before turning over to mr. dicks, i'd like to point out that during the rules committee hearing, mr. sanford bishop, the ranking member of the subcommittee, raised a concern about the consequence of requiring separate votes on various parts of the bill. we feel that this is a serious issue and we intend to continue to monitor the process closely as we consider the remaining appropriations bills. mr. speaker, i'm very pleased at this time to yield three minutes to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from washington, mr. dicks, the ranking member of the appropriations committee. . mr. dicks: i rise in reluctant opposition to this rule. i know many members, especially members of the minority appreciate the openness of the amendment process. my concern lie elsewhere with this rule. namely that this rule for the first time requires a separate vote in the house on title 2 instead of following the regular order process. mr. speaker, i believe this procedural change sets a very bad precedent for the appropriations co

mr. dicks: i rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: does the gentleman continue his point of order? mr. dicks: i withdraw my point of order. i rise in strong opposition to this amendment, executive order 13502 gives federal officials the option to determine if it is right for a particular construction project. there is no mandate. if the gentleman has read the legislation, he'll recognize there's no mandate. mr. scalise: would the gentleman yield? the reason i wrused the term mandate is because the practical implementation of this, when you look -- they're requiring p.l.a. mr. dicks: i think it's clear that the gentleman knows the executive order is only to promote efficiency in federal procurement. a project labor agreement is a prehire agreement thattest tablies the materials and conditions of employment far specific construction project. there is, and the gentleman is part of this, a p.l.a. mandate myth that has been floating around since the executive order was issued t

mr. dicks, been a real privilege to work with you on this. but above all, extraordinarily proud to serve as subcommittee chairman under my chairman hall rogers of kentucky. -- hal rogers of kentucky who i count as a role model and mentor to me. he's been a good fren and great leader for this committee and is a stalwart fiscal conservative, committed to make sure our men and women in uniform are -- continue to be the very best military in the world. it's my privilege to be here tonight to present this bipartisan bill to the house. i reserve the balance of my time. happily -- the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from georgia. mr. bishop: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i am pleased to join chairman culberson as the house takes up the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill for veterans construction, veterans affairs and related agencies. the v.a. bill is critically important to the strength and the well-being of our military, our veterans and the famil

mr. dicks: i reserve. mr. young: i have no further speakers, i do have a brief closing statement after mr. dicks -- when he's prepared to close. the chair: the gentleman yields back? mr. dicks: i'd like to again thank the chairman for the work of -- for his work and the staff. i rarely disagree with my good friend from new jersey but i must say that the president did lay out the rationale for why we did libya. he said we were there to help protect the libyan people. there were two resolutions adopted by the united nations, 1973 said -- and it wasn't just the united nations, you had the arab league, you had nato involved in this, and yes, i think the president would -- would have been better advised to have asked for authorization, but this was a situation where the libyan people were going to be slaughtered. and the president felt that he had to act. and some of us just got back from a trip, we saw that -- the men and women who handled the equipment who fly in there, do the jamming, all the different things th

mr. dicks: i want to commend the gentleman for his work on this bill and this provision. i have been down to the border and have seen the very large fences we have created there. which do have an adverse effect on some of the species in that area who in the past would go back and forth from texas or arizona into mexico and back. the department of interior could have raised objections to this project and required detailed environmental assessments and possibly could have brought actions under the endangered species act. but because this was worked out between the department of homeland security and the department of interior, that was avoid sod that we could go ahead and build the fences in a very timely way. so i think that taking this amendment out is a mistake. it is not considerate of the environment which we should be trying to protect and there are many problems down on the border because of these fences. so i urge that we defeat the lummis amendment and go along with what the committee ha

mr. dicks, is here. former chairman of the committee knows in terms of the national defense we have soldiers right now as i speak in 60 different countries around the globe. now, they are engaged for a reason. it's not a job creation program. they are keeping an eye on national security interests. if you travel in china -- excuse me if you travel in africa or south america right now, you'll see a new player that was not there 10 years ago, and that is the country of china. china is not necessarily an immediate threat to us, but it is a concern to us. china is rising as a military force and certainly as an economic source. and they are engaged all over the globe. often our international programs, including food programs, keeps us engaged and gives us an opportunity to have some doors opened which we would not ordinarily have. america provides 57% of the food aid in the world, followed by the e.u. at 27% and japan at 6%. right now china is not a major player. the oil rich middle east countries ce

