the house will be in order the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain his holiness kerry keen supreme patriarch and cast holy cross of all of the armenians holy pray lord we thank you for displaying us with the grace to pray today for the leaders of this nation we labor in the universal and the pursuit of happiness lord bless this london people grant peace and safety to america's sons and daughters who served their nation abroad made the united states continue her mission as a great big  chair has examined the journal of the last days and seating and announces to the house for approval that pursuant to clause one of rule one the journal stands approved the pledge of allegiance will be led by the the chair will entertain up to ten further one minute requests on each side of  benefit for middle class households maybe there's some confusion at the other end of pennsylvania avenue our bill provides health care for ten million children whose parents work every day but can't afford to buy health care it's a pain they are in a paycheck not a welfare check their parents like this or sweeney delores lives in my district she works for an insurance company that doesn't provide health care she has three children and they like to buy private health care for their children and we can afford it her children were on s chip and without the s chip program they have gone without health care our bill does right by the sweeney children and ten million other children from working families the president says it's too expensive and calls it welfare for the middle class and at the same time the president's eager spen six hundred eighty billion dollars in iraq we have spent four hundred billion dollars in four years in the war in iraq and for forty days for the cost of the war ten million children in america will get health care for a year so the president can call the children's health speaker it's sad when another country turns its arms against the united states or our allies but it's a tragedy when those arms were made by americans many of us remember when advanced f fourteen tomcats fighters were provided to the kingdom of iran only to see these airplanes become the backbone of the ayatollahs air force newspapers indicate that the united states will now offer alarms a large arms sales package to the saudi kingdom and while much of what is proposed looks useful against iran patrol craft and warning radars satellite guided bombs pose a particular danger if used in the wrong hands the satellite guided bombs called joint direct attack munitions or j dams are particularly lethal in battle and if misused against american forces or our allies in israel their effect could be not just devastating but tragic we should not provide such weapons without written guarantees to the congress that such munitions could not pose a danger to future americans or allies i urge members to sign the kirk kearney pope berman harmon letter to block quite what without objection generated recognize thank you mr speaker good morning i rise today in strong support the national four of the housing trust fund act which the house will consider today the bill would create a national affordable housing trust fund to be administered by her the housing urban development department the trust with increase the supply of decent quality affordable housing especially for low income families owning a home is an american value but many are not able to acquire that dream with rising housing costs throughout the country affordable housing for low income americans has become nearly impossible for example in two thousand and six los angeles county residents needed to make at least fifty thousand a year to afford a two bedroom apartment the income is significantly more than what social workers preschool teachers and in home health care aides earn on an average the gap between wages and housing costs in los angeles county and nationwide has sky rocketed i urge my colleagues today to vote for the final passage of h r twenty eight ninety five so we can help all our constituents realize the american dream you're back the balance of my arms for porters generated from north carolina  from mission to address the house for one minute violence that my remarks misspeak without objection thank you mr speaker america's economy is increasingly complex while we hear reports of uncertainty we also see many fundamental signs of health in the economy the latest good news is the recent jobs or for that found the economy added one hundred ten thousand jobs in september and eighty nine thousand jobs in august a massive turnaround from the previously reported a loss of four thousand jobs in august with two hundred thousand new jobs added to the economy in the last two months we once again have proof that republican economic policies of cutting taxes to spur growth are still working but we cannot keep our economy thriving on the tax cuts of yesterday congress must work to keep taxes low for america's working families we've already seen a democratic budget that assumes a tax increase of nearly four hundred billion dollars if their sons of uncertainty about the future of our economy such a financial hit to american taxpayers would undoubtedly undermine the positive steps republicans took to ensure economic growth and stability everyone wants a strong u s economy let's keep it that way by preserving low taxes and not preying on the wallets of the families that work hard to keep this economy humming i yield back  what purpose the gentleman from pennsylvania writes without objection gentlemen record our mr speaker i rise to speak in support of the s chip bill will provide health insurance for four million uninsured children expanded dental care and for the first time treaty metal disability or mental illness on a par with physical disability i'm also taking that is premium assistance subsidies so that at least seventy percent of these children's parents remain in employer based private health insurance plans but iras most because what i saw in my four year old daughter was given three to nine months to live and we lived on a cancer ward in this city and a roommate with this nation because of my military service gave me the best health care possible for her to have an opportunity her roommate was a young two and a half your doughboy diagnosed with acute leukemia whose parents did not have health insurance and social workers had to discuss whether that boy would with my daughter have an opportunity to live in to life i rise and supported this bill without objection gentlemen recognize mr speaker i rise today to say that democrats remain ready to tax and spend as much as they can whether it's a war tax an internet tax or a cigarette tax that will overly burden low income families the first democrat solution