i'm talking about our national debt. our national debt is the threat. it is the great e threa greatesr national security. i'll tell you this isn't a problem for one party, the other party, it is a problem for all of us as americans. now, i'm not the only one that's saying it. actually, the chairman of the -- of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, has said the most significant threat, the most significant threat to our nation's security is our debt. let me repeat, the most significant threat to our national security is the debt. you may notice, mr. president, that admiral mullen makes no mention at all of the debt ceiling. the presiding officer: would the senator from wyoming cease for a minute. could we have order, please. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming may continue. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as i was saying, you will note that admiral mullen makes -- makes no mention at all of a debt ceiling, he is talking specifically about the debt. and he is doing that b

running a budget surplus and was poised to pay off our entire national debt in just ten years by two thousand and ten last year so here we have two republicans reagan and bush running up a huge debt and a democrat bill clinton figuring out a way to pay it off and george w. bush gallatin it's up like reagan bush promised his billionaire funders and his family friends good times so he cut taxes again for the rich and to give himself a shoo in victory in two thousand and four who started two wars and he paid for all the stuff the same way reagan and herbert bush had paid for it by putting it on the national credit card it took bush only one year to turn bill clinton's budget surplus into a budget deficit so after eight years of the white house george w. bush took the five point seven trillion dollar debt that he had inherited mostly from reagan and his dad and turned it into a ten point four trillion dollars heap of debt to hand over to president obama along with a nice little bonus gift of a republican great depression in total bush added over four point five trillion dollars to the na

to our national security. the cut, cap and balance bill before us address our nation's spending and debt challenges in a manner that stops delaying hard decisions. we immediately cut spender by over $100 billion. we cap spending in future years in less than 20% of g.d.p. and send a balanced budget amendment for states for ratification. at $14 trillion and counting, our national debt currently is quickly approaching 100% of g.d.p. the fedal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends. america cannot continue on this unsustainable fiscal path. the full faith and credit of the united states gernment depends on congress acting. i urge a yes vote and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield a minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. green: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask u

the one in your state, play in keeping our nation in the lead in fossil technologies. our bill demonstrates this support by funding fossil energy research and development at $32 million above fiscal year to 2011 level. the bill will also, however, increase the transparency of these programs out of the program direction and into research programs. with that change included, the department of energy has the authority to fund laboratory personnel doing valuable work at the national labs. however, recognizing my colleague's concerns, i would be happy, we would be happy, to work with the gentleman as we move forward -- toward conference to ensure that salaries are fully funded while increasing the transparent soif ongoing research. with that, i yield back. mr. mckinley: thank you. i appreciate the chairman's remarks. i ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment. the chair: without objection, the amendment is withdrawn. the gentleman yields back. the clerk will read. the clerk: page 25, line 1, naval petroleum and oil shale reserves. $9,929,000. strategic petroleum reserv

allowing our nation to default no way fixes our budget problems. stop playing the games. get the work done. move the country forward. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? without objection. mr. lujan: there's a lot of important conversations taking place today, but it's important that we talk about what's happening in new mexico recently. new mexico has been hit by a series of wildfires during this extremely dry fire season. many communities have been threatened by fires as families have lost their homes and livestock and tribal lands have been damaged. at a time when many counties are struggling with the drought, the fire damage to our water sheds, which provides new mexico the majority of its surface water, has impacted drinking water supplies and increased the threat of floods during monsoon season. with the midwest recovering from floods and tornadoes, and the west battling fires and drought, the current resources available to fight these disasters are simply not enough. funds for the natural resource conserv

our national debt is our biggest national security threat. mr. president, i believe that that's the case. our gross debt now is approaching 100% of the gross domestic product of the united states. we've not seen a debt that high since after world war ii. mr. president, it is extraordinarily important that we take on this debt threat. it is extraordinarily important for our country's future economic well-being that we change course. mr. president, the legislation that has been sent to us by the house is one of the most ill considered, ill-conceived, internally inconsistent pieces of legislation that i have seen in my 25 years here in the united states senate. it has all the earmarks of something that was hastily thrown together, really pieced it together. and this legislation includes an amendment to the constitution of the united states. mr. president, we are better than this. the congress is better than this. certainly the country is better than this. let me just be brief. the fundamental problems with the balanced budget amendment are as follows

