do not need to raise premiums for millions of seniors and families. nor do we need to jeopardize the promise of affordable private health insurance coverage for american families. if we put aside ideology, we can find ways to remain fiscally responsible without enacting harmful policies. this is a chance to deal with two issues that must be addressed. the required tax cuts and the unemployment insurance. this is something that we need to do. both of those are ideas that have a temporary time in which we can foresee resolving them. when i

so we are here about extending the unemployment benefits. the house passed a bill to do that for a year. we're here to make sure seniors can see their physician. house passed a bill to deal with that and pay for it for two years. and the middle-class tax cut. but we're also here it figure out how to not send more manufacturing job overseas. in the last three years we've seen manufacturing employment fall to eye lowest level in the united states, and we've shed 600,000 jobs in the last three years in the manufacturing sector. by the way, a lot of the pollution we're talking about trying to reduce here comes across from countries that we're trying to compete with in the west coast, china. and that's where a lot of the airborne mercury and all comes from. we're shifting these jobs offshore, the data are pretty clear. if i were in the boiler installation business, i'd like to have the government pick me as a winner. when i was in radio broadcasting, i would have loved it if the government said hey, for everybody in business, you have to buy so m

and what did you find would be the effect on economic growth of extending the bush tax cuts? >> our findings in that testimony are consistent with what i've said today, that extebding those expiring tax it cuts for a few years provide as boost for-to-the economy during those few years but will by the end of the decade and beyond be a drag on gdp because the effects of the accumulating debt in crowding out private investment outweigh the beneficial effects of lower tax rates. that's what we showed in this testimony you referred to in 2010 and the senate and again consistent with the analysis we presented in this outlook yesterday. >> it sounds really great in political speeches. the actual effect of extending the bush tax cuts over the next decade is to reduce economic growth by between 1% and 2%, isn't that correct, over the decade? >> yes. again, there's a range of estimates, depending on precisely what one does. >> that doesn't inclues any plus economic growth. all of it is negative in extending those tax cuts. >> in the outlook we released yesterday, congressman, thing wha

revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> this year's tribute to our lost four chaplains last seen on the decks of the usat dorchester offering comfort and their own chance for survival to others is particularly poignant. for it was this past year that these men were reunited at this country's most haloed -- hallowed grounts, arlington national cemetery. mr. miller: with a recognition long overdue of rabbi alexander d. goode and all the jewish war chaplain who is have served this nation in faith, the four chaplains stand watch once again over their flock from chaplain's hill. providence most definitely brought them together after history attempted to break their bond. and so 69 years later we reinforce the bonds of faith that no man can break and pay our respects to chaplains fox, polling, washington, and rabbi goode, and hon honor their sacrifice to their great nation. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does does the gentlelady from new york seek --

the other tax credits and others that have been routinely extended, extending them into 2013 adds about $300 billion to the deficit in 2013. guest: we can't continue with this tax code because it's killing jobs. it's making it difficult to manufacture in this country and we need to encourage revenues to the government but we can see with -- we've done a lot of projections on just a flat rate tax code. mike pence and i have one that's about 18%. and it just -- millions of jobs flow out of that and you can always say, well, somebody's going to be paying more or somebody's going to be paying less taxes, but if we got a flat rate tax then people won't be locked in a bad job forever. we can improve our economy and opportunity for everyone. but the -- this convoluted tax rate we have now, if we let it expire, we have a 10% rate now, a lot of it is for lower income. they benefit more relative to their income size than those making more money. but we do need to get rid of the loopholes, the subsidies. i mean, the crony capitalism where we're throwing money at some companies and not at others. w

revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. kosta: madam speaker, i rise -- mr. costa: i rise today to talk about the housing crieses facing americans, in california we know firsthand the pain the housing crisis has caused our families and communities as foreclosure rates continue to whoever well -- hoverle with above the national average. it's not the wholesale systematic change to put our housing market back on solid ground. homeowners are tired of waiting for meaningful change and tweaks are not enough. enacting the home act and the homeowners bill of rights would go a long ways towards stabilizing the market now and leveling the playing field for the future. we know it's essential to get our economy back on track. restoring economic security starts with passing meaningful policies that rebuild the foundation of our communities and the american home. after all, the american home is the single largest investment that the average american family makes