seems to be to tax hard working americans and when they're not trying to raise taxes on american workers they are spending their hard earned money at reckless levels the twenty three billion dollars in new domestic spending this majority has proposed is just another son that they know they feel they know better how to spend your own money we must restore fiscal sanity to government but we should do that by making the necessary decisions here in washington to save taxpayer money and spend wisely both parties need to pass fiscally responsible appropriations legislation rather than wait until we are forced to vote on a giant on of this spending bill that will be full of earmarks let's stop asking americans to pay for government's inability to get the job done in conclusion god bless our troops and will never forget september eleventh what part of gentleman from tennessee wri without objection don't recognize thank you mr speaker i just had the opportunity to travel in a bipartisan codel to the middle east particularly to baghdad robin williams had a album one time reality what a concept i thought about it when i was there i saw lots of reality as our soldiers and life and death situations and doing it and of iraq fashion they told me about their need to be redeployed over there not every fifteen months but every twelve months because the pressure is wearing on them and worrying on their personal lives the divorce rate is high and it really takes a toll on their lives that they see the people working for the companies over there the private companies making so much more money than them the contractors and they say why should we re in list but they do it because they're proud americans but then we met with prime minister maliki and he said those sectarian war was over well prime minister maliki it's not and and tell the iraqis deal with reality and deal with the sunni and sh a differences there won't be peace in iraq and our soldiers will be working for a group that doesn't understand the problem which is their own internal politics the iraqis must resolve their differences thank you mr speaker what  cleaning it transparency is not a substitute for oversight your marks have names next to them now but little else has changed the house has approved thousands and thousands and thousands of earmarks so far this year and more are likely to be added in the conference committees however we know full well that not all of these earmarks were given the scrutiny that federal expenditures deserve every week i highlight an earmark by making an admittedly lame joke about it but we need a process that inspires confidence not jokes or humor and unfortunately transparency alone has not gotten us there until this body has a process that can be trusted mr speaker i believe the taxpayers would be best served by a moratori our republican colleagues an extra two weeks for the b to override vote it's important for them to get the facts right important to them for them to listen to their constituents and actually read the bill not just accept the president's talking points it's ironic that one of his arguments is concerned about adults who are covered by s chip yet the states have been encouraged to experiment to help uninsured working families and the white house george bush has approved those waivers the bill he vetoed was actually more restrictive than current law it would in coverage for adults after a transition period it would prohibit the bush administration or any administration from up moving more waivers for new states and parents already enrolled with bush approval would get reduced matching funds it's time to stop making phony arguments to listen to the governors and the overwhelming majority of our constituents and override this cruel veto of health care for our children to only goes back a time for what purpose down there from texas wri without objection don't is recognized i commissioned mr baker you know this year national save for retirement weeks going to take place october twenty first through the twenty seventh national save for retirement week is a first congressionally endorsed formal event publicly urging employers to promote the benefits of saving for retirement and encourage employees to take full advantage of employer sponsored  retirement savings plans hopefully this week will make employees more aware of how critical it is to save now for their financial future and learn how to take advantage of free money when saving for retirement by contributing enough to the retirement plan to receive the company match to learn more about national save for retirement week visit choose to save dot org argue to take charge of your retirement now you'll back it's time for what purpose of gentleman from illinois rise that objection the gentleman's recognized mr speaker last week president bush uses the toll pen to strike down a bill that would provide health coverage to ten million children in explain his veto the president use rhetoric rhetoric that has no basis in reality the president claims that the focus of the s chip should be on poor children rather than to expand the program but the fact this bill does not expand the program it simply allows for the coverage of more kids who are already eligible as republican senator hatch pointed out for those who argue that it's out of control ninety percent of all the kids who will be covered by this bill will be families under two hundred percent of the poverty level the president also falsely says the bill would cover kids are in a three thousand dollars per year but no stay cover kids at that level now and the bill actually reduces federal support for coverage of children at higher income levels the president's claims are simply wrong mr speaker the question now for house republicans is are they going to say behind the president's false claims about the children's health bill or will they join us in overriding the president's vet you the speaker you'll back join us back in time for what purpose the gentleman from south carolina writes without objection gentlemens recognized thank you mr speaker i rise to day in recognition of world site day and the tire ss leadership of organizations like the christian blind mission headquartered in greenville south carolina christian line mission is an international aid organization that specializes in improving the quality of life for the blind in the world's poorest countries each year organizations like christian blind mission recognize world site day as a time to focus global attention on vision and blindness this year world site day will take place tomorrow october eleventh and lymphocytes a tragedy of blindness in children there an estimated one point four million blind children in the world the majority of whom live in third world countries remarkably