mr. mayor. thank you secretary lahood. thank you to the incredible leadership, senator feinstein, nancy pelosi and mayor lee and the board of supervisors to chairman nol an from the sfmta. i am on pins and needles. do we have anything else to report? it's still at the same point we think they're in commercials. i am reminded from the song from "top gun" "take my breath away" and $942 million takes my breath away and i think to mayor lee for that amount i think we should get a leather flight jacket to thank mr. lahood for the great gift to our great city. the new money that is going to be used here is going to create 1,000 new jobs before the end of the year with many more jobs to come after that. that is something to applaud. thank you again secretary lahood for that. this is one point 7 miles very similar to the length of the golden gate bridge when 75 years ago that was going to be built and little did we know what that bridge would bring to the economy of san francisco and marin and as we look ahead for 75 years it's in

mr. ray lahood. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. mr. president, your staff told me i've only had one minute, and since this is the last time i will be at this podium, i will take a little bit more than one minute. i know they will not forgive me, but i know you will. there is no way i can ever thank you for the opportunity that you have provided to me to write theinptern my book of service. beste right, this is the job i ever had, and if you are not the best person i ever worked for, you are right at the top of the list. you have been extrinary. i know that every mayor in america is thrilled today, because one of theirs will become the secretary of transportation, and what a message to send around the country. what you say to every city is that mayors count, cities count, and anthony foxx will do a great job. mayor foxx -- i am confident he will do a terrific job. over four years ago, you rolled the dice on ray lahood. i am not sure if you knew that i was a lousy golfer, if i ofld be a good secretary transportation. you give me plenty o

mr. lahood said to the 2.5 million toyota drivers to quit driving your car. those are bad decisions. this guy has had to do the hard work of running a city. he has got good judgment. >> you wouldn't say this is a political thank you for hosting the dnc last year? >> it could be. but rodney slater was an african-american and one of the bester transportation secretaries that i have ever worked with. i don't know about the origin but i know he has a good reputation for good judgment. it really needs it, especially over in the faa side of the business. >> i would like to change topics and the faa. you know there are some republicans in congress who accuse president obama of making these furloughs as painful as possible. do you think he has made his point? >> it blue up in his face. i think that was the objective. the ticket taxes that they collect run the system. so the money was there. it was just a ploy, i think, to put some pressure on the congress to ease the tax abatement and it didn't work. it just blue up in his face and they folded and went away. it was a foolish idea. cost milli

mr. ray lahood. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. mr. president, your staff told me i only had one minute. and since this is the last time i will be at this podium i'm going to take a little bit more than one minute. i know they won't forgive me but i know you will. there is no way i can ever thank you for the opportunity that you have provided to me to write the final chapter in my book of service. this is it. you're right. this is the best job i have ever had. and if you are not the best person i have ever worked for you are right at the top of the list. you have been extraordinary. and i know that every mayor in america is thrilled today because one of theirs will become the secretary of transportation. and what a message you send around the country. what you say to every city is that mayors count, cities count. mayor foxx will do a great job. quality transportation choices can mean a better job or better schools for our families across. mayor foxx gets that and i am confident he will do a terrific job. and the other thing, mr. presid

mr. ray lahood. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. mr. president, your staff told me i've only had one minute, and since this is the last time i will be at this podium, i will take a little bit more than 1 minutes. i know they will not forgive me, but i know you will. there is no way i can ever thank you for the opportunity that you the provided to me to write final chapter in my book of service. you're right, this is the best job i ever had, and if you are not the best person i ever worked for, you are right at the top of the list. you have been extraordinary. i know that every mayor in america is thrilled today, because one of theirs will become the secretary of transportation, and what a message to send around the country. what you say to every city is that mayor's county, city scout, and at the box -- and anthony foxx will do a great job. -- i am confident he will do a terrific job. ago, you rolled the dice on ray lahood. i am not sure if you knew that i was a lousy golfer, if i would be a good secretary of transportation. you give me

