mr. pallone: i yield, madam speaker, two minutes to the gentlewoman from california. the chair: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for two minutes. mrs. capps: i thank my colleague from new jersey for yielding. madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to this bill. we all know that we have a long-term care crisis in this country. what we have now is an unsustainable patchwork approach with wealthy people having access to private plans while almost everyone else finds the costs incredibly prohibitive. these are the folks who fall through the cracks every day. spending down all their assets until there is nothing left and then relying on our strained medicare program for care. this is what the class program tries to avoid. it would provide a benefit for individuals to stay out of costly nursing homes, benefits they already paid into. we can all agree that the class program currently written in the statute is not perfect but few things are. we can use it as a framework upon which to fix and implement this program, one that would be amended, improved and made s

mr. pallone: i yield, madam speaker, two minutes to the gentlewoman from california. the chair: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for two minutes. mrs. capps: i thank my colleague from new jersey for yielding. madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to this bill. we all know that we have a long-term care crisis in this country. what we have now is an unsustainable patchwork approach with wealthy people having access to private plans while almost everyone else finds the costs incredibly prohibitive. these are the folks who fall through the cracks every day. spending down all their assets until there is nothing left and then relying on our strained medicare program for care. this is what the class program tries to avoid. it would provide a benefit for individuals to stay out of costly nursing homes, benefits they already paid into. we can all agree that the class program currently written in the statute is not perfect but few things are. we can use it as a framework upon which to fix and implement this program, one that would be amended, improved and made s

mr. pallone, and also the chairman of our committee, mr. waxman of california said hey, it's ok with me and there were no hearings held. so this business of can't we work this out and yet we were reaching out and it never happened. mr. green: if i may reclaim my time. i do welcome comments about the past, my dear friend, but i'm asking you, given that you do have some degree of influence given that you are in the majority, why can we do now what was not done? and i'm not privy to what was done, why can we not now work to mend rather than end something that can benefit persons who cannot help themselves? why can we not do it now? what prevents us? mr. gingrey: mr. chairman, i think the gentleman is yielding to me again asking me a specific question and i want to respond to my friend. and you know, the point i will make to him is that we can work together. we absolutely can. mr. chairman, we have discussed this with mr. pallone and i have done so personally as i know my physician colleagues on energy and commerce, mr. burgess, had a conversat

mr. pallone for five minutes. >> thank you. i want to welcome lisa jackson before the committee. i have worked with her for many years. since you have been at the helm of the epa, i believe our country has made great strides in improving air quality, protecting america's waters and cleaning up our communities and these accomplishments are crucial to protecting human health and the environment. unfortunately, the republicans in congress and on the campaign trail in particular are attempting to argue that protecting our environment is somehow hurting our economy. i don't think that's true. i don't think you need to choose between a strong economy and a clean environment. i think they bolster each other. i think it's oftentimes my colleagues on the other side make broad generalizations without looking at the facts. according to the nonpartisan economic policy institute, epa's toxics rule will lead to the creation of 85,500 jobs between now and 2015. i just mention that as one example of how safeguarding our environment can help bolster the economy. i know in tough economic times it'

mr. pallone, for 30 minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i wasn't planning oncoming to the floor this evening but when i heard my republican colleagues' special order that was just completed, i couldn't help but come down because i think i have to correct the record on many of the statements that they made this evening about medicare and their efforts with regard to medicare. first of all, i have to point out that when medicare was first -- when medicare was first adopted in the house and in the senate back in the 1960's when president johnson was here the republicans overwhelmingly opposed it. they were opposed to medicare. they voted against it. it would never have passed if it was for their votes. it only passed as a democratic initiative. over the year, democrats have been the ones -- over the years, democrats have been the ones to protect medicare. republicans have consistently opposed medicare tried to repeal it, privatize it, voucherize it and basically as a once republican speaker said, who i was here at the time when newt

mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you. thank you, madam speaker. today's payroll tax conference agreement will provide $1,000 in the pockets of more than 160 million americans and ensure that approximately 3.5 million americans will continue to benefit from much-needed unemployment insurance. we've also protected seniors' ability to see their doctors with an s.g.r. fix through the end of the year. despite these critical provisions though, this is a difficult vote to take. i'm greatly disappointed how these extensions are offsets. first, the unemployment extension is paid for on the backs of the hardworking middle-class individuals. they are not the reason for our nation's deficit. meanwhile, my republican colleagues refuse to require the wealthiest few to pay their fair share. secondly, the s.g.r. fix is being paid for by critical health care dollars. it slashes one of the most important progresses we have made in long-term health. we will never address the real concerns of our health care system. sadly,