vitter: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise in strong support of the toomey-vitter amendment, which we will vote on in the series of two votes starting at 5:00 p.m. the idea behind the toomey-vitter is very simple. it says that if we ever reach the debt ceiling, that the government, as a top priority, first priority, will use revenue to pay two things, first of all, proper interest payments on our u.s. government debt, and, secondly, social security checks to seniors. and, madam president, the -- the motivation behind this amendment is simple. first of all, those two things should be legitimately top priority. no one should want the u.s. government to default on its debt and no one should want the stoppage immediately or any time of social security checks to seniors. so, first of all, it's legitimate to rank those two functions as an absolute top priority. and the second motivation behind this amendment, madam president, is to take some of these scare tactics and hysteria out of this debate. too many peo

thank you, madam president. and i yield the floor. a senator: madam president?he presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. johanns: madam president, i rise today to also speak about the health care bill. the first anniversary of any new law should be a time of celebration, one would think. the mood surrounding this bill, though, this health care law, is much different. one year later, americans are demanding as loudly as he have that we repeal it, and it's not surprising considering the almost constant flow of bad news and broken promises and higher costs and skyrocketing health insurance premiums. we didn't need a year of bad news and broken promises to see this was bad policy. it was fraught with problems from the very moment it hit the senate floor. many of us came down to the floor and pointed out the inevitable problems with the legislation. warned how this law was predicated on faulty accounting that would exacerbate our current and future fiscal problems. it's certainly irresponsible. it's shortsighted to argue that legislation will reduce the deb

fall of texas. >> i thank you, madam chairman, and welcome, madam secretary. i want to comment first about the demonstrations and the change of governments going on in the middle east and the mediterranean. and i think everybody is excited about that and i'm hopeful and not overly optimistic of the long-term history that they don't readily adapt to true liberty. the -- the one thing, though, that might be different is the use of the internet. and that is a very positive and yet governments are very strong and that was the first thing they closed down there over there because the last thing governments want is information to get out. but a lot of people in this country have come to the conclusion that our policy overhaul has been inconsistent. that sometimes we support the bad guys and the bad guys become our enemies. for instance, you know, we worked with osama bin laden when he was fighting the soviets. we were allies with saddam hussein when he was fighting the iranians. we certainly propped up the shah of iran for 26 years and that bred resentment and hatre

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i'm going to proceed on my leader time. the presiding officer: the senator may use his leader time. mr. mcconnell: first, let me commend my friend and colleague from louisiana for his observations about the need to increase domestic production. i think he certainly agrees with me, we'll be talking about this a lot more in the coming months as the price of gas at the pump continues to rise. and i thank him for his insight. madam president, at some point this week senators will have an opportunity to take a position on government spending. on two bills the majority leader has predicted will fail. one is a serious effort to rein in wasteful washington spending that's gotten completely and totally out of control. the other, by our democratic friends is a proposal so unserious, that even its supporters have been forced to exaggerate its impact. something they called out -- something they've been called out on by the press repeate

leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont is recognized, and we're in a quorum call. mr. leahy: madam president, just want to be recognized. so i can ask unanimous consent to call off the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 662, the surface transportation extension bill. the bill will be read three times, the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, the motion to reconsider be laid on ththethe table with no interveng action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: h.r. 662, an act to provide an extension of federal aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit and other programs and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the clerk: h.r. 662, an act to provide an extension of federal aid highway,

madam president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: madam president, i'd like to share some thoughts this morning and to report to our colleagues on the congressional budget office analysis of the president's budget that he has submitted to us and ask that we adopt. the budget has been roundly criticized as in no way getting us off the unsustainable path we are on. it's allowing the country to continue to head toward a financial abyss. expert after expert, witness after witness before the budget committee, of which i'm ranking repu

