ms. tsongas? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you all for your testimony. it's quite an array of issues you have to deal with. so i give you great credit for being so responsive to all our questions. i just wanted to note that past testimony before this committee has rightly noted that our nation's fiscal crisis represents a threat to our national security. as secretary of state hillary clinton and former secretary of defense bob gates have both noted, our rising debt has implications for both our influence around the world and our ability to project strength. to that end, i commend the diligence with which you have prepared the department's strategic guidance, along with the fiscal year 2013 budget, which was shaped by that guidance. and the initial round of cuts that has been required by the budget control act. a ranking member noted, ranking member smith rightly noted it's a decrease in the increase. and we actually had a witness last week. i'm sorry, i can't remember his name, who said that strategy without fiscal constraint is not a strategy. so i thin

ms. tsongas: the health care law signed into law in 2010 contains important new benefits for our seniors and our medicare recipients that have already started to take effect. nearly 3.6 million seniors in the doughnut hole have already saved $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs. 24 million people with medicare have already taken advantage of free preventive services. additional reforms, such as the prohibition of lifetime caps on insurance expenditures will soon be made available to our seniors thanks to health care reform. nothing in health reform reduces medicare benefits for seniors. health care reform achieves medicare savings by cracking down on inefficiency, fraud and waste in medicare targeted at private health insurance companies and providers, not beneficiaries. this is how government should operate, by demanding efficiency accountability and protecting taxpayer dollars. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address t

ms. tsongas: mr. speaker, we are now in the month of february and in less than four weeks the two-month payroll tax cut extension, which house republicans begrudgingly agreed to, would expire. to avoid the same dramatic standoff that threatened a $1,400 tax increase for the average massachusetts family, we must work together and adopt a year-long extension of this vital tax credit. rather than waiting until the last minute yet again. failure to extend the payroll tax cut to the end of the year would not only severely impact already overstretched households around the country, but would also dramatically undermine our still fragile economic recovery. families have already made their budgets for this year. they are counting on this extension to pay their bills, heat their homes, and meet other needs. let's not let them down. thank you. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? without objection. >> mr. speak

ms. tsongas? >> thank you mr. chairman. and thank you all for your testimony.s quite an array of issues you have to deal with. so i give you great credit for being responsive to all our questions. i just wanted to note that past testimony before this committee has rightly noted that our nation's fiscal crisis represents a threat to our national security. as secretary of state hillary clinton and former secretary of defense bob gates have both noted, our rising debt has implications for both our influence around the world and our ability to project strength. to that end, i commend the diligee with which you have prepared the department's strategic guidance, along with the fiscal year 2013 budget which was shaped by that guidance. and the initial round of cuts that has been required by the budget control act a ranking member noted ranking member smith rightly noted it's a decrease in the increase. and we actually had a witness last week. i'm sorry i can't remember his name, who said that strategy without fiscal constraint is not a strategy. so i think that forces