mr. tonko, thank you for these moments. mr. tonko: i think it's important for us to share with the american public what's happening on this floor. in the house of representatives. and, you know, so many suggest that the history that drove medicare to be developed, the dynamics that were so impacting on the senior community across this country coast-to-coast could be revisited if their proposal to end medicare, the republican proposal to end medicare were to take hold. and i know representative courtney from connecticut understands that. he has shared those concerns over and over again, that we could go back and revisit history of 45 years ago, 46 years ago when people literally were impacted by cherry picking going on, where they couldn't afford programs, policies even if they were offered to them and many times they couldn't get policies written to cover them. and representative courtney, thank you for joining us this evening on what is an important bit of information exchange for america. they need to know that the seniors are

mr. tonko. mr. tonko: by their ownagement, they said this would end medicare in the united states constitution. and what we end up with is that we have these very bold statements made that right there . not an honorable position to promote. mr. garamendi: freedom from health care. mr. tonko: yes. i think what we have witnessed is messing with a precious document. one that governance this democracy that was carefully planned by our founding parents and to take that precious document and use it in order to promote a political agenda and one that denies access access. when we look at the 1966 threshold and take it back to spending opportunities at that vintage, we need to keep in mind medicare assisting grandparents means they are denying the fundamental fact that since 1966, grandparents, grandma, is living 10 years longer on average. and so it's not real to take us back to this unwarranted threshold of 1996 and that also, you know, we have had much progress in technology and research in medicine so th

mr. tonko: you raised an interesting fact with the end to medicare proposed by the republicans in the house. the cost shifting that takes hold. it's about a twird--- twird -- 2/3-1/3 split, even those out of pocket can be demanding but to shift that now to flip it to 1/3-2/3 where 32 cents on the dollar is what you are provided with your voucher and what you suggested through the course of time, it will not reflect the growth in health care costs because they don't index it correctly. you start with a 1/3 burden of what government will contribute. that means 68 cents out of the pocket for seniors. i don't know how they would afford it. i represent a disproportionate high number of high number of sshes in new york state. and this would be a drain on a lot of households and the costs they would have to absorb with pharmaceutical costs that enable them to either recover or at least live in some sort of dignified manner, it is really a strong concern. and for the groups who are proposing this to ha

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. chair. first, this amendment will restore funding to the weatherization assistance program or w.a.p. w.a.p. is the largest residential efficiency program in our nation. it reduces the energy burden on low income families, the elderly and disabled and creates jobs, invests in local businesses and advances technologies. state-of-the-art technology. the 35% energy savings as a result of weatherizing homes under this program saves $437 in annual utility bills for the average homeowner. second, the amendment restores funding to the state energy program or s.e.p. s.e.p. is the only cost-shared program administered by the united states department of energy that provides resources directly to the states for allocation by the governor, for use in energy efficiency. this includes 56 state and territory energy offices and according to a study by the oak ridge national laboratory, for every $1 in federal s.e.p. funds, annual savings of $1.03 million source b.t.u.'s are saved along with the cost savings

moran: we are in support of what mr. tonko and mr. dent are proposing. we have worked with them on this amendment. this is the kind of program that really ought to have unanimous support in the house. i mean, we are talking very small amounts of money that are distributed throughout the country, oftentimes 150,000, sometimes it gets up to 700,000, but sometimes relatively small apartments of money and what they do is bring local community leaders together. local communities love it and it draws tourism. people -- it gets in the newspaper, oftentimes in the metro newspapers suggesting that this is a terrific day trip for families to go on and they follow the heritage trail. it has that kind of national recognition and credibility that only the federal government oftentimes can provide to a national heritage trail because many people claim it. but when the national heritage program identifies it as one of the two assets of our country in places that should be protected and preserved and explained to the public, then more people come. and it generates jobs.

