mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: madam speaker, i'm pleased to rise in support of s. 1440 as amended, the legislation before us extendses two existing programs and creates -- extends two existing programs and creates a new initiative. the first title of the legislation re-authorizes the prematurity research expansion and education for mothers who deliver infants early. or preemie act. through fiscal year 2017. the preemie act was signed into law in 2006 and i was proud to be a co-sponsor of the original house legislation. s. 1440 as amended calls for further studies on factors related to prematurity, improved data on birth, continued preterm birth prevention efforts and strengthened public and health-provider education on risk factors for preterm delivery and treatments and outcomes for preterm infants. the legislation also codifies an advisory committee to the secretary of health and human services on infant

mr. rogers, chairman upton, ranking member waxman, ranking member pallone, mrs. myrick, ms. eshoo, and mr. markey for their work, and i strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes on this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. rogers: thank you, madam speaker. i yield two minutes to the distinguished chairman and great leader of this congress, chairman of energy and commerce committee, mr. upton, from michigan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. upton: thank you, madam speaker. i particularly want to thank mr. rogers who has helped shepherd this bill through our committee, and i know chairman pitts, ranking member waxman, and i appreciate their hard work along with all the members of our committee to get this bill done and to the floor this afternoon. madam speaker, this bill, the pandemic and all hazards preparedness re-authorization act of 2012 would re-authorize programs to design -- designed to encourage develo

mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. mr. burgess: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: h.r. 6190. s that bill i wish we did not have to consider today. over the past several years i have repeatedly asked the food and drug administration, the environmental protection agency and even the white house, the president himself, for answers to questions that i and other members of the committee have as to why the administration has refused to grant a waiver to sell the existing stock of over the counter epinephrine inhalers. only last summer and because the committee was moving legislation at the time did the food and drug administration finally provide at least some sort of response, albeit one that was entirely unsatisfactory. under the rules known as the montreal protocol, certain chemical propellants used in a number of medical and cosmetic devices were to be phased out of a number of years. the c.f.c. used in epinephrine inhalers here is one of the one that was one of those propellants. knowing that the man

mr. pallone from new jersey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i thank my colleague from maryland. republicans are once again trying to undermine the recovery of the american middle class. house republicans have rejected a balanced approach and opted to draconian cuts to the people who can afford them the least in an effort to protect the wealthy. the republican plan should be called the reverse robin hood ajeopardya. it starts by taking food out of the mouths of children by cutting their critical supplemental nutrition assistance program. next they move on to one of their favorite pasttimes trying to repeal the affordable care act that makes health care more affordable for women, children, seniors and the poor. 300,000 low-income children will lose aid. women will lose access to critical health services covered in the a.c.a. like cancer screenings. and the last step is to go after another favorite g.o.p. target and that's social security. house republicans have only one to protect and that's the wealthiest americans. it couldn't be more

mr. pallone: to address the house for one minute, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pallone: madam speaker, if we fail to act in the remaining day of the 112th congress, this congress will be one that will be remembered to ignore the will of the people. if we fail to act, a family of four will see its taxes rise by $2,200 started in 2013. this means less money to buy groceries, gas and fay the bills. according to the non-- and pay the bills. according to the congressional budget office, going over the cliff will raise the unemployment rate from 7.9% to 9.1% in 2013. now, losing that many jobs will plunge our nation back into a recession and putting economic recovery further out of reach. we will put the jobs out. it's time to put an end to the era of trying to balance budgets on the backs of the middle class and it's time we take steps to avoid setting our economic recovery up for failure. we all want a better resolution than simply jumping off the fiscal cliff. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from newersey is recognized for one minute. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question. the message from my constituents and from the american people is loud and clear and that's to extend the middle class tax cuts now. and republicans are sily holding hostage tax cuts for 98% of americans and 97% of small businesses to give more takes to the -- tax breaks to the wealthiest americans. democrats have a commonsense solution and we can't wait around any longer as real proposals languish while the house g.o.p. gets its act together. spearheaded by congressman walz, the democrats filed the walz discharge petition to automatically bring to the floor the senate-passed middle class tax cuts wch the president has said he will sign immediately. and overwhelmingly members have signed this discharge petition. my point is, we don't have any time to waste. we could pass this extension of e middle class tax cuts now as we find a bold and balanced and fair agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. but the

mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. the message from the american people is loud and clear. extend the middle class tax cuts now. republicans are holding hostage tax cuts for 98% of americans and 97% of small businesses to give more tax breaks to the wealthiest americans. and once again republicans playing politics with something that will help americans get back as we work to repair the damage that eight years of republican leadership created. democrats have a commonsense solution and we can't wait around any longer to let real proposals languish until the house g.o.p. gets it back together. spearheaded by congressman tim walz, democrats filed a discharge petition to automatically bring to the house floor the senate-passed middle class tax cuts which the president has said he will sign immediately. we have no time to waste, mr. speaker. pass the extension of the middle class tax cuts now as we find a bold balance and fair agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman

mr. pallone from new jersey. >> thank you mr. speaker and my colleague from maryland. >> republicans are trying to undermine the middle kass. they omented for cuts to the people who can afford them the least in an effort to protect the wealthy. the republican plan may as well be called the reversed robin hood plan. it takes food out of the mouths of children by cutting their nutrition assistance programs snap, next they move on to trying to repeal the affordable care act which makes healthcare for affordable for women, seniors and the poor. 3 million will lose access to healthcare. women will lose access to critical health service fs covered like cancer screenings and imization and the last step is to go after a favorite g.o.p. target and that's social security. house republicans want to protect the wealthiest americans. it couldn't be more obvious. i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from wisconsin. >> i'd like to jeeled today gentleman from michigan. >> thank you mr. speaker, today we take a stand for future g