all powerful and ever living god direct your love and highest inspirations within us congress stands today between days of retreat for both republican and democrat members of the house may these days of reflection and planning be blessed with clarity of vision and unified resolve filled with gratitude for the people and the many gifts to stow it upon this nation help them to be attuned not only to the problems and questions of your people but empower them to build upon their strengths and their hopes for the future you alone can lift your servants above self interest and fractured alliance lions is to create a renewed solidarity that will bring this nation to unity and peace only by discerning such gifts within ourselves laurie can we bring the seed of promise to others but we place our trust not in money nor in munitions but in the meaning you bring to your people now and forever and a chair examined a journal of the last  without objection don't recognize this is figure out rice today to support the bipartisan economic stimulus plan that will help strengthen our nation's economy and help millions of americans taxpayers that that will help them and their families my congressional district the median household income is thirty six thousand and those families face rising prices and utilities food and health insurance would stretch their monthly budgets to nearly the breaking point also nearly thirty nine percent of this households are headed by single mothers living below the poverty level who struggle to feed and clothe their children would limit the budgets as they are the sole earners the stimulus package will provide at least nine hundred dollars to the single mothers and their families which he mr speaker i'm glad to support the bipartisan economic stimulus plan and as my colleagues on both sides to join us today in support of this legislation i yield back the balance of my time generally goes back a time what persimmon texas writes quest mission to address  house one minute john and recognize mr speaker the chinese attack on the christian faith continues for sixty days the chinese government has held shi'a won a christian bookstore owner in secret detention for praying as china readies for the two thousand and eight summer olympics trying to convince critics that it embrace is religious freedom but china is secretly moving religious believers to the dark damp hidden hideaway of jail china restricts all religious practice to state sanctioned churches and certain places of worship so chinese don't dare crowd pray or worship anywhere else or off to jail they go so that's what happened a show i want chinese religious tolerance is a public relations campaign draped in hypocrisy china arrests thousands of christians muslims buddhist each year as religion is being attacked across a thing to communist china we should recall winston churchill's words about communism a communist is like a crocodile when it opens its mouth you cannot tell whether it's trying to much recognize thank you mr speaker the civil rights movement was full of heroes whose names we know and many whose names we will never know despite the depth of their sacrifice just recently this nation remembered dr martin luther king jr whose good works are known to our nation and to the world today i'm honored to remember and celebrate the life of another extraordinary civil rights leader who helps stand up against injustice in our nation state senator gwendolyn britt passed away recently but she left behind an extraordinary legacy she first showed up against racial segregation not in montgomery alabama but in montgomery county maryland at glen echo park just about twenty minutes drive from this capitol it was a hot summer even in june one thousand nine hundred sixty glen echo park was segregated the time and gwendolyn britton african american purchased a ticket to ride on the carousel she was arrested that day her case went to the supreme court of this country and it was just the first of many brave acts in standing up against injustice by gwendolyn britt a person who changed our community and changed our country and i today to call on the democrat majority to pass a permanent fix to our nation's fund surveillance law and give our intelligence communities the tools they need to protect american families it has been six months since this body passed a temporary patch to the foreign intelligence surveillance act if congress fails to pass a permanent fix our nation's intelligence community will once again be limited in their abilities to track terrorists and defeat their efforts to murder americans in th his state of the union address last night president bush reiterated to members of both parties that the time to act is now and on this most important of issues will it to the american people not to put american families that risk we can all agree that the safety and well being of our nation's families is our most priority so let's work together on an agreement that can ensure that we meet the challenge of defending our nation for the long term enemies will not hesitate to exploit our intelligence loopholes it is imperative that we not give them that opportunity in conclusion god bless our troops and we'll never forget september eleventh selling us back a tear for what purpose a gentleman from new york wri have already begun reforming the earmark process we realized the reform was necessary after a number of earmarks in appropriations bills skyrocketed under the republicans you didn't hear the president complaining then in fact he signed every appropriations bill that came to his desk democrats in stark contrast have led the way in bringing transparency and accountability to the earmark process we instituted a one year moratorium on earmarks in two thousand and seven until a reform process the bush white house for question receives funding for hundreds of earmarks each year and we look forward to working with the president to both limit and bring increased transparency to the presidential and congressional earmarks thank you know you'll back the balance of my time what parts of gentleman from attended high school ballpark anetta and went on to study auto body repair at the apollo career center in lima teachers coaches family members and friends all described mike as a remarkable reliable hardworking young man who excelled at every activity in which he was engaged in his time on this earth mike had a positive impact on the on people in his life when he decided to join the military shortly after the september eleventh attacks he touched the life of every american family that lived under the blanket of safety he helped provide my school craft died on saturday january  twelve serving america in support of operation iraqi freedom in recognition of his valor service he was posed to ms lee promoted to sergeant mike is survived by his new wife amber who lives in a why mike's mother cynthia along with many friends and loving family members live near his boyhood home his father john lived in indiana mike stood up and volunteered to serve this great country he fought to promote freedom he gave his life in defense of his family his community his state and his nation for this each and every american knows him and his family a great de opposed the legislation at that time because it authorized a massive unregulated electronic fishing expedition and approached anted to ensnare innocent americans and a sloppy inefficient way to collect intelligence it lacks the basic standard of court review of the if we've learned anything it's when officials must establish before an independent court that they know what they're doing that when they collect communications we get better intelligence than we do through indiscriminate collection and fishing expeditions extending the p a is unnecessary because existing orders issued under it will continue for a year and are broad enough in scope to deal with any contingencies that may arise in november we passed in this body a good bill to replace the p a congress should never pass legislation under duress brought on by propaganda misinformation and fear mongering i urge my colleagues to remember this when we debate the topic today joe manuals back this time what part of  sent one minute without objection gentleman is recognized mr speaker economists say the most important thing congress can do to stimulate our struggling economy is to act quickly and that is exactly what this house is going to do today house leaders from both parties worked with the president to craft a bipartisan agreement that is before us we came together and by acting quickly we're hoping that our action sparks our economy the package is going to provide some relief to middle income families that have been left behind in many ways over the last seven years this bill gives one hundred seventeen million americans a tax rebate so they can begin to breathe a little easier when paying their bills in the coming months equally important this economic package also gives tax breaks to small businesses to help spur investment and job creation mr speaker economists said we need to act fast and that's what we times are rough right now signs of economic turmoil are multiplying and we seem to be really headed for already are in a recession last week stock markets around the world dropped precipitously and only an emergency rate by the federal reserve federal reserve prevented them from falling even farther the people i represent in the hudson valley have been particularly hard hit oil passed a hundred dollar a barrel mark making it more expensive than ever for people to heat their homes and drive their cars and suburban communities in the northeast like the area i represent home heating bills are up by more than thirty percent over last year expenses are rising wages are stagnating and as a result families struggle to pay their everyday costs our debts increase and investment in our future plummets congress congress must act quickly i'm proud that this congress will pass legislation today to stimulate the economy to help people and businesses formally pursuant to roll eight of the rules of the house of representatives that i have received a subpoena for testimony issued by the u s district court for the eastern district of virginia after consultation with the office of general counsel i have determined that compliance with th is consistent with the precedents and privileges of the house signed sincerely stephanie r butler pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules under which  taken later today my colleagues last night while attending our president's final state of the union i was encouraged to hear him say quote ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer is one where you form that would put private coverage within reach for millions and i call on the congress to pass this piece of legislation this year my colleagues i'd like to draw your attention to the health care tax reduction act of two thousand and seven a bill which i have authored and one that accomplishes this goal of ensuring every american man woman and child the spill allow individuals a tax deduction from gross income for health insurance premiums and under reimburse prescription drug expenses for themselves and their families i urge sponsor this bill and attack this problem with meaningful and responsible legislation with this legislation we can end the debate over inefficient government run health care gentlemen yells back it's time for what purpose i'm in pennsylvania ri about objections on his record thank you mr speaker in august of last year congress passed the protect america act to close a dangerous loophole in our ability to collect intelligence information on foreign targets in foreign countries when this legislation expires on thursday of this week our intelligence community responsible to collect intelligence on terrorist enemies will lose their eyes and ears congress has stalled for six months to review the policy and come up with a solution to bring five up to date with our twentieth century twenty first century technologies and give our intelligence community the tools they need to fight terrorism now the house was to pass a thirty day extension the senate can't even agree to that democrats in congress want to empower judges and lawyers in their discovery proceedings and frivolous lawsuits over intelligence needs the laws governing our intelligence collection should not be dealt with in the same way one pays our rent for an apartment month a month we need to pass legislation to permanently create a solution that gives our intelligence community the two tools they need to fight terrorism that threatens the security of every american you know back down on us back i but not one major newspaper aside from the washington times featured these poll results instead the national media has portrayed the voter id issue as unpopular with voters to the contrary the new survey found strong bipartisan support for voter id including sixty three percent of democrats and independents as well as over three fourths of republicans clearly voter id has broad support among americans it's unfortunate you'll never hear about it from the major media across time for what purpose the gentleman from new york wri fifty one forty a bill to provide economic stimulus through the recovery rebates to individuals incentives for business investment and an increase in conforming an f h a loan limits resulting in to our lives equally divided between both sides with objection so order twenty minutes of my time to beacon trolled by the chairman of the financial services committee congressman barney frank of massachusetts without objection so ordered mrs speaker and i have asked the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation to make available to the public a technical explanation of the provisions of h r five one four zero the technical explanation expresses the committee's understanding and legislative intent behind this important legislation this explanation document j c x that is five dash o eight is currently available on the joint committee's website and i like to take this time to i was over at this time the balance of my time the gentleman reserves this time gentleman from louisiana mr speaker i ask unanimous consent to allow the ranking member of the financial services committee the ability to control twenty minutes of the time on our side without objection so order i thank speaker and mr speaker we're here and this afternoon to discuss a matter that the president treasury  department former officials of the clinton administration all agree is extremely important for the economic health of the country when we speak of the economic health mr speaker we are talking about not only the rate of g d p growth not only the health of the financial markets we're talking about the impact on real people all the decline in the country's economic health that means job losses that means financial hardship for individuals and families so the leadership mr speaker of the house democratic and republican have worked hand in hand with the white house the treasury department to craft a package that we can call an economic growth