mr. poe: mr. speaker, i rise in support of this legislation, and i reserve -- i yield myself such time as i may consume. . the judicial conference has requested more judgeships several and the house has passed legislation to add them. however our friends down the hallway, the senate, has not acted on any of these requests. since congress last authorized additional permanent judgeships, judicial work loads have increased substantially. the important bankruptcy reforms congress passed in 2005, for example, called on judges to do more to prevent abuse. congress compensated for some of the court's increasing burden in recent years by creating temporary bankruptcy judgeships. many of those judgeships are near their expiration dates. so the time has come for congress once again to address bankruptcy judgeship needs on a permanent basis. bankruptcy judges are e-- essential to the bankruptcy process. they make certain the process is fair and impartial to those that come before the courts. it is also their

mr. poe. mr. poe: this is an important piece of legislation to show the awareness and bring national awareness to this problem. some of the violence that occurs among our teenagers is horrible. the things they are doing to each other. and those especially in a and those especially in a relationship in

felipe calderon yes, mr. poe, war is hard. i -- mr. filner: yes, mr. poe, war is hard. talk to nelson mandela. peace is harder. peace is really hard. victory is close, i haired mr. poe's words. what message are we sending to our troops? the alamo is a metaphor for this? come on, mr. poe. and mr. poe started out, this is about our troops. that's exactly right. this is about our troops. thank you, mr. kucinich, for allowing us to have a debate. here we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars and we have had no real debate. so thank you for bringing this and allowing us to do this. and we need a debate in a democracy so everyone understands the costs, the cost of going to war and the cost of not going to war, the material cost, the human cost. this is about the troops, i agree with mr. poe. you know, we record, and i have been to iraq and afghanistan. i have met these incredible young men and women who are doing this battle, as mr. poe suggested. they are incredible. it's the policymakers i am worried about. we report 1,000 almost in afghanistan and we report around 40,

mr. poe: mr. speaker, the special agents that work in the government enforcement -- drug enforcement administration, the d.e.a., are special agents indeed. many times they work alone, they work deep undercover. they work not only in the united states but in foreign countries and they work for the soul purpose of trying to capture -- sole purpose of trying to capture those outlaws who are in the drug business, who in the name of money try to sell their wears and profit on that illegal -- wears and profit on that illegal enterprise that is an international crime cartel syndicate. our d.e.a. agents do a wonderful job. we sometimes forget the work they do. and this is just one of many who have worked and dedicated their lives to helping to protect the rest of us. as my friend from california, mr. hunter, has pointed out, much of this violence occurs on our borders because the drug cartels operate on international borders. our border with mexico especially, the because the drug cartels in the name of m

felipe calderon yes, mr. poe, war is hard. i -- mr. filner: yes, mr. poe, war is hard. talk to nelson mandela. peace is harder. peace is really hard. victory is close, i haired mr. poe's words. what message are we sending to our troops? the alamo is a metaphor for this? come on, mr. poe. and mr. poe started out, this is about our troops. that's exactly right. this is about our troops. thank you, mr. kucinich, for allowing us to have a debate. here we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars and we have had no real debate. so thank you for bringing this and allowing us to do this. and we need a debate in a democracy so everyone understands the costs, the cost of going to war and the cost of not going to war, the material cost, the human cost. this is about the troops, i agree with mr. poe. you know, we record, and i have been to iraq and afghanistan. i have met these incredible young men and women who are doing this battle, as mr. poe suggested. they are incredible. it's the policymakers i am worried about. we report 1,000 almost in afghanistan and we report around 40,

mr. poe: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized, mr. poe. mr. poe: mr. speaker, i support house concurrent resolution 249. this resolution commemorates the 45th anniversary of bloody sunday and the role it played in ensuring the passage of the voting rights act of 1965. on bloody sunday march 7, 1965 john lewis, john congressman and chairman john lewis, and the late jose williams led a march in selma, alabama, to demand the racial and political equality in the united states. they led 600 civil rights marchers east out of selma, alabama, toward the state's capital in montgomery. they got as far as edmund pettis bridge, six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them with clubs, tear gas, and forced them back into selma. congressman lewis was beaten unconscious, leaving him with a concussion and many other injuries. the events on bloody sunday were televised nationally and the nation responded to these actions. as a result, within eight days president lyndon

