ms. brown: thank you, mr. speaker, and thank you, classmate, for giving me four minutes. i rise to speak on the rule. i would like to begin by discussing the importance of re-authorizing the surface transportation bill. it's been a long time since we had a bill, since 2005, in fact, i cannot overemphasize the importance of completing this bill as soon as possible. not only to reveal -- renew our nation's infrastructure but the desperately kneed jobs it will create. trpping projects are a national economic development tool. the department of transportation has indicated for every $1 billion we invest in transportation, it creates 42,000 permanent jobs and $2.1 billion in economic activity. it also saves 1.4 people's live. you can't argument with -- argue with those numbers. transportation fund is a win-wip for every involved. states get to improve their transportation infrastructure, create economic development, put people back to work, enhance safety and improve local communities yet in delayin

. >> i will speak with investigators and then we will speak with ms. brown. >> you come here all the time and every time our heart goes out to you. we have talked about moving fourth. i applaud your courage. you are a great mother and we will do our best for you, i promise. >> i don't have any regrets. i raise this boy right. i did what i supposed to do. >> you have the attention of the chief of police and the entire commission, we will follow up, we promise. >> good evening. there is a lot more like her and many people are feeling the same pain. today, i spent the whole day in the bayview. we talked to the brothers on the block, talk to me, the drug dealer, the hooker, do you know you're chief? yes. we know him. we can deal with you. i don't even know greg personally. when i talk to people who are a hooker or a drug dealer, i have so much respect for a man in his position. he would like to be the chief of police in chicago. i did not disrespect george, but him doing that, and why don't you have the application chicago? have a great evening. >> thank you. >>

ms. brown, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman biggert, ranking member, and members of the subcommittee, i appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's hearing on the national flood insurance program. as you know, floods are the most frequent natural disasters in the united states caughting billions of dollars of damage each year. this morning, i would like to share my thoughts on three areas. fema's administration of nfip, the proposed reforms put forth in the discussion draft and other possible areas for reform. first, nfip serves a vital role in providing protection against flooding to over 5.6 policyholders nationwide. nfip is one of 30 programs or areas on gao's 2011 high risk list. it first appeared on this list in march 2006, after the 2005 hurricane season exposed the potential magnitude of long-standing structural issues on the financial solvency of the program and brought to the forefront a variety of operational and management challenges that must be ad

and -- ms. brown. ms. brown: thank you, mr. speaker and to the members of the house. i rise today as the ranking member on transportation,s ares are and subcommittee. i have been on this committee for over 19 years. i serve on transportation because it's one of the most bipartisan committees in the house. i got to tell you i'm very, very disappointed with florida governor, rick scott. last week the governor told the secretary of transportation, ray lahood, that the state of florida can do without the $2.5 billion for federal highway rail funding. $2.5 billion. 90% of the project is funded with federal tax dollars. that's money that floridians sent to washington that we are sending back to florida, gasoline tax money. not money from any foreign source, by the way. in addition, it didn't just happen. we worked on it bipartisan for years. in fact in 1980, bob graham appointed me to a committee to work on high speed rail in florida. over 30 years we have worked on it. and let me just tell you 90% of the funding would put over 60,000 floridians to work, and it's 90% of the

ms. brown, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman biggert, ranking member, and members of the subcommittee, i appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's hearing on the national flood insurance program. as you know, floods are the most frequent natural disasters in the united states caughting billions of dollars of damage each year. this morning, i would like to share my thoughts on three areas. fema's administration of nfip, the proposed reforms put forth in the discussion draft and other possible areas for reform. first, nfip serves a vital role in providing protection against flooding to over 5.6 policyholders nationwide. nfip is one of 30 programs or areas on gao's 2011 high risk list. it first appeared on this list in march 2006, after the 2005 hurricane season exposed the potential magnitude of long-standing structural issues on the financial solvency of the program and brought to the forefront a variety of operational and management challenges that must be ad

ms. brown, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman biggert, ranking member, and members of the subcommittee, i appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's hearing on the national flood insurance program. as you know, floods are the most frequent natural disasters in the united states caughting billions of dollars of damage each year. this morning, i would like to share my thoughts on three areas. fema's administration of nfip, the proposed reforms put forth in the discussion draft and other possible areas for reform. first, nfip serves a vital role in providing protection against flooding to over 5.6 policyholders nationwide. nfip is one of 30 programs or areas on gao's 2011 high risk list. it first appeared on this list in march 2006, after the 2005 hurricane season exposed the potential magnitude of long-standing structural issues on the financial solvency of the program and brought to the forefront a variety of operational and management challenges that must be ad