seventy five percent of all major blinding conditions are preventable or curable and christian blind mission is taking the lead in performing over one half million cataract surgeries and distributing over one half million tubes of touch or cycling i only meant to come but try coma once again it's an honor to recognize christian blind mission usa for their humanitarian efforts worldwide every day thousands of children receive the gift of sight because of their hard work thank you mr baker what purpose gentleman from new jersey wri without objection gentlemen recognize that it's time mr speaker for truth in advertising to correct some of the misinformation being used to justify president bush's inexplicable veto of the children's health care the bipartisan children's health care program we want there was a sheen does not expand the children's health insurance program and maintains current law the agreement is targeted toward state needs responsible spending to cover low income children is incentivized in the bill the belief that s chip will lead to socialized medicine is nothing more than a red herring the fact is that the bipartisan compromise combines the best of public and private approaches to provide health coverage t children now for the biggest lie though siding with president bush's claim that the agreement provides health coverage to illegal immigrant children are also wrong ung documented immigrants illegal immigrants have never been eligible for medicaid or s chip read the ball read the law the bipartisan agreement requires proof of citizenship before enrollment in s chip similar to requirements  to oppose a non binding resolution that will have serious negative consequences to our national security h r resolution one o six the armenian genocide resolution is a dangerously short sighted and controversy a resolution that is being marked up in the foreign affairs committee today this resolution will jeopardize our relationship with a strong nato ally turkey and hinder our ability to combat the global war on terror this resolution makes surgeons about facts that historians to this day still debate i might add that every living former secretary of state both democrat and republican recently sent a letter to the speaker stating that passage of this resolution w strengthen our relations with turkey endanger our national security interests including the safety of our troops in iraq and afghanistan i would also point out that in today's washington post in an editorial it said that passage of the jonah's recognize mr speaker we must begin to think differently in america and begin to work together to guarantee universal access to affordable care for every citizen everywhere in these united states and without question without question to all of our nation's children on whose future we all depend every day until we vote to override president bush's morally unacceptable veto of the bipartisan state children's health insurance program i'll be here to share with you here in the people's house the use of ordinary people from wisconsin people like dan from cricket's who writes we want health care like you have in congress and stephanie who says quote insurance is number one on my list my current employer can't afford to give us health insurance and i can't get independent coverage help please i look forward to sharing the views of ordinary people later this evening with you and now now more than ever we must work together to guarantee access to care for everyone and build a better nation for all of us i don't mean you back it's time for what purpose of damage from florida ri t without objection gentlemens recognized mr speaker good morning according to the energy information agency the united states currently imports about sixty percent of its oil and that number is expected to rise to seventy five percent and the next coming decades as a country we need to reduce our dependency on foreign fuel sources and start implementing alternative energy sources that can be found domestically here in the united states imported fuel such as natural gas are costing the country billions of dollars a year accounting for about one third of the united states trade deficit at forty five dollars a barrel liquid coal fuel is a desirable alternative to the sixty plus or more per barrel of oil we're paying today not only does this innovative fuel source cost less but also coal is one of the most abundant natural resources in the united  congress continues to explore the use of alternative energy sources we need to look closely at the enormous benefits of coal to liquid technology to home in the old back in time for what purpose the general from new york ri in my remarks without objection gentleman's recognized as a speaker over the last seven years president bush has only vetoed four bills the president's first two vetoes involve legislation that would expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research which has the potential to unlock the doors to cures for diseases like diabetes and all shimmers two times congressional republican sided with the president enabling his veto to stand and thereby denying hope to millions of american families the president's third veto came on war funding bill that finally included a deadline to bring our troops home from iraq again republican sided with the president and our troops can to to be bogged down in a war that the president himself says could continue for another decade then last week the president vetoed a fourth bill that would provide private health insurance to ten million low income children it received strong bipartisan support in congress and there are enough votes in the senate to override the president's veto the question  without objection john was recognize saturday congresswoman joanne davis passed into eternity after a long and courageous struggle with cancer the general a d from virginia was elected in two thousand the same year i arrived in washington d c and we became fast friends from the start joanne davis stood out her commitment to her family her devotion to god and her commitment to a strong defense and traditional values were inspiring on the day i met joe and she said to me very simply mike the lord put me here i'm going to serve him every day that i'm here representative joanne davis kept her word may our savior hers and mine comfort her and chuck and the boys with the words well done good and bigger last week president bush vetoed a bad partisan bill and acted pursuant to the authority vested in congress by article one of the constitution that would provide private health insurance to ten million low income children here in america his reason the bill was too big while the president refused to fund health care for our nation's low income children he has no problem sending