that's their -- that's the evidence in pennsylvania. so i know we have others who are ready to speak on this amendment and others, but i think we should make it very clear, this is a debate on this amendment about two parties: victims of medical negligence versus insurance companies. and it's time to choose up which side you stand on. unfortunately, this amendment is very clearly drafted and intended to help insurance companies, not victims of medical negligence. amendment. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the president of the united states is reportedly traveling to capitol hill to meet with senate democrats here in just a few moments. unfortunately, republicans are not invited, which is really a -- follows an established pattern here, where notwithstanding the -- the public statements that republican ideas are welcome, they've been rejected at every stage of the development of this 2,074-page bill. party-line votes in the health, education, labor, and pensions

. >> the senator from pennsylvania. >> mr. president, i ask consent that i may speak up to 20 minutes. >> without objection. >> i have recognition to comment about the patient protection and affordable care act and it has been an extraordinary legislative process with a good bit of the calendar year 2009 taken up with very intensive work to try to pass health care reform. and at the moment, there is still some doubt as to what will happen with the bill. the congressional budget office has not yet submitted a report on the so-called managers package and there is still some concerns being expressed by the senators. and i can understand the frustration that some of them not as we have moved away from a public option. i have been an advocate of a robust public option and think that it ought to be part of the legislation. the public option is just what it says. it's an option. there have been efforts made to demagogue the issue by saying it is a takeover by the federal government. well, it is not. the private insurance industry rem

it's 51.7% in pennsylvania in 2016. the good news for the rest of the country is that the average nationally is only, only a little more than 45%. i haven't met a person in pennsylvania or anywhere else in this country, but i know i haven't met a person in pennsylvania who says you know what? don't worry about it. don't worry about passing any health care reform bill. don't worry about getting it done because in 2016, i'm -- i'm living in pennsylvania and i can come up with 51.7% of my income for health care. don't worry about it. i can handle it. we know no one can afford that. even a family of tremendous means might have trouble affording more than half their income, half their income to pay for health care. what if the -- what if the projection is wrong? what if it's off by ten percentage points? that's 40%. what if it's wrong even more? what if it's

kanjorski of pennsylvania. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 964 the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kanjorski, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. kanjorski: madam chairman, i yield one minute to the son of one of the original authors of the sarbanes-oxley bill. representative sarbanes. the chair: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. mr. sarbanes: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i strongly support the an jorsky-frank-sarbanes-cohen amendment to the bill. this would restore critical investor protections for those who invest in publicly traded companies. and what are those? number one, that the management establish internal controls with respect to the financial operations of the company and number two, that they get an outside audit to validate the soundness of those controls. now those who oppose this say that the smaller publicly traded companies can't handle the burden of compliance. but the costs ha

you see up here in pennsylvania, and this is typical of a number of state but not every state, the pennsylvania children's health insurance benefits. with children's health insurance, children are guaranteed for receive comprehensive insurance coverage, including the following. now, every child should have this. i don't care who they are or where they live or what their economic status is. they should have immunizations. they should have routine checkups. prescription drugs, dental care, maternity care for their -- for their mother, mental health benefits, up to 90 days hospitalization per year, durable medical equipment, substance abuse treatment, partial hospitalization for mental health services, and, finally, rehabilitation therapies and home health care. that whole -- that whole menu of benefits for children is not some theory or some -- some hope, in a sense. this is what the children's health insurance means to america's children, their parents, their family, and i would argue this is about economic development in the long run. this is about developing a high-skilled work force. if a c

>> i like it very much. >> larry: you're from bath, pennsylvania, you're in the 11th grade.u been there, andrew? >> six years. >> larry: is it difficult in living in a kind of new house? >> it can be, especially getting along with usually about 12 other of your peers. >> larry: how do you like having queen latifah has your centennial ambassador? >> i like it a lot. she's great. >> larry: she sure is. all right, niece, you're 9 years old from allentowallentown, pennsylvania. you're in fourth grade. how long have you been there? >> i've been here for one year. >> larry: how do you like it? >> it's good, so far. >> tell him what you like about it? >> larry: are you a good student, niece? >> yes, i am. yep, i am. >> larry: and tyler jones, from warren, ohio, also in fourth grade, how do you like it? >> it's really good. i like have you have a lot of opportunities to grow up and have a good life and have a good job and have a house that's stable. >> larry: how about living in new houses? do you like that, tyler? >> mm-hmm. the houses are stable and protective. >> larry: queen, yo

