nation be the land of promise and the citadel of freedom for the world that all the people rejoice to find the lord their god and their merit it is not only our children who live with dreams and take delight in this season filled with blessing lord all your people look to your visitation which takes away the dark days and fills them with light older and wiser understanding your full embrace of our humanity we seek deeper truth and lasting yes stir again within us the longing for family life secure  give us brazen dignity in work undertaken and achieved free from the discontent of false expectations blessed us with the contentment that the reality of your love reveals speaker today this congress will adjourn i want to thank the people the nice sister to tennessee for giving me the honor to wreck represent them in this congress from the first vote that we as freshman took to break the glass ceiling and elect speaker  whatever the last vote is today during this year we passed historic legislation in the energy on ethics and the environment we've done things on children's health care that hasn't come to fruition but we've tried in the same thing in ending a war this has been a congress that has a tried to accomplish a lot has accomplished some broad change for the american people and will continue to do so next year i've had the honor to stand up in my district for the med for the more no one college for the cops program for blue crush at the university of memphis and our largest employer fellow express madam speaker it's been a grand year i'm proud to be a member of this united states congress and to represent this great country god bless the united states of america  harper george has been a member of our team pomus two years and has brought a strong level of professionalism and personal integrity to the job and i'm happy to report that george will not be traveling far as he joins  he joined our office first as a scheduler and then as legislative correspondent george's hard work dedication and pleasant demeanor have made him an invaluable member of our staff as we work hard to address the needs and concerns of the people of the second congressional district our office will miss george tremendously and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors in conclusion god bless our troops and we'll never forget september eleventh telling us that is time for the purpose the gentleman from new york wri his life to defend a group of strangers who are tacked on a new york city subway which started out as an exchange of merry christmas and happy hanukkah between fellow passengers ignited into a violent exchange of ethics semantics slurs and vi our group of men and women attacked the jewish passengers and only one passenger came to their defense a son askari a son like the man he was trying to help was beaten and pummeled by the attackers first first and foremost and no matter what our faith or race we should treat each other with respect assad's actions of a subway were you human human nature at its best and i applaud him for a decision to stop a senseless act of violence and hate i hope his american taxpayers have to wait for congress to pass a sensible and fair fix to the alternative minimum tax this highly punitive tax originally intended to catch only the worst of tax scofflaws will hit twenty three million middle class taxpayers next year if congress doesn't act now unfortunately the majority's delay tactics have already called the cascade effect that will delay the tax refund the fifty million americans if congress keeps stalling things will go from bad to worse the senate already rejected a poorly conceived plan temporarily package the a m t but on the condition of enacting a permanent tax cut only in washington does it make sense to make a temporary one year tax patch and counter it with a permanent tax hike let's stop the charade impasse and a m t fix that protects millions of middle class americans from a huge tax increase if congress delays any longer those twenty three million taxpayers will be saddled with an unexpected and severe two thousand are tax telis recognize one minute pin mighty month old little boy thanks to his mother's teachings can now do the official signs for touchdown illegal procedure block in the back and of course this favorite who is number one the arkansas razorbacks i say thanks to his mother because while she is now a full time methodist minister i'm convinced that for several decades of her life the holy trinity was the father the son and the holy coach with a coach course being coach frank broyles of the arkansas razorbacks coach for als career is coming to an end at the end of this month as both a great outstanding coach and an outstanding athletic director he has also been very active in may have visited with members here in the congress about his work on behalf of alzheimer's research and the treatment with respect and dig arkansas i rise to honor the legacy and career frank royal's the athletic director of the university and former head football coach who will end this fifty year run with the razorbacks on december thirty first frank rose is an icon in arkansas and a legend in the world of pledge in athletics his new mission among other things will be to educate americans on caring for a loved one suffering with alzheimers the names of those associated with such brawls are impressive game story homes every weekend i will be forever brout proud to be a writer back and of had the opportunity to be one in a coach roles i congratulate honest on him on his career and sincerely thank him for his service to the great state of by the speaker first i would encourage everyone to remember our men and women in uniform and their families and reach out to them the arkansas delegation rises this morning to pay tribute to a man that has made magnificent contributions to the state of arkansas to college athletics to this country his later ship working together with the people of arkansas has demonstrated the great value of the people working together for the common good his contributions are unmatched he has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt the value of integrity and decency always taking the high road he has made us all very proud to be rise of axes has just been alluded to from a colleague and know who has darkened so but he is also demonstrated to the human race what it means to not only be a rising back but to be a man of great class and integrity and always take the high road  activist and as it continues to attack rape and kill the ethnic minorities the house just passed an excellent bill imposing further sanctions on burma the jade act amazingly in the senate leading democrats don't want the house version the bill instead they want to allow for cash money to go to the ruling regime for humanitarian purposes hello aid that goes through the regime does not get to the people of burma the rulers simply enrich themselves with any monies coming into the country in addition certain senders wish to give the treasury department an opening one could drive a mack truck through so that treasury could make any regulation it likes regarding u s money going into burma i hope those senators will read the reports and look at the photos from burma the democracy activists monks and ethnic minorities are the ones that should get our support not the brutal military regime you know back  coach frank rolls his achievements on the field are numerous and distinctive however it is his battle off the field that inspires me even more than one hundred ninety nine coach brawls wife was diagnosed with alzheimer disease and needless to say this battle changed his family forever studying defenses on the football field for decades prepared coach proles as he look for a way to attack perhaps his greatest challenge yet after years of caring for his wife and receiving calls and letters from supporters he sat down and compiled his most impressive playbook ever the coach rules playbook for all timers caregivers a practical tips guide his playbook as help countless families caring for a loved one with all timers letting them know that there are five with this disease are not something they must face alone in two thousand and four coach roles as wife barbara succumbed to the disease which still has no cure his accomplishments in college football will never be forgotten but the hope and faith he has given to families across this nation coping with alzheimer's will leave a lasting impact on our society for generations to come outraged about i thought about this yesterday when i heard the report that surprise surprise earmarks were being used to help members get reelected now the reason that's treated as kind of ho hum is because as it turns out that one of the more noble explanations as to why earmarks are used with the reporting that's going on about earmarks being tied to campaign contributions or chairman are people in leadership position getting tens of millions of dollars in earmarks for favored companies or organizations in their district it seems that we've simply gone too far when we don't recognize this is a problem and i would call on my colleagues in the new year  we are coming up with one that so much time has expired what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise that objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you the first year of the new democratic majority is coming to a close and we have already set our nation a new direction we increase the minimum wage improving the lives of american workers millions of american workers we increase fuel efficiency standards and set a new path for energy independence that will create new jobs and a chance and enhance our economic competitiveness we enacted the largest college financial aid expansion since one nine hundred forty four bringing the american dream within the reach of millions of children in our country and we are about to pass a largest increase in veterans health care in american history in honor of the service and commitment of all of our veterans we accomplished all of this in spite of the stubborn resistance of republican obstructionists who have tried to undermine our efforts at every opportunity we did this to spite the president's refusal to compromise this year is coming to a close but our commitment to change will continue hardworking american families can be assured that when we return in january the democratic majority will continue to fight for their and our priorities best wishes for a happy healthy secure and hopeful new year to all americans god bless our great nation gentleness and aren't worth the gentleman's in oklahoma right  jackson the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you madam speaker this past week the state of oklahoma experienced a severe ice storm that left over six hundred thousand homes and businesses without power or heat as you can imagine oklahomans have had a very challenging time today i want to thank the people of oklahoma for helping each other and commend the various generous by tears and organizations that came to their aid since the disaster of them are a federal building in one hundred ninety five the people  have created what is known as the oklahoma standard rallying to help each other and in times of need and certainly this past week in week and a half has been no exception i want to personally thank governor hindery and president bush for working together to ensure that the proper federal aid disaster relief has come to oklahoma i'd also like to command the state office of emergency management fame and representatives the state corporation commission who kept us kept us informed and on track as power loss was reported and power was restored i specially want to commend the utility crews who work tirelessly in their efforts to restore power and i want to thank the hundreds of utility crews from out of state who came to help thank you for leaving your homes and families during this holiday in the gentleman is recognized madam speaker i rise today to express my serious concerns that inadequate oversight deficient procedures and ethical lapses at the department of interior minerals management services are costing the federal government millions of dollars each years the m m s is responsible for negotiating implementing and overseeing all federal leases for resources removed by private companies from public lands and is supposed to be a guardian of our nation's precious public resources unfortunately evidence suggests that the cozy relationships between m m s officials and oil and gas companies have allowed these companies to under report the resources they remove from federal lands and under pay the royalties they owe to the federal government evidence that m m s has failed to detect and pursue these violations by oil and gas companies is especially troubling as gas prices continue to rise corporations make record profits and average americans are struggling to fill their gas tanks and make ends meet most hardworking taxpaying americans would be outraged to know that these companies are cheating the government out of these wild turkeys which are a critical source of revenue for the u s treasury and which would allow us to invest in other priorities dad watching the gentleman's recognized one minute thank you very much madam speaker it's a great honor we all know to represent the american people here in the people's house we all work long hours we spend a great deal of time here and i'd like to at this moment mark the extraordinary service of a woman who has chosen to retire after nearly fifty years of working here in the capitol i'm referring of course to the very famous janey gallon of my colleagues who may not know or last name they are very familiar with janey's fried chicken which has been prepared for us on wednesdays on a regular basis she is someone who was working in this capitol when president kennedy was assassinated and she regularly has shared with us stories about that she always showed up to work at five a m regardless how late we were in the night before we could be here and she could be working downstairs midnight one o'clock but she was always back here coming in with our friend sally at five o'clock in the morning she has provided extraordinary service and sustenance to so many of us and janie after a half century has chosen retire and i want to wish  happy and safe holiday to all of our men and women in uniform who are serving here and abroad after was ring the apartment of veterans affairs face a one billion dollar shortfall during a time of war i came into this congress convinced that if we have the money to fight a war we must have the money to treat the warrior one of the first votes that this congress took was to increase funding for the department of veterans affairs and one of our last votes of the year will be to provide six point seven billion dollars in new funding to the department to ensure that our nation's veterans get the care they have earned the way the government spends its money is the true indication of its priorities and with this appropriations bill our new congress has shown that americans veterans are a top priority and you'll on a tremendous career and a well deserved retirement a true public servant an outstanding leader mayor pro it will be retiring this month after twelve years as mayor of the city of canton and cherokee county georgia mayor pruitt has always strived to better his community and his bro experience has served his constituents extremely well he was formally the president of the georgia municipal association president of the cherokee county chamber of congress ca commerce and a member of the atlanta regional commission executive committee an educator he remains active in leadership posts that reinhart college georgia baptist children's home north georgia regional development center and his own church where he serves as a deacon mayor proto oversaw substantial economic growth in canton over is twelve years but as i'll always work to preserve the small town jackson the gentleness back natural and then it thank you matt speaker as we prepare to complete this first year of a new democratic congress i'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the major accomplishments that we've achieved on behalf of the american people as a member of the majority makers the historic class of two thousand and six we've helped to restore integrity idealism and imagination to the people's house we increased the minimum wage for the first time in a decade and fully implemented the nine eleven commission recommendations to better protect our nation since then we've worked to ease the financial burdens that middle class families face passing the most sweeping college affordability package in more than sixty years and yesterday we approved an historic energy bill to declare our energy independence and help us address global warming saving americans anywhere from seven hundred to one thousand dollars a year and gas prices madam speaker i am proud to stand with fellow democrats for an american agenda real security healthy families a thriving economy with opportunity for all not just a few at the top and a sustainable future for our planet i look forward to two thousand and eight thank you madam speaker i yield back to miss time has expired wh general in tennessee right objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you madam speaker it's so interesting to look at today's whipping post and see the myriad and the vast range of issues that are coming before us and these are many of these  issues that should have been addressed months ago one of those that we're going to address first off this morning will be s twenty four ninety nine this is an issue that is going to deal with medicare medicaid and as chip the state children's health insurance program this should have been handled months ago it has been running under a continuing resolution and madam speaker i am so pleased that the congressional leadership has decided to finally take the politics out of this and to support s chip as it was currently put in place in ninety seven by a republican congress and to keep the focus on children of the working poor who need access to health care i support this bill and i encourage my colleagues to do likewise and to continue to support as ship as it was originally put in place in ninety seven by a republican congress i yell back channel kind of expired for coverage of the town like minnesota right that's actually the gentleman is recognized for one minute madam speaker earlier this week president bush showed us that his view of the economy does not match that of the overwhelming majority of americans that's when he tried to convince the nation that the economy for it was strong for everyone does the president realize that on his watch poverty has increased every single year and that overall household income has decreased does the president realize  a time when americans have less money in their wallets they're trying to squeeze every dollar to pay higher food gas education in the health care bills that a speaker how bad does the economy have to get for the average working man and woman before the president realizes there's a problem this democratic congress is not satisfied with the status quo and over the last year we have made progress to ease the economic crunch for middle class working class families we have passed legislation to make college education more affordable increase the minimum wage address the subprime mortgage crisis and cut taxes for middle class families we're proud of these accomplishments and we also realize that for most american came out of speaker yesterday the democratic con congress once again supported energy independence and security this legislation which the president is now expected to sign includes a historic increase in fuel economy standards for  les and significant new support for alternative fuels this comprehensive democratic energy bill provides a dramatic shift in our nation's energy policy including new standards for buildings homes lighting and appliances and makes great strides in our fight against global warming it is also something that we can feel good about because it reduces the price at the pump through increased efficiency standards that reach thirty five miles per hour by twenty twenty this is the first increase and kept a standards in thirty two years and will save the average driver between seven hundred and one thousand dollars a year madam speaker the protection of our environment is both a spiritual and moral issue and congress has failed for too many years to address this issue i'm proud that the democratic congress has worked to bring this historic all year this democratic congress has worked to live up to our promise to move the nation in a new direction in many ways we've been successful raising the minimum wage fully implementing the nine eleven commission recommendations in making college more affordable we are proud of these accomplishments but there are many other important bills that have been passed with strong bipartisan support here in congress only to be vetoed by president bush we sent the president a bipartisan bill that restored harmful cuts to no child left behind job training programs and research grants for cures for life threatening diseases president bush said no with his veto pen we sent a bipartisan bill that would insure ten million children have access to quality health care president bush said no with his veto pen we sent him a bill that would bring our troops home from iraq by the end of next year again president bush said no with his veto pen madam speaker president bush has stood in the way of real progress but know that we speaker i rise today in strong support of the energy bill that will finally take our energy policy in a new direction i know i urge the president to sign it into law this bill makes a big step toward greater energy independence in energy security the bill includes an historic increase in fuel economy standards the first since one thousand nine hundred seventy five this increase will save american families an estimated seven hundred two thousand dollars a year at the pump and reduce our dependence on foreign oil we must pursue an energy policy that moves us towards energy independence reduces the cost of gasoline to consumers enhanced as the development of alternative energy and substantially reduces the threats of global warming this bill also sends a clear signal to the rest of the world that the u s is finally serious about getting our energy and environmental policy in order however we still have more work to do on this issue and this new congress is committed to get the job done i yield back telling you that the time the gentleman from new this congress sent the president very good legislation that would have ensured that millions of low income children of hard working americans could keep health coverage and it would allow states to enroll millions more who qualify for the chip program but aren't covered because the states have not received enough funding we also had a way to pay for this but each time the president has vetoed that legislation and here in congress and number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to stand with the president blocking the way to reach more children we wanted to insure ten million children the president and the republican leaders only want to insure six million children and that is the crux of the problem here today we will extend the s chip program through march of two thousand and nine but important aspect of these earlier bills is not included this past august the center for medicare and medicaid services issued a directive to state s chip directors effectively informing them that they would no longer be able to insure objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute thank you madam speaker i had intended to give a one minute today but i just got off the telephone with one of my dear friends  senator from the great state of mississippi the honorable trent lott today is his last day in the united states senate after a distinguished career in both the house of representatives and the u s senate he is resigning effective i assume today or tomorrow whenever the other body goes out i have known trent lott for the twenty three years that i've been in the house of representatives when i first got elected he was the the minority whip here in the  w he is one of the wisest in terms of political knowledge man that i've ever been around in my my political career he is a great guy personally he has a great family he has served not only his state but his country with exemplary distinction for the many odd years that he's been in the house in the senate we are going to miss the honorable trent lott of the magnolia state of mississippi and bickered today is the last day of the of this year of the session of congress and i just wanted to take the opportunity to thank my press secretary heather plaster todd who is actually leaving today and going back to st louis where she's from with her husband both of them used to work for congress and carnahan who was here before on the floor and many of my colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle see how they are on a daily basis when she's down here with me and trying to get members to do one minute's another message opportunities and also work very hard to have our weekly message meetings and come up with timely topics and people who would speak i'm going to sorely miss her i know that many of my colleagues will as well and i just want to wish her and her husband  objected to under clause six of rule twenty recorded votes on postpone questions will be taken later consume is recognized managed to do when this congress was first gaveled into session by speaker pelosi she declared it the children's congress and with that in mind we set out to enact an ambitious agenda that included legislation to provide health care to ten million low income american children but we were forced to go it alone instead of working with us the president and his republican foot soldiers and congress chose to fight us to sit and nail we were not deterred by the president or the opposition that we faced from congressional republicans earlier this summer the house passed the champ back which would have strengthen the children's health insurance program chip and help secure health care coverage for ten million american children four million of which are presently uninsured and come from hard working families the chair back also included dramatic improvements for beneficiaries and providers under medicare which have been that which if an acted would have put the program on a more stable financial footing and ensure that seniors have access to the medical care they need and deserve that champ back would have also protected medicaid from harmful regulations which are now about to go into effect and will cut billions of dollars in critical services for low income and disabled citizens of all ages now some may see the defeat of the champ back this year as a great victory for the president and his republican allies