graves: thank you, madam speaker. and i appreciate the chairman for clarifying some things that we just heard because i was at a loss, thinking i was going to need much more than three minutes to, you know, rewrite some of what we just heard there and correct the historical account of the last several years. we heard the la. ing and wailing today from -- lamenting and wailing today of the other side of the aisle and it's amazing to hear about why are we here, why are we in this position today? we're hearing government shutdown from the democrats, you're not hearing that from the republicans, you're hearing we need to reduce spending and cut the size of government. you hear, we're at the brink, we're about to shut down government and we have to wonder, why are we here? the chairman brought it up so eloquently there a minute ago. when they were in the leadership last year, and it wasn't that long ago, one year ago, they had the opportunity, they had the opportunity to pass their own budget, they didn't do it. so instead

madam secretary, great to see. and to commend you and all of the diplomats under year for the tremendous efforts of the state department to insure security and prosperity during the challenging times. through your skills using advocacy around the world to rebuild reliable partners and bilateral engagement, you're making, indeed, america a safer and stronger nation. we have within our nation -- are office a pearson the fellow who has done a tremendous job commanding foreign service. there are too many questions to rassa san time is of the essence. i will ask questions later, but before i get to the questions, i want to preface my statements with an overarching concern with the current budget proposed by the republican majority. the current administration inherited a jew "cold reality riddled with anti-americanism. now that our reputation is being restored and there is such an opportunity for positive change, is this a time that we really want to pull back on the support of critical programs and initiatives? this is

secretary and madame chair. >> thank you, madam chairman. just one question for a little follow-up on mr. rothman. you are trying to manage a very difficult situation that really nobody anticipated. we have the adversaries who didn't anticipate either but they are trying to exploit it. so from al qaeda and iran, what are they doing in egypt, what are they doing in libya and these other places. >> that's another thing that keeps me of that might come congressman cole. meter elon al qaeda had anything to do with these uprisings. now there are those who are of conspiratorially minded approach is and claim they do but there is no evidence of that, but there is no doubt they are going to try to get a vantage of everything that is happening everywhere. we know from our intelligence reporting, from anecdote reporting, our embassies, political officers the everywhere iran can to get in touch they are going to either directly or indirectly through proxies' like hezbollah and hamas. there is no doubt that hezbollah, to go back to the question about ba

the amendment is agreed to. >> madam speaker, madam chair. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. inslee: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will read. the clerk: amendment number 12 printed in the congressional record offered by mr. inslee of washington. the chair: for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois rise? mrs. biggert: madam chair, i reserve a point of order against this amendment. the chair: a point of order is reserved. the gentleman from washington is recognized for five minutes. mr. inslee: thank you. madam chair, we know how dire the situation is for tens of thousands of americans with underwater mortgages who are making good faith efforts to make the right decisions both for themselves and for the lender. and we are very concerned that if this program prematurely is destroyed we will be yanking back a lifeline that congress has sent to these folks. and, of course, this is important because it's not just the people who own these homes that are underwater right now that

madam clerk, could you please read the roll? clerk calvillo: [reading roll] mr. president, there is a quorum. president chiu: supervisors, as you probably know, supervisors mirkarimi, wei -- wiener, and cohen are in washington, d.c.. ladies and gentlemen, could you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? colleagues, and you should all have copies of the february 8, 2011, board minutes. could i have a motion to approve these? without objection, this meeting -- those meeting minutes will be accepted. are there any meeting minutes? clerk calvillo: there are none. president chiu: and could you please read? clerk calvillo: all matters here are considered to be routine. no separate discussion, unless a member of the board requests, in which event, the matter shall be removed from the consent agenda. president chiu: madam clerk, could you please read the roll on the consent agenda? clerk calvillo: [reading roll] there are 8 ayes. president chiu: that is passed with the resolutions adopted. item four, please. clerk calvillo: a summary vacation, jurisdictional transfe