in fact, i think it proves the point and the senator from pennsylvania's participation in it. the only folks defending the language in the reid bill are folks who are strongly and clearly pro-choice an proabortion. -- and proabortion. folks who have a problem with that say that the underlying language in the reid bill has huge loopholes. and that includes the people who want to support the bill otherwise. as senator brownback mentioned, representative stupak wants to support the underlying bill, supported it in the house, but he was very clear in his efforts on the house floor that that underlanguage, which is now in the reid bill, had huge loopholes, wasn't good enough. needed to be fixed. that's why he came up with the stupak language, and that's essentially exactly what we have in this amendment. similarly the u.s. conference of bishops. they're very supportive of the concepts of the underlying bill. it said clearly that the reid bill is cleell completely unacc, close quote, on this abortion. and -- quote -- "-- so this colloquy involving the distinguished senator from penn

the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: i would like to thank senator harkin, who is a member of the health, education, labor and pension committee, taking over for senator kennedy. i know he feels an obligation not only to get the health bill passed, but feels an obligation to the american people, as i think most people do in this chamber when it comes to health care. in particular, i wanted to commend senator harkin for his great support for this legislation over a long period of time. and, in particular, for the last act. one of the best moments in our deliberations this summer was when senator harkin told a story about a relative of his. and in a few minutes, if he would tell that story, it brought home to me how important this program is and how it relates to the american people and what they don't have now especially those americans with -- with disability conviction. when i step back -- disabilities. when i step back and look at this program, a couple of things come to mind. a couple of themes, really one is t

host: the president is traveling to allentown, pennsylvania today.ces he is going to, a bakery called out in the lehigh valley, with 40 employees. one of the owners says that she is constantly getting applications for jobs. in that economy, 41,000 people out of work in allentown, what does that mean for somebody trying to hire somebody in tons of the income that they will be able to make and that competition to get the select number of jobs? guest: if you are in lehigh valley and you want to hire somebody, you obviously have a great selection. that is true for the economy as a whole. 15 million unemployed people now compared to 7 million in good times. we always have a bunch of people who are unemployed. but if you go back just a year or two, one of the top complaints our small business owners had was finding qualified workers. not anymore treed nobody is complaining about that. -- not anymore. nobody is complaining about that. you could hire them relatively inexpensive flee. you don't have to compete for them. from the workers put it, not so good. b

>> it's in hershey, pennsylvania.ome on, larry. >> larry: because he founded it doesn't mean it has to be there, queen. he could have put it in new york. he could have put it anywhere. >> he could have, but he put it right there in pennsylvania. it's really great because you have the school. it sits on at least 150 acres. so it's nice and spread out. there's room for everyone to roam, to move around and run and play and take part in activities. but there's also the hershey factory, itself, that is there. there's hershey park that's there. so, you know, a lot of kids don't go home for the summer. they stay on campus. some choose to stay, and some unfortunately can't really go home because of their unstable home situations. they get to be a part of the town. it's a very close-knit community up there. it's wonderful for them to get a slower side of life, a slower pace of life and be part of a great community. >> larry: shocked i never heard of it. you know, when you drive through hershey, pennsylvania, you smell chocolat

and allentown pennsylvania. they're looking for a chance to make their own way to work, to succeed using their talents and skills. they're looking for folks in washington to have a seriousness of purpose that matches the reality of their struggle broke everywhere i've gone, every stop, there are people like this. men and women who have faced misfortune of the stand ready to build a better future. students ready to learn, workers eager to work, a scientist on discovery come on to procures seeking the chance to open a small business. are everywhere i go there are shuddered factories just waiting to were back to life in burgeoning industry's. there is a nation ready to meet the challenges of this new age and to lead the world in this new century. as a look back on the progress of the past year, and look forward to the work ahead, i have every confidence that we will do exactly that. these have been a tough two years. and there will no doubt be difficult months ahead. but the storms of the past are receding. the ski

he'd won the pennsylvania primary and the michigan primary and massachusetts and others. he had more foreign policy experience. and he was the guy who was going to be the one who would best unify the convention because as you know as we all know, unified conventions tend to win in the fall and divided conventions tend to lose in the fall. and there's a part on governor reagan and mrs. reagan taking george bush because of these lingering issues being left unaddressed. this one day of what is just madness in detroit where they try to put together the copresidency which some of you would remember the gerald ford, the dream ticket where, you know, he had reagan running for president and they tried to get gerald ford it off serve -- to run as vice president. i always thought jim baker had the best line on the whole situation. because if you had reagan and -- reagan and ford elected as president and vice president, would you address ford as mr. president, mr. vice president or address him as

