mr. brownback: i appreciate my colleagues allowing me to join in on this colloquy, because i think it is incredibly important, and the american public believes it's incredibly important, clearly i because, if for no other reason, they're looking at this and they're saying, we don't want this bill. we don't think this bill is the right way. we don't think this procedure is the way. they oppose it on process, they oppose it on product. listen to the poll numbers. 68% say the president and the congressional democrats should keep trying to work with republicans to craft legislation. and, by the way, got a lig, long, all-day pleat metin meetie white house. we put forward ideas and virtually all of them were rejected on a bipartisan, incremental compromise, which is much more the way the public wants to go much the rasmussen poll says that 25% think it will help. 66% believe the health care plan proposed by president obama is likely to increase the federal deficit. the reason they think that? because it will. this is going to increase the federal d on top of all that there is a big intangible

mr. brownback: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. brownback: thank you very much. mr. president, i rise in support of the f.a.a. bill that has been put forward by senator rockefeller, senator hutchison. they have both worked hard on this. i have worked on this for a number of years as well. my general aviation industry is centered in the state of kansas, it's centered in wichita. it's an industry that has had a lot of difficulty lately with markets and the recession, the problems overall, and it needs a bit of good news, and this would be a good bit of good news, having this f.a.a. re-authorization in it. this is an industry that's roughly $150 billion in size. it's located primarily in the united states. it's created and has over 1.3 million jobs. it's key. it goes across a broad array of disciplines. it is a high-tech manufacturing business that we are very good at, and this is something that we need to have is this nextjen that's in the bill on the technology that's implementing that for navigation and for travel across the united

mr. brownback: thank you very much. i want to rise to support my colleague from idaho on his amendment. i think this makes sense. it's -- the senator from idaho helping the president fulfill a campaign promise. it made sense to everybody across the country. now i looked at it and i said i don't think we should raise taxes, period. i think it's taking money out of the economy. he said, raising taxes on people making under $200,000, many people who heard it thought, that's not me. i'm going to vote for it. i like that idea. i will take a particular piece of this bill that we wrestled with and that is the issue on the alternative minimum tax. it was supposed to be a tax on wealthy people avoiding income tax and we put it in place and it was people who are wealthy shouldn't be able to plan a way to get out of paying income tax. it would be an alternative minimum tax and it is not indexed for inflation over time. and so now we get 10 years later on that and all of a sudden there are a number of people because of inflation happening over a period of time that get brought in and under the alte

brownback? >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. hamburg, let me show you a chart. i think we have got one laid out in front of you for r, for what i was talking about in my opening statement about bifecation in the review process. we took the liberty to give a couple of examples. there are some 7,000 rare diseases affecting nearly 30 million americans, only 200 of which have any treatment at all. what i'm suggesting to you is that you use your standard process. it is well established and very expensive, might add. i saw a 2004 review of it, and it said by f.d.a.'s own report, it costs somewhere between $800 million to $1.7 billion to develop a new product. this is a 2004 f.d.a. report. zidses -- diseases like this one affects approximately one in 112,000 live births. there are no treatments for it. it is a genetic lip and storage area. the child born with it usually dice before age 4. this one affects in -- 1 in 36,000 live births. individual usually live to the mid teens. no treatment whatsoever. systems are usually a loss of early head control, walking, talking,

mr. chairman? >> challenge you, senator brownback. senator mork pryor? >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for being here today, dr. hamburg. i appreciated our visit on the phone last week. let me talk a little bit about nanotechnology. i know the f.d.a. has proposed a $7.3 million line item to build core capacity for nanotechnology. i actually have a bill here that would do a total of $25 million, and i guess my question for you is, on that $25 million, if we were able to get that bill passed and make that money available, could you all spend it wisely? >> well, i have not seen that piece of legislation, but clearly nanotechnology is an emerging technology that holds great promise in terms of products, medical products as well as cosmetics and food-related issues. it is one where we want to fully explore the opportunity, but we also want to study it carefully to ensure that safety issues are quarterly surfaced and addressed -- are kuwaitly surfaced -- adequately surfaced and addressed. the national center for toxicology research in arkansas is a very important hub

