mr. duncan is recognized for 60 minutes. mr. duncan: the last congress was known oose taxation and regulation. this congress is working to be the congress of free markets, achieving american independence and job creation. back in may, the house passed three pieces of legislation designed to help end our dependence on middle eastern oil and allowing deep sea energy exploration and production. tonight we are going to talk about american energy independence and how energy as a segue into job creation, how we can put americans back to work. as a proud member of the house committee on natural resources, we passed three strong bills that would put america back to work especially in the gulf of mexico. we passed h.r. 1229. this is putting the gulf back to work act. it would end the administration's moratorium in the gulf of mexico in a safe and transparent manner by setting time lines for considering permits to drill which provides serpt and allows people to get back on the job. i don't know how many members have been out in the gulf of

mr. duncan: mr. speaker, this is supposed to be a federal system in which our founding fathers felt more power should be given to the states than to the national government. they certainly didn't envision a federal dictatorship with the states being dictated to by an elected -- un-elected federal bureaucrats. this bill does not go very far but it at least tries to put a little more balance and fairness back into our system so that we can have both clean water and a stronger economy. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: i have no additional speakers. i ask the gentleman from utah if he has remaining speakers? mr. bishop: no, i don't. i may be surprised again. i'm ready to close as well. mr. polis: thank you. mr. speaker, from a purely self interest perspective as a coloradoan, and perhaps we have very little to lose as we are a headwater state, either ends up in the arkansa

mr. duncan: i thank the gentleman from ohio for that. reforms like a balanced budget amendment coupled with spending cuts that can prevent our children and grandchildren from inheritting mountains of debt. passing off theroblem to them may be the easy wa but not the american way or the christian way. as president reagan said you and i as individuals can by borrowing, live beyond our means, but only for a limited period of time. why should we think that collectively as a nation we are not bound by that same limitation. we must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: i would point out that when ronald reagan was president he raised the debt ceiling 17 times and specifically wrote to the congress saying that failure to pay our bills would jeopardize the credit worthyness of the united states. president reagan didn't want to make that mistake. i yield one minute to the gentleman fm pennsylvania, mr. ftah. mr

mr. duncan, for five minutes. mr. duncan: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to cover two or three things very briefly here this morning. first of all, "the washington post" reported on its front page yesterday that, quote, u.s. taxpayer money has been indirectly funneled to the taliban under a $2.16 billion, a $2 billion transportation contract. this is crazy. it should not be part of the job of the u.s. military to promote afghan businesses. this report found, quote, documented credible evidence of involvement in a criminal enterprise of support for the enemy, unquote. this is ridiculous. and it comes on the heels of a report last week that the navy has spent at least $300 million, at least $300 million, on two ships that were never completed, never sent on a mission, and are now headed for a salvage yard in brownsville, texas. are there no fiscal conservatives at the pentagon? and sadly, most people in congress today are afraid to cut the defense department for fear they will appear to be unpatriotic. and yet it seems to me, mr. speaker, that it's un

mr. duncan: i thank the gentleman from ohio for that. reforms like a balanced budget amendment coupled with spending cuts that can prevent our children and grandchildren from inheritting mountains of debt. passing off the problem to them may be the easy way but not the american way or the christian way. as president reagan said you and i as individuals can by borrowing, live beyond our means, but only for a limited period of time. why should we think that collectively as a nation we are not bound by that same limitation. we must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: i would point out that when ronald reagan was president he raised the debt ceiling 17 times and specifically wrote to the congress saying that failure to pay our bills would jeopardize the credit worthyness of the united states. president reagan didn't want to make that mistake. i yield one minute to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fat

mr. duncan: i thank the gentleman from ohio for that. reforms like a balanced budget amendment coupled with spending cuts that can prevent our children and grandchildren from inheritting mountains of debt. passing off the problem to them may be the easy way but not the american way or the christian way. as president reagan said you and i as individuals can by borrowing, live beyond our means, but only for a limited period of time. why should we think that collectively as a nation we are not bound by that same limitation. we must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: i would point out that when ronald reagan was president he raised the debt ceiling 17 times and specifically wrote to the congress saying that failure to pay our bills would jeopardize the credit worthyness of the united states. president reagan didn't want to make that mistake. i yield one minute to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fat

mr. duncan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it seems that kerry's comeback to this point. we received the administration when they recognized each of these and the size and scope of government. all the while the american people pay more at the pump and wonder why we're not capitalizing on the bountiful natural resources we have here in america. mr. bromwich, i appreciate you and your coming here today. it's not really whether or not you are doing a good job or not. reorganizing major area of expertise. i read your bio. you do the job required to view by secretary salazar. the issue at hand is whether we are meeting america's energy needs and being given our purchase to meeting those needs. so my question is this. let me back up and say what mr. landrieu was talking about was a prime example of government reaching further and further into the private sector. not only this agency, but nlrb reaching into private businesses. this is another example of that. my question will be this. given the fact no sales have been conducted and unaware of a new five-year plan in this area. i

mrs. kirosi, my english teacher in high school, thank you. >>> and arne duncan, just why do we pay nba starswe pay teachers? do the math. we'll start with the man who started it all, chris hughes. we're live in aspen, colorado. hair and mascara, a lethal combo. i'm jon haber of alto music. my business is all about getting music into people's hands. and the plum card from american express open helps me do that. you name it, i can buy it. and the savings that we get from the early pay discount has given us money to reinvest back into our business and help quadruple our floor space. how can the plum card's trade terms get your business booming? booming is putting more music in more people's hands. the doctor leaned over and said to me, "you just beat the widow-maker." i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now. [ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ delicious pringles multigrain. with a variety of flavors, multigrain pops with pri

mrs. clinton, and you want the national security job. you want to be secretary of education. i think arne duncan has the top national security job in the country. we have had so many great education panels here, they hear some much about technology and new ideas, and what we say in the book is that we really do not know what is sufficient. more charters or less charters, bitter classrooms or smaller, more or less technology. we leave that to the experts to assemble here. there is something we feel we might know and what is necessary, collective action. yes, we always want better educated and better enable, we are all for that, but knock it off with the teachers. we need better parents to prepare their kids to go to school and understand the priorities. we need students ready to come to school to learn. we need politicians who want to raise the educational standards every year because they know what world we're living in very we need neighbors ready to invest in their schools, either their kids are not in them because if they do not invest in that they will be investing in prisons down the road,

mr. bainer's suite on the second floor of the capital, but leaders made no headway with them. representative jeff duncan and nick mull veiny left the office and went into the nearby chapel saying they were praying over the matter and for their leadership. when the house comes back in, we'll have it live here on respond. now here is representative michelle bachmann who is running for president as she talked at the national press club today as she talked about the ongoing negotiations to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending. >> there is something going on in washington, d.c. the american people have been paying attention. it's the national debate that is before all of us on whether or not this nation will once again raise the debt limit and more importantly, how we will deal with the economic difficulties that are impacting literally millions of our federal americans across the nation. in january of this year, second tim geithner sent a letter to members of congress informing us that the debt limit would be reached sometime between march 31 and may 16 of this year. we have now known for seven months th