latta: i appreciate the gentleman for yielding. raise natural gas prices by 55% raising family prices by $1,500. again, increase the inflation, adjusted federal debt by 26% or $21,150 additional federal debt per person after adjusting for inflation. i appreciate the gentleman for yielding. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. tonko: mr. speaker, does the gentleman from pennsylvania have any further speakers? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. platts: thank you, mr. speaker. i have no additional speakers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. decades ago a global space race inspired all sorts of ingenuity and innovation. it enabled this country to stretch its thinking, provide for lofty opportunities and emerge with a higher level of status in the global community because it had won that space race providing

latta. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. latta: thank you very much, madam speaker. i appreciate the gentleman for yielding. i am pleased to stand before you today in support of the resolution i introduced, house resolution 420. this resolution celebrates the symbol of the united states and supports the goals and ideals of flag day. flag day is celebrated on june 14 which is the anniversary of the official adoption of the american flag by the continental congress in 1777. this was done by the first flag act which stated, resolved, that the flag of the united states be made of 13 stripes alternating red and white, that the union be 13 stars, white and a blue field representing a new constellation. since 1777 our flag has rearranged the design of the stars and stripes each time as a state was added. as the gentleman from utah stated, the history of flag day traces its roots to the first celebration of the american flag which is believed to have been introduced by bernard cigrand, a wisconsin school teacher, who arranged for hi

latta. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. latta: i appreciate the gentleman for yielding and madam speaker, last night we brought in my opinion an important amendment before the committee dealing with with what i call the homeland security administration run amok with their bureaucrats. this would prevent the homeland security from being able to utilize the dollars under the bill to say that over 36 million americans that have a certain type of pocket knife, i don't care if it's from a hunter or fisherman or a person who works in a factory, make these illegal. it's sad we have to do it this way, that instead of bringing it here to the floor, we have to go through the rules committee. i think that the amendment we offered last night, and my colleague from idaho, mr. minnick, it's an important thing to save jobs in this country. he said it would be over 200-something jobs in his district, over 4,000 jobs could be affected. ancillary jobs by over 20,000 jobs. i really stress this is an important amendment and i appreciate the ge

latta: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in opposition to this massive national energy tax. we're all for clean energy and the republicans have put forth an all of the above strategy. that's a strategy we need to do in this country, we can't pick winners and lose irs. i represent the largest manufacturing district in the state of ohio, but i represent the largest agricultural district. ohio uses 87% of coal for our generation. with this -- what this bill will do is kill jobs in ohio. we're struggling right now. it's tough. one of the things that a lot of people don't realize, since we have so few farmers out there left, 1% in ohio, we have so many farmers that not only work a full day on the farm but go out and work all night at another job. we've got to have jobs going both way prarkslell with each other this bill is not going to help these people out there. it's going to kill jobs across the country. when the secretary of agriculture was before us not long ago, i posed this question, is china going to comply with wh

latta, for five minutes. mr. latta: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. latta: thank you. thank you, madam speaker. one of the issues we have been talking a lot on this floor and across the country is the cap and tax. cap and tax is nothing more than is going to be a national energy tax. i have a have you unique district in the fifth congressional district of ohio. it's interesting in that i represent not only the largest manufacturing district in the state of ohio but i also represent the largest agricultural district in the state of ohio. and as we have been talking about this, there's been a lot of information that's been put out there by a lot of different groups but i think it's interesting to point out the heritage foundation and the brookings institute has put out how many jobs we will be lost about this. the heritage foundation says you will look at 1.5 million jobs being lost. carry out to the e