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator brownback. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here today, dr. hamburg. i appreciate hour visit on the phone last week. let me talk a the the bit about nanotechnology. i would like to get your thoughts. i know that the fda is proposing $7.3 million line item to build course scientific capacities for nanotechnology is. i actually have a bill here that would do a total of $25 million. i guess my question for you is on that $25 million, if we were able to get that bill passed and make that money available, could you all spend it wisely? >> well, i have not seen that piece of legislation, but, you know, clearly nanotechnology is an emerging technology that holds great promise in terms of products, medical products, as well as cosmetics and food related issues. it is one where we want to fully explore the opportunity, but we also want to study it carefully to ensure that safety issues are adequately serviced and addressed. we have a program that is moving forward in the nanotechnology area, as you may well know. the

brownback? >> thank you, mr. chairman. appreciate hearing. welcome secretary. good to have you here. we had a good process last year that work successfully and quickly, and kind of the way the place is supposed to, which is pretty amazing in and of itself. and i give that applause to the chairman. i know in a cursory review of that you have worked with former budget, cutting some places, putting higher priority and others which is the way i think will to look at things that if you have a high priority, put the money there, but don't just asked for more money. get it from somewhere else in the budget. we may have some questions about where you got and have suggestions about other places that you may get from, but i applaud that round of going. i've got two suggestions to you, that we're going to be working on. what is on the agriculture development legend, and here, this is one that's going on in another committee. but i think you're the one that's got the expertise on a. you are seeing a lot of agriculture develop at work

mr. chairman? >> challenge you, senator brownback. senator mork pryor? >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for being here today, dr. hamburg. i appreciated our visit on the phone last week. let me talk a little bit about nanotechnology. i know the f.d.a. has proposed a $7.3 million line item to build core capacity for nanotechnology. i actually have a bill here that would do a total of $25 million, and i guess my question for you is, on that $25 million, if we were able to get that bill passed and make that money available, could you all spend it wisely? >> well, i have not seen that piece of legislation, but clearly nanotechnology is an emerging technology that holds great promise in terms of products, medical products as well as cosmetics and food-related issues. it is one where we want to fully explore the opportunity, but we also want to study it carefully to ensure that safety issues are quarterly surfaced and addressed -- are kuwaitly surfaced -- adequately surfaced and addressed. the national center for toxicology research in arkansas is a very important hub

mr. cohen, that we went back to selma along with mike pence and senator brownback and several others, the faith and politics institute, on a journey. during this journey we brought our fellow members of congress on this unbelievable trip of the historic civil rights act, not just in selma but montgomery and birmingham. we ended our time together in selma by crossing one more time on the edmund pettus bridge, crossing that bridge. i know at times here in this body we talk, we debate, maybe sometimes in not such a nonviolent way, but on this bridge we didn't see ourselves as democrats or as republicans or adversaries. we saw ourselves as americans on a journey to discover not just our history but to help create a more perfect union, to help move us closer to a truly beloved community, truly closer to a multiracial democracy. we all come away from this journey with a deeper appreciation of our democracy and the power of people to make a difference in our society. mr. speaker, with this resolution we honor the sacrifice and courage of those brave and courageous souls who used the power of pea

brownback. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is a pleasure to work with you.ator kohl and i like to talk about basketball, too. we have two top 10 teams in the increase increase basketball tournament, so we are hopeful we can move on forward as well. next to the wheat harvest, this is kind of the big season in kansas, is basketball. it is a pleasure to have you here, dr. hamburg. it was good to visit with you in the office and i look forward to your presentation here. i want to follow up on the visit we had because i've got some suggestions i hope you are willing to look at. your staff has been willing to consider, about rare and neglected diseases in particular in the united states and around the world. to help jumpstart this effort in rare and neglected diseases, i worked with the chairman to include a provision in the current year's appropriation bill that included two grooms to review the agency's process for approving medical products for the treatment of rare and neglected diseases. when fulfilling the agency's requirements under this provision, i have s

mr. coh , that we went back to selma along with mike pence and senator brownback and several others, theaith and politics institute, on a journey. during this journey we brought our fellow members of congress on this unbelievable trip of the historic civil rights act, not just in selma but montgomery and birmingham. we ended our time together in selma by crossing one more time on the edmund pettus bridge, crossing that bridge. i know at times here in this body we talk, we debate, maybe sometimes in not such a nonviolent way, but on this bridge we didn't see ourselves as democrats or as republicans or adversaries. we saw ourselves as americans on a journey to discover not just our history but to help create a more perfect union, to help move us closer to a truly beloved community, truly closer to a multiracial democracy. we all come away from this journey with a deeper appreciation of our democracy and the power of people to make a difference in our society. mr. speaker, with this resolution we honor the sacrifice and courage of those brave and courageous souls who used the power of peace