woolsey, ms. kaptur, mr. quigley, illinois, mr. spratt, south carolina. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009 and

director james woolsey testified in the senate a few years ago that over the last three decades, the saudis have spent between $70 billion and $100 billion to support conservative institutions that often have viewpoints hostile to the united states. the wealth disexpensed in this manner has -- the wealth dispensed in this manner has migrated into groups like al qaeda to build additional capacity. this has led former c.i.a. director wool stoi say of our -- to say of our current military conflicts -- quote -- "this is the first time since the civil war that we finance both sides of the conflict." now, venezuela is number two on the list. this is of course led by president hugo chavez, a vocal critic of our country, who has explicitly threatened to cut off u.s. oil supplies. he called an argentine newspaper that venezuela has "a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage, a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the united states." end of quote. now, the third nation on this list is nigeria. the nigerians had a series of disruptio

woolsey of california is recognized for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, mr. speaker. and i would like to thank congressman walter jones for his five minutes. that was the perfect lead-in to my remarks tonight. mr. speaker, last week, i stood in the house to mark two tragic milestones. i said july had become the deadliest month for our soldiers in afghanistan since the conflict began. and i reported that the number of american troops who have died in afghanistan and iraq had gone over the 5,000 mark. today, i rise to warn the house that a third tragic milestone is coming up. according to a report by the congressional research service, congress has approved $941 billion in war-related spending since 9/11. if congress approves the administration's request for the next fiscal year, funding for afghanistan and iraq will go over the $1 trillion mark. and that's just for direct military operations, mr. speaker. the $1 trillion figure doesn't include the indirect costs such as health care for our wounded veterans. many of our veterans will need care for the rest of their live

woolsey: i ask to speak out of order because i switched with congresswoman waters. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. woolsey: the administration is currently reviewing our military strategy in afghanistan. general mcchrystal, the leader of u.s. and nato forces, is expected to give his report to the president in just is a few weeks. but the president isn't the only one who should be reviewing our policy. every member of this house should be reviewing our policy too. because we are once again relying on the military option. just like we did in iraq. that's just not the best way to stop the violent ex-timists who -- extremists who threaten us. if you need proof of that remember that al qaeda has launched more attacks since 9/11 than before 9/11. our national intelligence estimates warned thause al qaeda is getting stronger, stronger not weaker. if you need more proof, madam speaker, that mill tafere force doesn't work, i -- that military force doesn't work, i urge you to read the rand corporation report entitled "how terrorist groups end." ran

woolsey tower all plays out pull the rest of the week. thank you so much running as peter cook with performance trust. the very good. still to come the impact the president's healthcare reform plan could have on businesses and why they're not exactly keen on the idea. but first....more and more people shutting off the power...what's behind the drop off in utilitiy customers. çÑçÑçÑçÑçÑçÑçÑ there's virtually no industry that has escaped this bad economy - now utility companies are feeling the heat..... as customers close their accounts... and cut back on usage. utility companies across the nation are reporting the largest drops in customer accounts in decades... com-ed which serves northern illinois - saw a decline of17- thousand accounts over the past 6 months.... that's just a fraction of 1% of total customers - but it is the largest drop on record since 1953. experts say the utility companies that are seeing the biggest drops are in areas that saw housing prices collapse the most. it could be foreclsoures.. people renting moved in wtih

woolsey: mr.peaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. ms. lee, california. ms. woolsey, california. ms. kaptur, ohio. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. poe of texas. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. the women of iran are inspiring people around the world. leading in the cause and fight for freedom. they have taken to the streets by the thousands because of the fraudulent government elections and repressive government subjugation. they are giving even men courage to protest. "the new york times" ran an eyewitness report recently saying, quote, for days now i have se

woolsey of california. ms. woolsey: after more than six years of foreign occupation, occupation that never should have happened in the first place, american combat troops have been withdrawn from iraqi cities. this has led some people to believe that the conflict is over. but our troops remain in danger so long as they continue to stay in iraq. and the suffering of the iraqi people, especially the refugees hasn't ended either. a report issued last month by the international rescue committee described the bleak lives of the iraqi refugees who have come to the united states to escape the violence in their home country. we admitted over 13,800 iraqi refugees in the year 2008. many of them had to come here because they worked for the united states military or the united states government in iraq . and they became targets of retaliation as a result. a large number of the refugees are war widows with young children. they are greesking over the loss of their young ones and they are suffering war-related stress or inju

