mr. welch: yes. the chair: without objection. mr. welch: just a clarification. member from new jersey, vermont has about one-third nuclear power, that was misreported, one-third nuclear and one-third hydro and one-third other. mr. frelinghuysen: this is from the e.i.a. 22% is hydro and 72% is nuclear. nothing to be ashamed of. mr. welch: that is news to us in vermont and there is a dispute about the relicensing of the current nuclear plant we have. and i yield back. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from vermont. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the amendment is not agreed to. mr. welch: i request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from vermont will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas rise? >> i have an amendment at the desk. it's the nonpreprinted amendment. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. pompe

mr. welch: madam speaker, i rise today to offer an amendment to h.r. 1938. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report 112-181 offered by mr. welch of vermont. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 370, the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from vermont. mr. welch: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. welch: madam speaker, this amendment inserts an environmental finding that highlights the significant, the very significant environmental and health risk that are proposed by -- that will incur by this proposed pipeline. this pipeline is going to carry up to 900,000 barrels of tar sands oil every day. it's going to carry them a distance of 2,000 miles, and whatever assurances are given about the safety of any mechanical and engineering system, we have too much regular expe

mr. welch: thank you, mr. speaker. our amendment -- the chair: does the gentleman have an amendment? mr. welch: i'm sorry. thank you, mr. speaker. i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. welch of vermont. page 31, line 6, offer the dollar amount insert reduced by $29023,000. after the dollar amount, insert increase by $297,023,000. the chair: the gentleman from vermont is recognized for five minutes. mr. welch: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as you know, to govern is to choose. to write a budget is where governing makes choices. my amendment raises the question as to whether or not spending $297 million for research in the next generation of fighter is the right choice to make at this time. little bit of back groupped -- -- background. mr. dicks: will the gentleman yield? mr. welch: yes. mr. dicks: it's not a fighter. it's a bomber. mr. welch: i thank the gentleman. the next generation of bomber. is that the right choice? and h

mr. welch: mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. welch of vermont. at the end of the bill before the short title add the following -- section. none of the funds made available in this act may be used for tax collection purposes by the afghan ministry of finance. the chair: the gentleman from vermont -- the gentleman from georgia. mr. kingston: i reserve a point mr. kingston: i reserve a point of order on the gentleman's

mr. welch: thank you. we are in a very serious situation now. we are 11 days away from perhaps the first time in the history of this country not paying our bills. and it is extraordinarily damaging what that will do to our economy. interest rates will go up. 1% increst in our debt service and $140 billion more to service the debt. i don't care whether you have a nancy pelosi point of view that we could use that money better on infrastructure or eric cantor point of view that you could use it for tax cuts, that is money out the door. that is squanered money. and the a.a.a. rating is enormous and starts hurting people, individuals. you have a mortgage, mortgage rates could go up. if you want to buy a car and borrow money, your rates are going to go up. if you put aside money for your kids to go to college, which we know is incredibly expensive. the markets will create turmoil and will take a hit. retirement savings, about to retire and been saving a all your life, that can get whacked. this is re

112-181, on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order, amendment wurm one by mr. welch of vermont, earment number two by mr. rush, amendment number three by ms. eshoo, amendment number five by mr. cohen, amendment number six by mr. rush, amendment number eight by ms. hanabusa of hawaii, and amendment number 10 by mr. kucinich of ohio. excuse me, that last amendment, is amendment number 11. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number one printed in house report 112-181 by the gentleman from vermont mr. welch on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number one printed in house report 112-181, offered by mr. welch of vermont. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in favor of taking this vote by a recorded vote will rise and be counted. 5 sufficient number having ruzzen, a recorded vote is ordered. me

mr. welch: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as you know the american taxpayer is spending $2 billion a week in afghanistan. among the expenditures, our payment for projects that are rebuilding infrastructure in afghanistan, roads, bridges, schools, in some cases hospitals. "the washington post" recently reported that the afghan government is taxing american aid. we send money there to build a road. we have to hire contractors in order to do that. and the afghan government is trying to tax that money for their own coffers. so it's not enough that our taxpayers are spending billions of dollars on projects to rebuild their infrastructure. the afghan government is literally trying to reach in the pocket and double dip and tax our taxpayers for our taxpayers' generosity in giving them money. . how does that make any sense at all? after this was reported, they are stepping up their efforts to grab that cash. they are doing things like threatening to detain contractors. if they don't pay up, take money that's assigned to buil

kucinich initch of ohio, amendment number 21, amendment by mr. welch of vermont, amendment number 22, amendment number 26, and amendment by mr. sessions of texas. 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 amendment number 1 offered by the gentleman from virginia, mr. con ellie on which further -- connelly. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 offered by mr. connelly of virginia. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of 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. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s.

