mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. this evening we're going to be speaking about those advancements in public policy terms that allow us to go forward with a very meaningful agenda, to continually responds as an american public to the dynamics of earth day. . it is hard to imagine that it takes us back to 1970 when we first ushered in earth day. a time when americans were working to focus on the stewardship that is our responsibility to grow a stronger environment, a better environmental response, to enable us to improve outcomes out there, outcomes such as the air that we breathe. obviously as stewards of the environment we have the responsibility, yes, to enhance the outcome in the present but it also much more relevantly speaks to what we will do for future generations. . . efforts on improving the quality of air we breathe and efforts to improve the water that we drink are two of those driving forces that have ushered in this celebration annually of earth day, where we recommit each and eve

mr. tonko: the important thing with the tax cuts is what we are focusing is the bulk of american workers out there, middle-income americans who were requiring relief and as we made it our task in a focused way to stop the bleeding of this recession, we wanted to make certain there was some more purchase power for america's working families. and one of the very first measures was the making america work tax working credit. those for individuals or filing jointly. this is an incremental benefit that began in 2009 and continues through 2010. and i think it's important for us to get that buying power out there, to encourage people to perhaps pick up some of the purchasing that they wanted to do that they were not able to do. it's important for us to make certain that if your doing your taxes and missed this opportunity in 2009, make certain you are asking those who prepare the taxes, to check out these benefits. you can and should file under circle n of the form to make sure this particular credit

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. in the aftermath of health care reform, one can't help but ask rhetorically why there would be forces out there that would deny progress, why promote misinformation, why refuse to set up exchanges for the business community, why promote a repeal? i think it's pretty straightforward and easy to determine, that there were those who were fighting for the people's interest, the head of those profit column rises over the past 10 years. i think we need to ensure that the doughnut hole would be closed, all children up to the age of 26 would be able so stay on their parents' coverage, benefit people in this insurance struggle that they have faced in the past. so this is pretty obvious, this is an effort by those who have wanted to dismantle medicare as we know it, those who want to privatize social security, those who want to protect the insurance industry's profit margins to yet score another victory with repeal. i think we have a solid effort going forward. i believe we should stay the cour