mr. dicks, been a real privilege to work with you on this. but above all, extraordinarily proud to serve as subcommittee chairman under my chairman hall rogers of kentucky. -- hal rogers of kentucky who i count as a role model and mentor to me. he's been a good fren and great leader for this committee and is a stalwart fiscal conservative, committed to make sure our men and women in uniform are -- continue to be the very best military in the world. it's my privilege to be here tonight to present this bipartisan bill to the house. i reserve the balance of my time. happily -- the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from georgia. mr. bishop: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i am pleased to join chairman culberson as the house takes up the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill for veterans construction, veterans affairs and related agencies. the v.a. bill is critically important to the strength and the well-being of our military, our veterans and the famil

mr. dicks: will the gentleman yield? mr. roe: yeah. mr. cks: we're trying to vote on the flores amendment. could you have waited to -- make your five-minute speech? this is totally irrelevant to this debate. mr. roe: i apologize to the gentleman. i yield back. mr. dicks: no problem. the chair: the gentleman yields back. does any member seek to talk on the amendment? the question is on the amendment of the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. and the amendment is adopted. are there any further amendments to the bill? for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. cough mon of colorado. at the end of the bill before the short title insert the following -- section, none of the funds made available in this act may be used by the secretary of veterans affairs to provide disability compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, united states code, to a

mr. dicks: the strict limitation of funds in the resolution offered by mr. rooney of florida would end our involvement unilaterally. i believe this action would be unwise and that it would materially harm our relationship with nato allies from whom we will undoubtedly require support in the future. it would also undermine the worldwide effort to protect the people of libya. now, in this amendment there are exceptions, search and rescue, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, aerial refueling and operational planning. and i ask the majority if they would put in suppression? because you can't conduct these other missions without suppression. and if we don't have the ability to suppress enemy air defenses, the allies will not be able to continue the bombing campaign. so all of these things that the gentleman says he wants to do and have exceptions for will be undermined by not having suppression. to date, f-18 growlers go in on these missions, they suppress the enemy ray doctors a so that

mr. dicks. the chair: the gentleman from washington, the ranking member of the committee on appropriations, is recognized for three men's. mr. dicks: mr. -- the chair: the ranking member of the committee on appropriations, is recognized for three minutes. mr. dicks: i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their work on this bill and for the committee staff that's worked long days and many late nights to produce the bill for consideration today. i'd like to commend the majority's effort to accommodate many of the concerns from members on the democratic side. i'd also like to thank chairman rogers and aderholt of bringing this bill to the floor through regular order and working with us to bring it to the floor with a rule that allows members to offer their amendments. at the outset i want to state for the record that the allocation for this bill is too low. it is about $1.1 billion below the f.y. 2012 enacted level and -- f.y. 2011 enacted level. it would represent the second stra

mr. dicks: i strongly support the hastings amendment. in my judgment the president's initial commitment of u.s. airpower and naval forces to support the international effort was appropriate. and certainly within his powers as commander in chief. u.s. effort was undertaken in concert with a broad coalition of nations and it followed a resolution adopted in the united nations security council authorizing all necessary measures to protect libyan civilians attempting to overthrow the oppressive regime of muammar gaddafi. the gaddafi government's response to the uprising inspired by arab spring was to use force against civilians in opposition forces and the brutal measures prompted the international outcry in the u.n. action. in march, the president clearly outlined the rationale for our involvement in this military action. while the direct u.s. leadership of this effort lasted a brief time, u.s. forces remain engaged in the nato operation and in this chamber today we are considering both the resolution authorizing the continued use of limite

mr. dicks, you listen. you better stand on the floor and defend this. i tell you that right now. . mr. kingston: reclaiming my time, i don't know all the ins and outs of this, but i do know the f.d.a., we're constantly getting on the f.d.a. to quse more sound science, less politics, and to have more transparency and it appears that that's what they're doing here. and they may come out against genetically modified salmon but they are just looking at it right now to determine. as respects the food supply, if you could safely produce genetically modified fish, you could feed a great portion of the world with it. so i have some concerns on it, i will yield back the balance of my time and -- but i did want to oppose the amendment. the chair: the gentleman yields back his time the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from alaska. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentlelady f

