mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. i urge my colleagues to support this important resolution, h.res. 1081. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee yields the balance of his time. the question is now will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution number 1081. so many as are in favor say aye . those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to, and without objection the mobaling the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. . for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. cohen: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 1087. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1087, resolution honoring the life of john h. "jack" ruffin jr. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen, and the gentleman fr

mr. cohen: mr. speaker, i yield five minutes, really as much time as he may consume, to the gentleman who responded to martin luther king when he first met him as a young man in alabama, john robert lewis, i yield time. the speaker pro tempore: mr. lewis is recognized for five minutes. mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i want to thank my friend and colleague, the gentleman from memphis, tennessee, mr. cohen, for yielding. mr. speaker, 45 years ago on march 7, 1965, hosea williams and i led 600 peaceful, nonviolent protesters attempting to march from selma, alabama, to the state capital in montgomery to say to the world that the people of color wanted to vote. we left brown chapel that afternoon on a sacred mission, prepared to defy the dictates of man to demonstrate the truth of a higher law. ordinary citizens with extraordinary vision walked shoulder to shoulder two by two in a silent, peaceful protest against injustice in american south. we were met on the edmund pettus bridge crossing the alabama river by

mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. it's march. it means march madness. normally it means hoops in basketball. but, no, this united states congress means more and more false statements made about health care. the other side of the aisle continues the march madness talking about socialism, comparing our system to england and canada. nothing like it at all. what our system proposes is subsidizing people who don't have health care and small businesses to make sure they get health care and can live truly life, health, liberty and the pure suit of happiness. they talk about abortion. doesn't change the hyde amendment. they talk about procedure, procedure they used. they talk about creeping socialism. there's nothing about socialism. the fact is this country is the last industrialized country in the world to provide health care for citizens. it's the right thing to do. we will be proud of this congress when we pass it. i wish it was bipartisan. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlem

mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. i move that the house suspend the rules and pass house concurrent resolution 249. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 249, concurrent resolution commemorating the 45th anniversary of bloody sunday and the role that it played in ensuring the passage of the voting rights act of 1965. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. cohen: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the resolution under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. cohen: and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cohen. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. just this past sunday on march 6, we commem

mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. yesterday, president obama spoke about health care. he said if not now, when? if not us, who? president obama was correct. he knew that the duty and obligations of this house are to pass momentous legislation to help the american people. it's engraved above the speaker's rostrum, let us gather our resources and do something worthwhile and momentous and great while we are here with the resources of this country. something to be remembered. health care has been on the american agenda for 100 years starting with teddy roosevelt in 1912. it went through harry truman, through richard nixon, bill clinton, and today barack obama. we are there to fulfill ted kennedy's dream and the work of many congresses and many people. i have had several constituents come to me andle it me of serious illnesses they have had that they would have gone broke if they didn't have insurance. and if they didn't have insurance and their cancer surgeries were covered, we would pay for it and the tax we pay we don't know about of $1,000 for person for uncompensated c

and that's how you evaluate individuals and individuals should be evaluated for sure, but not in mr. cohen in way that does not become the definition of accountability. >> host: one of the things i think are booked as well a few static, which is one of the big things that no child left behind featherlight to do. you actually use data well to make your case. the idea of closing schools doesn't actually work, even though our new secretary of education arnie duncan keeps noting it. it hasn't been shown to work. is that right? >> guest: the truth is there's this kind of method that somebody has a formula somewhere to transform schools or someone has a formula to open new schools and there is no such formula. as a new project over several states have gotten together in the gates foundation has given some millions of dollars and they are going to first of all threatened schools with low scores that if they don't get their scores that they will be punished him because dennis is supposed to make everybody suddenly snapped to and begin teaching the kids and getting the scores. they actually don't h

mr. cohen: address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. ro

mr. cohen: address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. ohen: the gentleman from texas was indeed correct, it's going to be a historic vote of 100 years which started with teddy roosevelt who talked about the need for health care in this country and that debate was continued by richard nixon and howard baker. we need health care reform in this country and it's never been more critical than now when it's eating up our federal budget, our individual budgets and hurting us economically. but beyond that, we need a compassionate and responsible government, and we have a president who is compassionate, responsible and trying like nelson mandela to reach out to his former enemies and have bipartisanship and he's had none of it but he continues to try and we need to support this president, support our country, preserve our economy and provide health care like every other industrialized nation in this world does and make america among the leaders and not the followers. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for

mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. today i come before you with a heavy heart for a friend of mine and a great friend of music in the world and particular for my hometown of memphis, tennessee, passed away last night. alex chilton who was a rock 'n' roller, who was an indie music artist passed away. alex at age 16 had a number one hit from the group called the box tops, "ain't got time to catch a fast train," "my baby just wrote me a letter." that was number one when he was 16. he had a group called big star. it wasn't well-known. they did three albums. but "rolling stone" put it among the top 500 list. alex chilton is like so much in memphis. he grew up in a time when elvis presley was our adversary to the world. he wanted to play music and did it his own way. independent, innovative. he never cared for the critics. he didn't have that much acclaim at the box office or at the record sales but he did with others. r.e.m. was a group he influenced greatly and the replacements did a song called "alex chilton." he was supp

mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. today the congress passed a jobs bill and it was a small jobs bill but it was a smart. this country needs to work on jobs. this week i introduced an urban sustainability act to direct $10 billion of tarp money into cities with 600,000 populations or more and unemployment of 10% or more, to put in public works projects and job training. it's important that we realize that urban america is suffering and suffering at a disproportion way against particular emphasis and i encourage other co-sponsors, we have nine or so already, to join with me and for the leadership to look it over for urban cities and the need for job programs and public works programs. last week senator sanders and i introduced a bill on solar. $10 billion -- 10 billion solar volume dayic panels on roofs and watbillion gallons of solar we need to invest in solar to earth and our resources so that protecting lines of y soldis portatioioioat are theo east. i urge the adoption of that bill andhe strong c c crararara e a it

the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4506 as amended, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4506, a bill to authorize the appointment of additional bankruptcy judges, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is 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 on this vote the yeas are 345. the nays are five. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does

mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. it's been interesting listening to the other side of the aisle talk today. one gentleman got up and talked about the health care bill in a cold and calculating fashion that made me think he wanted the trains to run on time. never did he consider the fact that the office of -- congressional budget office said this is the largest deficit reducing bill in the history of the united states, over $1 trillion in the second 10 years, and $123 billion in the first 10 years. another said it's centered. sound nice, madam speaker, what that means is the patient has money now they can get health care. if the patient doesn't, they don't get health care. and if you don't get health care, you don't get wellness programs, you don't get prevention programs, you die. you don't get mammograms, you don't get colonoscopies, you don't find out if you have cancer and you die. patient centered. very cold and calculating. they say we need to fix this bill. they never explained what part of the bills they like.

mr. cohen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and more particularly to the state of new orleans and its recovery process. i made a strong advocate of high-speed rail and that would be the first question that i would ask secretary porcari, will there be a second round application for high-speed rail. an first of all, before you answer that, i'd like to thank the secretary for at least the decision to provide new orleans with $45 million in t.i.g.e.r. funding. i like to thank him for coming down to the whirling stew take a look at the city's streetcar system and recognizing that it is a vital part of the city into the economic recovery of the city. so if you can answer my question about the second round application for high-speed rail. >> yes, sir. and first, i'm the t.i.g.e.r.'s streetcar grant for new orleans. that's a great example of a economic stimulus and livability and how those fit together as long-term investment that will help the country. yes, there will be a second round of high-speed rail grants. we will be working dir

paul tonko of new york, steve cohen of tennessee, mr.ilroy of ohio, carol porter of new hampshire, peter welch of vermont, franz kline of florida, and all of these young people that here who helped. all that we want to do to maneuver and win votes in the congress is not possible without the outside mobilization of people who understand the impact of the legislation and make their voices known to the members of congress. remember, nothing is more eloquent to a member of congress than the voice of his or her own constituents. many of our colleagues have already gone home to talk to their editorial boards, to see their families, and to meet with their constituents on this legislation. i think our class of 2006 and 2008 who are here in their own right and as representatives. [applause] i signed the big bill. this is a much smaller bill we are signing now. but none of these bills matches the number of pages that led to this -- letters from constituents asking for this legislation. [applause] [applause] >> the bill is embroiled. it will now go

mr. carter: i have huge respect for general cohen and outstanding he did with the situation that happened at fort hood and he was preparing to dely to afghanistan to -- deploy to afghanistan. with that on his plate, this on his lap, he has done an outstanding job of handling it. by the way, he is still on time deployed the third corps to iraq and he is right now today over there doing our bidding and our job of pulling down, making elections work and pulling down forces for the taking out of 50,000-plus soldiers in august. he is a great american outstanding sold year. i yield -- soldier, i yield to mr. king however time he wishes to take and not letting political correctness fall. mr. king: i thank my friend from texas. and i especially felt more than anyone else outside of texas the pain of the 14 who were murdered by major hasan. and the question arises that we need to face and something we talked around a little bit here and i don't know if we talked about it and that is the issue of profiling. what is it that people think we should be more suspicious of them. i grew up in a law enforc

mr. rubin to put this program together, and that is the honorable justice doris cohen of the new york stateupreme court. dataset, that is my welcome so i hope you enjoy the program. [applause] >> good evening to all of you. welcome. it is indeed a pleasure and an honor to interview as our distinguished speakers and moderator. i think you would agree with me that it is in on enviable task, as you might've noticed that c-span cameras in here and i have been given a short amount of time to do these introductions. a task made even more difficult because each one of our speakers has accomplished much in their respective careers. let me begin by introducing the person who has traveled the furthest to get here. chief justice robert french irca we owe him a debt of gratitude for his generosity and traveling to the united states on a speaking tour of our law schools and bar association's. by way of background, i met justice french at the aspen institute's justice in society seminar almost two years ago. the other attendees included other judges, private practitioners and the public interest attorney