mr. herger: i'm prepared to close. mr. levin: all right, i'll close. mr. herger: happy to reserve. mr. levin: i support this legislion. it should not have been passed in the first place. it was not vetted effectively by the then majority. it's time we support this bill. i yield back. thspeaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. herger: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. herger: and i request unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the president and executive office of the president. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. herger: in this letter from the president, the administration- just to que from it -- the administration supports passage of h.r. 674 which would repeal a 3% withholding on certain payments made to provide contractors by federal, state and local government entities. the effect of the repeal of the withholding requirement would to avoid a decrease in crash flow to these contractors which would allow them

mr. herger: i'm prepared to close. mr. levin: all right, i'll close. mr. herger: happy to reserve. mr. levin: i support this legislation. it should not have been passed in the first place. it was not vetted effectively by the then majority. it's time we support this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. herger: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. herger: and i request unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the president and executive office of the president. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. herger: in this letter from the president, the administration -- just to quote from it -- the administration supports passage of h.r. 674 which would repeal a 3% withholding on certain payments made to provide contractors by federal, state and local government entities. the effect of the repeal of the withholding requirement would to avoid a decrease in crash flow to these contractors which would all

mr. herger: i'm prepared to close. mr. levin: all right, i'll close. mr. herger: happy to reserve. mr. levin: i support this legislation. it should not have been passed in the first place. it was not vetted effectively by the then majority. it's time we support this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. herger: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. herger: and i request unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the president and executive office of the president. the spker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. herger: in this letter from the president, the administration -- just to quote from it -- the administration supports passage of h.r. 674 which would repeal a 3% withholding on certain payments made to provide contractors by federal, state and local government entities. the effect of the repeal of the withholding requirement would to avoid a decrease in crash flow to these contractors which would allow

mr. herger. mr. herger: i thank the gentleman from texas very much and i want to thank the gentleman for the tremendous leadership that you've given us in the area of trade, trade which is so crucially important to our nation, to our ability to create jobs, to our economic well being here in our nation. as chairman brady mentioned, i am very blessed to represent one of the richest agricultural areas in the world, an area in the northern sacramento valley of california. just north of sacramento. in our area, we are the second largest rice producing district in the nation. we grow -- we are also one of the top producers of specialty crops. peaches, walnuts, almonds, dried plums, prunes, are some of our major commodities and the fact is, we cannot both in california and in our nation, cannot nearly consume the amount of products that we grow. we are depend on -- dependent on being able to export. the example with my district is true in every area across the nation. it is true in manufacturing, it's true

mr. herger -- excuse me -- the gentleman from california, mr. herger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. herger: i applaud my good friend from tennessee for her leadership. this should not be a difficult question. even the president supports this. i believe the medicaid expansion and premium subsidies in last year's health care overhaul are wasteful and should be repealed, but even for those who support these policies, there's no reason to ignore an entire category of income. under current law, a person with $30,000 in social security benefits and $20,000 in other income would get a much larger health insurance subsidy than a person who earns $50,000 in wages. that makes no sense, and it's a disincentive to work. let's treat everyone fairly and vote for this bill. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, his time is reserved. the gentlelady from tennessee. mrs. black: thank you, mr.

mr. herger, two minutes. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. herger: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2250, which will protect american jobs from the e.p.a.'s unnecessary and economically destructive boiler mact regulations. at this time of high unemployment and economic hardship, the e.p.a. wants to require costly retrofitting boilers that small businesses, energy plants, schools and churches in northern california and congressional districts i represent and across the nation. this regulation is another example of the obama administration's standing in the way of job growth. the department of commerce estimates that the 276 pages of federal regulation could eliminate as many as 60,000 u.s. jobs nationwide. the e.p.a.'s own fact sheet says that implementing these rules will cost more than $5 billion. in august of 2010, the small business administration explicitly warned the e.p.a. that these regulations were too extreme and would harm small businesses. unfortunately, the e.p.a. did not heed this warning. in addition, the boiler regulation will impose

mr. herger? [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] >> mr. largent has mentioned you'll be out of fear but it's important the clerk calls his name anyway. we will follow that process. [roll call] [roll call] >> there've been 24 ayes and 12 knows, the motion is agreed to. h.r. 3078 is favorably report to the house of representatives. but when i was in consideration on h.r. 3079, the united states and among trade promotion agreement in limitation act. depending matter is a recorded vote unfavorably reporting the bill to the house of representatives. the clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] >> the clerk will report the vote. >> thirty-two, three nays. >> the motion is agreed to. h.r. 307 and is sorted favorably report to the house of representatives. we will now present consideration on h.r. 308 so, th