lautenberg from new jersey, patty murray from washington -- the state of washington, arlen specter from pennsylvania, mary can't well and mary landrieu from louisiana. they recognized how important this was. they recognized we were trying to solve major problems for people, especially in rural amplest i think it would be worthwhile to reflect back on the 2003 debate and remember the reasons this issue inspired such strong bipartisan consensus. you don't hear it at all from that side now. after the program has proven its efficacy and has proven that it works. we supported the medicare advantage program six years ago because we knew it was the right thing to do for beneficiaries and the same logic holds true today. we owe it to beneficiaries to provide a strong, adequately funded program that provides them with high-quality health care choices. during the finance committee's consideration of -- and by the way, every medicare beneficiary can go into medicare advantage if they desire under current

in fact, the senator from pennsylvania, senator casey said recently on these medicare advantage cuts, and i quote -- "we're not going to be able to say if you like what you have you can keep it, and that basic commitment that a lot of us around here have made will be called into question." 11 million people who get medicare advantage aren't going to be able to keep what they have, nor are they 10 million people according to the congressional budget office who are going to lose their employer-based coverage if this plan passes. another broken pumpkin. no cuts to medicare. we all know about that. we talked about that for about a week, mr. president, here, and offered amendments to get rid of the medicare cuts. the president said when he was running for office i want to assure you we're not talking about cutting medicare benefits. he reiterated that in his state of the union address. and yet this bill as we know cuts $470 billion out of medicare in the first ten years and when it's fully implemented, it cuts over a trillion dollars out of medicare. in the first ten years, years, $135 bil

that's their -- that's the evidence in pennsylvania. so i know we have others who are ready to speak on this amendment and others, but i think we should make it very clear, this is a debate on this amendment about two parties: victims of medical negligence versus insurance companies. and it's time to choose up which side you stand on. unfortunately, this amendment is very clearly drafted and intended to help insurance companies, not victims of medical negligence. and i would yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum -- i'll withhold. the presiding officer: the senator from montana is recognized. mr. baucus: mr. president accident for the benefit of all senators, i want to take a moment to review today's program. this is the seventh day of debate on the health care reform bill. it's been nearly 2 1/2 weeks since the majority leader moved to proceed to this bill. we have now considered 14 amendments and we have conducted 10 roll calls. between now and 3:15 this afternoon, the senate will continue to debate the amendment by the sen

the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. murtha: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. murtha: and include tabular and extraneous material. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. murtha: madam speaker, members of the house. this is the largest appropriation bill that we've ever handled. it was completely bipartisan. we never did anything without working together. the bill is the same bill we voted on before we -- it went to the senate with a few minor changes. i'm pleased to say that we made some changes with the white house and also with the senate. as a matter of fact, this is $625 billion, house passed $636 billion. military personnel first class medical care -- and i have to say i don't usually talk on any one thing, but having been out of bethesda and in intensive care two days, i have to endorse the money we s

the gentleman from pennsylvania. the gentleman from pennsylvania continues to reserve. mr. kanjorski: we continue to reform, madam chairman. the chair: the gentleman from alabama. mr. bachus: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. hensarling. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. hensarling: madam chair, the american people want more jobs and fewer bailouts. the democratic majority will bring them fewer jobs and more bailouts. their bill creates a permanent wall street bailout fund, the only reason to have a bailout fund is to bail people out. the republican bill says we're tired of the bailouts. no more bailouts. you cannot have a system where you private ties your profits and socialize your losses. that's what bailout nation is all about. the big get bigger. the small get smaller. the taxpayer get poorer. and the economy becomes more political. jobs. the democratic bill still believes that if we have an unelected czar who can ban credit products, who can ration credit products that somehow we will have bliss in our economy. i

allentown, pennsylvania, was ready to fly its freak flag. the president was there today to talk about jobs and the economy one day after hosting his jobs summit. president obama was able to report some modest good news, that the unemployment rate for november actually went down. but while the president was as earnest as ever, the crowd may have been a bit more giddy than he expected. thus, the first question from a college student with the crowds and obama's reaction. >> mr. obama, i really appreciate how you're trying to stimulate the economy to help this country out. and i was just wondering at our college, we've been studying some criminology. and i was wondering if maybe you checked out some of the statistics about legalizing prostitution, gambling, drugs and nonviolent crime in order to stimulate some of the economy. >> you know, i have to say this. i appreciate the boldness of your question. that will not be my job strategy. but -- but -- but let me say this. what year are you in in school? >> this is my second year in college. >> your

