mr. grayson. was he over the top or spot on?think the rhetoric will end up disstrablgting from the debate. his message was the one a lot of progressives had been pushing or hoping to push for a while now. we're talking about 47,000 people dying because of lack of health insurance coverage every year. 50,000 will lose their coverage in the next week. i mean, there's a dire aspect to the health care debate i think the democratic party should have inserted into the discussion way in advance. i think congressman weiner's response to representative grayson's remarks arerunning aw. maybe saying republicans want people to die isn't the best way to frame it. >> sam, what about the public option, now, the votes that took place in the senate finance committee yesterday. i'm told now there's a real good chance there might not be a public option in the senate bill. they're going to take their chances in the conference committee. what pressure does this put on the house to deliver the mail on public option? >> i'm hearing the same thing your

mr. grayson. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009 and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. jones of north carolina. mr. poe: i request to take mr. jones' place. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, a few days ago, there was a town hall meeting not too far from here in reston, virginia, over 3,000 people were inside and about that many outside. this town hall event was held at south lakes high school and one of the security officers there, did not like one of the signs that the protestors were carrying and holding up. the sign apparently was not to the officer's political liking. so the security officer demanded that out of the thousands of signs at the event, the one he didn't like was going to come down and he ordered the person to take it down because it was obviously critical of the administra

mr. grayson to apologize. mr. speaker, it's the right thing to do. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i would continue to reserve, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve much -- reserve. the gentleman from california. mr. herger: i don't have any further speakers. perhaps i'll just close and yield back the remainder of my time. mr. speaker, this is a good commonsense bill with broad support from both democrats and republicans. this is an example of the way that health care policy should be handled in this congress. i urge an aye vote. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: in closing i just want to mention, my colleague, mr. stark, from the ways and means committee wanted to speak in favor of this bill. but was unable to be here. i also neglected to thank mr. terry who was the lead republican sponsor of the legislation.

mr. grayson from florida is recognized. >> has the federal reserve ever tried to manipulate the u.s. stock market? >> no, sir, not that i am aware of. >> and not that you are aware, but you are the chairmen. >> i would expect to know if something like that were being done. >> you'd be bound by attorney/client privilege in do not be allowed to tell us. right? >> so we agree that any part dissipation -- any participation [unintelligible] >> the federal reserve does have the ability to produce a paper in certain markets in certain ways. >> [unintelligible] >> your question is so over- broad that i do not know where to begin. >> i would like you to tell me if it is within the federal reserve's authority to manipulate the market. >> i didn't believe that it tries to -- >> tries? c'mon. do they? >> they tried to influence interest rates to maximize employment and stabilize prices. >> if they were doing that, is that not something we would want to know? >> to the extent that it influences interest rates, it does make an announcement to that immediately. >> that is not what i am saying. >> i

mr. grayson, florida. mr. neugebauer, texas. mr. faleomavaega, american samoa. mr. bishop, utah. mr. deal, georgia. mr. forbes, virginia. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? to -- >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, the president's mention of a tort reform demonstration project in his speech to congress last week was a red herring. by putting secretary see we'llous -- sebelius in charge of a tort reform demonstration project, the president has left tort reform to the former executive director and chief lobbyist for the kansas trial lawyers association. the president may have well just said, we need to protect the hen house so i'm appointing the fox to evaluate security. democrats deride the status quo in health care, waving their fingers and blaming special interests, but their rhetoric fails to meet reality. in a moment of extreme candor, howard dean, the former d.n.c. chairman said, and i quote, the reason why tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wro

mr. grayson: it was announced earlier today that there will be a hearing on h.r. 1207, the bill to audit the federal reserve bank. this will be the first independent audit in the federal reserve's 96-year history and it's long overdue. i asked the vice chairman who received the $1 trillion in funds that the federal reserve has handed out to domestic institutions and said i'm not going to tell you. and the chairman of the federal reserve, i asked him who received the half trillion, we are talking about $500 billion that the federal reserve handed over to foreign central banks and he said i don't know. half a trillion dollars and he doesn't know. it's long overdue. we need to audit the federal reserve and we will have a hearing on that very soon. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. murphy: address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. murphy: mr. speaker, over the past several years, we hear politicians during debate use harsh words, verbal attac

mr. grayson, florida, mr. schiff, california. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and and you previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. edwards of texas. mr. edwards: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the dedicated public service of our friend and former colleague, pete garn, iii. tomorrow will be the last day his service as secretary of the united states army. i'm confident it will not be his last day of service to the country he has served so well. pete gar en's service to country began 26 years ago as an aide to the distinguished ugs senator from texas, lloyd benson. the depth and breadth of pete's public service since then has been rarely matched in american history. for eight years this native son of fort worth served the 12th district of texas here in the u.s. house of representatives. as a member of the armed services, science and technology and public works and transportation committees, congressman garren earn earned the respect of democrats and dem

mr. by. thank you for being here as well, sir. [applause] as i turned it over to secretary grayson, if you go to each of our website, you will see on our biographies a very important fact. we have kept the wars between indiana and kentucky down to zero during our tenure. thank you very much for coming. [applause] >> as we are looking over the next couple of years, a lot of the conversations have given us some food for thought. to me, when you are in opposition and try to stop bad ideas, always remember to be forward-looking. i think ronald reagan paused genius was -- i think ronald reagan's genius was forward- looking. it was the dawn of a new day. be optimistic and be positive. president obama was able to do that during last year's election and it really helped him out. as we think about the future, look at the policies. when i look at these, i want to leave a better life for my daughter's then my parents left for me. keep looking to the future and keep looking forward. that optimism is the tie that binds all americans. if we could recapture that, i think we can recapture a lot of the office is that we have lost over the years. [a

mr. by. thank you for being here as well, sir. [applause] as i turned it over to secretary grayson, if you go to each of our website, you will see on our biographies a very important fact. we have kept the wars between indiana and kentucky down to zero during our tenure. thank you very much for coming. [applause] >> as we are looking over the next couple of years, a lot of the conversations have given us some food for thought. to me, when you are in opposition and try to stop bad ideas, always remember to be forward-looking. i think ronald reagan paused genius was -- i think ronald reagan's genius was forward- looking. it was the dawn of a new day. be optimistic and be positive. president obama was able to do that during last year's election and it really helped him out. as we think about the future, look at the policies. when i look at these, i want to leave a better life for my daughter's then my parents left for me. keep looking to the future and keep looking forward. that optimism is the tie that binds all americans. if we could recapture that, i think we can recapture a lot of the office is that we have lost over the years. [a