the clerk: h.r. 3137, a bill to amend title 39 united states code to provide clarification relating to the authority of the united states postal service to accept donations as an additional source of funding for commemorative plax -- plaques. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from california, mr. issa, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. 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. mr. towns: i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. towns: as chairman of the committee on oversight and government reform, i am pleased to present h.r. 3137 for consideration. this legislation will clarify the authority of the united states postal service over the

h.r. 22 is needed to avoid a taxpayer-funded bailout to the united states postal service. he united states postal service is the only federal enter into prefund its pension and retiree health -- required to prefund its pension and retiree health plans. they have paid for retiree health benefits as opposed to using this year's operating revenues. while the united states postal service needs to continue to reduce costs, one of the impressive things that has happened is that they have reduced their work force by 22% since 1999. a 22% reduction in the work force since 1999 compared to a 13% increase in the federal work force in other parts of the government. the main driver of the united states postal service debt has been the 2006 postal accountability and enhancement act's requirement to prefund 80% of its future retiree health benefit costs, a 75-year liability in just 10 years. no other business or government entity in the united states does that. had it not been for this prefunding, the united states postal service would actually have shown a profit. and that's why i think

h.r. 3137 simply seeks to reduce and eliminate the financial burden imposed on the united states postal service with regards to the purchase of commemorative plaques by clarifying current law in this area. specifically the legislation would amend the united states code to make clear that the postal service may accept monetary donations offered for the funding of postal if a silts, commemorative plaques. in digs h.r. 3137 provides that monetary donors may -- in addition h.r. 3137 provides that monetary donors may fess spest phi where the donation will be used. moreover where the amount exceeds the cost of a specified facilities commemorative plaque, h.r. 3137 would also allow with a donor consent for the use of the excess donations towards the purchase of a plaque needed for another postal facility. i think that is a great idea. i think it's a very creative way to be able to sort of save money and at the same time not have to cut back on doing what we know is right based on the fact that they do not have the funding. . on that note i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempor

on october 8th, we'll have john potter, the postmaster general of the united states postal service.on november 13th, the president of chic fil-a will talk about our company. last, i would like to present our guests with another addition to its burgeoning collection of national press club mugs. [applause] so the final question today, when you were a child, you did not dream of historical documentary filmmaking. you from doing big feature films. you have been doing this documentary thing for 20 years now, why don't you stretch yourself? why not have ken burns did a film with ninjas in a or a couple of cops making a lawless town turned straight? i'm just wondering, if ken burns were to do the hollywood feature film, what film would he be doing? >> i went to hamburg -- hampshire college in amherst massachusetts and my teachers were social documentary still photographers. they reminded me quite correctly that there is much more trauma in what is and what was. then anything the human imagination can dream up. we're working on an update of our 1994 series, "baseball." it will deal with all

shivnen's dedicated and unpair lelled service to the united states post dl -- unparalleled service to the united states postal service and to the garden city community. he served as the postmaster of garneden city for 30 years. -- garden city for 30 years until his retirement in 1996. he was active member of the national association of postmasters of the united states for 40 years during which he served in multiple leadership compass its including area and county director, legislative chairman, parliamentarian and postmaster representative. moreover, mr. shivnen played and instrumental role with respect to the site selection and construction of the current garden city post office. in addition to his professional contributions to the fwarden city community, mr. shivnen also demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community service. during his stewardship of the garden city post office, mr. shivnen established an annual christmas basket program through which disadvantaged local families received much-needed gift and food donations. mr. shivnen was also a dedicated member of the garden city alliance club service o

the clerk: h.r. 2971, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 630 northeast killingsworth avenue in portland, avenue, as the dr. martin luther king jr. post office. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. five-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.]

a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 4282 beach street in akron, michigan, as the akron veterans memorial post office. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, ms. watson, and the gentleman from california, mr. issa, each will control 20 minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. watson. ms. watson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, it is so ordered. ms. watson: i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. watson: mr. speaker, on behalf of the committee on oversight and government reform, i am pleased to present h.r. 2004 for consideration. this legislation will designate the united states postal facility located at 4282 beach street in akron, michigan, as the akron veterans memorial post office. introduced by my colleague, representative dell kildee of michigan, on april 21, 2009, and fav

the clerk: h.r. 3137, a bill to amend title 39 united states code to provide clarification relating to the authority of the united states postal service to accept donations as an additional source of funding for commemorative plaques. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-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 speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 414, the nays are zero. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, rules are suspended, and the bill is passed. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the tainl. -- table. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> mr. speaker, i send to the desk two privileged reports from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the spea