aderholt: thank you, madam chair. madam speaker, thank you, mr. chair, for yielding this time to me. it has been pointed out two weeks ago this chamber voted emphatically to cut spending and to right size our government. this c.r. that's before us today is a necessary stopgap that will keep the government operating until we can finalize an agreement on those spending cuts contained in h.r. 1. the homeland security sections of the c.r. before us today strikes the right balance between funding party programs that are essential to our nation's security and at the same time keeping our discretionary spending in check. this c.r. cuts over $264 million in earmarks from the department of homeland security's budget while at the same time sustaining the current staffing levels of our frontline operating agencies like border patrol, c.d.p., i.c.e., and the coast guard, prove that we can cut spending and fund these functions of government that are truly vital. as i said two weeks ago on this floor, the department of homeland security is not immune from fisca

madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i rise today to talk about our nation's security and what the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen recently said is the greatest threat to america's future. he mentioned not too long ago that the greatest threat to america's national security is our national debt. not al qaeda, not the iranian nuclear threat, not instability in the middle east or russian spies, but our national debt. that's a stunning statement, but i think that it's backed up by the numbers. we are more than $14 trillion in debt. in 220 years of american history up to the beginning of 2009 and 43 american presidents, it took us that amount of time to pile up $6.3 trillion of publicly held debt. under the obama administration's latest budget, we will double that in another two years and triple it in ten. that budget calls for a sizable annual deficit every single year for the next ten years. the smallest budget defi

madam president, i'll put -- madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. a senator: i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: i'd like to object. i'd ask the distinguished senator if he'd hold off. the presiding officer: the senator cannot -- mr. leahy: then i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: madam president, i understand senator demint will be offering an amendment to the first degree which will require setting aside the managers' amendment. it's my understanding that once he's done that, we'll then set aside his amendment and go back to the managers' amendment. mr. demint: mr. president? the presiding officer: t

welcome, madam secretary. it's a pleasure to see you here. your old dad who served on this committee with me and worked in this room would be very proud of what you're doing, thank you. questions. with regard to the affordable care act, the continuing resolution, h.r. 1, makes a number of blunt, reckless cuts in programs that are critical to the health and well being of the american people. at the same time, the affordable care act has begun implementing historic consumer protections including insuring coverage for children with pre-existing conditions, prohibiting rescissions on coverage by insurance companies, allowing children up to 26 to stay on their parents' insurance amongst others. under h.r. r. 1 cms would receie a cut of 458 million or more than 23% of that agency's 2010 budget. will h.r. 1 delay or impede the implementation of the consumer protection provisions of the health reform act, yes or no? >> yes, sir. >> madam secretary, would you please give us, for the record, a statement as to how and wh

hensarling: thank you, madam chair. again, we cannot lose sight of the fact that our nation is drowning in a sea of red ink. it is a sea of red ink that continues to hamper job creation. job creators today are uncertain of our future. they know, though, they know that historic levels of debt lead to historic levels of taxation which can only lead to historic levels of unemployment. they are looking for some signal from this body that we get it, that we get it, that we're going to stop borrowing 40 cents on the dollar, much of it from the chinese, and sending the bill to our children and our grandchildren. again, when the annual deficit, the annual deficit was $200 billion in dropping as opposed to the monthly deficit which is now over $200 billion, but when the annual deficit was $200 billion, the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip said that was fiscal child abuse. now, my friends on the other side of the aisle are introducing the term mean-spirited. i don't know. is fiscal child abuse mean mean-spirited? it's

aderholt: thank you, madam chair. madam speaker, thank you, mr. chair, for yielding this time to me. it has been pointed out two weeks ago this chamber voted emphatically to cut spending and to right size our government. this c.r. that's before us today is a necessary stopgap that will keep the government operating until we can finalize an agreement on those spending cuts contained in h.r. 1. the homeland security sections of the c.r. before us today strikes the right balance between funding party programs that are essential to our nation's security and at the same time keeping our discretionary spending in check. this c.r. cuts over $264 million in earmarks from the department of homeland security's budget while at the same time sustaining the current staffing levels of our frontline operating agencies like border patrol, c.d.p., i.c.e., and the coast guard, prove that we can cut spending and fund these functions of government that are truly vital. as i said two weeks ago on this floor, the department of homeland security is not immune from fisca

thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. a senator: thank you for letting me have the floor for a few minutes. first of all, madam president, i'd like to say that dr. barrasso's second opinion is clearly the opinion of missourians. mr. blunt: and i think when you ask americans if they want to see changes in the health care system, but not these changes, they say, yes, we want the health care system to be changed, we just don't want it changed this way. i'd remind the chair that in missouri in the primary election in august last year, 72% of the people who voted said they didn't want to be part of this health care plan. and this is going to be a big discussion and a big issue for the next couple of years until we decide what direction we're going to take. today i want to talk about spending -- these two bills are going to come to the floor today about spending. there will be lots of discussions about the cuts that the house made, the $61 billion of cuts, and how this cut could

udall: thank you, madam president. madam president, i'm here again to urge the senate to free up capital for small businesses to allow them to grow, expand and begin hiring again. now, unfortunately there's a burdensome federal regulation that currently limits the number of small business loans credit unions can make to family entrepreneurs. credit unions have money to lend and they know small businesses in their communities and they know that these businesses desperately want to jump-start our economy by taking out new loans to grow their economy -- their companies, i should say, and hire more workers. two weeks ago, i came to this very floor to ask consideration of a bipartisan amendment, senate amendment 242, which i offered today underlying bill to raise this cap that i've alluded to on small business loans. the amendment would simply get government out of the way and allow credit unions to increase small business lending in their communities without costing american taxpayers a dime. and i want to repeat that, mad

schiff. >> thank you, madam chairman and madam secretary. thank you for the absolutely extraordinary job you do. you have been fabulous. let me just pick up where my colleague left off. i concur completely with the idea that we need to do whatever we do with respect to libya in concert with the international community. what has made this revolution so powerful is they have been indigenous. they have not been at the tip of the american spear or imposed from outside. all that being said, i hope that we can find success working with the international community to take aggressive and swift actions. it's just excrews ating to watch the libyan people attacked by their own golf with all the powerful machinery of the libyan military. it's hard to watch. i think this period is one of the most promising that we've seen in decades with the transition that's going on in the middle east and north africa. and what happens in the next couple years may -- maybe something as moment us as collapse of the soviet union and the legacy of this administration may

madam clerk? clerk calvillo: item number one, for the redevelopment agency. president chiu: if we could take a roll call? clerk calvillo: [reading roll] there are 8 ayes. president chiu: the resolution is adopted. item number 13. clerk calvillo: item number 11, appropriating $1,300,000 of the general fund reserve. president chiu: supervisor avalos? supervisor avalos: can we continue this? president chiu: without objection, this item will be continued for two weeks, and that will be march 29. [gavel] if we could go back to item number four? supervisor elsbernd? supervisor elsbernd: i just got a report about documents being needed to-be added -- needing to be added. >> as a lot of people know, there is a lot. this involves property of the mta being sold or transferred to the redevelopment agency, so the legislation itself is not being amended, but we would just like to note that there will be a new -- some changes to the purchase and sale agreement between the city and the agency that include, number one, a use restriction that requires the mixed-use project to

weiner: madam speaker, i do. -- >> madam speaker, i do. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? the gentleman from michigan. >> is there objection to what? mr. weiner: i made a point of order. mr. weiner: madam speaker, as we all know here, we have a special rule in the house, as i just referenced, it's clause 5-b of rule 21. that was put into the rules of the house to make it extraordinarily difficult for us to change tax rates. the reason we did that was out of a bipartisan consideration that we wanted to make sure that legislation we did hear didn't have the affect under the rules of some other action of changing effective tax rates for people so this rule was put into place to state, if you're going to do that, you need a 3/5 majority. well, this bill that we're considering now is by its action changing people's effective tax rates. for example, if you strike an amount, you wind up getting an amount of a raise that -- >> the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. anybody who is speaking deserve

