mr. murphy. i want to call on miss harman. >> thank you, mr. chairman.thank row for holding this hearing and thanks to a very cape l former governor and very capable team for putting in place a plan to prepare, not scare the public. i want to commend you on the tone of this, that has overcome the original hysteria that met the early stories about the effect of this illness. so thank you very much. my question really is taking this to the next level or, perhaps, to the next problem. is this basic set of protocols we now have in place and the public pitch that we are making quite effectively about this strain of flu, will this be -- could this be applicable to, perhaps, a pandemic that's more severe, a possible biological attack in our country, or other huge health challenges that might arise? and if -- if this set of procedures and protocols and tone that we're using is not applicable, what steps can you take now to be sure it does -- we are -- we are able to adapt it to future problems we don't presently anticipate? >> i think that's a great question, an

mr. murphy of connecticut. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 746, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. murphy, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut. mr. murphy: madam chair, i recognize myself for as much time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. murphy: i'd like to first thank chairman bill miler, representative andrews, representative hinojosa, ranking member for their work on the underlying legislation. we are debating right now landmark legislation that's going to bring more access, affordable access to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of college students across this country. and therefore it's only fitting that as a component to this legislation the student aid and fiscal responsibility act also heavily invests in birth to 5 education. we know investing in earthly childhood education creates a pathway to later success in our educational spectrum. madam chair, i have spent the last several months touring

mr. murphy, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. murphy: i thank the speaker. for granting us this time on the house floor this evening. i hope to be joined very shortly by a few other of our colleagues, both from the 30-something working group, which as our colleagues know comes down to this floor on a regular basis to talk about the issues that matter not just to our constituents, to the american people, but in particular to young families out there. also be joined this evening by a few other members who care deeply about this congress' commitment to health care reform. this is the defining subject of this moment in congress. it is the defining issue for our constituents when we are back home. and rightly so. mr. speaker, my colleagues, when i was home for august, i went out there and talked to the people that i represent in every form possible. i spent early mornings in the dew of village greens. i did town halls in the evenings, set up a card table outside supermarkets. talked to health care professionals, nurses, and doctors and

mr. murphy, we welcome you. what did you hear from mr. geithner on taxes from that particular clip? >> well, glad to be here. i think this was just typical political double speak. i think the only thing i believed he ever said was when he admitted he never held a real job. we all know taxes are going up. he didn't give a definitive answer. he just tried to evade the issue. >> do we all know taxes are going up? >> well, we do know the bush tax is going to be repealed, which is part of what the president promised when he was running for office, the ke is whose taxes are going to go up and will there be any additional taxes on top of the repeal of the bush taxes. geithner didn't give us any direction on that. i don't think we're going to see a middle class tax increase. he said that very clearly. but the question is what will happen beyond the tax increases we already know are part of the plan. >> let's no open the health care box too wide, but i think there are going to be a lot of middle class tax hikes on health care. i want to get you in here. you're a former assistant secretary. w

mr. murphy: mr. speaker, over the past several years, we hear politicians during debate use harsh words, verbal attacks are rewarded by sound bites and bum in polling numbers and public fundraising. and we look to the next opportunity for a verbal attack but to what end? if there is decor umh in debate there it is in the house of representatives. if we lose it, we lose legitimacy. we are tasked with maintaining civility rather than insult. both sides must focus on changing for the better and set examples for the country and our people. during this session of congress alone, a dozen resolutions have been brought up to attack. our nation is faced with unemployment in record numbers and ailing stock market, health care crisis, growing debt and two wars. that is the work of congress. that is what the american people want us to address. anything less is unacceptable. let's stop the name calling and shouting. we have work to do. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance o

mr. murphy: i agree, mr. ryan. i think that's why on this issue of setting a level playing field amongst insurers where they're not allowed to keep out people who are sick, they're also not allowed to price people who get sick at an exorbitantly higher rate than other people, you know, insurers want to be part of that change because it does allow them to get back to trying to be will well -- about wellness and health care rather than trying to be about moderating risk. so i think in this we have allies. insurance may not like other parts of this bill, they may not want the public option, put pressure on their rates to come down, but there are a lot of other pieces here that they are partners on. i want to just, for example, one other example, mr. ryan, of where it's appropriate for the government to come in here and set new rules and you said it right here. if you don't want the government regulating health care, well then you've got to dial the clock back about 50 years or so. because the government right now not