in 2010, our national g.d.p. was $14.6 trillion, raising the debt to $16.3 trillion mean our debt ceiling will surpass our country's g.d.p. and yet for the 81st time since 1940, we are being asked again to raise the debt ceiling. if -- in 2002, our debt stood at $10.6 trillion. now not even 10 years later, we are asked to raise it to $16.2 trillion. that's a 250% increase for an average of 16.7% increase per year. obviously, continuing on this past, next year, it is likely we will be asked in this chamber to raise the debt ceiling to $19 trillion. that's staggering. in keeping with this 70-year tradition, we are certain to force our nation's spiraling and out-of-control debt on to the backs of our country's children and grandchildren. raising the debt ceiling today without reform will merely lead to a new call, a new call to raise the debt again tomorrow. is the united states disciplined enough to solve this debt problem through austerity and productivity? i think it is. yet i believe we can, but only if we break

the severity of our nation's fiscal crisis cannot be overstated. more than 14 million americans are looking for work. meanwhile federal spending continues at an unprecedented pace with an average of $4 billion added to our country's debt every day. we need to encourage economic growth and investment. instead, leaders on the other side of the aisle are pushing reckless policies, more red tape and taxes to pay for their irresponsible spending spree leaving job creators frozen by uncertainty and fear and risk our future prosperity. at a recent round table, a small business owner told me, quote, the government is out of control, it's too big and i don't like it, closed quote. well, i don't like it either and it's costing our country jobs. it's time for washington to do what's right. we need to make the tough choices necessary to get our nation's fiscal house in order. no one said it would be easy, but it is certainly necessary. the legislation before us will end unsustainable spending and put this nation back on a fiscal path. i urge my colleagues to su

capping spending is a portion of our national economy. returning it to the days in which just a few years ago in which we were spending only 18 -- i say only in quotes perhaps, only 18% of our gross national product by the federal government. unfortunately, in the last few years that 18% has grown to 25%, 24.2%. and so reducing some spending, capping that spending in the intermediate future so that it doesn't exceed a certain portion of the national economy, and finally passing a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution seems to me to be a reasonable, rational approach to solving the problems that we face. i also indicated yesterday that in my view, there's a fourth component. it's cut, cap, balance and grow. and i don't want us to forget the importance of a growing economy. the last time we had our budget that was in balance, close to being in balance was at the end of the term of president clinton. and, yes, there were some spending restraints back in those days and those years. republicans and democrats couldn't get t

if our national budget -- a 90% increase. if our budget is about shared sacrifice, how about starting with the oil and gas industries who have profited by the resources owned by the american public and from ranchers whose use of the public lands is heavily subsidized by the american taxpayer? and yet they get increases in the bill while indian sanitation facilities are cut. that's why the second part of my amendment provides an additional $18.6 million for the indian sanitation facilities program, it would simply restore funding to last year's level. at the end of f.y. 2010 there were about 230,000 native american homes in need of sanitation facilities including 34,000 homes without portable water. according to the indian health service, native americans in these homes are at extremely high risk for gastrointestinal disease and respiratory disease at rates similar to thirled world countries. additionally the indian health service has noted that many of these homes without services are very remote, have limited access to health

security is our growing national debt. we're calling for another $306 million to be reduced from this bill. 10 conservative groups support this. let's tighten our belts, let's engage the bureaucracy, let's put our country back on the path to fiscal health. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the question son the amendment offered by the gentlelady from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. mrs. blackburn: i ask for a recorded vote, please. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from tennessee will be postpone. the gentleman from maryland. >> i have an amendment at the desk, amendment number 53. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 53 printed in the congressional record, the gentleman from maryland, mr. harris. the chair: the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. mr. harris: this follows up on an amendment adopted by the committee