billions of dollars to iraq with up salut leave no questions asked today alone the president will spend three hundred million dollars funding occupation of iraq with that money we could insure two hundred forty six thousand low income kids and over the next month the president will spend a whopping nine billion in iraq which would allow us to insure seven point four million kids mr speaker time and time again congressional republicans have approved blank checks for the president to send billions to iraq and now they're concerned about thirty five billion for improving the lives of ten million low income children it's time they reevaluate their priorities and join us next week in overriding president bush's veto you know but gentleman yield back a time the chair lays before the house the following and rolled bill h r eleven twenty four an act to extend the district of columbia college access act of one thousand nine hundred nine what purpose the gentleman from california arise mr speaker by the direction of the committee on rules like call a path resolution seven nineteen and ask for its immediate consideration the clerk will report the resolution house counter number one thirty one house resolution seven nineteen resolved that upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h r thirty fifty six to amend the internal revenue code of one thousand nine hundred sixty to repeal the authority of the internal revenue service to use private debt collection companies to delay implementation of withholding taxes on government contractors to revise the tax rolls on act on expatriation and for other purposes ah points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on ways and means now printed in the bill modified by the amendment printed in the report of the committee on roles accompanying this resolution shall be considered as adopted the bill as amended shall be considered as read all points of order against provisions of the bill as amended are waived the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill as amended to final passage without intervening motion except one one hour of debate debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means and two one motion to recommit with or without instruction section two during consideration of of h r thirty fifty six pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker  california is recognized for one hour thank you mr speaker for the purposes of debate only i yield the customary thirty minutes the gentleman from texas mr sessions alltime yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only i mr speaker house resolution seven nineteen provides for consideration of h r thirty fifty six the tax collection responsibility act of two thousand and seven under the traditional clothes rule the rule provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking members of the committee on ways and means the rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill except for clause nine and ten of rule twenty one finally the rule provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions mr speaker the bill before for us today h r thirty fifty six implement several measures to protect the interest of taxpayers and the integrity of our tax system first it would once and for all repeal the i r s has authority to contract with private debt collection companies the collection of federal income taxes is inherently a governmental function at the crux of what governmental responsibilities should be this was stated as early as eighteen nineteen by chief justice marshall it was reaffirmed by congress in eighteen seventy four when the ways and means committee said that any system of farming the collection of any portion of revenue of government is fundamentally wrong tax farming giving the private entity the right to collect taxes on a commission basis has created man modern day bounty hunters who have no regard for the taxpayer and only regard for their company's bottom line taxpayers are heavily pressured to reveal their social security numbers last known address date of birth and other confidential information over the telephone to private contractors working on commission of up to twenty five percent of the take in this modern day and age where identity theft runs rampant why would we give and why would we want to turn over people's social security numbers and who knows what other confidential information to someone who is only out to protect their own bottom line noted princeton economist paul krugman recently penned in the new york times quote tax farming went out with the french revolution now the tax farmers are back how right he is the irony is that we tr this private tax collection scheme in one thousand nine hundred six and promptly abandon this why because the i r s inspector general found that private contractors regularly violated our own fair debt collection practices act threaten the confidence of the confidentiality of taxpayers personal information and on top of all that cost the government a net revenue loss of seventeen million dollars despite this past history the republican congress renewed this authority in two thousand and four what happened since that renewal well the federal government has spent an additional seventy one million dollars of taxpayers hard earned money and they've collected a grand total of twenty million dollars in tax revenue that's right mr speaker we've lost another fifty million dollars on inefficient program that experts readily admit do does not work even more absurd is that the i r s has been has been had the i r s been given that money the seventy one million dollars instead it would have collected almost one and a half billion dollars the house has long recognized that this program simply does not work in fact language asop private debt collection has passed on a strong bipartisan basis twice but has not made it into law but just don't take my word for it the national taxpayers advocate appointed by the treasury secretary who reported to congress that quote the money spent on the i r s private debt collection initiative is an inefficient use of government dollars even past and present irish commissioners have repeatedly admitted before congress that the i r s employees could perform this  task at far less cost than the private agencies i firmly believe that government actually does i think when government actually does something better than the private sector and cheaper and more efficiently than the private sector then the government should do that job the reality mr speaker is that ira's employees are better trained better equipped and better prepared to handle these important responsibilities they also protect american citizens  privacy h r thirty fifty six recognizes this reality and restores this fundamental