mr. dicks: i strongly support the hastings amendment.the president's initial commitment of u.s. airpower and naval forces to support theinternational effort was appropriate. and certainly within his powers as commander in chief. u.s. effort was undertaken in concert with a broad coalition of nations and it followed a resolution adopted in the united nations security council authorizing all necessary measures to protect libyan civilians attempting to overthrow the oppressive regime of muammar gaddafi. the gaddafi governme's response to the uprising inspired by arab spring was to use force against cilians in opposition forces and the brutal measures prompted the international outcry in the u.n. action. in march, the president clearly outlined the rationale for our involvement in this mtary action. while the direct u.s. leadership of this effort lasted a brief time, u.s. forces remain engaged in the nato operation and in this chamber today we are considering both the resolution authorizing the continued use of limited u.s. involvement in th

mr. dicksupport the hastings amendment. in my judgment the president's initial commitment of u.s. airpower and naval forces to support the international effort was appropriate. and certainly within his powers as commander in chief. u.s. effort was undertaken in concert with a broad coalition of nations and it followed a resolution adopted in the united nations security council authorizing all necessary measures to protect libyan civilians attempting to overthrow the oppressive regime of muammar gaddafi. the gaddafi government's response to the uprising inspired by arab spring was to use force against civilians in opposition forces and the brutal measures prompted the international outcry in the u.n. action. in march, the president clearly outlined the rationale for our involvement in this military action. while the direct u.s. leadership of this effort lasted a brief time, u.s. forces remain engaged in the nato operation and in this chamber today we are considering both the resolution authorizi

mr. dicks. the chair: the gentleman from washington, the ranking member of the committee on appropriations, is recognized for three men's. mr. dicks: mr. -- the chair: the ranking member of the committee on appropriations, is recognized for three minutes. mr. dicks: i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their work on this bill and for the committee staff that's worked long days and many late nights to produce the bill for consideration today. i'd like to commend the majority's effort to accommodate many of the concerns from members on the democratic side. i'd also like to thank chairman rogers and aderholt of bringing this bill to the floor through regular order and working with us to bring it to the floor with a rule that allows members to offer their amendments. at the outset i want to state for the record that the allocation for this bill is too low. it is about $1.1 billion below the f.y. 2012 enacted level and -- f.y. 2011 enacted level. it would represent the second stra

mr. dicks: wouldn't you feel better if we could add as the fifth item in this list of things suppression of enemy air defenses? the reason i say that is i think we're going to have a difficult time doing any of these other missions unless we have suppression, and the -- i was just over there and we were told by the navy that the allies do not have enough suppression to deal with continuing to do these bombing missions without u.s. help. if we could clarify -- mr. mckeon: you just about used up my whole minute. there are -- my good friend from washington, there are a lot of things that would make me feel better. if we could go back and start this whole thing over, there are a lot of things that would make me feel better, but the president has said we are not engaged in hostilities. i think we would agree that when we're firing missiles, when we are having -- 30 seconds? missions with our fighter planes suppressing ground fire, i believe that would be -- most of us would agree that is hostile. an

mr. dicks: the debate in the house today concerning the extent of u.s. involvement in the military action in libya now led by nato is a necessary and important debate. and i appreciate the role that dennis kucinich has played in this. both resolutions being considered today recognize the essential role of congress in authorizing and in funding the use of u.s. armed forces consistent with the war powers act and constitution. both resolutions require the members of the house to reflect on the appropriateness of the use ofilitary force in this operation as outlined by the president. and both resolutions initiate the entirely appropriate debate over the objectives of this operation as well as its duration. in my judgment the president's initial commitment of u.s. airpower and naval forces to support the international effort was appropriate and certainly within its power as commander in chief. the u.s. effort was undertaken in concert with a broad coalition of nations, some of our closest friends, and it followed a resolution adopted in the united nations sec