mr. tonko: it's a pleasure to join with you, speaking for your base in california, joining with our colleagues from colorado and texas and connecticut, ohio, virginia, myself from new york, across this country. we are speaking for the american public. the great populists of this nation are asking, where is the solution? where's the responsiveness to a job situation? a job deficit? a jobs crisis? the solution here, last night we saw it. we saw the drama unfold. not here on the house floor. but behind closed doors. we moved into recess. the republican leadership of the house said, we're going to move to recess. and we're fully anticipating a vote last night. in short order. but we waited for hours and hours, and they didn't have the vote. and so, what happened? today, they moved for a measure that moved further from the center. took it to the extreme edge in order to get just by a vote to amass sufficient support for a very extreme solution that really kicks the can down the road, as representati

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. well, this evening it is my pleasure to initiate discussion as to the events here in washington as they affect our debt ceiling limit. there is much attention being paid to the efforts for america to pay her bills and obviously america's working families understand what it's all about. they understand that you work hard, you roll up your sleeves, you make ends meet and you pay your bills on time. well, the concern that we have today is that as we attempt to get that phenomenon done, as we have many times over the last several years, you know, the bills have been rung up, perhaps by those members of congress before us and by administrations before us but nonetheless they are bills that need to be paid. and as we go forward i think it's important for us to recognize that the honorable thing to do is to acknowledge that we need to pay those bills so as not to accrue additional interest charges, pay them as soon as we can and make certain, make certain that we don't draw all sorts of ave

an amendment by mr. tonko of new york. an amendment by mr. garrett of new jersey. an amendment by mr. wu of oregon. an amendment by mr. mcclintock of california. an amendment by mr. schiff of california. an amendment by mr. garamendi of california. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. sessions of texas. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned co

mr. tonko? mr. tonko: i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. tonko: thank you, madam chair. we must fund the army corps of engineers to repair damage caused by recent storms and floods and to prepare for future disaster events. there's no question about it. but doing so by cutting long-term investments in high speed rail makes absolutely no sense. and i rise in strong opposition to this offset. this reckless rescission will eliminate thousands of jobs, halt a large number of rail projects across the country and hurt local and state economics. the program is critical to our country's competitiveness by putting americans back to work, revitalizing our construction and manufacturing sectors, boosting the domestic economy and ending the united states' dependence on foreign oil. and it flies in the face of president obama's stated goal of connecting 80% of america by high speed rail in the next 25 years. should this rescission pass in this house the region of new york state alone stands to

mr. tonko: thank you, madam speaker. and i thank my colleague from colorado for yielding. here we go again, my friends, here we go again wasting another day of debate on a proposal that is more of a press release than a plan. news broke this morning that from the moment speaker boehner walked away from the table last friday to the opening bell this morning shareholders in the united states stocks lost over $400 billion. my colleagues have been unwilling, not unable, to reach compromise in this chamber. they have been unwilling, not unable, to tell extremists that while they write their press releases and shake fair thifts, the rest of us must go -- shake their fists, the rest of us must go down and get to governing. and that choice, for it was a choice, cost the american economy almost as much in five business days as my republican colleagues are trying to cut from the budget in five years. they're using a manufactured crisis to make the problem worse. and so here we are again, my republican colleagues have wasted another 24 hours making a bad plan worse. a plan that is ba

mr. tonko: thank you, madam chair. the highest individual government salary funded is that of the president of the united states at a total of $400,000 or so i thought. the president is certainly the highest paid public servant. but it turns out that the leader of the free world isn't actually the highest paid executive on the taxpayers' payroll. in fact, the highest federal government salaries by far can be earned by private sector executives who are paid up to $700,000 per year directly in taxpayer dollars. i do not mean executives who earn their multimillion dollar nngs by selling often overpriced and underperforming equipment to our men and women in uniform. though the customer is the federal government, those salaries are paid through trands actions in the private sector. no, i am talking about the federal government salaries paid directly by the pentagon and other agencies to private contractor executives. direct salaries paid for 100% by taxpayer dollars. you won't find these exorbitant pay rate on government in