responsibility to the federal government as our founding fathers intended second h r thirty fifty six includes language based on legislation introduced my by my friend colleague from florida mr meek which provide tax relief to small business and administratively relief to local jurisdictions by delaying implementation of an onerous tax burden section five eleven of the tax increase prevention and reconciliation act of two thousand and five passed by the then republican congress to raise revenue required tax withholding of three percent on payments to vendors providing property or services to government beginning in january of two thousand and eleven the three percent recall the three percent withholding requirement presents a number of administrative and practical changes for business including reducing cash flow they need to meet operating expenses pay suppliers or condo subcontractors or meet payroll it also present several problems for government including how state and local governments will be able to comply with this law much less how the i r s will be able to afford and administer such a requirement h r thirty fifty six takes a commonsense approach to this issue and delays the implementation of the three percent withholding requirement for one year it further calls on the department of the treasury to study the compliance issues confronting business and government and report the findings to congress this measure is supported by state and local governments and a broad array of business organizations including the united states chamber of commerce the financial services roundtable the american bankers association the american farm bureau bureau federation the national association of manufacture the national federation of independent business among others h r thirty fifty six also clarifies that u s citizens who claim to be bona fide residents of the u s virgin islands receive the same procedural and ministre to rights afforded to other u s taxpayers and finally mr speaker h r thirty fifty six strictly it hears to the house pay go rule this bill is paid for prime or primarily by eliminating a tax loophole that currently allows wealthy individuals to avoid paying u s taxes simply by renouncing their citizenship or terminating their u s residence despite what you may hear today let me be clear closing this loophole has broad bipartisan support and has been supported by my republican colleagues i'd like to thank mr rangle chairman rangle mr van hollen mr meek in the ways and means committee members for their hard work on bringing this legislation to the floor today mr speaker this common sense bill protect taxpayers preserve the integrity of our tax system and makes our tax system fairer for all it deserves strong support of all the members of this house floor today i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves this time donors from texas the speaker thank you so very much mr speaker i'm not sure that there's anything even left to say about the depths to which the house under the broken promises democrat majority today once again the american people are being forced to endure the results of yet another evening spent in the broken promises democrat rules committee with nothing to show for it except yet another which was referred to today as the traditional closed rule on the floor of the united states house of representatives i rise today in strong opposition to this completely closed rule that denies the minority even with a basic substitute amendment in this process and to the fiscally irresponsible underlying legislation also rise with great regret to report to the american people that once again i have already been forced to do multiple as we've been forced to on multiple occasions over the course of this year the democrat leadership is bringing legislation the house floor that stacks the deck in favor of big labor bosses at someone else's expense today that expense is on the american taxpayer that is being targeted on behalf of big public sector union bosses to the tune of two point two billion dollars to be exact i would like to take a few minutes to discuss a number of the myths that will be discussed around in this legislation and provide my colleagues and the american people who are tuning in on cspan with some of the facts about the real effect of this special interest legislation and what it would mean to the taxpayer in two thousand and four congress gave the i the ability to utilize best practices and advantages created by the private sector to address its growing backlog of un paid debt today it is estimated that there are three hundred forty five billion dollars of these unpaid taxes that exist today that means that every year the average taxpayer who plays by the rules must pay an extra two thousand seven hundred dollars to cover taxes not being paid by those who should legally be paying their taxes this new program which began as a small private program that grows as it continues to succeed is estimated to bring in about two point two billion dollars in its first ten years and under this agreement the i r s would get the first twenty five cents of every single new dollar to hire new collections professionals a provision that would have a positive compound effect by helping to bring in either even greater amounts of this uncollected revenue for the government into the future the program even it's even and it's beginning stages and despite numerous attempts by the democrat majority to kill it before it could succeed has been hugely successful bringing in over thirty million dollars worth of unpaid taxes it has received a ninety eight percent rating from the procurement accuracy as well as a hundred percent rating for professionalism additionally less than one percent of the tax payers contacted by these private agencies have filed complaints by the i r s none of which would ever have been validated despite the this program's track record of success on behalf of taxpayers who do play by the rules and pay their designated share not to mention the increased revenue that it brings in to fund the democrats other new big spending legislation there are many opponents on the other side of the aisle that want to prevent it from continuing to work supposedly to protect the big dues of the big government union bosses they have claimed despite the fact that forty out of fifty states in in america are already used the same contract services that there is something that only the government can do you don't have to take my word for it for that this isn't true even the nonpartisan government accounting office g a o has found that and i quote the i may benefit from using private collectors and it is reasonable to assume that i r s could learn from the best practices as it works to resolve long standing problems with