christensen: madam chair, i rise to claim -- edsedseds madam speaker, i rise to claim the time. the f.a.a. re-authorization act is clear. ms. edwards: but h.r. 658 re-authorizes the f.a.a. for four years and the arbitrary spending cuts that are our republican colleagues have imposed on the agency in h.r. 658 will devastate f.a.a.'s ability to improve flying safety and to modernize a nation's air traffic control system. for this reason unfortunately i cannot support the bill. h.r. 658 proposes a 23%, an unbelievable 23% cut to f.a.a.'s research, engineering and development accounts from the funding levels enacted by congress for fiscal year 2010. these cuts are not related in any way to a lack of need for the research. in fact, the committee in multiple hearings acknowledged the need for the research. the congress has heard expert testimony from witnesses who stress the importance of investing in both research and development and in the nextgen modernization initiative and have warned of the negative impact the cuts will have on the nation's air traffic control system and the fly

mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker -- mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. by increasing that number of statues to include more notable women, minorities and other ethnic groups that contributed significantly to our history. currently there are 100 statues on display given by the states and only 16 are women or minority groups. 10 are women and three are native american. three statues of native american males two, are hispanic and someone a pacific islander. although there have been many others in our history, no state has submit a statue honoring one of them. this disparity must be rectified. if you looked at the statues, you'd thought all the heroes and liters were granite white men. this bill is to express equal representation of all americans as essential in our historical perspectives in the educational value the capitol offers its thousands of visitors. i ask my colleagues to look at the bill, support it and have more diverse representation among the statuary in the united states capitol. thank you, madam speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time -

madam secretary, the floor is yours. welcome. >> thank you very much, and congratulations on your assuming your post, and i want to thank you publicly for traveling to haiti with our team on behalf of the effort that the united states is pursuing their, and i want to thank the ranking member for his leadership and support over these last years. late last night, i came back from round-the-clock meetings in geneva to discuss the unfolding events in libya. i would like to begin by offering a quick update. we have joined the libyan people in demanding that gaddafi must coat now without delay. we are working to translate the world's outrage into action and results. marathon diplomacy at the united nations and with our allies has yielded quick, aggressive states to isolate libya's leaders. usaid has focused on libya's food and medical supplies and has dispatched two teams to help those fleeing the violence and who are moving into tunisia and egypt, which is a burden on those two countries. our combat and command are positionin

in the opinion -- >> madam speaker, madam speaker, madam speaker. i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. and members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 235. the nays are 178. the resolution is adopted. without objection, a the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. pursuant to clause 86 rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the question is on agreeing to the speaker

now, madam president, just think what we have done the last three weeks. we took up an f.a.a. reauthorization bill. then we went on recess for a week. and now we're on a patent reform bill. now, madam president, i don't mean to suggest that f.a.a. and patent reform are not important. certainly we could have gone without having a recess. but both of those bills pale in comparison to the urgency of providing our servicemen and women with the resources that they need to carry out their mission. secretary gates, admiral mullen and other military leaders have repeatedly and clearly warned us about the dangers of failing to pass a full-year defense funding bill.

well, madam secretary. congratulations to your jayhawks for defeating my texas aggies last night and basketball. i hated to see it, but you all were the better team. i may ask this question and a different way. i think you are well aware that a federal court has recently ruled that the health care law is unconstitutional, and as the chief administrative and executive in charge of at limiting that law, what is your position on agreeing to the court order and ceasing to implement the new law? the you intend to agree with that, will you ignore it, will you appeal it? could you enlighten us to what your position is? >> congressman, thank you on behalf of the hawks. we have sought clarification from judges vincent. about the implications for both the plaintiff states, as well as the membership of the nfib, which is one of the plaintiffs in the florida case. once we get that clarification, we intend to take next steps. meantime we are implementing the law. judge vincent is now an outsider in terms of what the oth

with that, madam president, i yield the floor. mr. bingaman: madam president? the presiding officer: the senatosenator from new mexico is recognized. mr. bingaman: mr. president, i ask permission to speak up to 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. bingaman: madam president, i wanted to just take these few minutes to discuss high oil and gas prices, gasoline prices. irthink when we get -- i think when we get them to our respective states this next week we're going to find that many of the people we represent are understandably concerned about the rising price of gasoline at the pump. and they -- they have good reason to be concerned. senator murkowski and i hosted a senatewide briefing on tuesday afternoon with three top oil industry analysts. we had dr. richard knewel, head of the energy information administration, mr. bob mcal inly, part of the bush administration's white house team on energy markets, and mr mr. frank rostro, who is the head of the energy and natural security program with the center fo

madam clerk, can you call item 9? >> is there any member ofthe public -- of the public wishing to speak on this? public comment is closed. item 10, adjournment. thank you. have a good day.

