spratt talking about lowering the cost curve. i really frustrated and ask my wife if i could run for congress. that really is how i got into it. i never expected to win until scott brown's election later that year or early next year. we recognize that the time was different than i had expected. mr. spratt has only had to retrieve serious challengers in the last 28 years. it is sort of by accident that i am here. >> describe your family. >> we had triplets 10 years ago. we live on 12 acres in the country. my wife has a wars and my children raise chickens and sell eggs to make money -- my wife has a horse. and selling is not a profitable business, but selling chicken poop is. it is a normal family. the kids were not very heavily involved in the campaign. thatfe's requirement was we insulate the children as much as possible. forn't think it is normal children to see people chanting of their dad's name. distilled disconcerting to me to go to those rallies in -- it is still disconcerting to me to go to those rallies and have that happ

spratt: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in emphatic support of the ike skelton natural defense authorization act for fiscal year 2011. this bill as it fits its title makes record investments in our nation's milary, authorizing $725 billion to strengthen the national security. our friends on the other side of the aisle have said that they would do things differently next year, it will be interesting to see whether or not this becomes a high water mark for defense spending, given the deficit, debt and other obstacle, fiscal policy obstacles that remain in our future, that loom over our future. this bill fully funds operations in afghanistan and iraq while modernizing the troops to be prepared for the threats of today and the wars of tomorrow. mr. chairman, i have served on the armed services committee for 28 years. i've always believed that our first order of business is to fund the defense of this nation. this will be the last defense authorization bill on which i have had

spratt: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in emphatic support of the ike skelton natural defense authorization act for fiscal year 2011. this bill as it fits its title makes record investments in our nation's military, authorizing $725 billion to strengthen the national security. our friends on the other side of the aisle have said that they would do things differently next year, it will be interesting to see whether or not this becomes a high water mark for defense spending, given the deficit, debt and other obstacle, fiscal policy obstacles that remain in our future, that loom over our future. this bill fully funds operations in afghanistan and iraq while modernizing the troops to be prepared for the threats of today and the wars of tomorrow. mr. chairman, i have served on the armed services committee for 28 years. i've always believed that our first order of business is to fund the defense of this nation. this will be the last defense authorization bill on which i have h

we will go to congressman spratt. >> thank you.mission. even a good idea could not have been launched without define leadership of you to do. thank you for knowing best institution from the inside -- and this institution from the inside and for your amazing energy to reach this point. i have received a few phone calls in the last 24 hours. [laughter] some of my closest friends and allies in politics cannot understand this. they have said, why is a progressive like dick durbin of voting for the best deficit commission report. here is why. i believe that politicians on the left and right, democrats and republicans, have to face the deficit crisis we have. when we barrault $0.40 of every dollar we spend, whether -- when we borrow $0.40 of every dollar we spent, whether it is on the pentagon or food stamps, that is not sustainable. when we are taking so much money from china, that does not allow us to sustain america. i want progressive voices at the table to argue that we must protect the most of all trouble in the society and demand

we will go to congressman spratt. >> tha you.n a plane trip. the idea of a bipartisan defit commission. even a good idea could not have been launched without define leadership of you to do. thank you for knowing best institution from the inside -- and this institution from the inside and for your amazing energy to reach this point. i have received a few phone calls in the last 24 hours. [laughter] some of my closest friends and allies in politics cannot understand this. they have said, why is a progressive like dick durbin of voting for the best deficit commission report. here is why. i believe that politicians on the left and right, democrats and republicans, have to face the deficit crisis we have. when we barrault $0.40 of every dollar we spend, whether -- when we borrow $0.40 of every dollar we spent, whether it is on the pentagon or food stamps, that is not sustainable. when we are taking so much money from china, that does not allow us to sustain america. i want progressive voices at the table to argue that we must protect

