my friend from tennessee mentioned satchel page. he had some great quotes, many people quote him as saying, don't look back, they may be gaining on you. but i read a quote that i like even better than that, attributed to him. and it was later in life when he said, it's ok to look back, just don't stare. and it seems to me that that's what this bill does. we look forward but we look back. we don't stare but we recognize the greatness that has gotten to us where we are today and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. and thank the gentleman from ohio for introducing the resolution, urge my colleagues to support it and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 530. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in th

tennessee's medicaid director. our state costs would go up $572 million if we increased coverage to 150% of federal poverty. if the fed pays for this, the fed's costs would be $106 billion. i mean the federal budget paying for it. because the federal budget pays two-thirds, the state one-third. if the state has to also provide medicaid payments to physicians at 110% of medicare, this would add another $600 billion in costs to the state of tennessee. thus, the proposal of the abg come -- of the combination of the health and finance committee bills that are being considered would be $1.2 billion new for tennessee. if you add the federal government's increase in cost just for the tennessee people expanded -- to which the program is expanded it would be $3.3 billion. so you can see why the kennedy bill has been called so expensive. that's not all. the finance committee has been discussing turning back to the states by 2015 these increased costs, although the finance committee is talking about a smaller expansion of cov

the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. today in the "help" committee -- the presiding officer: senate is in a quorum call. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you. today in the health and education and labor and pensions committee in the senate, after several days of discussions, we are beginning to work on the health reform legislation that was proposed by our chairman, senator kennedy. as we begin our work today, i want to suggest that we put aside the legislation that we're working on and that we start over, because the kennedy bill we're dealing with is so flawed and expensive that it cannot be fixed. and there are better proposals available for us to work on, proposals advanced by senator burr, by senator coburn. there's a bipartisan proposal that senator wyden and senator bennett have offered, and senator hatch, a former chairman of the committee, is working with a number of senators on a proposal that seems to

blackburn of tennessee. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant -- the chair: purr subte to house resolution 552, the gentlewoman from tennessee and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. chairman. i do have a great amendment at the desk and i think it speaks to a path we need to travel in this body. as we know, spending is out of control here in washington, d.c. the american people know that this government doesn't have a revenue problem. it has a spending problem and we are hearing it from constituents all across this nation. as they begin to look at how this should be addressed and talk to us about how we think it ought to be addressed. well, mr. chairman, one of the things that we do know is that in our states which are great labs for bringing forward entrepreneurial ideas and innovating ways to address problems in the public sector, many times they will move to across-the-board spending cuts. certainfully my state of

duncan of tennessee. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 573, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. duncan: thank you, madam chairman. madam chairman, former congressman suny callahan, a very respected former subcommittee chairman on the appropriations committee, told me that we have done all we needed to do on airplane security when we secured the cockpit doors. whether you agree with him or not that very inexpensive action took away the ability to hijack and use planes the way they were used on 9/11. now we are about to appropriate $860 million for the federal air marshal service, and i believe this money could be much better spent in any one of hundreds of other ways. however, my amendment does not eliminate this agency even though i do believe it is a needless, useless agency and my amendment does not even cut its funding. all it does is freeze this agency in the current level of funding $819 million. air marshals arrest a little over four people each year. even a

. >> marsha blackburn of tennessee talks about her book, "life equity." she provides advice on how women can realize their full potential and take advantage of the opportunities available to them in the u.s. the event hosted by the heritage foundation in washington, d.c., is about an hour. >> so we're just delighted to have you here today. we have an outstanding program for you because we have a star from the congress of the united states of america. and that's always a terrific opportunity for us. my name is becky norton dunlap. i'm the vice president here at the heritage foundation and it's just a delight to have you here at the heritage foundation. our speaker today is united states congressman who's also a congresswoman, she's a woman who's a congressman, marsha blackburn and she has written this fantastic book which we want everybody to know about and we are offering today for sale after our event. but congresswoman, congressman -- how do you -- how about u.s. representative, marsha blackburn. >> how about public servant marsha blackburn. >> very goo

the gentleman from tennessee. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker, i appreciate the gentleman from texas and i understand him clearly and well. some people don't understand us as well as we understand each other. and i would like to also comment that the previous remarks that i made be incorporated by reference onto this bill and with such i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. will the house suspend the rules. 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. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. cohen: i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2247 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2247, a bill t amend title 5, united states code to make technical amendments to cert

