mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. and, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that members may revise and extend their remarks on the subject matter of this special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. tonight we're here on the floor of the house of representatives on the eve of the state of the union by president barack obama, the first african-american president of the united states, and some 46 years after the passage of the voting rights act, which made his election and ours possible and i'm pleased to be joined by members of the congressional black caucus this evening for this special order and i'd like to yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from new york, i believe the most senior member of the ways and means committee, a former chair of the congressional black caucus and founding member of the congressional black caucus, mr. charlie rangel. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore

mrs. christensen: address the house for one minute and revise and extend, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. christensen: thank you. too many of our fellow americans are living on the edge today. and have been for far too long. the last thing they need is another showdown at the not-ok-corral. they need jobs, they need to save or go back to their homes and for those who have been living in poverty or those who used to be in the middle class but are now struggling to survive below the poverty level, they need us to provide the opportunity to help them lift them and their families out of poverty and to a better quality of life. our president is coming to us tonight to again offer us some opportunities to do all of these things and more and to restore our country's economic health. so let's not put our fellow americans through another cliff hanger on things that are important to their well-being. let us pass the payroll and unemployment insurance extension, fix the medicare payment issue without drama

mrs. christensen: i go back to the article in "politico" because everyone has made reference to the charges of fraud. official and academic studies have consistently shown that the chances of being hit by lightning are greater than the likely insid denses of such fraud. as we prepare for elections this year and we have even an unprecedented since august of 1965, attacks on the right of americans to vote. these attacks have taken many forms, expanding bands that prevent felons from voting, cutting election budgets in states, curtailing early voting, something that was used effectively in previous elections, eliminating same-day registration, intimidating and imposing strict i.d. requirements, creating barriers to getting the required i.d. and creating barriers to students and schools outside of their states. the fraud claims are bogus and as our chairman testified before the senate committee on judiciary late last year and i'm quoting our chairman, the laws are solutions in search of problems, especially when it comes to voter i.d., because there is basically no evidence of fraud, end of quo