mr. webster: mr. speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 600 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 600. resolved, that upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h.r. 4281, to provide an extension of federal aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the highway trust fund pending enactment of a multiyear law reauthorizing such programs. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. the bill shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and any amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on transportation and

mr. webster, is recognized for one hour. mr. webster: for the purposes of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to my good friend and colleague from florida, mr. hastings. pending which i i yield myself such time as i may consume. for the purpose of this resolution all time yielded is for the -- for debate only. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. webster: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. webster: madam speaker, i rise today in support of this rule and the underlying bill, house resolution 595 provides for the structured rule for consideration of h.r. 3309, the federal communications commission's process reform act of 2012. the rule makes 10 amendments of the 11 amendments submitted to the committee in order. of these eight are democrat sponsored amendments and two are republican sponsored amendments. as noted in the subcommittee ranking member during the rules com

mr. webster has served as director of the fbi and as a u.s. district court judge.understands the meaning of rule of law. so that his knowledge of national security matters can be available to me on a continuing basis, we will also appoint john tower to serve as a member of my foreign intelligence advisory board. i am considering other changes in personnel and i'll move more furniture as i see fit in the weeks and months ahead. second, in the area of national security policy, i ordered the nsc to begin a comprehensive review of all covert operations. i also directed any covert activity be in support of clear policy objectives and in compliance with american values. i expect a covert policy that if americans saw it on the front page of their newspaper, they'd say that makes sense. i had issued a directive prohibiting nsc staff itself from undertaking covert operations, no ifs, ands, or buts. i asked them to review our terrorist policy in light of the events that occurred. third, in terms of the process of reaching national security decisions, i am adopting in total t

mr. webster: thank you, mr. speaker. the situation we find ourselves in is certainly not ideal. i've been a strong proponent of a long-term re-authorization of federal transportation programs. recently re-authorizations haven't been that long term, but that's more often than not also. the goal everyone is seeking is a long-term re-authorization. and i hear that the necessity of it from all transportation officials all over the country, including my own state and in my own district. without the ability to plan over the course of several years, not three month, not 17 months, that lack of certainty of in-- has increased the operating costs. it increases costs, uncertainty and that is a need for critical infrastructure. we don't have a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a viable long-term re-authorization yet. but the passage of this brief extension gives us the opportunity to once again bring both sides to the table to try to work out a collaborative effort, a collaborative solution to this problem, and i think that's what the american people want. it's our spoublet to make sure t

analysis on the russian presidential election we're now joined live by historian of webster tarpley from washington d.c. mr tarpley thank you for being with us are showing now this has been russia's most transparent election so far do you think that the west will share this view once official results have been announced. well unfortunately the. washington i think with. this is. the perspective we now have is taking some steps. which is such a failure in. some kind of counterweight check the. policies of the. russian people. a tremendous international. it is a historic occasion i would compare it to. forty or. fifty eight. is in my judgment at most a political leader with an immense political capital. happened in the intervening years. the israeli prime minister here trying. to convince the american. middle east war and i think this is the moment. that political capital. invested. some kind of a diplomatic solution to this we've also got a world economic depression going on so it seems to me that president-elect putin to think a little bit bigger than what we just heard. that you mentioned. this is. possibl