our nation deserves nothing less. but this bill would destroy those hopes and those dreams, it would plunge our economy back into a deeper recession. it would mean more lost jobs, more lost homes and seniors living in poverty without health care and basic necessity. it would mean children going hungry and it keeps smart, young people from going off to college. this bill will sell the very soul of our nation. we are better than this, we are more compassionate than this. we know better, it is easy to destroy -- easier to destroy than it is to build. another generation of leaders gave more with -- did more with less and built people up. we cannot turn back, vote no on this bill, let's go back to the table and work out a compromise that prevents default, preserves our moral obligation to our seniors, puts america back on the road to greatness and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i yield now one minute to the

at the same time, we cannot ignore the importance of addressing our nation's deficit problem. and other priorities in the bill, namely national defense and scientific innovation. the underlying bill balances these important goals in part by reducing the construction account from the fiscal year 2011 enacted level, but not by nearly as much as that account was reduced in the president's own fiscal year 2012 budget request. with this level of funding, we are working to reduce the deficit, funding our national defense needs, supporting scientific innovation, and at the same time allowing the corps to continue progress on the most critical water resources investment. we must preserve the careful balance that this bill strikes. therefore i must oppose the amendment and urge my colleagues to vote no. i continue to reserve my point of order. the chair: the gentleman yields back. continues to reserve his point of order. who seeks recognition? the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, i'd like to assert my point of order. mr. chairman -- the chair: th

pro -- our nation's president is turning the big 5-0. con -- our nation's debt is turning the big 5-0-0-0-0 -- [ applause ] not good. pro -- obama said he wants a debt ceiling deal for his birthday. con -- but if that fails, he'll settle for a gift card to outback steak house. [ light laughter ] [ as obama ] "i like the bloomin' onion. two bloomin' onions. [ laughter ] i'll have a bloomin' onion. bloomin; onion. orange whip, orange whip orange, whip. [ light laughter ] pro -- obama's birthday guests will get to play all his favorite party games. con -- like pin the debt on our grandchildren. that's a fun one. [ laughter and applause ] great game. pro --

this house, this nation, this republic is divided against itself. our founders called their effort to establish a new nation a great experiment. and it has been. nothing like it had ever been tried in america, has been on equaled success in all of world history. truly, we are the envy of the world. we began a 13-week and barely united states but quickly became the strongest country in the western hemisphere. about 70 years after we adopted the constitution, we survived a deadly civil war. american influence grew as we became the agent of democracy and capitalism for the entire world. although our military power was slow to develop, we fought on the winning side of two world wars and grew into an economic and military and cultural superpower. we are a nation of immigrants, of many faiths, of many races and our national call to union is e pluribus unum, out of many one. out of many states is forged one nation. out of many races is forged one people. out of many one. the founding fathers had to balance the agrarian interests of the south and the west with

it soon if we don't replay what alexander hamilton and george washington gave us at the birth of our nation that nurtured us into an economic superpower then one day we're all going to wake up and realize at the age of the of america as a first world nation is over is that what we want to bequeath to future generations let's let allentown metal work serve as an example a rallying cry to bring back the american way before it's too late the fate of our nation thanks in the balance. that's the big picture for tonight for this week for more information on the stories we covered visit our web site at samarra and free speech dot org and archie dot com also check out our two you tube channels there are links of thom hartmann dot com and this entire shows available as a free video podcast on i tunes and we have a free tell martin i phone and i pad app and the app store you can so this feedback and twitter and tom underscore apartment on facebook or tom underscore are among our blogs message boards and telephone on that line and thom hartmann dot com and don't forget democracy begins with you when y

to our national security. the cut, cap, and balance bill before us addresses our nation's spending and debt challenges in a manner that stops delaying hard decisions. we immediately cut spender by over $100 billion. we cap spending in future years in less than 20% of g.d.p. and send a balanced budget amendment for states for ratification. at $14 trillion and counting, our national debt currently is quickly approaching 100% of g.d.p. the federal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends. america cannot continue on this unsustainable fiscal path. the full faith and credit of the united states government depends on congress acting. i urge a yes vote and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield a minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. green: thank you, mr. speaker.

