please take all conversations off the floor please take all conversation off the floor remarks and include their in extraneous material missed a post for december seventy's and eighty five minutes each mr burton december twelfth thirteenth fourteenth seventeenth eighteenth for five minutes each mr for december the seventeenth and eighteenth five minutes each mr hastings the december twelfth for five minutes mr franks to day for five minutes mrs fox today for five minutes mr burton to day for five minutes permitted to address the house for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks include therein extraneous material this will the california mr cummings marilyn mr de fazio of oregon miss sutton from under the speaker's announced policy of january eighteenth two thousand and seven and under previous order of the house the following members are recognized for five minutes each ms woolsey of california if the gentleman will suspend that the chair will first and it's a one minute request the gentle lady from north carolina thank you madam speaker man speaker  rise today to honor one of the unsung heroes of the united states capitol here in the capitol building we have a group of fine individuals who serve the public by giving tours of the capital and educating the public about the history of this great institution but during the few years i've had the honor to serve in congress i've noticed one member of the cap to guide service who has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty albert jerrycans will has served as a capital god for more than twenty years and his ten years been marked with an ethic of civic outreach he routinely gives tours to disabled veterans from walter reed medical center and to children with life threatening diseases through make a wish foundation mr castle does all of this on a volunteer basis on his own time he insists th tours he give to these children and brave veterans be coordinated and given on his watch mr carroll is an accomplished poet an extremely knowledgeable tour guide but more importantly he's a great american he embodies the spirit of a true patriot someone who grasp the importance of a cause greater than himself and pursues it was energy and commitment he is the model of a civically minded citizen who is selflessly committed to the greater good thank you madam speaker i yield back there and you've out there for the one minute request if not the gentlewoman from california is recognized for five  minutes gentlewoman from california is recognized for five minutes man speaker of the house is not in order the dental woman is correct the house is not in order that all members take their conversation since all of the floor the gentleman will proceed man speaker the holiday movie season usually begins each year around christmas day but this year the holiday movie season has begun early it began this week in fact when the ministration remind premier to its new movie entitled iraq the sequel as you'll recall the first iraq movie began with the administration warning us about weapons of mass destruction and met mushroom clouds then we invaded iraq where we discovered that the weapons of mass destruction didn't exist but the administration kept coming up with new reasons to keep the occupation going the american people gave the first iraq movie two thumbs down but that hasn't discouraged our leaders in the white house in this case a nuclear weapons program then it gives us new visions of mushroom clouds by warning us about world war three then we discover as we did last week that the nuclear weapons program does not exist in fact it was suspended back in two thousand and three but the administration continues to come up with new reasons to keep the crisis going yesterday we were told that iran was dangerous iran is dangerous iran will be dangerous so their ministrations drumbeat for war in general and against iran in particular goes on before we go back to the dark days menace vicar the dark days of shock and awe i have of few questions to ask you first why did it take four long years to discover the truth about the iranian nuclear weapons program was this another example of intelligence being manipulated for political purposes why did the administration warn us in october iranian nuclear weapons could start world war three when the director of national intelligence went to the white house in august to say that iran's nuclear weapon system may be suspended there is nothing nothing more reckless and irresponsible than to terrify the world about world war three when there is no basis for it why did the administration continue to use threatening language yesterday yesterday when the truth was already known instead of looking for opportunities for peace this administration continues to look for ways to keep tensions as high as possible my last question man a speaker is why does the administration seem so intent on wrecking america's credibility by doing so this administration has made the world a much more dangerous place and has undercut our own national security we are like the boy who cries walls no one will believe what we say now and that means we cannot leave the world effectively against terrorism and toward peace the movies of iraq and iraq the sequel have both bombed we need a new plot a plot that begins with a responsible redeployment of our troops out of iraq which would be the essential responsible first step when we do that we can begin to bring together all the parties in the region that have a stake in keeping a li on violence and reducing tensions we must change course because that is the only way to regain the moral leadership we have and we must reshape events and we must reshape them in ways that are favorable to the united states and to peace around the world i yiel without objection thank you the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes thank you madam speaker last week hundreds of citizens stood in the first snow of winter in washington d c for two hours hoping to get a c united states supreme court building to see the oral arguments on the case of the detainees in guantanamo prisoner of war camp and what rights if any they have under our constitution however the supreme court gallery has a mere fifty seats for all spectators one of those would be viewers was a lawyer omagh staff gina sent to g i wanted her there to find out more about the case and take notes but she like most of the