the federal express employs 30,000 people in the tennessee -- in the memphis, tennessee, area. nissan announced this week it's going to build electric cars not in japan, but in smyrna, tennessee. that's because we trade with the world. this creeping protectionism we see is a threat to the middle-class budget of every american. senator johanns has made an important step toward keeping that. let me talk about another threat to the middle-class families' budget, and that is health insurance. how do we pay for health care? and i don't have to explain to anyone who might be listening or reading these remarks that health care for most americans is a cost that is difficult to afford. it's difficult for most small businesses. we have many large businesses who are having a difficult time competing in the world marketplace because of health care costs. some, we think of the auto industry in detroit, has claimed that the legacy costs of health care have put them out of business, unable to compete even with car companies that locate in the united states and make cars here, employing americ

tennessee is in idle state and a third of our jobs are on jobs. every one of those suppliers is sitting there watching costs. and just a little bit to the cost of making it part to a car in tennessee and it increases the want the chance that that will be in mexico or in germany or japan where summer else. we have already seen with the legacy costs for health care did to detroit. they say it was a major things of this is no time to be adding a health-care cost to employers in america who want to try to compete in the world marketplace. so that is why reluctantly say that any version of this bill the matter how much i admire and appreciate the hard work of the staff will explode in the complexity and astronomical spending and never succeeded. there is a better way to deal with this. instead of stuffing low income americans into one failing government program medicaid, and creating another government program, we can give low income americans grants or subsidies so they could purchase private insurance in the same line the rest of us do. biden bennett

but $1.2 billion in the state of tennessee equals to what, about a 10% income tax on the people of tennessee would bring in. we don't have an income tax. so that would be a new 10% income tax. so one of my goals in the health care debate is to make sure that we don't get carried away up here with good-sounding ideas and impose huge unfunded mandates on the states which we're not supposed to do, according to to the 10th amendment to the constitution, but superimpose our judgment on the governor, legislature, the mayors, the local folks who are making decisions about whether to spend for lowering tuition or improving the quality of the community college or providing this form of health care or building this road or bridge. that's their decision. and if we want to require something, we should pay for it from here. if i'm -- i'm going to be very alert on behalf of the states and citizens of the states to any sort of proposal that would shift unfunded mandates on state and local governments, and i hope my colleagues will as well. my suggestion to every governor in this country over the next few d

in tennessee, about 14, 15 years ago, we had medicaid. we got a waiver to try a managed care system back in the 1980's and 1990's. managed care is how we were going to control the escalating costs. it was a wonderful idea to provide coverage to as low a cost as we could. we put a plan together, as we're doing right here in this congress. we are going to put -- the most astounding thing i ever heard of, in less than 60 days, we're going to vote on a health care plan that affects every american citizen, 300 million of us. and your health care choices are very personal choices. they're between you, your physician and your family. so the plan was a managed care plan and it was a very roots plan. it provided care for not much money, and for some people, no money. and what happened was -- and people made very logical choices. about 45% of the people ended up on tenncare and had private health insurance and dropped it. why did they do that? this tenncare provided more coverage and people made a conscious decision. the problem with the plan is it

for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. duncan: i ask unanimous consent to assume the time of mr. poe of texas and speak out of order and address the house for five minutes and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for five minutes. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, thank you very much. and, mr. speaker, three or four years ago, as i had told people that we would be facing this year a budget of $3 trillion and facing a deficit of $1.8 billion, people would have thought that i was crazy. but that is what we're facing and because of the terrible financial condition of the federal government, all of our expenditures are related, even though they may sound at first like they're unrelated. but -- and so i want to speak tonight briefly on two issues of national significance, even though they may sound unrelated at first. president reagan used to say frequently in speeches that government was not the solution, government was the problem. and certainly there also

the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this is the car czar award for wednesday, june 10, 2009. the award is a service to taxpayers from america's new automotive headquarters: washington, d.c. it's a second in a series of car czar awards to be confirmed, to be conferred upon washington meddlers who distinguish themselves by making it harder for auto companies your government owns to compete in the world marketplace. on monday i presented the first car czar award to the honorable barney frank of massachusetts for interfering in the operation of general motors. congressman frank, chairman of the house financial services committee, intervened last week to save a general motors distribution center in his massachusetts congressional district. the warehouse which employs some 90 people was slated for closing under g.m.'s restructuring plan, but mr. frank put in a call to the g.m. chief executive officer, fritz henderson, and lo and behold the facility has a new lease on life according to "the wall street journal." mr.