weeks ago texas governor rick perry proclaimed august sixth as a day of prayer and fasting for our nation to seek god's guidance inviting governors from across the nation to join in christian prayer summit and his. as an elected leader all too aware of government's limitations when it comes to fixing things that are spiritual in nature that's where prayer comes in and we need it more than ever with the economy in trouble communities in crisis and people adrift in a sea of moral relativism we need god's. that's why i'm calling on americans to pray and fast like jesus did and as god called the israelites to do in the book of joel . areas just like jesus or god the website promoting the event says that the summit is necessary because as a nation we must come together and call upon jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles because some problems are beyond our power to saul. and wrote yesterday to freedom from religion foundation filed a lawsuit to block the.

parks are iconic assets to our nation. but you know, i do think that the local community could enjoy them more and appreciate the national park service's role more if we had the kind of dialogue with the park service that ms. norton is suggesting. i don't see any harm in having that kind of study. i think we ought to be able to work with the gentlelady, maybe put together some report language, at least a letter to the head of the national park service suggesting that this is an area that the congress itself in a bipartisan way thinks we ought -- thinks ought to be explored. if the gentleman would like me to yield to him, unless he'd lake to claim his own time? >> if the gentleman would yield, i think the gentleman has stated the case as it is that it is an earmark. and that's a whole other story we could talk about. mr. simpson: i agree with what the gentlelady is trying to do here. i will tell you the ranking member and i will work with the gentlelady from district of columbia to resolve this in conference to accomplish wh

i hope they will pause and reflect on where our nation is today. we are six days away from our deadline. six days away from our first default on our debt ceiling in american history. this is one of it includes spending cuts that we voted for. it includes an effort to extend the debt ceiling debate beyond the theory of the next election campaign and to give our economy a chance to get back on its feet. it sets a process for us. it is a responsible approach. we're urging republicans the to step back, but their caucuses aside put their caucus pledges the site and but this country first. we have got to get busy and roll up our sleeves. >> the plan is on life support. it is time for him to pull the plug. >> even if the speaker is able to borrow and steal his way to 217 republican votes, if it tree mills announced dodger in the senate. the president will never sign it. there are wasting precious time. weaker reing closer to catastrophic defaults. come a time since he have to throw red meet. let's give something real done. yesterday's in an attempt to rall

that stirs the human heart and am not, we've seen the rise of our moderate indian nation, you know, hrough their tribal sovereignty movement being able to transcend the social and legal and political problems, you know, this sort of held our people down and trying to reclaim our pride and make all right -- political rights of indigenous people to the point where we can and see a great social movement that rivals the women's movement, civil rights movement, environmental movement in american history and one of the reasons why we were able to do that with the american ma and what they call federal indian mob provided the legal framework for the social movement has resulted in the rise of moderate indian nations. what i wanted to study that body of law in my book because i does concern for that idea flawed because i think there's been a very troubling retreat, you know, from michael redd to the u.s. supreme court since 1985, you know, were indian nations have lost or 80% of their cases, you know, that come before the supreme court in some terms losing with an 80% of our cases, which mea

tradition we have by and by the rule of law it is also help to keep our nation safe and secure and then the second thing is that he's recognizing that the diversity that is continuing to grow within norway is also contributing to the strength of the country and that's also been the case here in the united states and we fail to recognize those two key lessons then it's really putting the very fabric of our nation in enormous strain and at jeopardy so. it seems like we've done that i mean this is this is what i wish to argue with jamie and daniel about the george bush violated the rule of law repeatedly and then modified the rule of law in the united states to make us a more fearful nation the act the opposite of what norway is doing how do we walk that back or should we well i think we do need to walk the fear factor back because inherent within the word charism is terror and there is a very strong psychological component more than even about creating dead bodies is the fact that they're trying to change the way that we as a nation act to staring us and cowering