one aspect of extending the benefits to the 99 weeks is the logic of this program. it is counter cyclical. if we trunkate the number of weeks, we may have 10% unemployment and people would be left without any support. if, in fact, we do have an extended program in the economy and we hope it improves, just the nature of the program, they won't be able to exercise the weeks. the logic really is to go big, not go small. i hope we can pursue that longer. i know we have been talking, the staff has been talking in a collaborative and constructive way of reforms that are acceptable in the program. and some, frankly, would cause, i think, difficulties on our side, but also not be helpful to working families. one of the things that is important to stress, too, this really is as close to get to a working class/working person benefit. you have to work to collect. you have to have a record to work. we are talking about people who worked for years and who are now without employment. they need the help. their employers have paid into the system with the expectation they would hav

so now today, i brought a bill to the floor to extend the pay freeze for one more year. in my bill is the exact same bill as the democrats' bill from two years ago. the only difference is that i've carved in members of congress. every member in this house will have their pay freezed just like every other federal worker. that is the right thing to do. that's what should have been done two years ago but was not done. i was here to listen to the gentleman from maryland, the former majority leader who is outraged that he doesn't have an opportunity to singly vote for a pay freeze for members of congress. but as a majority leader, he had the opportunity to include members of congress in his bill. republicans didn't have a say, it was a democrat house. democrat senate. democrat president. and members of congress were not included. and now to come here today and be outraged and say that the republicans are disingenuous because we have carved in members of congress doesn't hold water. i think it's important to also look at the facts behind federal employees as they are compared

meanwhile, the hill newspaper reporting they could extend the payroll tax cuts and emergency benefits and the medicare reimbursement rate for doctors. the sources say lawmakers on both sides of capitol hill showing, quote, real signs of progress on a package to extend the tax cut without paying for it. the negotiations include senate republicans as well. let's turn our attention to the budget, and among those testifying on capitol hill, defense secretary leon panetta as well as the nation's top general, army general martin dempsey, both saying that the military can can withstand the present tremor $614 billion saying it will ensure that the u.s. does have an advantage worldwide with acceptable risks to forces and missions over the next 12 months. overall it's about $525 billion for military spending, another $88.5 billion for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. the president today assuring the chinese vice president that the u.s. welcomes beijing's rise in the worm offering aa warm welcome at the white house today, despite sharp policy differences over issues like syria, iran and econom

and when we extend them, it's the whole package. and you can see some of the things that my colleagues are talking about just to pay for the holiday tax package. they've got imagination. but it's not good. so mr. chairman, i was trying to negotiate for you an extended time period. i know i wasn't persuasive. but could one of you just say what you could do in terms of taking this to the next step? >> absolutely. i would like to commend you and the efforts you put forward in this whole eor

a 160 millones de trabajadores en un año electoral y ambos partidos se acercan a un acuerdo para extenderun recorte de imtos sobre el salario. el presidente barack obama preseionó al congreso después que el presidente de la cámara de representantes y su liderazgo cedieran en no exigir que es beneficio se compense con otros recargos. >>> el congreso necesita extender esta excensión de impuestos. un acuerdo en discusión, permite que los beneficios de impuestos se añadan al déficit unos 100 mil millones de dólares, también extenderían los beneficios de desempleo y el mantener el pago

i think that means extending these extenders. most of them should be extended. >> thank you. i do want to comment on that. i am sympathetic to what you have to say about the extenders have been worked on them for a number of years and knowing the importance of some many of them. some are more controversial than others. my view is these are outside the conference. we have heard from a number of speakers today about how we should not be expanding our scope, that we should stay focused on the issues of importance. but i would be interested, of those few imported ones that you suggested, discussing further with you what you think those are. i do want to say there has been a change in the way we deal with these. our house budget rules now require that all extenders' the offset. we know we have identified in terms of trying to find -- we know the difficulties ahead in trying to find ways to pay for the issues at hand and the issues we have identified. i know this would further complicate our charge. i would be interested in discussing further with you what -- >> i think that is a g

the house passed a bill that would extend the payroll tax credit for a year, extend unemployment benefits with real reforms, and take care of it. we pay for it in a reasonable, responsible way. most of the offsets are coming from the president's own budget. we have done our work. we are in conference. i hope they can resolve this sooner rather than later. thanks. >> our road to the white house political coverage takes you to the candidate events. >> i laid out a blueprint for an economy that is built to last, and has a firm foundation, where we are making stuff, selling stuff, and moving it around. ups drivers are dropping things off a rare. that is the economy we want. >> if i am president of the united states, i will stop all the obama-iraq regulations. i will make sure we eliminate any that kill jobs and get america back to work. >> the minute people realize obama is gone, that is how decisive the changes going to be. and how rapidly change is going to be. >> follow the candidates as they meet with voters. >> i thought i saw you. >> we are working hard for you. >> use our web site to v

