ms. kaptur: thank you. madam speaker, tonight i want to devote extra time to talking about the proposed financial reform bill the conference committee report being worked on at that moment that is likely to come before the house later in the week. i wanted to put the discussion tonight in a broader context in hopes that my colleagues will listen and consider the bill to be brought before us. let me begin with this% statement. bankers hold a very privileged position in our society because, in fact, they hold the awesome power to create money. their use of that power can advance our society or their use of that power can harm us greatly. we are living through a period of great harm. so we have to ask, when bankers are given power, how much power do we give them? and what do we give them power to do? as we are discussing this this evening, the financial services committee is meeting to take out a proposal that had been part of the bill that would tax the banks that have done so much harm to us as a society. it

ms. kaptur of ohio mrdefazio of oregon. mr. lincolnaz-balart, flida. ms. maloney, new york. mr. boozman, arkansas. under the speaker's unce policy of januar6, 2009, the gentleman fr tex, mr. gohmert, irecogned for 60 minute as the designee of he minority leader. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. tee different iss feel compeld to bring up and dicuss one, rsof all, is what's going on in the gulf of mexico. being from texas,we are particularly sensitive to what happens there. en so many days on the gulf of mexico coas on texas coast, louisiana, alabama, missisippi, florida, all of those areas. ante what's happening is heartbreaking. two things nd to be done. e is immediely do everything we c to stop adition oil from flowing into tharea, at the same tcleaning up the area before we do a more devastation. and then the otherhing is we need to find ouwhat caused the spill, what could have been do better to prevent this from ever happenin weind out that british petreum had been cited 750 times on rigs for safety violations, coaredhat to hers. shell had one during theame period there a

ms. kaptur of ohio. mr. bilirakis of florida. mr. bilirakis: would like to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bilirakis: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize duane statz the voice offthe tampa bay rays, broadcasting for over 30 yearssince their%inception. he has 5,000 major league ball games tonight when they pay the padres at trop qana field. i think they just got started. baseball fans have watched and listened to games called by duane as the rays have grown from an expansion team to an american league champions and one of the best teams in major league baseball. prior to joining the rays, duune spent years calling play-by-play for espn, basketball and football as well as for several other major league teams, including houston astros, chicago cubs and new york % yankees. duane begannhis career as a sports reporter while a student at southern illinois university. and at the time, began -- became the youngest active broadcaster when he began calling majo

ms. kaptur of ohio. mr. moran of kansas. fro what reason does the gentleman rise? >> permission to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. herger: mr. speaker, i rise to israel's right to self-defense and express my outrage over the knee-jerk, international condemnation of our strong ally following the recent flotilla incident. the activists ignored warning from israeli forces to turn away from gaza and disregarded invitations to offload supplies elsewhere. worst of raleigh, they placed israeli forces in grave dangerer by brutally attacking them. many countries immediately condemned israel. their reaction sharply contrasts with their failure to denounce the hostile behavior of iran and north korea. i applaud the obama administration for avoiding this double standard. the united states must always stand against the unfair treatment of an important ally. the speaker pro tempore: mr. defazio of oregon. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop is r

ms. kaptur: i want to talk about the tornadoes that ravaged western ohio june 5 and 6 and it prematurely took the lives of six people. we're talking about fulton county, adjacent counties, madison walters has been tragically orphaned while her family, mary and ryan, were killed. we remember others. over 100 million dollars of estimated damage occurred. lake high school was leveled. so many businesses, homes, farms affected. while this is a story of pain, it is a story of hope while waves of thousands of volunteers have come to try to help and assist those facing such destruction. i would like to submit two articles for the record that detail examples of this compassion and it shows to us again the signs of a great nation that binds together a neighbor helping neighbor. i'd urge the administration in the strongest manner possible to declare our region a federal disaster area so necessary aid can flow to those whose lives have been so dramatically affected in a region already suffering economic recession. madam speaker, i yield back my remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: are there fur