it's time for democrats and republicans to get together to do what's right for our nation. you simply cannot allow our country to fail to pay its bills for the first time in its history. we'll find a way to get this done. the risks to our economy are too great not to. i was happy to hear yesterday -- i received a phone call from the republican leader at 12:30 yesterday. he has come forward with a proposal to address the debt limit. i'm studying it and discussing it with my senators. i have another meeting at 11:00. he spent a great deal of time working on this, senator mcconnell did. i commend him for his thoughtful and unique proposal. it's something that we have to look at very closely. i'm heartened by what i read. this is a serious proposal. i commend the republican leader for coming forward. but i believe that the republican leader's proposal combined with ideas he and i have been discussing to force a vote on deficit reduction proposals could go a long way toward resolving the impasse we now find ourselves. we both agreed a long time ago the problem is not the presiden

doomsday all that certain now and here's a thought maybe if we had better roads and bridges that our nation wouldn't be in such a money crunch details of a new report says rebuilding our country's infrastructure is the key to not only stimulating our economy reducing deficits as well. getting to know this house republicans were supposed to vote on speaker john boehner as much maligned debt limit plan to six o'clock tonight but instead the house was voting on renaming post offices around the country at six o'clock why it has been or didn't have votes in his own republican caucus to pass his own bill so we had to lay the vote desperately twist for tea party arms who are hell bent on crashing the economy no matter what earlier this afternoon boehner had this to say about his plan and what the senate needs to do with it. what this bill reflects is a sincere honest effort to end this crisis in a bipartisan way for the sake of jobs for the sake of our country i'm asking. the representatives in the house in a bipartisan way and i ask you my colleagues in the senate let's pass this bill and end thi

racism be the result of a growing gaffe and socio economics in america and as time draws near until our nation's debt deadline is a question for john boehner and his g.o.p. buddies that no one has bothered to ask i'll reveal what the question is in tonight's daily take. there is a race controversy breaking out in arkansas it centers on what happened at a high school in the city of mcgee it mcgee he said secondary school is facing a lawsuit from the parents of eighteen year old kimberly wimberly after wimberly who had the highest g.p.a. in her entire class was denied sole valedictorian honors simply because she's an african-american hearing the name in an african-american student valedictorian at a profit predominantly white school could cause a quote big mess principal darryl thompson went ahead and named another student a white student with a lower g.p.a. as the code valedictorian now principal thompson and the rest of the arkansas school board in the area will have some next ruling and to do in a court of law still don't think racism is alive in america. but beyond the overt racism on display

after world war ii our national debt was at $121.-- was at 121.7% of our gross national product. we had something to show for it. we had won world war ii. through the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's, we worked our way to the point where our national debt fell to just 32.5% of g.d.p. in 1981. we did this through a combination of growth and some inflation. our debt was in pretty good shape until we hit the 1980's, during which we quadrupled our national debt under presidents ronald reagan and george h.w. bush. we have hashed over time and again who is to blame for the situation we find ourselves in, but let me leave that alone for the moment and get back to what it means to raise the debt ceiling. as i said, our debt currently stands at $14.3 trillion. i think we can agree on this. that number reflects past choices, not current ones. the debt ceiling also stands at $14.3 trillion. we have to raise the debt ceiling because we as a nation have certain obligations that we must meet. we have to pay for the wars we are currently engaged in. we have obligations to veterans who have serv