mr. dicks: i appreciate the gentleman from california for yielding. with an allocation that cuts $2.9 billion below the current level and $5 billion below the amount requested by the obama administration for the next fiscal year, the subcommittee has drafted an agriculture appropriation bill that drastically reduces funding for food programs that serve women, children and the elderly and for the food and drug administration, among other drastic cuts. the economy is still staggering, mr. chairman. unemployment is still far too high, and people around the country are still hurting. american families need help just to make ends neat. the bill slashes funding for w.i.c., the women, infants and children nutrition assistance program, and the commodities supplemental food program, leaving more people to fend for themselves during the worst recession since the great depression. well, i am pleased that we were able to provide a slight increase for the w.i.c. program, this bill still drastically underfun

mr. dicks: the debate in the house today concerning the extent of u.s. involvement in the military action in libya now led by nato is a necessary and important debate. and i appreciate the role that dennis kucinich has played in this. both resolutions being considered today recognize the essential role of congress in authorizing and in funding the use of u.s. armed forces consistent with the war powers act and constitution. both resolutions require the members of the house to reflect on the appropriateness of the use of military force in this operation as outlined by the president. and both resolutions initiate the entirely appropriate debate over the objectives of this operation as well as its duration. in my judgment the president's initial commitment of u.s. airpower and naval forces to support the international effort was appropriate and certainly within its power as commander in chief. the u.s. effort was undertaken in concert with a broad coalition of nations, some of our closest friends, and it followed a resolution adopted in the united nations s

mr. dicks: the debate in the house today concerning the extent of u.s. involvement in the military action in libya now led by nato is a necessary and important debate. and i appreciate the role that dennis kucinich has played in this. both resolutions being considered today recognize the essential role of congress in authorizing and in funding the use of u.s. armed forces consistent with the war powers act and constitution. both resolutions require the members of the house to reflect on the appropriateness of the use of military force in this operation as outlined by the president. and both resolutions initiate the entirely appropriate debate over the objectives of this operation as well as its duration. in my judgment the president's initial commitment of u.s. airpower and naval forces to support the international effort was appropriate and certainly within its power as commander in chief. the u.s. effort was undertaken in concert with a broad coalition of nations, some of our closest friends, and it followed a resolution adopted in the united nations s

for example from my home town, mr. dick gregory who is here today, he and others brought to my attention some investigative articles written by the washington post. these articles are worrying. those are some who profited from the bp oil spill disaster. these people apparently aimed the system to take so much money inappropriately that they earned the nickname is billionaires'. two of those named in these investigative articles testifying today, as a politician, i know what it is like to read a newspaper article about the issues, i had the experience of reading articles when i cannot recognize the events as they have been described by the reporters. i know how it can be for others in similar circumstances and we don't always have an opportunity to respond to those articles and perhaps set the record straight. therefore i feel duty bound, mr. taffaro and mr. williams, to respond to those articles, what they have alleged about your conduct in the wake of the bp oil spill disaster. >> if you could give me a specific question i

for example, from my hometown, mr. dick gregory, who is here today, he and others have brought to my attention some investigative articles written by pro publica and the "washington post". these articles are worrying. they allege there are who profited from the bp oil spill cast -- oil spill disaster. they apparently gamed the system to take so much money inappropriately that they earned the nickname spillionaires. those are here on the panel. as a politician, i know what it is like to read a newspaper article about issues with which i am involved, i've had the experience of reading articles where i cannot recognize the events as they have been described by the reporters. so i know how it can be sometimes for others in similar circumstances and we don't always have an opportunity to respond to those articles. perhaps set the record straight. therefore, i feel duty bound mr. taffaro and mr. williams to give you the opportunity here today to respond to those articles and to what they have alleged about your conduct in the wak

mr. dicks: wouldn't you feel better if we could add as the fifth item in this list of things suppression of enemy air defenses? the reason i say that is i think we're going to have a difficult time doing any of these other missions unless we have suppression, and the -- i was just over there and we were told by the navy that the allies do not have enough suppression to deal with continuing to do these bombing missions without u.s. help. if we could clarify -- mr. mckeon: you just about used up my whole minute. there are -- my good friend from washington, there are a lot of things that would make me feel better. if we could go back and start this whole thing over, there are a lot of things that would make me feel better, but the president has said we are not engaged in hostilities. i think we would agree that when we're firing missiles, when we are having -- 30 seconds? missions with our fighter planes suppressing ground fire, i believe that would be -- most of us would agree that is hostile. an