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in this the 27th week of this session of congress and continue to ask the leadership in our house to move legislation that will create jobs. over the course of the last few weeks and months, this body has been so obsessed with the debt ceiling they have forgotten a plain and simple truth, that the american people acknowledged last november and repeat over and over again, the best way to grow our economy and drive down the deficit is to put people back to work. and there are plenty of people looking for work. with unemployment around 9%, this body must make jobs and the economy our top priority. in fact, a poll released yesterday found by a 30-point margin americans say it's more important to reduce unemployment than to reduce the budget deficit. but the biggest threat to jobs today, failure to increase the debt ceiling and playing politics with our economy. holding the economy hostage in order to protect big oil, tax cuts for the wealthy and tax loopholes for companies th

mr. tong -- tonko. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding. we're here today at long last to vote on the republican default plan. after 200 days without a jobs agenda, after 200 days of saying that those hardest hit by the recession should bear the burden of unbalanced cuts, after 200 days of rhetoric and walking aw by republican -- away, my republican colleagues have brought their default plan to the floor for a public debate and a vote. so what do they offer up? courageous leadership, a grand bargain? sad sadly, no. when you walk out of -- sadly, no. when you walk ouof negotiations and spend more time talking to the press than to the president i'm not sure we expected more. we have before us the same tired policies that got us into this mess. cut taxes for millionaires, give kickbacks to special interests, pay for it all with cuts to the middle class and never forget the centratenants of the conservative agenda -- end mecare and privatize social security. my colleagues on th

mr. tonko: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the ranking member of the committee. there's not a single person in this chamber who doesn't want to balance the budget, but the legislation before us today is not about that. it is about enshrining a particularly radical interpretation of the republican agenda in the foundational document, a precious document, our constitution that guides our system of government. if successful, it would put in place a cap on federal spending at 18% of g.d.p., turning back the clock by more than half a crntry to the glory days of 1966. though it makes for a great press release, why didn't anyone else think of this solution? even president reagan never once requested a federal budget that spent nearly this low. well, to begin with, our population is much larger and much older on average than it was in 1966. some see that as a problem. seniors are expensive, they say. i suppose that's one way of looking at it, and if all you're worried about is how much grandma's nursing home care costs, then this is the bill for you. but since 1966, gran

mr. tong -- tonko. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding. we're here today at long last to vote on the republican default plan. after 200 days without a jobs agenda, after 200 days of saying that those hardest hit by the recession should bear the burden of unbalanced cuts, after 200 days of rhetoric and walking away by republican -- away, my republican colleagues have brought their default plan to the floor for a public debate and a vote. so what do they offer up? courageous leadership, a grand bargain? sad sadly, no. when you walk out of -- sadly, no. when you walk out of negotiations and spend more time talking to the press than to the president i'm not sure we expected more. we have before us the same tired policies that got us into this mess. cut taxes for millionaires, give kickbacks to special interests, pay for it all with cuts to the middle class and never forget the central tenants of the conservative agenda -- end medicare and privatize social security. my colleagu

mr. tong -- tonko. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding. we're here today at long last to vote on the republican default plan. after 200 days without a jobs agenda, after 200 days of saying that those hardest hit by the recession should bear the burden of unbalanced cuts, after 200 days of rhetoric and walking away by republican -- away, my republican colleagues have brought their default plan to the floor for a public debate and a vote. so what do they offer up? courageous leadership, a grand bargain? sad sadly, no. when you walk out of -- sadly, no. when you walk out of negotiations and spend more time talking to the press than to the president i'm not sure we expected more. we have before us the same tired policies that got us into this mess. cut taxes for millionaires, give kickbacks to special interests, pay for it all with cuts to the middle class and never forget the central tenants of the conservative agenda -- end medicare and privatize social security. my colleagu

mr. tonko: i rise in opposition to the underlying bill. instead of work oing a bipartisan solution to address the looming default crisis or to create american jobs, today house republicans have brought to the floor h.r. 2485, which would gut pollution controls and health protections to give bigger profits to big oil and other special interest polluters. by attaching three dozen policy riders to this bill, they are attempting to use this to make back door changes of federal laws that protects clean water, air, land and wildlife. it would crip will federal agencies charged with protecting american citizens and our natural resources. this is a new low for the 112th congress which has seen the new house g.o.p. majority overturn the clean water act and repeal energy efficiency standards and pull the plug on american jobs and clean energy innovation and manufacturing. now this legislation would overturn 40 years of bipartisan progress, protecting the american people and the environment. one area i choose to focus on is they continue to tax the c