in congress but they may have succeeded in being nothing more than obstructionists no one  gained anything from these actions by the president or my republican colleagues least of all the people who rely on these programs for their health care this year we had a chance to strengthen our nation's health care safety net and improve the lives of our most vulnerable citizens the elderly the young the poor and the disabled instead both the administration and congressional republicans are content on leaving here this year with doing the bare minimum on chip and medicare when we could have accomplished so much more to improve the health of millions of americans and so now madam speaker we're left with a package that addresses the most immediate concerns but leaves any real health care improvements for another day and i think that's very unfortunate but with the current president and the current senate sadly this is the best we can do but i will say madam speaker the democrats are determined in the next year to revive the champ act and the provisions that we care so much about because we know that that's the best for the american people and i reserve the balance s difficult to speak on this subject because we've debated it so many times in the last eleven and a half months suffice it to say that all's well that ends well and today we have a bill before us that is going to temporarily fix the position reimbursement issue it is going to extend the s chip program through march of two thousand and nine it is going to extend the the special diabetes program for another year and a number of other things these are all good things and people on both sides of the aisle support them it shouldn't have taken all year to do these things but it has to speak very briefly about the s chip program the language in the bill before us is essentially the barton deal language which congressman deal of georgia the ranking member the health subcommittee myself introduced seven or eight months ago to extend the existing s chip program for eighteen months to make sure that all children currently receiving coverage continue to receive coverage to have a slight increase in funding so th some new enrollments could occur it's a commonsense approach to an issue while we debate with our friends on the majority side the extent to which we want to expand or change the program we've had two presidential vetoes we've had enough speeches on the house floor and the other body to to probably populate a national forest in terms of the amount of paper that's been used to cover those  speeches and yet we're here today doing what we could have done eleven months ago i'm very pleased that the s chip program is going to be extended i'm very pleased that no state is going to lose funding i'm very pleased that we're going to continue to cover the children they have been covered and i look forward in the next year the same offer that congressman deal and mr mccrary and mr camp and i have made to our friends on the majority let's have some hearings madam speaker i do myself thirty additional seconds shall an actual open transparent committee markup in both the ways and means committee in the energy and commerce committee it is still possible in this congress to have the meetings of the man and on s chip in terms of changes to the program and i hope i could say that i wish i could say i was pleased to be here today to support porton legislation but you can say that about this bill the republicans have brought us last july we sent to the senate the champ back strong bill the preserve and improve both better care and the s chip programs the champ back extended health coverage to ten million children nationwide this bill doesn't even come close this bill was designed by the republicans to support their rich friends the pharmaceutical industry the for profit insurance industry and to destroy medicare as millions of american seniors have known it to harm children at a cast blame at the illegal immigrants and working single parents it shows the republicans in their truest form help the rich at the expense of the poor die government  anyone and only help the profit industries who pay them so generously through their i'm paying contributions which will be useless because the public will realize that we don't need them anymore the champ back provided medicare benefits for it creates protections for low income beneficiaries it expire cut the extended the physician's reimbursement above par for two years of protected rural providers for the same period of time the champ back over royal road provisions and acted by the former republican majority designed to end medicare as an entitlement program the chance act was paid for by reducing overpayments to the sub standard private plans in medicare plans designed to privatized the program by republicans for this effort house members public and members and five five republican members in the democrats and our staff are to be congratulated they worked hard took tough and reasoned positions and the senate failed to act on our legislation in the universe sponsible in the house of representatives failed to help the children in this country as is their want what we have before us gives the lowest common denominator a bad name the senat that extends otherwise expiring medicare provisions by a mere six months meaning that we'll be back here next summer next spring trying to fix a system which the republicans consistently try and privatizing destroy that's medicare and s chip for the next six months the builder lays the ten percent positions cut prevents some therapy caps from going into effect protection row providers by extending a host of particular provisions that would otherwise expire there are some provisions that run longer s chip will go for fifteen months moving it forward in time we will have a new president whom we hope will be willing to work with congress to protect children's health and expand access to care it also makes longer term reforms to medicare payment policies for long term care hospitals and rehab hospitals to changes that are long overdue what's wrong with the bill is what it fails to do it flat out fails to address real improvements needed for medicare beneficiaries many of which we did dressed in the champ back it lacked increased protections for low income beneficiaries it lacks better care mental health parity lacks overdue improvements and preventive benefits and nonpayment related reforms to the h m o program it lacks limits on physician hospital ownership and self referral and the list goes on adding insult to injury this we overpay the second rate for profit plans relative to the rest of medicare i would hope that those of you learned as i learned that you don't  don't like the food don't eat it but don't complain about it we still have a strong bill pending in the senate the champ back the senate must act early in two thousand and eight so that we can reach a better outcome for medicare we just can't recognized thank you madam speaker you know i agree with some of the comments that have been made by the majority today not all of them of course but some of them  i think it is a shame that we were not able to reach a bipartisan agreement on a longer term extension of the s chip program  as ranking member barton has pointed out on more than one occasion though this process was pretty much doomed from the start because the majority failed to include the minority at all in the early stages of putting together legislation for this important program and i understand it's difficult being in the majority for the first time in twelve years and not really knowing how to get things done it's tough to govern it's tough to have the responsibility to actually pass legislation and make law and we did it for twelve years and we had some troubles ourselves in the first a year or so that we were in the majority so i understand but i hope the majority will learn from this experience we have two choices the majority has two choices really for insofar as dealing with the s chip program that is number one next year they could do  ranking member barton suggested and have hearings on the s chip program work with the minority hand in hand to try to come up with a reasonable extension reauthorization of this important program number two they could try the same thing next year that they did this year and get the same result and then just wait after the elections and hope that they would have a democratic president a democratic majority and could do what they want maybe i would submit that the better course is the former and that is to work with the minority next year we certainly made that offer this calendar year i would extended a lease for my committee's standpoint a standout invitation again for next year and i'm hopeful that we can do that this bill before us today covers a lot of other things besides the s chip program as chairman stark said we do have been here a kind of a a stalling of the cliff that physicians find themselves looking over as far as medicare reimbursement we only do that for six months we do several other things for six months including therapy caps which i think are very important so we're under the gun now this congress is under the gun and i would submit that means both the majority and the minority early next year to get some things done in the medicare field and again i certainly want to extend my hand to the majority and offer to work together to get these very important things that are only extended or only adam speaker december as the month of holidays holidays about families chanukah the festival of lights kwanzaa about family traditions and at this time of year i always think about my children when they were little the beautiful faces staring into the crash at the baby jesus but during this special time the very best present we could give four million children in this country is the gift of house care every parent knows that quality health care is the foundation for a happy and successful life sadly at this special time congress is denying this gift to four million children who are eligible right now under the s chip program but are not enrolled although the house and senate passed great legislation that would have expanded the coverage to these children the president has vetoed it twice and so reluctant stand here today in full support of current law the current s chip program is a great one that's worked for ten years one that we should all stand up for and be proud of it will guarantee that the six million kids currently enrolled will not lose their health insurance until march two thousand and nine as the new year draws close though madam speaker we must recommit ourselves to ensuring that every child in this country who is eligible for ass chip is unrolled and that's why i asked the speaker and my wonderful committee leadership to recommit ourselves to reauthorizing this program earlier than march two thousand and nine so all this these kids may be covered in addition madam speaker this bill contains protections for proof seniors but again it's only a start there is much more to be done and i'm committed to working with my colleagues to develop a comprehensive bill that will do more than extend protections to doctors and seniors who are only sixty but and finally madam speaker i want to commend my colleagues for including extension of the special diabetes program in this bill this will ensure cures for millions of their physician services in addition to providing states certainty as to their ability to cover their ass to pro children for the next thirteen months and to continue to enroll eligible children in their programs while this bill does not contain the needed reform of the sustainable growth right formula in medicare it averts a payment cut for physicians which i fear would have dramatically impacted physician participation in medicare moving forward i hope that we would work in a bipartisan way to reform this s g r system rather than continuing the short fix programs that we've seen for the last several years the physicians who serve this nation's elderly population should not be subject to this annual uncertainty concern constantly wondering whether or not they will be able to afford to see their medicare patients on the second subject for months ob supported a long term extension of the s chip program to ensure that children currently enrolled would continue to have health care services and to allow states the certainty of funding so that they can continue to enroll eligible children in the coming months there should be ample opportunity for us chip legislation to move through a regular legislative process without the pressures created by last minute expiration of the program i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the how on this bill which would help put and continue to put low income children first and continues the purpose of the original program to serve the neediest children with health care as a supporter of the program it is unfortunate to me that we've not been able to for a longer period of time but this extension should give us the opportunity to do so in a thoughtful and appropriate process i would hope to work on these issues in a bipartisan fashion next year and i would urge my colleagues  lot of people have mentioned that in fact this extension will cover the children presently on the program that's half true and half not true kids are on the program will be covered but if you live in fourteen states in the united states because the president's executive order if you live in california connecticut washington d c hawaii maryland massachusetts minnesota missouri new hampshire new jersey pennsylvania rhode island vermont or washington the kids in those states will actually come off the rolls in august because of the president's executive order and they will begin in those states the governors will have to begin to develop plans to notify those kids and their parents because the president's executive order so not all states not all kids who are on the program will actually stay on the program and that's just a consequence after passing two bills to give ten million children health care to build with forty five republicans two hundred twenty plus democrats in the house eighteen republicans in the senate and word democrat in the senate we were unable which is unique around here but we were unable to get the president to sign this legislation and so what we couldn't resolve the american people resolve in november president kennedy once  govern is to choose we've made our choice president someone your side made your choice and in november the american people make their choice and that's how differences get resolved here and i think we should understand that and so as the president said a lot of children we have universal health care in this country because we have an emergency room in hospitals so a lot of kids will end up in emergency rooms that didn't need to go to emergency rooms we did write in a bipartisan fashion to get a bill in my own view this will be the first thing that the new democratic president will get done we will get it won't we don't need march night it will get done within the first month it will be a major accomplishment for a democratic congress democratic senate democratic president don't every confuse that every kid that's on it will on it and starting this august in those fourteen states kids will be notified and their parents that did have health care they will no longer get health care now there's a consequence to that because for august o two months before the election and i don't think that's a problem mary fact you can't protect the american people from the consequences of the president's decision and a number of republicans stand by him we did right there was a bipartisan bill to resolve a major problem give ten million children health care we didn't accomplish it will be back and we'll get it done because the american people deserve and the kids deserve the same health care that their members of congress and their kids get this is what that would have done i yield back th generation for a democratic president this bill madam speaker is a good resolution to a political impasse and a good solution to the hindering cuts that impede our nation's physicians and what impact on the health care of our young people and our seniors it makes a substantial adjustment for physicians who perhaps participate in the medicare program i'll be at only temporary although i would have liked to have seen a more permanent and comprehensive solution to a range of medicare issues we just couldn't wait and allow ten percent cuts in payments to physicians to occur i hope to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on a more permanent solution in the upcoming year to this particularly thorny issue the legislation before us also ignores this important issues that i fought hard to be involved with and make progress on including extending the exceptions process for therapy caps and a revision of the policy structure for long term care hospitals those are legacy issues that we're going to have to take up sooner rather than later and i'm glad we have a final resolution temporarily on  speaker today i stand boldly in support of this medicare medicaid s chip extension act however eight hundred thousand children as you know in the state of california are covered by this program it is essential that we continue to provide that coverage but many many low income and minority children will not be covered because previously this president vetoed our bill twice where we would have taken this farther instead of the six million that are currently in the program when it went to ten million children but we can talk about that now but one thing is sure our constituents are seniors are telling us we need to also provide a fix for our doctors because many of our seniors that are on low income assistance now need to see their doctors and we know how bible the important that is each and every one of us has an obligation to provide support for the very vulnerable in our communities and i think there's a saying somewhere maybe in the bible that says we will be judged by how we deal with those that are most vulnerable and those are our frail elderly and our children i know we can do better and i also pray that we do have better outcomes after two thousand and eight because i do believe that our public our constituents are demanding that we step up to the plate on health care that's a number one priority that we're reading about throughout this country that we can stand behind and not speak up here on the house on the floor and demand that we have better coverage for all of our populations and i speak not only as a latina and as a woman representing a low income community but i think i speak for many millions of people who would like to hear their congress people speaking out loud and shouting out loud about the need for better health care coverage and they're demanding it and yes as my former colleague said on the floor we'll probably see those results change once november two thousand and eight comes in arrives merry christmas to the congress i thank you madam speaker and i want to compliment mr barton and mr dale for the extraordinary amount of work they have done on this issue this entire year i know that they are pleased that the congressional leadership  joined them in working to be certain that we take the politics out of this issue and we keep that focus on how we address the health care needs of our nation's most vulnerable our children and our elderly couple of things that we're going to see in this deal as you have already heard the medicare physician payment schedule a cut that was to take place it's not going to they're going to see a half percent increase through june oh wait my hope is that we will be able to have the majority work with us to resolve this issue and i think it is just unconscionable that every single year this s g r gets revisited him try to work it through we know that this is something we are going to be providing it is a service health care is going to be provided for our medicare enrollees and madam speaker this needs to be dealt with and the problem needs to be solved i am also pleased that as chip is going to be extended through march of zero nine that we are keeping the focus their own standing in the gap between those children that are not eligible for medicare and does have the ability to a fford private health insurance and this gets back to the original intent of that program to be certain that the children of the working poor are covered i'm also pleased that this contains the six month extension of critical funding for the tennessee medicaid issue payments to our hospitals now madam speaker there should be some lessons learned from the eleven fifteen waiver process that my state of tennessee has been throw and through the experiment  hillary clinton health care and the failures of that is we move forward i hope that we look at those lessons learned but i appreciate that this legislation does provide those dish payments to these hospitals general and i look forward to working with the majority and i yelled back mr speaker madam speaker i rise the strong support of medicare medicaid an s chip extension act of two thousand and seven the bill includes a provision based on legislation i introduced with representatives tanner lo beyond o and hole shot which would not only permanently freeze compliance threshold terms of the seventy five percent rule and sixty percent it would require cns to consult rehabilitation facilities in developing recommendations a more appropriate criteria than the seventy five percent rule for determining i r s admission policy the legislation will stop c m s in its tracks from continuing to implement and added day seventy five percent rule that is one hundred percent wrong for americans and ensure that millions of individuals will continue to of access to the critical care and medical services provided by rehab taishan facilities there are a number of individuals i would like to thank for their tire and from felt some oriel hospital your tireless work along with the support of chairman rangle and others in congress helped us get where we are today i thank you all again and i urge my colleagues to jealous new jersey is two minutes remaining jealous in california two and a half minutes remaining and the gentleman from texas has three in a quarter minutes remaining in the channel recognizing reverse order the closing arguments beginning with the gentleman from the louisiana m michigan for two minutes just before mrs nitrogen minutes thank you very much i appreciate the decision was general for yielding and i thank you i am glad that we have the opportunity to vote on this legislation today which is critical to protecting doctors from receiving the ten percent medicare cut and providing certainty to the s chip program the state children's health insurance but let's not kid ourselves this is the bare minimum and we are capable of much more it's disappointing that the majority would not work in a bipartisan fashion to craft at least a one year reprieve from the medicare cuts for physicians as republicans are able to do in previous years this six month extension is simply putting the problem off and not solving it the majority knew this ten percent cut was coming so what did they do they passed a chant bill that was fraught with problems that cut home health skilled nursing facilities devastated medicare advantage in the individual care and would have left twenty two states without one senior receiving medicare advantage that was nearly six months ago and what has happened since then nothing it's unfortunate that we could not come to a bipartisan compromise on s chip which was which was and is within reach a simple extension well better than what the majority offered is which was  their offer was transforming a program to assist low income children to an entitlement for families earning eighty thousand dollars a year is much worse than what was possible as i've said before on this floor i stand ready to work in a bipartisan fashion to address the looming cuts faced by physicians in medicare i hope that we can see this legislation for the band aid that it is and return next year with a commitment from leaders in both parties to enact real long term medicare payment reform and with that i yield back the balance of my dale who have gone beyond the call of duty and their work i know i've been in meetings with them for many our words and so i appreciate their work i think we're all disappointed that it's taken so long to come up with a solution but in with you have arrived at a correct decision when this shit was first brought to the floor back in that he ninety seven i was a new member of congress it was a bipartisan bill that was an enacted by republican house and senate and it was signed into law by democrat president and this year's process has been anything but bop but bipartisan out think would be fair to say that the political rancor in the debate that has occurred over the last several months has has surpassed anything that most of us say moment in congress but it's time to move forward and it is time that we remember what is important this whole process and that is the children that of that need health care in america that are simply the poor in this country and my home state of alabama s chip has been a tremendous success and has helped a new generation of children lead happy healthy lives that this congress has decided to expand this bottle program into two thousand and nine and provide a level of certainty to state health directors that did not exist under our previous resolutions this is a good solution and i encourage my colleagues  ways and means committee mr johnson madam speaker today we're considering a bill that does some important things one it stops the two thousand and eight position cuts to its extends the children's health insurance program past the politics of the presidential election and three it helps was asians who were called up for active duty to serve their country but in reality this isn't the best bill congress could have pushed put together you know need know that for the first time physicians don't know what medicare will pay them next year in six short months doctors will once again be facing more than a ten percent cut in their reimbursements that uncertainty is no help when you're trying to run a business when it comes to visit friends who are called up to serve their country and their community this bill does deliver temporary relief earlier this year congress moved in a bipartisan fashion to temporarily fix an oversight medicare previously the law created a red tape nightmare for any medicare physician who needed to leave his practice for more than sixty days at a time the bill before us today continues this fix for just six months by allowing our reservists to have one substitute doctor for their entire deployment i look forward to working with my colleagues next year on a permanent fix for this problem we need to support our troops and the d matters