package an economic stimulus package doesn't matter to me what we call it but it seems to me mr speaker that the weight of the evidence if we listen to the opinions of respected economists respected former officials of the treasury department current members of the treasury department the weight of the evidence indicates to me at least that the downside of this congress doing nothing right now is much greater than any downside of our doing something around the level of that is being proposed by the leadership in this house and the white house in this package that we're considering this afternoon so m speaker i am eagerly awaiting passage of this i hope that the other body follow suit in an expeditious manner and that we can get this package to the white house for the president's signature and we hope that this will have the intended effect which is to avert a recession and to reduce the downturn that everybody agrees is under way  want to thank mr mccrary for getting his views and his willingness to listen to mine with both of us understanding that at the end of the  day people are not concerned with out differences but they were concerned about the united states government responding to their needs and to that extent of course i want to thank speaker and recognizing the legislative and political precious as she negotiated with the using the skills of secretary of treasury h paulson and working with the distinguished minority leader and recognizing that we were pawed of trying to make certain that the american people knew that we were to do everything that we wanted to do but we did not know obligation to come together with some type of a compromise and i think it was historic as we expanded to reach people who would have been ignored had it not been for changes that were made and how we get the money to people so i want to like to want to thank the leadership of the house but make it abundantly clear that all of us thought at the time that we agreed to this agreement that the senate was appeared to accept our agreement without change that's why in the standing now as we talk that the senate finance committee is marking up their own stimulus package and i assume that it will not deviate substantially from what the leadership of this house has done but i do hope that it's made abundantly clear that the house has done its responsibility and that if there's anything that impedes the senate from complying to the mandate that the president has set on a congress that they to have and obligation to make the type of compromises that's necessary so that we can move forward i also would like to add that sometimes is very difficult in being chairman of a committee that not only do we have partisan differences but we have differences among my own party and while we are reaching out to provide assistance to people who are suffering economically i cannot hope but remind myself that these people were not selected out of any compassion of wanted to helping the poor and those in need indeed the main reason that these people talk it is because economists conservative or liberal agree that th we're giving has to be timely fast has to be talking to people that are going to have to spend the money and as the be temporary so that we don't do severe additional damage to the deficit i submit to you mr speaker that we're talking about the heart of america hardworking middle class people that are now being targeted because they can't afford to take care of their families yes they have to spend the money to put food on the table but shoes on their kids fate put clothing on their back to pay for shelter and i submit that we shouldn't walk away from this ouse because we've given economic assistance proud of the fact that millions of people in this country find themselves in that predicament and for that the congress cannot be charged and i do hope after we finish going through this bipartisan effort which we have to do that we might find some way to tell these people that we're going to vide relief without considering the stimulus but we're to provide relief because it's the right thing to do and no men and women in this country to work hard every day should have to be sigma ties that they can afford to provide a different type of lifestyle for their family because they can't meet their obligations and so i hope in the way we in a bipartisan way have cooperated with this administration that they recognize that the tax code which is tilted toward the wealthy and therefore supposed to create jobs in the world for the middle class as they work this time and maybe we can think in terms of how we can bring more equity to to disposable income the roads we will work hard every day and not have to target them before because of their inability to meet the needs but you know that we did what we should have done the privilege of recognizing me german reserves this time gentleman from louisiana i reserve my mind about my time gentleman reserves his time gentleman from new york i'd like at this time i rise today in strong support of this economic stimulus package and i commend the house leadership on both sides of the aisle for their efforts in quickly getting this important legislation to the floor and while this bill may not be perfect very few if any are it will go a long way toward stimulate now economy while hip and many americans struggling to make ends meet as a speaker these are terrible at times for many working families unemployment numbers are up and the housing market is down energy costs are rising and stock values of falling in short mr speaker our economy is underperforming and the american people are looking to us for leadership this measure seeks to stimulate growth by helping businesses and workers it expands tax rebates to one hundred seventeen million families and office write off to small businesses to assist them in the creation of much needed jobs this legislation serves as an important first step towards moving our economy in a new direction i encourage needs to support this legislation the american people are looking for a new direction and this legislation provides just that thank you mr speaker now you're back to back about that german you're back a time gentleman from minute mr speaker watch inish stimulus package is a good b not enough but i believe it is important to move it i say not enough because the committee have financial services has been doing particularly with the subprime crisis and the troubles that generated we have in this stimulus package by agreement between both sides here and the administration something that we're very hopeful there are further things that are important that are not in this package and no one should think that because they're not in this package we are not going to go and deal with them and as soon as this is done we made a mess stake at some point in public policy by setting as a limit for those three agencies which here with housing finance and facilitate as you finance one flat nationwide dollar limit in fact nothing in our economy varies in the pricing area as much as house prices because houses are immobile automobile prices coding prices food prices there are some regional variations but they tend to be closer house prices have very very great variation for obvious reasons and in fact the limits that have been set which were intended to prevent luxury housing from benefiting from these public or public private programs in much of the country excludes not just luxury housing but housing for people of moderate middle incomes now that's always been a problem to many of us but recently it's become part of an economic problem the mortgage market we understand has been suffering at the lower end at the sub prime end because people with weaker credit were charged too much with we should always know a racial and ethnic discriminatory factor but in general there was a problem there what we now face and have for some time is a problem at the higher end because of the uncertainty in the mortgage market people are unwilling to invest people are unwilling to buy the mortgages we have come to be dependent on helpfully so it seems to me on the secondary market in which the originators have to sell their loans people will not now invest in buying loans that are above the levels at which the f economic stimulus package and let me share with the members a conversation i had yesterday i traveled to new york city and there i met with twenty to twenty five of the financial leaders of our country executives with some of the largest banks and other lending institutions insurance company in america insurance companies in america and almost to the person they tell me that they have been talking to businesses all over the united states and the message they continue to get from the majority of those business leaders is our business is good we're making money we are receiving new orders we want to expand we want to hire people we want to invest in new equipment we want to invest in new technology but we're holding back because we hear that things are getting worse we hear that things may get worse we're reading that in the newspaper and we're not sure so i believe that what we have here in america today and let's not to manama's the problems i want to speak about the housing market in a minute and as chairman frank said i'll not minimize the difficulties that we have in the housing market or sub prime but let me say to the members let's not talk ourselves and the american people and our recession and and i'm not saying that any of us are not a that's not directed any member i just want to allow say it this way let i want to encourage the members and all americans to have confidence in this country have confidence in our market because i will tell you that people in new york that are looking out there in america are saying that a lot of businesses are or their business is good they want to invest they want to hire people so part of what i think is so good about this stimulus package is that i believe it will encourage people to have confidence it will encourage people to invest or spend the financial services committee as chairman frank said was responsible for the housing portion of the stimulus package and i'll direct some statements to those portions in a minute before i do i want to add a few words and strong support of the tax cuts contain the stimulus package and they are tax cuts the stimulus package that we're considering today recognizes the basic economic reality that getting money back in the hands of people who aren't it is the best way to help our economy the tax element of this package has been called a rebate but in essence it's a tax cut a tax cut for millions of low and middle income americans those who need it the most those on with a moderate income i believe this will have an immediate and it will be immediate tax relief for hard working  taxpayers and the improvement and to our economy that always results from allowing tax payers to decide how they're our hard earned money will be spent will be beneficial economists tell us that the vast majority some will save it but that's their choice not our choice that's america i'm confident that whether they save it whether they spend it whether they pay down their bills whether they invest as businesses will in new equipment that it'll all be good for america hopefully it'll stimulate not only the economy but it was also prompt not colleague to enact additional tax cuts in the future and make the bush tax cuts that have worked so well permanent is widely recognized that the trouble housing market is is a significant contributor to the current downturn in our economy it is not contributing to our economy as it has in the past we all know housing prices are down this stimulus package includes several provisions designed to address that lack of liquidity that week market in certain segment of the mortgage market the building creases but only for on a temporary basis the loan limits that a plot of mortgages that can be purchased by the housing g s t fannie and freddie and by ensuring that the federal housing administration and those that are insured by the federal housing administration most people refer to it will increase the size of those mortgages and mortgages that they can insure and offer greater availability of higher college mortgages and f h a insured loans will help get perspective homebuyers off the sidelines and into the housing market we're hearing that today from the national relativity in those markets there been price declines in some they've been particularly severe  this legislation will assist existing homeowners to refinance loans that they're struggling with it will also allow those who want to buy and are on the sidelines now to begin making offers and to restore our housing market the combined changes i believe will help restore confidence to our sister economy and we need that confiden s season f h a loan limits like the other provisions of the package are both targeted and temporary that they expire at the end of this year there by addressing the concerns of those who fear that expanding eligibility for the g s t and f h a loan products will loan duly increased federal housing subsidy i share those concerns while i would have preferred that the increase should be ample amended as part of a comprehensive g s t and f h a reform i'm encouraged very encouraged by the commitments that chairman frank and the chairman of the senate banking committees have made that achievement o those broader reforms to the g s t and f h a are a priority for them also and that achievement of those broader reforms will be among the highest priorities of this congressional session i look forward to that important work as the g s sees purchase larger mortgages and take on more risks it is incumbent that this congress produce legislation that creates a world class regulator for these enterprises and fully protect u s taxpayer we've heard from both the treasury secretary and the president in the need for this reform this house has passed legislation making that reform our colleagues in the senate to follow our example let me close by saying the bottom line i believe is we must not only take the measures we do today which are going to offer real solutions but also do whatever we can to increase and encourage optimism among americans that's what we need hope has been mentioned very often in th presidential campaign we need to our message needs to be to the american people are khana me is strong there are businesses that are ready to hire ready to invest ready to buy new technology there's a legitimate reason for optimism today and we should promote that optimism mr speaker let me conclude by commending president bush chairman fr chairman rangle ranking member mccrary and all the republican and democratic leadership of the house for coming together so quickly for the stimulus package there is hope for america there's reason for optimism this package i believe will contribute to that optimism and that hope thank you mr speaker general reserves this time gentleman from new york this is speaking as we move forward to pass this  historic piece of legislation that has been every