mr. herger. i hope we can focus on how we deal with larger issues going forward so we are not back in this situation in the future. thank you end of the yield back. >> the gentleman yield back his time. the gentleman from california. >> i yield my time that i may consume. i want to thank my good friend from oregon, mr. blumenauer for your support as lead co-sponsor on the other side of the aisle. thank you very much. i would like to take a moment to review the content of the ways and beans committee receive from business and organizations across the country demonstrating why repealing 3% withholding tax is critical to lay in a stable foundation for job creation. buffalo supply inc. of boulder colorado rights, quote, we are 28-year-old small business that sells high-value medical equipment at a low margin with a very significant part of our sales going to the federal, state and local government. the 3% withholding tax would feed our company's tax liability which will destroy cash flow and ultimate

mr. herger, on moving this bill forward. only a couple months ago that we were having a presshis conference in the triangle with a bipartisan group of members o congress, representatives from some of the coalition members that my friend, mr. herger, referenced to be able to focus on the need to repeal this legislation. um, mr. speaker, i think it ismr important to mark this criticalo step today.ep it will pass on the floor of the house in a strong bipartisanong vote reaffirming the bipartisan cooperation that got us to this point. i think that this is an example of what potentially we could do because a number of the members of the coalition that mr. herger referenced and that he's entering into h the record are likewise people who have a vision about how congress and the federal government could help rebuild and renew america. the contractors, the engineers, the architects that we have heard from would also like us to step up in a bipartisan manner to deal with that. the references to people who are with dealing with health

mr. herger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. herger: madam speaker, the trade agreements before us represent a major opportunity for america can small businesses and workers. by leveling the playing field for u.s. goods and services entering colombia, panama and south korea, these agreements will provide a significant boost to our economy and create an estimated 250,000 new jobs. they are commonsense win-win agreements for the american people. here's why. removing barriers to u.s. exports means that our u.s. products become more competitivetive in foreign markets which in turn generate more sales and more business for our farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and service providers. passing these agreements will mean more jobs, more economic growth and more opportunities both on and off the farm for the men and women in my northern california congressional district and the rest of our nation. perhaps best of all, these trade agreements will provide real, permanent economic stimulus at no cost to the american taxpayers. they represent f

mr. herger for the purpose of offering a motion. >> thank you i move that the committee favorably report h.r. 3078 to the house of representatives spent the question is unfavorably reporting the bill. all those in favor signify by saying aye. those opposing by five saying no. the ayes have it. spent we have agreed. >> a recorded vote is requested. >> will do that on all three so maybe don't need to ask spent i need to say for the record pursuant to committee rule 19 the record vote will be postponed until the end of the markup. the committee will now proceed to consideration of h.r. 3079, the united states panama trade promotion agreement and application act which was distributed in advance along with a section by section summary. without objection to do we pick considered as read. i when i turned to miss out to provide the technical description of h.r. 3079. i'll ask members all the questions until after her presentation. >> thank you, mr. chairman. again, just like the prior agreement, attacks and the statement of administrative action was circulated in advance. this agreement is very

mr. herger as well. the future of the united states is tied to the asia-pacific region. with the hosting of the apec summit by the united states in less than a month, it's important that apec business travel card program is established. i urge my colleagues to support this bill, as well in inclusion i want to thank the leadership of this house for working with me and the gentleman from texas to get this bill scheduled for the house's consideration. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york -- the gentleman from new york. mr. turner: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers. if the gentlelady from california has no further speakers i'm prepared to close once the gentlelady does. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves his time. the gentlelady from california. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers and since the gentleman from new york is ready to close, then i am prepared to close also. i would yield myself as much time

mr. blumenauer, with my colleague, wally herger from california. it enjoins bipartisan support. it's commonsense legislation. we do not need to be taking dollars out of the economy at this point in time. it increases costs for goods and services. it increases the burdens on administrative requirements. it increases the costs for record keeping. this is another instance of unintended consequences of legislation and ones that i think we cannot afford. we must focus on how we can help small businesses across this land. we in this body need to create an environment where small businesses can have more certainty because when i talk to businesses all across the 10th district of illinois, the one thing i hear over and over and over again is that the uncertainty out there is preventing people from investing in their business, from moving forward. this would be yet one more burden. we don't need to do that. so i'm pleased to see that members on both sides of the aisle are coming together to try to solve some of these issues. it's certainly what the american public is looking for us to do