mr. grayson. ms. ros-lehtinen. mr. franks of arizona. under think speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. gohmert: thank you, madam speaker. it's been an interesting day here on the floor. as always, it's an honor to have a chance to speak here. what we have just witnessed was not a pleasant event. it's terribly sad. tragic when anybody in congress, especially a leader, a chairman, is found to have engaged in conduct inappropriate to such a degree as a member of congress, particularly as the chairman of the tax code writing committee. we've heard some things that were a little bit surprising. i heard chairman rangel say there was no self-enrichment. i heard people talk about the lack of precedent for something like this to have such a horrible sentence as to have to stand before the speaker and be told to pay the taxes that were actually due and owing. that should have been paid previously when they were due and owing. a

mr. grayson: mr. speaker, here in the house and in the senate and with the president's pen, we make policy for america. we make foreign policy. we make security policy. we make health policy and environmental policy and we make economic policy. and it's time to take a close look atlanta exactly what the tax cuts for the rich have done for us for the past nine years because now we are going to make policy for not just the next two years but far longer than that. let's take a look at the nine lean years that we have experienced under tax cuts for the rich and compare them to the nine fat years that preceded that. the first thing you'll know, which you can see from this chart here is that in the nine previous years before we enacted tlt bush tax cuts for the rich, 23 million jobs were created. since we enacted those tax cuts for the rich, we have lost 2 million jobs in america. the next chart shows that the average unemployment rate as a result rose from 5.5% approximately toll well over 6% after we enac

mr. grayson of florida. under the speaker's announced policy, the gentleman from georgia, mr. gingrey, is recognized for 60 minutes. clbclb mr. gingrey: thank you for your patience as we tried to get our act together here this evening, not realizing, of course, that here it's almost christmastime that our pages have all gone home and it reminds me of what a great, great job these young men and women do for the members in so many ways, not the least of which, of course is helping during these special order hours. but mr. speaker, thank you for your patience. i want to, of course, thank my leadership on the republican side for allowing me and my colleagues in the house g.o.p. doctor's caucus to lead this special order for the next hour and we're going to do that, mr. speaker, on health care. and on the recently passed, i say recently, 10 months ago, march of this year, the passage of obamacare. i know it's referred to as patient protection and affordable care act. but this is a piece of legislation, mr. speaker that the american people at the 60% plurality level opposed. and hav

mr. grayson: the republicans have sweetened the tax deal today by demanding that american taxpayers fork over $26 billion for an estate tax break that will go to about 6,600 families. i offered some perspective. there are more than 6,600 people in century village, kings point and each of the major retirement communities i represent. there are more undergraduates at florida-atlantic university in my district. and my teenage daughter and their high school friends will have more than 6,600 facebook friends. 6.2 million americans who depend on food stamps to eat could eat for a year. 3.5 million american college schools at our public universities could see their tuition paid in full and more striking more than $175,000 to each of the 148,000 families whose sons and daughters -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. deutch: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: i ask permission to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady

mr. grayson, florida. mr. franks, arizona. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, it wasn't many years ago that coal miners relied on a small bird, a can narry that signaled that things were toxic.6 c1 bird would become sick before the miners and would have a chance to escape or put on protective respirators. toxic gases, chemicals and natural ion of our resources have jeopardized our air, water and land and wildlife that inhabit the ecosystem. the bird in the coal mine is sick. today, nearly 33% of the species are threatend and extinction is in the hundreds. losses of these species is from land use change, exploittation and disease. why the emphasis on frogs? they regulate their local ecosystem and control population of insects that spread disease, they are important to our human health as well. they tind the way towards new drugs. scientists have found chem