mr. lahood pposed to a gas tax opposed to infrastructure. but i'm not going to go there. thank you. 'm going to be in a learning mood here. first question i have for you is -- you may not know the answer but if you can have your staff get back to me. it has come to my attention from folks in ohio, that the i.r.s. ticket ng to impose a tax on transportations of people in the area for management services. they are re-enter prettying a law that was passed during the nixon administration. my understanding is that if you ook at this, they are ledge -- legislating and overstepping as an authority agency. the tax has been due all along. does all along mean since 1970? i don't know. i'm concerned about it. would like to have your staff maybe communicate with us on what you believe the i.r.s. is doing and if it is correct. >> i would be happy to look at it. >> thank you. i don't want to put you on the spot but it is an important jobs issue, not just ohio but all over. i, along with my colleague -- who i don't think is here, creating a group on retirement savings. there appears there is a pro

mr. ray lahood. [applause] >> thank you. have just been listening in as president obama there saying his good-byes to current secretary of transportation ray lahood. he has been on the job by the way since 2009, and nominating anthony foxx to take over the job. anthony foxx is the mayor in north carolina and has been for some time. he is a lawyer and considered and up-and-comer. he got a lot of play when the democratic convention was held in charlotte last year. that is where his name and stock value went up. tracy: north carolina is swing state. ashley: it is. tracy: nice to have placement in the white house from --. ashley: needs to be confirmed of course. tracy: there is that. we'll head down to nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange where we go every 15 minutes. nicole, you're looking at tech? >> that's right. there are some hot stocks to watch on a day where you see the tech-heavy nasdaq up over a full percentage point. let's kick it off by taking a look at apple, good ol' apple. all shareholders

mr. lahood testified at the time opposed to a gas tax with respect to infrastructure. but i'm not going to go there. i don't want to take my time today away from, mr. secretary, thank you. and i'm going to be in a learning mood here. first question i have for you is, and you may not know the answer to this, but if you could have your staff get back to me, i'm going to try to be constructive. it's come to my attention from some folks in ohio that the irs is seeking to oppose a ticket tax on transportations of people in the air for management services. and they're reinterpreting, last year, reinterpreting a law that was passed during the fix son administration -- the nixon administration. and my understanding is if you look at this, they're legislating rather than administrating and clearly, in my opinion, overstepping their authority as a regulatory agency. the irs argued that the new interpretation is correct and it has been due all along. does all along mean since 1970? i don't know. but i'm concerned about it, and i'd like to have your staff maybe communicate with us

mr. fox, the new secretary of transportation. ray lahoodwho was at the dinner saturday night, that was his last hurrah. >> it was. ray lahood got a joke i noticed. >> he got a name check. >> doesn't matter what they say if you got name checked from the podium. conan o'brien, someone who was sitting at the table next to us governor chris christie got a name. >> i would like to acknowledge, for a moment some accidentally sat governor chris christie with the republicans. that was awkward. i apologize. chris christie was at the huffington post table. >> not a very republican table. >> although ray lahood was at that table. he is a republican or was in a former life. they tried to diversify the huffington post table. >> the kind of republicans who would sit at a huffington post table. >> michael is in this entire bill, eleanor homes will join us later. we will get into the news of the day and michael what you have been writing about. >> first, this is the full court press. >> other headlines making news sarah palin was no fan of the white house

mr. secretary. it would always be crowded and today is one things that contributes to the mobility of families, bringing people to work to play and improve their quality of life. secretary lahood has been one of the truest friends to san francisco. he has been a leader that has -- [applause] -- he has helped us make our case to the white house, to omb, and the rest. as we celebrate today we also have to recognize that this fits comfortably in an array of projects under his leadership as secretary of transportation and with the great leadership of president barack obama whether it was the presidio park way, transway terminal, completion of third street rail and all of that. in recent years when he served in the congress and now as the secretary of transportation. he knows full well the role that senator boxer played and he was a member in congress of the transportation committee and the consensus she is building in the senate on this is quite remarkable so i am honored to be here with senator feinstein and our colleagues and share in this for san francisco and what you see here mr. secretary is consent. our great mayor lee -- he is the consensus maestro and brings people togeth