people in line never i got in to see the arguments there was no room in the room those that were allowed into the proceedings were only permitted to stay five minutes before they had to leave and make room for other people in the room public interest and what takes place in the supreme court is a good thing it is important americans are concerned about what occurs in the supreme court and citizens want to observe the most powerful court in action anywhere in the world but most americans will never have this opportunity to see the questions asked by the justices of the supreme court are to hear the arguments over the meaning of our constitution are here constitutional cases that will go down in history are you this year i introduced h r twelve ninety nine to allow television cameras to tell of the supreme court proceedings since they had both the house and the senate judiciary committees have heard arguments as to walk cameras should be allowed inside the supreme court chambers last week the senate  bill to allow cameras in the supreme court some senators were concerned that the department of justice oppose this bill justice department oppose this bill because they say they wanted to protect the collegial environment of the court i don't mean to intrude on what it can legal environment is but what is it i thought the business before the supreme court was a matter of the american people have an interest in not just the college of lawyers that appear before the court we have cameras and these house chambers and i never thought about where the camera here on the house floor affects the collegiality between the fellow representatives that i work with most of us hardly notice the camera at all and today's cameras are so small and obtrusive they're not noticed they don't affect our daily routine here in the house but allows americans across the vastness of the fruited plain to turn in their t v sets to see what their government is up to every day now down  court t v channel will win the fall sweeps but it will allow americans who live in the fifty states to observe the oral arguments that take place some say that they're against cameras in the courtroom because attorneys play to the camera and try to impress the viewing audience that a speaker attorneys don't play the camera they always play to the jury i know because i played in the jury for eight years as a prosecutor in texas however there isn't even a jury to impress in the supreme court and factor really isn't a time to grandstand in the supreme court oral arguments at the supreme court involve the best appellate lawyers in the country facing facing a spew of questions from nine justices who are asking a barrage of legal questions to these lawyers making them justify their legal positions on their case i only explain how the oral arguments work in the supreme court because most americans are unaware of the proceedings and the procedure since they don't have the opportunity to view supreme court or arguments personally unless there are cameras americans will never have the chance to see what really takes place in a courtroom the most powerful courtroom and in the whole world the supreme court courtroom on no cameras can be placed in the courtroom without interruption or distraction because i did it for twenty two years i served as a felony court judge in houston texas i heard over twenty five thousand criminal cases in a thousand jury trial some of those were filmed by the t v media and even tat televised  capital murder trial my rules were simple and they were always a bait by the media no filming of rape victims the children that were witnesses or juries are certain other witnesses the camera field what the jury saw and heard and madam speaker i had no problem with the media at all we need to let the public see a real trial in progress and cameras have made that possible americans have the right to watch supreme court proceedings in person we have the best you dish will system ever created in the history of world why not prove it by filming these proceedings americans should not be deprived of the right to observe just because they cannot physically sit in a supreme court courtroom it's time to remove the veil of secrecy from halls of the supreme court and allow cameras to film these important procedures procedures justice will be better served if we open the doors to the supreme court to cameras because madam speaker justice is the one thing we should always find and that's just the way it is i yield back mr cummings of maryland for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rye i request unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes without objection madam speaker there are no words to describe the pain we feel when a young life is lost to know josh miller was to know a kind hearted and generous young man with limitless potential josh was a bar rich and high school sophomore with a four point zero grade point average a linebacker who dreamed of playing football for ohio state sunday but one day without warning these dreams were cut short josh had never shown any signs of heart trouble but during the final game of the two thousand football season he collapsed after leaving the field by the time his heart was shocked with an automated external defibrillator it was too late to save him josh suffered a sudden cardiac arrest which according to the american heart association claims the lives about three of about three hundred thirty thousand americans every year the vast majority of these individuals like josh will not have displayed any signs of heart trouble before hand yet there is an easy to use relatively inexpensive piece of medical equipment that can more than double the odds of survey rival for someone experiencing such a sudden cardiac arrest an automated external defibrillator or a d is the single most effective treatment for starting the heart after sudden cardiac arrest and because chances of survival decrease up to ten percent for every minute that passes every second is critical it is incredibly important that we take steps to educate the public about the life and death difference that using these devices would make i would like to thank and to commend my colleague congressman cole for his efforts in promoting increased access to a through the resolution that was passed this afternoon later this week i'll be introducing a piece of legislation that will take another step to increase the