why did he do this, madam president? he did it because from his position, directing a very established and strong research component, he saw the federal government giving most of its awards to large businesses. and i think, although i haven't spoken to him personally, but i most certainly intend to because he's testified before former committees, i'm imagining that he probably had a heart for actually want to go find cures for some diseases and realized that not all of that technology and innovation rested with the large companies. that, in fact, there might be small pharmaceutical companies or brilliant scientists in maine or in new hampshire or in louisiana that had discovered, that had the potential to discover something that could be transformative. so this staffer said let's set aside or direct a small portion but an important portion to small businesses. that is how this program began, and i am so pleased that this funding which only government can do, only government can do this. there are certain things the priva

austria. >> thank you, madam chairman. madam secretary, thank you for being here. think you for your commitment and service to the country and we appreciate it very much. let me if i could go back to israel for just a minute because it's an important issue to me and looking at the events of the recent weeks it's highlighted the unique role that israel plays in the middle east as a reliable comes to win the democratic ally that shares our values and interest. we talked about iran which is extremely important to me that with the trauma of the fence in egypt and libya and throughout the middle east that overall unrest in the middle east i'm concerned the world attention not be diverted and could be diverted from the danger of iran's nuclear program. and i am concerned that iran could use its time to speed up that program and crack down on the opposition of human rights activists and i think it's critical that iran understand that the world is still watching. we are watching them and there will be consequences for continued disrespect for international policy. my quest

madam clerk, can you call item 9? >> is there any member ofthe public -- of the public wishing to speak on this? public comment is closed. item 10, adjournment. thank you. have a good day. >> good morning. welcome to the regular meeting of the transportation finance commmittee. i am eric mar, joined by sean elsbernd, malia cohen, and mark farrell. erika cheng is the clerk. i would like to thank charles anfor providing televised access to the meeting. >> for the 2011 meeting -- this is an action item. >> on the minutes, is there a motion? without objection? is there anyone from the public wishing to speak? public comment is closed. >> this is an action item. >> can you call item four? >> this is an information item. >> hearing items three and four. >> good morning. i am the executive director. this is the time of the year, we bring you the state and federal legislative program. this is the set of principles we like to use to follow the legislative advocacy. this has a focus in sacramento and washington, reflecting on h

madam speaker, when ms. brown was speaking about the light rail program that may expire on friday, and i'm hopeful that our governor will understand that, a retort came from my friend from texas about her saying about a lack of vision is what causes these kinds of matters. ms. brown was talking about light rail. i recall my friend from texas being upset when we did light rail in houston and i was for that. i might add all of us know that we need to move people as best we can in other methodologies as i described earlier. madam speaker, democrats and republicans must work together to invest more in our nation's aging transportation infrastructure network, invest more not less. we have a vision for america's future transportation infrastructure. now we need the leadership to make it a reality. i shudder to think what would have happened to this nation's overall national security had dwight eisenhower not had the vision and those congresspersons who were here and the american people did not agree that we would

thank you very much, madam chairman. no, we definitely have, i think, the bill is very constructive start in this process. and certainly the areas where we're going to allow the rates to actually increase both one is that it will go from 10% maximum annual increase to 20% maximum increase. also, the fact that they increase the deductible for preflood insurance to $2,000 and something that would help protect taxpayers and reduce some of the subsidy for prefront properties. lastly, as you move to the flat hazard properties and essentially just the provisions to try to reduce the subsidies by allowing the rate to increase 50% the first year and 20% each year after that, all of those factors really start moving the program in a much more sound or much more fiscally sound and often on the backs of taxpayers. >> thank you. and then for anyone who cares to answer, why is there been a retreat in the number of companies participating in nifp? and do you think that any primary insurance companies would ever be willing to include f