question of us i am deede on it to eal one minute two of spica who on december ninth called us together to decide what we should be doing if indeed the economy was moving wade has not only did she bring us together but she brought republicans and democrats together and dealing with the administration in a way that some of us never thought was possible so it's a great honor for me to support a deal one minute to distinguish spica generated from california is recognized thank you very much mr speaker i thank the gentleman for his kind and generous remarks i especially thank him for his tremendous leadership because under his leadership we were able to day to vote on something that is relevant to the lives of the american people i commend  boehner for his leadership as well it's been a privilege to work in a bipartisan way to help relieve the pain of the american people for a long time now homeowners and home homemakers homeowners hard workers across america have known that there was a problem in our economy they had a hard time making hand and ends meet living paycheck to paycheck with rising costs for gasoline for groceries for health care you name it american families felt this pain early on and they knew that our economy was facing a perhaps a serious downturn but a downturn none the less on december seventh that was actually i remember because my seventh grand baby was born that day thomas vincent on december seventh we had a meeting of a bipartisan meeting with leaders from the business community from the economist leaders of industry of labor the academic community people representing workers in the diversity of our country and we talked about what we could do to head off a serious downturn in our economy we knew from that meeting that it would have to be timely that we would need to act quickly that it would have to be targeted it would be targeted to those would put money in the pockets of hardworking  immediately spend the money to meet their needs inject demand into the economy to help create jobs and it had to be temporary the tax incentives in the package would have to be such that they would have to be acted upon in this calendar year so that the full impact could be felt for job creation and similar stimulus to the economy previous stimulus packages have not had that they had a two year period of time in which the incentives  work and therefore they lost impact previous stimulus packages did not have a cap on who received the rebate or the tax cut is mr baucus calls it and so therefore a lot of money went into the hands of people who never really spent it and inject it back in to the economy but this is timely we're acting very quickly not hastily but quickly and firmly in a disciplined way on a package that has its one criterion for anything that's in the package is it stimulus is it stimulus and does it meet the test of enabling us to move in a timely fashion targeted and temporary i was pleased that working with  my colleague mr boehner and with the administration on the leadership of secretary paulson that we were able to come to terms on how we would proceed we could only do that because of the extraordinary  respect that mr rangle is help with it which he is held and mr mccrary and then working cooperatively as they have for a while we could only include in the package those features that related to the sub prime crisis because of the extraordinary a reputation of this distinguished chairman of the financial services committee mr fred thank because understanding the terms under which we wanted to proceed and respecting his his expertise in those areas and and those of mr baucus as well so this has been pie partisan in terms of committee in terms of working together over time and bipartisan in terms of the leadership working together in a short time frame benefiting from the work that has gone before us this important in this package to to to have a level of discipline because one of the features that the economists business leaders labor leaders etc had told us in the course of all of these discussions is that you don't want to do anything in a stimulus package that will hinder your ability to act in a recovery so it's important for that this that this bill not get overloaded i have a full agenda of things i would like to have in the package but we have to contain the price and in doing so you have to establish your priorities and the priority we had was to put twenty eight billion dollars in the hands of thirty five million families who had never received a rebate or a child tax credit before and to do it quickly and that was our priority because if you do to do that again is true stimulus all the other things while worthy and important again we made a decision because that's where we can find our common ground but if we keep too much on top of the package it will then take us deeply into debt and paygo is important to us and while i'm in recession of spago law allows for as to make certain take certain initiatives you don't want to abuse that by again going to adding to the deficit for items in the end a package that are not strictly timely temporary targeted or stimulus so i think we have a good product here thought it's all a compromise it's all about decisions and priorities that have be established but it also speaks to the fact that we really do hopefully we need to work in a bipartisan way to have a very aggressive initiative for job creation in our country and we've already laid the facts framework for that in a bipartisan way we've had overwhelming votes in this congress for example on s chip expanding health care to many more children in america health care need health trained perfect professionals at every aspect of the delivery of health care so it creates good paying jobs in america when you expand health care accessibility to american education innovation all of those are about create keeping us competitive keeping us number one again creating good paying jobs in america so that we prevail in the work and the global marketplace when we talk about infrastructure that we must have a package for rebuilding our roads our highways mass transit taking initiatives for new new projects as well creating good paying jobs in america and global warming we as a generation as a congress will be judged as to by posterity as to how we deal with the issue of the current global climate crisis this affords for us a whole new world of job opportunity where we're all on the ground floor largely where we go into urban america in our inner cities are we going to rural america and create good paying green jobs that are new it's about being entrepreneurial about this to thinking in new and different ways about how our decisions have to be seen in light of do they create good paying jobs in america so that we again while we stand ready to present a stimulus if need be we want to in the long term and not that long term but a longer term than a stimulus create jobs to avoid such a downturn and in any event raise the living standards of the american people and so whether it's about this rebate and what it means to these hardworking americans who are facing rising cost and i need help to live paycheck to paycheck or whether it is and i'm telling you that's not just the working poor that is the middle class in america this is a middle class tax rebate bill it is a middle class we call it the recovery rebate an economic stimulus to the american people act it targets the middle class and those who aspire to it and for that same middle class we must have an ongoing aggressive initiative for job creation so that that across the board america's families have the confidence that they need because in a downturn what you need is confidence you need consumer confidence you need confidence in the markets and you need to dick say i think as mr wrangle always tells me a message of confidence is given to the american people when members of congress can work with the administration in a bipartisan way to put the american people first so i thank you mr chairman i thank all mr chairman mr frank mr rangle mr  colleagues to mr serrano misspell esquire's and charlie rangle again for all their leadership in terms of the territories which is a very important part of this legislation and i think it's a good day for us here and let's hope that the senate will take its lead from us and be disciplined focused fiscally responsible and act in a timely temporary and targeted well on behalf of meeting the needs of the american people thanking the general radials backer time gentlemen for louisiana trouble and the best way congress can help fix it is to cut taxes but this bill is too little and too late rather than sending checks that want to arrive until june five months from now congress can give the economy the immediate shop in the arm it needs by eliminating federal income tax withholding for a month or two that would give wage earners a boost in their take home pay next month which they can span or save or reduce their debt individual income tax rates could be adjusted so the tax payers won't be helped when they file their two thousand and eight tax returns a year from now rather than telling the country that the checks in the mail in june let's do the right thing that will put money into taxpayers pockets in the quickest and least bureaucratic way possible by canceling federal income tax withholding for a limited period of time until that time gentleman from massachusetts which is big right now yield two minutes to the chairman of the subcommittee on financial capital markets of our committee a man to have a major role in  with the structural issues going forward mr kanjorski of pennsylvania two minutes gentleman is recognized for two minutes the speaker i rise to applaud the president bipartisan house leadership for quickly coming to an agreement to stimulate the economy through legislation that is timely targeted in temporary the bill the force today contains an important version that i helped to craft as the chairman of the subcommittee of george diction this reform will temporarily increase the conforming loan limits of fannie mae and freddie mac to enhance the liquidity of several local mortgage markets i support the short term change i would however also like to take the opportunity to encourage the congress to expand the economic stimulus plan to include cash benefits for those citizens whose only source of income is so security our nation's seniors and disabled individuals are facing difficult times  economic times for years these men and women have been forced to survive on less and less and their costs continue to increase and their incomes remain the same in my home state of pennsylvania home heating prices are thousand percent in the last year gas prices are up eighty six percent in five years food prices continue to rise and seniors continue to struggle with high prescription drug costs low income senior citizens and disabled individuals are forced to make terrible choices to try to cope with these realities these americans need cash rebates just as much as the individuals currently included in the stimulus bill mr speaker once again i applaud the bipartisan effort that brought the second amik stimulus package to the floor we should also work to ensure that our nation's seniors and disabled individuals are included in this worthwhile legislation thank you and i yield back t three minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding mr speaker i rise in an enthusiastic support of this legislation perhaps it is a true sign of bipartisanship i think if we were all honest with ourselves we would say there was much about this legislation that disappoints us yet most of us will support it mr speaker my own personal disappointment is i think very little economic stimulus in the so called economic stimulus package i see tax relief income tax relief for those who do not pay income taxes i see tax relief for middle income families which is very important very important mr speaker at a time when their paychecks squeezed with high energy costs with high food cost and high health care cost but i don't confuse tat temporary tax rebates with economic growth now i did look closely and there is some economic growth component of this legislation for which i approve but ultimately true growth doesn't come from temporary tax rebates it comes from allowing entrepreneurs in families and capitalists to actually have their own capital to expand and grow the economy the last time our nation was facing a recession i went to a small factory in my district called jacksonville industries they employed twenty one people they were in the luminal diecast business because of competitive pressures they were on the verge of laying off two people but because of the tax relief passed by this congress particularly expensing capital gains tax relief they bought a new piece of equipment and that new piece of equipment made them more competitive and instead of laying off two people they hired two new people and so mr speaker i ask the question surely middle income families i know they need help but this package i fear is more a can to helping them pay one month's worth of credit card bills at a time when people are getting laid off at the local factory when instead what they really need to know is that their pay the check is preserved and that they have opportunities to even that paycheck and that their employer can become more competitive and give them more opportunities to advance and grow that paycheck and mr speaker unfortunately those components are sadly lacking if we wanted those components in the bill the first thing we would do mr speaker is trying to prevent all of these scheduled tax increases on families in the economy that our friends on this side of the aisle have put in place the second thing we would do mr speaker is trying to make our business tax rate more competitive with our international competitors we have the second highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized nation that's what we need to do now mr speaker many people here come with their theories i come with evidence if you look early on in zero three if you look to the reagan administration the kennedy administration when you're faced with a recession lower marginal tax rates lower capital gains rates and you will grow people's paychecks that's the economic growth that we need back it's time now not for new york the committee has reported out a bill that reduces corporate taxes thirty five percent to thirty point five i'm not saying that we have all of the answers but it does challenge the minis to come forward a the would support opposition a compromise but i agree with the last make a it's my great honor to recognize mr last of the gentleman from connecticut vice chair leader in the democratic party a leader in the congress and then our country and i recognize him for two minutes john was recognized for two minutes thank you thank you mr speaker and thank you mr chairman for those generous remarks i rise to letter and then of course by making sure that we could bring to fruition this important package it wouldn't happen though without the leadership of charlie rangle and