tennessee on our republican line. caller: i am retired from the state of tennessee. i have to pay for part of my insurance. i also have to pay for the d plan. if i can pay for that. i don't think the government needs to get into anything. i would be willing to pay part of mine in order to keep the government out. anytime you get the government in anything, they mess it up. host: you said you had a plan from the state of tennessee? how do you like that plan? caller: i like it. i pay $95 a month. in good times it goes down maybe $10, and bad times, it goes up. host: who is the provider? caller: tomco. i had to pay for my d plan. when the federal government came out and said that we had to have a d plan, the insurance i did have with the state of tennessee, some people have had to pay more and some people less. retirees have to pay some. host: the issue this morning is taxing employee health benefits. the president prepares to speak to the ama. the administration representative on the sunday shows, talking about health care. >> how will the president make the case to th

the jobs are in tennessee. we have gone from having almost no auto jobe's-- we are right to work law and other states thumper coolio low taxes and other states don't. we have one of the best four-lane highway systems and other states don't so that is why nissan has been the most efficient auto plant in america many times, why volkswagon chose tennessee and why the springhill plant of tennessee will be successful. >> would not support any legislation that would try to make the government-- [inaudible] >> no, you can't run the country that way. that is the direction we are headed. i am trying to say let the free market work, get the stock of washington so everyone in washington could try to run the car company. >> it may be more efficient for gm to downsize their headquarters and move someplace else but the president is quickly on the phone with the mayor of detroit saying don't worry, we are going to keep the headquarters there in detroit. that is exactly the kind of political system that has no business and run

the gentleman from tennessee. mr. roe: i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. mr. roe: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment by the gentleman from tennessee will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. wolf: strike the requisite number of words. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. king: i thank the gentleman from virginia for yielding time to me in this debate. and there is a lot more time yielded for this debate and should have been yielded within the original agreement that came from the rules committee. this appropriations bill didn't come to this floor under an open rule. has been been a deep and long-standing tradition of the house of representatives. it came to the floor under a structured open rule. and under the request that said print your amendments into

i have had a successful medical career in johnson city, tennessee. it's the only congressional district in america that has had two presidents, johnson and jackson and davey crockett served in this body as a congressman. so it's a very historic seat in northeast tennessee. mrs. lummis: would the gentleman yield? i understand in the old senate chambers that still exist in this building that you can go see congressman crockett's desk, is that the case? mr. roe: that is correct. the reason that i was -- about 10 years ago, i never had service in the state or federal government and i wanted to take this time just to serve my country as i did my patients over the years. i was asked to be on the city commission and i was fortunate enough to run and then became mayor of johnson city. and i brought the philosophy, spend less than you take in. how do we deal with that philosophy? six years ago in our city of 60,000 people, we had $2 million in reserves. and when i came to congress, we had $24 million in reserves, we had not raised taxes and our bond rating we

gingrey: i yield to the the gentleman from tennessee. mr. roe: my colleague from california makes great points and i will ask you to discuss this medicare part d. but he is correct, when we created the tenncare plan in tennessee, we were surrounded by eight states. we had a plan much richer than the other states. guess what happened? people came into the states. all you had to have was a post office box. and the way the governor handled that and remember that government-run plans and i want people to understand, in tennessee when the plan was about to break the state, our governor, along with the legislature, made some very tough decisions. they cut the rolls and they cut the number of people on the tenncare plan. in other single-pair -- single payer plans, you cut rates. they said you could get your dog's hip replaced in a week than it takes for a person to get their hip replaced in canada. mr. gingrey: we did talk about that this morning and it was canadian testimony, was it not? mr. roe: and i think the discussion as i recall, and dr. fle

platts: i yield five minutes to the distinguished lady from tennessee, mrs. blackburn. the speaker pro tempore: the distinguished lacy is -- lady is recognized for five minutes. mrs. blackburn: i rise to to support the intermediate space challenge. unfortunately, mr. speaker, many of the young people that are growing up and participating in this are going to find they're going to grow up in a very different america than we have grown up in because of the increase in taxes that are taking place every single day and the way this crowds out opportunity for young people. indeed, my colleagues across the aisle have become the party of punishment. that is what i'm hearing from my constituents as i traveled across the seventh district this past weekend. they are very, very concerned. what they're telling me is they know that clean air and clean water and clean energy is important. mr. speaker, i know we as politicians would say we're even for clean mud. we're just not for taxing people out of their house and homes to pay for clean energy. that's exactly what this cap and trade