woolsey. i'm pleased to yield to ms. woolsey. ms. woolsey: i thank the chairwoman and applaud her leadership on behalf of women's health. no one in congress has done more to prioritize the needs of women and children in our foreign assistance spending. as you well know, madam chairwoman, every minute somewhere in the world, a woman dies during pregnancy or child birth. in the poorest regions, one out of 22 women will die for these causes compared to one in 4,800 in the united states. mothers routinely face death or injury as a result of uncontrolled bleeding, seizures, hyper tensive disorders, birth obstruction. a pregnancy should be a joyful time in a woman's life, not a death threat. the good news is that practical interventions exist. we just need to leverage the necessary resources and sufficiently focus our assistance on maternal health. mrs. lowey: i thank the gentlewoman's time has expired for her kind words. healthier mothers will enjoy safer pregnancies and child births, enabling them to better care for their children, boles

woolsey, california. ms. woolsey: madam speaker, president obama has said that our nation's policy in afghanistan rests on a three-legged stool. the three legs are, one, security, which means more troops. two, economic development. and, three, helping the afghan government to do a better job of serving the needs of the afghan people. last week national security advisor james l. jones gave a frank assessment about the strategy. he made it clear that the most important leg of the strategy is economic development. this is what he said. and i quote him. this war will not be won by the military alone. we tried that for years. the peace of our strategy -- the piece of our strategy that has to work in the next year is economic development. if that is not done right, there are not enough troops in the world to succeed, end of his quote. madam speaker, i welcome jones' comments and agree with him, agree with him completely about the importance of economic development. the administration must commit more to the economi

lynn woolsey, the california democrat who heads the progressive caucus warned that they have no idea how many people are against this. on the senate side, finance committee chairman, max baucus, the montana democrat, led another day of negotiations without result. this optimistic "washington post" headline prompted an aide to say "while progress has been made in recent days, neither an accord nor announcement is imminent." still, the chairman touted positive atings for his late of latest draft by the congressional budget office. >> the current draft scores below $900 billion over ten years, covers 95% of all americans by 2015 and is fully offset. >> republicans badly outnumbered in both houses claimed a victory of sorts today, slowing down the pace of the democratic majority, and thereby ensuring both sides will spend the august recess making the case to constituents, and asked if this will help achieve final passage the democrats' chief nose counter, jim clyburn of south carolina replied "i don't know if it helps or not. " bret: james rosen live on the hill. president obama is haili

woolsey of california. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. sestak: i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. sestak: i rise today to honor a true visionary a world-class intellect and leader of the first order, dr. constantin poppados. his passing has left a void felt in all corners of our nation and his beloved greece. he served as the director of the university, and put him among the longest serving leaders in higher education today. drexel's enrollment grew under him and full-time undergraduate enrollment grew to more than 11,000 students. he led the way to create the drexel university college of medicine, the school of law, and the study online. he also found a partnership between drexel university and the university of pennsylvania, an initiative that will help untold numbers of men and women realize their full potential. the pennsylvania institute of technology's new program for veterans of the combat in iraq and afghanist

woolsey: mr. speaker, five americans soldiers have been killed in afghanistan so far this week. that brings the death toll in july to 31. making this the deadliest month for our troops since the conflict in afghanistan began. we also passed another tragic milestone this week. according to official department of defense statistics, over 5,000 american troops have now died in iraq and afghanistan combined. of course, the human tragedy is even greater than that, because the 5,000 figure doesn't include the number of wounded american troops or the casualties suffered by the troops of other nations. it also doesn't include iraqi civilian casualties or the military family members whose lives have been devastated. the human tragedy is so great, you can't really calculate it. you must add in afghanistan civilian casualties as well. what has been the reaction of this, in this congress to the catastrophe? well, we passed yet another supplemental funding bill to keep the fighting going. but the situation in afghanistan is becoming more and more dangerous. the u.s. command expects that road

