mr. israel: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. israel: i thank the chairman. i rise in support of the israel-barrow amendment.

mr. israel of new york, amendment number 12 in part c of house report 111-506, mr. cray of louisiana, and amendment number 2 in house report 111-508 by mr. miller of north carolina. the chair will reduce to five minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the question -- the unfinished business is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york, mr. israel, on which the aae prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in part c of house report 111-506 offered by mr. israel of new york. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be coonted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. members, this is a 15-minute vote. 15-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 cov

mr. israel for his work on this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from new york. mr. isreal: we've proven to the american people that both sides of the aisle can agree on one thing, and that's supporting veterans and small businesses. i thank the bipartisan support we've received and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the yist have it. -- the yice have it -- the yeas have it. mr. isreal: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york will be postponed. the chair understands that amendment 2 will not be offered. it is now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. nye: mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. t

we will continue to work toward peace and security for israel. mr. weiner: i thank the gentlelady and of course the most important supporter for israel in this institution is the chairwoman -- the gentlelady from new york. >> i thank the gentleman for providing critical details of exactly what happened. let there be no doubt in anyone's mind, israel has the right to defend herself and the responsibility to protect her citizens from hamas, which denies israel's right to exist and rains rockets down on its citizens. while israel reviews the flotilla incident and continues the best way to implement ea the gaza blockade we must not forget that failure to prevent weapons and other materials from reach hag mas would be a dereliction of israel's most basic responsibility to its people. i stand firmly in support of israel's right to self-defense and i am committed to maintaining israel's qualitative military edge, so she can continue to defend her citizens. as the blame israel first crowd continues to attack our democratially israel over a host of challenges

about the importance not just strategically the importance of israel in terms of its relative location to its neighbors, but so that members like mrs. lummis could see and understand just how important it is that we continue to be supportive of israel as a jewish and democratic state. and everyone i know that's traveled to israel comes back a stronger supporter and stronger pro-israel advocate and i commender fow -- commend you for doing just that. we began a friendship that i know will continue many years into the future. thank you so much. with that, mr. speaker, i am thrilled to be joined by my colleague, the gentleman from new york, mr. tonko, this evening and we're going to spend some time talking about our economy and talking about the evolution of our economy and that certainly -- there certainly has been some ebb and flow in that regard, but we are here tonight to talk about the success that we have had in turning the economy around, in beginning to see progress inch by inch, month after month. there is more and more progress as we move forward. this evening, though, i want to highlight, mr. tonko, the fact that if you look

mr. poe: israel has the absolute right to defend itself. it c13 right to defend itself. it is under siege and has the terrorist group hezbollah and in the south terrorist group hamas firing missiles. six ships tried to break a blockade. israel defends its borders and searches ships to make sure aid going to gaza is not from iran and is not weapons. but this was not humanitarian aid, workers that assaulted these israeli commandos where 10 of them were hurt. their goal was to have an international incident, the rereason being after the ships were stopped and being allowed to proceed into gaza the humanitarian aid was denied and refused by hamas. obviously an international incident that had gone bad for hamas. recently, myself and the gentleman from michigan, mr. peters,

israel. and i calup our country t continue to do so. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the ntleman yields bac the gentlemanrom kansas, mr. n. >> mrspeaker. the spear pro tempe: for what purse doeshe ntleman ris time and to revise d exte remarks. the speaker proemre: the gentlemais recognized. mr sn: the peopl t northern mariana iands, eal without rice is no meal. yet,ronilly, one oour most cherishrocsors manufacture wheat bread. this brings us memori of the rthern mariana islds weecall the modern bakery. erha our devotion to it has to do with the roots of this business. like the pple of israel, as erge from the trauma of world war ii, the famineill soe so tre waso ea we were stving and stored togher an internme camp in the days d months following t vtory of the japanese in 1944. but the u. forces ban rrganing and -establishing the ability of our community to carr itself the occupying rces tapped it. he ben ki bre for.s. trps, for japa prisone of war and for the ople hous by te military as often materis lft behi, cheaper to abandon than return me

independent investigation takes place and the cases are understood in israel for the lifting of the blockade of casa -- gaza. >> mrspeaker, the flotilla of itself, which was probably doomed to fail, was an expression of the frustration of ordinary people at the failure of the united nations and the failure of the quartet to get israel to comply with its u.n. obligations. the foreign secretary has had conversations with mrr. clinton. i understand he is also meeting with the eu by rep. i wonder if he believes that between us if we can actually encouraged the quartet to now take more firm action with israel which still today seems not to understand the gravity of the situation? >> there is a real international focus on these matters. that is true in the u.s. and with the you high rep. she certainly has the same focus on these issues. many other -- in the margins of that, many of the foreign ministers had discussed this issue. i think one of the results of this action is to really bring this to center stage. and it has shown a spotlight on the problems of gossip to which so many right hon. members have heard. i think

