at the names for zero two thirds of those voting haven't responded in the affirmative the rules are suspended the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table leader or his designee its standard yearned until two p m on tuesday april twenty fifth two thousand and six or until the time of any reassembly pursuant to section two of this concurrent resolution which ever occur first and that when the senate recesses or adjourns on any day from thursday april sixth two thousand and six through sunday april ninth two thousand and six on a motion offered pursuant to this concurrent resolution already leader or his designee it stand recessed or adjourned until noon on monday april twenty fourth two thousand and six or so other time on that day as may be specified by its majority leader or his designee in the motion to recess or adjourn or until the time of the new reassembly pursuant to section two of this concurrent resolution whichever occurs first section two the speaker of the house and the majority leader of the senate or their respective designees acting jointly after consultation with the minority leader of the house in the minority leader of the senate notifying the members of the house and the senate  place and time as they may designate if in their opinion the public interest shall warrant it is their objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution without objection the current resolution is a the business in order under the calendar wednesday will be dispensed with on wednesday april twenty sixth two thousand and six without objection so ordered were first gentleman from virginia  it shall be in order at any time to consider in the house seven sixty four that the resolution should be considered as read and that the previous question and its preamble should be considered as order on the resolution to its adoption without intervening motion except ten minutes of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the committee governor for without objection the speaker for what purpose is gentleman from virginia rest i rise in support of h read seven sixty four offered by the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania mr weldon this resolution would recognize the importance of firefighters to communities all over the united states each year in this gentleman call it the resolution that is brought up the resolution the clerk will report the title of the resolution house resolution seven sixty four resolution recognizing and honoring firefighters for their many contributions for out the history of the nation pursuant to the order of the house of today the gentleman from virginia mr tom davis and the gentleman from maryland mr hoyer leach control five minutes the chair recognizes a gentleman from virginia this figure i rise in support of a friend seven sixty four each year in this country for our firefighters respond to more than twenty four million calls these brave men provide and women provide all kinds of lifesaving services such as emergency medical care life safety education in fire prevention education many of these firefighters are volunteers and risk their lives every day for this reason it's important we adopt this resolution in honor of the bravery and perseverance of these individuals that they show on a daily basis i congratulate the gentleman from pennsylvania on bringing forth a thread seven sixty four and i reserve the balance of my time of this legislation and my good friend and partner a distinguished minority whip mr hoyer for their leadership in bringing forth a resolution to pay proper tribute to the one point one million men and women across the country and thirty two thousand departments protect our communities the fire service of america is older than america as a country the fire service is in every community both large and small they are the backbone of our country the heart and soul of the nation for the people that make this country great tonight twenty five hundred of these brave leaders are assembled at the washington hilton and they're looking forward to this recognition which we will take to them as mr hoyer and i travel to the washington hilton and pay our respects in addition this resolution goes one step further and recognizing a recent federal court decision that junior firefighters are in fact firefighters this resolution is affirming the court decision that a junior firefighter is in fact recognize when the states in this country allow junior firefighters to be so designated this is an important piece of legislation in honor of one of my constituents christopher kangas i'm happy to have this bill come up so that all of us can provide true support for all of those men and women including those younger junior firefighters who aspire to take over the protection of our towns and cities across america i think my colleagues for their support and i yield back any remaining time gentleman yield back to the gentleman from maryland i thank you mr speaker i want to thank my good friend mr davis the chairman of the committee for bringing this resolution to the floor in such a timely fashion i certainly want to thank my good friend curt weldon the co chair  in support of our nation's firefighters on this day that twenty one hundred of them from around the country are gathered in washington for the annual national fire and emergency services dinner as mr weldon said we will be bringing them this resolution in just a few minutes as we go down to the hilton to address them i'm proud to have co sponsored this resolution and i want to say that the fire caucus as long champion initiatives to improve the safety and well being of our nation's firefighters honor and enthusiastic lee stand before you with a hoyer and to join with the two outstanding co chairs of the fire caucus to acknowledge our brothers and sisters who are now being hosted at the hilton hotel to say thank you thank you to the one million firefighters who every single day an emergency operator stand up and fight for the american people and protect the american people coming from a city of firefighters in a district  firefighters in a district that has a number of devastating fires because we are elderly and we have all housing never have we had a situation where firefighter has been willing to put their life on the line so let me simply thank you for this resolution seven sixty four thank you again for acknowledging that we will never forget and not on our clock but we forget to say thank you to america's firefighters and graduations thank you for your leadership and i hope to see you down expired pursuant to the order of the house of today the resolution is considered read and the previous question is ordered on a resolution and on the preamble the question is on adoption of the resolution all those in favor say aye and those oppose the speaker's room's washington d c april sixth two thousand and six i hereby appoint the honorable frank r wolf to act as speaker pro temporary to sign and roll bills in joint resolutions through april twenty fifth two thousand  assassinated speaker of the house of representatives without objection the appointment is approved i'm sorry generally will suspend the gentleman from michigan excuse me thank you mr speaker i wish to announce to all members of the house that the permanent select committee on intelligence has ordered the bill h r fifty twenty the intelligence authorization act for fiscal year two thousand and seven reported favorably to the house with an amendment to the committee's report will be filed today mr speaker the classified schedule of authorizations and the classified an exit company in the bill will be available for review by members at the offices of the permanent select committee on intelligence and room for all five of the capital beginning anytime after the report is filed the committee office will open during regular business hours for the convenience of any member who wishes to review this material prior to its consideration by the house i anticipate that h r fifty twenty will be considered on the floor of the house after the recess as early as the week of april twenty four i recommend that members wishing to refute the review of the classified annex contact the committee's director of security to arrange a time and date for that viewing this will assure the availability of committee staff to assist members who desire assistance during their review of these classified materials i urge interested members to review these materials in order to better understand the committee's recommendations the classified annex of the committee's report contains the committee's recommendations on the intelligence budget for fiscal year two thousand and seven and related classified information that cannot be publicly disclosed it is important members keep in mind the requirements of clause thirteen of house rule twenty three which only permits access to classified information by those members of the house who have signed the all provided for in the rule members are advised that it will be necessary to bring a copy of the rule twenty three ault signed by them when they come to the committee offices to review the material or if a member has not yet signed that all that was just to review the classified annex and schedule of authorization the committee staff it that the executed form assent to the clerk's office in addition the committee's rules require that members agree and writing to a non disclosure agreement the agreement and the case at the member has been granted access to the classified an and that they are familiar with the rules of the house and the committee with respect to the classified nature of that information and the limitations on the disclosure of that information thank you mr speaker thank you general entertain one minute speeches a gen carolina ms fox recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker our national security depends on strong border security we need to know who's coming into our country where they're from and what they are doing here without properly securing our borders are vulnerable to terrorists and others who may come here seeking to harm americans and nothing is more important to maintain the safety and security of our citizens i'm proud of the house republicans for taking the lead in finding solutions to this very serious problem last year my republican colleagues and i passed the border protection and the terrorism and illegal immigration control act republicans also passed a realized d act which would establish rigorous proof of identity requirements for driver's licenses and id cards in order to help keep terrorists from having easy access to project days like they have on nine eleven now the democrats apparently have a newfound commitment to increasing our border security that's great but the american people sure could have used their support when the house was taking speaker last week the delphi corporation a key auto parts supplier which employs thirty three thousand workers the united states and has been bankrupt for several months filed motions in the bankruptcy court to cancel its labor contracts imposed massive wage and benefits and job cuts to  workers and cut twenty one of its twenty nine u s plans and yet the house of representatives has failed to hold a single hearing on this crisis unable to engage this crisis in the fischel hearings i was joined by over a dozen democratic colleagues holding any hearing this past december to ask the workers the retires at delphi and general motors to testify on the internet about how this crisis impact them and their families we swung open the virtual doors of congress to make sure their voices could be heard over seven hundred witnesses poured in the workers testimony was deeply personal heartfelt and i want to share it with the house from mr raina miller delphi worker from tanner alabama from william j conrad from delaware and danny carter forty nine year old delphi employee who has been working in anaheim california plant since he was twenty one years old and for roger smith a retail retired delphi worker now living in hernando florida norma fuchs who retired g m employees from mitchell indiana and roger  thank you very much as the speaker today the attorney general appeared in the hearing of the judiciary committee for an oversight hearing and we raise the question again about the protection of those displaced voters in new orleans who have now the responsibility of casting their vote for a local election narrowly missed make it we'd ask involvement of the federal government but the voting rights act section two in particular guaranteed protect certain states and persons of the right to vote fall therefore we cannot understand why the justice department pre cleared a system that will not work to day i've introduced what forty two called sponsored legislation to express the sense of congress that the state of louisiana and the department of justice must create outside satellite voting for the more than hundreds of thousands of displaced disheartened louisianans who have no way of going back to their home this time to be able to cast their vote for their city they are in essence trying to come home but with the little resources they have today they cannot head home to cast a vote i hope the attorney general and the state of louisiana understand the voting rights act and create outside satellite voting so that we can have a constitutional right to vote i yield back wednesday april fifth without objection their requests are gran is speaker 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 for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks and include their in extraneous special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house revise and extend the remarks included in there and extraneous material mr shimkus today for five minutes mr bishop today for five minutes mr  under the speaker's announced policy of january fourth two thousand and five and under previous order of the house the following members are recognized for five minutes each his recognized for five minutes mr speaker last month the house surprised us all by unanimously agreeing to an amendment to the iraq supplemental spending bill declaring that the united states has no intentions of maintaining a permanent military presence in iraq who know this republican controlled congress would make such a positive statement the lead authors of the amendment were my colleagues  the progressive caucus co chair representative barbara lee from california and representative tom allen from maine both of whom have been instrumental in demanding that the united states not maintain any permanent military bases in iraq unfortunately however some people working inside the bush administration are doing their very best to make sure that the last efforts they want and that last month efforts will be for not one of the senior spokespersons of the u s led all ition headquarters actually in iraq had this to say about our lasting presence there and i  the current plan is to reduce the coalition footprint into six coalition bases for which are operated by the united states so there you have it the administration isn't even hiding the fact that we're planning on maintaining for permanent bases on iraqi soil something they are craddick lee call the coalition footprint this appallingly casual reference to what the rest of us call an occupation is deeply insulting anyone who has heard the president tell the american people that will leave as soon as iraq is secure and we won't say a single day longer should be equally offended because the evidence on the ground suggests that this statement is deeply misleading mr speaker last fall i traveled to iraq as a part of an official congressional congressional delegation i visited the green zone and the ball ballade military base and i have the privilege of meeting with our soldiers serving overseas there were two powerful lessons that i took away from my visit first i saw that the troops stationed in iraq are the very best america has to offer their brave their intelligence they are loyal loyal to their country to their mission and to each other they are profoundly committed to this mission even those who told me privately that they do not support the policy that underlies that the second lesson i learned in iraq is that the perception among the military generals on the ground is that we will be there for a very long time the military bases that we're building are like little cities they have their own restaurants supermarkets and even their own gyms theaters and bus routes the troops is served no less during their stay in iraq but our stay there must be for the short term our troops need to come home to their communities and these bases must be given over to the iraqis the u s has already spent two hundred  eighty million dollars to construct the four biggest bases in iraq and the supplemental spending bill that the house passed in march provides nearly two hundred billion dollars million dollars more to enlarge these bas this is the real iraq policy not those phony platitudes and nicely worded soundbites about standing down when the iraqis stand up platitudes that president bush and donald rumsfeld want the people to believe in fact it's becoming increasingly clear that the bush administration's intention all along was to secure a lasting foothold in the middle east forget all that stuff about that you heard about going to war because iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction which we all know wasn't true forget about saddam hussein's suppose the ties to al qaeda we know that wasn't true either and forget about freeing the iraqi people from the thumb of a brutal dictator my guess is that right now most iraqis feel brutalized after more than three years of a per pre preemptive war that now the president charges was about democra the real rationale for going to war in iraq is much more sinister and much more dangerous to our long term foreign policy it was because it has become clear that the us needs to end the war in iraq and bring our troops home our soldiers need this their families and loved ones back home need this course the iraqi people need but in order to truly end the occupation we need to leave no lasting american presence to the rank of colonel while serving in the u s army during world wars one and two and was appointed chief of the intelligence branch in the army's european theater of operations under general dwight eisenhower mr holland stein was later selected to serve as a consultant on the president's advisory commission during the eisenhower administration he served as a member of the team that supervise the first free elections in russia and served as an auditor for the second vatican council in rome at ninety three years old he continues his career of public service and has significantly impacted west michigan through his charitable donations and tireless involvement in his community his generosity made possible the founding of the grand valley state university's center for presidential studies the center encourages students to emulate his career by aspiring to achieve leadership positions and committing to public service it fostered discussion by students government officials and the public about the role of the us presidency and domestic and world