jim mccrery who have a pit of my eyes in this chamber what working together is all about and the productive results that can come from that i'm so pleased and honored to see that this package reaches out to thirty five million people thirty five million americans who would otherwise never know the benefits of a stimulus package and debunks once and for all the myth that they do not pay taxes they pay the most regress is regressive of taxes and therefore this is money that will help stimulate this economy immediately and again i commend the leadership for coming up with this progressive approach we also recognize that there is much more that needs to be done as well again i want to com chairman charlie rangle for recognizing the kind of long term stimulus that we're going to need president roosevelt said of another generation they had a rendezvous with destiny for america today what mr rangle understands recognizes is that we have a run day blue with reality it's a reality that people face every day when they stay or across the kitchen table and look at their spouses and understand what's happening to our economy when you look at the national debt when you look at the trade imbalance when you look at personal credit card debt when you look at the college tuition debt that people are experiencing that's what's happening with this middle class crunch that's why long term investing in infrastructure is so important and again i am a man running iron tire body for pursuing it you i think the gentleman mr speaker americans are increasingly concerned about the u s economy and in michigan economy is the number one issue families worry about it's critical for congress to address this issue and enact legislation that will encourage job growth renew consumer confidence and spur new business investment today we can't afford to wait and waste time loading up a bill with extra spending measures the bill before us is a positive step and one we should take i want to thank chairman rangle and ranking member mccurry and the leadership on both sides for bringing this bill forward today however i don't know a single american who prefers a tax rebate even a rebate as generous as this one to a good paying job so by no means is this the only step we should take if we're to become truly competitive and create long term job growth in this country the tax code continues to be a drag on families and businesses and if we're serious about putting america on a growth track we must tackle substantive tax reform sooner rather than later in one thousand nine hundred sixty sixty america was home to eighteen of the world's twenty largest corporations and their employees by one thousand nine hundred six however only eight of the world's largest companies and their employees were based in america that shouldn't surprise us the united states is the second highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world while the average rate is thirty one percent the u s rate is a whopping thirty nine percent exceeded only by japan at forty percent so before we congratulate ourselves on the economic stimulus package about to address this jarring trend that is far more dangerous to american prosperity the next quarter's economic forecast i urge my colleagues to send this bill to the president as quickly as possible and to begin begin to address long term strategies such as regulatory relief tax reform and expiring tax relief measures staind job creation economic growth and i reserve the balance in the negotiations on this most important stimulus package despite the fact there are some differences and some things we would have liked to explain differently this was a good effort and i think we all have to get behind this effort and move forward with that i'm thankful for the work that the speaker did and in particular and i rise in support of the economic stimulus package before us today it is urgently needed in light of home foreclosure rates that are seventy percent above the same time last year labor department figures show that a sharp down slowdown and job creation actually took place in december and the worst holiday season and over five years americans need help and i applaud speaker pelosi but working with the administration and minority leader boehner to provide it to them and quickly this package will provide rebates to one hundred seventy million households the kind of broad based relief required to help jumpstart consumer spending and the economy individuals can look forward to up to six hundred dollars in tax relief why america police may get as much as twelve hundred dollars to meet their expenses including skyrocketing cost of fuel in their cars and heating their homes equally critical this package is not tilted toward the high end come to the extent that the president original proposal was and a thanks to speak about pelosi separate the package includes tax relief about to three a hundred dollars for thirty five million working individuals who earn too little to pay income taxes a group that had been left out of the initial plan further the bill will temporarily raise loan limits by the g s a zen the f h a which will allow these entities to play an increased thousand and seven i'm pleased that the bill incorporates loan limit increases for loans written by the federal housing administration the reforms in h r eight hundred fifty two are critical in addressing the current foreclosure crisis and i look forward to ensuring an achmet of other elements of this much needed legislation there are a few critical measures to assist our nation's lowest income households those who are most likely to inject any assistance they receive directly into the economy that i'm or i have some reservations about the effectiveness of this economic stimulus package and its impact on our federal deficit however i'm going to support it and one of the reasons that i'm going to support this package is it takes an import in step before about providing more options for homeowners and homebuyers in america but temporarily increasing the size of mortgages for r g s season f h a s they will be able to purchase mortgages and other and high cost areas across the country where some of those people have been locked out of that those particular markets by bringing additional buyers ins into this marketplace and rather than leaving them on the sidelines we're going to help reduce housing inventory is that as you know i've been increasing across the country increasing these conforming loan limits for these these a particular into these adds additional liquidity to a marketplace that is in dire need of additional liquidity will help provide additional mortgages around the country ses it's time for congress to sign that legislation as well we need to do this though without siphoning important resources from these entities at a time where we're going to be relying on them to help provide additional ideas about to improve this legislation that than he but i want to thank him publicly for his leadership and direct in this toward there's bipartisan is story legislation mr rahm emanu was recognized for two minutes thank you mr speaker i like think my chairman while of the speakers have noted some of the shortcomings and their reluctance support i enthusiastically support this legislation unlike the two thousand and one two thousand and three tax cuts in two thousand and one thirty six percent of the tax benefit went to folks or an ng more than two hundred thousand dollars a year in the two thousand and three tax cut sixty seven percent of the tax rebates and tax refunds and tax cuts went to those earning over two hundred thousand a year in this stimulus package zero the lion's share of the tax rebate goes to people earning between forty and eighty thousand dollars a year i enthusiastically support the middle class of this country and we're doing it in this bill thirty seven million americans who are left out of the two thousand wanted two thousand and three tax cut will get twenty eight close to twenty eight billion dollars of this tax cut i enthusiastically support that type of economic prosperity like my colleague on the other side from michigan once we write this economy hopefully with this stimulus package and interest rate cuts we need deal with long term issues on those issues how did we get here in the last seven years our debt went from five point seven trillion to nine point two trillion dollars president bush inherited three years in a row of surplus to six years in a row of deficit spending health care costs went from six million six thousand dollars look for a family of four to doubling to twelve thousand for a family of four college costs increased by over two thousand dollars a year for middle class family energy costs went from a buck thirty nine a gallon to three dollars and seven cents a gallon so i looked into the ethically debating long term future economic challenges that the middle class have been feeling and the reason this is so important is because we reversing and beginning to reverse the economic policies lead to the leading and have been the leading cause of the middle class squeeze rising energy costs rising health care costs rising home values that shut out the middle class depleting savings rates in this country and a median household income that has shrunk by one trepidation as the economic news turned worse and increasingly in the market there were uncertainties about the large tax increases being threatened from the other side of the and i'll and generally a sense of pess about the economy and i came to the conclusion we needed to consider moving forward with the stimulus package today mr speaker i'm proud to say our chamber has an opportunity to find common ground and rally despite our ideological differences behind a short term stimulus package that will have limited utility but will provide the ailing american economy with the right incentives at exactly the right time through bipartisan dialogue an agreement we've been able to settle on a plan that will benefit both wage earners and job creators encourage investment and put more money back at the pockets of america's hardworking middle class families as a result of this plan working americans will have access to extra cash to cushion increased costs and food and energy families in fear of losing their homes will have new opportunity to refinance their mortgages and retain homeownership and businesses will be rewarded for making capital investments here in the domestic economy which in turn will jump start spending and create more good paying jobs this compromise was negotiated as a simple clean and targeted bill it is the best that we can there ladies recognize for one minute thank you mr speaker i rise today in support of h r fifty one forty the stimulus package that will strengthen the economic health of our businesses our nation and the families we represent recently i introduced legislation to double the section one seventy nine expense tax deduction which allow small business owners to write off expenses immediately i'm pleased that this meaningful tax incentive was included in the house  package which encourages small businesses to increase investment and hiring in my district chris dodd owner of down trucking in woodstock illinois is an example of how this will make a difference in one thousand nine hundred eighty chris started his company with one truck twenty eight years later he has a fleet of thirty three his success like small businesses across the country is a cornerstone of our economy however over the last three months his business has declined and he's reduced the work week for many of his drivers when i talked to chris about this incentive he said if something like this came out i'd go full speed instead of stalling expansion plans he would invest now i commend our leadership and the administration in crafting this bipartisan legislation and two minutes don't recognize for two minutes and gentleman for yielding well one year into the liberal democrat majority in congress the economy is struggling in the wake of more government spending threats of tax increases and energy legislation that did nothing to expand our access to domestic reserves this massive american economy is slowing down and the time has come for congress to act to stimulate the economy and stave off the possibility of a democrat recession the stimulus bill that will come to the floor today while welcome will not do enough to stimulate this economy congress must do more the recovery rebate economic stimulus act is a shot in the arm for a patient in need of major surgery now all support this bill because i i believe the american people are overtaxed putting money in the pockets of american families is a good thing i've never met a tax cut i didn't like but this one comes close showering the landscape with government rebates is no way to truly strengthen the foundations of a free market economy if we're serious about bolstering this economy and helping america's working families we must make the president's tax cuts permanent and implement other tax reform focused on capital formation congress should do more but this is a small move in the right direction for families struggling to make a mortgage payment or meet a college loan for families ready to invest in a new car or a home or for a family simply fighting to keep food on the table this relief is needed and welcome with this rebate the american consumer will do their part to revive this economy but i challenge congress and all of our colleagues in both parties to do our part and demand that this legislation ultimately include tax clearly we've had no leadership from the from the executive branch and so i guess that lame has to fall on us and but those are concerned about tax reform we've waited seven years and we've got nothing  objection mr speaker a stimulus package before us today is a call to arms for congress to act on behalf of the american people the president waited too long to offer too little while he spent months pretending the economy was just fine americans were losing their jobs their homes and their confidence last week he apparently woke up noticed the problem and to her credit speaker pelosi negotiated a simulants package that for the first time in seven years recognized our first responsibility to the middle class and america's vulnerable families people earning two thousand dollars two hundred thousand dollars a year don't need a rebate to weather the economic storm but people earning twenty thousand dollars do need one but all the stimulus package does we must recognize it is a work in progress because there is unfinished business we must address in the coming months this package fall silent on the plight of americans who have already lost their jobs in the economy and this prize this package does not address the reforms needed to our unemployment insurance programs to deal with the reality of the modern day workforce competing in a global economy two thirds of the people who pay unemployment insurance can't draw benefits people with part time jobs can't draw benefits spouses whose husbands live are transferred elsewhere and lose the second job the family's