at the young age of 21 geraldine was the first woman in history trained to fly. geraldine also prevailed in her second battle, the one to achieve full veteran status for her wasp sisters. today, i also honor geraldine as a mother of nine wonderful children and a community leader who advocated on behalf of several worthy causes. madam speaker, later today, geraldine and other wasp leaders will be issued the congressional medal for their service more than 60 years ago. unfortunately geraldine passed away in 2001 and cannot be here with us today to receive the award in person, but i'm very happy that her family will proudly represent her at the ceremony. madam speaker, geraldine is a true american hero and a great source of pride for the 17th district of illinois, and i ask think of no better recognition than the congressional gold medal. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind references to -- members to refrain from references to occupants of the gallery. for what purpose does the gentleman from

so this is a bit of a nail-biter and geraldine ferraro joins me, a former congresswoman from new yorkthe tight margin now. >> it is tight because it has been a very, very difficult boat for a lot -- vote for a lot of members of congress, you are getting a lot of people from the republican party threatening to go after them in november and in this instance what they are doing is getting people to focus on, attention on the bill itself. and, be willing to say, you know, i'm going to do the right thing no matter what it means to me politically and that is very, very tight. but i have to tell you, neither nancy pelosi, nor steny hoyer, nor congressman clyburn, will move the bill and say we have the votes if they didn't have the votes, absolutely would not. >> martha: i think you are absolutely right and they don't want to be embarrassed and want it go through. >> but, martha, it is more than that. it is more than that. because it is -- what it is, is they know the process, nancy pelosi, you know, she's just not somebody who came into the congress recently. she has a history, her family, a

look, i mean, i don't think the pope needs to do one of those kind of geraldine ferraro interviews wheresits down with his tax returns for the last 30 years and goes through them at the level of agonizing detail. but i do think this might be a moment in which sitting down with a group of journalists who are prepared to ask him tough questions but give him the opportunity to give serious responses, you know, i think that would be extraordinarily helpful. it would be a departure from business as usual but if ever such a departure was called for, this would be such a moment. >> rose: what is it we ought to understand? you know more about him than most. what should we understand about this pope? >> i think there are a lot of things that would be helpful to understand about pope benedict xvi. but the first thing i would say, apropos of the story we're talking about, which is the sex abuse crisis, is this that at a personal level this pains him immensely. that is guy with a very high theology of the priesthood. a sense that a priest stands in traditional theological language in the person of c

. >> martha: i spoke with geraldine ferraro and asked why the democratic party had to work so hard forotes within its own party and we know there are no republican votes for this bill. and she said it is so difficult, because, republicans are basically telling them the doomsday scenario and twisting their arms and if you vote for this you will not be reelected in the fall. is that what you are doing. >> it is not just republican, it is the american people, they overwhelmingly rejected the bill and it is interesting, look back at the public polling that took place over the last year, in the beginning, almost 70% of americans supported what president obama was trying to do. we are now down into the low 30%, of americans, who like this bill. because, the more they found out about this pill, the less they liked it. and, it is stunning to me, to look at speaker pelosi and the president and insist we ought to do this. this is a direct discounting of the will of the american people. they are ignoring what the people want and, again, martha, there will be a price to pay for the democrats in no

geraldine ferraro is a fox news contributor and rick santorum is a fox news contributor, as well. i want to start with you. the deem and pass maneuver is dead. many by now would probably know this was controversial ploy to passes the version before the house begins on a second fix-it resolution known as reconciliation. many viewed the move as a shortcut. now that it's dead, democrats to have come up with a votes. how does it change things? >> we're focusing on process. this isn't about process. this will be done this deem and vote, that is not going away, it's not dead, but it's not dead for the future because this is used and focusing on it. what i want to point out to you, i believe that president obama just now voiced what i think a lot of people were concerned about -- whether or not the members of congress can trust what is being told to them as far as whether or not their vote will count and how they will be followed up on. the word is trust. if you take a look a what he was talking about. we're talking about nancy pelosi is an incredible speaker but we're forgetting that sh