. >> well, maybe on that note i will mention jim woolsey is a distinguished to the foundation on the defense of democracy and praising what happened on 9/11 he said most of all it was a failure of imagination. and that's why i think it is so important you were imagining the kind of attack, the kind of catastrophe tragedy and atrocity that could occur and the good news as a we have the technology to the we have the ability to defend ourselves and defend americans against all of it. the bad news is we are not doing it so far. and i think our view here is that an educated public will demand of its elected leaders that they have the courage and wisdom to defend them against this sort possibility that bilmes out there, to look it in the face and do what has to be done, and i think your book makes great contributions of thank you for that. >> thank you, sir. [applause] >> william forstchen is a faculty fellow and history professor at monterey college in north carolina. his books include gettysburg and pearl harbor, both co-authored with former house spin eckert new gingrich degette to find

his colleague from california, congresswoman lynn woolsey, who heads the progressive caucus, the real liberal members of the house, said they are not behind this either. shepard: as all that was going on in washington today, president obama was out trying to sell the rest of the country on the idea. the president highlighting what he claims are the protections that health care reform would offer all of us. he took his message to crowds at two different town hall meetings. the president insisting the plan is not just for folks who are currently uninsured. >> if you have got health insurance, then the reform we're proposing will also help you, because it will provide you more stability and more security, because the truth is we have a system today that works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn't always work well for you. shepard: the president outlining a number of specific protections which he claims the new system would offer. he says insurance companies would be banned from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions. that means they won't be able to refuse coverage bas

woolsey: i yield back. mr. ellison: we are joined by congresswoman edwards of maryland, who has been a courageous fighter for many issues but has not shrunk from the battle in this fight for real health care reform. i think congressman mcdermott has a quick thing to say. can he say it? mr. mcdermott: i appreciate you giving me a chance to say something. one thing i wanted to say, in seattle, they announced that on august 1, the premiums on insurance policies are going up 17%. now when people talk about fear and have the fear of the government and fear of the government option, this is a real fear. this 17% increase in seattle is going to hurt people badly. some people are not going to be able to afford continuing their insurance. and that's why it's so important that the progressive caucus, led by you and ms. woolsey are out here making sure that people understand that there is an option to these absolutely unacceptable increases in premiums. nothing else has gone up 17%. housing prices have dropped. gasoline p

woolsey. mr. jones from north carolina. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you. i ask unanimous consent that i might speak for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. jones: mr. speaker, this past sunday i read a column in the "raleigh news observer" entitled from "from vietnam 1959 to afghanistan 2009." the column was written by joseph gal way, a military journalist, and co-author of a book on vietnam called "we were soldiers once and young." mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to submit the full text of this column for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. jones: thank you, sir. mr. speaker, perhaps the column's most point is its description of a time in 1965 when secretary of defense robert macnamara presented president johnson with a top secret memo. it indicated that the united states had reached a decision point with two available options. the first option was to arrange diplomatic cover and pull out of south vietnam. the second option was to increase the number of american troops by 200,000, bringing

woolsey's time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. berkley: thank you, madam speaker. nevada has been a boom state for as long as i can remember. my family has been there for 46 years and with every passing year more and more people moved in and more and more people flourished in a very strong economy. but when the bust came it came with a vengeance and i'm afraid that the state of nevada, like many other states in this country, and many other countries in the world, are suffering as in the midst of an economic crisis. we have the highest morgue foreclosure rate in the country in my congressional district and i have one of the highest unemployment rates and what makes this so startling is perhaps a year ago there was virtually no unemployment in my district and in the state of nevada. there's been a lot of criticism about the stimulus package. the called the recovery act, more commonly known as the stimulus package. people say it's not big enoug

