rohrabacher of california. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 316, the gentleman from california, mr. rohrabacher, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. rohrabacher: thank you very much. in this debate, madam chairman, we have heard over and over and over again about the gridlock at the parent office which is supposedly -- at the patent office which is supposedly what we're trying to correct with this legislation, h.r. 1249, which i have been contending it does not help the patent office but to harmonize american law with the rest of the world and make it weaker patent protection for our people. what does it do about the backlog if that's really what people are concerned about? h.r. 1249 would actually tremendously add to the p.t.o. backlog by requiring further postgrant review proceedings at the patent office. proceedings which would consume even more limited personnel and money. added procedures at the p.t.o., at the p.t.o., at the p

rohrabacher -- mr. rohrabacher. they propose that the first to file patent system that is being promoted to harmonize our system with other countries would not go into effect until the grace period which is the critical part of theatent system actually is fixed and harmonized and i think, i don't know whether we can -- if the manager's amendment is passed, the fatal defect of defining the prior art is disclosures, i don't believe can be fully remedied by this amendment, although i think the amendment is a good one and i intend to support it. so i think it's very important that the manager's amendment be defeated. i would hope that if that happens that we might have a chance to step back and to fully examine where we are in terms of the prior user rights and the grace period. because as the patent commissioner had said, this is the gold standard, the united states has had the gold standard in patents with this grace period. it would be a shame, not just for the congress but for our country and our future as innovator

congressman dana rohrabacher sure thinks so. he told the iraqi government and was shown the door. e.d. hill asks, after eight years of fighting and dying, are americans no longer welcome? >>> then, who is this man? a national survey says only 9% of fourth-graders know. i'll ask the secretary of education. is our education policy still failing to make the grade? now for more on our breaking story. the return of that controversial anti-union law in wisconsin. joining me now is former labor secretary, robert reich, author of "aftershock," and cnn's senior political analyst david gergen. welcome to you both. secretary reich, let me start with you. is this the opening salvo in an assault on the right of workers in this nation to organize and bargain collectively? >> well, good evening, eliot. yes, i think it is. i mean, wisconsin, remember, was the first state to authorize public sector collective bargaining. and it seems to be the first one to lead the charge against it now under a governor who seems absolutely intent on getting rid of bargaining rights. we have a number of republican

rohrabacher? guest: yes?ler: i found it a little offensive of how you directed your statements to a country that we're trying to work with. why don't you leave that to the diplomats? you're supposed to investigate our country's problems. to me, you should leave the work to people that know how to handle these people. guest: well, i am the chairman of the oversight investigation subcommittee of the foreign affairs committee of the house. unless you believe that all foreign affairs has to be handled by the executive branch, it is my job to go there and ask questions and find out the facts and ask whether or not this country was willing to pay back -- to pay back some of the huge expenditure that we've had in the last eight years. i elected to oversee spending money. that's what congress is all about. we approve the spending. i think that was a totally legitimate question. let me add, i did not do so in an accusatory way. instead, i have always learned that you try to be respectful and you can make the points th

rohrabacher -- mr. rohrabacher. they propose that the first to file patent system that is being promoted to harmonize our system with other countries would not go into effect until the grace period which is the critical part of the patent system actually is fixed and harmonized and i think, i don't know whether we can -- if the manager's amendment is passed, the fatal defect of defining the prior art is disclosures, i don't believe can be fully remedied by this amendment, although i think the amendment is a good one and i intend to support it. so i think it's very important that the manager's amendment be defeated. i would hope that if that happens that we might have a chance to step back and to fully examine where we are in terms of the prior user rights and the grace period. because as the patent commissioner had said, this is the gold standard, the united states has had the gold standard in patents with this grace period. it would be a shame, not just for the congress but for our country and our future as innovat

rohrabacher, has his amendment made in order. and so the idea of somehow criticizing the rules committee and the action that we have taken is just way off base. we have, mr. speaker, 15 amendments made in order under this bill, 10 amendments have been made in order for the energy and commerce legislation that's come before us. i'm happy to yield to my friend. mr. conyers: thank you. my friend, we are not criticizing the rules committee. the cut-go violation which you have not even seen the c.b.o. letter that described the $1.1 billion -- mr. dreier: reclaiming my time. let me just say i asked my staff about this and they were unaware of exactly where this $1.1 billion figure came from. and so in light of that it seems to me that we are in a position where we need to proceed with this very important work and we are trying our doggonest to make it happen. we are going to allow proposals from messrs. rohrabacher, conyers, and polis, and others to be considered and that's why it's important that we pass this rule. if we don't pass th

california republican dana rohrabacher who was with iraq's prime minister in this picture, rohrabacher floated the idea that iraq's government should repay the u.s. for the invasion and continued support operations in the country. here's what afp is reporting he said -- i'm quoting -- "once iraq becomes a very rich and prosperous country, we would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the united states some of the mega dollars pa we have spent here in the last eight years." cnn yet to independently confirm that quote. the u.s. embassy was quick to distance themselves from the delegation saying the congressmen were not speaking for the u.s. administration. >>> here we are now six weeks after osama bin laden was killed and now another top al qaeda operative is dead in east africa. kenyan and u.s. officials tell cnn that fazle abdullah mohammed was killed at a somali checkpoint in mog adishu. he was on the fbi's most wanted terrorist list with a $5 million bounty on his head. >>> twin bombings in pakistan killed 34 people in the northwestern city of peshawar. 94 others wound.

