mr. lewis: i recognize the gentleman from new jersey for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. . mr. fraying: since the start of this recession in 2007 6.9 million people have lost their jobs. a third of those without jobs have been unemployed for more than six months. that a post-world war ii high. clearly congress needs to find a way to spur private sector job creation. a bipartisan way not one rammed through without public hearings. mr. chairman, a famous son of new jersey once said, and that's yogi berra, it's deja vu all over again. congress and the president acted in february a trillion dollar stimulus package with the promise of its shovel ready spend would go prevent unemployment from exceeding 8%. while the nation's official unemployment is about 10%, the real unemployment and underemployment now exceeds 17%. yet the majority suggests we double down on spending borrowed dollars in many of the same areas touched by the first s

mr. lewis thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, chairman obey calls this legislation the jobs for main street act. i call it economic insanity. truly this is one of those rare occasions when i hardly, hardly know where to begin. it's because of legislation like this and the manner in which it was produced that the public has lost faith in this congress -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the gentleman will suspend. the house is not in order. members will take their conversations off the floor. members will take their seats. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i certainly want to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i certainly want everyone paying attention to every word and i appreciate my colleague caring for that. it's because of legislation like this and the manner in which it was produced that the public has lost faith in this congress and why confidence in washington is at an all-time low. this legislation repeats the failures of th

mr. lewisnk you, madam speaker. madam speaker, chairman obey calls this legislation the jobs for main street act. i call it economic insanity. truly this is one of those rare occasions when i hardly, hardly know where to begin. it's because of legislation like this and the manner in which it was produced that the public has lost faith in this congress -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the gentleman will suspend. the house is not in order. members will take their conversations off the floor. members will take their seats. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i certainly want to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i certainly want everyone paying attention to every word and i appreciate my colleague caring for that. it's because of legislation like this and the manner in which it was produced that the public has lost faith in this congress and why confidence in washington is at an all-time low. this legislation repeats the failures of the so

mr. lewis of california, who has been a major player in our defense appropriations for years. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. louis brandeis madam speaker, i very much -- mr. lewis: madam speaker, i very much appreciate my colleague for yielding. mr. murtha spent sometime at bethesda and the work he's done with mr. young, i reserve the balance of my time. mr. murtha: i'm prepared to yield back. mr. young: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from yields back. mr. murtha: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back his time. all time for debate having expired, pursuant to house resolution 976, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion by the gentleman from pennsylvania. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. young: madam speaker, i ask for a recorded vote, the

mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i ask for unanimous consent to give members five legislative days to revise and extend and extend their remarks on house bill 4217. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. lewis: h.r. 4217, the f.a.a. extension act, part 2, extends the financial and a spending authority for the airport and airway trust fund. the trust fund taxes and spending authority scheduled to expire on december 31, 2009, a few days from now. this bill simply extends these taxes for three months. earlier this year, the house passed legislation allowing the trust fund to operate through 2012. unfortunately, the senate has not considered this important legislation. today's bill simply keeps the airport and airway trust fund taxes in operation in place until a long-term measure can be signed into law. air travel plays a critical role in our economy and in o

mr. lewis offered an amendment to have the spending levels proposed by congress at the 2010 level nondefense, veterans spending at -- everything but defense and veterans at 2% over last year. we spent a lot of money last year. so a 2% increase over last year would really be quite generous. however, when we finished the 2010 bills, the democrats will have increased government spending by 85%. 85% over the last two years. you tell me one american family that has 85% more in 2009. i can tell you none of my constituents have an additional 85% to spend this year. and they sure don't have the funds to pay for the taxes, increases that will be needed to pay for this or the debt that the other party is dumping on our taxpayers. another issue i think the members need to be aware of in this package despite our earlier efforts, the justice department has issued an opinion that the government will still give funds to acorn. let me state that again. we will still be funding acorn under this bill and their e