duncan of tennessee. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those if support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is oddered -- ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a two-minute vote. fthfd [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: the yeas are 134. the nays are 294. the amendment is not agreed to. the unfinished business is the request for recorded vote on amendment number 7 printed in part b of house report 111-183, offered by the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, on which further proceedings were postponed and which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: art b, amendment number 7, printed in house report number 111-183,

roe of tennessee. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 552, the gentleman from tennessee and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. mr. roe: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself 2 1/2 minutes. >> mr. chairman, i raise time in time for opposition. the chair: the gentleman will be recognized for an appropriate point. mr. roe: i believe the level of spending in this bill is irresponsible in light of our deficits but i also know my view is in the minority. this is about priorities and it's about morals. this year we're going to pass $1,8 trillion in new debt onto our children's generation. i would argue that passing this level of date on to our next generation is immoral. so far there's been not one iota of interest in setting priorities from the majority. they've decided to fund everything and call that good. they won the election and they are entitled to run our credit cards well past its limit to never before seen levels. when it comes to

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, a member of the impeachment task force and former district judge from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for four minutes. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. and i also want to thank the leadership and the very responsible conduct of the chairman of the task force, adam schiff, doing an exemplary job and bringing it to head as quickly as humanly can be done. and to chairman conyers and to ranking member smith. we have worked together on this because it is a very serious matter when our federal courts are held in less than high esteem. we have a federal judge, as already been mentioned, pled guilty to obstruction of! he admitted to nonconsensual sexual acts. we have the transcript from the federal court hearings in which there are actual specificity of misreprese

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mr. roe: madam speaker, i rise in opposition to this rule and underlying legislation. i have only been here six months but this is the worst piece of legislation that's come out of the house yet t defies logic at a time of economic recession we would impose a regressive national energy tax that many predict ld result in net job loss. supporters of this legislation only want to talk about the so-called green jobs that will be created. but they ignore some studies indicate for every one job created two or eliminated. worse we are creating a costly confusing program of carbon credits. let me make one prediction, the only certainty under this bill is wall street traders sophisticated enough to understand how these credits are traded will make millions. i offered an amendment yesterday at the rules committee stating at least bring it to a level playing field between u.s., china, and india. my feeling is if congress is going to pass this legislation, we should require india and china, two enorm

in the state of tennessee. what happened was it was a very rich plan offering a lot of benefits. small businesses and others may be perfectly logical decision to drop private health insurance and go into the government run plan. 45% of the people who are in the plan had a private health insurance but dropped it for the government auction. the problem with the government plan is this. when you talk to providers and hospitals and other providers, it paid 60% of the cost of providing the care. only 60% of the costs. medicare pays about 90% of the cost. so the government plans to not pay the cost of care. the uninsured pay somewhere in between, shifting more costs on to the private insurers. it is about $100-50 -- $100-$150 a month. what i fear in and a government auction is the very same thing will happen on the national stage. you will have a rich plan offered with all of these benefits, and you will have your cost shifted more to you more and more which is to drop the government auction. over time it will happen

i appreciate the comments of the senator from tennessee. i don't know how the vote will come out at 550 today but i know it -ps infrastructure -- come out at 5:today but we want the government to return wholly to the private sector, that this was an extraordinary situation i represent, as senator from tennessee represents. a lot of auto workers, in this case union and nonunion alike. i think all those companies that, certainly g.m. and chrysler, workers and people in the community want this industry back on its feet and want it run by the private -- by the private investors, as it should be. madam president, i ask unanimous consent to place my following remarks in a different place in the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. today marks the 40th anniversary when the cuyahoga river in cleveland burned. the june 22, 1969, fire wasn't the first or the biggest on the cuyahoga or in rivers all over the country in those days when rivers were full of chemicals and all kinds of dis

>> oh, yeah, i definitely want to be a tennessee titan.i signed my name and signed on the dotted line that i am a tennessee titan and committed to the team, that's where i am until otherwise. it is no fun being a back-up and i will not sit here and lie to you about that. i want to play and i want to be starting and want to be running and take blowing from my teammates, standing in the pocket and deliver the pass and taking the hit or coming out bleeding. and the pain, and i did he have -- definitely want to be out there doing that. and i have to be patient. i have to be patient right now. >> a look at why vince young thinks he should be starting. since 2006 his first year in the nfl he has thrown a higher completion percentage in more yards for a game than collins. and collins led them to a 13-3 record. >>> and tom brady back after knee surgery and one game last season and new seasonings with veteran players with 25 years of experience combined and they are both feeling things out. >> it has been fun. i have a lot to learn and it is a chal