speaker let me say in regard to that six month mitigation we have done this the whole time that i have been in this congress for the past five years with a band aid we are literally doing it this time with a spot band aid a first thing you know we're going to do a three month mitigation a one a month a month mitigation it's time to end this flawed sustainable growth right just like it's time to in the alternative minimal tax that was not indexed for inflation they're both flawed and we both we need to strike both of them did permanently in regard to the children's health insurance program madam speaker the distinguished chairman of the democratic conference spoke on the floor a little earlier talking a certain children are going to lose their coverage during this eighteen month extension well certain children should lose their coverage if their families make up to three hundred percent of the federal poverty level which is about sixty five thousand dollars a year and it crowds out those children from needy families who are not be uncovered so this extension i want to commend my colleague from georgia nathan deal and ranking member barton this is their bill and this is exactly what we need to do we need to make sure we have ninety percent coverage saturation in those children up to two hundred fifty percent of the poverty level before we consider anything  madam speaker i have two remaining speakers promised me the last time i have two remaining speakers at this time i would heal thirty seconds to the gentleman from missouri the distinguished minority yielding i'm just here to say that i think this eighteen month extension a gives us the time we need to make s chip an even better program it extends the current program it increases funding for the current program it helps the states that have a shortfall it ensure it ensures that kids who don't have medicaid who are in that second hundred percent tile the families who are closest to the medicaid number get get their coverage first by not reversing the policies the administration has lately put in place on waivers it does important things to ensure that the qualifying standards for s chip don't change  on those areas that extend medicare payments to doctors i'd remind my friends here that we're paying for those most of that through the stabilization fund on the last big fight here we  had this was a fund we thought we might need to make part d addition to medicare as a competitive and innovative addition to medicare work we didn't need that money because working on its own the last fight we had this big on a health care issue we kept hearing how terrible it would be for seniors eighty seven percent of seniors don't think it's terrible at all i think we're going to see that this debate also kind of lead i have better results for as chip not worse results for s chip i'm glad to see republican refusal to tackle waste fraud and abuse to fulfill an ideological dream taxpayers are compelled to continue wasting billions of dollars to fund abusive private medicare advantage plans run by bush administration buddies rather than less expensive more effective traditional medicare and while doctors are rightly protected from a schedule payment cut how about the millions of poor seniors who are cut off from access to extra help for prescription drug coverage as with so many battles in this congress a contest between the poor and a well financed special interest guess who gets knocked out this shell of a bill actually means that millions of our youngest americans will still be barred from access to the children's health insurance program and of course it will enable my state texas to maintain its dubious distinction of being number one number one in this as a state in the country with children who have no health insurance due largely to the indifference of then governor george bush now the veto are in chief when it comes to children's health insurance this house had approved  well today about all that remains of it thanks to continued republican obstructionism and one veto after another is what could be called the chop act because it reeks of fiscal responsibility and social inequity something may be better than nothing but this is barely something eighteen months will correct madam speaker i would you one minute to the gentleman from georgia mr price and note that i still believe bipartisanship is the way to solving these problems especially in the next year congress you'd think they weren't in the majority but it's time to set the record straight about a couple items want as s chip the reason that s chip hasn't moved forward in the way that they envision is because the american people didn't believe that over half of the american children ought to be on a government run system where there are alternatives absolutely the alternative that we put on the table was to reauthorize the program provide premium assistance for families up to sixty three thousand dollars and straight states greater flexibility that's a positive solution in the area of s t r the the physician reimbursement in medicare it's important to appreciate that this six month that extension is wrong it's what medicare is woefully flawed the six month extension is an insult to both patients and physicians what we call for is for bipartisanship for working together to solve the the medicare physician payment program that works well for patients and works well for is it for physicians and make certain that patients and their families spiral health care not government tells california and they protected the for profit insurance industry and other special interests to fund their campaigns to the detriment of the children in the seniors in this country you might call that  thank you i want to compliment congresswoman lowery of new york for working to include the sixty percent fix for the rehabilitation hospitals i wasn't aware that that was in the bill i'm very pleased it is i'd like to compliment my friend from california chairman stark for at least a green that this bill is worthy of coming to the floor i would like to point out that  the whole purpose of ash chip is to cover low and moderate income kids that was the original intent there many of us on this side of the and still think that should be the intent if you want to go to some of the larger numbers of coverage of children that are currently not covered you have to go above two hundred fifty and in some cases above three hundred percent of poverty you also are covering right now and six to seven hundred thousand adults there are those like myself that don't think adults need to be covered by s chip because those same adults can be covered by medicaid which is the coverage for low income americans regardless of how old they are like to point out the obvious when you're in the minority the only way you can get anything passed is to work with the majority that self obvious self evident when you are the majority you can pass things in the house just by yourself but if you want them to become law all you normally have to work with the minority and i hope this debate on s chip issue has shown people on both sides of the now that we should be trying to legislate and work out better by instead of scoring political points for one particular side with that i this is good legislation that every day that goes by more kids are going to get off s chip they put out that directive aug seventeenth this says that if a kid's parents lose their job they would have to wait one year before they could get s chip coverage so the bottom line is more kids are going to go off s chip but just barely paying for the kids that are on it now they're not willing to do anything they said that they were willing to negotiate what we had negotiations are majority leader said for over one hundred hours and they still could not come up with an agreement and the president refuses to fund anything he won't pay through a tobacco increase the only tax increase the only thing he says he'll do is cut programs to pay if we're expanded s chip that would even make it harder like cutting medicare so the fact of the matter is we're stuck with this lousy bill it was negotiated between the white house and the republicans in the senate we don't like it is simply a temporary measure and we as democrats are committed to the fact that before the in the beginning of next year we're going to take up  chip again we're going to take up the issue of medicare to try to prevent the privatization that takes place under the current program we're determined to correct these programs but it won't happen if the republicans continue their intransigence both at the white house and here in the house of representatives there is no reason to believe based on what they've done in the last six months that this republican minority wants to work with us to achieve a better result so we're stuck with this bill today it is a band aid approach we have to pass it so we can continue with the existing programs but every day that goes by medicare suffers because fewer and fewer doctors are likely to take medicare and fewer and fewer kids are going to get coverage because they're going to have to go to the emergency room because they can't see a doctor on a regular basis that's not the way to operate and i have to say that it's totally due to the fault in my opinion of the president and the republicans here in the house of representatives i hope this the gentleman from california or i meant to speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill as thirteen ninety six search for the title of the bill senate thirteen ninety six an act to authorize a major medical facility project to modernize inpatient the department of veterans affairs medical center in atlanta georgia pursuant to the role of the gentleman from california mr filner and the gentleman from indiana mr bleyer each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california mr lewis especially senator from georgia senator isaacson for making sure this is on the floor today the poor state of a lot of the infrastructure of the veteran's administration is well know renovation project will go a long way to address the american with disabilities act the accessibility requirements the needs of women veterans particularly as they relate to privacy issues and the improvements in efficient functional design these are deficiency are long overdue and we think they will be met here these infrastructure proven to utility systems will include the plumbing electrical fire safety concerns on the in patient floors while the with the ongoing conflicts afghanistan and iraq it is even more important that the v a is able to provide the best health care available in the most updated and modern facilities and f y two zero five this project received twenty and a half million dollars and as thirteen ninety six provides th the authorization of this project to move forward i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i want to thank the ranking member mr bill year for his cooperation i know that he has great respect for the cares process and would like to consider on all of the the facilities in one bill construction bill which we are pledged to do early next year but i think this is an obvious need at this moment for bringing this to the floor before we adjourn this bill that authorized twenty point five million for the department of veterans affairs to carry out major medical facility project to modernize the patient wards at the v a medical center in atlanta georgia the president's budget submission a for fiscal year two thousand and eight identified this project is the department's number one major construction authorization request without this authorization the v a would be unable to move forward with this need to project update and improve patient personally spoken with both of the senators who have an interest in this project and also like the echo to recognize mike my good friends phil gingrey and tom price who both introduced a companion bill earlier this year and for their work and david scott and others but tom price now tom price and i introduced this bill h r forty one forty three many months ago but we had unanimous support of the georgia delegation on both sides of the arrow and as we should matter speaker because this is the v a s number one priority authorization in fiscal year two thousand and eight veterans budget so i am very pleased i know this is it leventhal but thank goodness because of the leadership on both sides of the allen in both bodies this is coming to fruition as chairman bill to point out there a d a requirement issues there patient privacy issues there female veterans issues physician i clearly understand and appreciate the need for a facility improvement at the facility in decatur atlanta ga i recognize that during my training madam speaker when i did some of my training at the v a hospital in decatur and that was nearly thirty years ago so it's high time that we that we finally get around to providing the resources to improve the infrastructure within the v a facility  atlanta in decatur had the opportunity madam speaker to visit the the v a hospital last week and delivered some christmas cards holiday cards to our veterans who were there had a wonderful tour of the  diligently there to provide the highest quality care for our veterans that will be facilitated by the work that this bill will allow and so i'm pleased to stand with my colleagues in support of this bill and urge its at its adoption and i yield back the balance  once again i think the the clashes over the years between mr filner and myself are legend and that we had a very good discussion yesterday so i went to all our colleagues to know year that the construction bill will be one of the top priorities of for both of us to work together it is very unusual to sever any any construction projects out of a bill i don't care whether it's the milk on bill or out of the v a construction bill this is highly unusual what we're doing here today but mr phil and i are going to work together in a bipartisan manner for the greater interest of veterans in this country and we're going to use this bill as a springboard to greater things in the end i also want to reiterate my comments senators chambliss and isaacson are strong supporters of our men and women in uniform and our nation's veterans during their distinguished careers both in the house in the senate with that i yield back the balance of my time comments putting this bill in the floor as quickly as we did shows what can happen when we work together i'm looking forward to that mutual discussion of priorities we are pledged to deal with this aging infrastructure of the v a it has got to be remedied as quickly as possible and we're both committed to to working to do that so i urge my colleagues to support as three ninety six and thirty nine t six and you know back to balance  motion to reconsider is laid upon the table it as a member of the government reform committee i do in my colleague in the consideration of senate eighty ninety six legislation naming the postal facility in heels or in new hampshire twenty third two thousand and seven a member of the new hampshire police department officers to run died in the line of duty gunned down by a question in two individuals he passed away on august twenty dedicated protector above his state and country and it tends goal oriented young man he has power to be a marine since the second grade after graduating high school jeremy fulfill that dream and join the marine corps where he proudly served his country for four years after his and listen the term ended jeremy's passion to serve his community and protect others led him to join an absent police department with a goal of ultimately becoming a state trooper tragically on august the twenty fourth two thousand and seven after attending to fellow officers funerals jeremy was gunned down while questioning two suspicious individuals despite his fatal wounds jeremy fall back he is this haskell class president he was also known as someone who would defend his who were unable to defend themselves jeremy sharon proved his dedication to honorably serving others both in the military and it's a law enforcement officer who ultimately sacrificed himself in order to keep his community safe on this the tenth anniversary of the death of jeremy in the fitting to name the hillsborough new hampshire postal facility in his honor so i join my colleague from illinois to ask all members to support this naming of this post office to this american hero and madam speaker i yield i reserve i reserve the balance of my t motion to reconsider is laid upon the table report to accompany house resolution eight ninety three resolution providing for the consideration of the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h r twenty seven sixty four making appropriations for the department of state foreign operations and related programs for the sisko here in doing september thirtieth two thousand and eight and for consideration of the joint resolution house joint resolution seventy two making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and eight and for other purposes what that refers to the house calendar he wants well in order printed house resolution eight ninety four resolution providing for consideration of the senate amendment to the bill h r thirty nine ninety of the committee on rules i call it house resolution eight seven six and ask for its immediate consideration of circuit court the title of the resolution house calendar number one seventy two house resolution eight seventy six resolved that the requirement of cl six a of rule thirteen for a two thirds vote consider a report from the committee on rules on the same day it is presented to the house is waived with respect to any resolution reported on or before the legislative day of december nineteenth two thousand seven providing for consideration or disposition of any of the following measures one a bill relating to the children townsend surance program or an amendment there to to a bill relating to medicare or animist there are two three a bill relating to the alternative minimum tax or an amendment there too for a joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and eight or nine minutes there to five  r twenty seven sixty four making appropriations for the department of state for an operations and related program for the fiscal year ending september thirtieth two thousand and eight and for other purposes or an amendment there from vermont is recognized for one hour for the purpose of debate only madam speaker i yield the customary thirty minutes to the gentleman from texas mr sessions that objection all time yielded during consideration of the rules for debate only i ask  committee this will allow for the same day consideration today of any resolution reported on or before the legislative day of december nineteenth two thousand and seven in a provides for the consideration or disposition of one a bill relating to the children's health insurance program and a bill relating to medicare something that at this point is moot in view of earlier proceedings today but it also has a in fact  application on a bill relating to the alternative minimum tax a joint resolution making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and eight the so called c r in the bill h r two seven six for making appropriations for the department of state foreign operations and related programs for the fiscal year ending september thirty two thousand and eight the so called omnibus appropriations bill with passage of this rule it allows the house to move one step closer to passing this omnibus appropriations bill that will fund the government outside of the department of defense that of course we've already  completed our work on and it has been signed into law by the president enabled provide funding for the entire fiscal year of two thousand and eight it will also take us one step forward towards  considering and passing a patch for the alternative minimum tax which will affect unnecessarily and unwisely twenty three million american families nay would be subject to pay in a tax that was never  intended for middle class working families all of these bills obviously are crucially important legislation that congress must act on before we go home and we owe it obviously to the american people to get this work done the  bill is going to reject enormous cuts that had been proposed by the president in his draft budget cuts to essential domestic priorities such as health care education law enforcement homeland security highway infrastructure in renewable energy programs that omnibus bill instead does invest in crucial domestic priorities medical research to study diseases like alzheimer's cancer parkinson's and diabetes health care access including programs like the community health centers that provide more access to health care to under insured americans small rural hospitals will be helped special education teacher quality grants afterschool programs and head start pell grants and other student aid programs technical training at high schools and community colleges state and local law enforcement for communities across the country homeland security grants to help fight in the war on terror this meets to guarantee levels for higher infrastructure in ad funding to our nation's bridges it also provides funding for solar energy wind energy biofuels and energy efficiency with a careful blend of new scientific investment in conservation efforts and in opposition to the outrageous process that continues to plague the united states house of representatives we've had before some martial rule law that allows the leadership to once again ignore the rules of the house and the procedures and the traditions of this house marshal law is no way to run a democracy no matter what your ideology no matter what your party affiliation better speaker those are not my words nor are they the words of my republican colleagues on the rules committee congressman lincoln vs billard who spoke to the same words on the floor on monday they are not the words of my staff or some journalist who is covering the democrat majorities heavy handed floor tactics no these are the clear and clever words of the gentleman from massachusetts our rules committee colleague jim mcgovern he spoke these words on several occasions last year regarding what was then eloquently called martial law rule i will also use this opportunity to point out another comment that the gentleman from massachusetts made about martial law rules his quote is particularly interesting because it was given to each of us on this floor last year on december the sixth just a month before the democrats took control of the house of representatives well after the election he spoke about how the democrats propose to run the house which today stands in sharp contrast to what they are actually doing about one year ago the gentleman from massachusetts said and i quote mr speaker there is a better way to run this body the truth mr speaker is that the american people expect and deserve better that is why the one hundred tenth congress must be different i believe we need to rediscover openness and fairness in the house we must insist on full and fair debate on the issues that come before this body now i and all my brick up republican colleagues must ask a year into the new democrat majority where is the openness and fairness that mr mcgovern spoke about where is the openness on the energy bill rule where over ninety amendments were prevented from being considered on the house floor including a republican substitute where was that openness when we considered s chip we authorisation and what we had a close rule i can help my colleagues on the other side of the aisle the find out because i know exactly where it is they left it all on the campaign trail then like their promises to disclose earmarks earmarks and to run the most ethical and open congress in history was an empty promise it is in the empty promise which is becoming more and more evident on from the opening day of this new majority when the democrats rode into the rules house the rules closed rules for consideration of the first six bills that were to take up in effect discharging the rules committee from the duties and setting a new partisan tone for this congress not much has changed since then madam speaker lacking the courage of their convictions to change what they perceive to be problems with how republicans ran the house the democrat ran before changing unfair practices in the rules committee was to have no rules committee at all and that trend of closing down to house members what started back then sadly continues to this day madam speaker there is a better way to run this body the truth is that the american people expect and deserve better that's why the hundred tenth congress must be different i believe we must and we need to rediscover openness and fairness in this house we must insist on full and fair debate on the issues that come before this body oh by the way following the rules of the house of at least for sending a bill twenty four hours before it's come to the house floor would be a great place to start because i know it's on the speaker's website saying that that's the way we should operate we're still waiting better speaker a year ago at this time despite the house passing all but one of our spending bills democrats were on the campaign trail healing against republican leadership calling it a do nothing congress well this last year was a failure because congress's ability to get all but one appropriations bills to the president for his signature on time then what does that mean that this year we should think about democrats when democrats have failed to get more than one to the president after holding back popular bipartisan bills like veterans funding for their own political partisan game and ship and speaker i agree with the democrats of two thousand and six not the democrats of two thousand and seven close couple of things first let's be focused on the fact that the rules that were under can with it is going to be before the house really applies to two things consideration of the alternative minimum tax and consideration of the omnibus appropriations bill and the rule is being brought up for same day consideration for the recognition of the fact that there has been enormous work on both sides on the a m t there's nothing new and in fact the a m t bill that will be brought before the house for consideration today corresponds with the view of the minority as to that being without pay for us and secondly the end of this appropriations bill is bringing before the house appropriations that had been passed in eleven separate appropriations bills but have now been consolidated as a result of the inability of our friends in the senate to pass those bills individually as we did here in the house so there's nothing new that is coming up before the members of the house it's just the convenience of being able to act today rather than wait until tomorrow secondly my friend from texas made some  assertions about the conduct