lankford sounded skeptical of a compromise at a news conference later this afternoon. >> the president said if we'll do areas that we agree on, you'll have to do some of mine. i won't do them because you like them and i like them. if we find areas that we agree on, why can't we do those and in areas we disagree on we'll put that out in front of the american people but let's move forward on things we do agree on. >> we heard two different perspectives after the meeting. one faction, one time of reaction was from house republicans closely aligned with the tea party. folks who said they thought the president sounded a good game, talented communicator as one called him, but was his willingness to act boldly going to match the speaking ability? these tea party republicans came away believing the president doesn't think there's a debt or spending problem. they didn't come away believing the president wanted to reform medicare and they came away believing the president thinks government spending is the key to economic growth and that president thinks spending is at historic lows. the gist fro

lankford no. mrs. black no. mr. ribble no. there flores no. mr. rokita no. mr. woodall no. mrs. blackburn. mr. nunnelee no. mr. rigell no. mrs. hartzler no. mrs. war louisky no. mr. rice no. mr. williams no. mr. duffy no. mr. van hollen aye. ms. schwartz aye. mr. yarmuth aye. mr. pascrell aye. mr. ryan aye. ms. moore aye. ms. castor aye. mr. mcdermott aye. ms. lee aye. mr. cicilline aye. mr. jeffries aye. mr. pocan aye. mr. hoffman aye. mr. car difficult. mr. blumenauer aye. mr. schrader aye. mrs. blackburn no. mr. chairman. mr. chairman no. mr. chairman, on that vote the ayes are 16, the noes are 22. >> ayes 16, noes being 22, the amendment is not agreed to. are there further amendments in tier 1? >> mr. chairman, i have an amendment. >> the gentlelady from wisconsin. the clerk -- does the gentlelady from have an amendment? the clerk will designate the amendment. the staff will distribute copies. >> mr. chairman, an amendment offered by ms. moore to protect our vulnerable. >> the gentlelady is recognized for nine minutes. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. you know, it's alway

marine corps major steve curtly who was an embassy guard before being taken hostage and attorney tom lankford hostages. i'm glad you're both here. welcome. steve, describe what you went through in your 444 days in captivity. >> well, good afternoon, alex. and you know, being a young 21-year-old marine guard i've always said i've weathered this thing better than most there. but then when i talk to people about it, they look at me and point out that i've gone through two mock firing squads where i actually thought i was going to be shot in the head, suffered through a car wreck where the van that we were blindfolded and handcuffed in was run off the road and rolled over several times. i thought i was going to die then. i suffered food poisoning after the the failed rescue attempt when we were spread out across the country of iran. to the point where being awake at night banging on the door to try to go to the bathroom and defe defecating on myself. then just the con stansy of not having any news of knowledge of what was happening with the situation we were in. again, when we were in isfahan i w

lankford: i rise to be able to pay honor to a man who deserves honor. march 1 would have been ralph waldo ellison, we know him as ralph ellison, his 100th birthday. ralph ellison is a proud son of oklahoma city. he's a graduate of douglas high school in oklahoma city. he hopped trains to tuskegee to go to tuskegee college on a music scholarship. he's a musician and the writer of "the invisible man," the defining work of african-american literature in the 1950's and is still a defining work to point our culture to not ignore racial injustice, social injustice and economic injustice that still occurs in our nation today. his work ethic, his fargs education, and his passion for justice is a great example to all americans. i rise to honor a great oklahoma citizen, ralph ellison, and begin a one-year celebration of his 100th birthday. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? without objection the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. matsui: this year marks a turning point

lankford: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to give support for the path to prosperity. it's a responsible budget. i rise to encourage my colleagues it's a good thing for us to get a chance to talk about budgets and where we're headed. it's a good thing to have multiple options, to have a dialogue. this is what's happening in the senate this week as well. for the first time in four years the senate has an ongoing dialogue about budgets and about the future. while almost $6 trillion of debt has been added to our children, we've not done a budget between the house and the senate in almost four years now. it's time to be able to do that and i encourage my senate colleagues bringing this up. i saw today in the news that the president has received his final four brackett and for the ncaa -- bracket and for the ncaa basketball bracket. we hope to see our interest on budgets and not ncaa brackets. the way you budget and you plan for the future and the way to set aside finances for the sut is some kind of certainty that's happening. -- for the rest is some kind of certainty that

lankford: thank you, madam speaker. i do want to stand in support of the house proposal today on protecting women across this nation. this is something that protects all women. i know there's been some interesting accusations that we're trying to exclude people. this is for all women and all places. as a dad of two daughters, i get this. i understand this. my two daughters were on this house floor not very many weeks ago getting a chance to visit to be here and be part of the process and meet great ladies on both sides of the aisle and also to interact with people and see how laws are made. i want them to know in the days ahead, laws here that are done are for every person and that we stand for every family. this is a family issue. this is a women's issue. this is also a state legal issue. it's a community issue, and it's also a national issue that's right that we deal with today. i want to encourage organizations in oklahoma city, like the w mbings ywca, who have a simple theme of eliminating racism, empowering women,