affairs mr speaker please let it be known that on the sixth day of april in two thousand and six that the u s house of representatives acknowledges the vision contributions and achievements of mr hollande stein as he continues to serve his country and community mr speaker i also rice a day to honor the members of the whole college women's basketball team winning the two thousand and six n c double a division three national championship on march eighteenth defeated southern maine university sixty nine to fifty six in the national championship game held in springfield massachusetts more than five hundred hope college students alumni faculty and fans were present at the final four tournament with the when hope became michigan's double a division three woman's basketball record of thirty three and won after defeating the top four teams in the nation senior guard brienne evils of holland michigan was voted the most outstanding player at the tournament and a division three all american coach brian morehouse was chosen as the n c double a division three national culture of the year by the women's basketball coaches association of america mr speaker please let it be known that on the sixth day of april in two thousand and six that the u s house of representatives acknowledges the treatment of the two thousand and six college woman's basketball team and wishes its members the best of luck in the future mr speaker i rise today to also honor colonel jealous of missouri arc as he approaches his july first two thousand and six retirement from the united states army reserve mr reserve joined the western michigan university r o t c program in the fall of one thousand nine hundred eighty two he graduated from the our o t c advance camp in r and the army paratrooper school in states mr missouri continued to be promoted in one thousand nine hundred two ichi the rank of full colonel he's been called up for active duty three times since the start of operation iraqi freedom as deputy and agile acting as adjutant general for the fort for fort hood texas colonel missouri has had a long and successful career serving united states army reserve reserves that april one thousand nine hundred seventy has served the admissions department of the u s military academy at west point and has assisted numerous michigan young people in gaining appointments to west point he's also served as the advisory committee for the second congressional district for young people to be appointed to the various military academies mr speaker please let it be known on the seventh day of april in two thousand and six that the u s house of representatives acknowledges the thirty years of service colonel missouri and wishes him well upon his retirement thank you mr speaker gentleman yield back back  the gentleman from new jersey mr billow with purpose gentleman from washington ross without objection gentleman's recognized for five minutes mr speaker the republican majority in the house of representatives has quietly ushered in a new form of government in america called repast prosy for those who believe that democracy is a government of the people by the people and for the people repack or see is absolutely the opposite of that repugnancy is a government where open debate is replaced by lockstep discipline and where the rewards of the few become the burden carried on the backs of the many  american values and deals only in hard cash you only have to watch c span to know what the real threat for a proxy pulls is for the last six years the democrat the republican party has been a disciplined monotone political machine republicans live by one rule whatever the president wants the president gets war in iraq rubber stamp approval tax holidays for america's rich rubberstamp approval slashing student loans rubber stamp approval cutting programs for america's vulnerable children and disadvantaged families rubber stamp approval legislation written by financial institutions and by big drug companies rubber stamp approval it was all so neat and tidy republican members of the house voted that way they were told and leaders would not end voting in the house until their pre determined outcome was achieved but that was last year what's changed the american people noticed the american people put a lot of faith and trust in their leaders for better or for worse most americans take the big picture approach trust elected officials until they be tray that trust believe that afflicted officials will put america's interests ahead of political interests have faith that your leaders will change course when something is truly not working in other words trust but verify it's precisely because the american people focus on the big picture that republicans are doing everything possible to replace the image the american people see with the test pattern on television the president's ratings are below sea level republicans are counting the number of seats in the lifeboats it's simple arithmetic and the addition as republicans subtracting mathematics requires proof and there is plenty the president us to the future president any decision about iraq his plan takes form stay in iraq until it's somebody else's problem invite the embattled president of italy to address a joint session of the us congress speaking in a talian to use congress as a political campaign for a backdrop and italian election change the war in iraq war on credit and mask its real impact on the deficit by leaving it outside the annual budget the clearest sign of all is the recent change in the house representatives to the two minute boat called government by stopwatch a mere one hundred twenty seconds to decide the fate of legislation affecting the lives of every american to repack or see legislation comes to the floor of the house the when its passage is guaranteed that's why we're going home today cause they can't get the budget it's not guaranteed the two minute drill forces blind allegiance and stiff arms democracy but that is the intent nath is mad republicans are losing their stranglehold on power what's a party to do while republicans including the best defense is a missing office so republicans have subdue substituted the business of the state for the business of re election suddenly the house leaders field urgent need for recess after recess after recess we've never had a week off for st patrick's day it must be faith based the republican mandated congressional schedule has nothing to do with the people's business and everything to do with the republicans re election business the thinking goes like this if members are not washington d c the national press corps is taken out of the equation they can't trail four hundred thirty five house members so news coverage goes dark with congress out of session americans cannot watch c span to see for themselves what is happening or not on the floor of the house the curtain closes on the big picture picture mission accomplished the word congress comes from the latin congress all which means come together the idea was for an orderly and reasoned debate take out the stopwatch and the two minute vote then decide if you think america is governed by a functioning congress today the packers see is not merely a dereliction of duty it is an outright threat to democracy that's the big picture the one republicans don't want the american people to see but there's more than one channel and the american people are watching they would like to know why this is the do nothing congress that will be in session less then the do nothing congress of hundred forty eight this will be the congress this spent the least time discussing our problems on the floor we're at war all over the place we are in debt worse than we've ever been in history we have no health care for forty six million people but where's the congress they've left they've gone home because they've got a campaign if they were here the a people could see they were doing accuracy says we only do it when we rubber stamp it for the president otherwise we're getting out of here and now it's getting tough because people don't want to rubber stamp what the president wonders there's an election coming mr dreier from california mr speaker what purpose does the gentleman from new torres i ask unanimous consent to claim the unused time without objection gentleman's recognized for five minutes thank you mr speaker several weeks ago several of us on the floor talked about the value of the federal government not trying to be more more efficient but simply trying to be less and returning some misappropriated authority back to the states to paraphrase and poorly paraphrase justice brandeis in the minority decision he gave in the one nine hundred twenty s the states are indeed the laboratory of democracy if you think about it if a state try something created that doesn't work we are not all harmed when we on the other hand try something that does not work the entire nation is harmed for the federal government the only advantage the federal government has is that of uniformity by definition what we do is one size fits all states on the other hand have a greater opportunity of being creative being fair or being just simply because they have a greater opportunity of meeting individual needs federal government does not mean to do harm we just do let me give you an example i want to introduce you to a constituent of mine and over to a gentleman we'll call him gene he owns a farm that had been in his family for several generations course on this farm ran a small crick the script went to a larger crick which  eventually went into the great salt lake even though this dead and lake all within the state of utah has been declared by the federal government to be international waterway because in the eight hundred and entrepreneurial pioneer it was paid for ferrying sheep across a lake for summer grazing go figure but back to jean jean had eight acres of this land that was on the main road to it was elevated since they were now planning hay on this land they have to and you to irrigate so he built a man made  his property to to flood up the lower areas so it finally hit the higher over areas and water his crop until the federal government declared that the man made it was indeed the  man made standing water was now federal wetlands and it jean did not like it it was his responsibility to prove the federal government wrong which he actually did the soil and water conservation district came in and shut the diet was different he dug wells which showed that there was a clay base on ne so even if the water was there the ark would never sink into the oxford that get to the river he would put a flexible pipe into the ditch and put the creek water back into the crick and oddly enough the land went dry to which the federal government then threatened him with fines and imprisonment because he was harming federal wetlands and then when confronted with the evidence they simply said well we are in a drought cycle you're going to have to wait wait at least five years until we have a wet cycle to see if the water will naturally appear by itself he tried to sell this land at one time a factory wish to buy it which would build which would make apparel and create one hundred jobs in this community but he couldn't do it because now this was a federal wetland it wasn't taking mind you because the federal government still allowed him to raise h even though the price he made from the hay barely paid the taxes on this land that was now zoned as commercial property on the main road gene what most people when they run up against the bureaucracy of the federal government did he surrendered eventually sold his property four hundred thousand dollars however the exact same kind of land next door on the same road was sold for seven hundred fifty thousand dollars for the same acreage which means three hundred fifty thousand dollars which should have been his retirement it should have been his prop posterity it should have been his property from his the well from his own property was denied him simply bissau because we as a government usually do one size fits all it's an interesting question of why we harm our own people why we sometimes insist they have to prove their own innocence and why we fail our own simply because the federal government is too large too inflexible to be creative to be just and to be fair one last comment about james his family raised on this property sugar beets i'm not a farmer but it doesn't take a rocket scientist either to understand you can't raise a root crop in a wetlands some day i wish the federal government would learn that current and retired delphi workers in my district and around our nation who are suffering from the financial woes of the largest automotive parts manufacture in the country unfortunately these delphi workers are but the latest victims in a series of tragedies for the american worker what we're currently witnessing in the bankruptcy and subsequent reorganization of delphi is the fallout from regrettable trade agreements like nafta and casta and the accompanying influence of some elected officials who are for globalized big business at the expense of the american people big business they all time low wages no benefits and no worker safety jobs lost is also due to major auto firms leadership and executive boards who failed to make fuel efficient vehicles that americans and the world want to buy so our workers suffer delphi's most recent hosel is to lower wages from twenty seven dollars an hour to twenty two dollars an hour through two thousand and seven and then to sixteen dollars and fifty cents thereafter this would be a forty percent cut in middle class wages on friday delphi filed a motion in bankruptcy court asking a judge to void its labor contracts but how can you ask american workers to compete with a country like japan which keeps its markets closed the second largest market in the world how can you ask our workers to compete with poverty level wages in mexico and china and how can you ask our workers to compete when big firms outsource everything to avoid paying workers what they just flee deserve late last year congressman george miller ranking member of the education and workforce committee took the initiative to hold hearings on this subject i to make sure this evening that many of the workers weiss's from my district are heard like mary pat bischof of marblehead who said my husband is forty nine and has thirty two years in exile fi thirty two years he got sick has been off since october with only five years left on our first mortgage in eight years on the second we had to refinance and take them up to thirty years just to survive this will force us to pay seven hundred thirty three dollars and eleven cents a month instead of the hundred  fifty two dollars and eleven cents a month we were paying we are faced with the decision as so many others are should he retire and risk losing his pension or if he stays and they cut pay that mean sick pay will also go down and we will lose our home what kind of a choice is that david saylor report clinton said i retired from the g m assembly plant lordstown ohio in december of one nine hundred eighty seven with the promise i would have complete health care coverage for life well i will now have to pay twenty one dollars monthly and that will greatly impact me since i took an early retirement and do not have the full thirty year retirement benefit raymond's dollar vermillion ohio said they are shutting down the plant i work at and are moving it now i am out of a good paying job and at my age it's going to be hard to even get another job let alone one that pays so well america comes first not overseas andrew briscoe or another ohio instead i worked very hard for twenty years at the delphi packard electric to get to a point where i can make a comfortable living for myself and my son i can now delphi packard electric want to cut my pay and benefits to a level that a young man or woman might make just coming out of high school mr speaker workers who dedicate years of service to a company should be able to count on a decent retirement and measure of economic security this congress must step up with meaningful pension reform to help secure pensions and encourage companies to continue providing them the pension benefit guaranty corporation should have been reinforced with funds long ago with its twenty three billion dollars deficit and we ought to be renegotiating trade agreements like nafta and capture that continue to cash out good american jobs opponents said these jobs would go south and they surely have with g m now being mexico's largest employer and it's no surprise that companies like delphi g m s biggest supplier are following them i've spoken with delphi management and our delegation is doing everything possible to keep these delphi jobs in america but we need a majority of members here dedicated to that purpose i've invited here steve miller  chair for the house of communication the honorable the speaker also representative sir and closed door copies of resolutions adopted on april first two thousand and six by the committee on transportation and infrastructure copies of the resolutions are being transmitted to the department of the army science and serially done young chairman committee on transportation and infrastructure referred to the committee on appropriations in order printed in the record and i commend my colleague from utah who just spoke previously a fellow member of the congressional a constitution caucus who indicated that we come to this floor on a regular basis to address what the founding fathers intended with the american public to and the other members of this body their intention for the framework of the constitution and the framework of the government of the various levels now james madison stated in federalist papers number forty five that the role of the federal government is limited and defined whereas that of the states and the people their powers are broad and numerous through mine this body the caucuses function primarily is to focus upon the tenth amendment to the constitution which in essence says that all powers not specifically delegated to the federal government are retained or retained by the states and the people suspect of lee when you read that and you think about that  it is really pretty simple what the founders were trying to do there and when the constitution was ratified and seven hundred eighty seven they probably thought it was pretty simple to they thought that they probably had in place a plan that would be existing for future generations would understand that the role of the federal government would be limited that the sovereignty of the states and of the people would be respected they probably thought to themselves that there's probably no way that they could have written it even more clearly than they did the future congresses should follow suit should be ones to limit what the federal government does and to retain to the people in the states what their responsibilities are unfortunately if you simply look out any of the windows this building on this growing city that we have before us in washington d c you see a representative of what is a growing federal government in all facets of our life i'm sure that our founding fathers would be disappointed in the largess of the