of this house and application of the rules you know context is everything the reality is that virtually every piece of legislation that has been brought before the floor has received bipartisan support many of the items that the gentleman mentioned in the six for zero six legislative agenda student loan route cost reduction price negotiations prescription drugs pay go the restoration of the pay go rule these were passed with overwhelming support on the democratic side in substantial support on the republican side when they got to the other body the senate has been using frankly a politics of obstruction to stop virtually anything from being considered the filibuster to hold every device available procedur to avoid taking up a yes or no vote on a question has been employed by the senate and there's a sense about by many on our side that the criticism that my friend from texas is making that we have not done as much as we should in congress despite the fact that we in the house of pass substantial legislation help in the bottom line for american families it's been an explicit strategy on the part of the other side to use every rule every device every procedural opportunity basically to thwart passage of legislation and they have the full and complete support of the president of the united states in that effort who stands behind the whole agenda with the veto pen and the president appears to many of us to be operating on a one third plus one approach where as long as he can get his veto sustained he'll be able to block passage of legislation the american people need and then accuse the congress of not getting anything done and i think most americans see through that so madam speaker with the passage of this rule of the house will move towards an adjournment for this year and have an opportunity to pass the end of this appropriations bill and the a m t fix irish yes vote on the previous question in the rule i yield back the balance of my time and i reconsider is laid on the table resolve that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take in the speaker's table the bill h r twenty seven sixty four making appropriations for the department of state for an operations and related programs for the fiscal year and except number thirtieth two thousand and eight and for other purposes with the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment there to and to consider in the house without intervention of any point of water except those arising under clause ten of rule twenty one a motion offered by the chairman of the committee on appropriations or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendment the senate amendment in the motion show because it is read the motion should be debatable for one hour equally divided it controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriation the previous question shall be considered as ordered on a motion to its adoption without intervening motion sex in two upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the joint resolution house join resolution seventy two making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and eight and for other purposes all points of order against consideration of the joint resolution are waived except those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one the joint resolution shall be considered as read all points of order against provisions of the joint resolution or waived the previous question shall be considered as ordered on a joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion except one one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations and two one motion to recommit section three during consideration of house joint resolution seventy two or the motion to concur pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of either measure to such time as may be designated by the speaker section for house resolution  during consideration of the rules for debate only i yell myself self such time as i may consume and i also ask unanimous consent that all members be given five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on house resolution eight ninety three like madam speaker h resonate nine three provides for consideration of two measures an amendment to the of this appropriations bill to provide funding for the wars in iraq and afghanistan and a continuing resolution each measure is debatable for one hour the continuing resolution is necessary to keep the government open meanwhile the omnibus bill is processed and sent to the white house for the president's signature madam speaker while i have no problem with the rule that is before us i cannot support the underlying funding for iraq the tens of billions in new money for the war in iraq has no timetables withdrawal no limitations no requirements that the iraqi government makes progress towards reconciliation no benchmarks no concern no conditionality nothing madam speaker this is a blank check the new money in this bill represents one cave in too many it is an endorsement of george bush's policy of endless war it is stunning that so many have gone along for so long asking no questions giving this president everything he wants after years of bush ineptitude how dare this congress provide another blank check for this administration no weapons of mass destruction a constantly changing rationale for occupation benchmarks for the iraqi government that never get met no democracy no respect for human rights no reconciliation a government plagued with corruption and no end in sight all this man speaker and some of my colleagues still say stay the course our brave men and women in uniform have done their job so many have sacrificed and far too many have made the ultimate sacrifice they have been successful in some areas of iraq and quoting some of the violence a centrally providing the chance the window of opportunity for the iraqi government to move ahead with efforts for reconciliation the response of the iraqi government has been to do nothing no reconciliation isn't it our responsibility as members of congress to raise questions should we put pressure on the iraqi government to do more in should we put pressure on our own government to not be such a cheap date don't we owe our soldiers who we put in harm's way better than acquiescence to a commander in chief who is incapable of ever admitting error man or speaker there is no military victory to be had in iraq to the extent that this awful becomes less awful depends on political progress something the maliki government doesn't want to do and something our own leaders seem willing to keep putting up i want more madam speaker i expect more for the sacrifice our troops have made quite frankly the status quo is not worth one more american dollar or one more drop of american blood i'm sick to my stomach when i think of the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have already spent in iraq while we nickel and dime our own people at home none of this war is paid for it is all borrowed money it's all on the backs of our kids it's all debt that is being bought up every day by china madam speaker i long for the day when we have a president who will threaten a veto on a bill that fails to provide all our people with health care or that fails to adequately fund education for our children instead we have a white house that engages in blackmail tactics give me what i want or on iraq with no strings attached or i'll shut the government down those who defend the status quo say that we need to give the president whatever he wants so we can assure victory victory at the beginning of this war was ridding saddam hussein of weapons of mass destruction when we found that there were none the definition of victory changed in fact over the last five years a definite definition of victory has changed several times for me the closest thing to victory is ending this war getting an iraqi government that puts national reconciliation above its own self interest and getting our troops out of that country and home to their families where they belong i believe the surest way to get that type of victory is setting a firm timetable for the u s occupation of iraq to end it will change the dynamic and it will force the iraqi government to embrace rather than avoid reconciliation in fact in today's washington post the us military has found that the strongest point of agreement among all iraqis across all sectarian and ethnic groups is the belief that the u s military invasion of their country is the primary root of the violent differences among them and that the departure of quote occupying forces those are their words is the key to national reconciliation madam speaker the iraqi people themselves firmly believe that reconciliation will not happen until we leave if the iraqi people want us to leave and a majority of the iraqi government wants us to leave and a majority of the american people want us to leave then why on earth are we staying let me also state man's meager what victory is not it is not allowing this president to kick the ball down the field and dump this war on the next prez the united states that's called passing the buck and that's what will be doing if we approve this new iraq money one final observation the war in iraq has not only cost us dearly in terms of human life and treasure it is also cost us in terms of our standing in the world we have lost the support and respect of so many who have look to us as a force for what is good decent law today we're here to consider hopefully the last piece of the appropriations puzzle as well as yet another and could another continuing resolution before the  appropriations bill is sent to the president what is so interesting about this process is that the omnibus bill that has finally come before the house  in many ways is very similar to the proposals that the minority has advocated for months and is very similar to what we predicted would in fact be the legislation that ultimately would become law however the majority decided madam speaker instead of working toward a compromise a  bipartisan resolution to this legislation a bipartisan product the majority decided to use of the appropriations process to in effect score political points while funding for our troops in critical theaters of operation has been dangerously delayed now the underlying amendment we will consider today will finally help bring our procreation this process to a close and it will do so in a fiscally responsible manner funding the federal government and funding our troops in critical theaters of operation without preconditions and without strings these funds will allow for the progress that we have recently seen to continue to take hold they will allow for our men and women in uniform to continue to do their job as they have done so so effectively in fact so i think congratulations is due to all who have worked on this process and in that congratulations i think is due to go on both sides of the aisle who have that will fund the federal government for the next fiscal year and especially as i have said we'll continue to fund in critical theaters of operation our men and women who are doing such an extraordinary job and who deserve our unrestricted support there are very important very important endeavors efforts projects that are funded  this in this appropriations bill and this omnibus appropriations bill we cannot i believe and for size sufficiently especially at this critical time  e our support and the continued need of our support for our great ally and friend israel that lives in an area of the world x that's extremely dangerous and that while we have the benefit of thousands of miles between for example the state sponsor of terrorism in iran the regime in iran madam speaker well we have thousands of miles physically separating us between that state sponsor of terrorism separating us from that state sponsor of terrorism our friend and ally israel does not and so i i have always felt very strongly about our need to support israel the fact that this  appropriations legislation includes the support that it does for our friend and ally israel is something that i think is very important and there are there are many many other aspects that we on a bipartisan basis aspects of this legislation that we and i bought a bipartisan basis can be very proud of and we i think will have further opportunity to discuss them today that the majority it needs some some time and and appropriators need some time on both sides of the aisle to to work them out so we will be hopefully seeing those glitches being resolved in the next minutes and hours as we wait for those glitches to be resolved we are cognizant of the fact that we're finally bringing to the floor the rule that will allow for consideration of the final legislative product on the appropriations the appropriations for this year and and with that in mind my friend for yield me the time madam speaker we're here right now for the purpose of providing for the consideration of the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h r two seven six four that's what we're here for a repeat that we're here for providing for the consideration of the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment rather confusing not just to members of congress it's confusing i think to the american people also and manner speaker today i'd like to just read from the calendars wins day december nineteenth on the back page it status of major bills status of major bills first session and here's essentially what it says it says homeland security appropriations was completed by the house in the senate in june the eighth in the house in july the twenty six never sent to conference never sent to conference energy and water appropriations june eleventh never completed by the senate military construction a june the fifteenth in the house september the six well the new year is already started the new fiscal years already started this new democrat majority has been sitting on these bills including the v a since september the six and yet they're coming to the floor today just a week before christmas terribly upset terribly upset and yet it says here let me see if i got this right a conference center conference these are paul blanks  didn't go to conference the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader never had a conference they didn't get together to try and work out the differences that they had what they did is they let members sit day after day after day just one year and seventy five days ago when republicans had completed all but one of these bills we were called irresponsible and we couldn't do the people's business and yet here we are one year later plus seventy five days and only one of the bills has made it to the president i could keep going by natural services in general government labor health and human services that education my gosh what is happening what is happening to this house of representatives and the united states congress but what is happening is is that i believe we had what i would consider to be false hopes and promises that were established in the first place about all these problems that we're going to go away just give our good friends the democrats that ability to hold the house and senate and they will do it but madam speaker they didn't even get the work done between themselves forget blaming things on the pres the united states or republicans they couldn't even appoint their own conferees they couldn't even do their own work and today we sit here and listen to all all the things that are still wrong and about how republicans have stood in the way and been obstructionist well that's not the facts the case the facts of the case of our all these bills that i've talked about never even sent to a conference and today the reason why we're still talking is because allegedly there's a glitch a glitch because the negotiations between the majority in the house and the majority in the senate couldn't get it right what do you do things in the dark if you do things where nobody else is involved that's what you get i'm told it's a seventy billion dollar mistake i just don't understand why business is done this way when one year ago we had all but one bill done before the election all but one if you systematically go  process and work through the bills in the light of day where the information is posted on the website when you give people time to read the bill i think a better result happens i think it's deceptive i think it's deceptive to say that this house would be the most honest open an ethical congress in the history when there was no attempt from the very beginning to even live up to that so here we are just a few days before christmas still barn in time trying to burn time because we know that the negotiators have to fix the problems and that's what that's a real problem that's a real problem with this house and i think it is the american people now madam speaker i'd like to take just a few minutes to say this that the republican party congratulates our colleagues and all of us today for presumably indeed what we're doing and i'm pleased to say that it was a victory for the taxpayers because we're not going to increase taxes as our good friends the democrats wanted to do and have been moaned all week long about not getting that massive tax increase we're going to go and make sure in ash chip that we don't take two million children from their own private insurance to a government run program that is still overburdened we're going to make sure that we don't do i think bad things in dealing with the in our ability to find terrorists with pfizer bill so it's a great victory today for the taxpayer for people who want to protect this country because what has prevailed is what we said should happen and that is that the republican minority kept after this process to make sure that the taxpayers don't lose on this last day before we leave before christmas and we're going to stay after that because we believe we're doing the right thing and i'm proud of what we will accomplish here today if we can find a seventy billion dollar mistake that's happened and we can close the books on the year entitled to his own opinions but he's not entitled to his own facts he's not entitled to make up the facts the facts are that the difference between this congress hundred the democratic majority  under the previous congress under the republican majority is they left washington before their work was done they kicked all their work onto the democratic congress that was elected last november they didn't do their job if the congress could be sued for malpractise they would have been sued for malpractise the bills that we are dealing with today the house of representatives passed in a timely matter all of the appropriations bills as we were supposed to do we did it and they were good bills and i commend chairman obie for his work on those bills unfortunately and we did that in spite of all the obstructionism and the resistance from the republicans in this house unfortunately because of the senate rules you know an individual member and in the case of the senate the senate minority leader was able what was successful in slowing down the process in preventing conference committees from meeting in preventing the senate from considering certain bills they could be proud of  that that's just obstructionism that's not doing the people's business but the bottom line is that we are here today dealing with an omnibus appropriations bill to get the people's business done not to kick the ball down the field and dump it on the next year's congress it is to do it now one other thing a man speaker and that is that what one of the major differences between the with the democrat the new democratic majority is that we have helped undo some of the damage that the republicans have done to domestic spending over the years because of the democratic majority and our ability to reorder priorities education is better off today than it would be if the republicans were in control medical research there is more money for medical research to find lifesaving drugs and to find cures for diseases because the democrats made a priority over the republican objections are that torrence are getting a better deal today under the democratic majority there is there is the largest single year increase in veterans health in the history of the that fancy ministration those are the things that we have done today we are considering a senate addition to what we did in the house which i have an objection to and that is the funding for the war in iraq the republicans while they  control gave the president a blank check no accountability no questions asked nothing and here we are the fifth fifth year into this war with no end in sight and there are some of us who believe the time has come to call the president to account to start the process of bringing our troops troops home so they can be reunited with their families so there's a huge difference between the democrats and republicans madam speaker this time like the zero two minutes the gentleman from north carolina m disaster assistance package to provide relief to our farmers suffered from a record drought and record heat in the southeast my farmers are hurting this on misappropriation bill will provide some six hundred million dollars for disaster assistance my congressional district in north carolina has been affected was callie's seps in or drought as the most serious category that you can help this aid will bring real relief to our rule communities i've been proud to lead the charge on this effort in september i wrote a bipartisan letter to the president signed by fifty four mark colleagues from both political parties to make the case for drought relief but i've been very pleased at the work to be able to work with speaker pelosi majority leader hoyer majority will collab and oprah agd chair peterson and appropriation chairman obie to get this done and i want to thank them for their critical help this is important to rule america i also want to thank the governor of north carolina mike easley his leadership madam speaker i grew up in just the county and i've lived in farm country all my life as a senior member of the house and committee i'm also mr flake challenge marathon is recognized for five minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding i oppose this rule that will allow this omnibus to be brought to the floor we had some discussion yesterday and it should continue today about the  over nine thousand earmarks that are in this bill it was mentioned by the majority leader yesterday or the day before he said having said this in justification for bringing this bill forward when it was pointed out that many of these earmarks had been brought to the floor for the first time with this bill he said this bill incorporates all of the bills that passed this house it's not as if these items are these are items of first impression these are bills that we considered in this house and passed with the centrally overwhelming bipartisan vote that's only partly true yes these bills many of them were brought to the the house before a few of them left the house earmark free one of them the department of homeland security bill we were told we can let this one go and and not have the earmarks added because it isn't traditionally earmarked well guess what there are more than one hundred earmarks that have now been air dropped into that bill we are sitting today with hundreds literally hundreds of have been air dropped into the bill that we have never seen before yesterday never seen before yesterday or monday i should say that's simply wrong let me give you just couple of examples one point six million dollars for the city of bastrop louisiana according to the bastard daily enterprise this quote this money is officially earmarked for the purchase of bulletproof vests and body armor bulletproof vests only cost about seven hundred eight hundred dollars however however so one point six million would appear to be overkill police chief curtis stephenson agrees conceding there is no way we need that kind of money just to put all our people invest again this was an earmark for bulletproof vests for the police officers in this city and the city comes back and says we don't have that many police officers and we're told that these earmarks are vetted how are they vetted the answer is they're really not they're not by that part of the art vetted vetted by this party it's more of a game of can you catch me with my hand in the cookie jar or not earlier this year when i was challenging a couple of earmarks on the floor  member who had one of the earmarks i was going to challenge beat me to the floor to withdraw his own earmark because he didn't want the scrutiny that would come with if that earmark were publicly debated later that same week the appropriations committee when they found out certain other earmarks might be challenged on the floor called the rules committee and struck some other earmarks that were to be debated on the house floor because they couldn't withstand the scrutiny that isn't vetting that's hoping that your hand isn't caught in the cookie jar and now we have this bill to dave with over nine thousand of these earmarks now the majority will say hey that's a seventeen percent reduction in the number of earmarks in our worst year put another way that's like saying you know last year i smoked five packs a day i'm down to three this year i'm darn well quit and that's half hardly something to pat ourselves on the back about put another way we have just seventeen percent fewer earmarks than the worst year in congressional history for earmarking please don't use this side of the aisle as a bar with which to judge yourselves that's a bar that a snake could crawl over we didn't handle ourselves well in the majority with regard earmarks that's one of the big reasons we find ourselves in the minority today but when the minute new majority came into power in january of this year we were told that we would have transparency that would have names next earmark that there would be time to actually discuss and debate them that if there were earmarks air dropped into a bill that would be an opportunity to strike all earmarks at least one vote we don't have that today because this isn't a conference report you simply have to change the name of the bill that's member of congress told me yesterday one of the toughest parts of being a member of congress is to remember what we should be outraged about and i would submit that this is something that we should be outraged about but we're not we blithely pass it as if this is standard business it shouldn't be it shouldn't have been for us when we were in the majority and it shouldn't be for the new majority it was in a press report yesterday some members were upset i think justifiably that there seemed to be just a nice thirty second i would say that that's something i think outside the beltway people say that's just wrong for money to go to members just to be reelected but here unfortunately we say we see that and say well hey that's that's one of the noblest purposes we've seen for march