satisfactory request he has made of them, further action will be taken to make israel rejoin the international community? >> yes, mr. speaker, i think it is very important that israel responds to the calls from across the whole world for the prompt, independent, credible, transparent investigation or inquiry for which we have added our voice and the calling. as i mentioned earlier, in response to the shadow foreign secretary, if no such investigation or inquiry is forthcoming, we would also want to advocate such an inquiry under international auspices. he is right that whatever the precise words we use, a blockade of gaza is counterproductive, wrong, not serving the interests of the security of israel, and he is right to point out that fatalities could have occurred, of course, among the british nationals caught up in this. it is our strong advice, has been our advice to them and will be in the future, british nationals, not to travel to gaza. let me make that absolutely clear. they are going into a dangerous situation. it is absolutely wrong to maintain this blockade, and that is the position of this government. >

israel to comply with its u.n. obligations. the foreign secretary has had conversations with mrs. clinton. i understand he is also meeting with the eu by rep. i wonder if he believes that between us if we can actually encouraged the quartet to now take more firm action with israel which still today seems not to understand the gravity of the situation? >> there is a real international focus on these matters. that is true in the u.s. and with the you high rep. she certainly has the same focus on these issues. many other -- in the margins of that, many of the foreign ministers had discussed this issue. i think one of the results of this action is to really bring this to center stage. and it has shown a spotlight on the problems of gossip to which so many right hon. members have heard. i think it is important for us to take the momentum from that and make sure the necessary work continues over the coming weeks and months to improve the situation. >> with the foreign secretary not accept that what he said today it really amounts to saying that the united states, britain, and europe will continue

but we have got to take it seriously and got to support our friend israel. mr. carter: first thing i would say amen to everything you have said and i thank you for saying it. you know, it's become a strange world when our closest ally in the middle east, israel, sends its prime minister over here and taken in through the back doors of the service entrance of the white house and told no photo ops and he is basically slighted by the leader of the free world and then passed forward to just a couple of weeks ago when the leader of the palestinian movement comes in here and we see photo ops, meetings and a big chunk of money headed to the palestinians promised by the president of the united states. it's embarrassing how much of a change of policy we have towards our only or our longest surviving ally in the middle east. and i was in new york the day before yesterday and one of the people i met yesterday, have you thought about the fact is how many americans would have to be stationed somewhere in the middle east to try to keep that caldron from exploding all over the

israel to comply with its u.s. obligations. the foreign secretary has had conversations with mrs. clinton. understand he is also meeting the eu by rep. i wonder if he believes that between us we can actually encourage the quartet to take firmer action with israel who seems not to understand the gravity of the situation? >> there is an international focus. that is true in the united states. i was with the e.u high representative last night in sarajevo. she has the same focus on these issues. i was at the eu, western balkans meeting and they have discussed this issue. one of the results of this action is to really bring this to center stage. it has to shine a spotlight on the problems of the gaza strip. it is now important for us to take the momentum and make sure the work continues over the coming weeks and months to improve the situation. >> would the foreign secretary not accept that what he said today amounts to saying that the united states, britain, and europe will continue to tolerate the israeli blockade of the gossip strip and this toleration should be brought to an end and it neces

yesterday the presidt said it was time for israel toharply limit its effective blockade in gaza saying, quote, the situation in gaza is unsustainable. the truth is, mr. president, your policy in israel is unstainable. the american people are on the side of israel and israel's right to defend herself. mr. president, whose side are you on? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> to address the house for one minute revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. stupak: starting this book tax-free rebate ecks of $250 will be nt to seniors who have already hit the part d doughnut hole. this $250 rebate is a key improvement to medicare and the first medicare benefit of the new health care reform law to ta effect. the rebates are being sent three months ahead of schule and the first round of checks will reach nearly 80,000 seniors who are already in the doughnut hole. following this inial round o rebate checks, addition checks will be sent to seniors ashey hit the doughnut hole. it is estimated that four million seniors across the

iran has also called for the destruction of the democratic state of israel. mr. president, these actions illustrate iran's destructive intentions. iran continues to pursue nuclear capabilities. while iran claims that its nuclear programs are intended for civilian use only, this is very difficult to believe. in fact, reports from the international atomic energy agency, february of 2008, may of 2010, question iran's claim of pursuing nuclear capabilities for purely peaceful purposes. nuclear capabilities and proper management of these capabilities is a serious responsibility. iran has neither earned the right nor the trust for this nuclear responsibility. iran continues to develop its nuclear programs without giving the international atomic energy agency sufficient access, access to and information regarding its nuclear program. i understand that the need for energy and the complexities surrounding the dual-use nature of nuclear technology. however, iran placed itself under obligations to the international community and agreed to comply with international safeguard