availability of d s in our communities the josh miller hearts act will establish a grant program that will help schools across the country purchase these life saving devices schools our central gathering places in our communities and d s in our schools will not only save the lives of the students enrolled there potentially but they will be available for teachers and staff parents and volunteers and the many other members of the community who pass through the halls every single day this legislation will be modeled on a similar program recently completed in the state of ohio dr terry gordon a cardiologist at akron general hospital has dedicated his life to this campaign and his tireless efforts in ohio led to the adoption of a statewide initiative to put in a needy into every school across the state already this program has saved the lives of twelve children and adults as a directory's all i hope we in congress can build on dr gordon's good work and carry out this program at the national level losing a young life full of promise like josh is can bring about a sense of how plusnet but today we have an opportunity to act i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this effort to bring a e d s into every single school across this country and i yield back the balance of my time heartwarming stories never get told to nine i would like to share a truly touching story with my colleagues in the house with the american people corporal dustin jerome lee was a united states marine corps military working dog handler who was killed in action on march twenty first two thousand and seven and delusion iraq corporally and his cane canine partner lex a seven year old german shepherd from camp was june where a highly trained explosives lee's death the family's family began seeking to adopt their son's canine companion who was with their son during the last moments on earth however after filing the necessary paperwork contacts at marine corps logistic base albany indicated that lex had been medically evaluated and although injured was fit for duty and not yet eligible for adoption i first learned of the least family situation by reading the short story my partner dustin written by john burnham also adult tags of courage a man a speaker at this time i asked permission to submit the text of the story for the congressional record without objection thank you after learning their story i spoke with corporal east volage rome lee by phone on several occasions mr leach continued to express the joy and comfort that caring for lex would bring to him and his family and he requested my assistance in securing the the adoption of lex after speaking with mr lee i began contacting the united states marine corps to communicate and endorse their request recently the marine corps confirmed to me that their request would be help lessen the family's ongoing grief but also serve as a fitting thank you to parents who gave the ultimate gift of their son for this country i am so grateful to the united states marine corps and  conway for the tremendous gift they have chosen to to the leaf family as well as to the doll himself welcomingly and to the lex and to the leaf family we'll keep a big part of corporal lee's life of laughter their family lex loved and protected corporally on the battlefield and their core police family will have the opportunity to love and protect lex in the peaceful surrounding of their home in mississippi the united states marine corps demonstrate its tremendous compassion and understanding that making this adoption a reality for the parents of one of our new sions fallen heroes are close madam speaker by asking god to please bless the united states marine corps and all of our men and women the gentleman before the system when i read this story brought tears to my eyes and that i asked mr burnham who had been in vietnam him self as a doll handler why should i do what could i do he said do what your heart tells you to do and and mr frank of arizona ms fox of north carolina gentleman is recognized for five minutes thank you madam speaker i am here tonight to talk about what has not been accomplished in this congress and what it looks like we may be facing in an omnibus bill last week we were told that we would be here are we we would be here on friday of this coming week after we had been told about a month ago that we would be able to be in our districts on friday i know that i made many plans to be in the district speak to school groups that have been asking me to speak meet with chamber of commerce people to talk about concerns that they had and to do lots of things in the district we have been denied many opportunities this year to be in our district to hear from the folks in the district the things that are on their mind and what's really important in the country because the majority has insisted that we stay in session five days a week but if you look at the bills that have been passed in those days that we've been here you'd see that they were not things that primarily the congress needs to be concerning itself with we do need to be concerning ourselves with the for appreciations bills funding the war on terror taking care of tax relief for middle income americans many many things that we should be doing but instead we are literally wasting our time on in significant issues and not dealing with those things we should be dealing with it was announced last week that we would be dealing with an omnibus appropriations bill why an omnibus appropriations bill because the majority been unable to pass ten of the vital appropriations bills that our government relies for its funding on we have passed the defense bill and the president signed it we've passed the labor h h s bill the president vetoed it and the veto was a paled so we are coming to the end of a continuing reza lucian that was passed that expires on friday and we are facing the prospect of lumping ten eleven appropriations bills together and passing them in one fell swoop well we know that is just a recipe for disaster last week we were given the energy bill fifteen hours before we voted on it a thousand plus page bill and it had all kinds of problems with it by lexus hybrids for the beverly hills police many many things in there that the american people would not approve of and i fear that in the omnibus bill we're going to see a lot of those kinds of things now we don't know yet what's going to be in the omnibus