poe: thank you, madam speaker. most americans are not personally affected by the two wars that america's engaged in in iraq and afghanistan. we go about our daily routine. we're concerned about march madness, the gasoline prices, but war doesn't really affect most americans personally. the media doesn't put those events on the front page. they're more concerned about the personal lives of celebrities than they are about the personal sacrifice of our warriors overseas. but war is real. real americans are tenaciously fighting on two fronts for the rest of us. for them it is personal and for their families it is very personal. united states is engaged in the longest continuous combat in american history as we serve our -- as our troops serve overseas. staff sergeant mark c. wells, photograph of him here, was 31 years of age, a member of the united states army and he was killed on march 5, 2011. in the helmand province of afghanistan by an i.e.d., that's an improvised explosive device. that's how the cowards fight our

secretary and madame chair. >> thank you, madam chairman. just one question for a little follow-up on mr. rothman. you are trying to manage a very difficult situation that really nobody anticipated. we have the adversaries who didn't anticipate either but they are trying to exploit it. so from al qaeda and iran, what are they doing in egypt, what are they doing in libya and these other places. >> that's another thing that keeps me of that might come congressman cole. meter elon al qaeda had anything to do with these uprisings. now there are those who are of conspiratorially minded approach is and claim they do but there is no evidence of that, but there is no doubt they are going to try to get a vantage of everything that is happening everywhere. we know from our intelligence reporting, from anecdote reporting, our embassies, political officers the everywhere iran can to get in touch they are going to either directly or indirectly through proxies' like hezbollah and hamas. there is no doubt that hezbollah, to go back to the question about ba

secretary and madame chair. >> thank you, madam chairman. just one question for a little follow-up on mr. rothman. you are trying to manage a very difficult situation that really nobody anticipated. we have the adversaries who didn't anticipate either but they are trying to exploit it. so from al qaeda and iran, what are they doing in egypt, what are they doing in libya and these other places. >> that's another thing that keeps me of that might come congressman cole. meter elon al qaeda had anything to do with these uprisings. now there are those who are of conspiratorially minded approach is and claim they do but there is no evidence of that, but there is no doubt they are going to try to get a vantage of everything that is happening everywhere. we know from our intelligence reporting, from anecdote reporting, our embassies, political officers the everywhere iran can to get in touch they are going to either directly or indirectly through proxies' like hezbollah and hamas. there is no doubt that hezbollah, to go back to the question about ba

and, madam clerk, you can call item number four? >> item number four, report on the issuance of the request for proposal for a study on refuse collection, hauling and disposal in the greater bay area. chairperson campos: now we're going to hear from our expective director on this item. -- executive director on this item. >> yes, through the chair, nanny miller here, checktive officer. on february 28, the commission approved an r.s.p. to be issued for a study to compare the processes upon which -- under which the city and county of san francisco selects a refuse provider. and to compare that with other greater bay area jurisdictions. the r.f.p. was issued on march 1 and it was due on march 14. we received three responses from bidders. we texted three references on each one of the bidders and we conducted interviews on march 21 and the lowest bidder and the highest scorer is r-3 consulting group. i have prepared a contract, it is before you. the scope of services was outlined in the r.f.p. and just briefly i want to just talk about th

thank you, madam secretary for being with us. i want to extend my prayers and sympathies to the i.c.e. family, not only the immediate family but to the i.c.e. family here also. he was from brownsville, and he was stationed in loredo. what i want to do is focus on the budget. when you look at all the accounts, i believe it's about $500 million impact cut to the cpp budget, could you tell us what the continued resolution of it passing as is, what sort of impact it would have on border security operations, and again look at all the accounts and tell us what sort of impact it would have on us? >> well, we will give you a thorough list. as i said, it basically stops our progress in its tracks. if anything, reduces our ability to move ahead. as you know, we've been adding record amounts of agents and record amounts of technology, as representative mccaul just mentioned to our border, and if anything, we're going to have to cut back. >> all right. and one of the things the american people have been saying, especially because of what's b