this this guy is like he is a racket he's at times square racket what's his name dana rohrbacher rohrabacher these the guys who played with nine eleven so this congressman then went from libya where he failed to shake down the population and he went to iraq iraq asks u.s. congressman to leave over repave remark yes congressman rohrbacher showed up in iraq and said once iraq becomes a very rich and prosperous country we would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the united states some of the mega dollars that we have spent here and the last eight years the united states for its own oil to make its economy go go forward and the point of all this meddling is to try to keep the price of oil down so the u.s. has a functioning economy that's the point of the wars it's not about renting out assassins for a few quid bucks to help your reelection campaign this guy is not only is he a horrible horrible musician and not only does he look like elmer fought on crack but he's a donor head who doesn't even somebody should get him economics one hundred one and he should sit down over the weeken

rohrabacher: mr. speaker, our constitution was designed and written to protect inventors, not filers. the words are very clear. inventor is in the constitution, filers is not in the constitution. so why are we having this dedispute about the constitutionality of this provision which is very clearly in the constitution? is there all sorts of problems that we have people fighting as to who really invented something? no. we don't have a lot of problems. the reason why we have to change this is to harmonize our law, american patent law, with europe. our opponents have stated this over and over again in the early part of this debate, that the purpose was harmonizing american law with the rest of the world. well, american law has always been stronger, we've had the strongest patent protection in the world. so what does harmonize mean? it means weakening our constitutionally protected patent rights. the purpose of the bill is to weaken a constitutionally protected right that has been in place since the found

this after california congressman dana rohrabacher reportedly suggested to iraqi prime minister nuri repay some of the costs of the war. the u.s. embassy in iraq is dist

delegation visiting iraq is no longer welcome there after dana rohrabacher supposedly suggested iraqr. >>> gabrielle giffords office released new photographs of the recovering congresswoman. giffords is scheduled to leave a houston rehab facility later this month.

rohrabacher of california. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote the yeas are 81 and the nays are 342. the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 15 printed in part b of house report 112-111 by the gentleman from illinois, mr. schock, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 15 printed in part b of house report 112-111 offere

this is california republican dana rohrabacher with iraq's prime minister.ortedly floated the idea that iraq's government should repay the u.s. for the invasion and continued support operations in the country. cnn yet to confirm that comment though. the bipartisan delegation was denied access to a camp north of baghdad. the u.s. embassy quick to distance themselves from the delegation saying the congressmen weren't speaking for the u.s. administration. >>> 20 minutes past the hour. stick around. this is coming up. >> i believe i can get back on the baseball field, keep working hard every day, 9:00 to 5:00, continue to make progress. >> a college athlete on the verge of a baseball career. now that player is paralyzed after a horrifying on field collision, but the story doesn't have a tragic ending. that story is next. p to sweetnes with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto i

in their group lost their lives fighting the taliban and whipped them, and when my friend, dana rohrabacher, said somebody wants to meet with the u.s. government. the state department will not meet with them. will you go with me? i said, sure. initially we were going to try to meet near northern afghanistan. but when the uzbeks found out, they didn't want to give visas to these people. we thought we'd meet in india. they didn't want to give them visas. so at the last minute we arranged to meet in berlin. five of the nine did meet, and something that many americans don't realize, the taliban, in preparing for 9/11, knew that there was a man who was charismatic, who was a powerful leader, who had the chance to bring together afghanistan as a nation, afghans as a people, even though it's so very tribal, one person had the chance to really pull it all together and on either september 9 or september 10 of 2001 he was boldly assassinated so that when a day later 9/11 occurred there would be nobody that the u.s. could really turn to as one individual to rally afghans against the taliban. they took

. >> what about rohrabacher backer? >> going back on the issue of the withdrawal -- [laughter] i am now, thank you for asking. on the issue of the withdrawal, will the president's initial numbers satisfy those who are war weary in this nation? >> the president will keep the commitment he made in december of 2009 to begin the drawdown of u.s. forces from afghanistan next month. there are a lot of facts that are go into this decision, factors that he has considered deeply and seriously. and i will not prejudge from here how his decision will be viewed by different segments of society. but you can believe that it will be a decision made on the merits on what he views as the successes that we've had in the implementation of his strategy, the distance we still need to go in implementing that strategy, between now and transferring full security lead over to the afghans, and it will be a very thoughtful and reasonable decision based on a thorough assessment of the situation and conditions on the ground. >> did he talk to any c

we will talk with members of congress, beginning with dana rohrabacher this is on the foreign affairs committee. and then senator ben cardin of maryland. he is a budget committee member as well. we will pull off talking about deficit talk and foreign affairs with both of them. caller: i think he should bring back the majority of soldiers in afghanistan, and for the ones that stay there, we should have a war tax. he should let the taxes go back to where clinton -- when clinton was presidt. he should get jobs by working on infrastructure. i think that anyone who would vote for rublicans who would cut food four little babies should never be elected. the republicans are cutting so many things that help poor people, and anyone who is poor or anyone that would vote for a republican now is crazy. host: jack in philadelphia, what does president obama need to do to win in 2012? caller: he has done a reasonably good job. he did not create the financial diress that we are under right now. host: he did not create it to you -- has he done enough to turn it around? caller: he has done as much as he