i want to thank -- ms. brown: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the members for their work in bringing this to the floor. i think that the aviation communities deserve a long-term avengation bill so that they can plan for the future need of the traveling public. we have had 18 extensions already and it is time for the house and the senate to find a compromise and send the bill to the president. sadly we're missing a great opportunity to invest in our airports and allowing them to prepare for the expected growth in the air traffic and put people to work improving our aviation infrastructure. without additional p.f.c. revenue and a.m.t. relief, airports will have low capital to invest in their facilities. we keep talking about creating jobs and rebuilding the economy but we don't do anything about it. my home state of florida rely on air service to support our tourist-based economy. we have 20 primary airports, 22 relief airports and 57 general aviation airports. with our top three airports generating nearly $45 million a year. these

>> governor brown's budget proposes massive cuts for the social safety net. ms. pelosi, what do you think of that? is that a proposal that democrats can get behind? >> democrats and all americans must get behind reducing the deficit. with all that we owe our children in terms of their health, education, economic security of their families, we also owe them not to heat mountains of debt on them and limit their prospects as a community and society. so there has to be a way to reduce the deficit in the state and nationally. how you do that -- how you create a budget -- ashante -- a budget is a statement of our values. what is important for us should be reflected in how we allocate our money, our resources. on the federal and state level, there are big decisions to be made. you have to balance how we invest in the future, create jobs, and reduce the deficit as we strengthen the middle-class. i have not seen many of the particular is, have not had a conversation with the governor about this since he released it. i understand the mayors have. the idea of eliminating th

ellos esperan que el gobernador jerry brown los apoye y que se mantenga el presupuesto a travs del cobro extendido de impuestos. --las escuelas secundarias han perdido ms de 18 mil millones de dlares en fondos estatales en los ltimos 3 aÑos, y podra seguir perdiendo ms. take vo ---mientras tanto en sacramento, lideres demcratas propusieron realizar un voto sobre el presupuesto del estado. ---los legisladores recomiendan recortes en el orden de $ 12 mil millones de dolares sumados a otros $ 12 mil millones con relacion a impuestos temporales. ---de acuerdo a una encuesta revelada hoy, un 61 por ciento de los californianos esta de acuerdo en mantener impuestos temporales mientras que un 36 por ciento esta en contra. ---los legisladores demcratas necesitan 2 tercios del voto en el capitolio para llevar esta propuesta a las urnas el proximo 7 de junio . cu ---increible pero cierto! ---miles de niÑos y jovenes en el area de la bahia tienen derecho a seguro medico, pero no estan inscritos. take vo ---solo en el condado de alameda son mas de 13 mil. ---hoy la supervisora, "wilma chan" anuncio que ese condado destinar recursos para asegurarse que estos pequeÑo

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i have -- we have all watched the news. madison, wisconsin, columbus, ohio, trenton, new jersey, other places around the country where workers, public employees who when you really analyze it are paid with, including benefits, not much more or less, depending on the place, than comparable private sector workers, whether they are high school graduates or college graduates or whatever. the pay is pretty similar, the benefits -- overall pay and benefits are pretty similar. we have seen around the country that these public employees are, in most cases, willing to share in the sacrifice of balancing budgets and share in the sacrifice of fighting back against this bad economy. in fact, we know that workers, teachers, police officers, nurses, people working at the unemployment bureau, people working at the department of the interi

brown family here today, especially alma, michael, tracy and their families. so let us begin the program today by asking the incomparable peat la belle -- patty la belle to sing our national anthem. ms. la belle? [applause] ♪ o say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous night eo -- oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rocket's red glare the bombs burst continuing doctor bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o say does that star spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ oer the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [applause] >> thank you, patty la belle. >> you're welcome. [laughter] >> it is a particular personal honor for me to be the first u.s. ambassador to the united nations to work in this magnificent new building with its beautiful architecture and extraordinary art provided by the foundation for the preservation of art and embassies. the reason is because ron brown was very special to me. when i was 4, my family moved into a house that backed on the brown family home. so i knew secretary brown well, and i