lately usually they're tied to campaign contributions or something else we need a moratorium on earmarks we should pass a c r rather than this omnibus and go into next year without these nine i thank the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts as i stand here i'm looking at the light in this chamber and i must say to my colleagues that they are very bright symbolically then as we stand here on the floor of the house we should be transparent the light should be on and we should tell the truth and so it's important for me to just hold up a summary of the works of the democrats who worked without c reestablish priorities so that the maligned on the bus bill that my good friends on the other side of the ilo talking about all the bad things really they're not shedding the light on the truth let me share wit you simply what we have tried to do in the midst of opposition and obstructionism i wished the administration would have collaborated with us but we fought hard and so out of this work increased medical research six hundred seven million dollars for all time as an parkinson's disease and diabetes which hits the eighteenth congressional district in some out of all numbers healthcare of a billion dollars above the president's request that will focus resources in st joseph's hospital and doctors hospital and potentially community health clinics that i've worked on like the martin luther king community health clinic which needs additional dollars because of the increasing numbers of health problems in my congressional district kindergarten to twelve my congressional district has the highest percentage of those students on title one in the state of texas and we've been able to increase that by seven hundred and sixty seven billion dollars million dollars in addition i went to the university of houston to talk to those students who were standing in throng asking about college aid and i made a promise to them that we would not abandon their opportunity for their future and their desires and their dreams and so this bill gives one point seven billion dollars above the president's request for pell grants and other student aid programs and there is a surge in crime wherever you go the violence in omaha in the mall the violence dealing with the church and mission school out west we now have twenty extra million dollars for cops on the beat and then of course the tragedy of fall and bridges and inventory in my own district that suggests that the fall of the bridges we have increased dollars for that i'm very glad that there is monies in here for the texas southern university lab for domestic violence in the city of houston but i'm disappointed madam speaker because we have fallen on the job and because most of america wants our troops home now we have money for rac in this bill we have a crisis i said in  hearing today to listen to a woman violated abused sexually violated in iraq no control recklessness going on i went down the hall to another hearing and members all representatives of the iraqi parliament said how dare the united nation vote for more troops to be in iraq without consulting with this new democratic government we need to bring the troops home our troops deserve honor and i've offered a bill the military success act of two thousand and seven that says the troops have done everything they are have been asked to do give them their honor give them their awards have a proclamation celebrating their heroism but the troops need to come home and this bill does not need to be filled with iraqi money because the american people over sixty percent of said we are done we are finished we have committed the greatest sacrifice our children husbands our wives our grandmothers our grandfathers our family members we have said that we have done everything that we have been asked to do the two thousand and two resolution of which i voted against it is now finished it is over the troops need to come home and so man a speaker i think it is important that we acknowledge this bill in the work that we  is as wrongheaded as the senate's original two thousand and two blessing for that invasion despite the strong opposition of most house democrats of course the iraq surge has worked not the surge in iraq that's arches failed miserably failed to achieve any of the political objectives the benchmarks that the president set himself no the only surge that has worked is the propaganda surge here in hemorrhaging more dollars and more blood into the sands of iraq is not a formula for achieving success the taxpayers price for iraq is three billion dollars every week every week of every month of the year take all the money all the money that is used to research and seek a cure for cancer at the national institute for cancer that's how much money we spend from the courage displayed by our troops mark colleagues in this house need to learn from their courage and vote to limit any more funding any more funding in this war to are a fully funded  the senate to return of the papers on h r twenty seven sixty four is agreed to and disaster relief funds it passed the senate earlier this month without opposition it is a good bill and one that the house should it's a port reports of fraud surfaced almost immediately after the federal emergency management agency began distributing funds congress had appropriated for disaster aid to victims of hurricane katrina hurricane rita and hurricane wilma these reports included allegations that funds had been misused to purchase luxury goods that none eligible persons had applied for and receive benefits and that criminals had established phony katrina related websites to swindle those who wish to contribute to legitimately disaster assistance efforts last year the g a o reported that it had a instances of fraud in connection with katrina and rita disaster relief although the total amount of cost of these fraud schemes is not yet known the g a o estimates that it will certainly be in the amounts of billions of dollars despite diligent efforts by federal law enforcement agencies to prosecute these schemes current criminal laws are not adequate to the task the emergency and disaster assistance fraud penalty unhandsome it act addresses that shortcoming in several respects the bill creates a new federal crime that specifically prohibits fraud in connection with any emergency or debt disaster relief benefit as to both federal assistance and private charitable giving with fines up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars for an individual and up to a half million dollars for an organization and prison terms of up to thirty years the bill also increases prison terms for engaging in mail or wire fraud in connection with emergency or relief to the same levels as currently apply in cases involving bank fraud the bill also directs the sentencing commission to revise its sentencing guidelines for fraud or theft in connection with a majority with a made major disaster emergency declaration in light of the new statutory changes it's a bipartisan measure and will help ensure that the disaster assistan phones are received by their intended recipients and used for their intended purposes i'm proud of the work that the judiciary committee has done on both sides of the aisle on this matter particularly the commend gentleman from michigan mr conyers for his leadership on this bill as well in january of this year i introduced a companion bill h r eight forty six that would create a new criminal offense and enhance current federal penalties for fraud associated with major design hers and emergency benefits madam speaker august twenty ninth two thousand and five was a day that this country will never forget the images of destroyed homes and neighborhoods and communities displa families and friends and lives a little really torn apart by hurricane katrina especially will not easily fade from our memories the devastation in the gulf coast region reminds us of a tragedy that we would expect to see in third world countries not in our country and particularly not in regions known for their history and their character since hurricanes katrina and rita and wilma devastated the gulf coast more than two years ago congress has provided more than one hundred seventeen billion dollars in relief to the region including reconstruction efforts and medical services and human services including funds for unemployment and housing assistance crisis counseling and various other needs of the victims in addition  charities like the red cross and salvation army have contributed several billion dollars more to the effort and many many volunteers contributed their time to no one's surprise almost immediately after famine private charities began administering funds to victims reports of fraud began to surface such as non eligible persons filing false claims for benefits and the creation of phony katrina related web site designed to exploit those who wish to make legitimate disaster relief contributions more elaborate in organized schemes have also come to light including a group in bakersfield california which conspired with employees of a red cross call center to defraud the charity by obtaining false claims information in order to collect the system's payment through western union these scams don't just affect disaster victims but the charities donors and taxpayers who provide this assistance federal law enforcement officials including the department of justice responded to the problem in september two thousand and five hurricane katrina fraud task force was formed to mobilize the resources of the federal government including department of justice homeland security treasury the f b i f t c and other federal partners as well as representatives of state and local law enforcement since its formation in two thousand and five the task force has assisted forty one united states attorneys to prosecute more than seven hundred sixty eight people to date in addition the task force joint command center and baton rouge louisiana continues to receive more than seven hundred calls each month through its nationwide hotline and his screen unreformed more than fourteen thousand leads to law enforcement agencies and field offices across the country yet despite these efforts it is clear that current criminal penalties are insufficient to deter disaster fraud for example and the u s attorney's office for the middle district globe louisiana alone one hundred twenty eight individuals have been charged with hurricane related fraud s eight sixty three would strengthen federal law enforcement's ability to combat and deter those who would otherwise attempt to exploit another's tragedy preventing assistance from going to those who truly need it how well first this legislation creates a new specific criminal penalty to prohibit fraud in connection with any emergency or disaster benefit including federal assistance or private about charitable contributions as long as the benefit was authorized or paid in interstate commerce transported through the mails or is something of value the penalty for engaging in such fraud is a fine or imprisonment of up to thirty years second the bill amends the federal mail and wire fraud statutes to add emergency or disaster benefits for odd to the thirty year enhanced penalties and those that use currently the thirty year enhancements is reserved only for financial institutions fraud finally the bill directs the united states sentencing commission to review existing penalties for disaster assistance for aud amend the sensing guidelines as necessary and report back to the judiciary committee of both the house and the senate the emergency and disaster assistance fraud penalty enhancement act unanimously passed the house back and the one hundred one congress tough penalties for criminals who prey on innocent disaster victims are long overdue i urge my colleagues to support s eight sixty three i once again thank the gentleman from michigan for his leadership on this issue and i reserve the balance my time and reserve gentleman from madam speaker i am pleased to you in the two minutes to the indefatigable member of the judiciary committe of texas general and he's recognized him and i thank the distinguished chairman of the full committee that the through his leadership we have had a number of huge numbers of solutions being put forward and i thank him so very much for serving the american people as he has done let me thank my good friend jabot for his leadership and share some real life stories before i do that madam speaker might i ask unanimous consent to remove my name from h r five excuse me r fifteen eighty two and ask you to be placed appropriately in the wreckage without objection the order them speaker i lived through hurricane katrina and rita and spent a good number of my days in new orleans visiting not only with the victims of hurricane katrina but also subsequently in texas visiting with those impacted by hurricane rita i also engaged extensively with small contractors workers who indicated that in addition to trying to put themselves forward to do the best work on behalf of the timbs they were victimized and the victims were victimized over and over and over again fraudulent work being done contracts being signed monies being promised and nothing happening this bill will set the work it straight not only does it send a message in times of disaster to those who will come rushing in to try and provide  if you will the saving flag or the saving grace but hopefully it will sin a message to local jurisdictions that they must have enormous oversight in ensuring that they are not subjected to criminal penalties as a member the homeland security committee let me also acknowledge that chairman thompson in the early days after hurricane katrina we had oversight hearings over the abuses that were occurring the lack of oversight by fema i went into some of the  if you will sites where individuals were being signed up for work or being signed up for benefits but the aftermath of it was what a shame was how people were not given the benefits that they were promised how contractors enough of fill their duties how local jurisdictions were made to pay enormous prices to large contractors and yet local small businesses minority owned businesses women owned businesses could not get business and could not be paid even today there are small contractors who are waiting still to be paid and so i strive to support this legislation the emergency and disaster assistance for what generally and i have been active in two thousand and seven it's long overdue and i thank my colleagues and i yield back gentleman from rules and half ass eight sixty three those in favor say aye suppose now the opinion of the chair two thirds been in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill was passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table the chair lays before the house the privileged message from the senate earlier agreed to order that the secretary be directed to request the house representatives to return to the senate the bill in all accompanied papers relative to h r twenty seven sixty four entitled an act making appropriations for the department of state for an operations and related programs for the fiscal year and the september thirtieth two thousand and eight and for other purposes and that upon the compliance of the record of the request the secretary of the senate be authorized to make corrections in the  consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this resolution and you know myself as much time at elections and sentiments recognize matters speaker this concurre resolution enables us to agree with senate with the senate on h r six six zero the court security improvement and send that important bill to the president by correcting a paygo problem in the version of h r six sixty that the senate passed on monday the senate passed this concurrent resolution last night when we pass it and it will have the effect of removing the problematic provision from the senate amendment to a chair six sixty we will next turn to final passage of a chair six six zero and it will be sent to the president stripped of that provision i pause now to personally km in the gentleman from texas mr gohmert for the wonderful job that he has done in helping us work out the matters that  needed final adjustment urge our members to support this concurrent resolution so that we can send this much needed legislation on its way to final in two to correct the enrollment of h r six sixty the court security improvement act of two thousand and seven and i also like to command the speaker and through the speaker our chairman i assume that you are the people responsible for the safety of those who dedicate their lives to america's jet judicial system as well as to the safety of millions of americans who visit our courthouses every day this concurrent resolution substitutes section  sixty to make a technical correction to the bill and allow the house to move forward that considering the important in order to consider the important bipartisan legislation arch my colleagues to adopt this resolution ours are the balance my town gentleman reserves will speak more fully on her bill but briefly h r twelve sixteen sets minimum safety standards for automobiles for non traffic non crash related accidents such accidents include children being backed over l vehicle strangled by power windows inadvertently shifting the gear a car into gear and rolling into an accident twelve sixteen of the bipartisan bill that's been negotiated with consumer groups and the a had some problems with the process on this bill we didn't have a hearing on it we didn't have a subcommittee markup but we did have discussions chairman dingell did postpone consideration the bill the full committee and so we could have those discussions and we certainly support the intent of the bill and said we we certainly are willing to endorse it and hope that it gets enormous but with then i would either reserve or east on the land to yield to the republican co sponsor mr king  guidance were critical in bringing this important bill h r twelve sixteen the cameron call branson transportation safety act to the floor today one of the most painful things i've been a part of as a member of congress is are the press conferences which come about every six months or so in which parents and grandparents come to share pictures of their children and loved ones some of whom they have accidentally killed by rolling over them with their vehicles i magine for a moment particularly in this time of year as we wish to be with those we love the most i am here today because of these courageous people driven by such horrifying accidents today we can pass this bill and reduce these unimaginably tragic and unnecessary deaths and make them a thing of the past and just two years of age cameron go branson was tragically killed when his father a pediatrician from long island accidentally backed over him this is this bill is a tribute to him and the hundreds of other young children who have died this legislation was first introduced back in two thousand and three with my colleague from new york congressman peter king whose cause those constituent is dr go branson but today i stand here with strength and resolve just two days ago as her mother picked up snow shovels that had been left in the driveway ashlan lauber an eight year old from just outside of collinsville illinois my state was killed when the family car rolled over her unfortunately since we first introduced h r twelve sixteen well over a thousand children have needlessly died in preventable accidents in this year alone two hundred children have died of back over accidents many children are killed in these kinds of accidents each year without ever leaving their driveways suffocated by on say power windows backed over by cars with major blind spots are hit because a car was accidentally put in motion by children a child who could not control it eight or twelve sixteen is common sense consensus legislation that reflects input from the auto industry as well as child safety advocates the legislation requires secretary of transportation to set minimum safety standards for cars s u v s and trucks and to begin will making in three areas expanding with their word visibility unable and power windows to automatically reverse direction when obstruction is detected and requiring brake pedals to be engaged the ickle is not in the park mode expanding the rear with visibility a standard will give drivers a better means of detecting when small children or objects are behind their vehicles some a few of these s u v s have or would visibility so poor that up to sixty two children could fit in their blind spot when the driver is none the wiser this provision will enable drivers to detect areas behind motor vehicles and will help reduce deaths and injuries from backing accidents particularly for children and the disabled instructing the secretary to consider requiring car windows to automatically reverse direction when an obstruction is detected will help prevent small children from being caught in or strangled by windows these accidents have taken a minimum of twenty one lives over the last five years and finally requiring every vehicles break to be engaged when the car is shifted out of park and into another gear will prevent anyone not intending to drive the car such as a child who can typically reach the brake pedal from accidentally setting the car in motion in the past five years at least eighty children have lost their lives in this kind of accident than lee's want saved cars they deserve these commonsense safety features it is time that we make sure they get them and one of the best parts of this bill is that we will direct the national highway transportation safety administration to create a publicly searchable database of non traffic non crash related motor vehicle injuries and to establish a child safety information program to help consumers addressed ways in which parents and caregivers can we do service to small children but are designed to act and technologies a ready exist and they're getting better and cheaper every day many car companies are already off with these added safety features on their higher end vehicles but protecting our children is not a luxury to be priced out of the reach for most americans it is time that manufacturers include these features in every vehicle i'd like to publicly thank kids and cars and the consumers union for strenuously advocating for the safety of children and for taking on the critical problem unsafe cars and i again want to thank chairman dingell mr barton and mr stern for their terms for their efforts and i would like to thank jonathan corps don't and david kavik on the committee staff for all their hard work on this bill also want to extend a special thanks to congressman peter king for his leadership and resolve that he has demonstrated over the years and finally i want to from texas fields such times you may consume to the republican co sponsored a bill the former chairman of the homeland security committee the gentleman from new york mr chinni for how long  for the tremendous leadership that she has shown on this issue working in a truly bipartisan fashion and most importantly getting the job done is want to thank her for that i also want to acknowledge senator clinton and senator sununu who are also pursuing this grants and they took this tragedy as an opportunity to save the lives of other children throughout the nation and they have been steadfast and they've been unyielding in their support of this legislation and as congresswoman schakowsky said so many other parents who have gone through the agony of appearing at news conferences of coming forward and lending their support and their own terrible terrible experience to advancing the swatches lation show my heart is absent are most important today i thank them for the efforts which they have given camel the branson was a young man in my district who was tragically killed five years ago and as congresswoman schakowsky said every year we have more than two hundred children killed two hundred children killed despite the best efforts of their friends of their neighbors we're not talking about negligence here we're not talking about people who are at all uncaring we're talking about people who talk every possible safety measure and yet in spite of that these tragedies occurred so i'm not their dedication and also people on my staff who worked on this bill and again this is a great day for the children of america great day for the parents of america and it's a day that all of us will look back on with pride and most importantly with thanks and gratitude a strong support of the k t safety act of two thousand and seven this is a another example of commonsense legislation bipartisan approach to regulate unit astri and adequately protected our people and our children i want to commend representative chicago skin senator clinton for working with me and with the able and distinguished chairman of the subcommittee mr rush and achieving this compromise i cannot praise too highly the cooperation and the assistance of our good friends on the other side of the aisle ranking member barton and stearns for their fine support and for the very cooperated way in which they have worked with us and i thank them and i salute them for that the legislation requires a department of transportation to issue regulations to reduce injury and death for non traffic accidents involving automobiles particularly to protect children this is the right thing to do and it must be and under this legislation will be implemented in a responsible manner the bill has the support of safety advocates including public citizens and the advocates for auto and highway safety as well as the automobile manufacturers this is an important bill for our children including franklin d beetle and whose mother worked on this legislation i urge its westpac passage and i do again commend that sits author became so involved in teen driving the issues i was a o b g y n physician and some of the youngsters that i had delivered all of a sudden they were fifteen sixteen years old and in some of them killed tragically an automobile accidents just simply because they weren't safe they didn't have the proper training and so these issues are so hugely important abbie came came where this bill when a couple from my district came to me here in washington several months ago and their son their four year old son had been tragically killed by a vehicle backing over him and you know you can't bring these labs back of course we can't but this can't of legislation and  safety to help prevent maybe my grandchildren somebody else's child from going through a tragic situation like that from which the family never recovers so again to be here already resulted in the death of the sight of so many children this country now we can't bring him back but we can help protect our young people in the future and i strongly support it and i yield back the balance of my time the gentleman from illinois the gentleman from texas mr speaker i have one