with that said, i would yield to my good friend mr. tonko. mr. tonko: just briefly, the opportunity to invest in infrastructure, for example, our water treatment facilities, when i was at my last work station, prior to entering the house, it was with the new york state energy research and development authority. there i witnessed these consummate professionals working away at retrofitting systems or designing new that dealt with water treatments and the savings that were anticipated that were measured in some cases were significant. so that the energy costs for local government doing their role, performing their role for treatment of water became much cheaper. and that -- those are safings that are recurring. so while we invest in this opportunity, we're also chipping away at those budget costs into the future. the same is true, of some of the research investment that found us, for example, capturing waste heat and get manager bang for the buck sort of -- so to speak of the investments made in energy systems. the american intellect, which has alway

mr. tonko: we need to make certain that the 33 consecutive months of private sector job growth are not disrupted. we need to make certain that the unemployment rate does not rise as the c.b.o., congressional budget office suggests, to 9.1%. we need to avoid taxes growing by $,200 for an average family of four in 2013. -- $2,200 for an average family of four in 2013. it is important for us to go forward and take the initiative and avoid the consequences of that fiscal cliff. i'm concerned because fema as an example would be cut by some $878 million. having witnessed the destruction in my district, we can ill afford that. cuts to nutrition programs, cuts to medicare. i implore our leadership in this house to bring a bold and balanced approach to solve our fiscal cliff crisis here today. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? without objection. ms. hahn: madam speaker, tonight in time's square,