government the excessive spending the number of line items that is now in the budget matter fact budget is something that we were just debating and discussing on the floor of this house earlier today for a number of hours i serve on the budget committee and have the opportunity to discuss it there as well what would our founding fathers think if they were to see our spending at levels today would they ask the question as i think we all should be asking is inconsistent the size and scope that the government has grown to today is it inconsistent in the nature of the spending that the government has grown to today if the founding fathers were with us with us today i think they would give us a sounding no to what we're doing they would say that it is inconsistent that we have grown too large but we are all leaving here now and going back to our districts many members will be going back and using this time to get involved with the media you know we are actually in a twenty four seven media cycle in this country now with the advent of all the communications that we have whether it's in press and press releases or whether it's going on the radio or t v or e mail many members use this as an opportunity simply to go back to the district and to brag all the money that the federal government spending all the new areas that they are going as far as their responsibilities just as the one that the gentleman from utah was just talking about as far as that delineation of wetlands and how it impacts upon the people back at home maybe this is exactly what our founding fathers feared that we have grown so far apart from where the money comes from and where it is spent their goal was that the money should be spent closest to the people that the that way the people would have the greatest voice and how it was going to be spent unfortunately we have just the opposite today the inverse is true instead let's get a couple example that comes to mind think about your local board of education in this schooling you know parents know who their teachers are parents know who the principals are parents know who the board of education is in their town that run their schools but the parents know who the bureaucrats are down here in washington d c that now control education dollars and go back to the schools people back at home know about the potholes in their front streets people back home knows the name of their local mayor who may be responsible for making sure that street is paved but the people know who the bureaucrats are here in the u s department of transportation who are responsible for the transportation dollars that may or may not get back to their town to fix or potro puddles but may instead go to some place in the infamous bridge too far maybe this is exactly what our founding fathers were thinking of when they were looking at a i'm in so far away across a broad ocean in england and realizing that that england english government was no longer connected to our government here and so that is why they put the limits on it that they did we could go down with other examples with the growing deficit that we have today with the sub par service that we have in such agencies as fema and out ad infinitum as far as this goes as far as the overgrowth in the problems that they have i just simply ask that our members do this and i think the american public should be asking that their members do as well is what we do the best for the schools which would require this body to begin setting priorities that is something the federal government and in congress in particular don't do a very good job that in fact we're really lousy at it but it seems to me that if we are able to set priorities a new spending that we should be able to see we ought to be able to practice setting new priorities on new spending what house resolution six ninety would do would require the house that anytime we create a new program of any size of our scope that we would have to as a part of that enacting legislation eliminate an existing program of same size or spending we have tough choices to make but we can't we just don't make those choices very well if you can look at the  fifty year study of what they think this federal government looked like in the year two thousand and fifty i have a grandson that will be about fifty three years old that point the government that he will inherit left unchecked left on changed will be one that  fifty percent of the gross domestic product of this country and is never been a free market free enterprise system anywhere where the central government could take half and the rest of us prosper on the other half prosper by having growth of the standard of living opportunities and other kinds of things so i believe that the growth in this spent federal government is the single biggest threat that we face as a country to our particular way of life that's how strange a country at war but the taliban in the val keda in the thugs that the threat in this country can get a few of us but they cannot fundamentally change the way we live they can hurt some of us in the h r i we work very hard not to let that happen but this this growth of this federal government i believe can in fact have a fundamental impact negative impact on the way our children and grandchildren will live i said have a grandfather got six wonderful grandkids and one additional one on the way which will be born in november if everything goes well which grandfather grandmother among us would gather up their grandchildren take them down to the nearest bank and say mr banker borrow every single dollar in your bank and i want you to sign the note i want to these six grandkids kids in my case i want us to grandchildren to sign that note i'm going to take the money and spend it but you're going to look to them to  to collect it well there's not a grandparent worth their salt that would do that on an individual basis but somehow collectively as a group we think that's ok because that's exactly what we're doing as we continue to spend money that our children will have to  probably not pay back but will at least have to pay the debt service on and that impacts their or their way of life and negative way every politician worth their salt will step into this for this microphone and say we need to cut federal spending it rolls off your tongue very easily both sides of the i'll say this on various occasions but we're really practiced what we preach i would like point out tonight one program that i think could go away and no one would even notice that it's gone we have in this says this was a status you know that of course has grown exponentially and is created such private enterprise based sites as monster dot com and career builder dot com which provide thousands and thousands and thousands of listings every day support it and the reason i'm doing it i've got some mentioned i've got six grandchildren and one more in the way and i can't think of a better reason why we shouldn't begin to do a better job of setting priorities for spending at this but at the in this congress your back is recognized for five minutes thank you mr speaker i rise today to recognize the efforts of georgiana coles a resident my district who will be honored on april twentieth for her work not only as a successful business leader but also as a dedicated land preservationist should be honored by the heritage conservancy and nonprofit land the historic preservation society for significant contributions to preserving vast swaths of person open space in bucks county pennsylvania my district mr speaker is renowned for its landscape as well as its history it is rumored that oscar hammerstein composed the lyrics to oh what a beautiful morning for his musical oklahoma while looking over the bucolic acreage of his farm in bucks county however today continued development threatens to uproot those same pastures and fields that inspired hammerstein's lyrics georgiana calls and her family on a highly successful nursery in my district that covers over eight hundred beautiful acres over time the coal family has expanded its operations not simply to expand their business but to protect prime land from development by purchasing one hundred acres of the bradshaw farm and sold very township as well as one hundred thirty two acres in buckingham township for preservation georgianna call has demonstrated her unquestionable dedication to preserving books county's natural history and beauty i want to recognize georgiana calls for her hard work and continue dedication to the preservation of open spaces and the residents of the eighth congressional district of pennsylvania thank her and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back mr killed the of michigan mr emanuel of illinois of the speakers announced policy of january for two thousand and five the gentleman from california mr schiff is recognized for sixty minutes as a designate of the minority leader you mr speaker the preamble to our constitution lays out the base functions of government and notably featured is the need to provide for the common defense national security is the single most important purpose of government all of the other blessings of liberty flow from it throughout much of this country's history senator arthur vandenberg famous maxim that partisanship must end at the water's edge has guided the formulation and execution of american national security policy unfortunately over the past several years that bipartisan tradition has been undermined by a republican party which has sought to convince americans that only one party could be entrusted to preserve our nation's military strength and its position as the world's preeminent power this unwillingness to listen to other voices has reached its zenith under the current administration which took office with one overriding principle that was to guide american national security policy if the previous administration that a prison clinton was for it they were against it the result is an america that is less safe than it should be and less safe than it needs to be our military has been stretched to the absolute limits in iraq leaving us precious little ability to respond to other contingencies around the globe overseas we are less often seen as a force for good in the world and surveys of public opinion consistently show that we as a nation are viewed negatively even by our friends in europe at home we have frittered away the four and a half years since september eleventh instead of making real strides in safeguarding the nation from terrorist attack in iraq a stubborn refusal to commit enough troops to stabilize and pacify the country in the months after the invasion has led to a protected fight against the bath this and islam assist insurgents that has claimed now more than twenty three hundred american lives and finally we have failed to reckon with the achilles heel of our national security our reliance on foreign oil to supply our energy needs clearly americans want and deserve change last week members of our party from both the house and the senate and failed a comprehensive blueprint to protect the american people and to restore our nation's position of international leadership our plan real security was devised with the assistance of a broad range of experts former military officers retired diplomats law enforcement personnel homeland security experts and others who helped identify key areas where current policies have failed and where new ones were needed during the next several weeks democratic members of the house will be doing a series of one hours where we will discuss the particulars of the real security plan tonight we will give an overview of that plan and in the following weeks we will flesh out each of the five pillars of the democratic real security plan for the country it is a tough and smart strategy to rebuild our military equip and train our first responders and others on the front lines here at home provide needed benefits to our troops and veterans fully man and equip our national guard promote alternative fuels and reduce our dependence on foreign oil restore americans confidence in their government's ability to respond in the face of a terrorist attack or natural disaster to protect the american people we will immediately implement the recommendations of the independent bipartisan nine eleven commission and finally protect our ports and airports our borders mass transit systems our chemical and nuclear power plants and our food and water supplies from terrorist attack after september eleventh all americans trusted the president to take the steps necessary to keep our country safe since then inadequate planning sometimes incompetent policies have failed to make americans as safe as we should be the tragedy of hurricane katrina showed that the federal government was still not prepared to respond under the administration's leadership the war in iraq began with intelligence that was at best wrong and it worst manipulated one hundred forty thousand of our finest young people were sent into iraq without an adequate plan for success our ports and other critical infrastructure remain vulnerable well the soldiers in the field and first responders at home lacked the basic equipment and resources they were promised both in the persian gulf and on our own gulf coast lucrative no bid contracts have gone to companies like halliburton kellogg brown and root and others with friends in high places and despite record high fuel prices our country remains heavily dependent on foreign oil because i'm an energy policy that benefits the big oil interests the real security plan rests on five pillars that my colleagues and i will introduce  tonight they are the creation of a twenty first century military a smart strategy to win the war on terror a plan to secure the homeland a plan to move forward in iraq and a proposal for achieving in an energy independence for america by two thousand and twenty under real security a democratic congress we rebuild a state of the art military by making needed investments in equipment and manpower so that we can project power to protect america wherever and whenever necessary we've all heard the stories of parents using their own money to purchase body armor for their children serving in iraq i personally asked secretary of defense rumsfeld about the shortage of body armor about the lack of adequately armored vehicles and the hold ups in the development of equipment to counter roadside bombs that have killed and maimed so many of our troops despite his assurances there are still problems and young americans are still paying the price under real security democrats will guarantee that all of our troops have the protective gear equipment and training they need and are never sent to war without accurate intelligence and a strat g for success i've been to iraq now three times and i visit our wounded troops here at home there and in germany i've spoken at the funerals of my constituents who have been killed in iraq and i've sat with their families as they have mourned these experiences have reinforced my sense of commitment to ensuring the well being of american soldiers and their families and our veterans democrats will enact a g i bill of rights for the twenty first century that guarantees our troops active reserve and retired our veterans and their families receive the pay healthcare mental health services and other benefits they have earned and deserve our active military stretched to breaking point but our guard and reserves have also been ground down by multiple deployments and falling and listening and reenlistment this hasn't turned added to the stress on the active army and marines as part of our real security plan democrats will strengthen the national guard in partnership with our nation's governors to ensure it is fully manned properly equipped and available to meet missions at home and abroad the next pillar real security is a broad strategy to win the war on terror four and a half years after nine eleven osama bin laden is still at large and al qaeda has morphed into a worldwide amalgam of discre cells that are more difficult to track down when democrats are in charge will make the elimination of osama bin laden our first priority we will destroy al qaeda and other terrorist networks networks and we will finish the job in afghanistan and the threat posed by the taliban we proposed to double the size of our special forces increase our human intelligence capabilities and ensure that our intelligence is free from political pressure despite their vow to drain the swamp the administration has done little to eliminate terrorist breeding grounds by combating the economic social and political conditions that allow the stream islam to thrive democrats will fight terrorism with all means that are by leading international efforts to uphold and defend human rights and renew the longstanding alliances that have advanced our national supt security objectives under real security we will confront the specter of nuclear terrorism by greatly accelerating the pace at which we are securing nuclear material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb our goal is to secure loose nuclear material by two thousand and ten we will also redouble our efforts to stop nuclear weapons development in iran and north korea w democrats understand that no option can be taken off the table we are committed to a muscular diplomacy is the best option for curbing pyongyang's and tehran's nuclear ambitions the third pillar of real security is homeland security in the wake of nine eleven been numerous commissions and investigations at the federal state local level as well as a multitude of private studies all of them pointed to the broad systemic and other flaws in our homeland security program almost two years ago the independent bipartisan eleven commission published its report but most of its recommendations have yet to be implemented as part of real security democrats will immediately implement the recommendations of the nine eleven commission including securing national borders ports airports and mass transit systems we will implement the screening of one hundred percent of containers and cargo bound for the u s and ships or airplanes at the point of origin and will take steps to better safeguard america's nuclear and chemical plants and our food and water supplies democrats will prevent the outsourcing of critical components of our national security infrastructure such as ports airports and mass transit to foreign interests that could put america at risk under real security democrats will provide firefighters emergency medical workers police officers and other workers on the front lines with the training staffing equipment and cutting edge technology they need while the media the threats to our national security come from terrorists we face other dangers as well democrats are committed to a security strategy that will protect america from biological terrorism and pandemics including the avian flu by investing in the public health infrastructure and training public health workers the fourth pillar on the one that we will have the most immediate effect on our security is to chart a new course in iraq that will ensure that two thousand and six is a year of significant transition to full iraqi sovereignty with iraqis assuming primary responsibility