spratt: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in emphatic support of the ike skelton natural defense authorization act for fiscal year 2011. this bill as it fits its title makes record investments in our nation's military, authorizing $725 billion to strengthen the national security. our friends on the other side of the aisle have said that they would do things differently next year, it will be interesting to see whether or not this becomes a high water mark for defense spending, given the deficit, debt and other obstacle, fiscal policy obstacles that remain in our future, that loom over our future. this bill fully funds operations in afghanistan and iraq while modernizing the troops to be prepared for the threats of today and the wars of tomorrow. mr. chairman, i have served on the armed services committee for 28 years. i've always believed that our first order of business is to fund the defense of this nation. this will be the last defense authorization bill on which i have h

i cannot help but say that john spratt has been my lifelong friend for 20 years. he served -- [laughter] he served this nation well. i look forward to the two of us going back and seeing a lot of each other in the future. senator conrad. >> i would come out first of all, like to say that senator gregg is not here because of a longstanding family obligation. there is no place he would rather be than with us today i want to thank him, first of all, for partnering with me. we started this three years ago , because we recognize it was going to take a special process to bring to the attention of the nation the seriousness of the debt threat looming over the country. but the bus are so proud -- both of us are so proud of the two of you. you took up this responsibility. neither of you had to answer this call. alan, you are out there in wyoming with your fantastic wife. [laughter] you know, many of us have long thatht th -- long thought she is a really special one in that relationship. but alan is not so bad either. you got just done a superb and courageous job. erskine,

spratt yes, it is, every time. john spratt is not our congressman any more. he works for her to read the national republican congressional committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. spaghettis to be independent know he's not. here's how many times he voted with aids pelosi and a big six votes he voted on. one key thing we had over the democrats as voters were already agitated over things we were saying. democrats have to say things the voters were not educated about. we try to make or can't handle it for watchable. we didn't use personal slurs. we tried to stay away from character hits and attacking motive. it was a big mistakes democrats made this year. their campaign was he is a bad man. he's an on ethical businessman. she hates you. a very nasty tone. we tried to be more matter-of-fact and benefited from it. >> when nancy pelosi pushed the national energy tax, tom told the line. when president obama pushed the wasteful spending bill, he told the line. kristen national democrat fine, yes. and when congress passed the takeover of health ca

john spratt -- he is not our candidate any more. he is working for her. >> that is one key thing we had. voters were agitated over the things we were saying in our ads. we try to make our campaign war watchable. we did not any personal slurs. we tried to stay away from character hits. that was a big mistake that democrats may this year. their campaign was a he is a bad man, he is an unethical business man, he he see. i think we benefited from it. >> when pelosi pushed the energy tax, perioello toed the line. government got bigger, taxes went higher. he is making it worse. >> one of the reasons the democrats made mistake is they learned the wrong lessons from pennsylvania 12. the may election was a watershed moment because they thought it meant they were ripe hold the majority. it was a moment the next day where they drew all the wrong conclusions. they concluded we can change a race late if we throw in advertising in the last two weeks, and the way to win is making republicans and ethel. the lesson they missed was that he went on th

we will go to congressman spratt. >> thank you.n a plane trip. the idea of a bipartisan deficit commission. even a good idea could not have been launched without define leadership of you to do. thank you for knowing best institution from the inside -- and this institution from the inside and for your amazing energy to reach this point. i have received a few phone calls in the last 24 hours. [laughter] some of my closest friends and allies in politics cannot understand this. they have said, why is a progressive like dick durbin of voting for the best deficit commission report. here is why. i believe that politicians on the left and right, democrats and republicans, have to face the deficit crisis we have. when we barrault $0.40 of every dollar we spend, whether -- when we borrow $0.40 of every dollar we spent, whether it is on the pentagon or food stamps, that is not sustainable. when we are taking so much money from china, that does not allow us to sustain america. i want progressive voices at the table to argue that we must protec

spratt yes, it is, every time. john spratt is not our congressman any more.for her to read the national republican congressional committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. spaghettis to be independent know he's not. here's how many times he voted with aids pelosi and a big six votes he voted on. one key thing we had over the democrats as voters were already agitated over things we were saying. democrats have to say things the voters were not educated about. we try to make or can't handle it for watchable. we didn't use personal slurs. we tried to stay away from character hits and attacking motive. it was a big mistakes democrats made this year. their campaign was he is a bad man. he's an on ethical businessman. she hates you. a very nasty tone. we tried to be more matter-of-fact and benefited from it. >> when nancy pelosi pushed the national energy tax, tom told the line. when president obama pushed the wasteful spending bill, he told the line. kristen national democrat fine, yes. and when congress passed the takeover of health care, tom to