bill but in addition to a tremendous number of earmarks we are probably going to see sanctions against cuba we we are probably going to see the mexico city policy overturned the house and senate versions of the state department appropriations bills permits grants and subsidies for organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning overturning the bush administration's mexico city policy we don't need to be doing that the american people do not want us to take their hard earned money to fund abortions it is probably going to pry provide federally funded benefits for domestic partners before being stripped from the house passed financial services general government appropriations bill a provision would have allowed unmarried cohabiting couples in the district of columbia to qualify for federal benefits on the same basis as legally married couples that provision could be brought back to life in the majority's omnibus led isla ending an i r s private debt collection program the majority spending bill could limit funding to implement the internal revenue service is use of private collection firms to collect on pay taxes the private debt collection initiat expected to collect one point three billion dollars in taxes owed to the government that would otherwise go uncollected undermining regulatory reform a provision in the house passed financial services general government appropriations bill again h r two eight to nine would kill efforts to increase the quality accountability and transparency of the federal government regulatory review process it would result in a fox guarding the henhouse approach to approving federal rules and regulations we don't need an omnibus bill we need to vote on these bills one at a time madam speaker thank you very much i yield back without objection the gentleman is recognized for five minutes thank you very much i'm out of speaker it's late at night here in the capital and most of my colleagues are in their offices or gone home but i want to talk about an issue that's very very important we've been talking about now for the last eight years i was chairman of the government reform committee for six years and during that time my grandson became autistic and we checked to find out what was the cause trying to find out because of my daughter and her husband were just extremely upset about it as we as we were as grandparents and we found that he had received seven nine shots in one day seven of which had a product called them or a saw preservative in it and tomorrow saw was fifty ethylmercury and so i decided to have hearings to try to find out of the ethylmercury in those vaccines had anything to do with the autistic problem my grandson had and we found by having many many hearings over a four year period we found that scientists from all over the world and leading and doctors and educators here that work with that with autistic children that the mercury in the vaccines did contribute to the autistic epidemic that we had we used to  have one in ten thousand children that were diagnosed as being autistic one in ten thousand today the centers for disease control will tell you it's one out of one hundred fifty it's an absolute epidemic in this country and we have been fighting and fighting and fighting to make sure that those families who have been damaged and those children who've been damaged by autism get some kind of compensation and that's why in i think in one thousand nine hundred eighty six we passed what was called the vaccine injury compensation fun and it took some of the money from the pharmaceutical companies when they gave sold or vaccination products to put into this fund to take care of people who were damaged by vaccines and one of the reasons we did that was i did that was because of the issue of autism although at that time i didn't know much about it in any event the vaccine injury compensation fund has about three billion dollars in it and the people whose children have been adversely affected by mercury and have autism have not been able to get anything out of that they have to go through a process and see a special master and he has to judge whether or not the information that he has the information they have lead them to believe that the mercury in the vaccines cause the autism and that so far the special masters have not been able to ascertain according to them that that the mercury in the vaccines does cause autism well last week two years ago a c four years ago there was a report through two thousand and four this said that there was definite definitely no connection between the mercury in the vaccinations and the children getting autism well this past november just last month two doctors dr catherine this what they're saying is fact and i want to read to you the summary of what they said they said the question of what is leading to the apparent increase in autism is of great importance like the link between aspirin and heart attack even a small effect can have a major health implication if there is any link between autism and mercury it is absolutely crucial that the first reports of the question are not falsely stated and that no link occurs now get this we have reanalyzed the data set forth originally reported in two thousand and four and have found that the original p value was in error and that a significant relation does exist between the blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder moreover the hair sample analysis results offer some support for the idea that persons with autism may be less efficient and more variable at eliminating mercury from the blood the fact of the matter is the mercury in the vaccines has caused autism it's not the only cause of autism but now we have scientific evidence by two leading doctors in the journal of child their algae that says without doubt the mercury in the vaccines does cause autism is a major contributing factor well i've written contacted congressman who senate who is chairman of the subcommittee that deals with this in the capitol and i've also contacted the special masters at this site these cases and urged them to re evaluate all of these cases where people who have autistic children have found that there that the mercury in the vaccines may have been a major cause now we know that it is a cause of auto and those people who have suffered in those kids who have suffered need to be compensated out of the vaccine injury compensation fun and so i'd