leaders are extending an unprecedented level of hospitality to xi. vice president joe biden is accompanying him to most of his destinations. republican party leaders criticized the administration for being too soft on china. >>> chinese officials are in talks with counterparts in pakistan's air force. they want to sell the pakistanis a mainstay fighter jet. the deputy chief of the air staff said that china delivered one surveillance aircraft last month. manufacturers will deliver three more this year. pakistan bought the aircraft to boost its defense capabilities. air force commanders are considering a proposal to buy fighter jets from china. pakistan's military has been deepening ties with china. generals have bought more chinese defense equipment and weapons in recent years. america says that pakistan is seeking chinese support to upgrade the equipment as the country continues to have strained relations with the u.s. >>> the largest aviation fair in asia. they've put their most up to date models of fighter jets and civilian aircraft on display in s

[applause] i would like to extend my gratitude to the mayor.hank you. >> what a beautiful tree, and while we have the children gathering, i want to read one of the minute -- many wishes we got on the origami. it says i wish for a world for our children more just, more fair, and more kind than the one we know now, president barack obama. [applause] i think they're just about gathered. you will tell me when. this is the chinese-american school choir. let's hear it for them. [ trucks [singing in foreign language] [cheers and applause] [children singing] >> let's hear it for them, the chinese american school choir. talent comes in all kinds of packages. thank you, kids. i want to thank those who have contributed to the dinner you will be enjoying later. we have hot cookie from the castro donating and sweet cookies for as. we also have lucky o'toole's restaurants and sushi yakitori restaurant. and barefoot winery is providing refreshments for us as they have for the last six years. so, enjoy those wonderful streets. they donated this wonderful tree

it would also deal with extending jobless benefits for those people still out of work.here's a story on this at "the washington post" website, washingtonpost.com, and dealing with the so-called doc fix, now final passage according to the "washington post" is expected by friday. speaker john boehner speaking to reporters earlier about this proposed agreement. >> on payroll, all along and as late as last week you insisted that the payroll tax extension must be paid for. so what does the about-face say? >> we were not going to allow the democrats to continue to play political games and raise taxes on working americans. and so we made a decision to bring them to the table so that the games would stop and we would get this work done. >> what does it say going forward, though? >> can you address for a moment, some members of congress as we expected don't like this deal, they are upset about some of the outcomes. what's your message to them and do you see potential for this being as much as of a revolt we saw in december? >> we were not going to allow democrats to continue to

the payroll tax cuts. >> if you want to extend the tax cuts why not pay for it? >> i'm not sure how much of it is a shift in gop strategy or a party that has it's finger in the wind and understand what it should have for the many past your is that americans care more about jobs and the economy than this drum beat of the danger of short-term deficits. the president responding, what a difference a year makes, this budget the president has come out with is a responsible populist budget, it's not leading with austerity, that is right. you can take lessons from europe fr there >> the congress does not have the answer s -- the answers to the solutions of the day. >> this budget is a set up, and that is what eric cantor is reacting to, every budget that has proposed was a populist pitch. >> regarding the budget, you said yesterday, the president's budget is a nervous break down on paper. what do you -- >> no. >> we cannot recklessly eliminate vital programs like job training, education and health care for millions of hard working american families, as we look at sort of

and the house bill will re-enact and extend federal support. and -- >> and the question is whether that would happen, and i thought it should make clear. >> mr. barrasso? >> when we talk about the professori proffering of an offer, will it be how we deal with unemployment benefits or simply addresses part of what we need to do on unemployment benefits? >> my understanding, if i can answer, is the latter. >> so we'll have to deal with other aspects of unemployment? >> clearly. >> got to crawl before you can walk. congressman walden? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate the discussion and the senate's openness to provide us with an offer. i think that's very good faith and we look forward to receiving it. i think it's important to remind people that the house did approve a full one-year extension of unemployment. the house did approve a full one-year extension of the middle class payroll tax cut. and a two-year fix of the physician payment schedule so that seniors could have access to their doctors. that is what went to the senate.

we would like to be able to extend that. i actually had comments that were due in from the pac and they have not been received yet. that is why i put that in. we need to discuss this. table b is the maximum time allowed to complete the work allowed by the building permit. on the permit extension four projects, even on the small projects, they would like to be able to extend and 720 days. that does not include a code enforcement cases. this would be for regular permits to extend the 720 days, which is essentially two years, and the same thing on the permits over $2.5 million. so far, that is as far as we have gotten in table 1a in discussions at the puc meeting. the next meeting is february 8. we will try to a agendas -- agendize the president abbas comments so that we can move on. i like the opinion of the commission on whether or not they would agree with these changes as they are coming before i go ahead and advise the pac committee that we would support them in this endeavor. i need to do this and also get with the city a