money for elimination of slum and blight in scranton, pennsylvania.now, that may have been put in by the cast of "the office." $292,000 for elimination of slum and blight in scranton, pennsylvania. $200,000 for design and construction of the garapan public market in the northern marianas islands. $500,000 for the development of a community center -- now, this is half a million dollars for a community center in custer county, idaho. the population is 4,342. $100,000 for the cleveland municipal school district. $100,000 for a school district. they just picked one and gave them $100,000. $800,000 for jazz at the lincoln center. $300,000 -- if you don't like jazz at the lincoln center, then go to carnegie hall. there is $300,000 for music programs there. i mentioned the rural bus program. $400,000 for orchestra iowa music education, cedar rapids, iowa, to support a music education program. $2,500,000 for the fayette county schools in lexington, kentucky, for a foreign language program. $100,000 to the cleveland municipal school district in cleveland, ohio

first call comes from pennsylvania. david, you oppose the president's proposal. caller: i would like to ask him if he is in favor of the draft. and the question i have for c- span, if they would ask people when they call in if they are in favor of the draft to see if they would really supports this war if the draft was initiated. host: why is the draft such an important issue to you? caller: most people in the country are not even talking about this war. only the military families are the ones who talk about it because they have something at stake. the rest of the country has nothing at stake. guest: 1/3 of 1% of all families in america are directly involved in this war. it is a tragedy that it took a tragedy at fort hood to highlight those military families. thank you for what you said. i'm supportive of national service. when i joined up, there was a draft in 1970 as i went into the military during the vietnam war. i believe the draft would not work today for the military because the soldiers today often have to have one year of training. they run nuclear aircr

kanjorski of pennsylvania.chair: pursuant to the rule -- pursuant to house resolution 964, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kanjorski, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. kanjorski: madam chairman, i rise in support of this amendment. nationally recognized statistical rating organizations are those credit rating agencies that are registered with the securities and exchange commission and therefore regulated. most often the phase is shortened to its initials, nrsro. however in formal contracts and statutes, the words are spelled out and each word matters. unfortunately an amendment to change one of these words was inadvertently accepted during the markup. we switched out the word recognize for the word register. if enacted into law, such a change would put thousands of contracts in default and upset numerous federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. although well intended, such a seemingly minuscule change could have disaster's

yes. >> bob from pennsylvania. an observation and a question. the observation i would make is that u.s. grant during the vicksburg campaign was the first general in our history to live off the land which gave an example to sherman who got approval from the commander-in-chief who was abraham lincoln to do that and it's just an observation. and then in regards to your book research that you did talked about the civilians in savannah celebrating christmas. based on your research to the civilians exchange cards? did they sing carols? linus santa claus was a yankee but was that even recognize that the particular type? >> there was no santa claus in the south. that was something new. christmas trees were also basically a number invention. that was new and the first christmas carol britain and america wasn't written until about four years later in philadelphia and was a little town of bethlehem, so many traditions we associate with christmas or easter number or nonexistent. what the southerners like to do is shoot off their guns on christmas eve, and t

to spend $2.5 billion in tpt in taxpayers's ds in pennsylvania. i guess the medicare beneficiaries in pennsylvania weren't satisfied with the promise to protect so-called guaranteed benefits either. this motion to commit is a straightforward amendment that will help the president keep his promise that if you like your health insurance that you have today, policy that you have today, you can keep it and will protect 6.10 million medicare beneficiaries from the 64% cut in benefits. i think it's been an important debate that we'ven gauged in, and i do not and will not impugn the motives or the integrity of those who are sponsors of this legislation. yes -- yes, i will argue that we didn't have -- we didn't keep the president's promise and commitment over a year ago in the presidential campaign when he said he would have the c-span cameras in, that there would be bipartisan negotiations, with the c-span cameras in, with the democrats and republicans sitting down together so that if his words, the american people could see who's on the side of the heal

john, from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: good morning.anted to say,Ñi unemployment has changed for me. with the fuel and the money in the war, the economy that we handed to barack obama -- i am an independent. seeing the money that was sucked out of our economy, i am on the heavy equipment highway business. our business did fine for the last 35 years. we were able to sustain and make a nice salary. it seems that we completely hit a flat spot when gas and fuel went up to $4. i do not understand how government, they flattened our economy out. once all of that money is sucked out, there is nothing left. host: thank you for the call. a couple of developments regarding pakistan. the attack that took place overnight, 26 people have been killed in an attack on a mosque outside of the capital. the gunmen stormed a during friday prayers, near the army installation. police say that 26 people were killed and 30 have been wounded. from "the new york times" this morning, "the cia is expanding its role in the attacks in pakistan. the central intelligen