for securing and governing their country with a responsible redeployment of u s forces democrats will insist that iraqis make the political compromises necessary to unite their country and defeat the insurgency promote regional diplomacy and strongly encourage our allies and other nations to play a constructive role and support a real security democrats intend to hold the administration accountable for its manipulated pre war intelligence poor planning and contracting abuses that have placed our troops at greater risk and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars our security will remain threatened as long as we remain dependent on middle east oil the fifth pillar and the one with the most far reaching ramifications for our country in the world is to achieve energy independence for america by two thousand and twenty under real security democrats will increase production of alternate fuels from america's heartland bio uels geothermal clean coal fuel cells solar and wind promote hybrid and flex fuel technology manufacturing and hand energy efficiency and conservation incentives all of this we will do and more to meet the real national security needs of the country and now i would like to turn to some of our colleagues who have been leaders on national security issues i'd like to begin by introducing my colleague from california susan davis to hear her thoughts on one of the five pillars thank you very much and i want to applaud my colleague mr schiff for bringing us all together this evening so we can talk about real security for the american people now mr speaker america has the absolute finest military in the world and that wouldn't be possible without the people who wear the uniform i want all americans to know that it doesn't matter to me whether they call themselves a democrat or republican and independent or anyone else i stand here tonight to simply tell americans that there are indeed democrats in congress who are strong on national security we get it and we have a plan to get america back on track let me be does clear at the outset support for the troops has no party affiliation and that's definitely true here in congress there are hundreds of us democrats and republicans alike who want to do right by the troops who are on harm's way right this minute all around the globe i'm convinced however that the democratic plan to protect america is a path this nation needs to impart upon now and i say that because the democratic plan for a twenty first century military focuses on the same resource that the military itself focuses on and that the people it's about the people who volunteer to wear that uniform i've been very proud to serve in congress is a member of the house armed services committee since i was first elected to represent the people of san diego and as anyone from san diego can tell you we are the epitome of a military town san diego and have a deep and long standing relationship with the military that gives our community a very unique level of interaction and familiarity with the armed services san diego's operational bases provide a valuable network a military resources that taken together a quite to bottom line military readiness we host the pacific fleets largest concentration of carriers cruisers destroyers frigates and to be a ships and submarines and our regional training and support facilities supplement these resources the purply but at the end of the day while these are valuable assets what it really comes down to is the people outside their uniforms and off the battlefields these brave men and women serve double duty they are our neighbors they are our little league coaches they are our p t a presidents and they are our community volunteers in short our military service members are extraordinary people who leave ordinary lives just like you and me for those people in communities who are not as familiar with the military i think it may be easy sometimes to think of them in a more desensitized mechanical way almost as if the troops themselves are made of the same steel and weapon jury that used to accomplish their missions and protect themselves with but this couldn't be further from the truth our troops are a mirror image of the american people themselves they find strains in their convictions as americans they are strong in their education and training and they are strong in their diversity and their mutual respect for one another mr speaker you may wonder why i would choose to spend so much time this evening talking about the human characteristics of our military personnel in the context of a democratic plan to protect america but the people who make america as military great are really the heart of the democratic plan americans expect their elected leaders to take care of the troops and that's exactly what americans and what democrats here today are prepared to do and first that means having enough people this is ministration ignored the advice of respected senior military leaders by sending too few troops to iraq a matter how you look at it that was a serious miscalculation in impaired america's ability to accomplish its mission quickly democrats will insist on twenty first century military forces that are large and strong enough to meet any challenge america may face in the future without creating never ending states of deployment the twenty first century military also demands fully equipped ng and supplying our troops and that's exactly what the democratic plan would do democrats will fight to ensure america's troops are never under equipped the democratic plan is a plan that would emphasize the body and vehicle armor our troops need before they find themselves in harm's way for over we must rebuild or replace the equipment that's been used in iraq and afghanistan so our troops can continue to rely on it with confidence in the future the democratic plan also means a renewed investment in research and development we simply must invest in technology today that will lead to advancements from the battlefield that will keep on protecting our soldiers and sailors and will keep on helping them to accomplish their future missions and similarly we must continue to make investments in the way we educate and train our military personnel training and education is a key component in the dominance and success of america's military and this will be no different for a twenty first century military we must commit to providing superior ways to continue expanding and advancing the minds of our military professionals the democratic plan for a twenty first century military also and visions a renewed commitment to the national guard and reserve our efforts must reflect the level of respect and commitment our reserve components have earned and deserve year speaker of the democratic plan for a twenty first century military encompasses many more components including increased human intelligence honoring veterans and retirees and making good on america's promise to take care of the health and well being of our soldiers and also their families it's really about the people our training of them equipping them and our support for them the troops demand better mr speaker and democrats are poised to provide it to them i'm happy to turn to you mr shafton join with my colleagues as we discuss the rest of the democrats plan and the pillars of security i thank the gentleman gentleman from california for all of her work in this area and i know that you represent a very large constituency of service members in your district probably one of the largest in the country and undoubtedly you've had the opportunity to visit with a lot of the families of those serving in iraq and afghanistan and know firsthand some of the demands of being placed on our active duty but also on our guard and reserve many of them pulled out of their jobs earning a lot less on active duty than they were  their civilian occupations this must be a tremendous hardship for families you know i think it is and because our families prepare as well as the men and women who actually go into a war it provides a particular burden on all of them and i think that's why it's been in a community like san diego where we have felt this acutely and know how important it been for people to be have a sense of comfort that they have the equipment that they need and that once deployed and coming home particularly for the guard and reserve that they won't see these kind of endless deployments that's been very important and it's been really hard for the families to sometimes get a really good handle on that and i imagine you have experience that i have with some of my constituents and talking to their families of those that are serving in iraq concerns that they have and and  talking with the soldiers when they return about whether they have the up armored vehicles that they needed and finding out from them firsthand that not withstanding protestations to the contrary by the pentagon that if i they often didn't have up armored vehicles i still have people coming back telling me of the inadequacy of the material they have to work with and keep them safe but i thank you so much for all your leadership on this issue and in you do a tremendous job about half of your constituents  san diego area and on the armed services committee for all the rest of our country thank you i'd like to turn now to one of my close friends and colleagues here david scott of georgia we  founded along with steve israel the democratic study group on national security he's been a strong voice and a great leader on national security issues we're very grateful for your joining us this evening the gentleman from georgia thank you very much mr schiff and it is just an honor to be on the floor with you and i just commend your leadership on this national security issue and it's so important for the american people to be able to understand and know for hardly that democrats are the strongest party on national security our record speaks to it all the way from franklin delano roosevelt who shepherd us through world war two and built up our army to truman all the way up to john kennedy no stronger presidents have we had on national security democrats are very strong on national security and i want to spend my remarks here speaking from my own experience i have been overseas visiting our troops on four different trips to iraq afghanistan and to pakistan and to lithuania and to germany visit them at rams that hospital at the air force base i've been there with them at camp victory and baghdad on the frontlines as well as with a group on national security of which every thursday we bring in the experts we bring a man whether they are republicans or democrats from newt gingrich to sam nunn to andrew young we've had people there with the experience because we want the american people to know that this nation is secure has been secure and will be secure in the future in the hands of democrats and i want to spend just a few moments in talking about where we are in this twenty first century of our military we have the finest military in the world but since nine eleven our nation's armed forces have become overextended there's no mistake about it and some of our recruiting goals have not been met but under democrats we will make sure and we have already begin the process to make sure that our armed forces are not overseas extended and to make sure we have policies and procedures in to help us meet our recruitment goals as you well know mr ship now we have an all volunteer army the draft is no longer a pleasurable nor will it be in the forseeable future with the advances in technology we are going to be competing at a high level with private industries and others to get those high caliber individuals to volunteer for their services even the m one sixty rifle is basic a computer so we must have soldiers that are well equipped well prepared so we have to go out and we have to compete for them and we have to realize what this twenty first century manes the men and women of america's armed forces and our first responders here at home have met every challenge with skill with bravery and selfless dedication they along with veterans military retirees and the families of those who have given their lives to defend our country deserve  gratitude and we give it to them and our support and that's why we democrats are launching our effort here we want to make sure that america knows this country will be safe with us that we had the record and we have the program now much has been said and yes we have criticized the president we have criticized the republicans because it is due because there have been failure after failure and bad planning we all know now in bad intelligence but i assure you if democrats are in control we will never send our troops into harm's way with an accurate intelligence and not equipped with the body armor that they need to do their job but it's important for the american people to know what the democrats are doing now and what we plan to do not just to criticize what is wrong with the whole world sees now what is wrong step by step with our policies i want to point out to the american people some facts that they may not know about what democrats are doing now and what our record has ben we are committed to strengthening our military but we have been fighting to make sure we have been at the leadership and making sure that our troops have been fully equipped every step along the way it has been democrats who sought to ensure that our troops were fully equipped for this war in iraq it was not a war of our choosing but it was a war that was decided upon based upon incomplete inaccurate information that we know now but did not know then and democrats stood strong and said we have got to go based upon our information but once our troops were in harm's way once they were sent it was found out that they didn't have the body armor that their biz did not have the equipment to sustain the underbellies for the i d s for them improvised explosive devices it was democrats who provided the leadership for example because of democratic efforts the two thousand and three iraqi supplemental budget included more funds for humvees body armor and jammers to prevent the detonation of explosive devices it was democrats who offered amendments to shift three hundred twenty two million from reconstruction for safety equipment for u s troops in iraq it was a democrat senator chris dodd of connecticut that led that fight and to shift four point six million from iraqi reconstruction to support and safety for our troops including critical funding for repairing and replacing the critical equipment for combat in iraq that was represented david o be our ranking member on appropriations that led that fight and although both of those efforts it has to be pointed out at the need when they needed that armor when democrats step followed it was the republicans who rejected those amendments but we democrats did succeed in requiring the defense department to at least reimburse those service members for the cost of their protective safety and help the equipment that had to be purchased by them and their families you remember the newscasts we had our soldiers searching through dung heaps land mine fields and junk yards in iraq in the middle east trying to find metal to protect themselves it brought tears to my eyes think that this republican ad men astray send our young men and women in harm's way and not have them with their body armor they were writing back home to mom and daddy same is the money so i can buy something to protect myself never again never again must we ever let that happen and it's us democrats that are providing the way on this i want to make sure we cover one of the points we're going to vote on a budget at some point luckily i didn't have the votes tonight but to just to show you cut after cut after cut one and a half billion dollars cut to veterans on the democrats we will treat our veterans with the respect that they have and we will put together a g i bill of rights we will get rid of the military tax on widows we will increase the benefits and we will make our military proud and strong and we will make sure that the rotation cycle is not two and three and even four tours of duty at a time because our military is stretched then we will strengthen our military we will move us into the twenty first century and democrats will provide that leadership i'm proud to be here with you tonight and my colleagues miscount we are very grateful to have you here and your leadership you mentioned and i'm glad you did the proud history of the democratic party and national security leadership of presidents like roosevelt truman and kennedy and others today we saw in the press reports that the president authorized mr libby the chief of staff of the vice president to disclose classified information national security information for political purpose can you imagine roosevelt doing that can you imagine kennedy doing that can imagine truman for political reasons disclosing classified intelligence information for a political reason absolutely not our president i remember now it brings chills of me when president roosevelt said we have nothing to fear but fear itself to raise our people to a level or kennedy saying ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country i thank the gentleman now gives me great pleasure to introduce bennie thompson our leading ranking member on the homeland security committee someone has brought a great intelligence and foresight and determination to protecting america here on the homeland to ensuring we have port security an airport security that we plug many of the gaping holes here in the homeland yield to the gentleman the ranking member of the homeland security committee thank you very much congressman schiff for putting this opportunity together for us to talk about real security from the democratic  standpoint as you know unlike my colleagues on those that we have a plan that plans very simple and if we can get additional support we can make this country safer but for this hour let's talk a little bit about homeland security first of all i want to take you to the notion that as a grandfather i spend a lot of time reading children's stories now it may be because i'm the ranking member on homeland security but recently i was reading the emperor's new clothes and i couldn't help but think about the department of homeland security for those of you who are not familiar with the story it's about a ruler who loved to dress up in the finest red one day some folks came by and promise to make him the finest suit that he's ever seen as  it they kept asking him what he thought about the beautiful call and the plan design not seeing anything but feeling a little naive the emperor said it was beautiful and when the day came for him to wear the suit out in public he called a big parade and put on but so called out to everyone who didn't until one small child spoke up and say those magic words he doesn't have despite the department's many press releases and announcements of success the agency's efforts are not enough to cover the nation's critical part like the citizens of the emperor's town we all want to believe that what we are hearing and seeing is sufficient but let me tell you it isn't if you have unit doubts about this