more speaker the ranking member of the subcommittee and mr stearns of florida would like to speak for one no you don't speak on the  is to reconsider the motion to reconsider is laid on the table what purposes for that is the gentleman from illinois move that house suspend the rules and pass the bill h r forty forty  the clerk will report the time union calendar number three zero six h r forty forty a bill to establish consumer products safety standards and other safety requirements for children's products and to reauthorize and modernize the consumer product safety commission pursuant to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr rush and the gentleman from texas mr barton will each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois matter speak i ask  representatives get things done today the house will vote on sweeping bipartisan legislation that will protect our children from defective and dangerous toys and comprehensively reforms the consumer product safety commission the bill before us today h r forty forty the consumer product safety modernization act of two thousand and seven was introduced by chairman dingell ranking member barton ranking member stearns and myself this is a story authorizes desperately needed resources to the commission and dramatically right rewrites the consumer product safety act as well as the federal has of prominence and give that the necessary to use to grapple with the global marketplace and protect america's consumers particularly our children from dangerous and defective products this bill represents eight months of work five hearings a subcommittee markup and a full committee markup in which the final vote was fifty one to zero as chairman of the subcommittee on commerce trade and consumer protection i am extremely proud of our collective efforts during this entire process h r forty forty has two titles title one specifically addresses children's products by a status in the strictest led standards in the world for children's products and requiring certification and testing title to overhaul the c p s see itself given the beleaguered agency much needed requirement for mandatory testing to twelve years of age required c p s e to a prop to a properly tailored their corrective action plans to fit consumer needs bestowed enforcement authority to state attorneys general ban corporate sponsored travel for c p s the employees and preserve state common law common law rights of action all of these excellent change was made at the behest of the members of the energy and commerce committee who offered their valuable input on how to make this underlying bill even better than a speaker i cannot emphasize enough the bipartisan nature of this bill from the very beginning we drafted this bill in consultation with the consumer product safety commission consumer groups and industry madam speaker i want to sincerely thank the distinguished chairman of the full committee on commerce tree on energy and commerce my dear friend from michigan mr john dingell for his unparalleled leadership this bill simply would not be possible without madam speaker i want to start off by congratulating chairman john dingell i have with me today congress daily the little one of the news periodicals that tracks what we do and on page seven the headline is house panel easily passes consumer safety legislation goes on to say that dingell said he plans to approach the speaker and ask her to put the bill on the suspension calendar because it passed committee fifty one to zero in the next paragraph a leadership aide said it is unlikely that the bill could come to the floor before congress adjourns for the year well i just want congratulate the chairman for going to speaker pelosi and getting her to agree to put this bill on the floor before we go home because this bill shows how the congress should work it didn't pass fifty one to zero because of serendipity it passed fifty one to zero yesterday in the energy and commerce committee because staffs on both sides of the hour at both a full committee in the minority counsel that is work so the majority i should say chairman dingell's council that has worked so hard on this bill if president washington were still alive today he would be very proud of her for the work that she's done  because she's not only had to work with the with the minority staffers in members she's also had to diligently work with the majority staffers in members as they  sometimes we're each side was pulling in different directions and it's good to know that she's all in one piece and in doing well this bill will strengthen the consumer product safety commission this bill will create a state of the art testing laboratory to test the products in the toys that that we sell to the american public this bill will enhance the recall ability of the consumer products safety commission this bill will expand the number of commissioners we have a full commission again this this bill increases the finance at the consumer products safety commission can can can levy against recalcitrant companies that sell defective products in this bill has the toughest lead standard in the world for products i wish it were my land but it's not  chairman rush's line on the lead standard in response to an amendment in committee to make it even tougher said that god himself at mount harass where he gave the ten commandments to moses is that may have been the only holy ground in the world that would have would have met this standard i thought that was just priceless in terms of trying to put in contacts how tough this standard is that the lord himself would have difficulty meeting the standard in the bill so this is a good work product it was done the right negotiations with the stakeholders negotiations with members negotiations with the staff and open mark up at subcommittee adequate time between subcommittee and full committee a manager's amendment that was circulated so all members had a chance to see it a full committee mark that lasted two days numerous amendments they were offered some withdrawn some accepted some modified and the result was the fifty one to zero vote that occurred in full committee yesterday and then again thanks to chairman dingell's ability to get things done in the house a suspension calendar vote today so that members on both sides of the aisle have an intent to put their stamp of approval on this very important piece of legislation i'm very proud a small part in this process and i cannot urge in stronger language that we should pass this and send it to the other body so that they may also reciprocate i would i predicted at the press conference six weeks ago or two months ago that something very close to this bill will be on the president's desk we will have a bill signing ceremony in the oval office of the rose garden on this legislation later later in this congress so i'm very pleased to endorse it again thank all members for their hard work special commendation to cliff stearns the former ranking member of the subcommittee for his hard work with that i reserve the balance of my time thank you madam speaker i want to thank the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee mr rasch for yelled at me this time and i want to congratulate him and my distinguished chairman mr dingell for bringing this strong consumer protection bill to the floor so quickly i also want to thank congresswoman de lauro who i've been working with on this legislation for a number of years and i'm so thrilled to see it on the floor that i'm speaker this year we see that we've seen the number of children's product and toy call recalls rise dramatically many of these recalls were because of excessive amounts of lead which is a various de very dangerous compound for children as if parents didn't have enough to worry about this season they're faced with another dilemma are the tories that they are buying safe today in the house we will act to make sure the answer to that question in the future is the reason ound a yes back in september with congresswoman de lauro i introduced bill to address this issue i want to commend the good work of the energy and commerce committee for incorporating many of the provisions of our bill most of the provisions in h r forty forty as a sits before us today this bill takes a number of steps to protect kids under twelve for example it it almost doubles the funding for the consumer products safety commission which has been woefully underfunded and staffed it bans lead in children's products and toys it requires independent third party testing and it bans industry sponsored travel which has been a scandal at the consumer products safety committee commission passing h r forty forty today is a crucial first step in making sure that children are safe from dangerous products as parents are right like i asked are rushing to finish their holiday shopping this weekend they can rest assured that the u s house of representatives on is on their side i look forward to working with my colleagues early in the next session to make sure that the food parents are putting on their table is also say i yield back the balance of my time factor time the telephone tech five minutes to the when a speaker i rise in support of this bill and as chairman barton's pointed out it's been bipartisan with fifty one people voting for no one voting against it we had a contentious markup particularly on several amendments and these amendments  defeated so that we had a little compromise involved but a lot of americans should realize that the consumer products safety commission came into existence in one thousand nine hundred ninety three as the agency to ensure products including toys not supposed risk or injury for our families illness or death to consumers lots of times the products are not used properly and that causes a problem and the consumer product safety commission cannot guarantee safety if the consumers don't use the products properly they have fifteen thousand different products that they have to promulgate with standards unfortunately the commission rarely is had to prob mandatory standards for all these products you can rely on voluntary standards that are simply developed by the industry itself this bill is mr barton pointed out is going to be signed in a very short order after we pass this on the suspension many of the members on both sides to talk about the growing compliance with shortfalls with toys that are manufactured out outside the united states particularly in china specifically our attention was focused on the spat of recalls which increased dramatically for toys with lead based pain exceeding the united states limit this was a problem we have rarely seen really seen in thirty years since we passed a federal ban on lead paint lead based paint i'm pleased to report to the manufacturers retailers have stepped up to the plate in testing in response to these problems and that's good nevertheless my colleagues toys have not been the only problem this year as imports have every type of product increasingly account for our supplies of good sickly from china as our imports have risen over the years so had the number of problems that have been associated with the the products that come in but the consumer products safety commission has met this daunting challenge and you can imagine with fifteen thousand different kinds of products they've issued more recalls over the last two years than any other time in their history despite this we recognize the need to provide the commission with additional resources which we are doing today we authorized significant increases in their budget so the commission may fulfill their mission to keep defective products that can cause injury or worse out of the stream of commerce so i'm pleased to report the omnibus bill we passed this week includes increased appropriation for this commission so they're getting new resources this bill it's good public policy that only provide not only provides a commission  resources but as pointed out much much more it provides for new standards regarding lead paint implements in most stringent standards ever for lead content in children's products the bill requires testing and certification of children's products before they are ever shipped to store shelves and provides increased penalties for companies that violate the law new labeling requirements will help facilitate effective recalls and the bill provides greater authority for the commission to recall harmful products and notify the public of these dangers very important they have this exter recall authority we work with the consumer groups industry and the commission to make this a bipartisan sound bill that works effectively so i commend chairman rushing from air command obviously mr dingell i commend our ranking member chairman barton on their willingness to make this an open process we talked about it and the result is what we see or the toys our children play with are no longer safe government must respond today's bill represents a first step forward and active response to an agency which has failed to take its regulatory responsibilities seriously for far too long an agency that does not understand its regulatory function we are addressing the consumer product safety commission mandate and trying to reform it in a meaningful way i've been proud to work with my colleague congresswoman de gette and other colleagues from the energy and commerce committee to hone to strengthen this bill we all recognize that the american people must be able to depend on the system responsible for protecting them i specially want to thank congresswoman and sure who fought to strengthen the mandatory recall provision governing products that pose an imminent how to this new authority will allow the c p s u to provide notice and halt distribution without protracted legal proceedings i'm pleased that i could partner with my colleagues to strengthen this bill in other ways as well requiring tracking labels and product registration cards for durable and nursery products providing the additional resources the c p s team needs to get its act together and instituting a ban on industry sponsored travel and providing for protections for children under the age of twelve i do not believe that we have gone far enough in that we must go further and i look forward to making this bill stronger still working through the conference to address it shortcomings under this bill we must make it clear that states will not be preempted attorneys general and they not be limited when pursuing remedies or penalties at a time  the number of dangerous product entering our market to skyrocketing this is a problem we need to fix now we should be bringing more allies to our fight not fewer also we need we're still not tough enough on third party testing there are still lo that lead manufacturers to conduct their own tests the days of industry self policing must come to an end and i believe the current provision banning lead although long overdue thirty seconds additional thank  thank you long overdue has problematic exemptions health advocacy experts have testified to the need to place a threshold at forty parts per million and urge more timely implementation with our children's health at stake we should listen to the experts the government has an obligation to its citizens it's that simple this bill represents a first step forward in meeting that obligation striving to make sure dangerous toys and products do not slip through the cracks and into our children's hands during this holiday season we cannot afford to wait any longer i urge a yes vote on this legislation john when you know better time the gentleman from texas planning choir as to how much time i still control madam speaker a number of minutes yes ma'am six of those minutes and fact i want to i want to you ask unanimous consent to yield of my eleven minutes six of those minutes to mr rush for him to control that traction the gentleman has six seventeen and a half my good friend stearns that recently we've read many articles about products coming out of china whether it be wheat gluten whether it be contaminated toothpaste whether it be excessive lead in the paints of choice toys and all of us are quite excited about this legislation h r forty forty four the reformation that it makes in the consumer product safety commission and one thing that i would point out and other people have already said but the new standards regarding lead paint implements the most stringent standards ever for lead content in children's products in this legislation so this is an exciting day for the american people i think it shows that congress does have the ability to meet very important problems facing our country and i look forward to the passage of this legislation today and certainly want to thank the staff for the hard work that they did on both sides of the aisle thank you in support of the consumer protection safety modernization modernization next of which i am a member which of which i am a co sponsor of there's no better time to pass this legislation right now before the holidays when parents are buying toys for their children after months recalls of menu of chinese manufactured toys it is evident that the consumer protection safety commission lack strong authority and needs additional resource to protect the safety of our children and loved ones this legislation will implement a graduated reduction of lead standards reducing one hundred parts per million a level unmatched anywhere in the world the bill will also require manufacturers to include tracking labels to aid in the event of a recall on all toys intended for children twelve and younger and mandate third party testing of toys for lead by labs a credit by the c p s see this legislation strengthens the commission by authorizing significant increases in funding levels or the next three years allowing the product safety commission to hire additional employees which has been at an all time low since their inception furthermore this legislation provides an additional twenty million to modernize c p s these testing laboratory to ensure safe products madam speaker i  distinguished member of the full committee dr murphy of pennsylvania a minute in the hands tell us of pennsylvania track a natural ninety second i think my distinguished ranking member in two thousand and seven there's been sixty one toy recalls which translates to about twenty five million toys this number is up significantly from the forty recalls of five million toys we had last year and this is what we caught this bill will help protect consumers the real culprits remain however the trading partners that refuse to abide by international standards countries like china and others who have lax oversight will happen to be the leading countries that are involved with these appalling rates that's why this bill is so important because it is up to us to set sound and safe standards and enforce and in addition i'm pleased the committee will be looking at further search to look at the issue of pet toys pet toys that may themselves have lead and other toxic metals that are unregulated not only is this a concern exposure for the family pet but also because many of these toys themselves are inviting the children young short of themselves they pick them up put them in their mouth and get those toxic substance on their hands as people do their shopping in this holiday season perhaps what we should be doing as a nation before this bill is signed by the president goes into effect instead of judging products by cheap prices we should all be looking for quality and safety that comes from buying american products  yielding madam speaker i am enjoying my return to the commerce committee where i serve under a great chairman john dingell our committee has a history of producing strong bipartisan legislation the regular order works and we do good work when we follow it as a grandmother and grandmother to be i watched in horror this summer as millions of toys were pulled off american store shelves due to lead tainted paint detached magnets and other hazards i was further dismayed because mattel one of the companies responsible is headquartered in my congressional district and employs two thousand of my constituents to design and market its toys i'm pleased to say that mattel has worked hard to fix its problems though i will continue to recommend that it move some or all of its manufacturing back to this country where quality can be carefully monitored banham speaker for all the reasons my colleagues have mentioned h r four zero four  is a landmark bill it sets a high bar for toy manufacturers like mattel and strengthens government scrutiny of industry h r four zero four zero was written the right way the bipartisan way and through the regular order of the house in terms of process it is a model for congress at its best and grandmothers grandmothers to be children and our committee will be better for it i urge passage of this bill and yield back the balance of my chairman dingell and our ranking member barton and vice chairman of the subcommittee mr sterns for bringing this bill to fruition this is the season of giving the parents today are worrying about whether the toys they buy for their children will be safe or potentially a lethal hazard the chicago tribune recently tested eight hundred toys and found a wooden butterfly in an old park toy store with eighty five thousand parts per million of lead one hundred forty two times the legal limit of superman figurine contain thirty three thousand parts per million the associated press found followed up with their own tests thirty five percent of the toys they looked at contaminated were contaminated with lead levels above the legal limit we should have a consumer product safety commission that is aggressive in protecting our children our most russias resource we should but we don't unfortunately the c p s is acting chairwoman seems content with the status quo h r forty forty the consumer product safety modernization act recognizes that the status quo of daily recalls and injuries and deaths is not acceptable i support this bill because it provides new authority and resources to make products particularly children's products safe there are many important provisions in the spill it will virtually ban lead in products intended for children aged twelve and younger and will mandate independent third party testing for hazards and children's products and improve the recall process it includes provisions from legislation introduced to require long overdue mandatory safety standards for durable infant and toddler products strains recall effectiveness by requiring them to occlude recall registration cards i hope that we can make this bill even stronger even with the added added resources authorized in the bill a major improvement from the levels requested by president thank you so much i support measures to add mandatory pre marketing testing tough whistleblower protections the assurance that injured consumers have full rights to hold wrongdoers accountable and while i support provisions to encourage manufacturers to report dangerous products i remain concerned about the effect those provisions would have on criminal liability and hope we can take a further look at this ultimately no legislation will be successful the c p s see continues to shirk its mandate of protecting consumers i want to thank chairman dingell chairman did for me i rise today in sport of the consumer product modernization act h r forty forty as a father of five i'm very concerned about our children's safety this legislation creates the toughest lead standard in the world for children's products and i could not be prouder to support it i have held town hall meetings all across my district in pennsylvania and lead in children's toys remains a constant concern for parents we need to know that our children are not playing with hazardous toys we all know that lead poisoning c be extremely dangerous according to the u s consumer product safety commission lead poisoning and children is associated with behavioral problems learning disabilities growth retardation and even death as the holidays approach this legislation is even more urgent requiring mandatory safety standards for nursery products and mandatory third party testing of children's products will help stop the problem of lead toys before they hit the shelf in addition this legislation requires tracking labels to in recalls i have been working with the c p s see to ensure that recall the items are removed from shore store shelves as quickly and safely as possible my office has work to make sure the public knows when there is a recall and how to take action this holiday season i urge all parents to check where the toy has been made and keep up to date with their recall email notice as provided by the c p s see i am proud offer my strong support for this critical legislation thank you  the ranking member mr barton and and mister sterns for their great accomplishment this bill will develop a standard that will protect children from the dangers associated with lead exposure it will create a national standard that is one of the strongest in the world and ensure that our toys are as safe as possible this is an accomplishment that we all can be proud of but let me point out that no one piece of legislation can make all the changes that we need at the consumer product safety commission what we need to continue to look for ways to further improve the c p s see we must ensure that the consumer product safety commission in the public get and can appropriately use in for my information from manufacturers about the safety of their products we must also ensure that the states have all the tools they need to permit them to fully assist the c p s see in its task because they will continue to be vitally important partners in enforcing the law every day americans rely on the consumer product safety commission to protect them from dangerous products to date frankly it has not done its job this bill is the first step in changing direction and in making the c p s see the effect of agency the american people expect and deserve i know this will be a continuing effort on the part of the committee and i look forward to working with my colleagues on the committee on a bipartisan way i hope to make sure that we achieve this  the committee chairman of the full committee mr dangle all of the people who work so hard to miss de lauro who is not on the committee but worked hard on this issue and my good friend from texas mr barton who today declared an enormous christmas gift he said the president is going to sign this in near order maybe it's going to be tonight or tomorrow or we'll come back without santa claus hats on i chair the congressional children's caucus and this is a mighty important step going forward and i'm delighted to be an original c sponsor of h r forty forty and i'm really pleased that we responded immediately in an emergency posture can you imagine mr rush listening to a member of the consumer product safety commission saying we need no more resources everything is well and can you imagine parents as they push