dicks: and i yield to the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch. the chair: the gentleman from vermont is recognized for -- is recognized. mr. welch: i thank the gentleman. madam speaker, i want to speak about an amendment mr. moran is about to offer. this is about the use of styrofoam in our cafeterias. you may remember that in 2007 then speaker nancy pelosi established the greening of the capitol program and the goal was to make the u.s. house of representatives a national leader in resource stewardship in sustainable business practices. and we made significant progress. and one of the places where we made progress is we replaced the styrofoam in the cafeteria and used repsycheable dish wear. mcdonald's doesn't use styrofoam. use ago mcdonald's and other fast food restaurants replaced styrofoam with recycleable paper. polystyrene is not recycleable. most end up in landfills. in 1986 the e.p.a. named polystyrene the fifth largest creator of hazardous waste. we should adopt the moran amendment and do it the right way. i yield back. the chair: the g

mr. welch: i thank the gentleman. what's going on here, madam speaker, is extraordinarily dangerous and it's completely unnecessary. we are using the full faith and credit of the united states, the reputation this country has had since its founding, that we are a country who pays our bills, we are using that as political leverage to get our way on budget and tax issues. that's wrong. it's dangerous. ronald reagan, no stranger to fierce tax and budget battles, would never allow the linkage to be made that would jeopardize the full faith and credit of the united states. we're a bigger and better country than to threaten that we won't pay our bills. this is wrong. we should raise the debt ceiling cleanly because that's what americans do. we pay our bills. second, the bill before us now is, as my friend from kentucky said, making a bad bill worse. the process that americans want is a balance -- balanced approach. balance is revenues, along with cuts. democrats have to make concessions on cuts. we're prepared to do that, t

swk -- mr. welch: thank you, mr. chairman. one of the questions, central questions congress must address is whether to continue the policy of nation building in afghanistan. as previous speakers have indicated, it's expensive. it's also very questionable as to whether it's anything but a fail wrur. the cornerstone of the nation building program is the commander's emergency response program. that gives the commanders flexibility at their own discretion to authorize significant infrastructure projects in afghanistan, the goal being to win hearts and minds of the afghan citizens. when you lay it out by its intentions, it's a very reasonable tool to provide to our commanders. the problem is, the evidence is in and it has been a failure. the $400 million commanders emergency response program, serp is a central component of what i believe is a failed nation building strategy. and the fundamental question here is this. does the defense appropriations bill double down on the nation building approach which has been drawn into such ques

mr. welch: i thank the gentlelady. mr. speaker, this is a bad situation. there's two failures. one is the process by which we got here where we've abandoned a willingness to compromise when compromise is required. and second is to propose a plan that's not balanced with revenues as well as with spending cuts. i just want to go through the process. this institution is responsible for making decisions about taxing and spending. those are contentious debates, always have been, always will be. but whenever we've made progress there's been a recognition that the republican argument that we have to watch how we spend our money has validity, that the democratic argument that we have to have fair taxes has had merit. this is a one-sided approach. there were negotiations that were promising. in may the biden group began negotiations to averdict -- began a -- began negotiations to avert a crisis. treasury moved money around to avert the august 2 deadline. june 23, the majority leader, mr. cantor, walked out because revenues were on the table. july 3, mr. -- president obama and speaker bo

mr. welch: thank you, madam speaker. president reagan is an iconic figure in the republican party and revered by many democrats. he did fight to shrink government and he lowered taxes, but he also raised taxes eight times and he also fought against the absurd notion that america had an option when it came to paying our bills. when the debt ceiling had to be raised, he did it because he knew that was essential. that was our responsibility. we've got an argument on the other side today that paying our bills is optional. that is dangerous, that is absurd. there's two arguments the other side is making, one it's obama's problem despite the fact they insisted on the iraq war, afghanistan war, going into nation buildings, tructs we can't afford. medicare prescription part d. second, this is what's really not on the level, every single person who voted for the ryan budget voted for a budget that will raise the debt from $14.3 trillion to $23 trillion. after voting for that budget, now will vote against raising the debt ceiling

mr. welch: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. welch: we face a debate about raising the debt limit not because we want to but because we have an obligation to pay our bills. the majority on the democratic side voted to do that. it was not to incur new spending or obligations but to meet obligations already incurred. $2.3 trillion for the bush tax cuts, iraq on the credit card, afghanistan on the credit card. if we are going to level with the american people, we have to acknowledge we're going to have to pay for things whatever their intentions. the time is long overdue for us to accomplish this. if we're going to be successful on the two things we must do, pay our bills, maintain our full faith and credit that have a long-term fiscal plank then everything must be on the table and that has to include taxes as well as spending and it must include the pentagon. mr. speaker, this is not an ide