mr. tonko: i agree with the two previous speakers, my colleagues from california. here we are dealing with a flawed bill that would deny our stewardship of our environment, all while we're faced with an economic consequence, with a default that stares us in the face. for the past 200 days, the republican leadership of this body has set aside america's priority of job creation in order to talk about the debt and to talk about the deficit. my concern is that as we face that looming threat of default, my republican colleagues aren't doing much but talk. after 200 days with no jobs agenda, after 200 days of voting to destroy millions of jobs, after 200 days of saying those hardest hit by the recession should bear the burden of unbalanced cuts, after 00 days of rhetoric and walking away, my republicans colleagues have forced this congress and the american people to wait yet more hours to see and vote on their plan. as we all know, last night, the congressional budget office pointed out that some of the cuts in the speaker's plan weren't real. meanwhile, the tea party ba

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to congratulate and celebrate the occasion of its 350th birthday. originally inhabited by the mow hack tribe and then the dutch, the rich history has served as an inspiration for many of america's accomplishments. in the late 1800's edison machine works manufactured the light bulb, later becoming the headquarters of general electric. they also played host to the former home of alco, the american locomotive company. these two developments prompted the community to be dubbed the city that lights and hauls the world and the electric city. today schenectady is an important part continues to lead the country with the focus on ingenuity and innovation, proving we can make it in america. i am pleased to applaud the city of schenectady on the rich history and numerous achievements it has accrued as we celebrate the wonderful 350th birthday of this community. and look forward to many bright and booming days to come. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. in just a few hours my republican colleagues will bring to the floor the jobs outsourcers bill of rights. this piece of legislation is an open attack on work force protections. a union busting tool that will open loop holes to ship jobs overseas and make historic changes to workers' rights. all to serve a well connected special interest community. this bill will allow companies to fire workers, workers who think that they might have a better shot at supporting their families in these times by banding together to negotiate with their employers. that right, the freedom of association, finds its origins in the first amendment to the united states constitution. whether or not you like unions, there is no sense in making it even easier to ship our jobs overseas. if this bill becomes law, a company faced with a few organizing workers trying to form a union can close an entire united states plant and move the work to china. where sweatshop laborers will work for less than even the lowest pai

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to talk about the default crisis. and unfortunately we're still talking about giving america the green light to pay her bills. because the plan this body passed just last night has since failed in the senate. here we are again, my friends, here we are again wasting another day as the deadline looms even closer. and while the plan passed in this body last night might have been good politics, it's not good government. my constituents are tired of it, i'm tired of it and actually anyone who watched the nightly news for the last six months is tired of it. washington loves to kick the can down the road. that's how we got here in the first place. this is our moment but will we seize it? we need a plan, not another republican manifesto -- manifesto and there are better plans out there, plans that would create jobs because the biggest crisis america faces right now is a jobs crisis. plans that will protect medicare and social security and medicaid and plans that rely on a fair approach between spending cuts and asking the mos

mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to talk about jobs. my home district, the capital region of new york, is a leader in clean energy jobs, but don't take my word for it. the brookings institution recently completed a study that found the capital region has the largest share of green jobs in the country. over 6%. that's over 28,000 green jobs. and not only is the region growing now, it is poised for growth in the future. whether at albany nanotech, g.e., plug power, or global foundries, the capital region is producing the high-tech manufacturing jobs of today and tomorrow. this doesn't just impact our domestic economy. along with l.a., new york, and san francisco, albany is the only other metro area contributing $1 billion annually in the clean export economy. we can make it in america. we can manufacture the best products in the world here and do so in a way that grows jobs and rebuilds our economy. the real question is, does this congress believe we are worthy of that investment? i think we are. let's invest in jobs for america and in so