ms. kaptur from ohio. mr. burton from indiana. mr. defazio from oregon. . mr. wolf from virginia. ms. foxx from north carolina. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. bishop: thank you very much, madam speaker. i come to the floor today during the specific time to talk about issues that are taking place on the borders of the united states. the issues i talk about are issues that impact both the northern border and the southern border as well, but we have had quite a bit of hype in the media lately about things that are taking place on the southern border. so i would like to try to focus my attention primarily on what is happening between the border between the united states and mexico. i also want to try and narrow the focus of the discussion tonight in some particular way. because i'm not talking about everybody who is coming through the border both legally and illegally, i'm talking about certain kinds of bad guys that are doing great harm to this particula

ms. kaptur. two minutes. ms. kaptur: thank you, distinguished dean of the delegation for yielding to me, and with speaker mollohan in the chair this evening, the neesm buckeye state of ohio extend our deepest sympathy to the state of west virginia to the byrd family, to all the staff that served this truly remarkable human being and mirn senator robert byrd. there's a great piece of music called "ode to the common man," as i'm saying these words this evening, i think of that music and of senator byrd's remarkable life truly was a man of the legislative branch that belonged to the american people . his road had been a hardscrabble one from the very beginning and he's the kind of american that walked a tough road and when he came here he never forgot people who came from backgrounds as did he. i have a great joy of serving with him on the appropriations committee and being one of the few women that have served on that committee when i arrived there in the 1990's, i remember him sitting across from me at a conference

ms. kaptur of ohi mr. dazio of oon. th speaker pem: without objection.er the eakes announced under a prioused oer of e hohe flowing members are rognized for vees ch. mr.cottf georgia. ve min. recognized for mrscott:ha y, mr. spear. dies and gentlem of the hse ahe gpele of americarise overy spial oasiotoaybute d t rognize the outstaing excellent work of one oonstien and in dougsvle ggin douas cnty. this is extaordinary story thisividual, you mr. ricky dobbs a nave dolasv, orgia, and a gradua of uglas county high go on thas exceence and greatness inan extraordinary carr of academ achment,asell as athletic achieveme. duri hisearss a douglas coty hh hool sdent he potred such a endae attributthatis affeionaeferretoim asthe yo e was the repit of the facuup at his commenment ceremonin 2006. riy dobbs who h demotrated outanding achievement bo in acamics acceptedthenit aval academy in annapolis d rts is leing theavy footballeam as i quarterback. at a quartback hhas become. inth2008 navy football asricky bbs ruedor and avy honored the whe house in ril of009 fowinn

ms. kaptur from ohio and mr. defazio from oregon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. moran, kansas, town, new york. without oojection, the gentleman from nebraska is recognized for five minutes. mr. fortenberry: mr. speaker, on tuesday morning, under the beautiful prairie sky, u.s. army specialist blaine edward reding was laid to rest in an old and is he convenient platts moth, nebrassa, cemetery. specialist reding was a 22-year-old newly wed, married just 10 weeks to nicky, before a roadside bomb took his life in afghanistan on june 7. he died along with four other soldiers, two of whom were his ccose friends. blaine reding followed a tradition, a family tradition, of service to our nation. in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, heeding the call to duty was also important to blaine's younger brother, private logan reding, who was also serving in afghanista

ms. kaptur of ohio. mr. jones of north carolina. without objection, the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. >> permission to revise and extend. mr. diaz-balart: i spoke with one of the most important and respected leaders of the pro-democracy movement in cuba. from his house. i always learn when i speak to him, he conveyed to me some facts that should be known by my colleagues. fact, there are not 200 political prisoners in cuba. there are thousands of political prisoners in cuba. as amnesty international admit nd one of its published reports, the dictatorships uses sents for so-called crimes for contempt against authority and dangerousness, criminal charges to deny, hide the political status of prisoners of conscience. fact, various pro-democracy leaders and political prisoners are on hunger strikes as we speak in cuba. most well known is the hunger strike being carried by the peaceful pro-democracy leader, a psychologist and journalists who demands the release of the most grateful ill prisoners to their homes. b

