mr. hastings. mr. hastings: thank you very much, mr. speaker, and i thank my friend for yielding the time. what we have before us today should not be called the balanced budget amendment, what it should be called is the unbalanced budget amendment. because that is what this bill is. unbalanced. prudent fiscal policies, makes a mockery of congressional authority, and does nothing to address the economic struggles of millions of americans. this proposed amendment no more balances the budget than passing legislation to declare the tooth fairy as real. saying it out loud doesn't make it true. what this proposal says instead is that congress needs to enact legislation that balances the budget. it doesn't tell us how to do it, just what we must do. well, if we could do that, mr. speaker, we wouldn't need a constitutional amendment telling us to do it, would we? if congress could enact legislation that balanced the budget it could do that without a constitutional amendment. requiring a balanced budget. merely

mr. hastings. mr. hastings: thank you very much, mr. speaker, and i thank my friend for yielding the time. what we have before us today should not be called the balanced budget amendment, what it should be called is the unbalanced budget amendment. because that is what this bill is. unbalanced. prudent fiscal policies, makes a mockery of congressional authority, and does nothing to address the economic struggles of millions of americans. this proposed amendment no more balances the budget than passing legislation to declare the tooth fairy as real. saying it out loud doesn't make it true. what this proposal says instead is that congress needs to enact legislation that balances the budget. it doesn't tell us how to do it, just what we must do. well, if we could do that, mr. speaker, we wouldn't need a constitutional amendment telling us to do it, would we? if congress could enact legislation that balanced the budget it could do that without a constitutional amendment. requiring a balanced budget. merely

mr. hastings aye. mr. polis, aye. mr. chairman no. >> and the clerk will report the total. >> three >> the house rules committee worked on this bill last night that would allow gun owners with the proper permits to carry firearms across state lines. the bill is scheduled to come up on the floor later today. [no audio] >> a couple of live event to tell you about this morning -- republican senator marco rubio will be interviewed by political at 8:15 eastern on c- span 2. a little after that on c-span 3, defense secretary leon panetta testifies about the iraqi security at 9:30 eastern a.m. coming up in a few moments, today's headlines and your calls, live on "washington journal." the house is in session at 10:00 for general speeches with legislative business at noon. today's agenda is scheduled to include file work on the coast guard or reauthorization bill. in about 45 minutes, we will talk about politics and republican candidates for president with a former adviser to presidents reagan and george h. w. bush and an adviser

mr. hastings: thank you, mr. chairman. my amendment would exempt states from right-to-carry reciprocity when the state does not require individuals to apply for and complete a carry permit application at their local law enforcement station. the united states congress should never be in the business of stripping states of the right to make their own decisions about whether to recognize other states' permits. states have put forward a considerable amount of time trying to determine just what is best for their citizenry in reference to safety. by overriding state-based conceal carry laws an forcing states to recognize conceal carry permits from every other state, we are putting our state and local law enforcement in grave danger. two nights ago, with the sheriff in my county, we discussed this matter. i might add a republican sheriff, who is a friend of mine. we discussed this matter and we concluded that it's going to be very difficult to get people to want to become police officers, not only are they being attacked in refer

mr. hastings aye. mr. pole is aye. mr. hair i

mr. hastings: thank you, madam speaker. i urge my colleagues to support the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 588? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2079. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2079, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 10 main street in east rockaway new york as the john j. cook post office. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. farne holt and the gentleman from maryland, mr. cummings, each will control 20 minutes. t

mr. hastings aye. mr. polis, aye. mr. chairman no. >> and the clerk will report the total. >> three >> aradhana >>> now a look at the prospects of the deal being reached by the deficit reduction committee to find least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings by the november 23rd deadline. this is about 40 minutes. >> we're back with senior congressional reporter with politico and this is the front page of your newspaper this morning deficit panel ponders endgame. what is the endgame? >> guest: the $1.2 trillion question i think. these guys who've covered to come up with a $1.000000000000 reduction plan they haven't shown any progress toward that. as we've seen the last couple of weeks the progressive offers are getting further and further apart. people are digging in ideologically. we've seen democrats and republicans have brakes on their own site from each other. the congressman from south carolina who has run this panel said yesterday on fox news that democrats have not coalesced. clearly true republicans as well. so right now

place, there probably wouldn't be reason for the del delay, but they acted in haste and haste makes waste. now, mr. president, i want to speak quickly to senator hutchison's resolution of disapproval regarding the f.c.c. net neutrality rule. the rule put into place by the f.c.c. in 2010 circumvents congress, it assumes authority that this body never consented to. we cannot allow the executive branch to go down this road. we just should not allow it. no provision of any statute explicitly gives the f.c.c. the authority to impose these sweeping rules on the internet. in fact, section 230 of the communications act makes it the policy of the united states t to -- quote -- "to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the internet and other interactive computer services unfettered by federal or state regulation, closed quote. the internet, we would all agree -- i heard your comments, mr. president -- the internet has been a huge boom for small businesses and jobs throughout this country. we recognize that. we want to ensure it continues in that way. to quote the f.c.c.