while we might not have the legal basis to extend the law the way that it is written, we do know thatre are local dollars going into the event. we also know that we had our environmental review before us last week and there were going to be cuts to look at mitigation across the city. what can we get for that? we also know that the development authority will be getting rights to develop in the future. there are these relationships that we have that are of mutual benefit that we can extend for this to go forward, which can wring out to the neighborhood organizations and community members here. i hope that the authority can come together with these groups, to come to the last part of this agreement and work force development plan to get the local hire ordinance to come through here. something like that, i think it is critical. it would be a great question going forward. this hearing we have already had twice. i can continue this to the call of the chair. buhopefully we will have a hearg before the budget committee comes, but if we could have a recap of where things are in negotiations, h

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but i don't agree in extending the unemployment. if you can't find a job in 99 weeks, then you aren't really looking. there's plenty of jobs out there and we have thousands of mexicans coming across the border to work. that really irks me. we have to stop giving, giving and giving and straightening the whole house out here. >> thank you, richie. the video you're watching is yesterday of the conferees, that is the house and senate chairman who are signing the legislation and max baucus, dave camp on the house side anderation their harms to show their unity. that's the message they were sending out during that public signing of the conference report compromise. jan tweets us this morning about the doc fix. so they extend it to december. what happens between the election and the end of december? or kick it to the next congress? white haven, tennessee, up next. larry is a democrat. you're on the air. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i agree with the payroll tax extension. the key is to putting everybody back to work. once you put

supervisor avalos: this was extended to allow for outreach to the community. our office had done significant outreach on this issue. i want to thank my staff for having reached out to dozens of merchants and 15 organizations that work within the district. i also want to thank the department of the environment to help to sponsor a public meeting where we discussed this matter with dozens of attendees. as we did do a lot of outreach, all of us agree that we need to do more, regardless of the outcome of today's vote. to continue that outreach, i have proposed an additional amendment to this legislation to conduct outreach to stores and provide multilingual information to employees and customers to distribute recyclable, composed of all, or reusable bags. i have circulated that amendment, as well as a second amendment the addresses a second concern raised in my district, particularly chinatown and elsewhere, on using plastic bags for delicate and larger items. specifying that the bags that were required for those would not be covered under this ordinance. with tha

. >>> tuesday you can watch the negotiations on extending the payroll tax cut. we'll have that live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span.org. >>> this past week, senate and house lawmakers continued negotiations to extend payroll tax cuts on workers. the cuts expires at the end of the month and all sides agree it should be extended. the talks are focused on how to pay for it. >> i don't hear a fundamental disagreement in the philosophy that if people get a ged that enhances their lives and that enhances the ability for them to get a job down the road. i don't hear a disagreement with that. i hear an excuse as to why not to do it but rather the fundamental flog if i of tryi fundamental philosophy of trying to rearm people with an education so when they go in the workforce they have an additional tool. >> to link the social insurance program designed and for 70 plus years functioning to provide financial support when you lose your job to a requirement that you have to be in this training i think, first of all, won't work for some of the practical considerations. second

i think there is agreement around the table on extending unemployment benefits. clearly, we're in tough economic times. here we are 2 1/2 years after the recession officially ended. 27 million people can't find a full-time job. we have a lower unemployment rate because people have given up looking for work. we also i think agree that an unemployment check is no substitute for a paycheck. we also know that the longer people stay unemployed the harder it is for them to get back in the work force. in most -- and most studies show us after two years of unemployment which is by the way what we're extending current law today, your chances of getting back to work are very slim. so i think there's agreement the sooner we can get people back to work the better. i think my belief is what we're doing isn't working. that chart is a good example of it. and in the house, i think some common sense reforms are in order. one, you know, as unemployment goes down, we begin to phase out the highest level of unemployment. and ending the last 20 weeks of unemployment as the president

we are extending the payroll tax reduction for millions of families, extending unemployment insurance, ensuring the doctors serving seniors will be paying for their services through the end of the year. and we are making spectrum available for new innovations in wireless communications. while these are provisions i support, in the conference report there are significant missed opportunities and poor choices that affect federal workers and preventive health programs. nowhere is this lost opportunity more apparent than our failure to end the medicare physician payment formula known as the s.g.r., and set us on a path to a fair and reasonable physician reimbursement system. having to settle for another temporary solution which leases at the end of the year even deeper in the hole in terms of a permanent solution it's a real failure and one that fails medicare beneficiaries and doctors alike, and i did not agree with the cuts in reimbursement for hospitals and nursing homes and unbelievably in prevention services in order to pay for the physician reimbursement levels at a reasonable amoun