chairman, secretary gates was kansan of the year this year. his mother was at a ceremony. was very proud of her son. we all workere, for everything you have done. and you gave a beautiful speech, a touching moment. a couple of things i wanted to raise with you. secretary gates in particular. this is the old one you are familiar with, very familiar with, the tanker contract. what i have been reading is the airbus is asking for it an extension of your rfp time. for them to make another bid at this. i've been reading throughout the european press that presidents are sarkozy and others are concerned there would not to bi d. i would hope the timeline not be extended foray bid to be put forward by eads. have you made a decision on that? the last i heard was you were reviewing that. >> that is correct. we have had some informal -- as best i am up-to-date --we have had informal questions from eads about it. i think they are going to do a letter to us. i have not seen that letter. i don't know if it's been received and the department. we will look at it. as i told the house appropr

kansans can't absorb these bhls of new costs but are required. to since we can't afford this mandate we may be forced to take deep cuts out of our education system, dimming the light for many -- of opportunity for many kansans. washington needs to opitz eyes to this gathering storm. kansasanians understand we can't create a new entitlement program without exploding spending. this bill will not only seriously injure our health care system but its tax increase, mandates and increase bureaucracy will ruin the kansas economy economy and kill jobs. i will continue the bat until washington against this attitude that we know best. it threatens the future prosperity of our state and nation. on monday i introduced h.r. 4901, legislation to repeal the health care plan we just passed. only with a total repeal of this budget-busting mistake can we then institute true reforms that will lower health care costs for families and businesses. my legislation will undo what has been done and replace it with something much more based upon common sense and the will of

these were native kansans who had an inherent advantage. presidential, dr.ortunity to get the word out about the good things the u.s. intelligence community is doing now. i think most of you know that, and we heard in the introduction, that dick is a fighter pilot, which means that even when he is on the ground, he likes to drive fast in his corvette around northern virginia. you have probably seen him at the annual harley days football game, riding his bike around the building. he is well known in the washington, d.c area for writing that bike during the rolling thunder run, when hundreds of thousands of bikers converge on the nation's capital on memorial day and ride together to show support for the efforts to find veterans who are still missing from our past conflicts. when the general was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he always wrote his harley in and rode around with those who are supporting the veterans. i am not a biker myself, but i can appreciate the intelligence that general myers gathered on the road. i recently found a document that i sw

these were native kansans who had an inherent advantage. presidential, dr. regan, thank you for the opportunity to get the word out about the good things the u.s. intelligence community is doing now. i think most of you know that, and we heard in the introduction, that dick is a fighter pilot, which means that even when he is on the ground, he likes to drive fast in his corvette around northern virginia. you have probably seen him at the annual harley days football game, riding his bike around the building. he is well known in the washington, d.c area for writing that bike during the rolling thunder run, when hundreds of thousands of bikers converge on the nation's capital on memorial day and ride together to show support for the efforts to find veterans who are still missing from our past conflicts. when the general was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he always wrote his harley in and rode around with those who are supporting the veterans. i am not a biker myself, but i can appreciate the intelligence that general myers gathered on the road. i recent

secretary gates was kansan of the year this year. his mother was at the ceremony, who was proud of her son. and we all were. it was a very touching moment. you give a beautiful speech at it as well. a couple of things i wanted to raise with you. secretary gates in particular. one is, this is the old one you are familiar with on the tanker contract. what i have been reading is that the airbus is asking for an extension of your rfp time period for them to make another bid at this. i have been reading throughout the european press that sarkozy and others are concerned, and think this is terrible that they have not been able to bid with northrop. i would hope we would stick with the timeline, this 10-year project is hopefully getting close to conclusion and not be extended on the time for a bid to be put forward by eads. have you made a decision? the last press accounts are recorded the scene was that you were reviewing it. >> that is correct. as i am out today, we have had some informal questions from eads. and i think there were going

we then toured cessna's manufacturing lines to see firsthand an example of the great work of kansans build over 50% of the world's general aviation aircraft. reauthorizing the f.a.a. and the airport airway trust fund is not only a top national priority, but obviously to me, senator brownback and the kansas delegation, a top kansas priority. we tried to pass this bill two years ago, and at that time 40,000 employees were in wichita and the surrounding counties, and they made their living building planes, manufacturing parts and s-fg aeuf -- servicing aviation. now, unfortunately after delay and delay and delay due to the rough economic climate and conditions, that number has dropped to just over 25,000. that's a tremendous decrease with an awful lot of hurt for a lot of families in kansas. kansas is home to nearly 3,200 aviation and manufacturing businesses, including cessna, learjet, boeing, spirit, aerosystems, and honey well to name a few. however, aviation isn't simply an economic engine in kansas. it's part of our history, our way of life, most importantly, part of our future. it

and it should be noted that the basketball arenas at both of those schools are named after native kansans and former kansas basketball players. from james naismith, the inventor of basketball, to galen. k.u. is a proven perennial power in college basketball. this year the jayhawks will compete for their sixth national championship. in commemoration of this accomplishment, i ask my congressional colleagues in the congress to join me in a hardy rough talk jayhawk, go k.u. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? mr. hall: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. hall: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to talk about the nation's unemployment problem. there are people in my district and all of our districts who are struggling. they want to work, they know how to work. many of them are highly skilled and have great ideas, but they cannot find a job. it is our job, madam speaker, to help them. in th