latta, one minute. the chair: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for one minute. mr. latta: i rise in support of the tricare continuity of coverage for national guard and reserve families act of 2009, which i'm a co-sponsor as amended into the national defense authorization act. members of our national guard and reserves are eligible for tricare health insurance during their service and after the age of 60, but not during the time in between. time in between they retire until the age of 60 is referred to as the gay area. they are reserve component retirees under the age of 60 with more than 20 years of faithful service who have qualified retirement at age 60. the legislation fills in that gray area to ensure that these men and women have health care coverage and provides access to the care they deserve. this legislation is important because currently around 50% of those serving in iraq and afghanistan are reservists and national guard. and this option for purchasing tricare standard will serve as an incentive for those guardsmen and reservists to continue to serve. i

latta alluded to it on the issue o

congressman latta who asked for the splitout is number three. mike pence, who is just to my south in that part of indiana is number four. congressman jordan is number five. and congressman boehner is number six. not only do we have manufacturing, but we tend to use col and nuclear because alternatives are less than an option and then jumps up to michigan. the other thing that is noticeable, that's where motion of the water is in the united states, coming out of the mississippi valley. and the manufacturer, you need water and access to water. you are not going to move -- if you see some of the orange states, you can move steel and manufacturing into those areas. but basically, you can't transfer to those light yellow because that is mostly desert area and you can't power these big plants with just solar and wind and don't have enough water to supplement the traditional that you need in refineries and steel mills and that type of thing and don't have a plan. that's why we republicans, when you look at the actual details and if you can stomach thes

latta: i thank the gentleman for yielding, madam speaker. and last night we were in rules, i believe a very important amendment that we offered, it was really to save jobs and it is also to really put a hold on what's happening with homeland security and also what was going on with the folks as customs always trying to put forward a regulation, a rule that's going to put americans out of work and it's also at the same time not only put americans out of work but we're looking at 35 million americans having a certain type of knife. i don't believe that the rules should be done that congress in 1958 defines what a certain type of knife was. last night, of course, we were there and we shouldn't have been there, we should have been here with an amendment on the floor and on the rules committee. because this is important because, again, as i said, this is going to cost jobs. jobs at the buck knife company up in the northwest part of the united states, hundreds of jobs. it's estimated that over 4,000 individuals in this country can be affected just

latta of ohio. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 578 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the competent committee of the whole in the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2996. the chair appoints the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: house is in the committee of the whole on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2996, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of interior, environment and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010 and for other purposes. the chair: the bill is considered read the first time. the gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, and the gentleman from idaho, mr. simpson, each will control 0 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. dicks: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time is reserved. mr.

and, in fact, over easter i was in latta, south carolina, driving down that way and i had a picture ofmy kids by the sign there the corporation, so they could say they were there. but, thank you very much, for being with us. and a little background about where i'm from. i'm from the 5th congressional district, the largest manufacturing district in ohio, also has the unique -- also being the number one agricultural district in the state of ohio. i have myr-- we're in tough tim. i have part of the -- i have the highest unemployment rate counties in the state of ohio, one over 16% now. and as we have been on our break, i crisscross my district during that time, and also when i'm at home every weekend, going through factories and talking to businesses across the region and also the people that work there. and, you know, i'm finding, you know, folks are out there in the business sector, especially in these factories, they can't shed any more jobs. they shed any more jobs, they're not going to be operating. a lot of them are hanging on by their fingernails now. there have been pay cuts that

latta alluded to it on the issue of unemployment is one that is very significant, more so in his district than even in mine in the philadelphia area. while not great, it is still 10%, 9%, no the where t where wo be but not as hard hit as other regions of the country. when i hear and when my constituents hear we are seeing maybe some stabilization, maybe some signs of growth, that are positive, we still do keep hearing that the unemployment rates are going to continue to be high and not recover. you said so yourself in the testimony. could you elaborate in any way both on the expectations about unemployment, but maybe more so, what we could do about it, whether there are some projections based on previous recessions, previous actions, we don't know that there won't be some changes because we're taking different actions and you are as well. could you speak briefly just about whether there are additional actions or whether we could have more hope that we will see an increase in employment so that families in our district, businesses in our district are starting to see that personal recovery?