mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comments. let me only observe that the bills which the gentleman has now discussed for three weeks running, that we've had colloquies, are no longer available to either the senate or the house. he knows that. they were in the last congress and they died in the last congress. there has been no legislation in the 59 days that we've been here, put on this floor, and only the majority leader can put legislation on the floor. no legislation which would have an alternative to the sequester. and in fact, notwithstanding some of the representations, mr. leader, that have been made, mr. speaker, there was a bill on this floor on july 19, 2011, which was called cut, cap and balance. 229 republicans voted for that bill. that bill had as its fallback, if the objectives of the bill were not reached, sequester. that was substantially before, many days before the president and through the person of jack lu talk about the making that a part of a piece of legislation tha

mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute for the purposes of inquiring of the majority leader the schedule for the week to come. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. hoyer: i yield to my friend, the majority leader, mr. cantor, of virginia. mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip, for yielding. mr. speaker, on monday the house will meet at noon for morning hour, and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.. on tuesday and wednesday the house will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. on thursday the house will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. last votes of the week are expected no later than 3:00 p.m. on friday no votes are expected. mr. speaker, the house will consider a few suspensions on monday, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business today. in addition we'll take up an e

mr. hoyer: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina -- mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, may i inquire, is it in order to request at this point in time a vote on the journal? the speaker pro tempore: the journal has been approved. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, i was seeking wreck nick to ask for a vote on the journal when you recognized me to say the pledge of allegiance. the speaker pro tempore: the chair thought the gentleman was standing to lead in the pledge. mr. hoyer: i appreciate that, mr. speaker. stoip does the gentleman have unanimous consent request? mr. hoyer: i have unanimous consent that i might now ask for a vote on the journal. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. her: thank you, mr. speaker. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 i demand a vote on the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. so many as are in favor say aye

mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, i am extremely disappointed that the sequestration has taken effect because republicans refuse to work with democrats on a balanced plan to prevent it. the automatic, arbitrary and irrational cuts it has imposed could have and i think will have serious negative impacts. it would erode our military readiness and weaken our national security and it could reverse the gains we made in our economic recovery and see reductions in critical programs that help the poor and most vulnerable in our society. sequestration is not a solution. only a balanced approach can achieve the savings we need to get our fiscal house in order and end the uncertainty that is keeping our businesses from creating the jobs we need. it is not too late to act. this republican-controlled congress may not have been able to avert the sequester but it can limit its impact if both sides work together. and i still believe that if republicans were willing to compromise we can achieve the big balance solution to def

mr. hoyer: would my friend yield on that issue? mrs. miller: certainly, i would yield. mr. hoyer: just so we're accurate, your side offered a bill called cut, cap, and balance. the alternative was sequester. i didn't vote for that. i don't want to -- i'm not sure how the gentlelady voted on it, it passed this house overwhelmingly with republican support and opposition on our it was suggested to harry reid that that might be one way to get off the lack of action on making sure america pays its bills. the only reason i interrupt the gentlelady, i think it's important to understand your cut, cap, and balance passed before that suggestion was made included sequester as the fall back if we didn't reach the numbers. i think if it's the president's -- it's the president's via cut, cap, an balance which your side of the aisle passed and sent to the senate as presumably good policy. i thank the gentlelady for yielding, she was kind to do that. mrs. miller: i thank the gentleman for pointing out the sequencing of the sequester, the president's sequester, and i still say with the presi

mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank mr. nolan for yielding, congressman nolan, who was in this body before i was and before you were and before mr. barletta was. he's been in public service for a very long period of time. and therefore i appreciate the remarks he made in support of this resolution. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this resolution which i am proud to have sponsored for the last 22 years. it alowls the greater washington soapbox derby association to hold its 2nd annual competition on the grounds of this capitol. this is a longstanding tradition which brings young people ages 8 to 17 and their families from around the d.c. metro area to the capitol for a fun and educational experience. since 1938 the derby has inspired thousands of the region's young people to learn the physics behind gravity racing and the engineering used to design soapbox racers. america's soapbox derby has been called the greatest amateur racing event in the world. and on june 15 it will continue to make history. the derby teaches

mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to address their comments to the chair and not to other members of the house. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: witho objection. mr. hoyer: i agree with the gentlelady who has just spoken. i want to say to my friend, mr. mckeon, this is neither regular order nor rational policy. it ought to be rejected. this c.r. does nothing to address the irrational cuts to dense and nondefense that the sequester will require. it could be very harmful to our economy and to our national security and place the most vulnerable in america at great risk. we should not allow, my colleagues, our government to shut down. but we cannot do business this way. lurching from one manufactured crisis to the next. when we make agreements, we ought to stick to them. and the agreement was, as the chairman has tried to put forward, and i want to congratulate him for that,

mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to address their comments to the chair and not to other members of the house. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. . hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: i agree with the gentlelady who has just spoken. i want to say to my friend, mr. mckeon, this is neither regular order nor rational policy. it ought to be rejected. this c.r. does nothing to address the irrational cuts to defense and nondefense that the sequester will require. it could be very harmful to our economy and to our national security and place the most vulnerable in america at great risk. we should not allow, my collgues, our government to shut down. but we cannot do business this way. lurching from one manufactured crisis to the next. when we make agreements, we ought to stick to them. and the agreement was, as the chairman has tried to put forward, and i want to congratulate him for that,

mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comments. let me only observe that the bills which the gentleman has now discussed for three weeks running, that we've had colloquies, are no longer available to either the senate or the house. he knows that. they were in the last congress and they died in the last congress. there has been no legislation in the 59 days that we've been here, put on this floor, and only the majority leader can put legislation on the floor. no legislation which would have an alternative to the sequester. and in fact, notwithstanding some of the representations, mr. leader, that have been made, mr. speaker, there was a bill on this floor on july 19, 2011, which was called cut, cap and balance. 229 republicans voted for that bill. that bill had as its fallback, if the objectives of the bill were not reached, sequester. that was substantially before, many days before the president and through the person of jack lu talk about the making that a part of a piece of legislation tha

mr. hoyer. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. without objection, so ordered. mr. hoyer: i first want to thank the ranking member for the work that he's done on this budget. that he offers us an alternative. it is a reasonable alternative that can be implemented. to that extent it's a stark difference to the majority's proposal which will not be implemented and they know it. let me start with an observation. headline blunt report says g.o.p. needs to regroup for 2016. in that there is this sentence from the report, not from a democrat, not from the newspaper, not from an editorial writer, quote, we have become expert, we being the republican party report, we have become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people. with all due respect to my friend, mr. ryan, that's what his budget is. it is a vision. it is a vision that will not be implemented and he knows it. he knows that the appropriations committee will not be able to report out bills consi

mr. hoyer, steny hoyer, democratic leader, has said that it will include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers. what can you tell us about that? >> well, my job as speaker is continuing to help facilitate these bipartisan discussions. and while we've had four democrats and four republicans meeting now for four years, they're fairly close to an agreement, there are other members that have not been part of this group that have their own ideas. and so what i'm trying to do is to continue to facilitate a bipartisan discussion about what really is a big problem in our country. >> the forced budget cuts have already had an impact and starting tomorrow at wright patterson air base back in ohio, it was announced by the base commander that 13,000 civilian employees will start receiving notices about their furloughs. how concerned are you, and is it a done deal already, the sequester, the forced budget cuts? can anything be done, or has the country just moved on? >> you know, we've tried over

we don't pay enough, mr. hoyer says. mr. hoyer says we need to pay more to washington so washington can keep spending. we're not changing here. it's the american people's fault. don't you know that we are investing for you? give us more money so we can invest. yodon't you think all these programs work? aren't they doing great? no, we're he not going to reform them. we can't cut a single one. children will be thrown into the streets. old people won't have drugs or health care. all of this because of a modest reduction in the growth of spending? congressman ryan has demonstra demonstrated and the numbers are absolutely clear, we can increase spending by 3.4% a year and the budget will balance in ten years. we don't even have to cut spending. we have to reduce the rate of growth in spending from around 5.4% to 3.4%. and the budget balances. but president obama says he's not interested in balancing the budget. my goal is not to chase a balanced budget, he says. and i know my colleagues, they use the word "balanced." now, i said e