mrs. have something else in common like the president, i too recently got in hot water by talking about a public officials good looks. the stone cold fox secretary of transportation ray lahoodoh, man, i like the cut of his -- but president obama, you have great jokes, it was a pleasure watching you stand up and do what i do. now it's fair i get to do what you do. that's right, ladies and gentlemen, for the next 15 minutes i'll be miredded in a tense dysfunctional standoff with congress. this is going to be fun. right away i'd like to formally congratulate the president on his re-election. >> as you know the president is hard at work creating jobs since he was first elected the number of popes has doubled. and number of tonight show hosts has tripled. congratulations. i'd like to congratulate george w. bush on the dedication of his presidential library. yes, the library has millions of books and articles and documents and if you go, you can be the first to read them. you can't hurt me. now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get going, right here at the start i'll share something with you people and this doesn't leave this room. i say this with absolute confidence because we're on

lahood and f.a.a. administrator weirta to discuss this problem and my proposed solution. mr. president, the challenges the f.a.a. faces this fiscal year are daunting. not only is the agency operating under a continuing resolution but sequestration compounds the problem. it's important that sequestration be implemented in a way that ensures safety and minimizes the impact on travelers as well as on jobs in the hospitality and airline industries. f.a.a. recently announced its plans to achieve its sequestration savings by implementing furloughs of air traffic controllers, by closing contract towers, by eliminating midnight services, among other cuts. now, i personally believe that the f.a.a. had other choices and could have avoided many of these disastrous outcomes, but there is no doubt that personnel does make up a great deal of the agency's budget and that some furloughs undoubtedly would have been necessary. whether it was necessary for f.a.a. to concentrate so many of the cuts in the area of air traffic controllers is an entirely different question. but in any event, my bil

republican congressman, ray lahood of peoria, has worked across the aisle to improve the nation's roads, bridges, raillines as secretary of transportation under the obama administration. mr. speaker, i hope that all members of this body will join me in pledging to work together, to put the people we represent first, and i'd like to wish congressman michel a happy 90th birthday. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what reason does the gentleman rom colorado rise? without objection. mr. coffman: mr. speaker, lieutenant colonel donald hood passed away on december 30, 2012. he served our nation with distinction first on active duty in the united states army and later in the army reserve. lieutenant colonel hood was with the 82nd airborne division in north carolina where he became the first optometrist in the united states army. from 1970 to 1972, lieutenant colonel hood served in southeast asia during the war in vietnam as the army chief of eye services at the diplomatic medical mission in bank cock, thailand. -- in bangcock. he served as chief of optometry for the 502 united states army hospital in aurora, colorado, until his retirement in 1990. lieutenant

mr. speaker, the gentleman from maryland is recognized for two minutes. >> i rise in opposition to this "noce of legislation. members of congress should be surprised that the havoc wrought by the sequester. presentation secretary ray lahoodeatedly warned them about the consequences. flight delays are just the tip of the iceberg. visible above the water line for most americans and as time goes on without a big balanced deficit solution more icebergs will surface. more americans will be negatively affected. while i want to tend delays, i will oppose this bill because it fails to address the whole impact of sequester. let me share a handful of examples of how sequester will affect americans. education, head start, 70,000 children will be kicked out of head start. nothing in this bill deals with them. furloughs for disability claims, nothing in this bill deals with them. 4 million fewer meals on wheels for seniors. 600,000 people dropped off wic. nothing for them. housing, 125 less housing vouchers, nothing in here for them. emergency unemployment insurance cut for out of work americans, nothing in here for them. f.d.a. fewer food inspections, nothing in here for them. longer waits to approve new drugs, nothing in here for t