mr. murphy, i think, was very good person on this. >> if did that on purpose, he did not mention that to eisenhower. of course, there was quite the tongue-lashing in the white house. >> in this case, he will defy and nobody wants to defy from the state department. >> that's true. now, when your father received that invitation, he writes in his memoirs that he was invited to camp david to talk to eisenhower and he did not know what camp david was. and he asked his various aids in moscow and they didn't know and they asked the embassy in washington and they didn't know either. is that true? is it possible that somehow they didn't know what camp david was? >> but i don't think that too many americans knew that and he wanted to be treated equal so he was very precise looking on -- he did not care and he asked why they don't want to speak with me at the white house and try to bring me to some camp? maybe it's humiliation. and it came to his mind when it was first not recognized soviet union, then invited the soviet delegate to princess island and then they reported they send their stray dogs.

mr. murphy. i want to call on miss harman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank row for holding this hearing and thanks to a very cape l former governor and very capable team for putting in place a plan to prepare, not scare the public. i want to commend you on the tone of this, that has overcome the original hysteria that met the early stories about the effect of this illness. so thank you very much. my question really is taking this to the next level or, perhaps, to the next problem. is this basic set of protocols we now have in place and the public pitch that we are making quite effectively about this strain of flu, will this be -- could this be applicable to, perhaps, a pandemic that's more severe, a possible biological attack in our country, or other huge health challenges that might arise? and if -- if this set of procedures and protocols and tone that we're using is not applicable, what steps can you take now to be sure it does -- we are -- we are able to adapt it to future problems we don't presently anticipate? >> i think that's a great question, a

mr. murphy: mr. speaker, last night the president spoke about health care and despite what some may portray as big rifts, there is much room for agreement. so i say we must work on these principles to get health care done. everyone should have the choice to purchase in groups, purchase across the nation competitively, the choice to have your plan portable and permanent across jobs. the choice to purchase a basic plan that covers emergency and hospital care. the president used the analogy of buying car insurance, let's keep in mind with auto insurance can you buy a very basic liability plan and add to it if you choose. keep health insurance very basic and you keep it affordable. there should be no choice to cut coverage because a person is sick or was sick at one time. there should be be no choice to have plans on hospitals that tolerate waste, fraud, and inefficientcy. with these changes we can make health care more affordable w these chains we can supplement payments for lower cost, high quality hea

mr. murphy: if our friends on the other side of the aisle want to have a debate about freedom, let's have a debate about freedom. we don't legislate on anecdotes, but legislate on data, statistics and evidence but the anecdotes are powerful because they are representative of what the data tells us. and i think about the woman in my district who raised her hand at an event last week and said, listen, i worked for an employer who is downsizing and looking to cut costs wherever they can and i've got a child with very serious illness. she is on this employer's health care plan and i know i'm targeted. i know if they can get rid of me and get rid of the expenses associated with my daughter, they just saved a lot of money. i know if i lose this job, i'm not going to be able to find another one because there is no way someone is go to pick me up to cover the costs of my daughter, through no fault of my own. what kind of freedom is that? how free are you. a guy raised his hand and told me the fact that he had been working for a new company that just hired him in new britain, connecticut. he had a

mr. murphy and you and ms. wasserman schultz here back on the floor again, and the fact that some of the arguments that you hear that, i don't think we're here for some big, let's build the government even more. let's go out and our -- the reason why we're here is to make sure the government gets bigger and more control, that's what we ran for. no. we're here because we care about the people that sent us here. i said it earlier when i was here on the floor, just me at the top of this hour, when i said, you know something? no one came up to me and said, congressman, i woke up at 7:00 a.m. voting for representation, i'm so happy to send you, your wife and two kids to washington so you can have health care i will never have. and the bottom line is, i'm going to put these testimonials on my website some people have emailed to me and some i got from my town hall meeting. i'm look at robert from florida, he said as a self-employed person, i'm not eligible for group coverage. therefore i must pay $4,000 a year for my