the wee hours of the morning of course not them working with santa to get toys for their children to be able to have to question whether these toys are safe in fact in my own district i'm hearing that parents are questioning and the purchase of gifts are down or toys are down because they just don't know what fate this is a good bill  instructs those who are dealing with children that there has to be important oversight i'm work as well and hope that as we move forward to expand the responsibilities the consumer product safety commission that we will also look to language that i have in legislation that i have filed a will be filing dealing with the prohibition of imports of children's products without third party testing for certification this kind of oversight is second thank you many times we have waged a battle against lead in our public housing or section eight housing or dilapidated housing that many poor americans have to live in we fought against that let kills let us poison but can you imagine that right under our very noses we had good tollways that in fact our children bought or their family members bought and they played with that would kill h r forty forty i believe will save lives menace because i just want to take a moment to commend the work of the staffs on both sides of the aisle we have a dedicated hard working staff that has done so tremendous work over the weekend of the morning they have made it possible for this outstanding bill to come before this congress for the american people i want to commend them for the outstanding work you i want to thank the gentleman both the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee and the chairman ranking member the full committee for this very important legislation and my reason for speaking is simply to inform you of what you may already know has taken place in the bill that we voted on the other night the commission had a budget of sixty two million dollars the president's request was sixty three million dollars during our hearing process our subcommittee overse the agency we were shocked to hear from them that they didn't need any more money in the middle of such a crises they were the only agency in the federal government saying don't give us any more money while understanding the need and within the limited resources we want from this g s a to sixty two million dollars to a full eighty million dollars and i wish we could have been two hundred eighty million dollars and what the purpose of my comments is to remind both sides that since we increased the dollars by eighteen million it was a message that we were all sending that we understand the need to take care of these issues and to react in a very positive way and so if falls on us now to be very vergil and to make sure that they do the work that they're supposed to do there is nothing more important in my opinion at this present moment that to assure the american people the products that are coming into this country and products that are being produced in this country a safe and prop up for the children for their families we can do it through this bill we can do it through the appropriations that we had the other night and i thank all of you again for being very  majority on their process and i also want to compliment the majority and the minority on both sides on the on the policy this bill has the toughest lead standards in the world for children's products let me repeat that the bill before us has the toughest lead standards in the world for children's products it's phased in the timetable may not be quite as aggressive as some of our consumer advocates would like it to be but it is a fact that that if this bill gets through the senate and i hope it will the president signs it and i know we will  have the toughest lead standards in the world for children's products it has a pre market approval process that is a major reform over the current practice so that no product will be put into the marketplace until it's been adequately and aggressively tested before it goes to market that's another major change from the current law the consumer product safety commission is a small agency i believe it has less than five hundred employees but it is a very important agency and i think it's important for the authorizing committees to do due diligence in their oversight and also to do due diligence in in reauthorizing their agencies i was very proud in the last congress that for the first time in fourteen years we reauthorized the national institute of health and put in several major reforms i'm glad in this congress that we're working on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize the consumer product safety commission i look forward once we pass this piece of legislation to work with the majority to take a look at the federal communications commission i believe it could use some reforms too and i know chairman dingell and subcommittee chairman i thank my distinguished friend for years and i want to express my commendations to the chairman of the subcommittee mr rush for his outstanding leadership in this i'm proud indeed of your work here i also want to say a word of praise to my dear friend the chairman rather than the chairman and the ranking member of the coverage committee mr barton and also mr stearns who has who have served so well working with them has be privilege and a pleasure i want to salute the for what they have accomplished i also want to salute the staff we have on this committee on both sides the support staff i will not mention all of their names but i do want to express my appreciation to cuts where washington for the outstanding leadership she showed in the very difficult work that was done here but that doesn't demean any member of the staff when either side of the aisle there should per dedicated wonderful public serv can work together and in a fifty one to nothing vote we have established that the commerce committee still carries forward its traditions of working well together and moving forward the business of the house in a proper bipartisan fashion and in that we may all indeed be proud it shows a real vigorous collaborative effort by all members of the committee to craft a commonsense solution to the consumer safety problems  attention in the past year we have developed from input with government consumer advocates groups and industry chsh stockholders and sterile shed stakeholders a bill which represents a comprehensive approach to improving consumer safety most importantly the bill contains a very significant reauthorization the first in fifteen years of c p s see and it gives that agency remarkably enhanced tools to enforce the compliance of both domestic and imported consumer products with laws and regulations and that will enable the c p s see to do a much better job of protecting our nation's people and our children i want to conclude again by thanking my good friends and colleagues who have worked so hard on this i want to comment on the fine work of represents to get represents to kisha koski representative caps and represent harman who provided extraordinarily fine leadership to us as this matter went through the committee again i want to stress what a pleasure it has been to work with the chairman of the subcommittee the ranking minority member of both the full committee and my gratitude to all of the members for the extraordinary way in which they have put together piece of legislation in which this body may indeed be proud there will be some carping about the legislation but live remind all that the perfect good is off times the enemy is a good where moving forward speedily and well to protect our consumers in a proper fashion and to do so in a timely fashion and in a way which shores not only their protection of the people but the protection of the people in a timely and speedy fashion and a proper response to the concerns that all have set forward again thank my colleagues i yield back to the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee that upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the speaker's table bill h r twenty seven sixty four making appropriations for the department of state for an operation and related programs for the fiscal year ending september thirtieth two thousand and eight and brother purposes with the senate amendment to the house commitment to the senate amendment there to and to consider in the house without intervention of any point of order except those arising and a clause ten of rule twenty one and motion offered by the chairman of the committee on appropriations or his designee that the house concur in the senate amendment the senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion section two upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house a joint resolution h j read seventy two making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year two thousand and eight and for other purposes all points of order against consideration of the joint resolution always except  those arising in a clause nine or ten rouble twenty one the joint resolution shall be considered as read all points of order against provisions of the joint resolution or waive the previous question shall be considered as ordered a joint resolution to final passage without intervening motion except one one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on a program and to one motion to recommit section three during consideration of house joint resolution seventy two or the motion to concur pursuant to this resolution notwithstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of either measure to such time  balart all time ilda during consideration the rules for debate only that i am myself such time as i may consume i also ask unanimous consent that all members be given five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and house resolution support of his iraq war policy but i stated i think very clearly my concerns about that and other than a few closing remarks i'm going to reserve my time m speaker no madam speaker as of today three thousand eight hundred ninety three i didn't hear the gentleman respond to my i didn't when i was the question was if there are other i said if there are other speakers then i reserve if not then i would yield back i think i think i'm the only speaker on this side all right so that a speaker this matter was debated previously it's obviously a critically important piece of legislation and i made some points about it before i'm not going to repeat my points at this time and i hope that we can move to other very pressing matters before us today and so i yield back the balance of my time a speaker as of today three thousand eight hundred ninety three of our bravest men and women have lost their lives in iraq tens of thousands more have been wounded have lost limbs lost their sight suffered severe brain injuries we have spent half a trillion taxpayer dollars none of it paid for when is enough enough when will this congress finally reflect the will of the american people and begin to bring our men and women in iraq home to their families i hope it is today i think it can be today as i mentioned earlier madam speaker in today's washington post the u s military has found that the strongest point of agreement among all iraqis across all sectarian and ethnic groups is the belief that the united states military invasion of their country is the primary root of the violent differences among them and that the departure of occupying forces their words is the key to national reconciliation and i speak i ask unanimous consent that i could insert today's washington post article in the record the iraqi people themselves firmly believe that reconciliation will not happen until we leave if the iraqi people want us to leave and a majority of the iraqi government wants us to leave in a majority the american people want us to leave then why on earth are we still set stay as i've said on a number of occasions today what is contained in the underlying bill is a blank check there are no restrictions on the tens of billions of dollars that we're going to give the president in support of his iraq policy there is no conditionality there are no timetables for withdrawal there is nothing this is a blank check we are into the fifth year of this war and after all that we have seen after all that we have been told that has turned out not to be true it seems unbelievable to me that this congress would vote for yet another blank check so i urge my colleagues to reject this latest blank check which essentially is in support of endless war in iraq and vote no on the underlying bills i ask for support of the rule to without objection a motion reconsider that of speaker i know they don't california have to get another meeting so i will not take long everyone understands what this is it's a continuing resolution that keeps the government open until these the last day of the years of that the president can review other pending legislation i do want to just take one moment to note to bring the house's attention to the fact that a good and faithful servant of the house will soon be leaving this institution john daniel who is sitting next to me and you could would ring my neck because i'm even mentioning him john has served the rules committee he served the leadership he served the appropriations committee for for many years  the institution every day john is not one of them i simply want to express my profound thanks to him for the service he's given the house in general and most specifically the service he's given to the appropriations committee we hate to see him leave but sometimes even the best of congressional staffers have a lapse in judgment that's the only thing that can explain his departure in this case and with that i'm ready to yield back when the gentleman is re debate has expired pursuant to house resolution eight ninety three the joint resolution is considered read and a previous question is ordered the question is on a grossman third reading of the joint resolution all those in favor say aye those opposed no the i have a third reading ho without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table hundred eighty six to extend certain expiring provisions and for other purposes pursuant to the rule the gentleman from new york mr wrangle in the gentleman from louisiana miss mccrary were each control twenty minutes the chair recognizes jim new york madam constitutional changes taking place that never was expected and that's where the minority in the senate can actually dictate to the house of representatives exactly what they will and what they won't do and so the whole question of whether or not they personal responsibility of supporting revenues for this bill is even going to be considered it is something that we cannot expect the senate ever to respond to because they need sixty votes in order to fulfill their senate responsibility so what do we have on the floor today we have the principles that most republicans as well as democrats have agreed to in the past and that is that the time has come for us to be fiscally responsible and when the congressional budget office has an item in budget and it's called the attorney it's a minimum tax and they put in that budget a receipt of fifty billion dollars it means to me and it should mean to others that if you're going to delete that provision you're deleting the fifty billion dollars and in order for the books the be balance as any parent really any cooperation and i hope most intelligent and motivated country that you raise the revenue to pay for it so this is not happening they say the president says you don't have to pay for it go to the japanese go to the chinese borrow and why should you pray let your children and your grandchildren parry for this tax relief that was never but never expected that it would hit the these middle class people now what are options we could stick to our fiscal guns we could say the right thing to do is not to pass a bill this that pay for well should we could say that the taxpayers are not really in title to the benefits of waiving prego rules or we could say why hold twenty three million taxpayers hostage because of the air responsibility of the minority and not being willing to pay for this no matter how many alternatives we give them well we choose to say protect the taxpayer forget the look balls get the revenue losses forget the indebtedness at least for now because we don't want those hard working people most of them hard working couples with children and with the doctrines the wake up in the morning and find th feud between the house and the senate and the republicans and the democrats that would cause them to carry this burden and the president says remove it and don't pay for it well we come out on the side of the taxpayers and we just hope that we can pass this is spend june get on with the protection and then in a responsible way maybe republicans and democrats in the house and senate can deal with this in a more permanent way next year and so i reserve the balance of my time madam speaker and hope that those that are listening come to the floor and this a stare us historic occasion as direction thank you madam speaker i compliment the majority on bringing this bill to the floor today to stop the alternative minimum tax from creeping further into middle income families the effect of this legislation that we are considering today will basically freeze the a m t where it is in other words under last year two thousand and six tax year there were about four million taxpayers that had to pay their taxes under the alternative minimum tax this legislation will ensure that only those four million taxpayers basically will be paying taxes under the a m t and not an additional twenty three million or so taxpayers at an average of about two thousand dollars per taxpayer this is good news for those taxpayers it's good news for the economy at a time when many economists are worried about our economy going into recession now would be the wrong time for this congress to endorse a tax increase which is what would have happened had we done nothing so i compliment the majority in bringing this bill forward today and allowing the house an up or down vote on freezing the alternative minimum tax where it is madam speaker i'm going to submit further remarks chairman for doing this time madam sneaker this is truly a sad day for the institution of congress and in this administration when we have a minority number of members in both the house and the senate i'm more interested in protecting a handful of hedge fund managers ability to move millions of dollars offshore without paying their fair of taxes and in order to protect the financial security of our children and grandchildren by paying for this a m t relief bill make no mistake everyone is in agreement that we want to prevent the a m t from affecting twenty million plus americans next year the difference is our party wants to pay for it they don't we've had the fastest and largest accumulation of national debt under republican rule of the last six years and they're saying that's not enough we are almost completely dependent on borrowing money from china to finance our deficit and they're saying that's not enough the fastest growing area of spending in the federal budget is interest payments on the national debt and they're saying that's not enough that's pile on some more and let's leave this mortgage this legacy of back for our children to handle i think that's a disgrace  the ana madam speaker to paraphrase the last speaker for the majority it is his party that wants a tax increase it is our party that does not want to tax increases it's that simple at this time i would do two and a half minutes to a distinguished member the committee gentleman from wisconsin mr ryan tell me what conference recognize we can happen madam speaker let's just say what we're doing here what this bill does is it prevents a tax increase now we have different philosophies and we have different ideas on how to keep america moving forward between republicans and democrats the minority in the majority and what the majority is doing right here is they're waving their own budget rules they came in promising a new pay as you go system and here they go as soon as the going gets tough wave pay go i find it interesting that never during the course of this debate this year to the majority ever propose to reduce spending to offset this they only propose raising taxes but here we are on the eve of the end of the year preventing nineteen million additional taxpayers paying this tax increase let's look at where we were at the beginning of this year quote the speaker of the house nancy pelosi after years of his dog deficits this new congress will commit itself to a higher standard of pay as you go the majority leader i don't think i think you'll be consistent and vote against this particular bill our budget strictly it hears of the pay as you go budget rules that were reinstated in january by the new majority our distinguished chairman of the committee you've got to offset those tax cuts and so on and so forth well here we are and we're going to pass this by waiving pay go now let me make it very clear i disagree with the majorities paygo the majorities paygo says let's just keep raising taxes well two wrongs don't make a right this tax was never meant to be this is a new tax increase on top of the tax code it was never intended in the first place this ought to be repealed period so i don't agree with his notion that this tax increase ought to just be replaced with some other tax increase and that's the majority's position they want the revenue from the alternative minimum tax they just don't want to raise it through that tax so they have a different tax increase that is bad economic policy at a time when economists are telling us we might be headed for a recession at a time when they're saying slowdown is on the horizon the last thing the american people in the economy need is a tax increase that's why this is important bill we have big tax increases on the horizon the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee is proposing an enormous tax increase to have trillion dollars they're proposing to get rid of all those tax cuts that got us out of recession in two thousand and three in the first place and they're proposing not to repeal the a m t but to replace it with even higher taxes on workers and small businesses that's the wrong economic recipe for america the right one is keep taxes where they are and control spending higher well the new york i'm glad that the less big boys so young and vibrant that he may be able to share with the president his views it never intended that this tax would hit the people that's why for seven years the president never did anything to remove it he never expected that they hit the people that's why every year except this year he put it in the budget and expect it the fifty billion dollars no one ever expected this to exist that's why the congressional budget  should be getting fifty billion dollars this document is so persuasive i can't wait to get home to explain it to my credit is i'd like to yield two minutes to this thing wish majority leader one minute to a majority paid for that which we have bought with eighty percent cuts and twenty percent increases in revenues what an ironic argument he makes that somehow now we're not following that because nobody on this floor believes that nineteen or twenty three million take your key pick americans are going to get a tax cut which president bush has relied in every budget he has sent to us except the year of that particular budget but the revenues have always been a lot of pawn in his budget numbers you didn't change it you were in charge for six years ironic because the only reason we have to do this tonight in this fashion and not ask the wealthiest in america i don't mean people making ten million i don't mean people making two hundred million a year but people making five hundred million a year don't have to pay their fair share that's what this is about that be been forced to this day on this floor and in that of the body because what is happening is what traditionally happens the wealthiest and most powerful in america are protected on this for paying their fair share this is not about class warfare this is about once again saying to the middle class we're not here to protect you we're here to protect the wealthiest in america from paying their fair share which is what paygo is all about my young friend says that the economy is in trouble the democrats have not been able to pass one thing in the last seven years to impact this economy not one it's all on your watch i say to my friends all on your watch and you told us in thousand and twenty one and twenty three if we passed your economic program and continue to follow that the economy would grow and expand and now you say it is contracting and in trouble i agree it is why because your economic program is a failed program that took us from five point six trillion dollars of surplus four budget surplus years in a row and has taken us deeply into debt and deficit and yes facing recession in the eye because your economic program is a failed policy and i'm angry about it why am i angry about it because i have a great granddaughter is thirteen months old i have a granddaughter who's five years of age just starting kindergarten and i have another granddaughter who's twenty one and she has a daughter and i'm worried about continuing to pursue this path of debt piled on debt piled on debt piled on debt the only reason this bill is not paid for is because republicans in lockstep almost in both bodies have precluded us from paying for this which everybody wants to do and that is to relieve the tax burden on those who are confronted with a tax that everybody agrees was not meant for them it was meant for the wealthy so who's being protected by this the wealthy in this tax was intended to hit so when you get up here and tell me that  oh nobody intended to tax the it that's correct but the people you are protecting are the people that it was specifically and tended to impact on to pay their fair share not to run offshore and avoid taxes not to have their taxes computed at fifteen percent while all of us pay thirty five percent that's what this is about ladies and gentlemen of this house what we do tonight i will not support if we do it i have a lot of people who live in my district will be confronted with the alternative minimum tax and i want them confronted by the alternative minimum tax but if we are going to continue to buy if we're going to do what we will do later tonight part of the hundred ninety six point four billion dollars that you're spending of the legacy of those children that i just mentioned of mine what you're not going to pay for and you said this enterprise going to cost sixty billion dollars this administration has been a failed administrat n economically and a failed administration fiscally but you continue to pursue these policies and we're forced today to recognize that we don't have the votes to pursue the pay as you go