mr. guthrie: thank you, mr. speaker. over the recent district work period i traveled to each county in my district listening to constituents's ideas and concerns and answering questions. i heard overwhelmingly that a government-run public option was not a viable answer to the problems americans are facing. the president gave a well delivered speech last week but left being questions in the minds of the american people. how do we pay for such a bill? how can you cut funding for medicare without impacting the millions of seniors who receive the benefits? and how will individuals who are happy with their coverage get to keep the care they have? everyone agrees on the need for improvement. however we must move toward changes that make health care more affordable, accessible, and higher quality. we have an opportunity to work together to improve the lives of all americans by crafting a bipartisan commonsense solution that our country can afford. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: thank you, sir. for what purpose does the

mr. guthrie. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. guthrie: i rise in opposition to h.r. 3221 because i believe there's a better way to protect colleges, students, and taxpayers. the proponents of this will say the purpose is to stabilize student landing they claim the federal family loan program is on life support. the program has been a stable, reliable source of reliable capital for student loans for more than 40 years. it provides the choice of loan providers from large national lenders to small local providers. colleges and universities are over-- overwhelmingly prefer the pell with 78% of schools opting for the array of benefits and services. the president of western kentucky university told me at the end -- that the end of the ffel program would men e-- mean the end of many programs and borrowing support programs. further, the president of st. catherine college, a small, independent college in my district, shared his concerns about the impact it will have on colleges of his size. it would mean investing staff time and money to t

mr. guthrie: this comes because the government charges student interest more than it costs to borrow, turning it into a profit-making venture. we're taking student money and spending it on -- much of it, on an array of new government programs. students and schools lose the value of choice, competition, around innovation and taxpayers will be on the hook for massive new entitlement spending and a huge expansion in government borrowing to finance the loans that will need to be made directly from the treasury. i urge my colleagues to join me in voting no. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. hirono: as a member of the house education and labor committee and as an orange co--- original co-sponsor of this bill i rise in support of this bill. i thank chairman miller on his leadership on this as well as on so many other important measures. while this bill includes many significant provisions, the part of the bill that i'm excited about is the creation of the early learning chall

mr. guthrie of kentucky. the chair: recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for 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 will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 165, the nays are 265, the amendment is not adopted. the amendment is adopted, accordier the rule, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: the chairman of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 3221 and pursuant to house resolution 756 -- 46 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee on the whole. under the rule,

mr. guthrie. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. guthrie: this amendment may do a number of positive things but at its heart i have significant concerns. specifically, i have concerns of the impact of this bill on the deficit and jobs all across this country. we have heard from the congressional budget office since the introduction of this bill, since the bill was originally scored that there are a number of hidden costs included. no matter how we look at it, this bill will not save $10 billion. the cost of this bill is at least $15 billion, a cost that will go towards the deficit, not against the deficit reduction. i'm very concerned about the implication on the unemployment rate in my state. we are federalizing one more private sector program and eliminating the good work being done throughout the country. this means 30,000 jobs being lost nationwide, approximately 500 in my state, the commonwealth of kentucky all because we decided to kill this program instead of figuring out a viable solution. the services provided by lenders wil

mr. guthrie, and offer an amendment to stabilize student lending with a program approved on a bipartisansis last year. with this plan, we can put $10 million in deficit reduction and study long-term structural changes to our system. it's a thoughtful, reasoned approach to determine what's best for students, schools, and taxpayers alike. i urge my colleagues to slow down, take a breath and ask yourself whether another need right now. ver is what we i think the answer is a clear no. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. miller: i yield myself 30 seconds. i appreciate the gentleman wants to make this comparison between public option and private sector. let's run down what happened over the last 10 years. the private sector took $100 billion in subsidies and became the most profitable sect juror of the economy they couldn't give back subsidies. while they were getting $100 billion in subsidiesering they were engaged in price fixing, anti-competitive practices, improper disclosure, and a

mrs. obama more often, it is she, not her husband, who will travel to copenhagen next month to make chicago's pitch to get the olympics. for today, savannah guthrie, nbc news, the white house. >>> joe scarborough, host of "morning joe" joins us from washington. good morning. great to see you. >> great to see you, lester. >> one of "the new york times" writers had a great term for what the president is about to do. he called it speed dating, going from network to network. he uses his personality. it clearly works for him. he has a popularity. but how long can he continue to dip into that well on controversial issues? >> it's the law of diminishing returns. the president gave a great speech last wednesday night. i thought it was his best since january 20th on his inaugural day. but at the same time, he only got a slight bump in most polls, and then, if you look at the -- dug into the polls and looked at the health care, where he stood on the health care, he really didn't move the dial at all there. so, going on five different networks to deliver the same message seems suspect. and he certainly is in danger of overexposure. i know his base doesn't l

guthrie, thank you very much. >>> vice president joe biden is with us now. mr. vice president, good morning to you. >> hey, meredith, how are you? >> i'm great, thank you. so the president goes to capitol hill last night to make his best case for health care reform to stop the bickering, as he put it, and bring both sides together. but moments after that speech, people like senator mccain -- and we're going to here from him in just a moment -- called it partisan. so i'm asking you, what specifically did the president say last night that he hasn't said before that is really going to change minds? >> well, i guess the most important thing you pointed out, meredith, is that this isn't a choice of doing nothing. we have to do something to significantly reform the insurance industry and the health care industry. and health care in america. >> but he said that before. >> and he laid out -- no -- well, he was very specific, you know. he laid out exactly what was -- what would happen. it would provide more stability and more certainty for those who have health insurance

guthrie, thank you very much. what else can we expect to hear from president obama? let's bring in white house press secretary robert gibbs. mr good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> i am great. thank you. as you just heard yourself say, the stakes for the president tonight are high. what does he need to accomplish? >> well, look, meredith, i think what he'll do is lay out clearly for the american people what's involved for them in health care reform. i think they'll walk away tonight understanding two things. one, this plan will provide safety, security and stability to millions of americans that are fortunate enough to have health insurance but see their premiums skyrocket every day. and lastly, how we can provide some accessibility to quality and affordable health care for millions that don't have health insurance right now. >> mr. gibbs, he's been talking about health care now for months. why hasn't he been able to articulate the message? >> well, look. meredith, i think he has. i think there's been a lot of coverage of stuff that is seemingly meaningless. i think what the american people want to hear is wh