mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, h.r.

mr. pallone and mr. pitts, that i rise today in strong support of h.r. 2405, the pandemic and all-hazards preparedness re-authorization act of 2011. which will re-authorize certain provisions of the project bioshield active 2004 and the pandemic and all-has ars preparedness act of 2006. this legislation was initially passed by congress to help the u.s. develop medical countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism agents to provide a neckism iner to federal acquisition of these newly developed countermeasures. our nation remains vulnerable to these threats because many of the vaccines and medicines do not exist. developing a stockpile of these countermeasures requires time, resources and research, all of which will be provided under this legislation before us today. as my colleagued said from michigan, it may not be the best seller on the market like some of the other pharmaceuticals, but this is something that our country needs. h.r. 2405 is important to me too because

mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to support h.r. 1254, the synthetic drug control act. this bill enjoys bipartisan support and is aimed to eliminate commercial availability of harmful synthetic narcotics. under this proposal, hallucinogenic drugs would no longer be able to hide behind the aliases. i was around the country, constituents have been able to utilize synthetic drug products to the detriment of their mental and physical health and in some cases costing them their lives. unfortunately, these imitation drugs are not illegal and there is a critical need to strengthen the federal government's ability to keep these harmful and dangerous drugs off the street. the synthetic drug control act add specific synthetic abuse of drugs to schedule i of the controlled substances act. it mimics drugs such as marijuana and can be unsafe causing convulsions, heart attacks. under current authority, the drug enforcement agency has difficulty taking action against these drugs because they have been designed

mr. pallone. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker and i'm proud to rise in support of house resolution 306 urging the republic of turkey to safeguard its cristian heritage. as an orange co-sponsor its adoption is importance that the congress will not remain silent while countries violate basic religious freedoms. the sad reality is they face oppressive policies. u.s. commission on international religious freedom has found and i quote the turkish government to control religion by imposing suffocating regulations and denying full legal status results in serious violations and the commission has recommended that the turkey comply with freedom of religion or belief and that is what this resolution does. many in turkey have fled religious persecution knowing the consequences that it has had owe churches. the armenian caucus commemorates the genocide. over one million were killed over 90 years ago. but their landmarks, churches and cemeteries are targets. i wanted to mention to my colleague and i respect my colleague from kentucky

mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. waxman. you know, mr. waxman said before that essentially the republicans putting up this bill are not serious. they know that this bill is not going to pass the senate. they know that the president won't sign it, and when i heard my colleagues on the other side talk about, well, we have a deadline of december 31 and basically said take it or leave it, well, they're not serious. that's not the way this house and this congress works. if you want to get something done by this december 31 teadline, you need to work with the democrats, work with the senate and come up with something, and i know that's not what's happening here today. . this idea where you say we are going to give you extended unemployment but cut back on the number of weeks and come up with a doc fix but pay for it by dismantling the affordable care act. they cut the credits making health insurance affordable. then they slash the public health and prevention fund, damaging efforts to realign the nat

mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speakerment i love christmas, too. but when the gentleman on the other side of the aisle suggests that somehow they are going to stay around here after today, i don't believe that for one minute. i guarantee at the end of the day the republicans are going to go home. the difference is they are going to go home without having passed the senate bill that allows people to get their payroll tax cuts, their unemployment insurance, and the seniors to go out and be able to access medicare. if you really cared about these issues, then you would pass the senate bill. you wouldn't put up a vote that rejects the senate bill and doesn't allow us to consider it at all. don't kid anybody here. at the end of the day the republicans will go home. the consequence for the american people is that the economy is in a very perilous situation right now. if you take this tax cut and you don't extend it, then it's very possible people won't have money to spend, the economy won't grow, and this teetering economy could easily fall back into a r

mr. pallone: i cannot believe that at the end of the year now is this a christmas present? is this the new year's gift we are going to give to the american people that their taxes are going to be raised? that they are not going to be able to have unemployment insurance if they are unemployed? what does this mean for the economy, mr. speaker? do the house republicans want to send a message to the president right now when the economy is actually starting to improve slightly? this could easily send us back and make the economy go back into a tailspin. do they dislike the president so much that they would risk the economy for that? i cannot believe that we are not going to have an opportunity today to vote on the senate bill and to make sure that these things are extended, particularly the payroll tax cut, because that is very important for the economy. it's very important for small businesses. it is an outrage, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute.

mr. pallone: i know that in the next week as this time expires on the unemployment compensation, on the medicare reimbursement, on the payroll tax cut, i'm going to get calls from seniors telling me the doctors are not accepting them for medicare anymore, i'm going to find out for people who have lost their uninsurance -- lost their insurance and the payroll tax cut, we're just starting to see the economy improve a little bit and i know that if there's a real risk if we don't extend the payroll tax cut that we send the economy back into a recession again. it is amazing to me to see my colleagues on the other side suggest that somehow they're going to stay here an the conferees -- none of that is true. they're home. they're not here. they're going home and they're not going to come back until after january. i think it is outrageous to think that they're running the risk of the economy being hurt by this, that people don't have money in their pockets and that those who receive medicare may be refused a doctor. we're simply asking democrats, have a heart. why is it the republicans don't understand