like to say to my colleagues i hope you'll join me in making sure that the information i just read gets out to everybody these kids are going to live to be fifty sixty seventy years old and unless there's some help for them they're going to be a real burden on the taxpayer and on society and we have an obligation to make sure that they're taken care and i hope all my colleagues will read this statement tonight and help us to change the attitude of our out of our health agencies and the special masters dealing with this problem thank you m under the speaker's announced policy of january eighteenth two thousand and seven the gentleman from arkansas mr ross is recognized for sixty minutes as the designee of the majority leader  the gentleman is recognized thank you madam speaker and this evening is most to the evenings i am joined by members of the fiscally conservative democratic blue dog coalition as we come to the floor of the united states house of representatives to talk about the debt and the deficit and what that means for the future of this country and how so many of today's protests continue to go unmet because of this today's national debt non trained one hundred sixty nine million two hundred six million eight hundred thirty thousand eight hundred sixty seven dollars and change for every man woman and child in america their share of the national debt thirty thousand two hundred five dollars as you walk of congress madam speaker as you walk the halls of the can and longworth and rayburn house office building as you will you will easily know when you're walking by the door of a fellow blue dog member because you'll see this poster that reminds us of the national debt as well as your share and this evening we want to talk about paygo it's an acronym for pay as you go and basically there was a lot made to do about the first one hundred legislative hours in this new democratic majority will the forty seven of us in the fiscally conservative democratic blue dog coalition we're proud of what we were able to accomplish in the first legislative hour under this new democratic majority and that  was reinstating the pay go rules which means pay as you go if you've got a new program you want to fund you've got to show us how you're going to pay for it if you want to cut a tax you've got to show us how you're going to pay for it the business of borrowing money from china to fund programs and tax cuts in this country are over and we want to thank the new democratic leadership for their commitment their commitment not to bring a bill to this floor that's not paid for at this time to talk more about this issue and and a lot of talk about a m t the alternative minimum tax is going to touch a lot more people this year we want to protect those people we want to make sure they're not taxed but we also want to make sure that that bill that comes to this floor is paid for does it make sense to protect people from taxes if we're simply borrowing the money from china and then asking our children grandchildren to foot the bill and that's why i was very disappointed last week when the senate voted eighty eight to five to fix the a m t they took the easy way out it wasn't paid for the senate's plan borrows fifty billion dollars just for this year fifty billion dollars from china to pay for a fix of the alternative minimum tax we have a plan in the house not only to fix it but to for it and we voted for that a couple of weeks ago in the house floor and we're going to vote on it again this weekend to talk more or about this and what it all means for for for this country and for future generations is one of the founders of the blue dog coalition my friend john tanner from tennessee thank you very much and i will be brief because we have a lot of blue dogs here tonight that are going to speak to this issue and i will elaborate on what i have to say the pay go rule as a we have here now as mr ross pointed out is basically what all of us do in our private lives we live within our mains we pay our bills this and hope we have some left and best in the future this government has done none of that and some people around here have argued about the a m t situation that you a to that we don't have to pay for that because it wasn't intended to affect these people therefore it doesn't exist now if i said that in tennessee they would say that the all of been in washington too long only in washington would somebody even dare mike a statement as ludicrous as that is we've also heard people here in this town say deficits don't matter what if deficits don't matter why don't we abolish the tax code just borrow what we're in a of course deficits matter they  matter to all of us some people around here think the laws of arithmetic stop at the steps of the capitol in the front door the white house or folks they don't and this is why as we are plunging this country in debt  been done on ice massive scale in the last six years that no political leadership in the history of this country has gone there we are transfer work for ing more and more of our because we didn't intend it some i don't pay for it it's no free lunch pavement looking for a free lunch since the dawn of civilization it does not exist and i would contend that if we are going to keep our moral authority to govern as stewards of this country in the time and place where we are now aleck to public office if we do not reverse the us and start paying our bills we will undermine alamo type situation around this issue because this is a critical tool of this congress and the american people in order to act financially and responsible and i can't thank the blue dogs enough for for their devotion to this idea we're going to lay this place better than we found and that's what this is all about thank you mr ross i want to thank the gentleman from tennessee a founder of the of the blue dog coalition john tanner for joining  us this this evening for this special order mr mr madam speaker there's forty seven of us in the fiscally conservative democratic blue dog coalition is just the blue dog coalition is just another name for fiscally conservative democrats and one of our newest members strongly urging the senate to ensure that the a m t patch that we're going to be considering this week complies with the pay go rule the house has already passed as a responsible a m t bill which will prevent twenty three million taxpayers from being hit by the a m t while