been depending on can't draw benefits those are the kinds of things that need to be done but there's nothing new today the gentleman from indiana was i was a wonderful counterpoint in one thousand thirty five when we passed the so security act in this congress during the middle of the depression we passed the so security act unemployment insurance was right in the middle of it the last issue the republicans fought in the united states senate at the very end of the bill was whether or not they should have unemployment i support fifty one forty but i ask you to just a minute the minute chunks recognize for additional minute this is not a day for a victory lap it's a day when we begin to restore the faith of the american people in the ability of their government to act as an agent for positive change this is the first day but it not must not be the last day or we will fail the american people when they need us most but i don't want to see unemployment brought out here married to the war funding like we had to accept when we had the raise in the minimum wage this oughta stand out as old we should stand behind the american workers in their time of need it shouldn't be mixed with a lot of other things i yield back the balance of my time for coming here back tire gentleman from louisiana miss speaker i yield two minutes to disting you mr speaker i don't need much of an excuse to give people back on tax money especially the way we spend it up here in washington sport this mission i appreciate the leadership president bush and the bipartisan way this came together but let's not hold the prayed for ourselves just see a lot of economic estimates vary i am somewhat skeptical about how much impact this tiny package will have on america's large and complex economy i hope it does i worry that this yet may become more a political stimulus package than a true economic stimulus truth is our condom is so strong resilient that a bounces back recovers quickly from major challenges whether it's attacks of nine eleven or the dotcom crash there's no question the housing downturn and future credit crunch are real in serious and without a look at every way to limit their impact but not in any way that prolonging those problems or creates an excuse for a spending spree that we cannot afford our goals a government should be to do you know how arm this point this package of comps is that in fact incentives for small businesses i think will help create new business investment economy which keeps and creates jobs and we should never miss an opportunity to help families at all income levels to stretch their budgets especially with prices so high in the end we should remember that it's not washington that creates jobs but rather a business climate that rewards rather than punishe americans for working smarter for succeeding in developing the innovations that our changing world demands and yield back gentleman years back this time gentleman from massachusetts  go from negative economic data on wages and consumer prices to a falling stock market there was almost no margin for error and today's tight economy we face an urgency and a moral obligation to get it right and ensure no american is forced to live in those margins this legislation represents a strong bipartisan agreement on an economic stimulus package that will begin to provide financial relief and income security to middle class americans most at risk in a perspective recession building on our work to extend the child tax credit and my belief that all hardworking lower middle income families should receive at least a partial credit this package will ensure that any family that pays taxes and earned at least three thousand dollars last year will get a three hundred dollars rebate per child is long past time we finally recognize the child tax credit should be available to all families including those who serve in our military with the economy in so much difficulty this is the right approach immediate focused on those who need resources and who will spend it on like previous efforts to stimulate the economy this package is focused on the middle class and provides real not token relief that includes twenty eight billion dollars in tax relief for thirty five million families who work but make too little to pay income taxes but they pay sales tax fica tax property taxes families who otherwise would not have been included in this recovery effort more than nineteen million of them with children to meet our obligation boost our struggling economy and provide real assistance for middle class americans i urge minutes to a member of the ways and means committee thank gentleman from louisiana for the opportunity to speak and course i come before this body today to stand in support of our bipartisan agreement put together by the president our leadership and effort to boost our economy i do want to express to my chairman and my ranking member my disappointment however at this product in come through the committee since i know we have good leaders beginning with our chairman ranking member who have good ideas and i believe this product should have come through the committee in committee action and committee important but i do stand in support of what i feel is a good compromise under this plan a family of four making seventy thousand dollars a year in the district i represent now in oil will see an extra eight hundred dollars that they can use for family expenses and that's a good thing money that can be spent locally and creating local jobs i'd like to focus on what the component that i feel is the centerpiece of the stimulus package which is the fifty percent bonus depreciation mechanism that works and it should be called rather than bonus depreciation it should be called the invest in american jobs component of the stimulus package because this extra fifty percent bonus depreciation those to invest in new computers and company equipment and assembly lines manufacturing lines are going to get an extra fifty percent for depreciation purposes and that's an incentive to invest in american jobs here in america and that's why bonus depreciation is so important because when we did it in two thousand and three it worked you look at this chart here and one bonus depreciation was passed into law we saw an immediate jump and demand for s manufactured goods and while has an impact it had a big impact now i've heard reports today that our friends in the senate senate finance committee according to reports may be considering cutting in half the bonus  well in two thousand and one in the first bush tax cut we tried thirty percent bonus depreciation back in this period of time as you can see on the chart it had a little bit of an impact no thirty second as the house and senate works out our differences if we pass different legislation i urge that we keep the fifty percent bonus depreciation again the invest in american jobs provision that's in in this very place the president said our economic can in the is undergoing a period of uncertainty for millions of people in this country our economic difficulties are very very certain indy and that's true of the over seven million who are unemployed a condom is agree that unemployment insurance is one of the most stimulati approaches that can be undertaken unemployment is rising significantly in december the total number of unemployed was nine hundred thousand higher than the same month in the prior year and long term unemployment is now twice as high as it was in the last recession almost a fifth of those who are unemployed have been unemployed over twenty six weeks in  michigan seventy two thousand people will exhaust their job benefits their jobless benefits in the first half of this year in the past the extensions of unemployment  mr speaker at this time i recognize the gentleman from california mr campbell for three minutes john of recognized for three minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding and i guess this afternoon i'm going to be a fairly lonely voice in opposition to this bipartisan agreement and i hope my colleagues on both sides the aisle will listen as in the next three minutes i present to you five reasons why i think we should not be passing this bill first of all it is not really going to be stimulative look at what caused the problem that we're in right now this is a credit problem and a capital problem we got into this arguably because people borrowed and spent too much money so what are we going to do we're going to send people a check and say spend it go buy a flat screen t v and save america i just don't think that's the proper stimulus or the right way to go about this second it is really well just redistribution people who pay well over fifty percent of the taxes in this country get nothing zero nada but yet a substantial portion of this package will go to to people who paid nothing in taxes so we call it a tax rebate but people are going to get a rebate the paid nothing and people paid most of the taxes will also get will get nothing third it increases the deficit we have had three years of declining this deficit we're finally seeing perhaps the end of these deficits and now with this and with everything that's going on we're looking at increasing it for the first time in four years maybe going back to a deficit as much as four hundred billion dollars which gets us back to to where we were almost to where we were before nine eleven fourth i know that it says in there that nonresident aliens meaning illegal aliens will not get are not supposed to get a check however this is a two thousand and seven ten forty form and if you look at it you can look around all over the place and see there is no box to check where it says i am a nonresident or illegal alien and therefore i'm not subject and not eligible to receive this check this thing is right for fraud because you send in a tax return pay no money and get a check so there will be opportunities for fraud and finally fifth it goes against all of our long term goals we all all sitting here on a bipartisan basis particularly my friends in the democratic i recently talked about reducing the deficit in getting to  getting to a balanced budget we talked in this country that we don't save enough we talked in this country that many times we need to invest more as some of our friends in some of the emerging markets are doing and we're sending completely the wrong message here a message is don't save span a message for the government which is don't say don't balance but spend we do need stimulus we should be providing stimulus that attacks the problem if your leg hurts don't  do something to try and help your arm help your leg or leg hurts the leg that hurts is credit and capital and there are is stimulus we could do that would in hants the availability of credit and encourage the movement and investment of capital leaves and just want to make sure that we correct the record he said we might go back to the deficits that we had prior to nine eleven i will remind the gentleman that this president inherited a surplus and we had three surplus years preceeding the fiscal year zero one and in fact the clinton administration ended up with a net surplus the only president in our lifetimes to have done so i know  misspoke and i knew what he meant and i share his view on the deficit however i'm very supportive of this package because uniquely deficits i think are justified in the time when you have a crisis economically confronting you and you want to stimulate the economy that is in fact i think classic economics in many way and is what we hear almost every economist telling us from the conservative economists to liberal economists and in between  the early part of this administration and that would turn our economy around grow jobs stimulate growth in point of fact of course we've created about less than a third of the number of jobs that were created from ninety three to twenty one have been created from twenty one to today less than a third in the private sector six million versus twenty million under bill clinton this prediction of economic well being was not in fact true and it's now abundantly clear that millions of hardworking american families are struggling and that the american economy needs a strong shot in the arm i want to congratulate my friend hank paulson the secretary of the treasury i wan congratulate the joint economic committee that provide good statistics our budget committee ways and means committee for the work they've done i want to congratulate mr boehner and mr blunt for the leadership they have shown and  certainly want to congratulate our speaker speaker pelosi all of whom work together tirelessly to try to come to agreement and i want to congratulate mr rangle and mr mccrary who in a bipartisan way worked together to try to get us to where we are today and i think this is good news for the american public is going to vote in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion to reach out to try to get this economy moving and help a lot of americans the number of americans living in poverty the number of uninsured is up by five million and seven million respectively job growth has been unimpressive foreclosures and hit record levels and americans all across this country are struggling with exploding gasoline prices higher grocery bills and increasing college and health care costs  am very pleased that members of both sides of the aisle and the white house have come together in the spirit of bipartisanship and good faith to produce the economic stimulus package that we will have the opportunity of voting on today in particular the speak  the speaker the minority leader mr boehner as i said treasury secretary paulson deserve great credit for their efforts the speaker clearly has as someone who's watched her work on this for the last two weeks i can tell you she was indefatigable and focused as was mr boehner in short this stimulus will put money in the hands of hardworking americans to give them the help they need and at the same time stimulate the economy that's what economists tell us we ought to be doing former treasury secretary larry summers told the new york times last friday and i quote if this stimulus package is scuse me it referring to the stimulus package is a much needed and very constructive step it will provide some confidence but policymaking will need to be on standby because more may be needed and is obviously a fact we hope this will do the job but we will be on alert to make sure that we do not recede further i'm pleased that this stimulus package and here to the principles that democrats have stressed for weeks that are not going to make stimulus back huge be timely targeted and temporary that's literate phrase that rolls from your mouth relatively easily it is a premise or premises on which we have based this package so it would be stimulus so it would be temporary and not exacerbate long term deficits and would be targeted to those people who need it and will help stimulate the economy democrats are particularly pleased that under this package thirty five million working families who would not otherwise have been helped will receive tax relief my friend who