mr. garamendi. we do -- every weekend i'm home and the weeks that i'm home because we're home many weeks now and this congress doesn't work them very much. we spend time at home. it's a beautiful thing for us but not a great thing for america because we need to be working on getting a jobs bill passed which hasn't been introduced by the majority yet, but professor stiggler talked about the cost of the loss of the surplus. the -- president clinton and democratic congress got in the late part of the 20th century. it was the two wars, voted for by this congress, supported by president bush, the bush tax cuts passed by this congress, proposed by president bush, and medicare part d. the president pushes his medicare plan to take care of insurance companies. that's what did it. those were the causes. the veterans, professor stig lets, and he has a woman that works with him, i think linda, they studied what it will cost in america for the veterans. the ones we need to employ we need to employ. but the ones

mr. garamendi: tomorrow -- thank you, mr. tonko. and sheila jackson lee, your repation of your constituents and of america is unparalleled. you are fighters. you are fighters for those of people who have faced their personal disaster of losing their job, losing their home and many of their dreams. tomorrow here on the floor of this congress the senate and the house will meet and we'll be listening to our president talk to us and to the american people at a moment in time that is of critical importance to the very future of this country. a moment in which we will choose the path, an aggressive path to deal with the disaster of unemployed americans. he'll come to us with a plan, i believe it will be a bold plan, it will be comprehensive, it will cover probably many of the issues that are here on our make it in america agenda. but i want all of us, democrat and republican, to take those ideas and to put them into law so that americans can have a job. so that once again they can become taxpayers and in doing so bring to america's treasu

mr. garamendi: well, mr. tonko, you and i were right here in the back of this house chamber earlier today and you were sharing with me the stories, the reality in your district. these are your constituents who have been harmed and we have our colleague, peter welch from vermont, who is also talking about the extraordinary damage done to the infrastructure in vermont. as we rebuild those communities as part of this american jobs act, people go to work in and those communities are able to once again stand on their own. share with us some of the things you have seen from your own district and the needs for infrastructure reproliferationment in your community. mr. tonko: well, it's amazing because there are situations -- i'll first go to peter's district, representative resm's district in vermont where route 4 has been wiped out. it's just about removed from the map, and what was just a couple miles worth of activity for some people to travel to work now becomes this tremendous securitiest route that may even tak

mr. garamendi: i thank you very much. it's always a privilege to yield to the rule committees and the good work they do. let me continue on here for a moment. i want to pick up the last issue that i talked about, which was lab technicians, retraining men and women, one of the key aspects of the president's jobs program is the fact that we have about three, about four million men and women who have served in the iraq and afghanistan theaters. many of those are still there but most have come home. when they leave the military, they have one of the highest unemployment rates of any group in the united states. this is simply wrong. these are men and women who have served this nation heroically and in considerable danger and in many, many cases having suffered grievous injuries. we need to pay special attention to them and recognize that they have acquired some very, very important skills. they know how to work, how to show up on time, how to take instructions. what they don't know is how to be a lab technician and don't know

mr. garamendi proposed just such a common sense piece of legislation. i urge people to vote no on the previous question so we can consider mr. gare men tee's amendment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from colorado has 6 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from north carolina has 14.5 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to yield two minutes to the joment from illinois, ms. schakowsky. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. schakowsky: thank you. i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise also to support the effort of my colleague, mr. garamendi, to require that materials made in america be used to construct and renovate the charter schools that we're talking about in this legislation. you know, we have a serious issue in this country in case the republicans haven't noticed

mr. garamendi, for five minutes. mr. garamendi: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to celebrate a very, very special birthday. it is the 50th birthday of the united states peace corps. an incredible organization that was started by president john f. kennedy and a whole lot of people thought this nation had an opportunity to reach out to the men and women of america, provide them with a challenge to go to -- out to the world to seek peace, to work for peace and to help developing nations meet their needs. whether it be in education, community development, economic development or other activities. and so it has been more than 200,000 americans, young and old, men and women have become peace corps volunteers. they have served in 139 countries around the world and today they serve in over 70 countries. it's been a terrific program. it has presented the very best face of america to millions of people around the world. today, there are leaders of many countries around this world that have been taught by peace corps volunteers in their high schools, in their g

mr. garamendi. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this issue has been kept around for near on 50 years, and during that period what time, the american people, through their representatives, have recognized an extraordinary value in wilderness. there are indeed sacred places and there are indeed in this planet on which we live places that may have resource potential but they also have the potential of simply being what they are, underdeveloped, natural, the place for wildlife and mosquitos, but not a place that we would extract resources. anwr is such a place. it's unique. there is no other place on the planet like anwr. it doesn't exist. this is eight. this is the last that there is. is it worth a few days of oil supply for the nation? i think not. this far the american people have said let's leave it the way it is. the way that it came to us. natural and undisturbed. that's something very, very special that the american people have decided over the years not just here but other places including the smoky mountains to say let's leave