the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. mr. poe: i request permission to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: the new health care bill is an invasion of people's privacy. it's another reason why we should vote it down. the government shouldn't be sticking its nose into people's medical records, it's none of the government's business. there's a health care integrity data bank in the bill that gives the feds access to everyone's medical records. what's the government -- once the government has everybody's medical records, none of that information is secure. health care information should be between the patient and the doctor and that's all. not the patient and some yet unnamed anonymous, unaccountable, federal bureaucrat. ask joe the plumber about the federal government keeping things private. he was standing in his yard when the presidential candidate talked to him. he asked the presidential candidate a question, a government employee didn't like that question, and she took it o

mr. poe: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, let's rhett their remarks and include therein extraneous material. mr. franks for today, mr. duncan for today, mr. goodlatte for today, mr. cassidy for today and march 21. and mr. mccotter for march 21. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut rise? mr. himes: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, to revise and extends their remarks and include therein extraneous material. mr. himes of connecticut for five minutes, mrs. woolsey of california for five minutes, mr. mcdermott of washington for five minutes, mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes, ms. j

mr. poe: mr.aker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material, mr. harper for march 3, mr. paulsen for march 3, mr. poe for march 9, mr. jones for march 9, ms. ros-lehtinen for march 3 and 4. mr. moran for march 9 and mr. burton for today, march 3 and march 4. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? wool wools i ask unanimous consent that todd -- ms. woolsey: i ask unanimous consent that any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be addressed to house for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material, ms. woolsey, mr. defazio and ms. kaptur. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009 and under a previo

mr. poe: mr.aker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material. mr. mccotter for today, march 23 and 24. mr. latha for today and judge gohmert for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from frr northern mariana seek recognition? mr. sablan: i ask unanimous consent that any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes revise and stepped their remarks and include extraneous material, ms. woolsey of california, mr. sablan of the northern mariana islands, ms. maloney of new york, mr. defazio of oregon, ms. kaptur of ohio and mr. mcdermott of washington. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of t

mr. poe: mr. speaker, three of our tenacious navy seals captured one of the worst terrorists in the world. in 2004 four blackwater security guards was transporting supplies to fallujah, iraq. they were caught in an ambush and murdered by those cowards in the desert. these americans were set on fire, mutilated, dragged through the streets and hung from a bridge over the ue raties river. the terrorist was the mastermind between the massacre of these americans, but navy seals captured this outlaw. but now for some odd reason they are being put on trial, the seals, not the terrorists. the whinny terrorists later claimed he was punched in the stomach during his capture on the battlefield. it hurt his little terrorist feelings, it seems. now, the seals face a court marshall. congress should commend these valiant actions of these seals and i introduced a resolution to do just that. these seals should be given medals and send out to bag another one and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: f

felipe calderon yes, mr. poe, war is hard. i -- mr. filner: yes, mr. poe, war is hard.alk to nelson mandela. peace is harder. peace is really hard. victory is close, i haired mr. poe's words. what message are we sending to our troops? the alamo is a metaphor for this? come on, mr. poe. and mr. poe started out, this is about our troops. that's exactly right. this is about our troops. thank you, mr. kucinich, for allowing us to have a debate. here we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars and we have had no real debate. so thank you for bringing this and allowing us to do this. and we need a debate in a democracy so everyone understands the costs, the cost of going to war and the cost of not going to war, the material cost, the human cost. this is about the troops, i agree with mr. poe. you know, we record, and i have been to iraq and afghanistan. i have met these incredible young men and women who are doing this battle, as mr. poe suggested. they are incredible. it's the policymakers i am worried about. we report 1,000 almost in afghanistan and we report around 40,00