. >> on that note i'll mention jim woolsey is a distinguished advisor for the defense of democraciesand appraising what happened on 9/11 most of all it was a failure of imagination. that's why i think it is so important that you are imagining the kind of attack, the kind of catastrophe, tragedy, atrocity that could occur and the good news is we have the technology. we have the ability to defend ourselves and defend americans against all of it. the bad news is we're not doing it so far. and i think our view is that an educated public will demand of its elected leaders that they have the courage and wisdom to defend them against this sort of possibility that looms out there. to look at it in the face and do what happens to be done. and i think your book makes a great contribution to that effort. so thank you very much for that. >> thank you, sir. [applause] >> william forstechen is a faculty fellow and history professor in north carolina. his many books include gettysburg and pearl harbor both co-authored with former house speaker newt gingrich. to find out more from the author and his

woolsey, for colloquy. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. woolsey: i thank the chairman for all of your hard work on this bill. as the chairman knows, there's a project in my district named the sonoma-marin area rail transit project. we call it smart. smart will be a 70-mile passenger rail system that connects 14 stations and runs right through the heart of my district. this project is vital because it eases congestion on the major transportation artery, highway 101, by providing an alternative mode of transportation. this is a very popular project and actually, last november, voters in my district passed a quarter cent sales tax measure by over 2/3 majority to raise money for smart. it has the support of the community when a super majority votes on a tax measure like that not only is smart a train, but the project also includes 70 miles of bike and pedestrian paths to run alongside the track which revolutionizes transportation in my district. unfortunately, while smart received nearly $2 million in last year's transportation h.u.d. bill, th

woolsey's time assigned to me. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. polis: thank you. last week, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country picked up their phones and called janet napolitano to ask her to delay the deportation of a young man, walter lara. he moved to the united states from argentina when he was three 3 years old and never left he dedicated thousands of hours to serving his community, tutoring children in mathematics and computers he stood out in high school as an honors student and graduated from miami-dade honors in 2007. instead of following his dream, walter's graduation gift was an imminent deportation order. he was scheduled to be deported over the fourth of july weekend. thanks to a week of intense activism of congressional efforts and grass roots bloggers and people who sent letters and made calls on his behalf, the department of homeland security moved to defer his deportation back an year year until july 3 of 2010. while i was thrilled to here he would be able to stay in the united states this action alone is far

woolsey of california for five minutes. mr. davis of illinois for five minutes. ms. kaptur of ohio for five minutes. and mr. grayson of florida for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. members poe of texas, diaz-balart -- for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida rise? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: so granted. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. yesterday the hosts of the "today show" profiled key west, the city in my congressional district. it is a city of natural beauty, coupled with a history that is quite unique. and while viewers were able to see the tv host ride rickshaws and tour many sites such as earnest hemingway's home and i'm glad they featured my good friend from key west, there is another side of key west off of duval street that warrants attention. while key west is a great place to

woolsey from california is recognized for five minutes. without objection. ms. kaptur: mr. speaker, our whole economy has been in trouble for a long ty. we can no longer look at foreclosure rates but ignore our trade deficit or discuss high gas prices without mentioning the billions spent on wall street. and the growing u.s. debt that results from an economy not in charge of itself. mr. speaker, the health of our economy is not just one number. like wall street profits. it's not just our budget deficit. there are so many more aspects to our economy that weigh heavily on how prosperous america could be. those aspects include having grown more depend inter-- dependent year after year on foreign products. this first chart shows since the 1970's how deeply into debt we have fallen in terms of more imports coming into our country than exports. year after year. for so much of what drives this economy, 3/4 of a trillion dollars more imports in here than are exports now. more foreign imports into the united states means less u.s. jobs. more of our exsports out mean more jobs here.

woolsey, mr. massa, mr. klein, ms. kaptur, and mr. defazio. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair lays before the house the following personal request. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. young of florida for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. pursuant to 10 u.s. code 935-a amended by public law 1 08-375, and the orders of the house on january 6, 2009, the chair announces the speaker's appointment of the following members of the house to the board of visitors to the united states air force academy. the clerk: mr. polis of colorado, miss loretta sanchez of california, and mr. lamborn of colorado. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are are recognized for five minutes each. mr. poe of texas. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. under the united states constitution, article 1, section 2 it states that every 10 years there will be a c