just look at the government's response to hurricane katrina last year as clark kent ervin the former inspector general of the department has said if katrina was a dress rehearsal how the u s would respond to a terrorist attack we did not prepare a lot of us deal a lot more still needs to be done to issue it a d h s s is fully covered security gaps at our borders must be eliminated trains and subways must be protected so we don't have a london or madrid attack must be secure and kosko must be well funded that means we must work with our partners internationally to protect our ports  screening one hundred percent of the u s bound containers at the points of origin rather than waiting until they arrive at opp communities those flying the friendly skies should be safe as they care to the final destination that means that we must secure passenger airline and by require one hundred percent screening of cargo that travels on the same plane with the passengers we must have common sense security at chemical and nuclear plants the private sector's looking for guidance from the pot and we need to be sure that they have here we must ensure that hazardous cargo i safely through our communities also we must guarantee that our local cops firemen and e m t these have the training staffing equipment and technology they need so that they can talk to each other during an emergency and as you know we saw with nine eleven that a lot of the individuals involved in that situation could not communicate with each other and many of them lost their lives because of it now when the small child call the emperor out he knew the child was right but those a procession goes on he carries himself proudly and his assistan acted like they were keeping his invisible roadbed off the ground the department's procession absolutely cannot go on x my colleagues across the aisle to stop carrying this invisible road and join us in recognizing that the department of homeland security has been without clothes for way too long it is about time that we outfitted the agency so that it can feel its mission our nation and its citizens deserve no less i thank the gentleman and i particularly appreciate your talking about the commonsense changes have to make to protect this country does it make sense i ask our ranking member to have a policy where you have to take off your shoes at the airport to get through the metal detector but fifty percent of the cargo on the plane you're flying on is commercial and ninety eight percent of that is never checked for an explosive you can ship a bomb the size of a piano that will never get opened in a crate under that same plane but you have to take your shoes off does that does that make sense none of it makes sense the other thing is we have the technology available to us to do many of these things we have to have the will to produce the resources necessary to acquire the technology and a lot of for that to occur we try in our communities to pull it down on all of the screening program not just it afterwards but we're talking about screening cargo coming into our country but we can't get the support on the republican side of to move in that direction we have two government agencies department of energy and department of homeland security charged with radiation screening of certain activities we can even get support to merge the two programs the operating in ports separate and apart so clearly a number of things congressman schiff that we need to right but if that's true and the most likely suspect for nuclear terrorism is al qaeda then the most likely delivery device is not a missile but a crate and that crates going to come into one of our ports and why we mobilized the resources to implement that portal technology why we're spending as much as we are on a more distant threat in terms of national missile defense rather than the more proximate threat of a smuggled in dirty bomb or a crude nuclear weapon is not in our nation's national security interests what is not and what we find is that  substantial number of containers that come to this country as you know without any inspection to inspect it when it get sure if it's a dirty bomb or anything like that is unacceptable we have to do the inspections audit screenings at a minimum at the points of origin rather then when they get to this country if we don't we're in for a rude awakening the other point i want to make  and i want to thank you for this time is we clearly have to support financially the safeguards that are required we have the technology we have to make sure that we put the resources to support the technology and i thank the gentleman very much for all your leadership and improving our homeland security i would now like to turn to my colleague dennis moore from kansas who does a tremendous job he's one of the true leaders on a variety of issues including energy self sufficiency energy independence is one of the pillars of our national security plan dennis dennis moore mr schiff the distinguished gentleman from california want to thank you for your leadership in putting together this little seminar and this presentation this evening on national security how important is for our country i want to talk for just a few minutes about the importance of national so national security in the context of energy dependence independence excuse me energy independence for our nation some of our viewers this night mr ship will be old enough to remember back in the late seventy's or was a gentleman by the name of jimmy carter was  states and one night president carter was sitting on addressing the people the people of america on national television had on a cardigan sweater he was sitting in front of the fireplace and talking about the long lines at the gas pumps and he was talking about the need for our country to develop energy depend and dependence and a comprehensive energy policy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil i think president carter was right then and i faltered every republican and democrat since president carter for not doing what he said we didn't need to do back then and especially especially since september eleventh of zero one and five years into this ministration we still are very depended heavily dependent on foreign oil we need to find for america energy independence and i think this is no longer just a concern about long lines at the gas pumps or the high cost per gallon of gasoline this now has become a national security issue and it's an issue that we as a nation must deal with this issue mr schiff should not be about republicans and democrats that should be about us taking care of our people and our country and we all must come together to do this and i think it's highly important again that we reduce our dependence on foreign oil and find an independent way to do this president bush mentioned in a state of the in this year for the first time i believe trying to develop some way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and into energy and independence but he didn't make any proposals and i think what we need are some solid proposals to do that we need for example conservation we need to develop hybrid automobiles hydrogen fuel cells we need to look valid at solar energy wind energy ethanol biodiesel we need to reduce our dependence on middle east oil and increase our dependence on midwest farmers who can provide the crops necessary to produce some of the fuels i'm talking about alternatives are many renewable sources of the energy here in our g e independence in fact again has become a national security issue we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil we cannot and must not be held hostage by foreign nations who control our supply of oil we must do this as americans again not as republicans and democrats but as americans because our country needs this and demands this more we thank you for your tremendous leadership on this issue and for joining us this evening and thanks very much mr jim now gives me great pleasure to yield time to the gentlewoman from florida debbie wasserman schultz who i would say is a rising star in the congress but she was a rising star she is now a full star in the firmament the rise has already been complete but we are so grateful for your leadership and i yield to the gentleman from florida thank you and it's a step i too want to join my colleagues tonight and thanking you for putting this together because one of the things that we have been trying to do over the last several months has democrats in the house of representatives did roll out our vision for the direction that america should go and clearly the vast majority of americans today believe that we are going in the wrong direction in terms of homeland security and protecting our nation's border that is one of the number one priorities and i'd like to talk a little bit about tonight is that an issue that's extremely important given that my state is a peninsula and and that's port security because i represent the people of florida's twentieth district which is south florida fort lauderdale hollywood and miami beach my district borders two ports port everglades in the port of miami and they both serve as a gateway to millions of tons of cargo and people every year in two thousand and five in fact almost five point eight million tons of goods came into the united states through the port of miami nationally though only six percent of cargo i screened that's a shocking statistic that means that just in the port of miami alone over five point four tons of goods were left on inspected before they entered our supply chain that's just in the unbelievably alarming statistic the administration claims to have a cargo security program such as the automated targeting system that mitigate any threat according to them that the remaining ninety four percent of cargo entering our country without physical inspection may pose however the government accountability office a third party validator recently released a report showing shortfalls in the systems multiple deadlines have been missed and key controls are still not in place to ensure the adequate implementation of such program when the bush administration approved the sale of operations at major u s ports including the port of miami to the united that united arab emirates this agreement had gone through outsourced american security to a country with a spotty record in fighting terrorism and one that is currently participating in the legal economic boycott of the state of its state of israel response ability for american security should not go to the highest bidder history has shown that friends of the united states truly come and go thirty years ago iran was our ally and twenty years ago arac was our ally given the current gap in port security we are i think far too much trust in port terminal operators beholden to foreign nations the companies have access to america's classified jordi operations and i can tell you having toured the port of miami i can at least transmit to you that the port of miami the people who run the terminals they run their own internal internal security and they have intimate knowledge of the security operations at in the rest of the ports so far the divestiture announcement from d p w appears to be nothing more than a diversion that was designed for those of the selected tension away from this outsourcing of american port security the current level of bomber ability at our ports is simply unacceptable three years ago the coast guard said that they needed seven point two billion dollars for port security measures but the majority in this congress the republicans have only allowed for the allotment of nine hundred  million dollars since september eleventh two thousand and one when it comes to our national security and the safety and defense of our homeland we should be focused on policy not politics we should be pursuing right legislation to protect our nation's ports and rem systemic weaknesses that facilitated this deal in the first place as the nation's legislators and lawmakers it is our responsibility and duty to keep america safe and the republican ministration in congress is not accomplishing this objective before i close i want to share with you yet another alarming statistic and i notice that when you began your remarks you referred to to the removal of shoes as we go through ours our magnetometers and our nation's airports when i went to the ports or the port  miami the staff there talked to me about the disparity in port security versus airport security in the last five years since you know since nine eleven we have been this republican congress has spent eighteen billion dollars more on airport security which is a good thing but comparatively they've spent less than seven hundred million dollars on port security essential lou we rested the sum total of our increase national security on taking our shoes off as we go through the  magnetometer that's about the only thing that most people could say they know that was the difference between before nine eleven and post nine eleven national security again i commend you on your efforts to let the goddess and i know you have back and i thank the gentleman i and i tremendously grateful for your leadership and participation tonight  thirty seconds that objection mr speaker i present a conference report on the bill h r eighty nine for printing in the record under the rule the clerk will report the title conference report to accompany the delegates are with gratitude to the gentleman from california you may proceed thank you mr speaker and i want to thank my colleague from maryland chris van hollen for his patience to see you think it's been a long evening already and i've been keeping him and my other colleagues from the beginning of the recess he has done a tremendous job in his tenure here in the congress he's already established himself as a so perp leader on national security and other issues education without any further do i turn over my time to mr van hollen and for such times he may consume well i thank my colleague from california mr schiff and again like my colleagues thank you for your leadership on issues of national security in this congress for our country i think we all understand that in order to successfully conduct the important work of our nation we much have management systems in place we must have systems of checks and balances to make sure that those people who are making critical decisions for our country are held accountable and nowhere is that more important than in the area of national security we have to have competence and we have to have accountability unfortunately we've seen a lack of both those qualities in the decisions on national security made by this administration it's basic management one o one that if you reward failure you're going to get more failure and if you want success you should reward success but if you look at the way this administration is pro snatched the security that kind of got that principle backwards in fact they have essentially rewarded and acknowledged those who got it wrong and criticized those criticize those who got it wrong and rewarded those in the administration who got their facts wrong let's just go back to general shinseki who proposed early on that we would need he said a couple hundred thousand troops on the ground  you mr schiff i noted early on it is the consensus of most military experts that one of the reasons we failed in the immediate post war period to maintain stability was the lack of enough troops on the ground i gen shinseki was right he was dismissed by the administration mr wolfowitz received the plum job of president of the world bank i don't know what kind of message that sends about the costs of the war well secretary wolf and i quote we are dealing with a country that can finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon well we know today that iraq is still not come back up to its pre war oil production and the predictions that were made by the chief economic policy adviser to the president lindsay lewis who at the time said he thought the cost the war would run about one hundred billion to two hundred billion dollars look to the good from today's vantage point at the time we need to remind people that others in the ministration like the head of the budget office mitch daniels dismissed those projections as being too high said very very high we've seen a recent study by the columbia university economist and the formal nobel prize winner in economics joe stiglitz who projects that this war could be up to two point five trillion dollars in costs but perhaps most dangerous from the vantage point of national security have been the failures with respect to the intelligence and the abuse of challenged and of intelligence and we need an intelligence system where the facts in the policy rather than a system where politics shape and distort the facts but if we've seen the administration ignored many of the professionals in the government who actually call that right in many instances if you look back now were of the national test intelligence estimates and you look at what the people and i in our intelligence research at the state department were saying if you look at what the folks at the department of energy were saying a lot of them question these conclusions that were being jumped to with respect to the presence of weapons of mass destruction a question that both those agencies the fact that these aluminum tubes were somehow evidence of an iranian nuclear program they said they didn't believe that and yet in its selective use of intelligence the administration ignored those they relegated those opinions to mere footnotes and essentially put forward the other information and you mentioned today a very disturbing revelation has come to light with respect to the selective use of intelligence we learned today and i just want to quote from the los angeles times this is in many there are papers and i'm quoting president bush it turns out according to  information put forward by the patrick fitzgerald the special prosecutor president bush personally authorized leaking long classified information to a reporter in the summer of two thousand and three to bu administration claims now discredited that saddam hussein was attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction from iraq before the war they selectively leaked information in a in a way that misinformed the american public and then when they were essentially caught doing that they further selectively leaked information to try and hide that fact when revelations were brought to light this has very serious consequences for our security because our credibility around the world depends on people who we go to believing that the information that we have is true and that it's solid when adelaide stephens was the united nations in the cuban missile crisis and he said the soviets were putting missiles into cuba and had the information to support it our credibility as a nation was enhanced as a result of the failures and the abuse of intelligence our credibility around the world has been degraded makes it much harder to persuade others about the seriousness of the threats in iran and north korea now the nine eleven commission made a number of recommendations as to how we could deal with this particular issue