pennsylvania, 864,040. puerto rico even, 400,991. rhode island, 65,108. south carolina, 110,949.these are senior citizens. south dakota, 8,973. tennessee, 233,024. texas, 532,242. my own state of utah, 85,588. vermont, only 3,966, but 3,000 people -- 4,000 people in vermont. virginia, 151,942. washington, 225,918. west virginia, 88,027. wisconsin, 243,443, and wyoming, 3,942. these are people who benefit from medicare advantage that would not like to get off of it. well, this choice in coverage has made a difference in the lives of more than almost 11 million people. 11 million individuals nationwide, families that benefit from this. the extra benefits that i had mentioned earlier are being portrayed as gym memberships as opposed to lower premiums, copayments and deductibles. let me read you some letters from my constituents. these are real lives being affected by the cuts contemplated in this bill. i'm going to have to get my reading glasses on. and you should see some of the beautiful handwriting. some of it is very shaky but beautiful, to me, anyway. from cedar city, utah. "se

as a former congressman and a member of the clinton administration, you've worked both sides of pennsylvania avenue. number one, what do you think of the appointment of so-called czars? and what do you think the effectiveness of an i.p.'s are? >> well, first of all, i don't think that she is going to be a czar. first of all you have statutory authority given to certain agencies. and she's not going to have that kind of independent statutory authority. what she will hopefully be able to do if she's given the proper resources is to be able to help coordinate and manage the issues, elevate the concept of intellectual property protection into every single agency of government so they all believe this is a high-priority issue, and work with the congress on ways to make our enforcement and dealing with intellectual property more effective and more positive. she'll also probably coordinate all the public comment, public discussion of this kind of thing within the government. it does show that congress is very good at passing. this iÑiçó must say. thinks a very important thing they did. it shows tha

i would yield back to my friend from pennsylvania. actually, he asked me a question and i kind of got off a little bit there in telling my stories. mr. casey: no, i'm glad you told that story. for me, this summer, beginning to learn about the details of the class act, it was a way to to -- through the life of your nephew to be able to tell the story about why it was so important. i was thinking as you were talking about the program and the class act itself and your own personal story and why it makes such sense, sitting here to my left on the floor is kelly garner. she worked for years on this legislation with senator kennedy, and she would know better than i and senator harkin would know better than i, ted kennedy not only liked this and fought hard for this program, but he wasn't a guy who just liked interesting ideas. he wanted it to work. and look, there are times we'll be talking about the children's health insurance program this legislation. that is -- that is a program that had its origin in government and there is a lot of gov

the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. kanjorski: i have no further requests for time and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman gr california. mr. campbell: i yield back as well. the speaker pro tempore: all time has expire the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2873 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york rise? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1242 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1242, a bill to amend the emergency economic stabilization act of 2008 to provide for additional monitoring and accountability of the troubled assets relief program. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from new

over in pennsylvania.a lot of people would not mind working in new york, and living in pennsylvania. that way we would be bringing goods and services to those people. that is my thought. host: investing in infrastructure. we have the front pages of capitol hill publications right now. "the economy feels democratic rift." moving done, "liberals warned obama, seeing base skipping the 2010 elections because of the war. below that is a special story about the black caucus. "do more for blacks. same-store a from waters. afghanistan off of the hill, mccain smacking to face that democrats are destined to go along with. the next call is from florida, democratic line. how do we save jobs? caller: the last two callers are doing great jobs with their observations. i will precipitate a question with my answer, i am a power plant carpenter and a union night shift steward for the generator replacement project. i am 52, at age 30 i was a sergeant in desert storm. host: you just got off the night shift? caller: i did. tha

the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. specter: mr. president, the schedulers have allocated 15 minutes to me, so i would ask unanimous consent at this time that i may speak for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. specter: i thank the chair. i have sought recognition to speak in opposition to the ensign amendment. the authoritative statement on attorneys' fees has come from the national association of insurance commissioners in a document -- a 2008 document entitled "countrywide summary of medical malpractice insurance." and these are authoritative figures on how much the defense lawyers have taken and how much the plaintiffs' lawyers have taken, and it shows that the plaintiffs' lawyers on the state of the record are underpaid, paid less than defense lawyers; hardly the cause for an amendment to lower attorneys' fees even more for plaintiffs' lawyers. these are the statistics by the national association of insurance commissioners, as to the attorneys' fees. the attorneys' fees for defendants were $2,110,000