all that weather was brought to you by united states postal service. robin? >> we love you, sam.we are now back with steve harvey, the best-selling author of the relationship book, "act like a lady, think like a man." talking about money, marriage, finances, the number one cause in divorce today. and we have some couples here with us. okay. we've been talking a little bit in the break. are you ready for serious talk, straight talk. >> yeah. >> so, tony and wayne. stay-at-home mom. 6-year-old. what issue do you want steve to help you with? >> i have two questions. my first question is, do you have any ideas of how to -- my husband does our finances. is there any ideas how to do the joint banking account? regular banking account, so we're on the same page? >> are you involved in the money at all? do you know what's going on? >> yeah. i spend it. >> wow. that's a girl answer. >> yeah. i do my best to stay involved. but it's hard. i'm taking care of the baby. and trying to balance everything. >> okay. it is easy to do. this is what i've learned because i've blown it a couple times in

discuss his new program on national park sprint on october 8, the postmaster general of the united states postalvice will give us the state of the postal service. i would like to present our guest with the traditional and much coveted national press club mug. >> thank you. [applause] . . >> i feel good about it. i have more time to focus on my position as chairman to help improve the outcomes for american people to improve our delivery system and control the costs. another answer to your question is i have to remember how to drive a car. [laughter] thank you all very much. [applause] >> other like to thank you all for coming today. i also want to thank the national press club staff members. thank you for organizing today's lunch. i would like to thank the npc library for its research. the video archive of today's luncheon is provided by one center. our information is available for free on itunes. you can purchase transcribes and audiotapes by calling 1 #. [unintelligible] please go to our web site for more information. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions

discuss his new program on national park sprint on october 8, the postmaster general of the united states postal service will give us the state of the postal service. i would like to present our guest with the traditional and much coveted national press club mug. >> thank you. [applause] >> for our last question, what is the first thing you will do after a new governor is inaugurated in vermont? >> jump for joy. it will be a transition for me and for the state. it feels like the right time for me to move on. i have been in public office most of my so-called adult life. i ran for the legislature of the year i graduated from college. i have been at it ever since. we do not have term limits in vermont, but we run every two years. i have done it four times. i want to make sure i emma's energize of the last day in office as i was on the first -- i am as energized the last day in the office as i was in the first. i would like people to ask why are you going to soon rather than why did you stay so long? i want to do everything we can to improve the health outcomes for the american people to control tho

i am a united states postal employees. i have been for the past several years. my employer has paid over $60,000 in health-care benefits for myself, including the $33 i paid biweekly. for the past seven years my medical bills totalled $13,000. where is the rest of the money? this is what i think president obama is trying to get to the american people. the insurance companies are literally breaking us down. they are breaking down. so, please -- my american brothers and sisters, we have to tackle this issue. guest: i would just say, i think the president will agree with you that there has been a communications problem. he will mention the public plan tonight. he will make another big push. it is increasingly unlikely he will get a clean public plan. it looks like a charter mechanism will be built in, only if insurance companies -- private insurance companies don't perform to a certain level, the public option will be put in place. there is misunderstanding -- the public option as it is being talked about is really just for people who are in the individual market a

discuss his new program on national park sprint on october 8, the postmaster general of the united states postale postal service. i would like to present our guest with the traditional and much coveted national press club mug. >> thank you. [applause] . . what will you do after a new governor is inaugurated in vermont? >> i will be jumping for joy. >it feels like the right time fr me to move on. i have been in public office for most of my adult life. i graduated from college. we have term limits -- we do not have term limits that we have to run for reelection every two years. i want to make certain that i am energized in office. people ask, why am i going so soon, rather than in the future, where they will ask, why did she stay for so long? ocus on my position as chairman to help improve the outcomes for american people to improve our delivery system and control the costs. another answer to your question is i have to remember how to drive a car. [laughter] thank you all very much. [applause] >> other like to thank you all for coming today. i also want to thank the national press club staff membe

agriculture resource lab rah tear in lane, oklahoma, as a facility of -- and the facility of the united states postal service located at 310 north perry street in benington, oklahoma in honor of former congressman wesley "wes" watkins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana, mr. else worth and the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lucas, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from indiana. mr. ellsworth: i ask that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. ellsworth: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ellsworth: house resolution 1713 would name the south central research laboratory in lane, oklahoma as the u.s. postal service in benington, oklahoma, after congressman wesley watkins. after graduating with two degrees from the university in oklahoma he worked at an administrator at his alma mater before beginning a life of public service first in the state and then the house of representative