spoke before me spoke about the transfer of wealth from one to the other we treat unfortunately fifty percent of america who pays more fica taxes than they do income taxes fifty percent of working americans pay more fica tax they doing and we treat them as if somehow they're not paying taxes they pay property taxes franchise taxes excise taxes sales taxes they pay a lot of taxes and they're hurt this is a tight economy for them and this deal added thirty five million additional americans in the middle income and lower income working americans for with help and they will help stimulate the economy this economic package also will expand financing opportunities for americans in danger of losing their homes i want to congratulate mr frank for the extraordinary leadership he has shown on this issue the mortgage crisis obviously is squeezing many many americans and putting them in danger and too many have already lost their homes but many are in danger of losing their homes it also gives that business stimulus that is a concurrent partner of this stimulus package no only giving people the opportunity to purchase but giving the people the opportunity to expand jobs expand their businesses and grow our economy so i commend it to both sides thank you both sign as for working on this my friend charlie rangle says that during the course of these negotiations he said that no one will the stimulus package in terms of its economic impact give confidence to our country but the fact that we have in a bipartisan way come together and concluded that we can work the speaker i yield two minutes to distinguished member of the ways and means committee the demo and from virginia mr cantor don't recognize for two minutes i thank the gentleman and i too would like to  congratulate the speaker and the leader for bringing the bill to the floor with such expediency i do hope that this is the beginning of a year in which we can count on cooperation for strong pro growth fiscal policy now there's not there's not a person in here who likes everything in this bill and i certainly would be one that was counted that there are provisions in here that i would rather not see but i want to focus on the provisions that i think work and they work because they will point towards job creation and at the end of the day if we're talking about stimulus the best amulets is a job and there are two provisions in here the one which is the bonus depreciation and the other one seventy nine small business expensing which means incentives for our entrepreneurs and our small businesses and large businesses to have cash come to the bottom line to be able to create more jobs and if we can imagine the entrepreneur in our communities at home who are dealing with the question of whether they can deal with an economic downturn or not whether they have to let all jobs or not this is real relief to those entrepreneurs and those small businesses that that's why i'm excited about these jobs about these these provisions that will create these jobs now in response to some of the discussion that has ensued on the floor here i want to say that you know unemployment insurance and other things that may or may not be what what one is for those let if we're talking stimulus let's call those what they are unemployment insurance extension of benefits are are enhancing a safety net i don't think any of us would say that that's a military because  frankly it allows individuals a said to him that while they're looking for a job that is not stimulus for our economy long term i would like to see this house continue to focus on the uncertainty in the investment environment my colleague from cloud of uncertainty for the investors and families in this economy so that we they can count on the fact that their allocation of capital for from a risk based standpoint is going to be rewarded and that means keeping cap ga is left on the meeting sides how much time is remaining gentleman from connecticut has twenty two minutes now you mr speaker with that i am proud to yield to a distinguished member of the ways and means committe gentleman from texas mr dog it for one minute john the recognized for one minute thank you while the bush administration's reaction to the economic downturn was to continue whistling don't worry be happy we were at work on a proper response yes but today stimulus is far less effective than it could have been and should have been because those who doubted that we needed to do anything insisted on supporting only action that would give one of every three dollars to corporate america and would delay until the summer giving any assistance to ordinary working families and now there is even talk about an effort to add tax cut rebates to this bill for multimillionaires that's hardly stimulus unless they decide to increase their tips to the butler or the limousine driver although the risk of recession is very real and it requires a bipartisan response let's be very clear this this bush economic downturn has had its genesis in the wrong headed notion that markets can do no evil whether the subject is environmental protection or economic stability that i think the only desirable action is for the government to get out of the way while the bus administration got way out of the way and as a result we had overzealous lending sometimes fraud in the subprime market while the bush administration stood by we would need one hundred fifty billion dollars stimulus to die if they'd done their job and whatever we do here it can still be stimulus without letting go of the pay as you go rule and adding to our soaring national debt borrowing too much is what helped create this bush economic mess boring even more can make it even worse political expedience should not trump sound fiscal policy i yield back to only your second time the gentleman from alabama has a minute and a half and the gentleman from louisiana has twenty seven minutes general woman is recognized for a minute here thank you mr speaker i'd like to thank the ranking member of the financial services committee i rise today in support of the financial economic stimulus package we have before us as we know our economy as begin has begun to slow after a robust growth period of fifty two months and it is imperative that we aks with lee in a bipartisan manner i congratulate the speaker the minority leader and the president for their ability to work together to come to come forth with this package we learned about this tax  filers i think this is good for family budgets furthermore they will be targeted to the low and moderate income americans who are most in need i'm also pleased that this package includes important tax incentives for small business growth in a state like west virginia business is small business and they are the job creators and it is critical that we provide them with the assistance that they need to keep their business businesses viable and growing this agreement includes much needed incentives to encourage investment to create jobs and seeks to maintain our nation's competitiveness lastly i'd like to talk about the long overdue step towards modernizing federal housing administration to provide support for americans who are struggling in this current housing crunch this bill will make it easier for many americans to refinance their mortgages and receive the support to do so yet while i am encouraged by this step we must continue to work towards more comprehensive f h a modernization to make sure this program continues to be the resource for credit worthy borrowers that may not qualify for current conventional market loans i look forward to continuing to work with the chairman and ranking ranking member baucus on this important issue and our colleagues in the other body to proceed with our negotiations and proceed and produce a final product that we can all see this this afternoon what's on the american people's mind right now are two words quickly and now they want this economy turned around quickly and now the best way to do that is in our plans getting money to the people who will spend it robert really came before this congress at the end of the civil war and they said to this congress we need to move this not incumbent upon us to complete this task but neither are we free to desist from doing all we possibly can quickly and now those are the words that tripping off the tongues of the american people we need to stop them from being put out of their halls of these foreclosures that's why we got the limits for freddie mae and fannie mack as commend house leaders for coming together in a bipartisan way on today's tax relief bail but i believe we must do much more to truly foster business certainty economic expansion an prosperous america for workers and their families that doubled small business expensing and bonus depreciation tax relief in this bill will help employers invest in their businesses retain the workers they already have and hire new employees and two thousand and eight it would be even more beneficial if we were focused on permanent really even the day u s industry is looking to and three years down the road and making investment plans based on the expectations of the massive democrat tax increases absent predictable lower rates on capital formation tax increases what take a toll on economic activity and growth meaning fewer jobs lower wages and power for times for families in the future s hit to our economy would far outweigh any static revenue loss we'd see from the enacting a big picture tax really mr speaker we should also focus on putting our employers on an even tax voting with countries around the globe currently the united states has the second highest business tax rates among world market economies mr speaker time gentlemen from connecticut thank you mr speaker mr speaker at this time i'm honored to recognize the preeminent authority aren't smart growth in the congress and i dare say this nation the gentleman from oregon distinguished member of the ways and means committee mr bloom an hour for two minutes been recognized for two minutes i thank the gentleman for his kind words and for his leadership on this issue i rise in support of this legislation but frankly we've waited too long to get to this point we have watched as this administration has exploded the national debt we have watched the growth in the growth in the gross domestic product slow thirty five percent in this administration over the previous one median incomes decline the saving rate has gone negative and the trade deficit has doubled most important they ignored this and symptoms of the subprime mortgage market a failure to exercise reasonable oversight this legislation is  pm porton first step towards rebalancing the equity i commend the speaker for targeting aid for those who need it most i appreciate what my friend from massachusetts is focused on to be able to make it easier for hard pressed families to refinance their loans i hope before we get through this process that will be able to add to it unemployment and food stamp benefits which will have even more stimulative effect after this bill we need to deal with issues of infrastructure making sure that we don't shut down our wind energy production tax credit and deal with bankruptcy equity so that homeowners get the same protections as people who speculated in property last but not least i hope that this is the beginning of a real of real progress in congress that becomes a critical issue of accountability on the campaign trail so that next year we won't have to make compromises that compromise what we need to do for the american recognize and i'm my colleague for yielding thank you madam speaker the basic principle this economic stimulus package i agree with and that is allowing taxpayers to keep more of what they contribute to the government in order to keep more of what they aren't so they can spend it for their families and their communities yesterday the speaker said that she estimates that each dollar of broad tax cuts leads to a dollar twenty six an economic growth now that's a wonderful thing twenty six percent return on your investment for allowing people to keep what they are and that's wonderful and that's a very good thing tax relief spurs economic growth that is true but we have to also go a step further in this economic stimulus package and a time of people concerned about high gas prices rising costs of health care as well as keeping their homes we have to be acutely aware of helping them and i think what we can do as a congress is go a step further in the stimulus package one step further and that is to take the rising taxes the tax increases that are on the table and take them off the table look we need to do a whole lot more to keep this economy strong to keep it consistently strong we need to make permanent the tax relief from two thousand want to two thousand and three i think would be immoral for washington politicians to make take more out of people's hard hard earned incomes for wasteful spending programs and i think we have to go further by taking that tax increase madam speaker the good news is the debates over the president congress and the american people all agree that the economy is in trouble and that the old cures of the bush administration has used to grow our economy have failed to working a middle class americans a better life and a secure future i support this economic stimulus package because american families are hurting and small business needs help and they need it now unlike the president both wall street and main street know that we need a bold new vision to ensure america's economic leadership in a global economy americans understand that we need to reward companies that create jobs here at home and we must stop giving american businesses incentives to move our jobs overseas we need to once again be the place where entrepreneurs from around the world come to live their dream madam speaker i urge my colleagues to take the first step today by giving families and small businesses a helping hand i also ask my colleagues to come together with the courage and resolve to give america an economic plan rise in support of the bipartisan economic stimulus package i believe we have talked ourselves into a recession and confidence in our economy is waning by passing this legislation we are taking an important step to lessening the impact of an economic slowdown but there is more work to be done i am pleased the legislation includes the bonus depreciation and section one seventy nine expense provision which will encourage companies and especially small businesses to immediately purchase new equipment and expand their businesses allowing fannie mae and freddie macin the f h a administration f h a to purchase large loans larger loans gives needed flexibility to support sound lending in the twenty first century the recent slump in the housing market has been a major factor in our current economic uncertainty so it is appropriate we address home loans in the stimulus package and doing this we increase the need for a new regulator of fannie mae and freddie mac which i'm hopefully we will act soon into law while this is a start the bipartisanship displayed in crafting this