mr. arcuri: mr. speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules, i call up, i call up house resolution 544 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 72, house resolution 544. resolved, that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 2847, making appropriations for the departments of commerce and justice, and science, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause 9 or 10 of rule 21. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member

mr. arcuri: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank my friend from california for sharing with us his thoughts, clearly his institutional knowledge of this grand institution is second to none. but one point i think is important to clear up, and that is the fact that this bill has a preprinting requirement in no way, shape, fashion or form means that anyone is precluded or prevented from filing an amendment. what it does, however, mean is that any amendment that an individual representative files has to be filed by a certain period of time. and that was yesterday. that does one thing. i would submit that enables our constituents to have the very, very best legislation they can because it does one thing. it gives the -- it gives the legislature and the representatives an opportunity to read the amendment -- to see what that amendment means and to have an opportunity to interpret it and determine whether or not it is the best thing for the bill or in fact whether it should be posed. -- should be pulled. it is a good thing to h

mr. arcuri: thank you, mr. speaker. i would just like to point out that this bill does provide for the troops and it provides very well for our troops because that is the most important thing that we as members of congress can do. it provides $1.9 billion more than requested for mraps and 2.5 billion above the president's request for u.s. troops. that's the rind of things that we need to do as a congress to make sure our troops are provided for. mr. speaker, with that i would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. kucinich. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. mr. kucinich: i have a question to my friends and that is how do we support the troops by keeping them in a war that's based on lies? how do we support the troops by keeping them in another war which keeps expanding and they are getting shot at on all sides? how do we support the troops by festering a war on the afghan border with pakistan and put them in even more peril because they don't have the supp

mr. arcuri: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from ohio, former colleague from the rules committee, ms. sutton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized for four minutes. ms. sutton: thank you, mr. speaker much and i thank the gentleman, my good friend from new york, for the time and for his leadership. i also want to thank chairman obey for all of the hard work he has put into developing this bill that will fund some of our nation's most critical needs, including funding for prisons and law enforcement initiatives related to the southwest border, along with promoting important scientific research and development. this bill provides $30.6 billion for investments in science, technology and innovation, including $6.9 billion for the national science foundation. whose grants in the past have allowed researchers in our colleges and universities to discover fundamental particles of matter to develop carbon 14 dating of ancient of artifacts and to decode gene

mr. arcuri: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to take this opportunity to say how thankful i am to live in such a great country. a country where we have unalienable rights karen guaranteed to us by our nation's founding documents in the knowledge that our government is set up to protect those rights. we know we are guaranteed the right to peaceful public protest and we see many great americans utilizing that right here in washington, d.c., on a daily basis. it's not until haunting and disturbing images of blatant violence and oppression run across the front pages of our newspapers and tv screens we realize how important these rights are. the people of iran are expressing themselves peacefully in the streets and being attacked by armed guards and police. the violence needs to end now and the people of iran should be heard. i want to commend president obama for his leadership and his judgment in such a difficult and tense foreign policy crisis, and i agree with his resistence to instigate a foreign nation through demagoguery

mr. arcuri: mr. speaker, it is undeniable that we have seen many positive signs in our economy since january. the unemployment rate, while still far too high, is improving, and money is starting to flow through the economy and into our cities and municipalities to improve our infrastructure and ensure the safety of every american. the recovery bill has been at the core of this progress and has saved and created jobs and has made much-needed investment in my local district. for example in my hometown of utt can, new york, the recovery bill gave them $2 billion for lead abatement. it would people to work and improve the health and quality of life for countless families. without the recovery bill funding the city of utica, they would have to delay the vital program because they would not have the money to proceed. i would continue to fight for the recovery bill funding for critical bills in my district. and i know we will see even more progress in all of our communities as we all continue to work togeth

mr. arcuri: mr. speaker, the health care crisis in our nation is real. we need to step forward and take action to provide quality and affordable care for those who need it. with 46 million americans uninsured in this country, there is no time to waste to offer our hardworking families the option of health insurance while infusing competition into the health care market which desperately needs it. our broken health care system also happens to be the most expensive health care system in the world. if we don't act now, the cost of health care in this country in 10, 20, or 30 years will bog down our economy. reforming our health care system now makes economic sense. proposed health care reform is all about options. if you are happy with your current plan and your current providers, keep them. the choice to have health insurance and the choice to get the best medical care they can possibly get is up to you. health care should be right for every american and our current health care system in this country is broken. it is time for congress to take the lead and

mr. arcuri: i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. accordingly, the hou >> we're going to go back now to the health committee, the senate health committee mark-up. they've been marking up this bill for a time to last through the end of next week. >> the meeting will come to order. we have a aquarium present and i thank my colleagues for being here this morning. yesterday was a long day of openings statements. but i think worthwhile. given the magnitude of the legislation, the importance of it. i recommended a five-minute rule. obviously i wasn't ridged, to put it mildly, about that at all. members i hope felt they had an adequate time to express themselves on the overriding issues and concerns for what we're confronted with all of this. so i thank them and was happy to spend the time. we probably ought to give a special award to jeff bingaman since he was the the only member of the committee who did not make an opening statement but was involved in both economies as well as