first, the tennessee valley authority has the rate payers in the region paying interest on a $25 billion debt from the nuclear reactors they were attempting to build it in the 1970's and 1980's. this $25 billion we must pay interest on. now they're contemplating building new nuclear reactors. this time they say there will be no debt associated with them. one of the reactors they're planning to build it is an experimental live water reactor. i wonder how that will be paid for? we are already $25 billion in debt. your comment about dealers getting to keep parts of

if you take tennessee v. lee, where one article of the americans with disability act was upheld and contrast it with the garrett case where it was stricken. justice scalia, in the argument of the voting rights case, took issue with the congress on a 98-0 decision, suggesting that if it's 98-0, it must not have been too carefully thought through. it reminds me of the 98-0 vote that justice scalia got on his confirmation. many unanimous decisions of the supreme court. i'll be attaching as an appendix this cases, a group of cases. general moore where justice scalia decided the case 9-0. so if this legislative body, if the united states senate votes 98-0 in favor of renewing the voting rights act, relying upon the extensive record which i have cited, that's not a sign of weakness. that's not a sign that the senate doesn't know what it's doing with a 98-0 vote. so the questions which i have posed for judge sotomayor are these: would you apply the justice harlan rational base standard or the congruent and proportio

the next call is from tennessee . caller: i am amazed at the people who want someone else to pay for something that they want. tell me one program the government has ever run that they have not run into the ground. medicare is broke. tencare in tennessee is broken. it has corruption and abuse. all of their drug dealers get their drugs from tencare. tell me one thing the government does. people want single pair. they tried to get around it by calling it a public plan. they are playing with words. people want someone working to pay for their medicare. guest: it has been a little while since i have been down to tennessee to take a look dat tencare. i'm not aware of the latest with the program. it has gone through some difficulties. on medicare, i hear these complaints about limits on doctors and specialists. you do make a good point. the long-term solvency of the program is in jeopardy. part of that is because of health care costs and the utilization of services. people go at and get a lot of the extra tests and procedur

>> oh, yeah, definitely want to be a tennessee titans.i signed my name and dotted on that dotted line that i'm a tennessee titans and committed to the team, that's what i am. until otherwise. it's not fun being a back-up. i'm not going to sit up here and lie to you about that because like i said, i want to play. i want to be starting. i want to be running. i want to be taking the blows for my teammates in the pocket and delivering that pass down the field, taking that hit, or coming out bleeding, or that pain -- i definitely want to be out there doing that with them guys, but got to be patient. got to be -- i have to be patient right now. >> taking a look at why vince young thinks he should be starting, since 2006, young's first year in the nfl he's thrown for a higher completion percentage and more yards per game than kerry collins. the one big thing collins has going for him, he led the team to a 13-3 record last season. >> back to baseball and a dramatic finish between the cubs and astros. we start at the beginning. top two, geovany so

there are no jobs being created in west tennessee for these people. host: a couple more minutes of your phone calls on jobs. we will bring in the chief congressional correspondent for "the examiner." here's a story from the hill newspaper about the republicans land for more protest votes on appropriations bills in the wake of the 53 roll-call votes last week on the spending bill for the department of commerce and justice. what is behind that? guest: the republicans felt there were robbed of an opportunity for and -- for amendments to the bill. the democrats said there was not time so they drastically reduced the number they were a lot to offer. in response republicans used a parliamentary move to delay for. they do that by calling for a second vote. they say that they want a re- vote. every time they voted on a bill they would ask for a re-vote. this drag on to 53 votes which was a record that broke in 1988. they really, the republicans really know how to delay action on the house for. they have threatened to do that again this week. if so, the house

he was in the elite task force at the atomic bomb project in tennessee. he became head of the radiation shield engineering group. then a navy captain hired him to work on the naval nuclear propulsion program, and he has a long list of accomplishments there. he is a fellow of the american nuclear society, recipient of the first lifetime contribution award, now known as the rockwell award, distinguished medals from the navy and u.s. atomic energy commission and a member of the national academy of engineers. he has written numerous books on technical papers, including the widely-used design manual -- how one man made a difference and created the new world. stories and images from the dawn of the atomic age. we are very glad to have you, sir. now, from the chamber of commerce -- vice president of the 21st and she -- 21st century development institute. he has served as deputy assented -- deputy assistant secretary at the apartment energy where he developed the nuclear energy policy and coordinated directions with congress, stakeholders, and the media. early in