. >> thank you, chairman spratt. we are going to dr. cockburn. >> first of all, let me add my thank you to the staff for incredible leadership. being the first tied to serve on a commission and not having any political affiliation, it has been an interesting experience. i came to this with no ideologue see -- with no ideologies on how to address the issue other than a citizen with children and grandchildren concerned about the future. it is clear to me all of you have the same feelings as well. there are a couple of things i would like to highlight. as we develop this framework, and i do believe it is a framework whether we get 14 votes were not, i believe any of the things listed here will be addressed if not all of them. but it is important as we chart a future of growth for our country that we put into perspective the importance of how much we look in the rearview mirror and how much we look at the future. i think that is what we tried to do with this document is to understand clearly the demographic trend, to understand clearly the

. >> thank you, chairman spratt. we are going to dr. cockburn. >> first of all, let me add my thank you to the staff for incredible leadership. being the first tied to serve on a commission and not having any political affiliation, it has been an interesting experience. i came to this with no ideologue see -- with no ideologies on how to address the issue other than a citizen with children and grandchildren concerned about the future. it is clear to me all of you have the same feelings as well. there are a couple of things i would like to highlight. as we develop this framework, and i do believe it is a framework whether we get 14 votes were not, i believe any of the things listed here will be addressed if not all of them. but it is important as we chart a future of growth for our country that we put into perspective the importance of how much we look in the rearview mirror and how much we look at the future. i think that is what we tried to do with this document is to understand clearly the demographic trend, to understand clearly the

i think chairman spratt and the durbin, t leader, and durb all saidan-sha becerra positive things about it. i do not have any inside information about where people will vote in the final analysis, but all of them will continue to insist that we do something about this cancer that will destroy our country from within. >> some said they will keep voting until they get to a plan. you will not be open to any changes from what you released today. this is the final plan. >> this is the plan. what we would strongly suggest is that any part of the plan they are uncomfortable with -- i hope they will vote for the plant, but do what i would do and be candid about the things you would do differently. if you would look at the plan that in the stern will release this afternoon, it is not that different from what we have. it really isn't, especially when you think of it in terms of the $4 trillion budget, when you think of it in terms of a $15 trillion economy, when you think that all those numbers or scored numbers and you know any time you look over a 10-year term, you'll have some real problems. i

have come to an end and the people here certainly in south carolina made it very clear with john spratt getting thrown out. people want a conservative government and they want them to work for the people. they are tired of the tax and spend and without representation. host: boringfileclerk tweets -- we are talking about the possibility of michael bloomberg presidential bid in light of a speech in new york, one at a series finance national issue. he was born valentine's day of 1942. will be 69 in february of 2011 -- his official biography. a veteran political observer in "the washington post" was also thinking about michael bloomberg this morning. he writes -- let's listen to a little bit more. in this he talked about immigration and jobs. >> making sure companies are able to hire the people they need brings us to our sixth and final step. fix immigration. there is nothing we can do to unleash innovation in job growth that would be more powerful than fixing our broken immigration system. right now, our immigration policy is a form of national suicide. we educate the best and brightest fr

that's exactly the truth of what chairman john spratt said. and if the shoe fits, we're wearing it right now. unfortunately, we've come to expect this behavior from this majority, but once again there is always tomorrow. republicans have made a pledge to america. we intend to keep it. i'm happy to report that very soon on or about january 5, 2011, there will be a significant course correction in this house of representatives. members will be expected to and allowed to read legislation before they cast their votes, take part in the activities of not only their committees but also come to the rules committee with their ideas, to take part in the process that they want to do. i think open rules will make a triumphant return to the house floor and elected representatives, members of congress will have a chance to fully contribute in this legislative process. it does not make me happy when i recognize that there is no member, freshman member of this body, who has not for the last two years seen this body work the way it was designed. legislative pr