mr. poe: mr. speaker, when i travel to the old soviet union in the 19 0's, nobody walked around smiling or joking or laughing. it was all doom, gloom and despair. living under government tyranny hurts the mind, body, and soul. it kills off individuality. they have a cookie cutter solution for everything. it's the same with government-run health care. thomas jefferson was a visionary. he talked about government-run health care. he said, "if the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in a sorry state as the souls of those who live under tyranny." government-run health care pushes us down the road to we the subjects instead of we the people, instead of us controlling government, government controls us. that's what tyranny is. the monopoly of government-run health care will have the efficiency of the post office, the competence of fema and the compassion of the good old i.r.s. and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for

mr. poe: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extend their remarks and to include therein extraneous materials. myself, mr. poe, for march 23. mr. jones for march 23. mr. souder for today, march 17, 18, and 19. mr. boustany for today. mr. smith of new jersey for today. mr. moran for march 23. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special order heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material. mr. etheridge from north carolina for five minutes, ms. woolsey of california for five minutes, mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes. the sp

dreier: happy to yield to another gentleman from texas, mr. poe. mr. poe: mr.speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to this flawed health bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett. mr. garrett: i thank the gentleman. and, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks to this unconstitutional health care bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be charged. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, the gentleman from virginia, mr. witman. mr. whitfield: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and ex -- mr. wittman: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition this to this flawed bill. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to this flawed health care bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: the gentleman from florida, mr. posey. mr. posey: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my comments regarding

mr. poe: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extends their remarks and include therein extraneous material. myself, mr. poe, for march 11, mr. jones for march 11, mr. moran for march 11, dr. gingrey for today and mr. mccotter for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania rise? >> i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any specialereders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, to revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous material. first is mr. schwartz myself from pennsylvania, ms. berkley, ms. woolsey, mr. al green, ms. titus, mr. defazio and ms. kaptur each for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced

mr. poe, march 17 for five minutes, mr. jones, march 17 for five minutes, mr. moran, march 17 for five minutes, mr. barton, today for five minutes, mr. bishop, march 11 for five minutes, mr. conway, today for five minutes, mr. gohmert today for five minutes and mr. mccotter, march 11 and 12, five minutes each. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> i ask unanimous con sent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks an include therein extraneous materials. ms. woolsey, five minutes, mr. defazio, five minutes, ms. kaptur, five minutes, mr. ortiz, five minutes, mr. gene green, five minutes, mr. chet edwards, five minutes, mr. charlie gonzalez, five minutes, mr. hendrix five minutes, and ms. eddie bernice johnson for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previou

i want to thank mr. poe of texas. i yield the gentleman five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. paul: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extends my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. paul: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this resolution. i thank the gentleman from ohio for bringing this issue up. it is late. this war started 10 years ago, it's time we talked about it. it was said earlier on, it is hard to quit a war, and we shouldn't be quitting. but i tell you what the real problem is, it's too easy to start a war, it's too easy to get involved and that is our problem. the founders of this country tried very hard to prevent this kind of a dilemma that we're in now, getting involved in no-win wars and nobody knowing exactly who the enemy is. the war was started and justified by quoting and using the war powers resolution written in 1973. that was written after the fiasco of vietnam to try to prevent the problems of slipping into war.

mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. i bring you news from the third front, the battle wages for control of the border and i'm not talking about the border between afghanistan and pakistan where the taliban runs back and forth at will to commit crimes in afghanistan and then goes and hides in pakistan. no, i'm bringing you news from the border, the southern border of the united states, which is very violent. raoux dosea, new mexico, right across the border from texas, recently the consulate there, the u.s. consulate closed because of the violence on the border. in fact, americans are prohibited from being in that consulate office because of the consulate office because of the kidnappings, th shootings, the old west style events that are taking place on this border town south of our border. the inconvenient truth is there is a battle for the border that is taking place in our own country. across the southern border of the united states, the drug cartels, all in the name of money and their financing of illegal activities,

mr. poe: mr.aker, freedom of speech continues to be shouted down by the politically correct police. in the netherlands it's against the law to say something that offends someone else's religion. that's why a dutch lawmaker is on trial for hurting people's feelings. he made a movie about terrorists and radical islamic clerics encouraging violence in the name of hate. now, he's on trial for insulting islam. he's charged with discrimination and incitement to hatred because dutch law -- under dutch law it's intolerant of intolerance. the dutch courts say even true insult speech is a crime. seems like law is the protector of radicals. he brings the world's attention the danger of radicals of hateful violence and gets in trouble for it. he ought to be commended rather than condemned for a crime. a free people won't tolerate intolerance for freedom for very long, and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from pennsylvania rise? mrs. dahlkemper: to addres

mr. poe, march 12, 15, and 16, five minutes each. mr. jones, march 12, 15, and 16, five minutes each. mr. burton, today and march 10, 11, and 12, five minutes each. mr. moran, march 15 and 16, five minutes each. mr. flake, today, five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. ms. woolsey of california, mr. defazio of oregon for five minutes, ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes, mr. grayson of florida for five minutes, ms. jackson lee of texas for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, under a previoused orer of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each, starting with mr

mr. poe: that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> good afternoon, madam speaker, i request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. kucinich: in 2001, i joined the house in voting for the authorization for the use of military force. nearly nine years it's become clear that the authorization for the use of military force is being used carte blanche for circumventing congress' role as a co-equal branch of government. the obama administration has cited the 2001 authorization use of military force as justification for the military escalation in afghanistan, for holding prisoners indefinitely at guantanamo, and even for mass domestic spying on u.s. citizens in violation of our most constitutional -- basic constitutional principles. tomorrow the house will consider h.con.res. 248, a resolution that would require the president to withdraw u.s. armed forces from afghanistan by december 31, 2010. a

mr. poe: mr. speaker, as the war against international terrorism continues in iraq and afghanistan, i bring you news from the third front, the u.s.-mexico border. the real inconvenient truth. recently the u.s. consulate office in mexico closed indefinitely. u.s. officials are barred from the area. the reason? because there are kidnappings and orders and old west shootouts in the streets, all on the account of violent drug lords fighting for turf on the border. they are not doing enough to stop the international drug cartels and the human smugglers. the greatest nation on earth is failing the american people by not adequately protecting the border. drugs and people are going north and money are going south. the border has become a war zone that affects people on both sides of the border. we are sitting on a powder keg that we ignore at our own peril. while we have troops to protect foreign countries, we should be just as concerned about our own sovereign border, and that's just the way it is. the s

mr. poe of texas. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mccotter: madam speaker, today i rise to acknowledge the division i state champion wrestling team from my alma mater, detroit catholic central high school. on february 27, 2010, the catholic central shamrocks defeated rockford 39-24 to host their first state championship trophy since 1988. third year coach mitch hancock, an individual state final winner for the shamrocks in 2000, saw all 14 of his wrestlers to the individual state finals. this is the first time that an entire team has qualified for the individual state meet. three shamrock wrestlers brought home individual state titles to compliment the team championship. following in the remarkable tradition of legendary catholic central coach mike rodriguez who was both coach and mentor to current coach mitch hancock. the shamrocks brought home their eighth state wrestling team title and earned coach hancock the division i honors for wrestling coach of the year. madam speaker, with a season record of 27-4 the 2010 catholic central s