claimi to be on and ether we canpect any resolutioalong those lines in pport of our ally, israel, and i yiel mr. hoyer: iha t gentleman for his question. i're most ople k the gentleman and i agrd, i made a statement on the floor lastight, made a statement imdiaty ter rael, like any oer nation in the world, a terrorist organizati that wantitse, wants to k its peop and push iom its country. any nationn earth, including ours, would defend itself. that's what they did. they gave two weeks' notice. of course, as the gentleman knows, to the turks d to the indiduals whwere undertaking this so-caed hanitarian mission. ani might say at t gentleman and i are a humanitarian concern about the plight of thpalestinian peop. unfortunately, ey are ill-served by some of those who have bforce tan over their leadership in gaza. but israel did whatny nation would . it gave notice and said if you would deliver thosto te ourt, we would offload the humanitarian material and make su that it's divero its repien. not to a terrorist organization that would use ifor purposes of teor and attack on cilians but uset for the

israel and in a future palestine.+ so thank you very much. ] thank you, mr. president.nd we, indeed, have just held very important discussions that touched on the political process as well as the very important latest development that happened in gaza. of course we value and deeply appreciate all the efforts of the united states, as well as the effort of president obama, and all the assistance and help for pushing forward the economic and security levels. and we have reached a satisfactory picture of the economic and security levels. yet we are determined to keep pushing forward in our efforts to bring it up to the next level. and i also appreciate the attention and the determination of president obama in seeing that we push forward the political process as soon as possible. and i assert and i affirm that we will not give up on this endeavor ahead of us, because it is in our interest, it in the interest of israel, in the interest of the world, and also, most of all, in the interest of the united states. we know that time is of essence, we know that we must not miss this

mr. speaker, in strong support of h.r. 2194 and i ask unanimous consent to submit my statement to avoid the nuclear attack that iran represents to the world and to israel. i rise to give strong support to h.r. 2194 and ask my colleagues to support it. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, -- the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield unfortunately only one minute to really the author of the procurement -- mandatory procurement sanctions in this legislation, the gentleman from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to support the act. i am proud the final bill includes my amendment requiring companies that are applying for contracts within the united states government to affirmatively certify they do not conduct business with iran. mr. kline: this legislation gives -- mr. klein: we cannot allow iran to continue to its pursuit of nuclear weapons. not on our watch and certainly not on our dime. as a conferee, i'm proud the final bill also takes into account new developments. iran is attempting to circumvent global sanctions and this

mr. speaker, i rise to israel's right to self-defense and express my outrage over the knee-jerk, international condemnation of our strong ally following the recent flotilla incident. the activists ignored warning from israeli forces to turn away from gaza and disregarded invitations to offload supplies elsewhere. worst of raleigh, they placed israeli forces in grave dangerer by brutally attacking them. many countries immediately condemned israel. their reaction sharply contrasts with their failure to denounce the hostile behavior of iran and north korea. i applaud the obama administration for avoiding this double standard. the united states must always stand against the unfair treatment of an important ally. the speaker pro tempore: mr. defazio of oregon. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. bishop: i appreciate the opportunity to talk about the 10 amendment and some of the efforts that members of this house are doing to try to emfies the -- emphasize the importance

mr. speaker, in strong support of h.r. 2194 and i ask unanimous consent to submit my statement to avoid the nuclear attack that iran represents to the world and to israel. i rise to give strong support to h.r. 2194 and ask my colleagues to support it. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, -- the gentleman from california. mr. berman: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield unfortunately only one minute to really the author of the procurement -- mandatory procurement sanctions in this legislation, the gentleman from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to support the act. i am proud the final bill includes my amendment requiring companies that are applying for contracts within the united states government to affirmatively certify they do not conduct business with iran. mr. kline: this legislation gives -- mr. klein: we cannot allow iran to continue to its pursuit of nuclear weapons. not on our watch and certainly not on our dime. as a conferee, i'm proud the final bill also takes into account new developments. iran is attempting to circumvent global sanctions and this