mr. erich pica. president of the friends of the earth. your recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman hastings, ranking member murky and members ofe committee. i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. my name is erich pica named president of friends of the united states. friends of the earth is a nonprofit advocacy organization and we are a member of friends. the international, which is the world's largest federation of grassroots environmental organization of member groups and 76 countries. the environmental tax and budget issues for more than 30 years and i have authored or written multiple reports on tax and environmental budget issues, including arc reads literature report. the joint committee -- the joint select committee and deficit reduction has been tasked with coming up with $1.5 trillion in budget savings on top of the $900 billion of cuts that have been this year. i believe the super committee processes deep the flood. the natural resource committee has the opportunity to do something positive for the environment and taxpayers. instead of facing the challenge head on, i believe the committee is myopically focusin

mr. erich pica. i hope i said that correctly. president of the friends of the earth. >> thank you, chairman hastings, ranking member marky and membersof the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. i mean is erich pica and friends country and president of the friends of the united states coming national nonprofit organization member of friends earth international, which is the largest federation of grassroots environmental organizations with number groups in 76 countries. and i have authored or written multiple reports on tax and environmental issues, including our grievance report. the joint committee -- the joint select committee on deficit reduction has been passed with coming up with $1.5 trillion in budget savings on top of the $900 billion of cuts that have been made this year. while i believe the super committee process is deeply flawed, natural resource committee has the opportunity to do something positive for the environment and taxpayers. instead of facing the challenge head-on, i believe the committee is myopically focusing on increased drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge with the hopes and p

mr. erich pica. i hope i said that correctly. president of the friends of the earth. >> thank you, chairman hastings, ranking member marky and membersof the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. i mean is erich pica and friends country and president of the friends of the united states coming national nonprofit organization member of friends earth international, which is the largest federation of grassroots environmental organizations with number groups in 76 countries. and i have authored or written multiple reports on tax and environmental issues, including our grievance report. the joint committee -- the joint select committee on deficit reduction has been passed with coming up with $1.5 trillion in budget savings on top of the $900 billion of cuts that have been made this year. while i believe the super committee process is deeply flawed, natural resource committee has the opportunity to do something positive for the environment and taxpayers. instead of facing the challenge head-on, i believe the committee is myopically focusing on increased drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge with the hopes and p

mr. erich pica. i hope i said that correctly. president of the friends of the earth. >> thank you, chairman hastings, ranking member marky and membersof the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. i mean is erich pica and friends country and president of the friends of the united states coming national nonprofit organization member of friends earth international, which is the largest federation of grassroots environmental organizations with number groups in 76 countries. and i have authored or written multiple reports on tax and environmental issues, including our grievance report. the joint committee -- the joint select committee on deficit reduction has been passed with coming up with $1.5 trillion in budget savings on top of the $900 billion of cuts that have been made this year. while i believe the super committee process is deeply flawed, natural resource committee has the opportunity to do something positive for the environment and taxpayers. instead of facing the challenge head-on, i believe the committee is myopically focusing on increased drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge with the hopes and p

mr. hastings' statement will be included in the record. thank you. mr. deutsche's statement without objection will be included if in the record. mr. johnson and then ms ms. maloney. without objection, it will be included in the record. would you take the microphone there. >> amendments have remained an issue that needs to be addressed. more than likely we'll have support of this. nra supports it. illinois is the only state in the union that would be uncovered by this bill. this clarifies that illinois will be covered by this bill. i think it's a simple, rights and privileges of our state, which unfortunately, i'll apologize for my state, we don't have a law. nonetheless this puts us in a situation as any other state, provides for uniform laws. i think it's extraordinarily important to buttress the bill with this amendment and ask for its adoption. >> let me say for the record i don't like everything that's done there, but i never apologize for california. ms. maloney. >> only in the limited context of failure to act do i apologize for my great state of i