mr. ellison of minnesota. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is request for recorded vote on amendment number 11 printed in the congressional record offered by the gentleman from california, mr. waxman, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk: amendment number 11 printed in the congressional record offered by mr. waxman of california. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. will the house suspend the rules and pass house of representatives -- any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house

mr. ellison is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. elson: thank you very much. i'm congressman keith ellison, claiming this hour on behalf of the progressive caucus which tonight is going to feature a number of critical issues. all focusing on the importance of the rights of women and the assault they have been under in this congress. . to get started, i want to introduce a great colleague from california, who is going to lead off our hour. congresswoman lee has been a champion of the rights of all people and peace and justice around the world and she has been a champion for civil and human rights for women, and for all people around the world. let me first recognize on behalf of this special order hour, congresswoman lee. congresswoman lee, i yield the floor to you. ms. lee: i thank my chair for yielding and for your amazing leadership on so many tough issues we are dealing with. we are joined with other members and pleased to be down here to discuss this critical issue, a very sad day for women in this country and especially for poor

mr. ellison: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by minnesota will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont seek recognition? mr. welch: thank you, mr. chairman. i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 19 printed in the congressional record offered by mr. welch of vermont. the chair: the gentleman from vermont is recognized for five minutes. mr. welch: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, we have an ongoing debate in this congress about regulation. my friends on the republican side believe we have too much. those of us on the democratic side think we need careful regulation. we shouldn't have too much, but we shouldn't abolish it altogether. an appropriate regulation levels the playing field for our businesses and industry but it also gives a fair shot to the health, safety and concerns of our people who have no control over the production processees

mr. ellison, but i do not get the sense there will be this strength and my capability of having their attentionersus the attention of folks down in other parts of the committee. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. >> good afternoon. i want to bring to your attention when i hear presentations made, i only hear workforce and city bill. i hear a little bit about wyc, but ycb, but i do not hear about the other cbo's. we of the renaissance. these people try to get people jobs, and they are not included in anything but is being stated when they come up here. i am quite sure they have other groups and things. i do not feel as though we all are being recognized to make sure that all of the people in those local communities are getting the benefits they should be getting. i would like to see more names included in those statements about who will be sending people on to these jobs, because i have a problem. i hear reports 240 people were hired. they do not know themselves they have been higher. and i have a concern. and i am serious about what i'm saying. someone laughed, but it is not funny at all.

mr. ellison and the other participants in supporters want this city to be proud of this event, they need to be stellar and exceed in environmental standards to the greatest degree possible. that goes to the greatest local hiring and union hiring. 20 percent is just 20%. and we need the event sponsors to look at san francisco and it's about using and follow those values so that people like me and others like me who have never been to a ceiling sporting event and our lives will be so proud of this event

mr. ellison of minnesota. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, my amendment is very simple. what it says is that if the e.p.a. administrator finds that the regulation creates more than 1,000 jobs, then the administrator can shorten the five-year delay which the bill would impose. so very simply, the e.p.a. administrator can come forward and say, look, 1,000 jobs have been created by this and therefore, this delay of five years would be shortened. that's all the amendment called for. in a time when we have such tremendous need for jobs in america, i would think that if the e.p.a. can identify 1,000 jobs created in connection with this bill, with this rule, then we should certainly be able to shorten the five-year speared of -- period of delay. so i ask that -- for support for this amendment because i'm sure that everybody on both sides of the aisle agrees whole heartedly with job creation and there has been, i believe, a false choice offered to the american people. this false choice is very simple to describe. that is what we can either h

mr. ellison. the chair: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for three minutes. mr. ellison: let me thank the gentleman from massachusetts and also thank you, mr. speaker. you know, mr. speaker, a number of very passionate and well-informed speakers have come before this body today to urge a no vote based on facts, based on research and all this is extremely important and i'm so glad they did it. but, mr. speaker, for the people watching this debate today, they need to know one thing and that is that this legislation bought and paid for by industry to -- so that people could try to save money at the expense of people's health and their lives and this is exactly what's going on here today. what's going on here today is that industry interests, backed candidates who come here today and to offer legislation that would allow the cement industry, the coal fire industry, the mact -- the boiler industry users to just dump mercury and other junk into the air that makes you sick. and as we're talking about jobs, what about a jobs bill that could put americans to work as oppose

mr. ellison, for five minutes. mr. ellisonson -- mr. ellison: mr. speaker, the changes in the arab speaking countries over the last year have been astonishing. this region, which is home to over 300 million people, has been making unmistakable drives towards democracy, but those strives have not always been linear and smooth. there have been setbacks and advances, but as this region changes, the united states must also adjust to those changes as well. first i want to congratulate the people of tunisia on their historic election on sunday. it was tunisia's first free and fair election since gaining independence in 1956. two nearbyians create add new paradigm for governance in the middle east. and i hope this is replicated throughout the region. tunisia, by the way, was the first country to begin its dramatic social change against historic dictator. last december, two nearbyians said enough, they took to the streets to demand their rights and they out ofed a dictator and went to the polls just a few days ago to elect new leaders. more than 90% of regi