debt collection activities opponents have also incorrectly claimed that private debt collectors do not follow the same rules as i r s collectors well this one is partially true because these private collection agencies are subject to both federal and state laws that are collectively more restrictive than the laws that federal employees must follow private collectors follow the same privacy protections undergo the same background checks and are subject to the same penalties if they violate any of these laws opponents have also claimed that allowing for private debt collection would cost untold union jobs a statement which is based in alternative reality the private collection agencies working in this program did not and do not replace a single i r s worker as of this past july over fifty one thousand six hundred sixty seven cold cases that the i r s was incapable of collecting were given to private agencies resulted in over five thousand three hundred full repayments to the treasury and almost two thousand agreements to repay these debts incrementally this means that the government received over twenty four million dollars of gross revenue that it would not have wrists leaved otherwise which only about one  went to pay for these otherwise nonexistent services in fact the i r s has publicly stated that no government employee will lose his or her job as a result of this highly effective private contracting instead they will benefit from the opportunity to focus their talent expertise and resources on high priority more complex cases mr speaker i encourage all of my colleagues to understand all the facts regarding this legislation before they are influenced by scare tactics of a few members who are determined to kill this highly effective program that has already proven to be cost effective in closing the tax gap of hard earned for hard earned tax payers against those who are not paying their taxes and that are hard to collect i wish i could say that they would have plenty of time to learn all the facts around adults legislation that is being rushed to the floor today under a completely closed process unfortunately last night in the grave of good ideas house of representatives the majority rules committee democrats voted three times along party lines to prevent any amendment offered by republican from being considered today despite numerous campaign promises by the highest ranking democrats in the house  most transparent open and honest house in history this democrat majority once again has proved and provided that the house will have something which is a rule that is above none that is a historically traditional as it's being referred to closed rule i wish i could say that i'm surprised by the democrat leadership allowing politics to triumph over policy or fair seizure unfortunately this is precisely what we have come to expect from the new broken promises democrat majority mr speaker i oppose this ill conceived and costly legislation and i encourage all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up for taxpayers by voting as we said in our opening statement tax bills are traditionally closed due to their complexity under democrat before one thousand nine hundred four they were closed under mr driers administration the house rules committee  the republican leadership they were traditionally closed now we continue to maintain that practice because tax laws are so complex late amendments that have not been fully vetted and analyzed are simply too complex to insert into the tax code without knowing their full ramifications secondly mr speaker mr sessions my colleague from texas mentioned that the mccurry substitute was not made in order he's correct about that it was not made nor because it violates the paygo provisions of our or house rules and i have a copy of it right here and it simply does not meet the paygo statutory requirements the house rules finally the republican privatization bill that had passed and a prior congress when it was implemented spent seventy one million dollars to collect twenty million dollars that's a loss of fifty million dollars even with the creative accounting of the republicans who do math i cannot believe they're advocating a continuation of this program that has lost money further the use of private contractors to collect federal taxes violates a confidential and fundamental relationship between american taxpayers and the federal government i r s employees have access to a taxpayer's complete tax history including personal identifiable information that is readily identifiable that should be restricted only to r s employees by prohibiting the i r s from hiding prior debt collectors this bill will ensure that the privacy rights of americans and other confidential information of tax payers is protected from bounty hunters working on commissions of up to twenty five percent i reserve the balance of my time german reserves this time john from texas thank you mr speaker you know mr speaker we continue to hear arguments from my good friends about how this just won't work but for ten years it's worked very well with a ninety nine percent accuracy in providing billions of dollars to the taxpayer bottom line is that treasury simply focuses their activities on major accounts and the smaller accounts which is who have been handling these accounts and been very good at it is what we're asking to continue today what's happening is is that we found that the unions simply don't like that they don't like somebody else perhaps getting something that they in fact never want to work on themself and so we're trying to say to the american people today don't take away this stream of revenue don't take away this opportunity because the private sector is working on accounts they're not given any advantage and the people who really ended up winning are not only is the treasury department but more specifically the taxpayer misspeak at this time i'd like to yield for such time as he as to con buttress his argument which is a very clear one obviously we want to ensure that every american pays their fair share of taxes we've had a dramatic increase in collection collection success by virtue of this program and here we are gutting it because a very small group of people seems to oppose it it happens to be union opposition but as a taxpayer i want to make sure that i mean i pay my fair share of taxes i want to make sure that every the every other american pays their farish taxes and that's exactly what this ten year old program has done and has done it with success speaker i i really i'm very very puzzled as we begin today with the debate on two rules that were going to lead to legislation that will lead to legislation being considered here on the house floor and the reason i'm perplexed is that we're dealing with two