border control and other cvp personnel, my own state of arizona is concerned with the security of our national border and the impact of illegal border crossing and smuggling on our communities, economy, and overall safety. we have seen with our own eyes some of the violence across the border move north into arizona, such as with the death of border patrol agent brian terry. i love our law-abiding neighbors in mexico and countries further south. i want the u.s. to be as secure as is reasonable from harm that can come from international lawbreakers and criminals that pose a constant and serious threat to the well-being of our nation. the president recently agreed to extend the commitment of the national guard troops along our border, but more has to be done to protect our communities. if i look forward to discussing this with our first panelist, deputy commissioner david aguilar of the united states custom and border protection. on our second panel this afternoon, we are focused on community resiliency. and how quick communities and individuals can recover after disaster strikes. this is especia

let's work on a plan that solves our nation's deficit without making our seniors and our middle class pick up the tab. i yield back the balance of my time the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? without objection. >> madam speaker, i rise today to honor terre haute police officer brent d. long. officer long was killed in the line of duty on july 11, 2011, while assisting to serve a felony warrant. a proud member of the terre haute indiana police department for six years, a canine handler and member of the department's swat team, officer long was 34 years old. terre haute has lost one of its finest citizens and the community will forever be indebted to officer long's service. his sacrifice and valor should be commended and i would like to offer my most heartfelt condolences to officer long's family, friends, and to the terre haute police department who have lost one of their own. with that, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose do

our country. we are pleased to be an essential part of this national focus on research and development, which will greatly improve our future. we will maintain and grow u.s. leadership in space and arrive all of the benefits that flow from it. tomorrow is taking shape right now. earlier this year, and made a decision to base a multipurpose vehicle model on the additional work we did on the zero ryan capsule. the spacecraft will carry a certain amount of people. it is designed to be much safer during ascent and entry ban the shuttle. we want to work on the space launch system. these systems will open up the entire solar system to us. i have established program officers. in houston and the hunts bill, alabama respectively. we will work on upgrading the launch facilities to accommodate more types of users. we had a tremendous interest in leasing these assets. we are close to making announcements about it soon. it will help these companies keep their costs down and create jobs for the space industry for tomorrow. one of the first customers will be one with a tourist take a rocket. we issued a call for

by joining the world trade organization our nation agreed to follow a whole slew of new international laws that protect so-called free trade a feather in the cap of transnational corporations so now whenever our congress passes a law the transnational corporations don't like we can be taken to a deputy o. court and forced to drop that law as happened earlier this year in may when the us took a bite out of us sovereignty ruling that american americans can no longer label tuna products as dolphin safe why it is such labeling could deter customers from purchasing certain foreign to one of products that aren't often safe thus limiting free trade in the united states not a peep from the supreme court though this was about corporations making more money but that's not all that heavy t.o. has struck down laws in america to ban importation of goods made with child labor. laws that prevent importation of shrimp from trans national corporations that kills the turtles in the process have been struck down american laws struck down and laws that ban the importation of carcinogenic gasoline additiv

our nation is at an energy crossroads. either we can further increase our addiction to fossil fuels and use advanced technologies to suck out every last drop of oil, coal and natural gas that exists underneath the earth's surface no matter what the economic or environmental cost or we can decide to break our addiction to fossil fuels by investing in clean, renewable energy resources that have the capacity to power our nation forever. the majority's decision to cut funding for renewable energy programs and increase spending on fossil fuels makes it clear that they haven't quite gotten off their addiction to dirty energy. but this amendment offers some opportunity to do so. their decision is shortsided, will endanger american prosperity and threaten our economic viability. to help rectify this situation, this amendment's aurd to cut $32 million from the fossil fuel energy and research and development account and give my friends on the other side an opportunity to let the sunshine in and join with god's wonderful source of ene

our nations stories help us. talk about abraham lincoln and his second inaugural address or talk about ronald reagan when he gave the branden burg speech and why words are important, to talk about jfk and his statement of ask not what your country can do for you, right? what everyone can do for their country. and to ask if we're doing what we should. that's the hardest thing that i do every day, and i fail every day usually by lunch. [laughter] sometimes i get a little later. but with two children i think you really understand what that means because they see everything you do, and they see how you ask them to do things and how you react to people around you or to them. and i think we all need to understand that every one of us has an incredible network, and we can be a good example. how do we do this? it's to learn every day. i don't know if you learn every day. i try to learn most days. uricly i learn -- usually, i learn from failing. i'm pretty good at that. getting better at learning from failing. but i think