according to mr. lewis' testimony, mr. paulsen, mr. brn band you were in that meeting and mr. no idea what the meeting was about, that they, that the meeting went with a piece of paper slid across the paper to the banks telling them how much money they were now going to take from the t.a.r.p. program whether they asked for it or not. and that they had to sign a statement saying they were in agreement to that. >> uh-huh. >> is his recollection of that meeting accurate is that in fact what took place? again, not ten days after we were told, the congress of united states was cold, that the t.a.r.p. program, the money that was made available be used for something entirely different? >> right. we -- i was invited to attend that meeting. i was not involved in decisions about who should come to that meeting and who is going to get what. my role was confined to explaining the temporary, debt guarantee program and that was the only remarks i made to explain that program. and i did not opine or comment at all on the capital invechlgts piece. we were not involved in the decision-making a

according to mr. lewis' testimony, mr. paulsen, mr. brn band you were in that meeting and mr. meeting went with a piece of paper slid across the paper to the banks telling them how much money they were now going to take from the t.a.r.p. program whether they asked for it or not. and that they had to sign a statement saying they were in agreement to that. >> uh-huh. >> is his recollection of that meeting accurate is that in fact what took place? again, not ten days after we were told, the congress of united states was cold, that the t.a.r.p. program, the money that was made available be used for something entirely different? >> right. we -- i was invited to attend that meeting. i was not involved in decisions about who should come to that meeting and who is going to get what. my role was confined to explaining the temporary, debt guarantee program and that was the only remarks i made to explain that program. and i did not opine or comment at all on the capital invechlgts piece. we were not involved in the decision-making and remained silent during that discussion, but, yes, the

according to mr. lewis' testimony, mr. paulsen, mr. brn band you were in that meeting and mr. wis indicated he had no idea what the meeting was about, that they, that the meeting went with a piece of paper slid across the paper to the banks telling them how much money they were now going to take from the t.a.r.p. program whether they asked for it or not. and that they had to sign a statement saying they were in agreement to that. >> uh-huh. >> is his recollection of that meeting accurate is that in fact what took place? again, not ten days after we were told, the congress of united states was cold, that the t.a.r.p. program, the money that was made available be used for something entirely different? >> right. we -- i was invited to attend that meeting. i was not involved in decisions about who should come to that meeting and who is going to get what. my role was confined to explaining the temporary, debt guarantee program and that was the only remarks i made to explain that program. and i did not opine or comment at all on the capital invechlgts piece. we were not involved in t

. >> so you're aware of what she said and confirming what mr. lewis had told this committee about the meeting took place in october, ten days after t.a.r.p. had passed where the nine biggest financial institution were brought to this town including bank of america, told they were now going to have their bank partially nationalized and had to accept t.a.r.p. money and fine a form. you heard that all that testimony that she gave? >> yes. >> and i guess my point is, my question is, well, let me go back to this. and she -- her testimony to this committee a few hour ago was that that action by the fed, by mr. paulsen, by mr. -- treasury secretary paulsen and federal reserve chairman bernanke, quote, took her breath away, when she saw, you know, what took place at that meeting. so now as we move forward, it seems to me that, you know, i guess your testimony, i apologize for not being here, i was at another commitment, you talked about shareholders being misled. but it seems to me that this unbelievable involvement by the government, the e-mail we have that

. >> so you're aware of what she said and confirming what mr. lewis had told this committee about the meeting took place in october, ten days after t.a.r.p. had passed where the nine biggest financial institution were brought to this town including bank of america, told they were now going to have their bank partially nationalized and had to accept t.a.r.p. money and fine a form. you heard that all that testimony that she gave? >> yes. >> and i guess my point is, my question is, well, let me go back to this. and she -- her testimony to this committee a few hour ago was that that action by the fed, by mr. paulsen, by mr. -- treasury secretary paulsen and federal reserve chairman bernanke, quote, took her breath away, when she saw, you know, what took place at that meeting. so now as we move forward, it seems to me that, you know, i guess your testimony, i apologize for not being here, i was at another commitment, you talked about shareholders being misled. but it seems to me that this unbelievable involvement by the government, the e-mail we have that