mr. poe: request permission to address the house for one minute.aker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: madam speaker, there's a new push to drill for oil in the gulf of mexico. the drill here, drill now slogan is finally sinking in. but the new rigs won't be flying american flags, they'll be russian rigs drilling for oil in the gulf of mexico, right there off our own shores. the russians and the cubans are now in cahoots to drill for oil we should be obtaining. then they'll probably sell it back to us at an incrossed price. we don't drill off our own coast so we have to import more crude oil and it gets worse every year and it's costing america millions. plus america won't be getting those high dollar rig jobs. we have our own natural resources but refuse to explore them because of the elitists. we are a decade or more away from green technology when we'll all be driving those toy cars that you can buy about a six-pack. but the anti-american energy elite dominate congress and the white house. unfortunately, they'll let us freeze in the dark

mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: madam speaker, it's deja vu all over again on the health care bill. the people have tried everywhere they know to have their voices heard. town halls, tea parties, even special elections. the people don't want washington bureaucrats making their medical decisions, but washington's not listening. people don't want them to force buy health insurance or pay a fine, an idea that's unconstitutional. but washington's not listening. and when the senate bill fully kicks in it will cost $4.5 trillion. we don't have the money. spending on bailouts and stimulus bills, the taxpayers are out of money. we're broke and we're borrowing billions of dollars from the chinese, but washington's not listening. the massive health care bill now is 2,700 pages long. churchill once said, this report by this very length defends itself of the risk of being read. they don't want a nanny state where government makes all our decisions. government-run he

mr. poeask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: madam speaker, the united states is poised to raise the white flag of surrender in space exploration. america's the leader in space technology, but yet there are plans afoot to turn our lead over to the russians and the chinese. by foolishly canceling the constellation program and when the last nasa shuttle flight occurs, we will have no means to transport our astronauts into space. we will have to hitch a ride with the russians if we want that transportation. and if one of our security satellites needs repair, who's to say the russians will even let us buy a coach ticket on their space aircraft? now, even the iranians have entered the space race. last month they sent a rat, two turtles and a worm into space. keeping our edge in space flight is a national security issue. we cannot give that away to anybody. after all, when neil armstrong landed on the moon the first word was houston

mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: madam speaker, the united states government wants to dictate where the people of the sovereign state of israel are allowed to live. now, who do we think we are? israel is our ally, not our subject. what if prime minister netanyahu said our people weren't allowed to live in certain parts of d.c.? that makes about as much sense. the american people support israel and the u.s. government better get onboard. the people i represent are not embarrassed or humiliated by the actions of israel. israel has the right to determine where their people live, including in jerusalem. also under international law israel is not obligated to give back land won in a defensive war. they tried anyway. but when israel gave back land for peace it didn't work. they still don't have peace and there will be no peace until the terrorists come to the peace table, because the terrorists don't want p

mr. poe, march 10 for five minutes, mr. jones, march 10 for five minutes, mr. moran, march 9 and 10 for five minutes, mr. thompson today for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: no ox. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, to revise and extend their remarks and include therein extraneous materials. ms. berkley, nevada, mr. defazio, oregon, ms. kaptur, ohio. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house the following members are recognized for five minutes each. ms. berkley. mr. poe from texas. mr. jones: mr. speaker, i ask that i might speak in his time. the speaker pro tempore: no objection. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. i have introduced h.r. 4639 and it's known as the

mr. poe from texas. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. gohmert: ask to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gohmert: thank you, madam speaker. i continue to sound about a cry on this because since 1913, the states have had no way to prevent usurpation of states' rights or do anything about unfunded mandates that were crammed down their throats. the constitution provided for that, in that it said, the state legislatures would select the u.s. senators. and as long as that was the case, every u.s. senator knew if they created an unfunded mandate and took away states' rights or did anything to harm the states' powers that were granted to them under the united states constitution, this would yank that senator back and he would never come back to the u.s. senate and probably would never get elected to the house of representatives. that was the check and balance that the constitution provided. since 1913, when that was repealed through the 17th amendment, there's not been any check or balance on our