and with the president's recent visit to hard-hit communities in pennsylvania. so he's been out there listening to americans, who are suffering from unemployment, and we've been listening to him as he grapples with the search for remedies. we thank him for coming to brookings today, with his message, with his respect, for good ideas as the basis of good policis. with his high standard of civility in public discourse and of course, with his leadership. ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce the president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you so much. thank you, everybody. please, everybody have seat. thank you so much, strobe, for your extraordinary leadership here at brookings and thanks to all of you in attendance. almost exactly one year ago on a frigid winter's day i met with my new economic team at the headquarters of my presidential transition offices in chicago, and over the course of four hours my advisers presented analysis where the economy at that time stood accompanied by a chilling set of charts and graphs p

like temple, drexell and the university of pennsylvania. but just a few blocks away, the neighborhood surrounding tell a different story. vacant, derelict homes dot the landscape. much of the city is filled with abandoned manufacturing plants. 22 percent of a durlts are functionally illiterate, not surprising giving a 50% high school dropout rate. and these neighborhoods are not unique. a full quarter of philadelphia's residents live in poverty. >> people can come in and use the computers in order to write resumes. >> suarez: and it's only gotten worse since the recession says a labor advocate who sits on the board of the city's job banks. >> you are told you have to be retooled and reskilled to enter the job force. that is a big delima so not only do we have young african-american males out of age but we have middle-aged people out of work. >> suarez: the city shed 80,000 jobs since last fall. unemployment is at 11% and in some fields like the construction trades, the rate is closer to 50%. let's be clear. philadelphia's problems didn't be

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute to address the house. >> mr. speaker, it was not long -- mr. altmire: it was not long ago our economy bottomed out and we avoided a catastrophe. that is little consolation to the americans who lost trillions of dollars in retirement savings due to the years of reckless behavior on wall street. as we continue to show positive signs in our economy, this house last week passed legislation to make sure that we never again find ourselves in such a dire situation. the regulatory reform bill we passed creates an orderly process through which large failing financial institutions can effectively be dismantled. no more too big to fail. we end taxpayer bailouts by ensuring in the future wall street not the taxpayers will pay to dismantle endangered firms. and we end the predatory lending practices that help caused the crisis by requiring banks to

and pennsylvania. >> ohio, missouri, and pennsylvania. pennsylvania is a good file. the secretary of state. ohio, you can also get from the secretary of state. download it. i believe it's free. it does not have party registration. it does have partisan primaries. they have a little quirk in the ohio file that they give you a party field, which is really populated with what's your last primary was. that can be somewhat misleading. because in 2008, a lot of people voted in the in the primary who may have voted in the only republican primary is part of that. i caution people in using their data. >> that's what in the party field. >> that's what's in the party field. we don't call it a party state, because it's not. we use the partisan primary da pa. but again, the campaign used for the partisan model instead. missouri? missouri is kind of the worst of the three in terms of voter file world. i've been talking about missouri. missouri doesn't have party registration, does have partisan primaries, but doesn't give us that information. so we know whether people vote, but we

lisa jackson was born in the pennsylvania dutch country and raised in the great city of new orleans. now, she knows what it's like to move with grace between two worlds. my mother-in-law came from new orleans. i know a little something about the kind of women that city can produce. and if i can put it in the vernacular, they're not the kind of women to be trifled with, and in her first year on the job, lisa jackson has made that point vivid live clear. -- vividly clear. to those who would sully our soil, spoil our waters or pollute our air, the message has been clear, don't even think about it. lisa is watching. it wasn't all that long ago that things weren't like that in this country. just 40 years ago, there was no epa, the federal government was not organized in a way that it could take on the polluters who threatened our waters and lands. and so the e epa was formed in 1970 to begin to take on that role. that was the same year it happened that a group of environmental lawyers shared office space in new york city and that was the beginning of the natural resources defense council.

for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> i rice to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. sestak: madam speaker, i rise today to ask the house to quickly pass the extended cobra, the continuation protection act, to ensure health coverage for millions of americans who through no fault of their own has lost their jobs. and now since wall street gambled with their savings cannot afford the cobra premium to keep their health care from their former employer. in the economic stimulus bill we provided 65% of the cost of those premiums, but those benefits are now running off for those who were laid off first. i ask this house to quickly pass the bill to extend those cobra premiums subsidies for six months. take a woman in my district. she pays $535 for her 35% share of the premium. it will go over $1,500 very soon if we do not act. and she has a pre-existing condition and must keep on her health care plan. hundreds have contacted my office r