very important issues the majority leadership clearly has its right and its responsibility to move their agenda they want to do what they are planning to do now on this issue of private sector  collection of taxes and they want to dramatically expand housing programs those are the two things that the majority agenda that the majority is planning to move to the floor today but i just don't understand mr speaker i just don't understand why it is that we are doing what we are doing my friend from california mr kodos just described how the rules committee was run when i had the privilege of serving as chairman of the committee and he and we have what is a customary close rule i think is the term that he use mr speaker and i'd be happy to do that the term that i'd be happy to yield my friend is all that traditional a traditional i think my friend i think my friend for clarifying that he described it as a traditional closed rule well i i will say that it is true that on tax bills we recognize most both parties recognize that the notion of completely opening up the tax code measures in the ways and means committee is not the wisest thing to do and so neither party has done that but i will tell you this mr speaker we when we were in the majority regularly ensured that the ranking minority member mr rangle had a substitute that he could offer in fact on numerous occasions we offered mr rangle the chance to propose a sight unseen substitute to measures that were coming forward and i will admit i will admit that on occasion but a very rare occasion we did not provide that substitute to mr wrangle and mr speaker i will say when that happened mr wrangle clearly let us know how unhappy he was that he did not have a substitute so we all know that at the beginning of this congress we had this document put forward by the new majority called a new direction for america in this document  the item titled regular order for legislation under a congress working for all americans paragraph two reads as follows mr speaker it says bills should generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open full and fair debate consisting of a full amendment process that grants the minority the rights to offer its alternatives including a substitute now this is a commitment that was made to the american people under a new direction for america now while i recognize that having a completely open rule on a measure that emerges from the ways and means committee is not the wisest thing for us to do but mr speaker what we are doing here today on this rule is absolutely outrageous and a complete violation of this commitment that was made at the beginning of this congress for a new era of openness transparency and accountability speaker in fact as i said last night in the rules committee we've now completed almost completed the first session of the one hundred tenth congress nearly completed this calendar year in fact our target of german date is october twenty sixth just a couple of weeks away and on not one occasion not one occasion in this entire session of congress has the distinguished ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means the gentleman from louisiana mr mccrary been offered the chance to propose a substitute to any measure that has emerged from the ways and means committee and i will say mr speaker as we regularly get criticized for when we were in the majority we never we never did anything close to that now i'm saddened greatly by the fact that we're not only doing this on this rule mr speaker but on the next measure that we're about to bring up it's going to be another item that will have come from the committee on financial services as i said it's a plan to dramatically increase housing and last week we had a measure that came from the committee on financial services and it was a flood insurance bill that charlie partisan issue a measure which has impacted democrats and republicans on the gulf coast and florida along the eastern seaboard other parts of our country democrats and republicans well as we all know last week in the measure that emerged from the committee on financial services the rules committee had a wide range of amendments that were proposed by both democrats and republicans in fact the chairman of the committee on financial services talked about a commitment that had been made to allow a number of republican amendments to be considered so those members withdrew their amendments when they were debating this in the financial services committee on flood insurance and the day before the committee reported that out we happen to have unveiled as members of the minority our report providing an assessment of basically the first nine months of the palosi speakership and the way the speaker's rules committee has been run this report very brief that's a grab senate ten pages long i would commend it to my colleagues they can get a copy of this mr speaker by going to rules are you will yes dash republicans dot house dot gov rules dash republicans dot house dot gov and i would recommend that they look at this m speaker and the reason is that if you compare this performance whether it's denying members a chance to even submit amendments to the rules committee which was something we would have never comprehended to having double the number of close rules that we did at this point and one hundred ninth congress you will see mr speaker that this report shows that the performance of the first session of one hundred tenth congress has been one hundred  eighty degrees what was promised the american people and so last week when we had this flood insurance measure that came forward as i said this agreement had been struck between the chairman of the committee on financial services committee and a number of republicans on that committee to have their me considered and what happened there were thirteen amendments made in order mr speaker not one single republican amendment was made in order not one single republican i'm a new order this is not just a party thing this is the american people who are not allowed to be heard because these representatives represent people as i said along the eastern seaboard florida gulf coast areas impacted by floods from the from the hurricanes and also floods in other parts of our country we have flooding in in california and and all across the country and here's what happened the american people whose representatives had thoughtful proposals and the chairman of the committee thought that those proposals should be h were denied by this rules committee and it just happened the day after this report which we hoped would lead the new majority to help keep the promises that were made in a new direction for america and what happened they did even worse and so where do we stand today mr speaker when mr sessions