ms. edwards of maryland. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in the series. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 23 printed in the congressional record offered by the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 23, printed in the congressional record, offered by mr. cohen of tennessee. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for 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 will be 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 polit

ms. edwards of maryland. ms. edwards: the clean air act has a proven 40-year track record of delivering technological innovation and economic growth for the american people, at the same time protecting public hell and our nation's environment. this was originally signed into law by president richard nixon and the amendments were enacted by president george h.w. bush. unfortunately my republican colleagues here today don't see eye-to-eye even with their own party's former presidents. since its inception, the clean air act has netted americans $40 in benefits for every $1 that's been spent in making it one of the most successful and significant statutes in our nation's history. my amendment highlights the fact that if the rules repealed by this bill remained in effect, they would yield annual public health benefits of between $6.7 billion and $18 billion. at a cost of under $1 billion. the benefit of complying with the a.p.a.'s cement kiln standards exceeds the cost by a factor of at least seven and as much as 18. a

ms. edwards of maryland. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. ms. edwards: there's a strong sense of deja vu here in the house today. last week we gave power plants free rein to spew hazardous toxins into the air. we did the same for cement kilns. now here we are again, proposing to preemptively block e.p.a. from creating regulators -- regulations that would govern the third largest polluters, incinerators and boilers. republicans seem bent on turning back the clock on expansion and job growth. contrary to the belief of my colleagues on the other side, protecting our environment and our health doesn't stifle jobs. in fact, it saves jobs. that's because when you develop, manufacture, and implement environmental technology, it's labor intensetive. that -- intensive. that explains why in the same period that the clean air act kept more than 1.7 million tons of poisonous chemicals out of our lungs, it contributed to a 207%, that's right, 207% increase in the nation's g.d.p. so that's why i'm offering an amendment today, to acknowledge that this bill, h r

ms. edwards of maryland, on which a the ayes prevailed by voice vote.he clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number two, offered by ms.e wards of maryland. the chair: members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-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. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 157, the noes are 260, the amendment is not agreed to. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 1 printed in congressional record offered by the gentlelady from illinois, ms. schakowsky, on which further proceedings were postponed and which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in the congressional record offered by ms. schakowsky of illinois. th

ms. edwards. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. edwards: thank you, madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to this bill that doesn't create jobs but shorts women of appropriate reproductive service. mr. hastings: i yield to the distinguished gentlelady, ms. chu, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. . ms. chu: it allows doctors and hospitals to refuse treatment even if women will die without their help. this bill is so extreme it would prohibit women with cancer to get an abortion so radiation can save their life. every day and every week of treatment could be the difference between life and death. if this bill passes we will see thousands more women abandoned by their doctors. women like stephanie who is pregnant at 19 weeks. she came to the hospital with a 106-degree fever. the whites of her eyes was filled with blood. she was dying before her doctor's eyes. but they considered the life of the fetus more important than the life of the mother

ms. edwards, 29, will be escorted down the aisle by her father john. that will celebrate the marriage with family and friends at the sprawling home for parents built in a country site not far from chapel hill, north carolina. everyone close to the family knew that mrs. edwards will not see this day, she died of breast cancer two weeks after the engagement but the mother and daughter died into wedding details while they still had time. "i felt so lucky to share the joy with her, leaving through bridal magazines and to talk about whether." she wrote this for the november issue of "glamour." in the last week she told me she was comforted to know i set forth on my own life plan. the wedding offers family and friends chance of joy and celebration after years of turmoil and that that played out dramatically on the public stage. back to your calls. margin is an independent from florida. what do you think about rick perry's proposal of the flat tax? caller: thank you for taking my call. back in the early 1990's when ross perot was on the political scene he pro

ms. edwards, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. edwards: thank you, madam chairwoman. it seems that hardly a day goes by in this chamber when the republican majority fails to create jobs, endangers public health and deep sixes the environment. today is no different. coal plants are usually accompanied by coal ash ponds and dry coal ash land fills and they're disproportionately located in impoverished areas. 2/3 of all of the ash ponds in the united states are located where household income is below the national medium. what that means is that poor people don't have a voice in what the majority is trying to do. we can't rely on a voluntary patchwork of state regulations which is what this bill would have us do. now in my own home state of maryland, we have a decent record of environmental regulations but i can't say that about our neighboring states. we need a national way to look at how we're contaminating or not our environment. the contamination of groundwater at the coal ash plant in maryland resulted in the single largest fine e

ms. edwards: thank you, mr. speaker. the other side has been in the majority over 39 weeks and has not passed a single legislation to create jobs or help small businesses and now they reject out of hand commonsense legislation in the american jobs act to help small business owners who are responsible for creating 70% of the jobs in this country. last week i visited with small business owners like susan bishop, the owner of jaha hair studios. she has been in business 16 years, eight employees and found it impossible to get a $30,000 credit extension to meet payroll from a bank she's done business with for 16 years. she wants to expand her business, to hire others, to train others and can't do it but could with the american jobs act. constituents, owners of kiva cafe. they told me they would actually hire someone if they could get the tax credits available in the american jobs act. so why aren't we doing it? doing it for other small businesses throughout my congressional district? these are real job creators. it's time for