woolsey of california. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. wexler: i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. wexler: thank you. i rise in strong support of the house democratic health care reform proposal. the united states currently spends, per capita, almost double the money on health care than any other industrialized nation on earth. despite all of this spending, 45 million americans languish without health care coverage. every day, 850 floridians and 14,000 americans are added to the ranks of the uninsured. since 2007 the number of floridians without coverage has grown by 15%. those who do have coverage face skyrocketing premiums, co-pays, and fees. in recent years, the average premium paid for a family in florida has spiked by $1,400. if we continue down this path, by 2017, health care spending will consume 20% of our nation's gross domestic product. the staggering cost of health care in america is simply unsustainable. businesses cannot c

woolsey. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? mr.lumenauer: i seek unanimous consent to speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. blumenauer: just a moment ago, i heard the minority whip profess interest in working with the democrats to reform the health care system. yet i'm sad to say that the minority whip, the minority leader, have been part of an effort to deal with fear and misrepresentation, attack -- attacking bipartisan legislation that would have den precisely that, reform the health care system. sadly, mr. speaker, there are some here who simply are not expressing the sense of urgentcy that most of us feel from the american people, a sense of urgentcy about fixes a broken health care system that costs too much, produces wildly uneven results, and leaves too many outside the system of coverage and others with health insurance at risk. we cannot continue along this path. americans are not getting the help they need, even if they have insurance coverage. i was -- i must say, i was disappoi

woolsey. ms. kaptur: the final crisis has resulted in the largest transfer of wealth in u.s. history, from main street citizens to wall street. wall street tightens, and insiders made huge profits off the ponzi scheme they set up that left to the economic boost. as the rest of america tries to dig itself out from the rubble left in their wake "the new york times" reports today the nine biggest banks paid $32 billion in bonuses to their employees of the $165 billion they got from us, the taxpayers. 4,793 bankers and traders got a minimum of an additional $1 million each. the average dealer at goldman sachs will earn twourds of $1 million extra -- three quarters of $1 million extra. they're dragging their feet on the mortgage workouts. bear in mind, some people in this congress and the obama administration decided to pay servicers to do mortgage workouts because they weren't doing it themselves. so rather than holding them accountable and this congress holding them accountable the administration is paying them and they're still not doing it. look at the rogue's gallery. bank of

woolsey. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> consent to speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. recognized for five minutes. . mr. delahunt: i rise today so that my colleagues in the house of representatives can join me in recognizing a special piece of americaa, the cape cod baseball league of cape cod, massachusetts on the occasion of its 125th anniversary. widely renowned as the best summer league college ate league in the nation, the cape cod baseball league today consists of 10 franchises in two, five-team divisions. in its early years during world war i and world war ii, the league was largely populated by young g.i.'s fresh from their service overseas. the modern era of the cape cod baseball league commenced in 1963 when it was officially sanctioned by the ncaa. throughout its existence, the league has been responsible for several cy young and most valuable player awards. and many hall of famers and renowned scouts and managers, all of whom received their start in the cape cod baseba

woolsey: 46 million americans are uninsured. by the end of the day 14,000 more americans will lose their coverage. over the past weak -- decade health care cost vs. risen four times than workers' earnings. we cannot wait. we must act now with reform that guarantees that everyone has access to high quality care regardless of income, employment, or pre-existing conditions. we also must bring down the cost of care to make health insurance affordable for everyone. that's why we must pass a bill with a robust public plan a. plan without a trigger. a robust public plan will increase competition. it will bring down costs. the public plan must be be tied to the current medicare provider network infrastructure and rates so that it will be able to start immediately. this connection will also increase the savings provided by a public plan. we must pass a health bill with a robust public plan and we must pass it now. the american people cannot go any longer without high quality, affordable coverage. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose

woolsey of california, mr. delahunt of massachusetts, mr. sarbanes of maryland, ms. kaptur of ohio, mr. quigley of illinois and mrs. maloney of new york. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and and you previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. poe from texas. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. the people of iran are embrawled in a noble struggle against tyranny. the government of iran is engaging in the massacre of its own people. and what is their crime? they dare to speak out against fraud and corruption in their own government. they question the results of an election steeped in fraud. their peaceful dissent has resulted in violent and brutal attacks from the hard line government, a government that has declared war on its own people. a government that has shed the blood of the innocent. the people of iran have boldly and bravely exercised the first basic human right, the right of free speech. the crackdown