. >> this is the story of a house on pennsylvania avenue, usually eclipsed by its famous neighbor, thewhite house. guest house for foreign leaders, home to presidential advisors, respite for presidents, temporary quarters for presidents elect. all these describe blair house. >> now you've entered the original blair house, the oldest part of this facility. it was built in 1824. if you had been here on may 1,1850, you would have been among the wedding party for william sherman, who was married in this room. what's amazing about this house is that everything is still here. the decoration may have changed, the colors may be different, but these are the same walls and the same floors that andrew jackson walked on, that abraham lincoln walked on, and that everybody in-between and since then. >> in the 19th century, because the blares were so politically active, mostly behind the scenes, but prominent, almost all of our political figures -- daniel webster, whose portrait is here, henry clay -- were entertained here in this house. >> living here and being of the blair family and so close to th

money for elimination of slum and blight in scranton, pennsylvania. now, that may have been put in by the cast of "the office." $292,000 for elimination of slum and blight in scranton, pennsylvania. $200,000 for design and construction of the garapan public market in the northern marianas islands. $500,000 for the development of a community center -- now, this is half a million dollars for a community center in custer county, idaho. the population is 4,342. $100,000 for the cleveland municipal school district. $100,000 for a school district. they just picked one and gave them $100,000. $800,000 for jazz at the lincoln center. $300,000 -- if you don't like jazz at the lincoln center, then go to carnegie hall. there is $300,000 for music programs there. i mentioned the rural bus program. $400,000 for orchestra iowa music education, cedar rapids, iowa, to support a music education program. $2,500,000 for the fayette county schools in lexington, kentucky, for a foreign language program. $100,000 to the cleveland municipal school district in cleveland, ohi

the senator from pennsylvania has it right. he says because the president time after time said to the american people, if you like the insurance policy you have today, you can keep it. how many hundreds of times have we seen him say that at town hall mettings and his administration -- at town hall meetings and his administration mouth speoses say the same thing. senator co-payscy is right when he says we're not going to be able to say, if you like what you have, you can keep it, said senator bob casey, a pennsylvania democrat. that commitment a lot of us made will be called into question. i'd like to say a couple of words. i will be talking a little bit more about it later. every time the senator from montana is on the floor and others, they talk about the fact that aarp now supports this blatant transfer of funding from the medicare program, which the seniors have earned, into a brand-new entitlement -- $2.5 trillion entitlement program. that's what this bill is all about. so just for your information, aarp has received $18 mi

next up is clifton heights, pennsylvania, abdul on our line for independents. about barack grok's foreign policies and -- caller: i forgot what the topic was. host: foreign policy priorities. caller: for 2010. i think that my comments are that it's somewhat of a smoke screen for the things that are being allowed to happen to americans that are practicing islam and being targeted on our own american soil to kind of allow them to move forward with certain plans and i dueled mention earlier executive order tore allow interpool immunity to go about bringing foreigners over here so they can take up arms and making this a police thing. i don't understand why everyone is so busy focusing on muslim terrorism when the real terrorist is the american government, and that's all i got to say. host: in the philadelphia inquiror this morning this from the associated press. iran open to nuclear swamp have i hay turkey. they write out of the foreign minister paid? iran's latest counteroffer, aimed at thwarting its ability to produce atomic weapons, the u.s. aims to reduce iran'

he is from pennsylvania. let me welcome those of you who are here. me take a moment of personal privilege. knowledge the family of mr. edward kelley, who, in this business, is considered family. many of us gathered after 9/11 in respective positions. we gathered as members of the committee on homeland security. many of us were there from the beginning. he comfortably retired, having served as part of the excellence of corporate america as they decided to render that for another day. and they expected the call to become part of the men and women who served in the department of homeland security. we owe him a debt of gratitude for his service. it is a privilege to join my colleagues, and the full ranking committee, mr. king, to send a letter of sympathy and was additionally privilege to rise on the floor of the house to be able to give him the tribute to it that he deserved as an american hero. i would like to have the family stand at this time so that they will be acknowledged by all people. [applause] i believe that is mrs. kellyda's sister and niece

for what purpose does the gentlelady from pennsylvania rise? ms. schwartz: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. schwartz: job loss is slowing. in november the number of jobs lost is 100,000. while no one should understatement the challenges ahead or the struggles of -- underestimate the challenges ahead or the struggles, this shows that the policies of the democratic majority are working. the economy is turning around. last friday i joined president obama in allentown, pennsylvania, to talk with and hear from business leaders and veterans about how to create new jobs and to grow the economy. the president laid out a jobs plan that will spur small business hiring, improve infrastructure and encourage energy efficiency. we need to take action on this plan that builds economic opportunity for the long term. new jobs are sustainable for years ahead. and rebuilding our infrastructure, creating new energy sources and developing new technology and innovative product and services that we and the world want to

