mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, when most of our republican colleagues vote no against extending unemployment benefits for americans toda these people have who have lost their job through no fault of their own, they're doing it and they'll say it's because of the deficit. but in reality they're simply trying to make the president fail at any cost. we have precedent here for that. back in the 1990 when newt gingrich ruled this place, they thought the american people were stupid, but it didn't work then and it won't work now. in december, 1995, newt gingrich thought he could win the presidency for the republican party by shutting down the government. and proving that bill clinton was infective. you all remember that -- in effective. you remember that instead the american people overwhelmingly elected bill clinton to office in 1996. now they've got the same play book again, they're running it again. the republican leadership in congress has decided that th way for the republicans get the white house back is by

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, when most of our republican colleagues vote no against extending unemployment benefits for americans today, these people have who have lost their job through no fault of their own, they're doing it and they'll say it's because of the deficit. but in reality they're simply trying to make the president fail at any cost. we have precedent here for that. back in the 1990 when newt gingrich ruled this place, they thought the american people were stupid, but it didn't work then and it won't work now. in december, 1995, newt gingrich thought he could win the presidency for the republican party by shutting down the government. and proving that bill clinton was infective. you all remember that -- in effective. you remember that instead the american people overwhelmingly elected bill clinton to office in 1996. now they've got the same play book again, they're running it again. the republican leadership in congress has decided that the way for the republicans to get the white house back

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i can't help but respond to the change of subject from the gentleman from louisiana. i guess fishermen aren't worth anything. fishermen are worthless, all that sea stuff that comes up and they sell all over the place they don't care about that. all they want to do is drill for oil. that the president is careful and prudent and says, let's look at this drilling before we go on with it, because we've just proved that the oil companies are reckless, they've proved it for 79 days in the gulf and if you can't learn from that and realize what it's doing to crabbers and to shrimp fishermen and to oyster beds then you have missed the point. mr. boustany: will the gentleman yield? mr. mcdermott: i yield to the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. people all over illinois and all over america are waiting with baited breath and they're waiting to pay utility bills, to pay house notes, t

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extends their remarks and include extraneous material in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i rise today to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing of electronic signatures in global and national commerce act, the esign bill, a landmark piece of legislation that has transformed how we conduct interstate commerce and business. the advent of e signatures has brought enormous benefit to both consumers and businesses alike by drastically improving convenience, reducing cost and increasing the speed of transactions. as many of you know, i represent seattle, which is one of the most wired and high-tech cities in the world, esign has great ily you improvinged the ability of companies in my -- greatly improvi

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, 75 years ago this country recognized the plight of senior citizens who had no retirement, who were forced to move in with their kids when they got old, and we created social security. and it has been a tremendous success. many people, however, don't realize what else social security does for this country. 8.5 million americans who have disabilities that limit their ability to work receive assistance from the program. roughly 6.5 million children receive part of their family income through a program which has lifted nearly nearly two million of them out of poverty . when their breadwinner, their father or mother died, social security gives them a benefit. some of them have used it to go to college. and through the social security program, another 7.5 million people very low income and severely disabled people receive critical financial support to meet their most basic needs. i urge all my colleagues to review the entire record and support fixing social security next session. t

mr. mcdermott will also bring his views, and i yield to the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott.mr. mcdermott: thank you, congresswoman fudge. i was approached by one of the members on the floor, actually, marcy kaptur. she said, why don't we go out and tell the story of people? why are we being quiet about this? i was pleased when we presented this idea to you, you said, come on, i've got an hour, let's talk about it. over the past six weeks, we have fought to try to get benefits extended. we cite the statistics of 2.5 million people have lost their benefits since last june but we haven't heard much about the jobless workers themselves. i'm really grateful for an opportunity to come out here and talk about what we are all going through in our district. on the telephone, in the newspaper, in the grocery store, but i picked up "the new york times" on sunday and there on page 13 was the story of a woman named terry sandler. she lost her job in an automotive parts plant in october of 2008. she used to make $14.65 an hour and was able to make ends meet but since she's been laid off,

mr. mcdermott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mcdermott: thank you, mr. speaker. well, we're back today to try again to do the right thing for america's unemployed workers and the right thing for our economy. two days ago the republicans in the house voted down a bill to continue unemployment benefits for anyone because they had lost their job through no fault of their own. but just last night the republicans in the other body followed suit locking legislation again that would have restored and continued benefits. their opposition was based on the fact that we just heard a long speech about it wasn't paid for. what a joke. it wasn't paid for. this is a sport that is played ffr by hardworking americans, maybe making $50,000, $60,000 a few weeks ago, these people spending every day looking for work and sent out hundreds of resumes, many of which are not responded to, they paid for this by paying taxes in the past. and with five people competing for every available job, they simply cannot find work no matter how qualified and educate

mr. mcdermott of washington, five minutes, mrs. kirkpatrick of arizona, five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio, five minutes, mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. pll price of alabama -- mr. bright of alabama. mr. price: i rise to pay tribute to -- mr. bright: i rise to pay tribute to army specialist, brean dan was the third generation of his family to be part of the 82nd airborne division. he was stationed at fort bragg, north carolina, and a member of the 508 infantry parachute regiment. after high school he enrolled at enterprise state junior college, where i went to school where, like his older brother tim he showed an interest in comedy. but brendan had a higher calling and believed he should serve his country first before doing anything else. without question, he adhered to the concept of america first hisms brother tim noted to the "southeast sun" newspaper in enterprise

mr. mcdermott, for bringing this bill forward and for his steadfast commitment to his hardworking families. it is vitally important that we pass this bill and provide much needed help that our constituents need during these trying times. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for as much time as she may consume. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from california for yielding time. i rise in opposition to this closed rule which rewrites h.r. 5618, the restoration of emergency under employment compensation act, and provides martial law same day authority for any resolution reported from the rules committee through saturday, july 3. this bill has been rushed through congress, avoiding committee action. when the democrats who are in charge brought the bill up before the house for consideration on june

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, recently senator john -- jon kyl called unemployment insurance an unnecessary evil. i've been mystified about how the republicans could refeetedly block unemployment benefits in a struggling economy that they drove into the ditch. i couldn't grasp this reasoning behind depriving millions of american families to support the need to buy fooned pay their mortgage while they searched for work. now, i understand that republicans believe that helping jobless workers is an evil. i foolishly thought we might hear some compassion from the party that is causing countless americans to lose their lifeline. i just hope that enough republicans in the other body will find the colonel to buck their party and end this -- courage to buck their party and end this. millions of american families are counting on them. their phone calls come into my office every single day from every part of the country. when will the extended benefits be put back in? and i say, look to the republicans in the senat

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, as we close this debate and finally put this on the backburner until november when we have to come back and look at it again, perhaps, we'll see, i sense one of the speakers on the other side talked about confusion. my view is that the confusion here is between whether we're going to send unemployment checks or we're going to tell people, go hungry. that's the confusion. people say, well, it's about paying for it. i will remind my colleagues on the other side, mr. bush was president for eight years and when we zun employment we did i on an emergency basis, we never paid for it one time and you guys had -- the republicans -- i'm not supposed to address them directly, they didn't pay for it, mr. speaker. they were in charge and their president was in charge but they called it an emergency. now under mr. obama it's not an emergency. suddenly we're going to -- we're going to tie up people's minds and try and confuse them but the fact is that for six weeks we have said to workers