ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. jackson lee: ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: let me thank the gentleman from massachusetts and let me thank my colleague from texas. this is a very important debate and brings about a lot of emotion for two reasons for me. in that same year of our debate on affordable care act, i lost my mother. and she was in need of long-term care. as i speak, there are two elderly senior citizen relatives who likewise are in the midst of long-term care. they are of a different era. did not have the opportunity to plan as much because of their economics, because of their station in life for their later life. but as i have watched the intensity of the care, i realized that we cannot make health care a political football. i remember distinctly that very emotional time in march of 2010, my recollection serves me not one friend on the other

ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. let me join with my colleagues to wish some of our distinguished americans a happy birthday in this month but more importantly let me acknowledge and salute both mohammed ali and first lady michelle obama in celebrating their birthdays this month. i've listened to my colleague -- colleagues speak about the question of job creation, and they're absolutely right. as democrats we've come back to do nothing but to ensure the passage of the payroll tax, decrease for working americans and as well to be able to provide for jobs for this country and our communities. my constituents have spoken loudly and clearly. so i have several points, mr. speaker, that i want to make today. some of them wind back to the culture and how we work together. first of all, i'm hoping that as a member of the judiciary committee here in the house that we'll have an opportunity to look seriously at the sulfur legislation and find a compromise. i worked on the issues of piracy from the time the late chairman henry

ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. last week i came to the floor of the house to challenge the utilization of words because words matter. candidates who are charging each other with variety of sins decided to call president barack obama, who will give us the state of the union, the food stamp president. for many of us who know our history we might recall that in the 1940's, and beyond, there are many who are on government cheese. in fact, many people i know today smile about that government cheese that they were given and peanut butter. there are doctors and lawyers and leaders of this nation, teachers, people who are expanding the opportunity for others. this nation is a great country and we are reminded that many who start from humble beginnings can ascend to the highest office or the barrens and leadership of corporate america. so the negative connotation of food stamp president is to denigrate those who receive it. rather than to suggest that there are opportunities in this nation that no other country can provide.

ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentleman from michigan, and i thank the manager of the bill and rise today to support h.r. 3801. i serve on the homeland security committee and know the importance of emphasizing, utilizing resources in a partnership and in fact passing a law, an authorization for that. we all know there's a firewall between a civilian government and its department of defense, and that's why i think this bill is particularly astute and particularly important, authored by our friend, gabby giffords. i thank her for her thoughtfulness, to ensure that as we put assets together we have the act of law to ensure that it is properly done. as a member of a border state or a resident of a border state, having been to the border many times, having walked the border from california to texas, having been on the border at night, having been on the border with the customs and border patrol, i can see what these assets can do to help stop the scourge of drug cartels and drug trafficking and

ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. lee: i thank the gentleman from michigan, and i thank the manager of the bill and rise todayto support h.r. 3801. i serve on the homeland security committee and know the importance of emphasizing, utilizing resources in a partnership and in fact passing a law, an authorization for that. well know there's a firewall between a civilian government and its department of defense, and that's why i think this bill is particularly astute and particularly important, authored by our friend, gabby giffords. i thank her for her thoughtfulness, to ensure that as we t assets together we have the act of law to ensure that it is properly done. as a member of a border state or a resident of a border state, having been to the border many times, having walked the border from california to texas, having been on the border at night, having been on the border with the customs and border patrol, i can see what these assets can do to help stop the scourge of drug cartels and drug trafficking and certainly mak

ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. n lee: i thank the gentleman from michigan, and i thank the manager of the bill and rise today to support h.r. 3801. i serve on the homeland security committee and know the importance of emphasizing, utilizing resources in a partnership and in fact passing a law, an authorization for that. we all know there's a firewall between a civilian government and its department of defense, and that's why i think this bill is particularly astute and particularly important, authored by our friend, gabby giffords. i thank her for her thoughtfulness, to ensure that as we put assets together we have the act of law to ensure that it is properly done. as a member of a border state or a resident of a border state, having been to the border many times, having walked the border from california to texas, having been on the border at night, having been on the border with the customs and border patrol, i can see what these assets can do to help stop the scourge of drug cartels and drug trafficking and certai

ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentleman from michigan, and i thank the manager of the bill and rise today to support h.r. 3801. i serve on the homeland security committee and know the importance of emphasizing, utilizing resources in a partnership and in fact passing a law, an authorization for that. we all know there's a firewall between a civilian government and its department of defense, and that's why i think this bill is particularly astute and particularly important, authored by our friend, gabby giffords. i thank her for her thoughtfulness, to ensure that as we put assets together we have the act of law to ensure that it is properly done. as a member of a border state or a resident of a border state, having been to the border many times, having walked the border from california to texas, having been on the border at night, having been on the border with the customs and border patrol, i can see what these assets can do to help stop the scourge of drug cartels and drug trafficking and

ms. jackson lee: address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady may proceed. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. we just saw a very moving ceremony to acknowledge our dear friend and colleague and again i offer my appreciation to her service, but in the course we mentioned her staff as well and i wanted to make sure that i added my appreciation to congresswoman giffords' staff. but that leads me to say that we depend upon the staff of this house and our personal staff and committee staff. not often do we get to know them personally, but i rise today to salute steve perkins who will be retiring and thank him for his service to this august body. to each and every member, remember those who serve in this body do not recognize democrat or republican. what they recognize is the great service to america. mr. perkins has served this congress with excellence, commitment and dedication. he truly should be commended and admired and respected for his service to the nation. i wish him we

ms. jackson lee: thank you, mr. speaker. a gentleman by the name of andrew adler, located in atlanta, georgia, and writing for an atlanta, georgia, newspaper, offered instructions to the prime minister of israel on how to protect that great nation. he suggested an attack on hezbollah and hamas and an attack on iran and then he gave number three, give the go-ahead for u.s.-based agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to the nation of israel. that president, i need not say, happens to be president of the united states now. words matter. mr. adler has been called upon to apologize and he -- and he did but he has brought shame to jewish americans torque americans torque israel, and frankly, the latitude he thought he could talk about assassinating the president of the united states without in any way a suggestion of, if you will, challenge is an outrage and disgrace. i believe in the first amendment. but words do matter. we should come together and be unified as a nation. find ways to disagree with each other without r

ms. jackson lee: address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, you would wonder how do you claim victory out of a season that if you are a professional football player does not end in the is super bowl? -- in the super bowl in i rise today to congratulate and thank my hometown team of the houston texans. a very young franchise that came together and showed their mighty might and kept on plugging until they got into the playoffs and even to the point of meeting the baltimore ravens last sunday. there are many good things to say about this team. in the backdrop of the holiday of dr. martin luther king, it is also a tribute to them that these young men worked together and showed themselves as brothers coming from so many diverse backgrounds from around the nation. their owner, their coach, their defense coach, their general manager and some of their stars like number 80, arian foster, and their young quarterback and many others show themselves to have good character and good examples for our community. and, yes, let me thank

ms. jackson lee: fairy tales are supposed to end with a happily ever after. the true story of the american people they don't want us on the floor today talking about now paying their bills to them. they want us to create jobs torque bring down unemployment, give them payroll tax relief, and to give an extension for unemployment for those seeking jobs and don't want us to deny food stamps to young soldiers whose incomes don't allow them to provide for their families. they want us to get to work, here i am, i'm ready to work. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. scott: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. sullivan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. sullivan: i rise in support of house joint resolution 98, a resolution to prevent president obama from raising the debt ceiling by $1. 2 trillion. this is a critical time for our nation, over 14 million americans are unemployed and our record-setting level of debt is more than $15 trillion. the fact is, the oba uh

jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentlelady from california for the recognition and also for the leadership. i might say to my colleagues whenever we come to the floor of the house to do the people's business, it is an important effort. and this motion to reconstruct -- to instruct is truly the people's business. i want to applaud you for framing the urgency of answering the call of doing what we need to do with respect to 160 million americans who need a payroll tax relief. again tax cuts for middle class and working americans. not a discriminatory treatment of only the top 1% having to be able to sing the song, oh, happy day, but allow those who get up every day, some working with their hands, genius of their mind, and being able to get cash relief from this congress. i also know that the american people are looking for immediate relief as it relates to jobs and i join with my colleague, chairman larson of the democratic caucus, about the american jobs act and the president's initiative on p

ms. jackson lee: if the gentlelady would yield. i want to speak to the gentlelady's last comment and say, you have been a champion for the virgin islands, i've had the privilege of having several meetings there, they are a generous people, they are our neighbors and so i personally want to say, experiencing and understanding the impact of the loss of a major entity is something many of us have gone through and in this instance, i wanted to say, yes, we will stand with you and be of help and i'm introducing legislation that deals with trying to look at the energy industry in a way to help it grow, in a fair way or to be environmentally safe and i know that you are certainly someone who is a champion of the environment but have found that that business is served economically and i want to make sure that we have these kinds of industries and they're not mutually exclusive, i don't have the facts of what has generated this action but we need to be helpful. my legislation talks about using the energy industry to also support improving t