and then we, since that point, excuse me, our nation has really witnessed a historic social movement, think, that stirs the human heart in that we've seen the rise of our modern indian nations, you know, through this tribal sovereignty movement, being able to transcend the social and legal and political problems, you know, that had sort of held our people down and trying to reclaim our pride in our heritage, and our legal rights, political right as indigenous people. and to the point today where we can look around and see a great social movement that, i think, rivals the women's movement, the civil rights movement, the environmental movement in american history, you know? and i think one of the, one of the reasons why we were able to do that was the law, american law. and this, what they call federal indian law provided the legal framework, you know, for this social movement that has result inside the rise of modern indian nations. but i wanted to study that body of law in my book, um, because out of concern for the, for that body of law because i think there's been a very troubling r

much of our energy is produced from coal and oil and it is not healthy to our national security. we need to diversify. in this instance, the committee has recognized and continues to make an investment in our economic, our job and our energy future and i do oppose the gentleman's amendment. and i would yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. frelinghuysen: move to strike the last word. i would like to associate my remarks with those of the ranking member. this amendment would slash even more than we did in our committee, the vehicle technologies program. and this energy efficiency renewable account, there is almost nothing left in the account now. maybe the desire is to put this account out of business, but i think it's unwise. we made the tough choices. we have held our hearings. we have had the input and i would ask those to oppose the amendment. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment by the gentleman from georgia. those

now our nation is on the verge of breaking that trust. if america fails to pay its bills and default comes the wounds of the global economy, to jobs across this country, to our standing among nations, that wound will be entirely self-inflicted. it cannot and must not come to that. americans have overwhelmingly called on us to come to a balanced, bipartisan solution, one that pays our bills, reduces our deficit and draws common contributions from all americans. not only the vulnerable and the unconnected but also those who have enjoyed the nation's prosperity. that is the consequence, that is the consensus of the vast majority of the people who send us here. they understand that my way or the highway is no way to govern. they understand that all of us who had a hand in accumulating our debt must share the work of paying it off. they understand that the prosperity and prestige of our country are at stake right now. and they are relying on the ability of this body to put partisanship aside. there will in fact be bipartisan opposition to this

and whether or not where we are is consistent with our core national security needs. it is time to look at the map and say, where do we need to be? who are our friends and allies? what does it mean to be a friend and ally of the united states? i am not sure the world remembers exactly what it means to be a friend and ally of the united states. if i am here to tell you, as i mentioned before, we love our troops. we are totally committed to our true spirit of one out of every six department of defense dollars are going to afghanistan. we were out of the taliban out of power. karzai stood for free elections in 2004. al qaeda was dismantled and settled in waziristan and pakistan. this is not a nation-building exercise. this encounter terror exercise. we do not need 100,000 troops on the ground at the cost we are paying today in order to get the job done. [applause] and i am here to tell you that the future of the u.s. is not going to be determined in the prairies of afghanistan. the future of the u.s., whether you want to recognize it or not, is going to be determined by h

this is y dangerous detour in our nation's political and economic life. but just as dangerous, just as dangerous as the prospect of a default on our debt obligations is the republicans' determination to defund and dismantle as much of the federal government as possible. to that end, they're demanding deep draconian cuts to federal funding and investing at a time when unemployment is already high and skyrocketing and when our economy remains fragile. to justify these deep cuts, republicans with this new ideology that they have have articulated an absurd economic theory. absolutely absurd. they claim that slashing federal funding and investments by trillions of dollars will somehow magically create jobs. i don't know of any mainstream economist, anyone with an ounce of common sense who agrees with this bizarre theory. to the contrary, economists warn us this is absolutely the wrong time to be slashing federal investment for the obvious reason. that deep short-term cuts to federal spending will dramatically reduce demand in the economy, thus reducing employme