legislation which will have an impact in the short term must continue to develop long term solutions to address the increased cost of energy uncertainty about future tax increases and unsustainable growth in health insurance costs only by tackling the issues that impact the american people well we've restored confidence in our economy in closing i am disappointed the stimulus package being considered today does not have a cost of living differential for regions there are many residents of the fourth congressional district who make over seventy five thousand but are struggling to keep up with education energy and health expenses in our region it would have been better if the legislation before us today recognized its costs more to live in a state like connecticut and it does in other parts of the country with this being said this is a good bill and worthy of all members support gentlem madam speaker today we will pass a bipartisan economic stimulus package that will help american families and jumpstart our growing economy throughout our great country hard working citizens are making major sacrifices to make in me ends meet cutting back on winter clothes to pay for heat scaling back groceries to pay for kids medical bills or sacrificing college in attempt to prevent mortgage foreclosure for one hundred seventeen million families one point six million in kentucky alone rebate checks of six hundred per individuals twelve hundred dollars per couple and an additional three hundred dollars per child will be in their mailboxes by as early as may this is a dramatic departure from the old strategy in which leaders hope tax breaks for billionaire would trickle down to the people who really needed help hope is a wonderful thing but as the last seven years of taught us it does not affect the fiscal policy for most americans but targeting those who need help who we know without doubt will spend and invest and put money back in the economy we a minute as well to the distinguished lady from new york gentle lady as you noted two minutes i thought i thank the gentleman for yielding the time and i appreciate their leadership mr speaker today we will madam speaker today we will vote on an important  bipartisan achievement an economic stimulus package that is truly timely temporary and targeted under the plan more than one hundred million families squeezed by the high cost of basic living expenses will get a meaningful tax rebate and it is targeted to those families most in need and millions of families can get help to avoid losing their homes and small businesses can take advantage of tax cuts that will help spur investment and job creation this package will provide a boost to the economy by putting hundreds of dollars into the hands of middle and lower income families who will generate demand without the foreclosure and to inject much needed liquidity into the housing markets i regret that many of the aspects of the f h a reform were cut out of the bill and we hope to really have them passed in the senate these efforts bill on the hard work of democrats in congress to help families stay in their homes and to prevent another crisis like this from happening in the future this package is an important first step but there is much more to do legislation and vice chairman of our caucus madam speaker but the united states the american people asked us to act and i'm proud today to rise and support the kind of stimulus that provides opportunity not only for those who you would expect are those who argued for but the working men and women middle income americans in my congressional district in houston making less than fifty thousand dollars allowing them to get the the six hundred dollars as a single person twelve hundred dollars as a family and three hundred dollars as a married couple the most important aspect is that economists estimate that each dollar of broad tax cuts leaves a dollar twenty six in economic growth but i hope that we will look to the addition of food stamps summer job programs an extension of the unemployment and we must have the language i hope in the final bill a sense of congress that there should be a moratorium on foreclosures that are happening in america today two point four million foreclosures expected in this coming year is now my honor to call upon the chairman of the select revenue many for the ways and means committee the distinguished gentleman from springfield massachusetts mr neeld for two minutes better speaker thanks to mr larsen for recognizing me i want to first congratulate the speaker and chairman rangle and chairman frank for negotiating this economic stimulus bill which will provide relief to working families and businesses in these difficult times the bill provides one hundred billion dollars in tax relief to working families targeting this relief to families that really need it a family earning between ten and twenty thousand dollars will see their taxes cut by fifty percent for new england families facing rising energy bills this is well timed relief and cash in the hands of those most likely to use it to spur on economic growth like others i believe we can and will do more but i'm a strong supporter of the legislation that's in front of us and urged adoption some of quibbles with the impact of the stimulus but i believe this is how the congress should respond in a troubled economy abe lincoln noted that the legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do all in their separate and individual capacities working families businesses homeowners and investors are hurting this quick infusion of cash to low and middle income families to small businesses and large businesses where necessary making capital purchases will jump start our economy in a quick and efficient way is it perfect no is it possible yes is there more work to be done certainly we will come to that as well in late winter and early spring this is good work the leadership should be speaker at this time i'd like to recognize this carole sherry porter the distinguished lady from new hampshire for one minute gentle lady is recognized thank you the administration's policies of the past seven years have led us to this point the american people know that prices have gone up for everything from groceries to heating oil to gasoline while at the same time jobs moving overseas the housing market in a crisis and the economy is struggling this is what happens when there's no oversight for seven long years and mismanagement is allowed to run rampant i'm pleased that we did come together in a bipartisan manner to produce this bill over one hundred seventeen million american families will receive rebates under this plan including six hundred thousand in my own state of new hampshire this bill also helps small businesses which at the heart of our nation it is a very good start but we need to do more for senior citizens and for those who receive social security we need to do more for families who need to stay warm this winter they are the most vulnerable members of our society they need help the most and we know they will put the money directly into the economy we must continue to turn this nation's attention gentleman from connecticut thank you madam speaker at this time it's an honor to call upon mr moran distinguished gentleman from virginia for one minute gentleman's recognized by come out and speak and i thank my friend in the vice chair of our caucus for yelling me the time if his chairman mr rangle and mr frank had had this their druthers not to mention the speaker this would have been a far better bill than it is today it would have been included it's the exten unemployment insurance and food stamp benefits and would have helped out states with their medicaid funding crisis it would also have been close to home mortgage foreclosure mitigation which has had a tremendous impact upon thousands of families throughout the country we know that a one time payment of six hundred dollars will do nothing to help a family facing foreclosure as as some two hundred fifty thousand american families are expected to do every month this year the bush white house and sister that this be taken out over the objections of mr franken and it's a done shame that this quinn this could have had such a positive impact the impact of home foreclosures is that lend to isn't limited to the lender and borrower as we so well know they have a negative impact on the entire community forty five million homes and on the two hundred twenty tional thirty seconds on the second day i think my good friend the reality is that across this country over the in sewing year there will be nearly forty five million homes that will shrink the property tax base by two hundred twenty three billion dollars this year as a result of the foreclosure of home mortgages and yet when we look around at what has worked we find that one hotline for example is currently taking more than a thousand calls a day preventing an estimated two hundred foreclosures by empowering borrowers with the skills they need to work out terms with their lenders and to stay in their homes that's what this bill needs to be about needs to be about extending unemployment insurance and all the other things that this  we're going to keep it up let's pass the bill but we could and should have done better thank goodness speaker gentleman from louisiana madam speaker a pleasure to yield three bets to dinner lady from illinois the ranking member of the financial institutions subcommittee the financial services committee is bigger generally recognized i think the gentleman for yielding and madam speaker i rise in support of this important bill an urgent swift passage i am pleased that house leaders both republican  democrat in the administration have been able to come together quickly on a clean targeted economic stimulus package the bill promises to relieve the financial strain on hardworking americans while providing a much needed boost to the economy and the housing market today today i want to highlight a few provisions in the bill produced by the financial services committee these provisions increase the conforming loan limits for both the federal housing administration and the  macin and what will this do it will keep property values from falling further by temporarily permitting fannie freddie and the f h a to help homeowners and buyers finance and refinance mortgages in high cost areas like the city of chicago in short it will help save the neighborhood these are important first steps but as the president indicated last night there are additional steps that require our full attention in the days to come if we are to reinvigorate the economy we need to prevent a return of the marriage penalty the death tax and the alternative minimum tax along with higher taxes on income dividends and capital gains we also need to send comprehensive f h a and g s c reform to the president during the last two congresses our committee and the full house have passed bills to modernize the f h a reform fannie and freddie but these efforts have yet to become law the latest f a proposal was even rumored to be part of the stimulus package but it is not and that is why i urge my colleagues in the house and senate to confirm conference these two bills and get a final product to the president immediately a modernized program will provide insurance so that more struggling american homeowners can refinance their existing mortgages and keep their homes it will give first time home buyers a viable alternative to bad subprime loans and a prayer by providing fannie and freddie with a world class regulator we can infuse the housing market with liquidity so that more financing is available for prospective homeowners in addition we can we need to supply more funding for housing counseling c can help guide homeowners into a loan that best meets their budgets and needs steering them away from a situation that could lead to foreclosure down the road madam chairman madam speaker it is critical to the housing market and our economy that we finalized g s t and f h a reform and increase housing counseling adding liquidity and consumer confidence to the flagging housing market can restore a vigorous growth to our economy and we must do it without delay and in the near term i urge my colleagues to support this economic stimulus package as a critical first step i yield back the balance of my time gentleman from massachusetts you for your leadership i rise today in strong support of this bipartisan economic stimulus package these are difficult times for working families from rising energy prices and health care costs to more huge concerns in a volatile job market families in my district are feeling the squeeze in almost every facet of their lives this stimulus package before is carefully crafted to provide immediate tax relief to working families while maximizing the benefit to the economy it is estimated that two point six million middle class whose are families will receive two point four billion dollars in tax relief in addition this stimulus package also recognizes the important role that small businesses play in creating jobs in strengthening our economy the package doubles the amount small businesses can write off their taxes for new investments made in two thousand and eight and it increases the number of small businesses that are eligible for this basic tax relief madam speaker i'm proud to support this stimulus package thank you and i yield back the balance of my time safe time gentleman from louisiana mouse speaker we only have one remaining speaker to close so saying that gentleman from connecticut has additional speakers i would allow ask that he be allowed to heal time gentleman from connecticut and thank you madam speaker and i thank the gentleman from louisiana at this time i'd like to call upon the distinguished gentleman from new york city mr serrano who is loved dearly by a citizens only roberto clemente is respected more in his great city of new york mr serrano for one minute gentlemen's recognized for one minute without objection so order i thank the gentleman i have no voice but i have a lot of joy this is a great day it's the first time that a package of this kind has included so many poor people and so many folks in the middle class but i especially want to thank the leadership on both sides for including the territories this is the first time in the history of this country that the people who live in the territories a treated as equals as americans as they are living under the american flag and where will they spend the money at the same retail stores that we will be spending our money here in this country it's the same economy but for the first time this congress in a bipartisan way it's accepted the fact that it's one economy and the territory's are as much a part of this nation now prevail upon the distinguished lady from the vatican shelley berkley for two minutes general ideas recognize thank you and i thank the gentleman from connecticut madam speaker i rise in strong support of this bipartisan stimulus package this bill will provide tax relief for over one million nevada families who will receive an average rebate of over eight hundred dollars