and one of the recommendations they made was to bolster intelligence oversight reform let's hold people accountable for their decisions let's not reward failure because we will get more failure let's not reward and ignore mistakes will get more mistakes but when it comes to intelligence oversight reform what grade did they give to the republican congress and administration a d a d we have said we democrats as part of our proposal we're going to strengthen the oversight process we're going to hold people accountable decisions that we're going to implement all of the recommendations of the nine eleven commission including the recommendation to improve the oversight of intelligence so we can end the abuse of intelligence restore our credibility around the world because that credibility is essential to the national security of this country i thank the gentleman from california for his leadership on this issue and i hope we will continue to have this conversation that i think is so important to our country i thank the gentleman for his leadership and his eloquence and the tremendous job that he also does as we serve together on the judiciary committee thank you i'm now pleased to recognize jay ensley from the great state of washington who has been a pioneer in the  independence to the gentleman such time as i have remaining well thank you and i have a simple message we democrats want to strike a preemptive blow against our enemies in the middle east and the single most effective preemptive war we have is to starve them from resources with which to attack us we know where the money came from to finance the attack on september eleventh it came from our addiction to oil the stock and we have now had a president said he wants to break our addiction to oil and we welcome his language about this but we can't run our cars on rhetoric we can't run a national energy independence program on rhetoric we need real policies and we are offering them we have offered to the to the country the new apollo energy project h r twenty eight twenty eight that's a chart twenty twenty the folks want to look at it they're welcome to see the most comprehensive plan that will really develop deliver a situation where we send less money to middle eastern sheik i want to thank my colleagues this evening for all their comments and their leadership over the next several weeks will be unveiling in greater detail each of the pillars of security how we intend as democrats to rebuild the twenty first century matilde military how we intend to take the war on terror to osama bin ladin and al qaeda how we intend to be fought for homeland security and repair a lot of the broken pieces of our homeland security policy that make us continue to be vulnerable how we will make iraq in two thousand and six a year of transition to full around sovereignty and how is mr ensley points out we can achieve energy and then independence something vital to the present and this nation's future i want to back under the speaker's announced policy of january fourth two thousand and five the gentleman from georgia mr gingrey is recognized for sixty minutes as the designee the majority leader misspeak or thank you very much and i'm very happy of course to be here tonight to to take this leadership hour and talk about something that's really near and dear to my heart but more importantly near and dear to the hearts of  forty one forty two million seniors in this country who finally because of the leadership of this congress the republican leadership and this president have delivered on a promise that was made years ago and that delivery i know a lot about him because as an o b g y n physician before coming to congress i delivered fifty two hundred babies but this may be the big delivery that i have ever been a part of american seniors is this prescription drug benefit is a wonderful thing and of course we were going to talk about that and i have a number of my colleagues that i'll join me and we'll be getting  information from them from their districts will be engaging in colloquy as we go through the hour when this just baker talking about the success stories because we don't want to stand up here for an hour and expect people to take ou word for this i think it's very important mr speaker that we hear from our seniors whether they're from the eleventh district of georgia that i represent or whether they're from the jet ladies of virginia a district called represent so much so much criticism from the other side of the aisle it was really amazing of course you know it's maybe i can understand the politics of it back man because we up and yet the other side is still discouraging the eight million that have not yet signed up and that's that mr speaker i think just so so disappointing but i have heard the last year and a half of criticism from the democrats about this this program being nothing but a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry that the program was designed by that we can't  two thousand the clinton white house released the following and i quote united vision for a new medicare prescription drug benefit unquote many parts of this vision closely mirror the republican passed plan that the democrats have been opposing and criticizing for a year and a half and i take this to this text that i'm going to read directly from the clinton white house web site the white house office of the press secretary for president clinton and senate democrats unified in vision for a new medicare prescription drug benefit for immediate release march the ninth two thousand senate provision of a new medicare prescription drug benefit to millions of seniors these principle stay any new benefits should be number one voluntary sound familiar medicare officiates who now have dependable affordable coverage should have the option of keeping that coverage accessible to all beneficiaries again sound familiar all seniors and individuals with disabilities including those in traditional medicare should have access to a reliable benefit designed to give beneficiaries meaningful protection and bargaining power a medicare drug benefit should help seniors and the disabled with the high cost of prescription drugs and protect against excessive out of pocket costs the catastrophic coverage in our plan it should give beneficiaries bargaining power that they lack today and include a defined benefit of sure and access to medically necessary drugs exactly what this republican medicare modernization part of the bill does affordable to all beneficiaries and the program medicare should contribute enough towards a prescription drug premium to make it affordable for all beneficiaries while subsidies should be provided to all to assure the benefit is affordable low income beneficiary should receive extra help with the cost of premium and cost sharing again mr speaker and not costly to sound familiar that's exactly what this bill does let me let me continue because this is just so instructive again this is the bill clinton presidency and the democratic congress plan back in two thousand it ministered using the private sector entities and competitive purchasing techniques this can should be achieved through competition not regulation or price controls that gripe about this for you and i have and their plan calls for private competition and no price controls and it should mirror practices employed by private insurance insurers and delivering prescription drugs private organizations should not negotiate prices with drug manufacturers and handle the day to day administration administrative responsibilities of the benefit exactly what this plan does and what they have been writing about again for the past year and a half  hypocritical it's unbelievable so i just wanted to to to to bring this this press release this this clinton press release and and show you that the democrats really wanted to do this but but they couldn't deliver they could not deliver on the goods and they can't stand it they literally cannot stand the fact that this president who they despise who they detest and th republican leadership who has been in control of this this congress for the last twelve years and is delivering is getting things done is not just simply sitting back and and  throwing the brakes and screaming and hollering and and as we get closer and closer to the deadline the rhetoric will will continue to increase well i just wanted to just talk how it works mr speaker certainly not on a negative tone because we're very positive about this and i personally as a physician member am extremely excited that we are leaving tomorrow most of us will be leaving tomorrow to go back to our districts for a two week work period and and i i am told by our conference chair person the gentle lady from all high oh deborah pryce that the republicans  the two hundred thirty one of us in this body have over two hundred two hundred pound hall meetings over this ten day period while we go back home and work  our seniors not against our seniors i'm excited about it because i have four of those two hundred scheduled in my district and i'm really looking forward to it and looking forward to it to help get those few we we  think i said at the outset that some twenty seven million of forty one million eligible have now sat and probably five or six million of those who have not already have a drug plan many years for and retired with with not only health insurance benefits but a prescription drug coverage they don't need it but there are still six right million that do and that's why i'm excited to get home and bring the good news to them  together now for about three and a half years he and i actually co chair the republican health care public relations committee we could probably spend this hour talking about any number of issues regarding health care that the republicans have done but we are going to concentrate on the set at the outset talk about this medicare modernization and we don't want to get that part because that's almost as important as the prescription drug part but at this this time i'm very proud to to yield to my friend from pennsylvania dr representative tim murphy i think the distinguished doctor from georgia for yielding to me and for your important information our colleagues and really for a nation to understand the importance of the medicare prescription drug plan some of the things said we're repeating several times over the next few weeks and one of the points i want to talk about is you will have a discussion as well as misinformation that is sent out about this plan anytime something is new there's going to be some glitches all of us when our children were knew well we knew as parents we didn't exactly know everything we were doing and we had a fall apart too but we persevered and our children turned out well even though no matter what one does in life when it's something new and learning the ropes of it it's going to take a little adjustment but as we were signing up twenty seven million seniors at a rate sometimes approaching four hundred thousand people a week the system wasn't always perfectly ready for all them and there were a few glitches particularly for some folks who are dual eligible but the point is  s or or medicare responded put extra people on board worked out some of the glitches and i'm pleased to say that many of the seniors that i talked to are very pleased with this program a matter of fact i was recently given a town hall meeting there must have been two hundred people in the audience here and i asked how many of them have yet to sign up for medicare plan not a single hand went up it seems that all of them had looked at the plan at that point in pennsylvania chose a number of things one gentleman decided to stick with the veterans plan he liked that he had been a veteran for many he had served the military for many years now is a veteran another one was please that she can maintain the pennsylvania pace plan for low income seniors that worked well for her another woman said she was actually saving several hundred dollars so far and it was only march with the medicare prescription drug plan and is folks like this who really tell the truth about what is going on while politicians may be out there trying to scare seniors it is the seniors themselves that are perhaps in the best salesman saying that it is valuable it was only a short period ago that the stories that were always in the newspapers and seniors getting on board buses going off to canada to pick up their prescription drugs or perhaps using mail order systems to try and pick a prescription drugs but i want to point out a couple of things that's important about that one a study of the overall costs of traveling off to canada turns out the overall cost savings is probably only around one percent when you look at it but they are piano that's a set that actually the savings that comes with medicare prescription drug plan are at least equal to and sometimes better than that of traveling across the nation's lines to pick up drugs also a very very important savings a factor here is not just a matter saving money but saving lives and in the process of seniors trying to find drugs were affordable to them mr speaker what they're also doing is getting on the internet or going through mail or to houses and trying to pick up prescription drugs from foreign sources and tragically finding that those sources to contain counterfeit drugs want to drug use to street schizophrenia turned out to be nothing more than white pills that said the word aspirin on them other medications had water in it that was a tainted other ones may have had pain to foreign substances in them and the point is not only were they sometimes toxic in another cells but in not treating the illness the opposite i think that one with that is sometimes having seniors take medications that they could be allergic to or taking medications that certainly the very least we're not treating their illness by having an affordable prescription drug plan what we have instead is getting the right medicines to the right people so they are taking medications that are valuable to them and can help treat their own assess but let me point out some more things we have to understand because if people also look at the expense of a prescription drug plan we have to understand that this unfortunately the way this system works in this federal government the congressional budget office doesn't ever tell us how much we say but take a listen at a couple of these points first of all you know ulcer surgery has become a relic of the past new drugs nex disease drugs that reduce for example the cholesterol levels and other things that in the past had been an automatic admission to a hospital bypass surgery and angioplasty now we find are going  significant role in the life expectancy gains made in the u s and around the world recent research published in the journal health affairs concludes that new medicines generated forty percent of the two year gain in life expectancy achievement fifty two countries between one hundred eighty six and two thousand and other words we are not only providing medications that are affordable but medications are now there that are providing better life and longer life for many seniors seniors well it was much like window shopping you could look in the shop and admire the merchandise but you couldn't go in to get it now that has changed and that is the message that we need to be telling across america as we're doing tonight and our colleagues going to continue to do during value as a matter of fact it is negative value and of questionable ethical value i think sometimes of people only spend their time criticizing the glitches that had been in the program as with any program that that occurs whether it's public or private program criticizing it standing on the outside and frightening seniors frightening seniors into thinking that because there was complexities and difficulties therefore they should not sign up i worry about this mr speaker i worry because when i have held town meetings i've heard senior say i've heard this is difficult i don't think i know a can understand it so i've been holding off doing my work in those circumstances when the people are just playing politics with patients and separa seniors away from this program what happens if a senior needed medication and they did not get it because someone frighten them away the point is that one dials one eight hundred medicare they can talk to someone who is helpful if they go on to web sites medicare dot gov they can get the information that they need they can sit down with a family member or friend and many drugstores many pharmacists or throughout the nation will provide the kind of consultation free of charge to help seniors walk through that but they need their name address their social security number the names the drugs that they're on the dosage levels they take the prices they pay and don't just compare what it is today when you have the deductibles and co pays look at what happens the long term cost about a year and look at those prices and determine which of the many available are the best ones for you that is the message we should be telling seniors you know so often in america we criticize the lost a lot when people do not have a choice here with medicare people do have a choice they have a choice of looking through many of several plans they have a choice of doing nothing at all quite frankly but it is something that is available to seniors and the main thing about this may have been the a bail ability of medications which can be life saving and life extending and help the quality of life make the difference between someone who may be bound up in a nursing home and someone who is still at their home those are the kind of stories that americans need to be talking about and while there are those criticizing fighting  rs let's remember this instead of frightened seniors we should think of this twenty seven million seniors have signed up for this program so far and many more will sign up in the next few weeks those twenty seven million seniors can't all be wrong and instead of politicians mocking them and mocking the program maybe just maybe we would all do better to link our arms and say let's do what we can to help every senior get the medications they need and even if they don't need them now to have the peace of mind of knowing it's there when they need it these are the things we need mr chairman and my colleague dr gingrey i'm so pleased that you have done so much to help seniors throughout the nation you know theirs and help our colleagues know this there is the deadline coming up next month for seniors to sign up and it is good news that so many seniors are looking toward that deadline to sign up some of wait a little bit want to see some glitches out of the program many of those are being addressed now i start to congratulate the secretary of health and human services and all the work that he has been doing to get this message out but we're not done and ask colleagues we need to be working together for the sake of our patients and let's stop playing political game and really do what is right and decent and honorable for america's i can't help mr speaker but one thing to go back just for a moment to this this press release of march ninth two thousand from