pallone and we can work together. but we have to remove this failed program first because of that looming deadline of october 1, 2012, where we'll get sued if we don't have a program. so glad to work with the gentleman. mr. green: mr. chairman, i'm going to -- may i address the chair? mr. chairman, i ask that i be extended the courtesy that the gentleman from georgia received when he received an additional five minutes. i don't need an additional five minutes. i would like to continue this dialogue. the chair: is the gentleman requesting unanimous consent? mr. green: i ask unanimous consent to continue briefly this dialogue with the gentleman. mr. gingrey: point of order, mr. chairman. in regard to you yielding an additional five minutes to me, in fact, that is not true, mr. chairman. as you know, the gentleman from tennessee, representative fincher, moved to strike the last word and was afforded the five minutes as we all are and he yielded to me. so i would oppose to unanimous consent or you to -- i don't think you

pallone: i hear that people should take personal responsibility. the idea of the class act, people pay into the trust fund and then when they need it, they take money out to pay for services so they don't have to stay in a home. this is their own money being spent to keep them in their home, in their community so they don't have to spend down and become a ward of the state, essentially because medicaid ends up paying for their nursing home care. this is a solution to a long-term care problem. not a complete solution but a partial solution. i agree with mr. pascrell, which is that when i listen to the other side of the aisle, the gentleman from texas was quite clear, let's repeal the entire affordable care act. if we can't afford -- repeal the entire thing, we'll repeal it piecemeal, piece by piece, which is what's going on here today. it's not a very responsible position unless you come up with an alternative. we're in the energy and commerce committee. we've had hearings on this. i've yet to hear anyone come up with on -- on the republican side wi

pallone: madam speaker, i move to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. pallone: i yield time to the gentlewoman from texas. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentleman, for sure. madam speaker, first of all, i want to make it very clear that my amendment is amendment number 2 to h.r. 1133. i might have misspoken earlier. i have another amendment, amendment number 1. i just want to respond to the gentleman and indicate that best practices have not been assessed. the point of my amendment is to get us focusing in what the numbers need to be to increase the viability of life and care for those needing long-term care, jucks to pose against the enormous debt and deficit that will occur if no one has long-term care or we continue to have to utilize medicaid, which is at $101 billion, private insurance is only at $14.5 billion, and then the burden on family members, aging families members their care. they have put in their pound of support at $450 billion. we can at least pay attention to new numbers by as

and congressman pallone served on the energy committee, correct? and congressman pallone has been a leader and also on energy issues and many of the towns crossed the dais were able to receive grants for energy assistance and direct block grants. with that, i'd like to thank the congressman for spending some time down here with the united states conference of mayors. and with that, we'ring about to get you to mike over here. >> thank you, mayor. i won't take up a lot of your time because i think the time allotted for this panel, i guess, is probably near the end. and i want to thank both waller and my mayor from -- for being here. i saw if -- i know that nobody expected me to talk about agriculture. and i want planning on it, but i couldn't help it, lirich listen the -- georgia is the garden state. people don't think of us that way, but we're also the dense cultural production and land over the years because of housing that's gobbles it up and the development that's gobbles. the whole concept of jersey fresh, which has been pronoted in our state an

among the speakers, agriculture secretary tom vilsack and new jersey representative frank pallone. this is an hour, ten minutes. i just want to tell you that i think we're very, very honored today to have the secretary of agriculture. i was speaking to him a few moments ago, and he was mayor for five years of pleasant, iowa, i believe it was -- mount pleasant, iowa. i think once you're mayor, you're always a mayor. you know, you kind of go around cities and you're looking at streets and you're looking at stores and residential neighborhoods and all that. but so he is now secretary of agriculture. and they gave me a little bit of literature. i just want to read one thing. i want to turn it over to him so he can make remarks. and then i want this to be a dialogue to where we have a little bit of a question and answer and talk to him about some of the things that we're doing. but one thing in particular is that he entered into a partnership with the department of energy and the u.s. navy to invest up to $510 million during the next three years to produce advanced drop in aviation mari

pallone for five minutes. >> thank you. i want to welcome lisa jackson before the committee. i have worked with her for many years. since you have been at the helm of the epa, i believe our country has made great strides in improving air quality, protecting america's waters and cleaning up our communities and these accomplishments are crucial to protecting human health and the environment. unfortunately, the republicans in congress and on the campaign trail in particular are attempting to argue that protecting our environment is somehow hurting our economy. i don't think that's true. i don't think you need to choose between a strong economy and a clean environment. i think they bolster each other. i think it's oftentimes my colleagues on the other side make broad generalizations without looking at the facts. according to the nonpartisan economic policy institute, epa's toxics rule will lead to the creation of 85,500 jobs between now and 2015. i just mention that as one example of how safeguarding our environment can help bolster the economy. i know in tough economic times it'

pallone, for 30 minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i wasn't planning oncoming to the floor this evening but when i heard my republican colleagues' special order that was just completed, i couldn't help but come down because i think i have to correct the record on many of the statements that they made this evening about medicare and their efforts with regard to medicare. first of all, i have to point out that when medicare was first -- when medicare was first adopted in the house and in the senate back in the 1960's when president johnson was here the republicans overwhelmingly opposed it. they were opposed to medicare. they voted against it. it would never have passed if it was for their votes. it only passed as a democratic initiative. over the year, democrats have been the ones -- over the years, democrats have been the ones to protect medicare. republicans have consistently opposed medicare tried to repeal it, privatize it, voucherize it and basically as a once republican speaker said, who i was here at the time when newt

new jersey democrat frank pallone, sits on the house energy and commerce committee and is involved inhe investigation. i guess that's where we should start, congressman. how did this come about? why is congress involved here? >> there were a lot of reports that there were false and misleading information that was being given out at tanning salons. that's why we asked that the committee do this undercover investigation. and frankly the report was jarring. i mean the fact that very rarely was anything mentioned about the health risks. we know that incidents of melanoma are increased by 75%, you know, if for people who use, who use indoor tanning salons. there were even suggestions somehow you were going to benefit. you were going to get more vitamin-d for example, if you tanned in an indoor salon. so it was pretty jarring that there was a lot of false and misleading information. jenna: so the indoor tanning association does have a statement about this and they did mention vitamin-d which you mentioned as well. they quote a recent study by harvard says 77% of the american public is vitam

pallone: thank you. thank you, madam speaker. today's payroll tax conference agreement will provide $1,000 in the pockets of more than 160 million americans and ensure that approximately 3.5 million americans will continue to benefit from much-needed unemployment insurance. we've also protected seniors' ability to see their doctors with an s.g.r. fix through the end of the year. despite these critical provisions though, this is a difficult vote to take. i'm greatly disappointed how these extensions are offsets. first, the unemployment extension is paid for on the backs of the hardworking middle-class individuals. they are not the reason for our nation's deficit. meanwhile, my republican colleagues refuse to require the wealthiest few to pay their fair share. secondly, the s.g.r. fix is being paid for by critical health care dollars. it slashes one of the most important progresses we have made in long-term health. we will never address the real concerns of our health care system. sadly, the bill manages to cut from one provider ho