ms kaptur ohio. mrburton onana. mrdefazio ogon. underhepeaker's announced poli ojanuary 6,009,t gentlewoman from ohio, ms fudge, icogned for 60 utess theesignee of the marityder. ms. fue: thank youmr. pe. mr.peaker, i k anims nsent th aembers be gin fi legislative days to revi and extd remarks into the rerd othis t. the speakeprteore: witho ctn. ms. fue: thank you ve mh. mrspeake i appreethe peci order hour on hlt care theongressi bck rrently the congronal blcaucus is chaid the honorle barbara leerom the ninth congreional distri o cafornia i wouow yield to our air, the honorae barba le ms. e: tha y very mu first let me thank myriend collgue,esswom mara e oo, forchorin tot's ngreiona bck causpecial the immedie fits health careform. also let me jus thanknd salu congrswomudgeor her consistcynd h commitment tlding these peal orders we can br attentn to som the mos presng issues confing ou countroften don't ally ake the headline si would esciallyikto thank cones fudge for leading ton's special order ce againn e immediate benefitsf nd for

ms. rolehtinen of florida. m kaptur of ohio. mr. boozman of arkansas. mefio from oregon uer the speaker's announced policy january 6, 20, the gtlewomanrom wyoming, mrs. lummis is recognizefor minutes as designee of the norityeader. mrs. lummis: thk you, mr. spear. toht's dcussion will be out bills that members ofhe reblican conference hav snsored that veot yet gotten a aring that we still think are very good ideas r oucountry at this time of high debt, high deficits, d when regulations -- regulation is being heapedn sinesses that actllneed the cins -- chainto be broken so they can rsue the american dream of hiring people and crtingjobs and fulfillg r role inhe country andhe world, whi is to feed people, othe peoplecreate job cate wealt create opportunity, and so all to do so without being shackled by the federal government. with me this eveng is bob latta, who is from one ofthe most diverse dicts in the ente unitedtates. it has everything from agricuure to manufacturing, and it has experie ery up d dowthpoible for one district to expernc during the cour

ms. kaptur on this issue that we need to work with the treasury to and with banks-- to do what we can to get these resolved as quickly as possible whether it is through renegotiation of the mortgage, whether through a short sale or however it is done, get people situated and allow those houses to be turned over in the maetplace so we are working to try to manage that situation. that is clearly a big overhang in the housing market. >> that is my question and i appreciate your answer mr. chairman. thank you. >> the chair now recognizes ms. loomis. i break your pardon for moving ahead. you have five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman. dr. bernanke, i want to explore our entitlement programs with you for a little bit. we know from visiting with treasury secretary geithner, that medicare is essentially bankrupt. we know that social security, when we get to the suwannee 30's will be taking in enough money only to pay out three force of the benefits it pays out now. so, to help this committee dispelled the persistent and dangerous myth that our entitlement programs are sustainable as currently

ms. bwin for five miter. garamendi for five minutes, mr. is a pl for five minutes,s. kaptur for ve mutes, and mr. defazioor five minutes. the speaker p tempore: withouobjection. under thspeaker's announced pof january 6, 200 a unr prevus order of the house, the following membe a recognized for five minut ach. mr. poof texas. >> mpeak. heer pro tempore: fo t puose do the gtleman mr. flak i ask unanims consentclaim time. the speaker pro tempore: wit objection, the gentleman is recognized for five mites. m flake: mr. speake ren prs reports indicate that the house ldership is consideri a rules chan that would iminish the scope and authority of the office of congreal ethics, or e. this is an aprent responsto the o.c.e.'s decisiono forward foation gaered i its invesgation of e p.m. group to the justi partment,assing the standards- the committee on andards of officialonduct. his is anotherxamp of the o.c. growing beyond its intended purpo. in the ierest of full disclosure, voted against t creation of.ein 2007. i felt athe me the house should be able to apropriate standar and lice its behavior through e