israel, but what is missing, what is missing from that? >> a t countri will accept it. [inaudible] >> here is the thing mr. president, there is no mechanism for implementing this initiative. its a declarion of ntent, important one. i think that itis wha the estioner iasng, should there be arab engagement in a more active way from the ab states? you have brought the arab league into it b getting their mandate to negotiate. which i think is actually a potive development because as you and i know theyre always shing you out in front saying you makehe deal. but now thagis you momentum. >> first of all, for 12 moths and after that they ha created their pition. when i finish i will return back, which meas they relso committed to pea and bsically when you talk about the arabs, two of the arab countries decided acrding to a decision that cfrom the arab league- i memb the prime minister and th foreign mr. ofgerny want topromote the arab peace initiative. no response, no response. so, they didn't encourage the others to come andfollow-up. >> what you are sayingis that you are building the mechanism through this arab

israel. egypt has opened its entryways into the gaza strip for people to go from egypt into gaza and bring aid to their as well. "the new york times" editorial this morning, "mr. obama needs to state clearly that the israeli attack was unacceptable. the united states needs to join the security council in urging israel to permanently lift the blockade, lessening the suffering of the people and give the united states more credibility to negotiate a peace deal." more in the conflict this morning from "the new york times," id points to different video on the web sites. differing accounts. "and videos carry on the fight to shape opinion, showing that israel has lack of clear context." san diego, republican line. should the president be showing more motion regarding the gulf oil spill? caller: in my opinion he has not shown much emotion. i think that if he had acted quicker this would not have been such a big story if he had gotten the military involved. first of all, it is the coast right there. doing what he is doing with his call to action with the oil, energy, and all of that, they are getting money from member states. i remember the senator in louisiana tried

mr. smith: thank you very much, madam speaker. i rise today to call on the president to give israel the unequivocal, robust and vigorous support it deserves. since the may 31 gaza flotilla incident, israel has been under media attack. and even in the past few days, many articles in international newspapers take a grocery anti--israel -- anti-israel slant. the purpose of the flotilla is to provoke an incident, thereby, to set up an international media campaign against israel. the flotilla is an aggressive attempt to manipulate world opinion and to isolate israel. thankfully it has not worked in the united states where a poll shows that despite the anti-israeli bias of so much media coverage, less than 20% of americans think that the israeli government is to blame for the keths that resulted from the -- deaths that resulted from the incident. madam speaker, the facts of incident were clear within 48 hours and it's high time that our government sent a message, that the united states fully supports israel's action to intercept the flotilla. the administration should emphasize that israel's action was legal, that it was right and that

obviously, we regret that, but understand completely why he went back to israel and had to cancel the meeting. the schedule for mr still the same. more than ever, we need comprehensive middle east peace plans. >> will mr. mitchell be [unintelligible] >> i do not know his schedule on the top of my head. >> does president obama believe the israeli government's version of events? >> again, let me refer you to the un security council statement. >> the investigation, does the president won the international community to be involved in the investigation -- does the president want the international community to be involved in the investigation? >> obviously, we are open to weigh is to assure a credible investigation, including international participation. >> there were americans on the flotilla. do we have any information about whether any of them were hurt? there are unconfirmed reports that an american student was lost. >> we have been in contact with the israelis in order to get an accounting as to whether there are any american citizens. private citizens were on some of these ships. we're working to determine if tho

mr. crowley, it is the israeli's actions that need to be investigated. so how can israel, too -- best investigation -- why is the united states opposed to un investigation? >> as we've said, we are completely supportive of an impartial investigation that helps us understand what happens -- what happened on these ships, and more importantly, working collectively, how we can meet our common objectives of increasing the international support for the people of gaza, and at the same time, supporting israel with its legitimate security concerns. we believe that israel is in the best position to lead this investigation. but as the secretary said yesterday, this has to be credible. the international community will be watching this very closely as it unfolds. we want to see this done in a way that meets international standards. we'll be talking to israel about how best to accomplish this. we'll be talking to other countries that may want to play a role in this. and as we -- as the secretary said, we are open to ways of making this as credible as possible, including international p

mr. kerlikowske spreading lies when there are physicians who have studied this for decades. he is just discounting this information. in israel, they have been studying this for 25 or 30 years, and they have actually developed to where they can prescribe actual teachers to wear is measured out. guest: last year what i meant to say, and that is during the press conference, is that in the institute of medicine report, smoked marijuana was not seen as medicine. there are parts and components and a number of research grants that are out there now that are continuing on to look at the parts and components of marijuana that can be helpful. no one wants to see someone come at a patient suffered. host: that's it for our time. thank you for being here this morning. i will direct our viewers to whitehousepolicy.gov. we will take a quick break and we'll be back to the topic of the war in afghanistan and the firing of general mcchrystal yesterday. our next guest is representative todd akin of the armed services committee. he has a son who was a marine officer in iraq at felucca. he has another son in afghanistan. he has a personal perspe