pennsylvania. >> my name is sheryl. i am a stay at home mom of a very active 21 month old little boy. i was laid off in july. but when i was working, i worked for 11 years at a sales training comp and was an office manager there. >> put your name tags towards me. that is great. let me start off quickly. give me a word or phrase to describe how things are going in america today. lisa. >> uplifting. >> stagnant. >> downward. >> troubling. better. >> uncertain. >> stable for the moment with a drawn out moan. >> improving very slowly. >> things are getting better. >> start of a recovery. >> this is really interesting to me. i have been doing this over a period of time. this is the first time i got people saying things that they see glimmers and hope out there. why do you see these glimmers and where is the hope that you see? >> when obama became president i saw him looking for the average working person. i see him doing a lot of work. i don't expect miracles in the first year. it will take some time. but i am holding out fo

offered to the citizens of pennsylvania.et's have nationwide shopping. tax treatment, if a business buys health insurance, it gets a tax deduction. why not allow individuals get a tax deduction? unless you're self-employed, you don't. so a lot of people have credit and tax deductions for insurance. tort reform would be huge savings of money. why not allow small businesses to pool together through trade associations to buy affordable health insurance? so if you open up the market to true competition and get rid of some of these artificial barriers, you'll see an healthcare which you see everywhere else in this economy, and that is entrepreneurs figuring out how to supply more of it at more, affordable cost. just to give one example, the cell phone. 20 years of cell phone, if you look at those old pictures, was as big as a shoe box, clunky, expense simbings not working very well. today, small, you can do anything on them, they're cheap. poor people around the world can all have cell phones. you see it in haiti, you see it in i

host: ok, let's go to vivian from pennsylvania. caller: no, it's virginia, good morning.good morning to c-span. i can't understand what is wrong with america, they don't want health care for the people. i don't believe in abortion, they don't want abortion but they don't want to take care of a child once they get here. i don't understand why the republicans are so dead set on killing people, but don't kill them in the womb, let them get here, let them die.w3çç and c-span qdon't you have cameras on the floors at all times when the senators are in? host: we do, you can watch our coverage. caller: they were debating the war in iraq, and one senator asked if he could have more time andç john mccain complain why he never seen anything like that in 28 years. your cameras went blank, they found the transcript but the cameras went blank for a minute or so, and when it came back it was robert byrd. what is c-span are you republicans now? if you were so dead set on asking the questions, why didn't you ask the questions about the iraq war, and maybe we would not have had it. beca

the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> i wish to thank mr. lungren, too, for his cooperation in this hearing and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3224. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 35, expressing the sense of the house of representatives that congress should provide increased federal funding for continued type 1 diabetes research. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 35, resolution expressing the sense of the house of representatives that congress should provide incr

and this has been an enormously successful program in pennsylvania. promoted by governor rendell. and it is produced some 2,300,000 jobs and the expectation of 6,000 more jobs. and we have run into a very serious problem with regard to investments in one pennsylvania project where there was a change in investment and at the time the processes were made, there was a disclosure that there would be the business plans specifically provided for alternative investments and those alternative investments were made. and er5 investors who put up $2,500,000 and created a great number of jobs and they had advice from the company chief of service operation center if there could be alternative investments and now their status is being challenged -- or being -- their appeals have been denied. i have learned about this matter only recently and wrote to the director of the u.s. citizenship and immigration services and asked that the letter be made part of the record, mr. chairman. unanimous consent requested? and my request to you, madam secretary, there needs to be a promulgation of written set o

host:. , pennsylvania. tom is on the republican line. caller: the opinion of the people -- i recall the 2000 election where the supreme court installed george bush into office. and i lost faith in the supreme court after that and then when that's -- that lilly lead better case was such an absurdity, you have to ask a question of what planet are these guys on. guest: the case had to do with age discrimination suit, basically equal pay suit. the question was whether they discriminated and number of years ago, beyond the statute of limitations, and it still has a present-day effected -- the woman receives lower pay than are male colleagues because of the discrimination years ago, whether she can sue and the supreme court said, no, she can't. congress came in and reversed that. that is actually a good example of the system working in a way that it should work. the court interprets a statute, may be right or wrong, but if they get it wrong congress can come in and say this is what we want. what the constitutional ruling to the does not work t