both from the bill clinton white house there were a couple of things that i didn't mention that i want to read to you before we yield to representative bright in this press release it says and this is one of the bullet points consistent with broader reform the addition of a medicare drug benefit should be considered as part of an overall plan to strengthen and modernize medicare medicare will face the same demographic strains as social security when the baby boom generation retires improving benefits is only one step in preparing medicare for this new century scablands as well i'll tell you one thing about the democrats they're pretty consistent because  to social security as well and in fact you know this is exactly what they call for but once again as i said at the outset they couldn't deliver in its kill but unfortunately they're continuing rhetoric runs the risk of killing some of our seniors the six or six or so million album who need this benefit and it's just shameful shameless as a garth brooks of the title of one of my favorite songs and the but they keep  but hopefully maybe over the next couple of weeks maybe during this two week recess that they'll get religion it's certainly a time for religion and they will understand that it's to stop playing footsie with our seniors and misleading from the second district of the genius she's a freshman but you would not know her spirits and the things that she's done in a short period of time in this body on our side of the aisle has just been amazing she's a well i'd like to thank the gentleman for that very kind introduction and also for the opportunity to come and talk about such a wonderful program and you use that term but it's the modernization of medicare and often we only talk about the prescription drug benefit and southam did we hear that we now have a welcome to medicare checkup for our seniors as they're entering into medicare but i'd like to take a moment first and thank all of the people across america who have worked so hard to bring this program to our seniors to explain it so that our seniors have the information and can make the best choice for them for them i know that the c m s employees have worked very hard our agencies on aging our senior services agencies have also been right side by side with us in virginia working and many members of congress have been holding meetings since last fall now of course i've seen a great number of increase in people once we got into the first of the year over last fall but i'd also like to thank our pharmacist i've had town all meetings were pharmacists have come i have people in the second district that tell me they go to the pharmacy at their drugstore leave their information they've filled out with their pharmacist come back later and the pharmacist has run the program for them while she said i'm a freshman so i wasn't involved in the debate or the vote in two thousand and three but by holding meetings throughout the district i have learned an incredible amount about this program and i've heard what our seniors are concerned about and certainly i've read the newspaper articles that say it's a confusing program i would disagree with that completely but i didn't know that not only were our seniors hearing from medicare they were hearing from me and they were hearing from all of the eighteen companies in virginia that offer forty two programs and i think that was one of the concerns in two thousand and three was would companies step up what they offer this and what we've seen with overwhelmingly is yes companies have companies have created competition they've reduced the price on the programs and our seniors have not only a volunt program in this medicare program if they choose to do exactly what they're doing and don't want the program that's entirely up to them as long in my mind as they know that there are other options out there for them that are certainly much less expensive and i know that the underlying premise when this was passed was that if we keep people well our overall health costs would be less than as congressman murphy just told us it's much cheaper to provide a prescription drug for heart disease than it is to do heart surgery when you've also heard the stories in two thousand and three about our seniors who either weren't eating or to heating their homes or weren't buying their prescription drugs  command congress for passing this legislation and all the people that have worked hard to put it in place forty two million medicare recipients and of that we know where it twenty seven twenty eight million people right now six million don't need to sign up because they have asked good or better coverage through another plan and our goal between now and may fifteenth is find those other six million people and make sure that they know about the program some of the things i've learned in the district first of all people seniors didn't understand that this is available to everyone there is no income qualification if you are eligible for medicare you are eligible for this program i had one couple come just to ask me one question and they raised their hand early in the program and the man said i have a wonderful health care coverage through my employer i'm retired he said but when i die my wife can't continue in the program so what does she need to do and the answer was she's completely covered when she loses that coverage then she can go into medicare part d with no penalty and she can go in within sixty days of losing that coverage so little things like that are one man raised his hand and he said i was talking to my insurance agent because it's important to remember that medicare part d is not a government  private sector insurance policy with a reduced premium because the federal government needs that in my insurance agent told me it was ok to buy a plan that didn't cover my per script chance and i said no that's the wrong answer you call that agent today and say you're a member of congress that you may not buy his plan until he gets your purse christian drugs and what are seniors will find if they call to come to one of the seminar we've asked people in our district to feel free to call us we're happy to get them in the right place but if you sit down at the computer and i've done it myself and you just go to w w w medicare dot com and you scroll down very slowly and you don't go off into space somewhere on the left hand side of the screen you just keep scrolling down answer the questions put in the information and most importantly what are the drugs that you take and that will sort through all the programs and give you the very best options i stopped and visited a friend on new year's eve she had recently lost her husband and i thought this would probably be a tough time of the year for her but while i was there i asked the question i seem to ask all seniors today and that is what he's doing about medicare part d she said oh i don't get it when i asked i was surprised she had no prescription drug coverage and she said i only take one per script and it's seventy eight dollars a month and i'm not going to do anything and i said well you know there's choices out there and maybe you should call or you should write and you should get the information she said well so much i've already done that and she had the chart laid out of three plans that covered her drug and as she talked to me and looked at the plans it became very apparent that there was one plan that would cost her twenty five dollars a month thirty five dollars for her prescription and she was going to save twenty eight dollars a month just by saying signing up for that plan and that makes the assumption she won't take any additional drugs over the course of this year i think it's important and you've talked about the may fifteenth date and our seniors i think are well aware that since this is a private sector insurance policy and it has open enrollment it has penalties if you don't sign up in time just like a lot of other insurance products but there will be penalty after may fifteenth but the other thing that's so important to remember is if you don't sign up may fifteenth enrollment is closed until november fifteenth and then you can sign up for january one so our seniors could be facing seven months of not being able to get into the program simply because they didn't realize that they didn't understand what their real choices were so i applaud everyone is working hard to tell them thank you for holding this to night thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk lots of success stories in the second district and i know you have other members that want to talk about it as well so thank you for giving me the opportunity and i certainly am grateful i know our seniors are once they're signed into the plan for what this plan offers to them when i talk to people my age for their parents because they'll come to our meetings their first question is how do i get it and my answer is you have to be sixty five so thank you very much and i thank the jail lady so much for being with us tonight and i want to maybe expand just a little bit on on on what her comments in regard to the p explained it very very carefully as to why that's necessary as part of an insurance program and by the way mr speaker and my colleagues exact same situation that exists with medicare speaker i'll bet you that ninety eight ninety nine percent of seniors voluntarily signed up for part b and they do it within the six month window of opportunity because if they go beyond that then just like in this part from taking that one drug a month that seventy eight dollars that she talked about to tell you can five that five thousand dollars a month then they should pay more for their premium so it is very important and it's not a punitive thing  them too many are out there trying to just get the program and spread really complicating lie about it and scaring scenes that's not what we ought to be doing or seniors we ought to be out there making sure they understand the benefits they can be available to them and through the efforts of you so many in the community as was mentioned more than twenty seven million seniors are not enrolled in medicare part d prescription drug benefit they're seeing hundreds even thousands of dollars of savings in fact that c m s the centers for medicare and cade services have projected that the benefit will save the average seniors eleven hundred dollars this year meanwhile the a r p and others have found that the benefit lowers the cost of drugs for seniors by an average of forty four percent with low income seniors seeing price reductions of up to ninety percent better yet the average seniors monthly premium percent thirty two percent below their original estimate a third this terrific duction is evidence that the market based competition used by medicare part d is working to drive down prices and increase the benefits for seniors at the same time c m s has reported its projected cost of administering the benefit has come down seven point six billion in two thousand and six from what they originally estimated and states will see at least seven hundred million dollars in additional savings this year all of this is very good news however the may fifteenth deadline for eligible seniors to sign up for the plan without penalty is fast approach well the programs enroll that has surpassed earlier estimates there is now still more that needs to be done that's why it's important a community activists and we as members of congress have been holding a sign up forms in our district to spread the facts about this great new voluntary program these forms brings together c m s trained volunteers seniors and their families together in an environment where questions can be answered and seniors can become informed about which plan best fits their needs so they can begin saving undergrad cause i was pleased to hold two large forums in my district in minnesota earlier this year and i'm working hard with other groups to help hold forums of their own i want to thank those community groups who work in towns and cities all over this nation to make sure seniors know their options these events and other forums are essential to making sure that seniors who want to sign up for medicare drug plan are able to do so before may fifteenth mr speaker it's easy for me to stand here and talk about the benefits of this plan but don't just take it f me take it from the seniors who are realizing in some cases hundreds of dollars of savings every month countless seniors are reporting that they now have more money to use for other things like paying for their bills or visiting their grandchildren before the republican congress acted we heard terrible stories of seniors forced to choose between life saving medication and food we heard these stories for years but we never saw action from our friends on the other side of the aisle but we acted seniors are saving as a result i encourage my colleagues and i thank you dr again you for your leadership on this to continue to educate seniors in their districts before this may fifteenth deadline so every senior has access to affordable drug coverage and i would turn it back over to distinguished doctor from georgia to continue to talk about what kind of benefits seniors are getting and why it's important that we take the time to make sure they understand that before th pay fifteen that's like well i would just like to say i thank the gentleman and i think the same as in minnesota very fortunate whether marc canada is serving in this united states house of representatives or representing them in the other framing this this problem before we livered on this prescription drug benefit to make sure that our colleagues in anybody within shouting are listening  distance might possibly be watching our proceedings tonight that they understand that the the situation that existed before we delivered on this promise of a prescription drug benefit colleagues can see this there were a number of people this is about twenty six percent of the estimate saying is it had employment based plans with talked about that we've talked about the fact that people work twenty five thirty years for a company and they are part of their retirement benefit maybe a little pinch and hopefully a little healthcare benefit in many cases to include i push christian drug coverage now there has been concern among these twenty six percent because even before we brought forward this this well conceived well thought out plan in fact it was because employers were dropping these planes are changes in the guidelines and so all of a sudden a senior gets a letter in the mail and says oh by the way the first of the year you're going to have to  pay instead of twenty percent of the premium you're going to have to pay thirty and by the way it's no longer going to cover prescription drugs all we've got a very limited formulary that's not going to cover your hearing aid or your eye glasses the whatever or even the worse than that mr speaker would be the ultimate dear john letter that's a letter that that pink slip that says yes what we're dropping your coverage o prevent that to try to stop that we in designing this plan on this republican majority this president under our leadership we said look we will help you john q employer if you will continue these plans then you will not renege on these promises we will we will reimburse you really for some of the cost of those plans so that you did not drop them you know again i go back to my clinton press release one of the things that they called for in two thousand optional of course for all beneficiaries that we said earlier but also provides financial incentives for employers to develop and retain their retirees health coverage that's what clinton and the democrats call for this is another thing that they have been right you lean against the fact that we  these employers not to not to drop implying well ok twenty six percent have an employment based plans three percent individually purchased policies that would be like my mom  very precious mom who has gap policy but but now unfortunately the prescription part of that was so expensive that she had to drop it of course  the department of veterans affairs and track it we talked about that that's about three percent about twelve percent covered by the state medicaid program some a more generous than others i think very generous in my state of georgia  and then some of the state based the programs that i was source was six percent but the real the i'm on this chart on this paragraph is that forty percent before this plan forty percent were getting prescription drug coverage out of their own pocket and other words they had no coverage and they had no bargaining power mr speaker they simply went to the drugstore and they paid sticker price you know like buying an automobile and not getting any discount because you didn't know to ask for one and they had no clout one individual  mia and so they were paying in sticker price and that was the problem that's why we knew that we had to do something especially for the neediest especially for those who literally  have both noticed in our district well i thank you for that and you brought up the issue of your mother and that is a very important thing for our seniors to be thinking about because many of our seniors did buy the supplements that you're talking about that gave them health care coverage as well as their prescription drug benefit my daughter's mother in law has one of those and she is paying over three hundred dollars a month for it so we want to live and we looked at what can she get today under the new program so i think it's important that people like your mother don't think that because they have one of those plans from before that that's good enough that they can go on today and save an incredible amount of money and you can go into plans today that give you the health care coverage as well as a prescription drug coverage but there again with that reduced premium my daughter's mother in law is going to save over one hundred dollars a month by going in and revamping that policy and i know a lot of our seniors got kind of hung up on the thought of deductibles and things like that but there again you need to understand that when when the medicare set the plan when congress plan passed the plan they put a cap on what a deductible could be have two hundred fifty dollars and many of these plans have no deductibles many plans have we keep talking about a donut hole where they will be a gap  coverage at a certain point and what i say in my meetings is if you didn't have any coverage you've been living in a black hole you can pick a plan that has no gap in coverage based on what you want to pay monthly and how to streamline it for you and see other point i wanted to make as you continue on one of the questions i've really been asked is what if i take no medication it's not a wonderful thing for seniors today and i was look at him and say i bet you bought a homeowner's insurance policy and you have insurance on your car and you'll buy those before you need them same thing for our seniors with prescription drug coverage and when they go in and look at these programs there are so many options low price  sions that it's worth that for the peace of mind to know that that next year when