also finding appropriate offsets so the national debt will not be increased i haven't introduced a resolution house resolution number forty five which is a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution if my constituents in upstate new york kept about their checkbook every month so should the federal government the a m t affected four point two million americans last year if congress does not act it will affect twenty three million americans this year most of them middle class family families in my district sixty six thousand families will be affected if this bill is not passed almost half of the twenty three million taxpayers that will be affected are married with children and average and he taxpayer  six thousand dollars in additional taxes small business owners are going to be one of the hardest hit by the a m t the reason why we have to pay for this and ensure we follow pay as you go standard is because america's debt is over nine trillion dollars our federal debt increases by one point four billion dollars a day at an astonishing rate of one million dollars a minute our national debt is equal to over thirty thousand dollars for every man woman and child and infant in this country the federal government spent over four hundred billion dollars last year on interest payments on the national debt after social security medicare and defense spending interest payments on the debt are the third largest expenditure by the federal government the amount of money that we spend on interest payments will decrease the amount of money america will have in the future for spending on our national priorities such as health care education energy independence our troops lowering the debt is essential not only for our economic security but it is a set so far our national security foreign governments and investors now hold two point two trillion dollars which is forty four percent of all publicly held u s debt that's up nearly ten percent from last year china owns the second most amount of our debt and oil export it companies that such as saudi arabia account for the fourth most of held u s debt paying for the a m t it's possible the house has already passed in a bipartisan way a paygo compliant bill for future generations we must be responsible and not ask for the national debt and just to give folks at home an understanding of what this money means let me just give you a couple of translations this year we pay two hundred thirty nine billion in interest on the national debt that same amount of money if we use it rather purposes would literally pay for every u s family's refrigerator to be stocked for seven months it would pay for filling every u s family's gas tank for ten months at today's gas prices it would pay for providing four years of in state public to ition for ten million students and it would pay one year's salary for eight million new teachers the federal government has sent over seven hundred and nine billion dollars abroad in the form of interest payments since president bush took office hundred fifty five billion  two hundred two thousand and seven alone the same amount would fund any of the following twelve thousand new elementary schools seven thousand new veterans clinics and all road and bridges construction improvements for the next ten years i  senate to follow fiscal responsible and prudent course of action and pay for the a m t although i will back i thank the gentleman from new york for those just joining us to set the stage madam speaker the senate we sent the senate and the a m t fix alternative minimum tax fix to ensure people didn't get hit with this unfair tax and we paid for it they sent it back us without being paid for is dead they want to borrow fifty billion dollars from china and that's what's got  forty seven members of the physically conservative democratic blue dog coalition worked up and for a good reason and i'm pleased to be joined by philip blue dog member from from california from california's twentieth congressional district my friend jim acosta thank you very much madam speaker i rise of seeming to discuss the importance of this pay as you go system that my colleague from arkansas congressman ross and my other colleagues have spoken on thus far what you're going to hear this evening across the breath and with the representatives from throughout the country is a common and reoccurring thing and that is as blue dogs we believe that putting our fiscal house in order is among the highest priorities that we are sent here back to washington to do and so therefore it is a very important discussion that we are having with you this evening as many americans said at their home having dinner and wondering just what's really going on in washington or what's going on is really trying to draw a line in the sand are we have bought trying to do stablish and stay with fiscal responsibility or not now pay go is a tool as was mentioned to try to ensure that any additional expenditures of our federal budget be paid for now it's not the only tool but it's one of the fuel tools that we now have in place certainly as blue dog members we are looking and trying to figure out how we can do other efforts to focus on budget cutting and reestablishing our priorities but right now pay as you go is the most important too that we have available to us now let me give you a little history of how this all took place in one nine hundred ninety when the budget in forstmann act with passed there was an attempt to rein in deficits that occurred for over thirty years federal deficit next been experienced since one thousand nine hundred seventy eight this act passed by a democratic congress in one nine hundred ninety and signed by a republican president president george bush the first sought to control the budgetary impact of legislation through the enforcement of the provisions that we now refer to as pay as you go now that was law and that was in force for ten years about the night two thousand and one with a new republican majority in congress our current president president george bush the second abandoned the paygo provisions and that i think among other factors took our projected budget surplus then at five point six trillion dollars over a ten year period and created the current budget deficit that we have today which is an excess over two trillion dollars over that same time period yes i think it's disappointing for all americans that a sensible tax policy