mr. murphy? mr. murphy stealthily came into the room, so we can look to him for stealth technology. there's no questions. in that case, is there anything that anybody wants to comment on that you thought might have been left unsaid? i'll start from my left over here. general feemed. >> -- general field. >> thank you for allowing the opportunity, mr. chairman. i wish to go back, maybe about an hour, to that which addressed the white paper produced by ambassador ikeenberry which addresses how he wishes to approach certain matters in the reconstruction effort. i want to point out, to this committee, that during the course of the past year, making my first trip to afghanistan in this capacity, last september, i've now visited 13 provinces and about as many p.r.t.'s or provincial reconstruction teams, i've met with about as many governors of provinces or deputy governors of provinces. i've met with practically all of the senior ministers of the government of afghanistan to include three visits with president karzai himself. each time we visit, not just i, but i and my staff visit, we get

mr. murphy. congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania. congressman murphy of pennsylvania.ave them all. i think you should take that as a sign of the enormous gratitude that we have, how incapable words are to thank you, but i hope that the presence of so many members in this space. first, as has been said by all of our speakers, for you to see as long as this capital exists for anyone to visit here and honor his or her memory. [applause] [applause] [inaudible] [reading names] [reading names] [applause] >> braves sacrifice on september 11, 2001, who may have saved countless lives in the u.s. capital from destruction. [applause] [inaudible] >> up next, senator carl levin from michigan talks about u.s. involvement in afghanistan. at 10:30, a conversation about al-qaeda in spain. >> this week during a special session, the supreme court heard oral argument on campaign finance, the first session for judge sonia sotomayor. >> wouldn't we be doing more harm than good by broad ruling in a case that does not involve four-business corporations and is not involve additional non- profi

mr. murphy still fully came into the room. -- stealthily came into the room.e anything anyone wants to comment on the e think we have been left unsaid? i will start on my left. >> thank you for allowing that opportunity, mr. chairman. i wish to go back maybe about an hour to that which addressed the white paper produced by one ambassador that addresses how he would wish to approach reconstruction efforts. i want to point out to the subcommittee that during the course of the past year, making my first trip to afghanistan in this capacity of last september, i have now visited 13 provinces and about as many prt's. i have met with as many governors of provinces or the deputy governors. i have met with practically all of the senior ministers of the government of afghanistan to include three visits with president karzai cells. each time we visit, i or my staff visit, we get -- we received this issue of afghanistan wanting to be more involved in the reconstruction of their country. so, i say this because i applaud, really, what the ambassador has put forth as to what

mr. zimmerman. things get interesting in the ninth. daniel murphy over to ian desmond. nice stop by the rookie at short. bad throw to first when it is too tall for adam dunn, it is too tall for anyone. nats now clinging to a one-run lead the next batter, jeff francoeur chops one up the middle. makes the sta stab and loses his glove. stay was the play. the lollipop drove over to first, good for the out. that is the ball game. man. good play by mcdougal hering to stick with us. nationals hold o to win 6-5. the mets are terrible this year. lost six in a row. >>> folks, the goal for the redskins on sunday pretty simple. win. not bying a field goal or even a touchdown. their goal, to win big. at least that's what it should be. to make a statement against one of the nfl's worst teams. how about hanging a 30 spot on the scoreboard? the last time the skins scored 30 in a game, let me think. 2007. jim zorn says he wants a complete by-the-book effort and maybe, just maybe, he will adjust his play calling a bit. >> i'm done with tricks now. i'm done with tricks. no. i think that w

murphy said, face additional charges for escaping justice? >> no, he should not. as a matter of fact, chris, the deal in los angeles at the time between the prosecution and mr. dalton, the defense lawyer for roman polanski, was agreed to by the judge. he was sent to an evaluation facility at chino in california. at that facility, they made the appropriate recommendations, consistent with what the judge had agreed to. the judge, on the other hand, began to be pillared with information and nonsense, similar to what wendy is offering to the public here. and as a result of that, he wanted to back out of the deal. the prosecutor was kind enough to tell mr. dalton, the lawyer for roman, that, in fact, the judge was reneging on the deal. the deal was a very simple one. whatever the recommendations apparently would be from chino would be what the sentence would be. the recommendations from chino was, he needed no further incarceration. the judge apparently said, i won't do that, and with that, mr. polanski left. but let's talk clearly about what occurred in switzerland. mr. polanski has a residence in switzerland. he's been living there, during the ski season for th