with the unemployment rate in my state climbing above the national average to a five year high a five point eight percent this timely support will help these families whether the financial storm while they search for and find new employment i'm also especially supportive of the provisions of the bill that address the housing crisis unfortunately my state of nevada has the highest rate of foreclosures in the country the increased funding for mortgage counseling along with new higher loan limits for loans from fannie mae and freddie macin the f h a will help thousands of nevadans avoid foreclosures and keep their families in their homes i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time and i thank the gentleman for the distinguished gentleman is recognized for one minute and i thank mr larsen and i want to thank the leadership on both sides of the aisle for working together for the give and take that's gone into this bill and i rise in support but i do recognize the complaints that mr campbell raised in connection with this bill and this package this is a short term fix to some long term fundamental economic problems that we have in this country but it gives us a chance now to focus mid term and long term on strategies and investments that will strengthen our strengthen our families and our nation these are strategies in investments that will call for sacrifice on the part of the nation as well as each one of us as individuals we will get a chance now i hope in future packages to look at the infrastructure of this nation in energy and transportation but this today will give the shot in the arm this country needs and give us a chance to really plan for the future and with that connecticut prepared to close yes we would be prepared to close at this time of though the i don't know whether the gentleman from massachusetts is going to close as well so with that we would reserve the balance of our time and be prepared to the close gentleman from connecticut reserves gentleman from louisiana thank you madam speaker so i'm am i to understand that the majority has two remaining speakers one from financial services one from ways and means yet that's correct very well in that case madam speaker i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from alabama mr baucus the ranking member of the financial services committee and then we will have one remaining way to pass this legislation today because we have confidence in america we have confidence in the american people we believe the american people have a right to have confidence and i would say whether we're members or americans i would say to all of us you have every reason to have confidence in this country you have every reason to have confidence in the workers of this country their innovative ability and their ability to produce and compete in the world economy you have every reason to be confident in the american economic system that's the message that i heard in new york city from many institutions that said they have money to loan that there are companies out there who are making money that want to hire people that want to build new plants that want to expand that that want to invest in new technology but because of what they read in the paper not because of the their balance sheet but because of what they're hearing is that things may get there is a lack of confidence out there i don't believe that it is entirely justified this country has challenges this economy has weaknesses there and we've talked about those but our underlying fundamental economic system and our financial system is sound and i hope bad us this today joining together in a  wishes to announce a gentleman from louisiana has sixteen and a half minutes to gentleman from massachusetts four and a half minutes and the gentleman from connecticut eight minute majority has the right to call the minority is paired to close for the chair will a we have both a short term and a long term problem a recession age by definition a specific incident in the cycle and what we're trying to do now is to respond to what we believe and hope to be a specific more short term weakish that why we are able to come together in a bipartisan way and partisanship is i believe a much unfairly m concept partisanship is essential to a healthy democracy that has never been a self governing poetry in the history of the world i believe of any size where political parties did not emerge because large numbers of people trying to govern themselves need an organizing principle other than the authority of the leadership in america today the degrees in between the two parties reflect serious thoughtful differences on how the public and private sectors should interact where a capitalist nation and we are all capitalists but we differ on the republican side there is i think an unjustified belief in the essential self sufficien capitalist system we believe following many who have done work on the the technical doctrine of market failure market failure in the economic sense that the free market is a great generator of wealth but that to achieve the quality of life we want there must also be a vigorous public sector that iraq with it that's partly in expenditures because there are public goods that all of us want but the private sector does not have the capacity to produce public safety and transportation and including some compassion for those among us who will not live minimally decent lives unless the rest of us show some of that compassion there was also the need for regulation and the biggest single problem we face today i believe is a consequence of too little regulation it is possible to overregulate but it is possible to regulate in adequately integration is very important and innovation does not show vive and grow if it doesn't meet a real need in the economy one of the integration of recent times was securitization made possible by a large pools of money by great liquidity that came various places not from depository funds because funds that are in the past go into can the regulated but a lot of money was generated now not by bank deposits but in other ways but we also got the ability technically in other ways to sell off those loans lenda bar organization ship that i was at the core thirty years ago of many transactions has been  had these techniques that would allow them to deal with it we are in a difficult situation today because the innovation securitization which has many advantages was allowed to go forward without adequate regulation without people knowing literally what they were doing and what they were buying and what they were selling and keeping things off the bound cheech and not making reserve a crime to not being careful about what loans they bought we have differences between the parties as to how to deal with those and we will continue to work on those we however have a short term we hope short fall that needs to be addressed and let me talk for a minute for those who say well what makes you think people are going to want to spend more because of this the purpose of a short term stimulus like this is not to get people to spend more it is to help them not to spend less we're not talking about the need for a surge over the norm in consumer spending we're talking about a fiscal crunch that faces many americans in response to which they will have to cut back madam speaker our closing speaker on the minority side is a gentleman who deserves much of the credit for the swiftness with which this stimulus package was brought to the floor he deserves much of the credit for the balancing of the interests of the majority and the minorities that is contained in this legislation and he deserves much of the credit for the majority and minority leadership being able to who they are in a pinch their cost of living is rising whether it be the cost of the health insurance a cost of gasoline the energy and at a time when their their salaries and their incomes aren't rising and i think that what the american people want is they want solutions solutions to the problems that we face in our country and i believe that the bipartisan measure that we have will in fact help give a short term boost to our economy  put money in the pockets of american families and it will give businesses reasons to invest in new equipment to maintain and hopefully to expand their employment is the bill perfect oh it's  perfect republicans gave a little the speaker gave a little and at the end of the day we came to an agreement that i think represents what the american people expect of us now they expect us to find ways to work together not reasons to continue to fight with each other and the bill that they have before us is is the way good legislation occurs i've said this many times before if i look back over my career in congress that the bills that i remember most the most significant legislation that i've worked on has always been done in a bipartisan way whether i was in them in the minority or in the majority and i'm going to thank the speaker pelosi for her willingness to sit down and work together in a bipartisan way in a constructive way i want to thank secretary of treasury paulson for their work in helping to facilitate this agreement and i look forward to this bill passing today and hopefully quick action in the senate the sooner this happens in the sooner we get this relief in the hands of the american people and the sooner they can begin to do their job of being good consumers and invest in this money in our economy some people say it won't work that it's too little too late we shouldn't be doing it you know i've thought about that i've got concerns about whether this package will in fact work but i've got bigger concerns that if we do nothing if we do nothing we're just asking for our economy to slow even further and what that will do to federal revenues what that will do to inflict pain on middle class american families frankly is unacceptable and so i think it's worth the chance and worth the opportunity for us to to do this economic growth package and to do it now now having said that we've got a longer term a number longer term issue in terms of economic growth in america our economy frankly has been very good over that really if you go back over the last fifteen years we've had a very strong economy without a couple slowdowns along the way but when you look down the road  there are some clouds on the horizon that we have to be concerned about the idea that the tax relief that we put in place earlier this decade to help those who invest in our economy those who pay taxes on our economy the fact that those tax that tax relief was temporary and might come back i think causes a lot of investors to do to wonder whether they should invest more in america's economy and so making that tax relief permanent is a very important part of our long term economic growth secondly corporations in america pay taxes and a lot of members think corporations pay taxes they th t the entity pays taxes to the federal government but corporations don't pay taxes their customers and their employees pay taxes and having a tax structure on corporate america that that gives them reason to wonder should they located here or should they locate somewhere else i think is again sending a rug signal if we want people to invest in our economy our corporate tax structure has to be competitive with those around the world and today it is not and it needs to be done of the tax expenditures of the be talked about in the past especially the research and development tax credit that gives companies a reason to invest in research and development here in the united states i critical to our long term success and why that hasn't been reauthorized as yet is beyond me but i hope that will be reauthorized soon but just make or many americans in my view correctly believe now that washington is broken i hope the disagreement in this bipartisan bill that will move today gives americans some hope that we really can begin to fix the problems that we can begin to make sure that washington works for the american people and s i'm glad to be here today i'm glad to join with speaker pelosi of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and hailing this agreement and moving it in a bipartisan way and hopeful that the senate can move very quickly now you know but i mean you know back gentleman from connecticut thank you madam speaker and i rise to so shame myself with the remarks of our distinguished republican leader mr boehner and thank him for the large role that he played in putting this  package together as he said in his remarks the comedy that exists in this chamber today is warming president roosevelt used to say that what we need in this nation is the warm courage of national unity and it's great to see on a day like today that we can all pull together and i think again mr baucus and mr franks deserve an awful lot of credit as well and to my distinguished colleague from massachusetts whose eloquence is only superseded by his wit and understanding of the parliamentary process he continues to amaze but in getting philosophical  my grandfather nolan would say in explaining the difference in the free market system one thing has to apply and that's peter funnily duns reminder that trust everyone but cut the cards and i think in coming together today that's what we've seen is a cutting of the cards but as we all know this wouldn't have happened without the great work of the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee charlie rangle and again distinguished gentlem any mr mccrary and so we're sad to see him leave but the partnership that the two of them a fad as i said earlier exemplifies how the chamber and how committees should conduct himsel f madam speaker and speaker pelosi deserve so much credit for this for first reaching out to the president and then working hand in glove with mr boehner to make sure that we were able to bring this important legislation to the wranglers are outlined in mr hoyer as well we made sure that this was simplistic in its approach to get money out in a timely targeted and temporary manner and i believe that we have been able to achieve those goals we further recognize however that we have a rendezvous with reality and the ways and means committee and mr wrangle are prepared as we move forward in this session and into the next to make sure that we're addressing the long term current concerns that we know this economy faces with that again i'd like to thank the staffs of the respective committees who have worked tirelessly to make sure that this legislation was able to come to the floor and as speedy a manner as it possibly can and can only pray to god that the other body acts and as timely and targeted and temporary fashion as we have demonstrated here and with that  names will write a sufficient number having risen they gave the nays are offered members of record their votes by electronic device this will be a fifteen minute though pursuant to clause they of rule twenty this fifteen minute vote on suspending the rules in passing h r five one four zero will be followed by a five minute silence bending the rules and adopting how special lucia nine thirty three