mr. poe i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. poe: madam speaker, we're having the vote of the century on the senate health care bill, but there's a sneaky snake oil gimmick to pass the bill without voting on it. first, we're passing bills without reading them, and now they want us to pass bills without actually voting on the bill. the trick is to deem the senate bill passed without ever having a straight up or down vote. and it's a trick. when we vote on the rules for debate, they want to make that count as the vote on the health care bill. instead of actually voting on the health care bill. let's have an up or down vote on this bill and not hide behind some procedural mumbo jumbo. the constitution says in all cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays. it doesn't say anything about deeming in the constitution. to obtain votes for government-run health care, back room secret deals are being m

mr. poe to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. poe: madam speaker, we're having the vote of the century on the senate health care bill, but there's a sneaky snake oil gimmick to pass the bill without voting on it. first, we're passing bills without reading them, and now they want us to pass bills without actually voting on the bill. the trick is to deem the senate bill passed without ever having a straight up or down vote. and it's a trick. when we vote on the rules for debate, they want to make that count as the vote on the health care bill. instead of actually voting on the health care bill. let's have an up or down vote on this bill and not hide behind some procedural mumbo jumbo. the constitution says in all cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays. it doesn't say anything about deeming in the constitution. to obtain votes for government-run health care, back room secret deals are being made in the cavern

mr. poe: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. poe: madam speaker, yesterday an armed mexican military helicopter was spotted and photographed over a residential area a mile inside the territorial boundary of the united states. texas sheriff, ziggy gonzalez, of zapata county, said the mexican navy helicopter was not the first incursion by the mexican military onto the u.s. side of the rio graunda river. there is a vy -- grande river. there is a violent war going on. eight mexican journalists have been kidnapped. numerous individuals killed in old west shootouts. and the violence and corruption has spilled over to the u.s. side. the cartels had even infiltrated u.s. law enforcement agencies on the border resulting in 400 corruption cases being filed. the border has become a corrupt, violent area, and now the mexican military crosses our border with unknown intentions. the united states c

mr. poe: thank you. i appreciate the gentleman yielding. i totally support 1075 and the support of the national guard and the agri development -- agri-development business teams. they are doing a phenomenal job in iraq and afghanistan. the chairman could give me the exact number but i don't know the percentage of national guard troops that are in afghanistan, but it's extremely high. we count on the citizen soldiers to help us in times of war, and they are there, not just from the state of missouri but from the state of texas as well. and i had the chance to be with some national guard troops in afghanistan during the christmas season. they are doing a phenomenal business in helping those afghans change from growing poppies that's turned to cocaine and heroin that's sold primarily in europe and teaching them to form wheat and soybeans. in fact, the university of -- texas averbings&m university has a soybean that yields nine-fold than a typical soybean and they are being grown in afghanistan. this bill is an important bill because it recogni

mr. poe: please join me in the pledge. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. . .7 c16 c13 . the speaker pro tempore: under clause 5-d of rule 20, the chair announces to the house that in light of the resignation of the gentleman from hawaii, mr. abercrombie, the whole number of the house is 432. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, i have the honor to transmit a sealed envelope received from the white house on monday, march 1, 2010, at 2:15 p.m. and said to contain a message from the president whereby he transmits a report to the congress regarding the national emergency with respect to zimbabwe. with best wishes i am, signed, sincerely, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the house. the speaker pro tempore

mr. poe: madam speaker, they're back. we've all heard about acorn and it seems to me that acorn is nothing more than a criminal enterprise. and here's why. they've been caught helping undercover journalists open a prostitution ring with underaged girls. they've been caught in voter region tration fraud scams. at least 14 states are investigating acorn for voter fraud. even micky mouse can now vote. imagine that. and acorn signs up the poor into their membership rolls. the poor get their bank account information and the duck membership dues without the expressed consent of these individuals. in a bipartisan vote last year, congress voted to strip federal funding from this rogue fraudulent organization. not one dime of taxpayer money should be spent on this group. however, the white house budget director, peter orszag, has directed all federal agencies to open the federal funding floodgates for acorn again. why did the administration trump the will of congress and the american people? american tax dollars should not fund it