van hollen: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch. mr. welch: we face two immediate challenges, the first is will we pay our bills. that's the whole issue of raising the deficit -- the debt limit. america pays its bills. it's as simple as that. if we owe veterans who serve this country, their benefits, they are going to get paid. if we went to a war and didn't pay for it, we have to pay that bill when it becomes due. that is the question. it is not right and by the way, republican ronald reagan was the one who was familiar with tax and budget fights who said he would never make america's full faith and credit hostage to a point of view and did the right thing to pay those bills. the second issue that we face, and i acknowledge my republican colleagues for their focus on this is the long-term fiscal plan. the bill that we have brought before the floor raises the question, is it an effective tool or is the better approach a balanced approach to revenues and spending. the state of vermont does not have a balanced budget amendment, yet in verm

mr. welch: i thank the gentlelady. if there is a problem, it's that it was passed two years after rather than two years before the wall street meltdown. that was a catastrophe. it was so bad that one of the most conservative presidents in the history of this country came to congress with the goldman sachs secretary of the treasury, asking congress to authorize $750 billion to bail out wall street collapse. that was an avoidable situation . the reason it collapsed is because of the fact that the only problem worse than no regulation -- or little regulation is no regulation at all. that's what wall street had enjoyed. the heart of the crisis were the subprime mortgages that were loans to people who had no documentation, no ability to pay them back. they were sold not because it was even in exeffectation they would be paid back but they were sold to the mortgagees so that they could then be sold off to investors. this was the architecture of catastrophe. and the american economy is still reeling from it. the tradition of

mr. boehner. bill: peter welch, thank you for your time.rom vermont with a proposal to raise the debt ceiling, clean. which is something i think the white house wanted several weeks ago and if not months ago, peter welch, thank you for your time, we are waiting on the camera, as you can see, with the camera at the white house. martha: we are hearing from chris turner, tim geithner has been speaking out about the financial peril that is already in his opinion, starting to ensue to some degree, that the international community according to the treasury secretary is starting to get unnerved by what they are seeing as us pushing perilously close to the default line and the serves the administration, because, they are clearly pushing to get this situation handled and quickly, and henry -- ed henry is standing by with us. i wonder if the president still strike the same note we hear from tim geithner who may be the warm-up for the president who we'll hear from moments from now. >> absolutely, some version of "can you hear me now" because the presi

welch, how does this get done? does it get done? >> right now it's in the hands of the president and mr. boehner. >> are you comfortable with that? >> i'm actually not. i mean they're going to do their best. but since we've linked it up with this august 2nd deadline, it means neither joe nor me will have an opportunity to really kick the tires on this, to talk to folks back home, to be comfortable that it works. so it's filled with challenges once they reveal what the details are. so it's a long way from here to there and i'm anxious about it, to be hahn wes you. >> joe walsh, peter welch, very good of you to be with us today. >>> we are following some breaking news. we're just getting this out of norway. look at these new pictures. after a loud explosion shattered windows at the government building in oslo. several people are reportedly hurt but the norwegian news agency says the prime minister is safe. we don't know any other details about this but we'll keep you posted as they come in here on msnbc. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hund

welch after all. all these years later no one finds it the least bit unusual that an older mr. a question. mark phillips drops the questions in our sunday profile. >> reporter: their view of the town. you don't have to spend too much time with tom jones around the green, green grass of his hometown in wales. >> in all its glory, right. >> reporter: before two predictable things happen. the first is you ask him the dumb but irresistible question. not to coin a phrase but does the old town look just the same. >> it looks the same from up here. ♪ on a hill far away ♪ stood an old rugged cross >> reporter: the other predictable event is that before long in this case reminiscing in the chapel where he went to sunday school, he'll break into song. >> ♪ where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain ♪ >> reporter: tom jones, sir tom jones, is now 71. he's feeling a little nostalgic. >> i was always singing when i was a child. i always wanted to become a singer. but of course when you're a child, it's a dream. >> reporter: he's come a long way from his hometown, the t

if you could look into some of the issues mr. welch raised. >> i already looked at cex. in united states, they only have 10 stores. there -- it takes 11 or more to figure -- it takes 11 or more to trigger the formula used. its only domestic stores account and we will look into the american apparel. president olague: we're going to take a 15 minute recess at this time.