mr. mcdermott: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2832, a bill which extends the general system of preferences or g.s.p., for 22 months. let's make it clear what's going on here tonight. usually members of congress come from all over the country on the first day of session and we come back here and rename post offices. so the president said, why don't i go over there on wednesday and give a speech about jobs and about the agenda that this country ought to face. sent a pro forma request to the leadership of the house and they said, we have important business, we can't make room for you. the first time in history the president has been denied access to a general speech to the entire congress. then you have the problem, what important stuff have you got? so they come looking for a bill. so this is the bill they brought forward. it's going to pass on unanimous consent, it could have passed months ago, it should have passed months ago, because it is a cornerstone of our u.s. trade and development policy

mr. mcdermott: i rise in reluctant -- mr. dicks: i rise in reluctant opposition to the continuing resolution. for the most part, it is a clean c.r., it provides funding at $1.03 trillion through november 18. the amount reflects the budget control act cap on f.y. 2012 appropriations. the c.r. continues funding, has provide -- as provided in f.y. 2011 with a 1 .503 across the board cut to come down from 159 to 1043. the c.r. adds a handful of anomalies requested by the administration through o.m.b., including provisions to cut back on overseas contingency operation funds from the level of 11 down to the level that was passed in the defense appropriations bill which is approximately 118. authorized d.h.s. work on national special security events ex-tends flood insurance and delays the postal service obligation. the last provision will allow mail service to continue while congress pursues legislative reforms. the matter that concerns me and the democratic caucus is the way the majority has provided disaster relief funding. fema's

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i rise as a very proud honorary member of the vets. the group that you are honoring today. and in support of this resolution. seattle was the site of a roundup of thousands of americans. ordinary americans, had businesses, had truck farms, kids were going to high school, were going to college. one of them, young man named william nakamura, was 18-year-old kid at gar-field high school, rounded up, taken out in the middle of idaho to a camp out there, and then the government said, if you'd like to come back and join the military and serve, you can. there was lots of debate among the people in the camps about whether they should come back or not. as you heard 10,000 came back and were the most decorated unit in history of the united states military. they distinguished themselves beyond any group that have ever served for this country. william nakumura took out two machine gun nests and was himself killed and the courthouse in seattle is now named after him. as a memorial to what this contrillion really stands for. the japanese -- country

mr. mcdermott from seattle, washington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, i rise in opposition to this resolution because it is in favor of the united states defaulting on its debts. the republican party is calling for the united states to default, to tell the whole world, we don't pay our debts. that's what this is about, and it doesn't do one single thing to help american workers or businesses with jobs. now, make no mistake. the house of representatives is being used by the tea party as an attack machine on the president. they will delay action on anything that helps the economy. the president came up here on thursday with a plan. where's the schedule for bringing it out on the floor? no, we had to delay economic recovery. it's a small price to pay if they can win an election. they don't care about ordinary folks, working people. they only care about the people on the top. instead of doing something to help create jobs they brought up thi

mr. mcdermott from seattle, washington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, i rise in opposition to this resolution because it is in favor of the united states defaulng on its debts. the republican party is calling for the united states to default, to tell the whole world, we don't pay our debts. that's what this is about, and it doesn't do one single thing to help american workers or businesses with jobs. now, make no mistake. the house of representatives is being used by the tea party as an attack machine on the president. they will delay action on anything that helps the economy. the president came up here on thursday with a plan. where's the schedule for bringing it out on the floor? no, we had to delay economic recovery. it'a small price to pay if they can win an election. they don't care about ordinary folks, working people. they only care about the people on the top. instead of doing something to help create jobs they brought up this bi

mr. mcdermott, for five minutes. mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, i'm taking the floor today to talk about folks. the problem of housing foreclosures in this country continues to be one of the central reasons why this economy is not moving forward. while a lot of this economic wreckage is avoidable, this congress continues to fiddle while the american housing market burns. americans are being tossed out in the street and many of them don't need to be and we can't help them. we can help fix the housing market so that millions of american families can stay in their homes and others can have a smooth transition into renting. we could help, but this congress is doing nothing. millions of homeowners are suffering through the worst recession in 100 years and the republican majority is not doing one single thing to help them. just look at this map next to me. this is a snapshot of foreclosures across this country. the dark red areas are where the worst places are, but you see it covers everybody in the country. now, there isn't a d

mr. mcdermott: i rise in reluctant -- mr. dicks: i rise in reluctant opposition to the continuing resolution. for the most part, it is a clean c.r., it provides funding at $1.03 trillion through november 18. the amount reflects the budget control act cap on f.y. 2012 appropriations. the c.r. continues funding, has provide -- as provided in f.y. 2011 with a 1 .503 across the board cut to come down from159 to 1043. the c.r. adds a handful of anomalies requested by the administration through o.m.b., including provisions to cut back on overseas contingency operation funds from the level of 11 down to the level that was passed in the defense appropriations bill which is approximately 118. authorized d.h.s. workn national special security events ex-tends flood insurance and delays the postal service obligation. the last pvision will allow mail service to continue while congress pursues legislative reforms. the matter that concerns me and the democratic caucus is the way the majority has provided disaster relief funding. fema's disa