i am a united states postal employees. i have been for the past several years.as paid over $60,000 in health-care benefits for myself, including the $33 i paid biweekly. for the past seven years my medical bills totalled $13,000. where is the rest of the money? this is what i think president obama is trying to get to the american people. the insurance companies are literally breaking us down. they are breaking down. so, please -- my american brothers and sisters, we have to tackle this issue. guest: i would just say, i think the president will agree with you that there has been a communications problem. he will mention the public plan tonight. he will make another big push. it is increasingly unlikely he will get a clean public plan. it looks like a charter mechanism will be built in, only if insurance companies -- private insurance companies don't perform to a certain level, the public option will be put in place. there is misunderstanding -- the public option as it is being talked about is really just for people who are in the individual market and to don't ha

on october 8th, we'll have john potter, the postmaster general of the united states postal service. on november 13th, the president of chic fil-a will talk about our company. last, i would like to present our guests with another addition to its burgeoning collection of national press club mugs. [applause] so the final question today, when you were a child, you did not dream of historical documentary filmmaking. you from doing big feature films. you have been doing this documentary thing for 20 years now, why don't you stretch yourself? why not have ken burns did a film with ninjas in a or a couple of cops making a lawless town turned straight? i'm just wondering, if ken burns were to do the hollywood feature film, what film would he be doing? >> i went to hamburg -- hampshire college in amherst massachusetts and my teachers were social documentary still photographers. they reminded me quite correctly that there is much more trauma in what is and what was. then anything the human imagination can dream up. we're working on an update of our 1994 series, "baseball." it will deal with al

on october 8, john potter, postmaster general of the united states postal service will give us the stateostal service. and on november 13, chick filet founder and chairman and president his son dan, will address a national press club speaker series luncheon. and it is a father and son team discussing their companies unprecedented sales growth and a struggling economy. second, i would like to present our guest with the much coveted national press club mug. [laughter] >> thank you very much. [applause] >> i have to point out that for dr. cortese, that is the third in a series of bugs that you have gotten. for the final question, how do you best measure physician outcomes for end-of-life care? >> i think the best measure for that is to ask the family how they feel things went. at the end-of-life. this is a very difficult time for everybody. the only way, some of our results show that we are pretty efficient in the end-of-life care. when people have asked what have we done. all i can say is we don't do anything to make that happen. we don't manage for it. we don't look at it. we didn't even

compete across the united states and another governmental agency with hundreds of thousands of new employees is success when the government runs things. you look at amtrak and the postal service and i don't think the american public has much confidence so they can do that. >> let's listen to the white house secretary robert gibbs, as the president goes to the speech, now the white house press secretary says mr. obama is prepared to be more specific. >> bill, with that speech knowing exactly where the president stands and exactly what he thinks we have to do to get health care done. health care reform done this year. >> and what he won't accept as well? >> well, we prefer to outline the positive rather than the negative, but i'm sure he will draw some lines in the sand on that. >> joe trippy, robert gibbs said he will draw some lines in the sand, but as you know, many people want the president to referee the debate over the public option. in the senate, moderate democrats say the votes simply aren't there. in the house, more members say it has to be there. is it time for him to come out i'm sorry, i'm with you, but we don't have the votes? >> i think what gibbs said th

united states calling kanye west a jackass. >> yeah. >> okay. we'll be right back. a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postalr a low flat rate. cool. you know this scale is off by a good 7, 8 pounds. maybe five. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. could save 'em hundreds on car just telinsurance.e geico it's actually doing it. gecko vo: businessmen say "hard work equals success." well, you're looking at, arguably, the world's most successful businessgecko. gecko vo: first rule of "hard work equals success." gecko vo: that's why geico is consistently rated excellent or better in terms of financial strength. gecko vo: second rule: "don't steal a coworker's egg salad, 'specially if it's marked "the gecko." come on people. every head. every bite. every gallon. every shoe. every book. every cereal. well, maybe not every cereal. but every stem. every stitch. every tune. every toy. pretty much everything you buy can help your savings account grow because keep the change from bank of america rounds up every debit card purchase to the next dollar and transfers the differ

postal service. a simpler way to ship. brian: this is a fox news alert. the president of the united states headed for air force one. memorial service for legendary anchorman walter cronkite. hundred who gathered to pay tribute. former president clinton will also attend. both are expected to speak. buzz aldrin will also be speaking. steve: the president has a busy day. he will apply to new york city and then back to washington, d.c. tonight at 8:00 p.m., he will deliver a joint session of congress statement talking about health care. alisyn: in the next 21 days, congress will spend more than $3 trillion of your hard-earned tax money. tracking your taxes is about showing where your money is going and who exactly is spending it. steve: william la jeunesse has been crunching the numbers. good morning to you. >> congress treats us like an atm. there are some people on capitol hill that cannot spend your money fast enough. i want you to meet one of them, senator daniel inouye. $12 million to monitor sea turtles. by million dollars -- $5 million for a supercomputer that will study things exclusive to hawaii. $24 million f