. >> mr. klein wrote a letter to some members of the senate finance committee asking them and urging them to vote against the wide -- wyden choice amendment. why? >> people are free to opt out of their employer plan but to compel the employer to make the same contribution on behalf of those people is terribly unfair to the employees left behind in the employer plan. >> let's stop there. i think you make a critical point we should explore. senator wyden, the concern a subsidy provided to corporations so that they can provide health care to their employees. the argument is anybody can choose but they don't get the subsidy. how do you deal with making that subsidy transferable to those who would want to leave the employer-based plan? >> first of all, we protect all of the employer tax breaks for whatever they are doing for their worker in the health care area. that's very important. the employer is not losing any of their tax preferences. what we're saying -- and mr. klein, of course, representing an o

mr. klein: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. klein: thank you, mr. speaker. on friday we mark a sober anniversary in the history of our nation, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on september 11, 2001. as time has passed, our resolve has not faltered. we remain committed to rooting out terror and evil wherever it may hide and protecting our homeland against all who threaten our way of life. i'm proud because of legs we passed here in -- legislation we passed here in congress and the president signed into law, september 11 is now a day of national service and remembrance. i encourage all americans to spend time giving back to their communities, to honor the spirit of service that unified our country and the world in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. especially in these turbulent times, it's important to remember that no matter what our political party or what

mr. klein: i rise today to congratulate the broward county school district, one of the finalists for urban education. broad prize is known as the nobel prize for public education and is awarded to districts that show strong reading and math skills among low income and minority students. as the finalist for the second consecutive year, broward schools made great strides toward closing the gap in education and has set a standard of excellence for all students. the school will take home $1 million in student scholarships and all finalists will receive $250,000, a critical boost during these difficult economic times. i congratulate superintendent, the chair as well as the students, parents and teachers in the broward school system for a job well done. keep up the good work. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: madam speaker, i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks

. -- kleine. mr. kline: i wonder if the gentleman would mind putting up that first chart because it strikes me that it's a pretty complicated chart. as the gentleman said. i found when i was back in my home state of minnesota, i was traveling around talking to groups, i used that chart a number of times and i wanted to point out there was indeed prepared by the republican staff , but there's nothing on that chart that isn't in the bill. that is a depiction of best effort depiction to describe what this bill does. mr. akin: you are talking about a thousand-plus page built and you put it in one chart. it's going to look complicated. mr. kline: exactly. it is over 1,000 pages, it is complicated. the reason i asked the gentleman to put it back up, i have been struck by a number of the proponents, supporters of this bill, including frankly the president of the united states, have said, well, the public option is just a little slice. it's not everything. it's a little slice of this reform. and so one time i

we took the liberty of slicing klein's music to the original sound bites from mr.umsfeld. ♪ ♪ as we know there are known knowns ♪ ♪ >> there are things we know we know. there are no unknowns. there are things we now know we don't know. but there are also unknowns unknowns. the ones we don't know we don't know. and each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns. and it sounds like a riddle. >> still six years later brilliant. that's tonight's moment of geek. low politics and high art. we put links to phil klein's songs, john adams's opera and melissa's contata on msnbc.com. my identity was stolen when i was eight years old, and we didn't find out until i was going to get... my driver's permit at fifteen, seven months. i think the stories that affect me the most... are the ones i hear from children. they go off to start off in life, and by no fault of their own, they're already in a hole. you're supposed to, uh, protect your children. it's hard to protect them from an identity theft when... you don't know who's out there doing it. so how do you protect t

we took the liberty of splicing klein's music from the original sound bites of mr.e no knowns ♪ >> as we know, there are known knowns. there are things we know we know. there are no unknowns. that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know. and each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns. and it sounds like a riddle. >> still inscrutable, even six years later, but brilliant. that's tonight's "moment of geek" low politics and high art. we put links to phil klein's songs, john adams opera, and melissa dunphy's contata on our websi website. we'll be right back. and it's a turn for the better. ♪ i'm cool like that, i'm cool like that ♪ [ female announcer ] tide coldwater. it's specially formulated to clean in cold better than the other brand does in warm. ♪ cool like that and by washing in cold, you can save up to $10 on your energy bill with every 100 oz bottle. and that's cool. tide coldwater. get out of the old and into the cold. ♪ i'm cool like that caused by a comp

"time" magazine's joe kleine and others have written about the president's standing overseas. mr. obama has had some success on the domestic front, he's facing many frustration as broad from iran to afghanistan and, of course, even the global financial crisis, which he is going to be addressing tonight at the g-20 summit. joining us now live is mark whitaker, nbc's washington bureau chief. mark, let's use this piece that joe kleine wrote about in "time" magazine as a jumping off point for this discussion. what about that, that he may end this year with some great domestic accomplishments. whether it's a huge stimulus proposal and then perhaps the health care bill. but on the foreign policy front, he's really having some tough times. >> well, another point that joe was make sthag ing is that as ps barack obama is around the world, as excited as people were throughout the globe by his election, ultimately the leaders he has to deal with are going to judge him and his political clout based on what he can accomplish on the home front. so if he doesn't get health care, if he didn't get

mr. himes. i appreciate working with you and congresswoman schwartz for working to bring this important amendment to the floor. i want to also thank chairman miller, ranking member kleine, and the committee staff for their hard work on h.r. 22 -- 3221 and will provide $10 billion in deficit reduction. i also want to thank the chairman for working with me to include several positions in the bill related to school safety, classroom noise, childcare facilities, increasing college access for low-income and minority students. the amendment before us will make five technical changes to the bill, straightens the financial literacy components. it has become apparent the lack of education among students and consumers about financial systems and products is one of the key elements of our nation's current economic crisis. in many cases consumers would pride on to financial institutions and sold them to debts they were not capable of paying. this has been a defining factor for the current economic crisis. this amendment seeks to better educate students and arm them with the knowledge they will keep -- to help them navigate the rough the waters in our economy. it's more important t

mr. speaker, i rise today to share with you and the house of representatives real stories of americans who are struggling with our health care system today. gary klein from broomfield asks that i share his story on the floor of the house of representatives. he told me, his parents never had health care insurance, his father was self-employed. didn't make very much money. his mother needed three surgeries in 2004, just after she turned 65. fortunately she was old enough to qualify for medicare, otherwise, gary writes, that his parents would likely be bankrupt today. after a lifetime of hard work and running their own business and raising their kids, gary writes that other people shouldn't have to go through bankruptcy in order to be able to afford medical care. there are millions of people like gary and his family across this country. one of the things that we accomplish in this bill is we hope to reduce medical bankruptcies. we require that any policy will have no more ever than a $10,000 out-of-pocket per year for a family. to help reduce the number of bankruptcies. many will have less. through the exchanges that are are being created, we will have