ms. woolsey. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i rise this evening in support of congressmanmy should's motion to instruct conferees. every single one of us in this chamber woke up this morning and came to work. we're lucky to have jobs. jobs that are a source of dignity and self-fulfillment. but mr. speaker, 13 million americans woke up this morning with no job to go to. no salary to help support their families. these 13 million americans are jobless, not because there's something wrong with them but because something is wrong with the u.s. economy and with the policies designed to keep 1% of the population comfortable at the expense of the remaining 99%. the recession happened to the american people. they didn't bring it on themselves. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle see it differently. instead of willingly extending jobless americans the hand-up they're entitled to, the majority insists on punishing jobless americans for their predicament. they want to manipulate the unemployment insurance forum that every

ms. woolsey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you know, we will be hearing a lot more as we have today about burdensome regulations and how the federal regulations impact negatively on business, and i think that one that we are going to hear about over and over is osha's proposal to develop an injur injure and illness prevention program, and plan requiring employers to routinely find and fix hazards before the workers are hurt instead of waiting for osha to find the violations. and the opposition, the opponents will claim that this is simply going to pile up paperwork and be a regulation that they don't need. but to justify the opposition,m study by rand corporation of california's illness and injury prevention program and found that it did have an impact on worker safety, because it is indeed preventative, but what the rand corporation found as noted in a memo that the press release actually that they sent is that california's program can help prevent injuries to workers, but only if it is adequately enforced. their press releas

ms. woolsey, for five minutes. 7 ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, it's groundhog day, phil saw his shadow this morning, and winter will last six more weeks. but what comes to find for me is that old bill murray movie called "groundhog's day" where he wakes up and the same thing happens day after day after day. we are living our own version of groundhog day right now because every morning for the last 3700-plus mornings the american people have woken to a nation at war. every morning we have woken up to the same scenario. thousands and thousands of our fellow americans in harm's way. occupying a foreign nation as part of a reckless policy that is costing us at least $10 billion a month. well, there was some encouraging news, however, just yesterday, as secretary of defense panetta said that our combat role in afghanistan would be over as soon as the middle of next year, that's a year earlier than we have been talking. that would be a long overdue but welcomed development. a belated recognition that this war is doing more harm than good in ev

ms. woolsey, for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, mr. speaker. . ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, it's february 29, a day that exists only once every four years, yet this is the third february 29, the third leap day, that we have been at war in afghanistan. i have my granddaughter here with me, she's 8 years old. she's not lived in the united states when we were not at war. last week in particular we were exposed to the grave dangers and the fundamental flaws of our afghanistan strategy. the week started with the burning, accidentally, of several copies of the koran by u.s. troops. that sparked days of violence, protests throughout the country. angry afghanistans tried to storm u.n. compounds and other western installations. at our largest military base, thousands, including many who work at the base, many who worked at the base gathered to throw rocks and shout death to america. days later came the killing of two nato soldiers, shot in the back of their head while working at their desks inside the afghan interior ministry. the killer was apparently a taliban insurgent wh

ms. woolsey, for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, several reserve chair -- federal reserve chair, ben bermanny, testified on capitol hill last week and warned us that deficit reduction should be a top priority. and that current spending projections are unsustainable. in response the gentleman from wisconsin who chairs the budget committee said that we needed to get our fiscal house in order. otherwise it's going to get ugly pretty fast. to him i would say, it's already ugly. it's really ugly for 13 million americans who woke up this morning without a job to go to. and it would be uglier still if we embraced his vision of a shredded safety net and a voucher program that ends medicare as we know it. here's what i find distressing and disturbing particularly. for my colleagues in the majority, every other sentence about out of their mouths is about reducing federal spending. and yet the programs they want to cut are the very ones that are keeping working families afloat. they never seem to aim their axe at the part of the budge

ms. woolsey, for five minutes. ms. woolsey: madam speaker it was an ancient greek playwright who originally said, truth is the first casualty of war. more than 2,500 years later, those words still hold painfully and tragically true. tomorrow afternoon, i'll join several of my colleagues in meeting with lieutenant colonel daniel davis who has embarked on a brave truth-telling campaign about the war in afghanistan. after two combat deployments to afghanistan, lieutenant colonel davis has written two reports, one classified, one unclassified in which he tells he has seen. as part of his assignment with the rapid equipping force, he traveled across afghanistan several times spanning some 9,000 miles and visiting hundreds of troops. as well as afghan civilians and afghan security forces. what he saw was afghan police that stay in the safe harbor of their checkpoints while allowing the taliban to roam free. what he saw were afghan local governments completely unprepared to protect and provide for their people. what he heard w

ms. woolsey two minutes. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. woolsey: thank you. i thank my friend and neighbor for yielding. i don't know how many of my colleagues have visited the north coast that mr. thompson and i represent. if you haven't, i don't know what you're waiting for. the waters off our shore are quite simply the most abundant and exquisitely beautiful on the face of the earth. our commercial fishing industry depends on this thriving marine ecosystem. these waters are invaluable to the research of university scientists and more than 16,000 tourism jobs depend -- in sonoma county alone depend on this -- these open beautiful waters. if the majority were truly in interested in helping job creators they would not be supporting a drill everywhere approach. actually, oil and gas resources available off our coast don't come close to justifying opening this area in the first place to any drilling, and even parts of the country where there is oil i believe the costs to our natural environment is much too great when we start punching holes in the ocean floor.

ms. woolsey: thank you. we just spent the last two hours in the education and work force committee markup debating the disastrous republican rewrite of the elementary and secondary education act. not content to undermine k through 12 education, the majority adjourned the markup so they could come down here and inflict damage on higher education as well. through the repeal of these -- two ponch department of education regulations, h.r. 2117 undercuts college students' ability to be assured a quality education for their investment. congresswoman fok's bell repeals two regulations intended to protect consumers, students, and taxpayers, and the money that we invest in higher education because it doesn't hold the spending accountable to ensure that there is real progress for the dollars that we invest. this bill doesn't do anything to solve the problem of how to make college more affordable. for more people. why are we doing this? why aren't we addressing the absolutely looming student loan interest rate hike tha

ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, there are more things more universal to the health and lives of women than birth control. it is basic health care. it's essential to women's economic independence and professional fulfillment. in fact with the swearing in of our new colleague from oregon, we now have 94 women in congress. my guess is there would be half that number without the benefit of contraceptives. and that all began 40 or 50 years ago. so when the speaker said this morning that congress must overturn the president's policy acting on behalf of the american people, i'm not really sure what he's talking about, because the president's decision is on the right side of common sense, sound srns and -- science and public opinion. it enjoys support of majority of americans and majority of catholics and many of my house colleagues who want to deny access to contraception are the same ones who want to cut programs who help women and families. i thank the president for standing up for women's health care and women'