mr. ellison. the chair: the gentleman from minnota. mr. ellison: mr.speaker, i'm afraid that this bill is another example of the majority having no real jobs agenda. the republicans are claiming that this bill will create jobs in arizona, and of course our whole country wants more jobs anywhere we can get them, but the truth is that no one really knowshe exact economic impact of this mine. the only job numbers that we have to go on are those provided by rio tinto, a foreign parent company of resolution copper. when this proposal was first developed in 2005, it was propertied that the mine would create about 450 jobs. without anyxplanation, no data, no analysis, very little, the estimates have skyrocketed to over 1,200 jobs or even 6,000 jobs. that sounds enticing, particularly to a country where we have 10%, 9% unemployment. but without any data to support it, it just seems like speculation. you could just say it's going to create a gazillion jobs. why not? anything to get the deal. there's no way to know because the numbers are not supported by a mini

mr. ellison: to strike to last word. choib the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, i rise in favor of the amendment because i'd like to make the point that americans watching this debate, mr. speaker, should not be fooled into believing that there are some false choice between being able to breathe and having a job. this is just a false choice, it's unfair to make this argument to the american people. the fact is we can breathe and we can avoid asthma and mercury poisoning and have a job. you don't have to have one or the other. and you know the fact is, mr. speaker, the folks who argue against regulatory diagnosis regulations that protect our -- regulations that protect our health and impose costs on industry, these folks never liked regulation that asked us to do the fair thing. this is not just the cement industry. this is an ongoing ideological debate which has been going on for a long time. but thankfully americans recognized we need to breathe air and work, so we passed legislation. we passed the e.p.a. we had regulations to protect our he

mr. ellison. the chair: the gentleman from minnesota. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, i'm afraid that this bill is another example of the majority having no real jobs agenda. the republicans are claiming that this bill will create jobs in arizona, and of course our whole country wants more jobs anywhere we can get them, but the truth is that no one really knows the exact economic impact of this mine. the only job numbers that we have to go on are those provided by rio tinto, a foreign parent company of resolution copper. when this proposal was first developed in 2005, it was propertied that the mine would create about 450 jobs. without any explanation, no data, no analysis, very little, the estimates have skyrocketed to over 1,200 jobs or even 6,000 jobs. that sounds enticing, particularly to a country where we have 10%, 9% unemployment. but without any data to support it, it just seems like speculation. you could just say it's going to create a gazillion jobs. why not? anything to get the deal. there's no way to know because the numbers are not supported by a

mr. ellison: thank you, madam speaker. thank you. i'd like to thank the ranking member of the energy and commerce committee and the chair. we are seeing a trend here in the house of representatives, madam speaker, attacking the e.p.a. and not working on jobs. this bill does nothing to regulate coal ash in a way that protects the environment and public health. this bill wants to give regulatory power to states, but there is no national minimum standard for permitting -- for state permitting programs in this bill. the municipal solid waste standards used by this dangerous piece of legislation are inadequate to protect our communities from dangerous toxins. many of the toxins found in coal residuals are simply dangerous to public health and are known cancer causing agents. just a few of the toxins found in coal ash include arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, and a bunch of other stuff that's hard to pronounce. this bill will allow these toxins to enter our drinking water and dozens of communities across the country. on top of rele

mr. ellison: thank you, mr. speaker. last night i was disappointed, though not surprised, to see the senate fail to arrive at the number of votes in order to bring closure so that the american jobs act could be debated. they've not only do not want to pass a jobs bill, they don't want to debate a jobs bill. i thought that was an embarrassing moment for the u.s. congress because with 9.1% unemployment, with people who have been chronically unemployed for so long, one would think that we would want to get down here and talk about jobs, bring forth our ideas, offer amendments, do everything we could to try to help spur the american economy on. and yet we saw that jobs bill go down. mr. speaker, the american people know that congress can bring things up and they can bring things up again, and as long as americans are unemployed at the disgraceful rates that they are today, our congress will never stop fighting to continue to bring jobs bills back to this congress. the republican majority in this house has yet to bring a repu

look at this difference, congressman ellison, on what the president has spent, cost of toppling kad, $1.1 billion. zero u.s. troop fatalities. now let's see what mr. bush and up to the task mr. cheney spent on topping saddam hussein. $805.5 billion and 4481 u.s. troop fatalities. seems like kind of perverse way to be up for the task. >> well, and that's only iraq. there's 1700 dead in afghanistan. i mean the fact is in a they presided over the worst foreign policy decade in american history, bush and cheney. and i don't expect anything out of them other than character assassination and slander. they've proven that they have absolutely no idea how to lead this country or anything else. but president obama i think has demonstrated some very rational and wise approaches to the matter. i mean, his speech in cairo, his speech in tury, all signaling that the united states is on the side of democratic movements. and then of course we saw those democratic movements take flight all across the region and right now, look at it this way, we have egypt, libya, tunisia right in a row, democratic reforms going on in morocco, democratic reforms going on -- movem

mr. baier commode glad to have you have with us today. ms. jennifer ellison is a cattle rancher and hay farmer from blackfoot, idaho. she chairs the western legacy alliance and volunteer organization focused on preserving working man's lifestyle than the american west. recently ms. ellis was president of the idaho cattle association and chairman of the idaho committee. she also chaired idaho's depredations committee as she is director on the board of the idaho agriculture cricket association and the former chairman of the blackfoot holthouse project. through these experiences, ms. ellis has acquired much firsthand knowledge of environmental litigation, more than she ever wanted to know i would dare to reach her. ms. ellis, thank you for coming from idaho to do with us today. we appreciate that. finally, mr. said six served as codirector for the school's institute for public representation. pair to joining the joint staff, mr. wolfman spent 20 years as the national -- at the national public interest law firm public citizen litigation group where he served the