when he ran for a senate in 2006 barely lost but most interesting was happen in their worldwide tennessee where in county is that for years before had voted for george wallace or voted a very strongly for wallace. he carried many of those, he outran john kerry as a matter a percentage and when you compare his boat to barack obama not only did obama do as it has been no significant worse on percentage basis, he got fewer votes despite a massive increase in turn out so you can see in rural tennessee white democrats because there are no blacks in these places, voting for a black democrat in 2006 and against another different black democrat in 2008. even the girl south has changed so the question is back to the professor, how you view that? do you view that with as long as there is one iota of racism protection is still required? do you view that the way michael to use that as a sign of the voting rights act succeeding completely and therefore all protection as a legal mandate ought to be set aside or do you view that as a team messy ambivalent model from a pitcher of in coherence to which so

the jobs are in tennessee. we've gone from having no other jobs to having one third manufacturing jobs because we're the best place to build cars. we have low taxes, one of the best four-lane highway systems, so that's why nissan has been the most efficient auto plant in america and while volkswagen chose tennessee and why the spring hill plant of gm will be successful. >> [inaudible] >> you cannot run the country that way. that's the direction we're headed. i am trying to go the other way. i'm trying to say get the stock out of washington so everyone in washington with trying to run the car companies. >> it may be more efficient for gm to downsize the headquarters, but the president is quickly on the phone with the mayor of detroit, saying don't worry, we will keep headquarters in detroit. that's the kind of political decision that has no place in the running of the company for the value of the stockholders. >> [inaudible] >> i will try to forecast what we're going to see tomorrow. the unemployment problem is

my constituents, i have 56,000 seniors in tennessee on medicare advantage. they very much want to keep those options. i would like to hear from you what you envision a medicare advantage program looking like once the obama plan goes into place. how you see that being delivered, what you think the options are going to be. it is of concern the options are going to be restricted. when members of this committee sit here, when we hear from constituents the panic that they feel, especially from seniors who say, look, i've paid. >> what's going on with the mike? do we know? >> my mike is not being touched. >> now it's okay. >> okay. but seniors are very fearful that they have paid into a system -- this was a part of their retirement security, a part of their savings, if you will. because it was money that the government took first right of refusal on their paychecks. took that money out. and now you've got somebody in their 70s, they've got doctors's set, medicare advantage set. they have their system in place. and they are seeing this savings devalued. finding out

prior to that, she served in the tennessee state senate.ore information on congresswoman marsha blackburn, author of "life equity," visit blackburn.house.gov. >> oxford university press in 2009 has several new titles coming out. susan ferber senior editor with oxford. what are some of the new titles. >> i'll be thrilled to talk about some of our new books. i'm going to talk more about the political ones than the ones that have political implications today. real enemies i realize there's a lot of talk about conspiracy theory. you see them all the time on the internet. this is an author who actually spent some time looking out what does conspiracy theory mean for american democracy and how can conspiracy theories over a long period of time since world war i -- what does that mean about americans and what they think about their government? and do they trust government? so this is a book that looking at pearl harbor and looks at fear of jews in government and it looks after what happened in the kennedy assassination and it comes up right up to

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam chairman. this is not an energy bill, it's a tax bill. they're going to tax the air you breathe. it's a transfer of wealth bill. the american people are figuring this out. our friends across the aisle have indeed become the party of punishment and my constituents in tennessee are being punished. listen to this. by 2012, we will lose 33,000 jobs. for the next 23 years, every year, it is estimated this bill will cause us to lose 25,600 jobs. the american people are figuring this out. we want them to know it. when my colleagues come down here and talk about it being important and talk about it being historic, it's all from the negative. the impacts of the bill will shut small businesses. it will close family farms. it will shutter manufacturing plants and those jobs will end up in china and india. it will increase our taxes. the president told us so. every household is going to pay between $1,300 and $3,100 in new taxes every year. the cost of products will in

there was no paper plates system in tennessee. -- pay or play system in tennessee. that was mentioned earlier. we need to keep money for the employers to put money into the system. the individual and employer mandate appear to have worked in massachusetts. we have many more ensured in less than three years. of those, on a 91,000 were paid by employers or individuals buying -- 191,000 were paid by employers or individuals buying insurance. that is very important. your plan would do that. the system doesn't 3, the number of employers providing insurance was up -- since 2003, the number of employers providing insurance was up. we have proved that by having such a mandate, there is more success. you look at higher payrolls. we do not want to hit a low and some employers -- low income employers. reform of mandates must help businesses and individuals. we must build a safety net so that individuals and small businesses that did not have access now can have access to affordable insurance. we believe your draft bill is a good step forward, and we support it. >> thank you. >