unequivocal on television you president brought obama are a dick but i'm not going to m s n b c we like to substantiate and that's important claims so mr president let me count the ways oh wait that will have to wait for a whole other episode tomorrow that's our show for tonight you've been watching adam vs the man thank you so much for two men as always you can email me adam it out of reach of the man i contacted our website to vote on guess it's obvious adam vs the man this is a focus from washington d.c. and i. the commission free the couldn't take should free zones for charges free to make amends three kids three stooges free. zone free blood cancer clinic videos for your media projects and free media don carty dot com. wealthy british. market finance scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy with months cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into the report. download the official placation q i phone the i pod touch from the i choose out story. cianci life on the go. see video on demand on t.v.'s minefield comes an r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question. com. only ap

mr. hoyer: madam speaker, as i indicated, norm dicks now serves as our ranking democratic member on the appropriations committee and serves with the distinguished chairman, hal rogers from kentucky. i believe i can speak for all of us, all of our members today in congratulating norm on reaching this important milestone. i think i can also say for both sides of the aisle, norm dicks is one of those members who reaches across the aisle and tries to make policy in a positive way. norm dicks, i think, is an example for all of us. he's become one of the few members of the house who've had the determination and endurance to remain engaged in the people's business for so long here in the house of representatives. norm, we congratulate you, not only on your 20,000th vote, but on the quality of service you've given to this house, to this country and to your district in washington state. congratulations. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say ay

turned into dick cheney that's the argument being made over how the obama administration is handling the case involving reporter james risin and his confidential source as i think back to mr simone. into that only the military making it seems to do the work to bring justice to accountability. i have every right to know what my government's doing you want to know why i pay taxes. but i would characterize the bottom line as the charismatic solution of american exceptionalism. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life sleep you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm charming welcome to the big picture.

mr. chairman, and good morning. let me first welcome governor barbour, and i thank you very much for being with us today. i also want to take a moment to recognize dickregory who is a person who has fought hard for so many people for so long in our audience. thank you, mr. gregory, for being a part of this hearing today. governor barbour, your state has been through a tremendous amount of difficulty, and i sincerely look forward to your testimony. let me also welcome michael bromwich from the department of interior. mr. bromwich, you agreed to be here with incredibly short notice, so we thank you very much for your testimony and for your expertise. finally, let me welcome the residents of the gulf who have traveled here today to share their views with the committee. earlier this year the national commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill issued a comprehensive report on the causes of the spill. the report found that this disaster was avoidable and that it resulted from clear mistakes made in the first instance by bp, halliburton and transocean. and by government officials. these were extremely difficult lessons to learn. now, more than a year

mr. chairman, and good morning. let me first welcome governor barbour, and i thank you very much for being with us today. i also want to take a moment to recognize dickrson who has fought hard for so many people for so long in our audience. thank you, mr. gregory, for being a part of this hearing today. governor barbour, your state has been through a tremendous amount of difficulty, and i sincerely look forward to your testimony. let me also welcome michael bromwich from the department of interior. mr. bromwich, you agreed to be here with incredibly short notice, so we thank you very much for your testimony and for your expertise. finally, let me welcome the residents of the gulf who have traveled here today to share their views with the committee. earlier this year the national commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill issued a comprehensive report on the causes of the spill. the report found that this disaster was avoidable and that it resulted from clear mistakes made in the first instance by bp, halliburton and transocean. and by government officials. these were extremely difficult lessons to learn. now, more than a year later, officials i

mr. chairman, to live. the irs 10-99 issue that chairman dick durbin just talked about, i'll understand your budget request included a three full-time employees contributed to the health care law provisions. in light of its repeal, the irs 's request is reduced by that 23.3 million, and a change in the 82 full-time employees? >> yes. that is dropped. >> good. >> that is the correct answer. >> we just saved some money. [laughter] >> what chairman dick durbin was talking about cause me to want to inquire about security. he mentioned the voluntary nature and the concern about government having information about americans. house secure a system to we have in place that protect information -- house secure the system do we have in place that protect its information? >> it is very secure and walked down. i would tell everybody i was sworn in, i came back to the office, and the first briefing i have as irs commissioner was about protection of taxpayer data and data security. it is really built into the dna of the irs. if there are laws that prohibit any individual employees from sharing information about any indiv

