mr. larson.u will have five minutes to present your testimony. thank you. >> good morning, chairwoman, ranking member and members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to discuss how the affordable care act is improving the affordability, accessibility and quality of health insurance available to small businesses and their employees. providing and maintaining health insurance coverage for employees has been a challenge for small businesses for many years. states have struggled for decades really to improve their small group health insurance market and i know this from my many years of experience as insurance commissioner in the state of maryland. small businesses pay significantly more than large firms for the same health insurance policies. some estimates put that at about 18% more. there are a number of reasons for this. small businesses lack the purchasing power that large employers have. administrative costs for insurors in handling small businesses are much higher than for large

mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. levin. at this very moment the whole world is watching in on the united states congress. it is a sad day for the united states congress. we in america, the preeminent military, economic and cultural leaders in the world are governing like we're a thirled world country -- third world country. t.s.a. sad time for this body -- it is a sad time for this body that we cannot come together. sad is the american public who looks in at this and recognizes that it's theater, except that it's become the theater of the absurd. in a frail recovery where americans are already overburdened, what we have in front of us is a manufactured ideological crisis. 18 times the debt ceiling was raised for ronald reagan. eight times for george bush. because they would never stand in this body to see a default on the full faith and credit of the united states. as the world looks in and we default on a global economy and we default, march toward defaulting on a national economy, the most ruinous thing is that we are def

mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. levin. at this very moment the whole world is watching in on the united states congress. it is a sad day for the united states congress. we in america, the preeminent military, economic and cultural leaders in the world are governing like we're a thirled world country -- third world country. t.s.a. sad time for this body -- it is a sad time for this body that we cannot come together. sad is the american public who looks in at this and recognizes that it's theater, except that it's become the theater of the absurd. in a frail recovery where americans are already overburdened, what we have in front of us is a manufactured ideological crisis. 18 times the debt ceiling was raised for ronald reagan. eight times for george bush. because they would never stand in this body to see a default on the full faith and credit of the united states. as the world looks in and we default on a global economy and we default, march toward defaulting on a national economy, the most ruinous thing is that we are def

mr. larson, for five minutes. mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker. i request the opportunity to extend and revise my remarks. i want to start, first of all, about talking about the tenor of debate in this chamber. historically we've had great debates in this chamber. i think the speaker, john boehner, is an honorable man who cares deeply about this institution. i think on both sides of the aisle we have very intelligent people who care passionately about their beliefs. we have a nation that's in the midst of the worst recession since the great depression. it prevails on us as americans to come together and face the problems that our nation is currently dealing with. you heard representative chu mention it earlier, ronald reagan did so at that time with a democratic speaker, tip o'neill. he did so by appealing to both chambers about the need to come together, facing the daunting reality of defaulting for the first time on the country's full faith in credit. and the impact that that would have on the global economy, on the nation's economy, but i dare

mr. larson: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please take your conversation elsewhere, take a seat. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. frelinghuysen: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that during further consideration of h.r. 2354 the committee of the whole, pursuant to house resolution 337, no further amendments to the bill may be offered except pro forma amendments offered at any point in the reading by the chair or ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations or their respective designees for the purpose of debate. amendments printed in the congressional record are numbered 21, 26, 27, 53, 63, 66, 67, 70, 75, 76, 80 and 81. an amendment by mrs. adams regarding limiting funds for a department of energy website to disseminate information regarding energy efficiency and educational programs for children or adolescents, two amendments being mrs. bl

mr. larson. the speaker pro tempore: how much time does the gentleman yield to the gentleman from connecticut? the gentleman from maryland, how much time is yielded? mr. van hollen: i apologize, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut is recognized for three minutes. mr. larson: thank you, madam speaker. i terrorize associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished gentleman from maryland, mr. van holland. let me say that in his opening comments i think he's laid it out pretty well. cut, cap and balance, one has to resist on our side the notion that this is cut, cap and get rid of medicare. the public has had it with this theater of the absurd that's going on. they want congress to come together as our president has suggested and do the most important thing that we can, create jobs for the american people. in my hometown people ask me, what's going on, seems like a light beer commercial where there's this endless quibbling back and forth with people on both side

mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. levin. at this very moment the whole world is watching in on the united states congress. it is a sad day for the united states congress. we in america, the preeminent military, economic and cultural leaders in the world are governing like we're a thirled world country -- third world country. t.s.a. sad time for this body -- it is a sad time for this body that we cannot come together. sad is the american public who looks in at this and recognizes that it's theater, except that it's become the theater of the absurd. in a frail recovery where americans are already overburdened, what we have in front of us is a manufactured ideological crisis. 18 times the debt ceiling was raised for ronald reagan. eight times for george bush. because they would never stand in this body to see a default on the full faith and credit of the united states. as the world looks in and we default on a global economy and we default, march toward defaulting on a national economy, the most ruinous thing is that we are def

mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. levin. at this very moment the whole world is watching in on the united states congress. it is a sad day for the united states congress. we in america, the preeminent military, economic and cultural leaders in the world are governing like we're a thirled world country -- third world country. t.s.a. sad time for this body -- it is a sad time for this body that we cannot come together. sad is the american public who looks in at this and recognizes that it's theater, except that it's become the theater of the absurd. in a frail recovery where americans are already overburdened, what we have in front of us is a manufactured ideological crisis. 18 times the debt ceiling was raised for ronald reagan. eight times for george bush. because they would never stand in this body to see a default on the full faith and credit of the united states. as the world looks in and we default on a global economy and we default, march toward defaulting on a national economy, the most ruinous thing is that we are def

mr. larson?ooks like the republicans will put forward a plan that will be voted on a wednesday that has a two-step solution that involves possibly a bipartisan commission to figure out the -- >> how does that get the lady out of the abyss of dark uncertainty? if the clock is only extended -- if the problems is only kicked down the road. if the cloud still hangs over the american public's head and there's machinations where more people walk away from the table from so they can continue the high feeder in drama? . the democrats stand united in the fact that everybody need to be an adult in the room and do what was done for every single other american president. the nation has never defaulted on its loans and that's why congress came together along with presidents, whether it was president reagan and tip o'neill they came together because they knew what was at stake for the american people. >> how did they all vote for the two-step plan? >> we have take a look -- we don't know -- you know, it's the

. >> and john larson -- >> and then you have mr. clyburn coming out today.ems rare that a member of the democratic leadership team, and he normally does -- jim clyburn is a well thought out guy, he doesn't shoot from the hip. >> you have john larson, you have the respected edwards. it's growing, there's a sense as edwards said, that a president who has been conflict diverse, great leaders change, confronted by adverse circumstances. >> i think boehner's best play ç right now is to go back to president obama and say, can you get that 4.7 trillion back on the table again? can you really do that? if the president does invoke the 14th amendment, it is a lost opportunity for the tea partiers, it's a lost opportunity for the republicans to get what they want, a chip away at the big three, and also a chip away at big spending numbers. why would they miss this opportunity? >> you know, i'm not opposed to ideology, i believe it's about principles. this party is astonishingly reckless and astonishingly in the grip of what a wall street guy called grover norquist a fis