mr. mark poe list, go to our website. >> a fascinating story. >>> we're going to continue in the crook department here on the kudlow report. remember jeff skilling? the ceo of enron and he's gone to the supreme court to get himself out of jail. joining us now is our friend, tom curran, and, tom, what is it? he's a crook? he's a phony? the accounting was fixed? and what? he's trying to get out of jiel and going to the supreme court? >> you can hardly blame a guy for trying to get out of jail. he got sentenced to 24 years. the people who cooked the books, arre arthur anderson. everyone has been speculating this this appeal is on the intangible theory under the mail and wire fraud, the federal mail and wire fraud's statutes. but the justices today spent most of their time talking about the pretrial publicity fairness of the jury pool question. which is a big uphill climb for any defendant to try to win. >> tom, let me go back to -- walk me through this honest services. because skilling was not honest. therefore, how could he put together -- he cooked the books. they used all these off-balance sheet

. >> the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. >> i have a question for chairman bernanke.ing the early part of the decade, a lot of the free markets and would say that there was a financial bubble and there had to be a correction. we did in 2008. since 2008, many of the mainstream economists have more less agreed with that assessment, because we'll hear them say interest rates were held too low to long. even secretary geithner has made that statement. where you come down on the perfection -- where did you come down on that perspective? >> i had given a speech on this. the bottom line is nobody knows for sure the evidence is quite mixed. i would say that even if there were -- they were held to low too long. management of the error was not enough to account for the huge crisis that we had. what caused that was the failure of regulation. i would toss the fed in there, too, because we did not do enough. we did not do enough regulation. i think the weakness of the regulatory system, not arbitrer policy, that was important. >> i cannot agree with that, of course, but if you assu

. -- mr. poe of texas. for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to assume the gentleman's time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. moran: the news on the kansas subcommittee economy is not good. our state's unemployment rate rose to 7% in january. we need $500 million to balance our budget in kansas in 2010 and 2011. these million-dollar numbers don't mean much up here in washington, where this congress continues to rack up trillions in debt obligations fazz there are no consequences and money magically appears out of thin air. however the effects of this thoughtfulness are indeed terrible. in kansas, the overwhelming majority of our state budget is comprised of health care responsibilities. many of these have been handed down from the federal government. our education system is teetering on the breaking point with schools facing closure or consolidation and with educators and staff being laid off. services for our state's developmentally disabled and support for our sick and elderly have been cut. folks in k

. >> the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. >> i have a question for chairman bernanke. during the early part of the decade, a lot of the free markets and would say that there was a financial bubble and there had to be a correction. we did in 2008. since 2008, many of the mainstream economists have more less agreed with that assessment, because we'll hear them say interest rates were held too low to long. even secretary geithner has made that statement. where you come down on the perfection -- where did you come down on that perspective? >> i had given a speech on this. the bottom line is nobody knows for sure the evidence is quite mixed. i would say that even if there were -- they were held to low too long. management of the error was not enough to account for the huge crisis that we had. what caused that was the failure of regulation. i would toss the fed in there, too, because we did not do enough. we did not do enough regulation. i think the weakness of the regulatory system, not arbitrer policy, that was important. >> i cannot agree with that, of course, but if you

mr. poe: thank you, madam speaker. i bring you news from the third front. we have the front that america's engaged in war in iraq. we have the front in afghanistan and i bring you news from the silent third front in that nobody talks about it and that's the southern border of the united states with mexico. the convenient truth is there's a border war brewing down on our southern border and america needs to be aware of what's taking place and not ignore the obvious. the texas border sheriffs and the sheriffs' coalition from brownsville all the way to san diego talk about the problems that are increasing over the -- on the border and it's violence, it's the organized crime cartels, the drug cartels that are bringing violence to the border area on both sides of the border. on the mexican side and on the american side. and it's only going to get worse. i want to talk about a specific incident that's taking place between two drug cartels, the zetas and the gulf drug cartels. they're operating in mexico but one of them is galero, mexico, right on the border betwe