you go to open enrollment you can always change the plan upgrade the plan but you're in the plans so i thank you for let me talk about your mother  almost fifty plans with this but there are only eighteen companies but what that means is companies good companies offer more than one plan so that seniors have the option as she describes like well somebody says well i don't need that i' but that means you live a long life healthy life and i and a person like that might say well i'm not i don't take anything i buy a few over the counter drugs a year and i bet i don't spend two hundred dollars a year  god bless them they're lucky and they're fortunate but what what represents a drunk is talking about is that very next week might be the sound that the chest pain strikes and all of a sudden you have a coronary bypass or you're in that fortunate situation don't roll the dice on this because you could come up now you guys go over here and take one of these plans where the monthly premium is twenty bucks a month there's no deductible there's a donut hole but you're not worried about that donut hole because you are blessed with that methuselah gene and then later on as she so correctly pointed out if something does happen then you can switch  of prescription drug costs they're already on six are right drugs and they're spending ten thousand dollars a year and they look at that and they say look give me one i'll pay a higher monthly premium i may pay sixty bucks a month premium but that plan gives me coverage in that so called donut hole and that's important because they are already spending a lot of money in that so you tell you all of these the companies are actually doing that i think it's a it's a it's a great thing you know that's what's so important is that our seniors have choices and you mentioned our veterans and i just wanted to finish up with you and let you finish up this evening and to remind our veterans that they are the only group of people that keep their veterans benefits and can purchase into medicare part d as well so that gives them the ability if there is medications they need that are covered by the v a that they can be covered by medicare part d so i want to make sure that they understand that since they are the only group that can have both so  certainly thank you again for letting me be here thank you for let me talk about your mom and talk about our veterans and there's so many things to talk about with the program i'd like to encourage everyone if there is a shop in their area there please because it's amazing the questions and the answers and the much better understanding that you realize this is a good product for seniors the price is so much lower and it gives them so many choices  young lady and i know she is looking forward to going back into the second district of virginia tomorrow and i'm sure she's one of the many republican members who have got those town hall meetings scheduled to get those remaining six or eight million signed up and i thank her i wanted to add arizona had no prescription drug coverage she spent more than twenty six hundred dollars a year on medication just this past year she wanted an inexpensive plan with a low premium so she didn't roll in part the plan it only had a six dollars and fourteen cents monthly premium in two thousand and six she'll say eighteen hundred dollars nearly two hundred dollars a month the lady  from arizona god bless her is one of them this is speaker sandra yes from woodland hills california in two thousand and five she spent forty six hundred dollars per year on prescription drugs she read medicare part in the los angeles times i'm sure weren't even it but thank goodness she read about it she called one eight hundred medicare for help she wanted a plan with no donut hole we just talked about that a minute ago her plan fifty dollars a monthly premium no deductible no gap in coverage and of course as all of those plans it has that catastrophic coverage so that if you really get into a year where you have  out of pocket expenses of thirty six hundred dollars out of your own pocket then after that the the insurance place pays ninety five percent and you only pay five percent what a godsend total savings for sandro twenty four hundred dollars a year i think we have or that i wanted to show barbara l from camp texas in two thousand and five spent twenty one hundred dollars on prescription drugs she enrolled in a p part of the plan and they have a great a very good plan so in two thousand and six she expects to pay three hundred sixty dollars barbara save seventeen hundred and forty dollars well i could go on and on but let me let me just say one other thing because i mentioned a piece of the american association of retired person s i'm probably one of them not retired but i was eligible and got my card is age fifty so i've had it awhile thirty seven million seniors are members and the not typically a conservative organization support of republican ideas what typically supportive of the democratic lack of thought and yet they have supported this program and  colleagues on the other side of the aisle came down to the well member after member after member telling members of a a r p to tear up their cards and throw them out the window thank god for a r p in fact we a press conference today miss speaker and talking about the plan and what what the republican members are going to do when we go back to our districts and there we have seventy six count them seventy six organizations that are supporting this program aids institute alzheimer's association all all hamill's american geriatric society american pharmacists association association of black cardiologists national hispanic hispanic medical association national alliance for the mentally ill national alliance for hispanic health generic pharmaceutical association nice to see if i could go on and on but there are seventy six let me just talk to you briefly as we close groups misleading seniors about medicare part d in fact they would they are protesting well our press conference on the on the terrace at the cannon building this afternoon guess who was there  seniors move on dot org all the far left shadow groups so let's see doctors pharmacists hospitals health care providers and a r p versus move on dot  org nancy pelosi and on the far left who do you trust with senior hill i think the answer is pretty obvious mr speaker and i am proud to be part of the solution and not part of the problem great great contingencies of american veterans and active duty service people in your district and you know i want to say i know you've been talking about about the health care but i want to talk about another type of  for one second and that national security and i know my friend has been to iraq i think is going to be in soon to many other members of this body democrat republican are going now is a time when america should take heart and i've watched  newspapers and the mood of this house as of late and and i feel especially coming from the democrat side the message is one that i've seen before it's a message that we saw in the one nine hundred eighty s when ronald reagan faced down the soviet union and you had calls from the far left to the effect that president reagan was going to have a war with the soviets that he needed to acquiesce he needed to engage even as a range our allies in europe with s s twenty muscles and yet ronald reagan stood tough he stood for a policy of peace through strength and at one point the soviets picked up the phone and said can we talk and when we talk we talked about the to simply of the soviet empire similarly he stood top and central america and today those two nations in question all salvador nicaragua have fragile democracies because of america today we're providing that military shield and iraq what we put this fragile government together a government based on something new in that part of the world freedom representative government and you know this has been done on the shoulders of the great american servicemen and women who service in that very troubled and difficult part of the world in their job this is a dusty and dirty and sometimes bloody but it's worthwhile and what they are giving to us so we can stabilize that country and that neighborhood and have a country that hasn't been nine relationship for the united states will accrue to the benefit of generations of americans so now is it time to a country are proud citizens committed to the values of freedom democracy and respect for human rights we as americans cherish and defend the same values at home and internationally the path to freedom has not been easy for the people of left or autonomous region under the soviet constitution to clear their independence the declaration of independence noted as a vision and policies of discrimination against the armenian people the need to restore friendly friendly relations steadily progressed on the path of democracy and conducted regular elections for president and the legislature i actually acted as an observer for the last presidential election and those elections were praised by international observers including the united states as free fair and transparent while strengthening its democratic institutions they're going to care about has also successfully transition from a soviet inherited centrally planned economy to a market economy despite significant setback it has largely restored its infrastructure and introduced reforms to encourage private enterprise and foreign investments with its democratically elected government capable armed forces and independent foreign democratically elected leadership of the republic of new corn a car car a bought and provide increase u s humanitarian and development assistance it is crucial for the us to unequivocally support the right of the people to decide their own future is to speak or the newborn occur about republics democratic regime is in sharp contrast to its neighbor as the beijing on vision has evolved since its succession from the soviet union currently its de facto statehood fully satisfied as the requirements of conventional and customary international laws four digit or a recognition i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back under the speaker's announced policy of january fourth two thousand and five the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida mr meek for half the time remaining before midnight thank you mr speaker it's an honor to come before the house once again and once again thirty something working group comes to the floor to share with the american people and to report what's happening here on the capitol dome we look forward to continuing to do this in a future we know that we're going to be two weeks for the easter break all of next week all of the week after and we come back at the end of the mob to try to do the business of the people of the house and the people of the united states of america and i think it's important for us to understand what took place just here mr speaker in the capital just today as you know we've been working throughout the week and sharing with not only the american people but also with the members of the congress of the importance of what we do here under the capitol dome and when i mean i'm going to capitol dome i'm talking about the legislating that's supposed to be taking place on behalf of the american people and i think it's important for us to not lose the myths the the occurrence that did not take place here tonight or tomorrow we were supposed to be in session tomorrow about the borrowing that this republican majority has done with the president of the united states record breaking borrowing from foreign nations and selling off the united states of america where foreign countries own our debt and all day today i saw members after that on the republican side saying this budget we're proud of this budget this budget is going to put america back on track on this side we on the democratic side were talking about fiscal responsibility we were talking about being reasonable with our spending and also making sure that we prioritize everyday working americans and not just the special interests and the super wealthy and i and i think that argument prevail because i understood at the end of the day that there weren't enough members on the majority side to pass president bush's budget because that's what it is this house has been just saying yes mr president whatever you want no matter what the constitution says no matter what our responsibility  we're going to do it the way you said you wanted done and that's what has gotten this house in a bad why with the american people now i'm here tonight and the thirty something working group is here tonight mr speaker to make sure that the american people and the members on a majority side understand we were you are not a man and voting for our budget which is a pay as you go budget and that will balance the budget in sixteen years we were united  we i'm saying house democrats were united if they were from the west coast the heartland of america the east coast the south or the north whichever way you cut it you can go all the way to wiley whichever way you cut it house democrats were uniting it and bringing america back into a fiscal responsibility era which we balanced the budget we're the only party in this house that can say we balance the budget to play football for florida and him to speak here and it's got hard for the coach to talk about the national championship of the coaches never been to the national championship never played in a national championship game might have read about it might have might have had a friend of the with the national championship but it's kind of very hard for someone to tell you about how it feels a bit never been there here on the democratic side we've been there we balanced the budget we come to this stated if you're going to spend then you better show where the money's coming from and how you're going to replace it you just can't say well i'm going to take the credit card out and i'm going to put it on the backs of american and i'm going to come to the floor i'm talking to as you know the safer for instance very hypothetically mr speaker about was on the majority side here being you know being the republican bothers me just saying it because we are you know the republican majority has made history in all the wrong places in all and for all the wrong reasons over the past two years of borrowing and spending borrowing and spending borrowing from who let me just take my little map out here republican majority and president bush one point zero five trillion dollars mr speaker that foreign nation they did not exist prior to this republican majority have an opportunity to have their way along with following the president and bad policy japan they own a part of the american pie did american people do that no didn't democrats do that no remember republican majority did it with the present a united states six hundred eighty two point eight billion dollars  relates to the rich china communist china we have a number of our jobs we have u s workers training people to go to do their jobs in china ninety percent of the engineers will no longer be in the united states of america they will be and china they will be in asia they will be in other countries and so we have folks that are attending school now those that can afford i'm going to get that at the minute mr speaker those did it can still afford to go to school not the help of the of the federal government because we've cut that in the republican majority would like to cut that a budget also they would like to attend school but you know that's something that hopefully the democratic majority in the next congress will be able to vie for them china they own two hundred forty nine point eight billion of the american apple the united kingdom owns two hundred twenty three point two billion they're buying our debt i mean it's not like that was a republican to be kind of hard for me to go back home and share with people that i'm a let's go conservative i mean just because you say you are doesn't necessarily mean you are this is these are the fa seventy one point three billion taiwan opec nations we have a lot of problems with opec nations but better yet only paying through the nose that upon countries like iran democratic policy that relates to the budget as it relates to governing in a way that everyone can participate and be a part of this united states of america then they can join on because i believe that the american people may very well see fit not just democrats not just independents but there are some republicans out there that are saying what happened what happened to the folks that lined up out here on the steps with the speaker and said what this contract on america meant for america whatever it was called that we were going to balance the budget that we were going to be fiscally sound that we weren't going to be where we're going to be spending the biggest of florida and i was just kind of going down the line and all to hear that speaker and other members the fact that we were supposed to vote on the budget if not tonight tomorrow it was pulled it wasn't pulled someone may go home and say and i want to make sure what was that republican president bush's budget which republicans said you know as we've been doing for the last six seven years the president has been in office the oldest president who right with you and me we don't have a process you send it to us we'll just rubber sta  to to to make us the leaders of the free world in the future you can continue to keep us in front that's fine mr president whatever you say and we'll do and the bottom line here is that the pressure was too great here and we were the ones that called out what was wrong and i'm going to tell you this was michele i think some members on the majority side a little bit uncomfortable going home for a couple of weeks man a speaker sharing you know you know as you know wholly recall the we coming  we weren't able to vote on the budget and it's pretty simple i mean finally finally it became obviously became clear to many of our republican colleagues because we were all unified on the democratic side there was going to be a single democratic vote for this budget because we're not going to put a vote up for increasing the deficit or maintaining the deficit as it is we're not going to put a vote up that's going to continue to increase our national debt we're not going to put a vote up on that board that makes drastic cuts in education we're not going to put a vote up on that board that cuts veterans health care and we are going to put a vote up on that board that failed to protect the environment this budget this republican budget would have done all of those things and you know what finally i've been here fifteen months is to make fifteen months i'm a i'm a freshman this is my first year just completed my first year in congress and finally someone found a conscience on the other side of the aisle finally it wasn't that they just put that bill out there and you saw and i thought i was being wrenched and the board held open long enough so they could finally wrench the votes that they need exactly what's going on i mean i don't know that she ought to go out there and represent the super wealthy