israel relaxes gaza blockade. president obama and benjamin netanyahu will meet in washington on july 6, a rescheduling of the meeting after mr. netanyahu cut short one trip abroad. can a tough nationalist emerge as a statesman? waukesha, wisconsin. good morning. caller: i believe that the profits coming out of the goal should go to the american people. and 25% can go to the superfund, 25% to deficit relief, and 25 for a sense i should be reimbursed to the american people. and and now you say they are going to leave? we can drill our own oil and get 100% of the profits. they keep acting like it is their oil, as if they made the oil. they did not make the oil. they are drilling a hole and sucking up the oil. that is our oil, the oil of the american people. we deserve 75% of the profits. host: this is from "roll call," this morning. "the problem for senator kerrey is all that work may be for naught if he can persuade a handful of republicans and as many democrats. joe lieberman discussed putting a price that allowed different industries for different reduction targets. michigan, good morning. caller: on the proposal for the sup

mr. speaker, people would contact their members of congress and let them know that they need to get on board with a resolution that says israel can defend itself. sanctions were a lovely thing to talk about and when you have years and years and years to work with, whether it's south africa or somewhere, that's one thing. but when you've got centrifuges spinning and the iaea already tells us iran has probably enough enriched uranium for two nuclear weapons and the centrifuges are still spinning and we're still trying to talk to other nations in the world about getting onboard with our sanctions and israel is more at risk every day and not only have we not gotten other nations to get onboard with sanctions, russia has cut a deal, they're going to provide them their best antiaircraft weaponry, it's coming to iran. and the days are growing and building and we're putting all the wrong pressure on our dear ally. and some know that in this body that i've been pushing, all three terms i've been here, what i titled the u.n. voting accountability act, one of these days i'm going to get it to the floor for a vote. i got it as an amendme

israel. thank . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for wh purpose does the ntlema ohio ri? >> ask unanimouconst to address the house for one minute. the spear pro tempore: witht jeion. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, tod i would like to diver some good news to medicare paicipants around th country. th week seniors who fall into the medicarpart doughnut hole will begin receiving $250 checks in their mailboxes to help them cover their prescripon drug costs. th ione of many benefits for medicare participants included in the health care reform law the democrsasse earlthis year. ross the country, narly four millioseniors will be helped by these checks. over 9,000 pele wil receive this benefit. while dohnut he w seniorwill continue to see lower prescriptionrug costs. next yeathosexperiencing a coverage gap will receive a 50% discount on their bra name drs. m outoork h to improve medicare for a nior i yield ck the balce of my time. e spear pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from micgan rise? flora. >>hank yo mr. eaker. i rise for the concerns i have heard fromhousands of my constituents. they tell me that washington hafailed to focus on economic recovery and yo know wh

mr. speaker, that members will join in signing, bipartisan, speaker pelosi and leader reid, letter says, this letter is to simply state the obvious need of the prime minister of our dear friend israel to address a joint session of congress. he has been here in washington on numerous occasions but not addressed a joint session of congress since 1996. we have envited over 100 leaders of 50 different countries to speak before joint sessions of congress with enemies of israel and united states looking for weaknesses we can show them that israel is our friend and will be our friend and we want to hear from prime minister netanyahu with the magnitude of international events and tensions swirling in recent years and the threat of nuclear proliferation in the middle east, it is desperately important we show the world our relationship with israel by inviting prime minister netanyahu to come and address this body. the sooner we do this, the more stabilizing it will be. we extend the invitation to prime minister netanyahu to address a joint session of congress as soon as possible. if the enemies were to see both sides of the aisle standing and applauding the prime minister of israel, the mess

mr. airman. and thank you both f your stimony and service. secretary feltman, a you mentioned, w in beirut a damascus this last week, d, you know, certainly suprthe righ of israelend itself rongly lik most americans do and cerly denounce any kin of terrorist activit tha a orgazationight provide. i will say that, you know, on the ground in lebanon, one would ge a vy differentictures it relates to how people view hezbollah. among business peoplenebanon which basically gally d't pay bit of attenon to the lebanese government becausef the lack of a ability of a lebanese goverent to do very much that's very effective, they n't really vie hezbollah as a thre. and it's amazing tsee the suort thateople he there on the grod for what they do in the eyes. i'm just repeatingthem, ny own position, but in their eyes to really defend agast israeli aggreson. it's a huge discnect between what you a sayingere and what i think one might pick up on the ground. i wonder i you wanted to expand on that at all. at aolitical level, lebon is deepl divided. d that refed time and timeagain. and so i'm not sured wn the business classes, a class ow well from the 1/2 years i spenthere, makes