admiral mullen said our national debt is our biggest national security problem. most everyone agrees the defense department cannot be immune from efforts to bring our fiscal house in order. we have been told that the department is conducting a comprehensive program review and that the details are not yet known but it is likely that this review will include significant additional suggested reductions in the 2012 budget request. cuts that are even more than the $6 billion reduction to the department's request that this committee recently reported in our fy-2012 authorization bill. the department will have to make tough funding choices and we will need our military's best advice on how to reduce spending that realistically manages risk in ways that adequately addresses our top national security challenges. we will be interested in hearing general dempsey's thoughts on defense spending and in particular whatever he could tell us about the comprehensive national security review that i referred to. the next chairman of the joint chiefs will also have to manage the trans

-- plunge our nation into default and our economy over the brink. speaker boehner has unveiled yet another republican plan that fails to do what american needs. his plan fails to end the threat of default. his plan targets the program aimed at america's most vuss vulnerable, our seniors, children, and low-income families far more draconian cuts. trying to balance the budget on the backs of the door is morally wrong. we need a balanced approach that balances targeted cuts with the revenue that we need. we must make sure that we can pay the benefits that we owe to our seniors, protect medicare, medicaid, and social security, and safeguard our most vulnerable communities. mr. speaker, while the nation's unemployment level remains unacceptably high, for some minority communities it was double digits even before the recession began. the unemployment rate for african-americans today is recorded at 16.2% and latinos recorded at 11.2%. and what many of us have known for a long, long time now, african-americans and latinos have lost 18 to 20 times their net

we also need to unleash the strength of our nation by utilizing our natural resources. here's the greatest opportunity we have as a nation to get americans back to work is by utilizing our own natural resources. in my area where we got double digit unemployment we have water shortage that causes our agriculture to leave land fallow, leaving thousands unplanned parenthood. by getting the water flowing again, we cannot only get -- if we don't use the natural resources we have in our forests, if we don't manage our timber harvesting plan, not only will we see the lack of employment opportunities but we'll see devastation. we'll see fires because the forests will manage themselves if we don't manage the forests for them. we need to make sure that as we're looking across the nation our oil reserves. between our oil, our natural gas, our shale reserves, we have the largest resources in the world. we just got to be willing to tap into them. we need to shorten the time on permits. we need to reduce the regulation so we can actually go in and get the oil so we're not dependent on

our national debt is our biggest national security threat. mr. president, i believe that that's the case. our gross debt now is approaching 100% of the gross domestic product of the united states. we've not seen a debt that high since after world war ii. mr. president, it is extraordinarily important that we take on this debt threat. it is extraordinarily important for our country's future economic well-being that we change course. mr. president, the legislation that has been sent to us by the house is one of the most ill considered, ill-conceived, internally inconsistent pieces of legislation that i have seen in my 25 years here in the united states senate. it has all the earmarks of something that was hastily thrown together, really pieced it together. and this legislation includes an amendment to the constitution of the united states. mr. president, we are better than this. the congress is better than this. certainly the country is better than this. let me just be brief. the fundamental problems with the balanced budget amendment are as follows

by talking about a little known power that secretary of the treasury tim geithner has to prevent our nation from defaulting on a on our debt i referred to it as president obama's secret weapon to make republicans agree to a debt limit increase take a look. racially secretary tim geithner has the sole authority to determine how our debt obligations are met by deciding which bills to pay and when to pay them so if republicans really want to play hardball the president can direct tim geithner to play hardball right back at. is there cannibalizing federal pension funds he could cut into federal assistance to states whose republican senators and congressman are blocking a limit on the debt increase hey john boehner you don't want to raise the debt ceiling that's fine but kiss all that federal money ohio gets every day by using that money to pay off our debt no more highway funds no more medicaid funds nowhere education funds no more nothing oh you're out of business. the next day glenn beck's web site the blaze posted a creatively edited version of my take on their website with the headline lib