principle that we adopted by in a bipartisan fashion in  economic recession facing us is the result i don't urge my colleagues to vote for this bill as i usually do when we bring something to the floor this is on suspension not because we believe in my opinion many of us that this is good policy but because we are faced with two stark alternatives a president who will veto paying for things that we buy a president that will be told this bill  if it's paid for responsible fiscal policy and a senate that will not vote with us and frankly house republicans who won't vote with us but we can pass it here as we did twice twice we  fix and we have paid for it this is a sad day for america it's a sad day for those three grandchildren and my great granddaughter thirteen months of age on whom we will pile an additional eighty billion dollars of debt with this vote tonight if it passes fifty some odd billion dollars and then the interest to follow she'll have to pay that w pay our bills we talk about personal responsibility we ought to have the personal responsibility in this generation pay for what we buy i regret this day and this bill  i wish you would urge the previous speaker in the majority leader not to give up on his desire for fiscal responsibility all is not lost because of this bill there are many of us on this side of the aisle who want to work with him and others to plot a fiscally responsible pat for the united states for the united states government that would include entitlement reform spending savings as well as tax reform so i hope he doesn't president when they said there they go again ronald reagan and i heard him and it kind of reminded me today is the liberals of this great body and the blue dogs of this great body come down and rant and rave over the fact while they run the house we're going to have the will of the house and the will of the house is to six a  for a one year pass just like we've done in the past not an unusual fix last time i introduced this legislation in two thousand and five four hundred fourteen to four voted to support that bill mahr fact i looked in there were thirty three blue dogs some of which will speak today that voted for my bill and i promise you it didn't raise taxes it just simply provided a one year patch for two thousand and six to give relief to the middle class taxpayers that never were supposed to be caught up with this thing since it was created in one thousand nine hundred sixty nine and so when we look at this today we got a blame game from everybody saying hey it's it's the republicans of the senator's republicans here the republican president the democrats run the house we're here right before the holiday and this is  got and we're going to pass it we're going to pass it just like i knew when i put it in in february that all of the talk all of the hope all of the desire to change comes down to the fact we couldn't do it perhaps mr chairman the best way is to read a poll maybe to lower the temperature and here was the night before christmas when all through the house every tax lawyer was stirring even the hedge funds and surpluses dancing in their head the speaker with gavel and bush with his pen and republican visa cards on the men in blue dogs debt and dollar and decline our fiscal sa dead dead the luster of debt is all the minority knows when to my dismay to should appear the upcoming election year new hampshire is close and the caucuses near it won't be long before the voters make clear we only got three hundred ninety seven more days of this administration on this in louisiana thank you mr speaker the alternative minimum tax was never meant to reach down and stare middle class taxpayers it does so because it was never indexed for inflation they empty was created  hundred sixty nine to capture a hundred fifty five of the wealthiest taxpayers in america if we don't pass this legislation today it will increase taxes on not one hundred fifty five but twenty three million mostly middle income families ishi or a clean a m t patch is the right policy for tax payers there are no new taxes in this bill to comply with the so called pay go tax increase by gitting paygo can't control spending and it really only makes tax relief virtually impossible so i'm pleased that we're not falling for the paygo trap on this temporary patch no new taxes also means that we're not dipping into the economy for revenue this is good since we're facing rough economic waters due to the mortgage situation although i'm not concerned our delay in passing this path could result in added waiting time for a tax return from the i r s this inconvenience is minor compared to the alternative tan's a billions in new let's make it clear they ought to be blamed for this it is the republican body and i'm sorry the republicans in the senate it's the republicans in the house and it's a republican at the white house that has caused this moment they want to borrow the money they talk about finding common  easiest loophole to close that i have been part of in the last one thousand years is the one that we've offered on this floor for wealthy hedge fund managers who hide money on the island nations to avoid taxes we're asking them to pay for a middle class tax cut for twenty three million people let me repeat the republicans in the house the republicans in the senate and the republican at the white house they have all opposed that measure that's why we're here today at this moment to get this done it has been there a transfer tent and they're on yielding position on insisting that this money be borrowed where the minority has had its day in this house of representatives that's why we're here and that ought to be eminently clear to the people that are watching today tammy's their time of the balance of my commentary their time families louisiana man speaker i appreciate the gentleman giving republicans total credit for stopping a fifty billion tacked fifty billion dollar tax increase but he's really way to you manage the thread thank the gentleman for yielding the truth is this fifty billion dollars that we're now prohibiting being collected from twenty three million new american families next year is not our money it's their money it's not money that we have this year now it's money that we said at the first of this year we never want to collect from these families but then we decided we immediately want to go right ahead and spend it that's the real fallacy here whether the white house make that mistake or the legislature makes that mistake that we have no right to this money republicans oppose as my good friend from massachusetts said republicans oppose raising taxes now because of that our friends on the other side kept putting this issue off and because of that when it comes time for americans who are impacted by the alternative minimum tax and all to get a refund their refund going to be slowed up this should have been done six months ago but we are getting it done today we need to move forward in a way that doesn't let this continue to be a pattern you know this this tax hundred ninety three republicans in the house and some democrats voted to repeal this tax in one nine hundred ninety nine and that's the best answer we need to get on to how we eliminate this unfair actually it doesn't do what it's supposed to do and we have no claim on this money acting like we do spending in the pants waiting till the last minute to do anything to protect these families was bad management but we are getting the job done today it's interesting to listen to the minority say don't defend this tax loophole no one has gotten up and said people who should pay their taxes aren't paying those taxes in so it's ok that's really what you're saying you're saying it's a tax increase when you go after people who should be paying their taxes it's absurd it's carrying a political label to an absurd level and unbelievable i suppose if we give mo for the collection of taxes for people who owe them who don't move offshore that's also a tax increase you're hiding behind a label what you're doing is saying once again when there's a it's our fifteen eighty five and act to authorize appropriations for his school year two thousand and eight for military activities of the department of defense for military construction important activities of the department of energy to describe military personnel be a day late and then a dollar short in this case however the majority party is over a month late costing taxpayers seventy five billion dollars as i listen to some of the previous speakers on the other side just because they can't deliver on their promises somehow it's our fault but by postponing action on legislation to exempt twenty three million americans from paying the alternative minimum tax the majority party's cost taxpayers both those affected by the a m t and those who are not to have their refund checks significantly delayed when republicans were the majority party during the last congress we got our work done and fixed the a m t exemption amounts in may as a result no taxpayer funds were delayed no additional tax payers were forced to pay the a m t last year this year under their majority twenty three million americans will be subject to the a m t last year under a republican majority four million americans would have paid the tax the said part is twenty three million americans should not have to pay the a m t they could have been shielded if the democrat controlled congress was able to finish its work on time the senate has already passed a one year a m t fix that did not include tax increases they passed this legislation almost two weeks ago and instead of immediately taking up this bill the house democrats have insisted the legislation include billions of dollars of permanent tax increases just to maintain current tax law and tax rates i'm glad the majority party in the house has finally seen the light of day and despite being much more than a day late and far worse than a dollar short i am pleased the house is finally getting around to passing this critical legislation and i urge my colleagues to support the bill before us tell this ma john madam speaker at this time i'd like to yield one minute to my classmate my friend the champion of the taxpayer a member of the ways and means committee mr tanner from tennessee thank  no political leadership in the history of this country has done what these people have done at the white house and here on the congress in the congress in the last six years when i say they oppose raising taxes let me tell you people they have placed the largest adjustable rate mortgage on the american people in the history of humankind this than the last seventy two much this country has borrowed more money in a shorter period of time than ever in its history where presently barn from foreigners almost went over a little over twenty million dollars an hour when in the name of all that is holy are you going to stop we are trying to pay our bill and you won't let us the republicans in the senate won't let us when you place a fifty billion dollar debt on every man woman and child in this country to protect less than ten thousand people who are  speaker at the time i yield one and a half minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania they distinguish ranking member of the select revenue measure subcommittee the bulk of my remarks for the record where they contain economic analysis and no theology so they may be out of place in this floor debate you know it's been fascinating to listen the lecture to the lecture that we've heard about failure the failure that is on display here is the failure of this majority to fix the a m t as they promised or even to patch it in a timely fashion we are voting today on a bill that we should have voted on four to six months ago and easily could have and the blame here if there is to be any blame is on the other side for having passed a budget that was built on quicksand that was balanced based on revenues from applying the a m t to twenty three million mainly middle class families and every one of them that voted for it voted to do it they took pay go they made a burlesque of it they what they have been doing up until this point is trying frantically to hold the a m t crisis that they created as a hostage in order to drive higher taxes they but using the a m t issue as a locomotive for a tax increase that is unnecessary and is inappropriate particularly if as the the majority leader feels the economy might be slowing down they have been single minded in their approach to try to drive higher taxes today we have an opportunity to protect the taxpayers without a tax increase let's take it down and thank you madam speaker i'd like at this time to yield one minute to the gentleman from texas a but i don't support barring fifty billion dollars to do it our republican colleagues say today that well you don't have to borrow the money why don't you just cut spending well that's the very question that we asked president bush's representative when he came in front of our committee and he stood there and he kind of scratched his head and said i can't think of any spending cuts nor have these republicans offered a single spending cut to finance this fifty billion dollars tax cut no their approach is they're all borrow and spend approach that they've used for the last seven years the debt goes up the dollar goes down we have the specter on the horizon of both inflation and recession and they follow the same old broken policy i believe that they are holding taxpayers across this country hostage to force the congress to borrow more money for yet another tax break it does not make good economics in this time nor any good equitable i yield back gentlemen  and ride today to port tax relief for hardworking american families our action today will protect twenty three million americans from unexpectedly having to pay the a m t for the first time this year when the democratic majority are committed to an acting fiscally responsible tax relief but the president and the obstructionist republicans have made it clear that to them adding to the national debt matters not at all under their watch the national debt has nearly doubled rather than making tough decisions they have opted time again to push the cost of government on to future generations congressional republicans repeatedly and stubbornly resisted our efforts to ensure that we protect twenty three million americans from the t and do so without adding to the national debt the democratic congress is committed to our pledge of fiscal responsibility we will work to ensure the tax relief we passed today will not add to the national debt i vote for this  thank you mr chairman let's check the facts the facts are the reason we are here today because a democrat congress created this alternative tax only reason he were here today is because a democrat president bill clinton vetoed the repeal of this alternative tax that's why we're here today and as for fiscal being fiscally responsible let's check the facts for just this year alone for years democrats have said it is irresponsible not to pay for this war it's irresponsible to borrow for this war this year they have spent with our support billions of dollars to war and didn't pay for a dime for years they've said it's fiscally responsible the leader majority leader stood on this f fiscal fiscally irresponsible to raise the debt limit yet they did it in the first sixty days in their own budget this year they have used multiple pay for the same paypal wars more than twenty times on different bills just this week the same pay for on two different bills within twenty four hours that's like using your house for collateral over and over and over for different loans which is called fraud and they've even used budget gimmicks like directing our own budget office to soon they'll be no terrorist attack for the next five years so they can avoid their own pay go rules pay go the way it's working this year is a shame it is a shame being lectured on fiscal responsibility by this democratic congress is like being lectured on parenting by britney spears it makes no sense at all what we need to do is sit down together jam in find a way to have this budget you better thank you madam speaker let me clear up the gentleman said as a democrat that he quoted previously they have decided to borrow the money for iraq almost all eight hundred billion dollars of it on the republican side eight hundred billion dollars at this time i'd like to acknowledge a leader in the let's be clear ladies and gentlemen that the passage of this suspension of the rules abandons our commitment to fiscal responsibility and waive the paygo rules that were put in place by this democratic majority back in january and the the blame lay squarely at the feet madam speaker my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and those of the united states senate who at the behest of the press who have blocked they blocked all attempts with this congress to responsibly pay respons y pay for an a m t fix it is a sad sad day madam speaker and it's a strong testament to how far we have gotten off track as a united states government republicans are expected to vote almost  unanimously for the role for the for the rule that way spago it is abundantly clear that they have chosen to abandon fiscal responsibility madam speaker the blue dogs are standing firm on paygo and in the coming year we will continue to fight responsibility begins with personal responsibility there is an article that ran a couple of weeks ago in the washington post that mentioned that one member who shall remain nameless says tucked in ninety six million dollars worth of pet projects into next year's federal budget almost all of which is in today's bill that we will deal with included in that was an earmark for a group called in tune when asked what they would do with the grant they said it might be music camps it might be lessons it might be how to be a d j it might be how to create a television show the last year mark that this group got was spent on lessons plans for funky music this is not personal responsibility where they're not earmarks in this bill we would likely have a continuing resolution which would fund at last year's levels and we could start to get a grip on this debt and deficit that we have i yield back  boehner speaker there isn't an economist in this town who would argue that the reason that the federal deficit and debt has exploded is because of earmarks without i'd like to introduce the gentleman from arkansas a leader in the blue dog coalition and a champion of the a m t issue jennifer markets offer one minute mr ross challenges learn to recognize one minute madam speaker this democratic house has voted twice in a fiscally responsible manner to provide this tax relief which i voted for unfortunately senate and house republicans have sadly chosen to side with protecting tax cheats and their offshore accounts instead of siding with twenty three million working families and providing them with the tax relief they deserve abandoning our commitment to fiscal responsibility and passing an a m t bill that is night not paid for leaves our children to foot the bill to the tune of some eighty billion dollars it is morally wrong to continue to borrow money from china and a rob the social security trust fund to fund our domestic needs here at home this vote today will do just that a vote forced on us by senate republicans i urge my colleagues to vote no on this republican tax increase on our children grandchildren and future generations gentleman from thereby waived madam speaker you know one minute to the distinguished gentleman from texas mr handling tell him texas is recognized for one minute madam speaker republicans have come to the floor this afternoon to prevent a huge democrat tax increase from taking place on millions of working families across america democrats have come to the floor to pay for their tax increase with yet a nother tax increase now madam speaker they call it the pay go rule it fits nicely on a bumper sticker now supposedly it means if you increase spending here you have tax relief there somehow you pay for it but when i look at the budget i see that medicare has grown by almost nine  percent they didn't pay for that it was exempt i saw medicaid grow almost eight percent that was exempt from their pay go rule so security increased five and a half percent that was exempt from their pay go rule discretionary spending thirty eight percent of the budget well pay go doesn't apply to that either and now they bring a one year a m t delay bill that's also exempt from their pay go rule this proves that the democrats pay go rule has gone from a fig leaf to no leaf some south cat is recognized one minute i think the gentlemen the distinguished chairman for yielding throughout the year the house has made great strides and made tough choices beginning the difficult work of getting the nation's fiscal house in order the blue dog coalition has worked closely with our colleagues to draft fiscally responsible legislation that complied with pay go rules that the new majority put in place at the beginning of this congress rules the minority rejected for the past six years i commend the speaker and the majority leader for their firm commitment to fiscal discipline under their leadership and that of the ways and means committee this house voted twice to provide a m t relief for twenty three million families without burdening future generations with more debt madam speaker there can be no mistake as to why the house is face today with effectively waiving paygo for a the bad habits of my colleagues in the minority who would continue to use borrowed money to provide the relief there by raising taxes in the form of interest payments and the obstructionism in the lack of fiscal responsibility of the minority in the us senate they prefer to protect those who  taxes even when the cost of that protection is to further mortgage the future of our children grandchildren for these reasons and others i urge my colleagues to vote no on the senate amendment on behalf of the children in our lives and the children in our district  minutes to the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee has been a leader on this issue from day one and his leadership on a m t i think is brought about a reformed opinion here of how it ought to be handled mr rendell and shatila new york is recognized for minutes thank you madam speaker at the end of this day would send the philosophical arguments that we have exchange on this floor and whatever they do with the other body the american people  taxpayers are going to ask the question did this congress to leverage really allow a fifty billion dollar tax burden to fall on their shoulders and we have to be in the position to say we have a long way to go in getting out tax reform straight but it would be just so totally unfair for people to say that because of our differences of opinion that on this close to christmas day we have blessed them with thousands of dollars billions of dollars of a tax burden that they should not have it was the congress that allowed this to go forward in  indexing and i hope it will be this congress that would say that we remove this burden i do really help hope that even though this president has only one year left on on his term of office that somewhere maybe the secretary of treasury or maybe the republican leadership that they might come forward with any plan a some plan to remove the alternative minimum tax and even though we know it's going to cost over eight hundred billion dollars or maybe a trillion dollars i just hope that maybe next year that it's not smoke and mirrors and we didn't intended tax in the first place but we that cut programs raise the revenue but for god's sake not only do the right thing for our taxpayers that are out there today wondering what we're going to do but for those taxpayers that decades from now after many of us to go on there i asked matter speaker i think what we're hearing across the country today is a collective sigh of relief on the part of millions tens of millions of american families who now will not be subjected to an over three thousand dollars tax increase this year this is real relief for real people and real families to compensate for a flagging economy and the soaring cost of living yet with the economic anxiety gripping this country it is just astounding to me that it took so long to bring a clean a m t bill to the floor as the majority's concession makes clear this was the wrong time to raise taxes on the american people the government never collected it never intended to collect the a m t revenue from the twenty one american twenty one million american families who this year would have fallen under the a m t next so the horror stories that we continue to hear all year long about increasing the deficit was just only smoke and mirrors for a desire to raise taxes support this bill today which is going to lead taxes alone and understand that all its going to do it is not cutting taxes on anyone just leaving them where they are but yet to do this the majority democrats are going to violate their own bond to pay go rule  would argue that pay go is just a sham to begin with i mean you can have forty million dollars to budget more than last year you can pay ten billion more here twenty billion more there and you don't have to pay for that but to leave somebody taxes alone somehow you in theory we're going to pay for it but today that is a sham that even as a sham the democrats haven't been able to keep it goes from a sham to a double sham the lesson here is clear the lesson madam speaker i'm here in reluctant support of this legislation in this process of governing you oftentimes reach a difficult intersection sometimes you do not have the luxury of either supporting a bill you like or opposing a bill that you don't like sometimes you have to support a bill that you do not like simply because it has to be done and that is the crossroads it which we find ourselves today we have sent to the senate what was possibly the easiest of offsets closing a loophole so that wealthy hedge fund managers cannot hide money in offshore accounts but the senate minority joined by the president and a group here in the house of representatives have rejected on theological grounds any provision that raises revenue some hundred sixty thousand troops are in iraq twenty six thousand in afghanistan and it's some point we're going to have to pay for these wars we are borrowing two billion dollars every seven days to fund the war in iraq and that's a bill our children and grandchildren will have to pay and yet and yet we should not ask the hedge fund managers to stop hiding money in offshore accounts that's what this debate is a bog and have been they are hiding money scheming to avoid taxes it offshore accounts i support this bill in front of us today we need to protect twenty three million working families from being hit by higher taxes while alternative minimum tax but without fiscal responsibility here and we believe that it when it comes to a fifteen minute vote