ms. markey: mr. speaker, today i rise in support of my bill, h.r. 5730, the surface transportation earmark rescission, savings, and accountability act. the bill will eliminate a total of $713 million in contracting authority for 309 old transportation earmarks. in short, this bill will prevent our deficit from rising by another $713 million. in today's fiscal climate, we must be judicious in our spending and my legislation follows the commonsense principle of use it or lose it. before i came to congress i owned several small businesses. one of my businesses was a small coffee and ice cream shop called huckleberry's. with a shop that sells food, the use it or lose it principle is intrinsic. we would not buy more perishable food than we could sell, otherwise we were at a loss. every small business owner knows that when you are working on a tight budget, you cannot afford wasteful spending. and that, mr. speaker, is exactly what these earmarks are. by targeting these earmarks, my legislation will delive

ms. markey, and mr. pascrell. i thank these members and other who was made suggestions to me for their constructive addition to this amendment. this amendment makes significant improvement to the underlying legislation and i urge an aye vote on the bill. mr. chairman, i reserve the plans of my time. the chair: the gentlelady reserves her time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from west virginia rise? mrs. capito: i climb -- i claim time in opposition to the amendment though i'm not opposed. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. capito: the chairwoman's manager's amendment does make good improvements to the underlying bill by phasing out taxpayer subsidies for severe repetitive losses. the nfip is facing serious financial challenges and the program can't afford to go on its current path. in this respect, i think chairwoman waters' manager's amendment is a positive step in the right direction. in addition, the manager's amendment includes additional -- additional reforms that seek to reduce subsidies ove

ms. markey: mr. speaker, as we debate ways to tackle our growing deficit and create jobs, i rise today to call on this congress to reject proposals that would privatize social security or medicare. colorado seniors rely on social security and medicare, and as we struggle to climb out of a deep recession, the security, provided by these programs, is more critical than ever. dismantling medicare and adding trillions of dollars to the deficit with a risky privatization scheme that gambles seniors' financial security in the stock market is just the wrong way to go. rolling the dice on the financial security our seniors depend on in a financial system that recently almost collapsed is reckless in the extreme and has been roundly rejected by the american people. we can cut waste, fraud and abuse from social security and medicare without cutting a penny in benefits, and i will fight to protect the promise we made to american seniors. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for wha