mr. chairman, and good morning. let me first welcome governor barbour, and i thank you very much for being with us today. i also want to take a moment to recognize dick gregory who is a person who has fought hard for so many people for so long in our audience. thank you, mr. gregory, for being a part of this hearing today. governor barbour, your state has been through a tremendous amount of difficulty, and i sincerely look forward to your testimony. let me also welcome michael bromwich from the department of interior. mr. bromwich, you agreed to be here with incredibly short notice, so we thank you very much for your testimony and for your expertise. finally, let me welcome the residents of the gulf who have traveled here today to share their views with the committee. earlier this year the national commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill issued a comprehensive report on the causes of the spill. the report found that this disaster was avoidable and that it resulted from clear mistakes made in the first instance by bp, halliburton and transocean. and by government officials. these were extremely difficult lessons to learn. now, more than a yea

mr. cummings. by the way, slight detour. i mentioned that mostly chair is when i talked about these past investigations. the ranking member with dick cheney, i don't know if you quite see him as your sort of model, but i will say that -- >> i do. [laughter] >> i will remain silent on that one. >> anyway, i gave the iran-contra committee many examples going full speed ahead. at the other end, i decided the ad scam committee in my memo. and that was a committee which said we need to be extremely cautious. we don't want to get in the way we are going to asking for nerve center testimony at the heart, and so they held off. they had a discussion to talk about and he decided with the justice department to behaving properly and respectfully toward the committee, telling it what there was. they decided that they would wait until the trials were over. i mentioned that because that was an fbi informant investigation, because of the way abscam had been done. and just like the atf investigation, something important for congress to do. i have said that what i think is the justice department should be starting by providing more documents, allowi

we heard from senator dick durbin, who wrote the legislation, and senator bob corker on the bill. this is 25 minutes. mr. corker: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. corker: madam president, it is my understanding that i have ten minutes. is that correct? the presiding officer: that's correct. mr. corker: and if i happen to go eight minutes or so, would you let me know i have two minutes left? the presiding officer: yes. mr. corker: i thank you very much, madam president. i rise today to speak about something that's affectionately known as the durbin amendment. during the dodd-frank debate that occurred about a year ago and upon its passage, there was an amendment brought to the floor called the durbin amendment by dealt with debt coast guar-- withdebit cards ant cards. this amendment had nevada been debated there. had never been a hearing on this amendment. and in the height of i think people being very concerned about the large financial institutions in our country, this was an amendment that passed. i voted against it. i thought it was bad for us as a country to al

dicks for not appropriating for further hostilities in that country. we can't stretch our resources so thin that we ultimately end up tying the hands of our troops. and finally, mr. speaker, i'd like to take a minute to discuss the rules' commitment to budgetary transparency. the budget resolution adopted earlier this year included specifically delineated funds for operations related to the global war on terror. this fund is capped at $126 billion. the intent of the budget language was to preserve these funds specifically for the war on terror and to ebb shoe -- ensure that the money was diverted for unrelated programs. previous majorities have used the similar construct for the exact same purpose. additionally in previous congresses the budget committee chairman was prepared to advise the chair that in terms of spending levels, it is impermissible to use funding for the global war on terror to offset increases of spending elsewhere in this bill. same is true in this congress. section 2 of the rule codifies the budget resolution's intent and the past practices of this house. the rules prohibit funding for the global war on terror from being used to pay for opera

that -- and dick durbin, one of the most liberal members of this body, both voted for that deficit and debt commission report. that's almost good enough for me. that's almost good enough for me. mrudall: i was proud of the senate when five of the six senators on the commission voted for the bowls-simpson recommendations, not without some concerns, not without some interest in working to flush out the plan. but five of the six senators from across the political spectrum said this is a very good startingpoint. mr. bennet: i see we're joined by senator coons from delaware. and i'm going to stop. but, you know, just along that line, just to giver people some optimism that are here in the chamber or that might be watching, just two weeks ago we took a vote on one subsidy, an ethanol subsidy. i think it was senator coburn and senator feinstein who put it on the floorks a democrat and a republican, and it got like 73 votes. i get in trouble with my kids. it wasn't "like" 73 votes. it was 73 votes -- to end that subsidy. and, by the way, there were i think around 40 democrats and 30-some republicans that supported that. we need more of that around here. and i think if we keep work at it