you talked about how and mr. lewis appears to be doing countries also want to 2005. was the war on terror. then, suddenly, started hearing people in the government saying we did not need to kill some of the modern, and it did not know what that meant, so there have been some confusion, and this administration has been trying to sort through it, and we think we have got it about as right as you can get. there is no doubt that putting these additional troops in in our mind is necessary to reverse the momentum of the taliban to demonstrate clearly to both the afghans and pakistanis that we are serious about our resolve to work with them to try to stabilize their countries, improve their security situation, and that we know it cannot be just a military undertaking, and that is why we are emphasizing the civilian side of it. ultimately, senator, we are going to have to maintain civilian support for afghanistan and pakistan going forward. civilian support for afghanistan and pakistan going forward.

mr. hatch: madam president, i thank my gracious colleague, and i am grateful for his kind words. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that i submit this statement honoring mayor lewis kay billings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: i also ask unanimous consent that another statement regarding the constitutional point of order following the distinguished senator from nevada's remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: madam president, there's a lot -- there's a lot of talk from the majority about why passing this bill is the right thing to do for the american people. it's the decision of conscience for them. well, let us take a closer look at these decisions of conscience. after weeks of closed-door, clandestine negotiations, senator reid finally emerged with a 383-page christmas list. this bill is a dark example of everything that is wrong with washington today. despite all the promises of accountability and transparency, this bill is a tkpwrag pwab of chicago -- grab bag of chicago-style buy-offs. it is hrerts make a deal -- it's let's make a deal for special interest groups. who won and who lost in this dame? let's take a clo

he toured the lewis and clark center, a building completed in 2007 to house the college. mr. perot's gift will fund a new center for interagency cooperation and new chair of ethics. as the conflict in iraq and afghanistan makes clear, cooperation between military and other agencies is an important component for our country's success. to address this need, the colonel arthur d. simon center for study of interagency cooperation will understand the affairs. the second is the general hugh elton ethics center and will stress the importance of ethics and values in the military. rather than naming these, mr. perot chose to name them after others. simons fleed prisoners of war and 1979 mission to rescue from a prison in tehran two of his employees. hugh shelton served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and a friend of mr. perot. he named his initiatives after military members who have played an important role in his life. this gesture is a testament to his character and patriotism. i commend him for his generous and continued support of our armed forces and want to commend reti

mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. let me start at the beginning of his statement which was written by lewis carroll who wrote "alice in wonderland," of course, when he said i characterized the stimulus package, which i have not. the c.b.o. said that the recovery act gained us 600,000 to 1.4 million new jobs. so the gentleman likes to do this. he's done it a number of times. said finally we're talking about jobs. as a matter of fact, in february we passed legislation with no help, frankly, from your side which in fact c.b.o. says has created up to 1.4 million new jobs in america. in addition, we believe we've saved a lot of jobs in america as well. we are not where we want to be. the gentleman also indicates that i would agree that both sides of the aisle have dug a hole deeper on deficit. i say with all respect to my friend, we had an administration that was in office for eight years. the clinton administration, i will remind my friend -- i'm sure he's familiar with these statistics -- that he inherited $292 billion deficit from george bush i. he reduced that deficit that year. the next year he reduced it further. the

you talked about how and mr. lewis appears to be doing countries also want to 2005. it was the war on terror. then, suddenly, started hearing people in the government saying we did not need to kill some of the modern, and it did not know what that meant, so there have been some confusion, and this administration has been trying to sort through it, and we think we have got it about as right as you can get. there is no doubt that putting these additional troops in in our mind is necessary to reverse the momentum of the taliban to demonstrate clearly to both the afghans and pakistanis that we are serious about our resolve to work with them to try to stabilize their countries, improve their security situation, and that we know it cannot be just a military undertaking, and that is why we are emphasizing the civilian side of it. ultimately, senator, we are going to have to maintain civilian support for afghanistan and pakistan going forward. we think that is in our national interest to do so. but i just want to make one final point -- the july 2011 date is the date on whic