king: thank you, madam speaker. the gentleman from iowa is pleased to be recognized to address you here on the floor of the house. i want to express my disappointment in the gentleman who spoke before me. i usually come here to pick up my steerl for rebuttal. as i listened to you talk about your affection for the peace corps, i didn't come up with a single thing i seek to rebut here tonight. i'll go off on a subject matter that i came to address, madam speaker. and that is, the situation where we are in this country today, with the deaf and deficit, and the growth in deaf government and the things we must do to turn this country back around and put it on the right track. this house here this afternoon voted to pass a continuing resolution that has within it an aggregate of about $4.1 billion in cuts over a two-week period of time, that if you multiply or extrapolate that out to the fiscal year it comes in that neighborhood of $61 billion in cuts. which arguably holds the reductions in place. but it did specifically

madam court, please call item four. >> item 4. recommend appointment of two members to the citizens advisory committee. this is an action item. commissioner campos: good morning. >> good morning, mr. chair, committee members. we have two recommendations for appointments for the citizens advisory committee for you today. the authority has 11 member citizen indicted three committees. each member serves a two-year term. the plans and programs committee recommends and the committee appoints members. existing members, nor staff make recommendations for appointment. we also have to the administrative code rules that can include representatives of various communities, including labor, business, disabled community, various neighborhoods. a priority has been made by this board to have representation from each to purgatorial district. to qualify, a person must be a san francisco resident and must speak once before the committee on their interest to serve on the committee. as i said, we have two vacancies. the first is the term expiration of

madam clerk -- clerk: yes, please turn off any devices. items will appear on the march 15, 2011, board of supervisors' agenda unless otherwise noted. chair chu: next item. clerk youn: hearing the city's policies on set-asides in reserves. chair chu: i thought we would have a quick update on revenue numbers for the coming year and then to have lunch into the set- aside policies. >> at your request, madam chair, someone from our office will briefly walk through the presentation we have and provide hopefully some useful background as you begin working through this coming year's budget cycle. a bit of an overview of what revenues make up our budget, how those compared to others, and then get into some of the nuances about the baselines and how our various reserves function. we hope you find this helpful, and i know we are in the process of getting this on the overhead screen as we speak. chair chu: we do have copies, but maybe we can put them somewhere for the public to take, if they like. >> i would just get started. supervisors, i am from th

thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, for five minutes. mr. barletta: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i rise today to share with my colleagues in the house what my names at home shared with me during the past constituent workweek. throughout the week, i heard from small business owners, local officials, university leaders, teachers, students, rotarians, and a purple heart national guardsman about the issues facing pennsylvania's 11th congressional district. although the voices were different, the message was the same. we need to get our economy back on track. last week, i spoke at the rotary club in my hometown of hazelton, about the debt crisis crippling our nation. the rotarians were engaged, attentive, and concerned about the spending habits of washington. madam speaker, i let them know that we have a debt crisis in this country, not because washington taxes too little, but because washington spends too much. for far too long the fe

madam clerk, item four, please? >> hearing to consider appointment one member term ending february 1, 2017, to the act six commission -- to the ethics commission. supervisor kim: thank you. i believe we have both applicants here. mr. allen grossman and miss dorothy liu. this will be an opportunity for you to speak to the committee in terms of your qualifications and why you would like to serve at the commission. >> i am not allen grossman. i did not quite get that last part. -- i am allen grossman. i did not quite get that last part. you want me to review? i just did not understand what you said. supervisor kim: take a couple of minutes to present your qualifications and why you would want to sit on the ethics commission. >> ok. well, you have the supplemental material provided. i think it tells you pretty much about my status in the city. i have lived here 33 years. i moved from chicago. i have been in california since 1976, pretty good education, and i have had 50-plus years of private practice as a business lawye