has just pointed very well to what's happened in this rule again not one chance not one chance in this entire congress for the ranking minority member the ways and means committee to offer a proposal and in the next bill in the next bill we will have before us unfortunately there's not a single republican a man made an order yes there's a substitute in august by our substitute but not one amendment made an order and all seven amendments the democrats proposed have been made in order and i had an exchange with the chairman of the committee on financial services and while he did not support most or any of these amendments that i know of unfortunately what happened was that the committee when the committee chairman said that we ought to consider some of these the committee chose to completely shut out members of the minority from having an opportunity other than th substitute and so mr speaker let me say that i'm puzzled and i'm saddened both as i look at this performance when we're promised a new direction for america and greater transparency disclosure and accountability and generally a full and open debate including a substitute which is the exact wording that speaker pelosi had in this new direction for america and here we are doing the exact opposite now on this measure itself i hope very much that will defeat the previous question so the very thoughtful work that mr english has done on dealing with relief for the american people from the onerous burden of the alternative minimum tax can be addressed unfortunately that's not allowed but i do believe that if we defeat the previous question we can allow the american people to have a chance to have some kind of relief from the onerous alternative minimum tax so it's just fake or let me just say again i thank my friend for yelling me so do better for the american people when it comes to structuring allowing full and free and fair debate here on the house floor without you but balance my time with you expect a time zone from california thank you mr speaker my colleague from california is a very orator and i appreciate his speaking ability i will tell you however that one of the great tools that people use when they're great as as talented as mr dreier is is when they don't want to talk about the bill at hand they talk about everything else around it the reality is that the bill that hand the rules that we are trying to move forward to bring the bill to the house floor today eliminate privatization of tax collection now puppet republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle love privatization they love it in iraq where it has not worked and our military is struggling under the burden of having privatization and contractors war contractors not doing what they should be doing and charging four times what they should be charging to do it we see all the problems that have happened there we've seen the same thing happen here in the united states where federal contracts have been let mr waxman's committees have done incredible work rooting out waste fraud and abuse in the private contractor system and then they want to turn over the collection system of the i r s to private hands putting at risk all americans private information and documents they like privacy they like privatization they just don't like protecting your privacy the john from california talked about all kinds of issues but he didn't talk about the root problem that we're trying to address here and that's stopping bounty hunters from harassing american taxpayers and finally mr dreier talked at great length about the mccurry substitute and the fact that mr mccurry had not gotten a substitute this year well this mr speaker is the second time this year that i managed a rule where the republican substitute has violated the house rules i'm a member of the blue dog coalition as well as being a member of the rules committee i'm very proud that for the whole time that i've been here as a member of the blue dog coalition we advocated for advancement of the pay go rule we believe in fiscal responsibility we believe that we need to pay our debts and so we got when we took over the majority inserted into the house rules a clause that says we have to pay as we go we have to do it like every american taxpayer has to run their own home we have to run this house in a fiscally responsible way and so we mandated the pay the rules the substitute that was put forward by the republicans for the second time that i've managed to rule anyway has violated those paygo rules when you don't follow the house rules you can't expect your amendment to be made in order mr speaker i i just encourage my colleagues to abide by those rules and honor the process and with that i reserve the balance of my time i don't know if it's a blatant attempt to mislead members or not but the gentleman mr english is bill is compliant with peco rules and to suggest on this floor that the republican party presented the bill the amendment i will yield to the gentleman thank you sir i wasn't referring to mr english does it or which one where you were in reference to sir mr mccurry substitute we know you know that we ask reclaiming my time and i will continue this cap dialogue you know that we asked to have made an order one that would be in compliance with the paygo rules and you and your colleagues turn that down specifically stated we want an amendment that would be in compliance with the paygo rules would you please give it to us and we were turned down by the rules committee i would engage the gentleman on that issue  that i may and i know have a gentleman voted in all of his colleagues and to stand up on this floor and to say well we would if they would abide by the rules but they have to abide by the rules is a blatant blatant miscalculation and i think on true in insincere when we ask for that in the rules committee we were turned down when we said we would be give us a minute that we will make sure that the  the gentleman mr english which i'm getting ready to allow him to speak on this floor he is in compliance with pay go rules so there was not an opportunity that was given by the rules committee to allow us to do that and then you stand up and say well if republicans played by the same rules that we do then they would find them in order that is not true mr speaker at this time i'd like to yield four minutes to the  pennsylvania distinguished gentleman who has an amendment that would be compliant the gentleman mr english gentleman is recognized for four minutes i thank you mr speaker and i thank the gentleman for yielding to me and certifying in the process that i'm paygo compliance something that will come as great a source of great relief to my wife among others i rise mr speaker in strong opposition to the rule before us today very simply it puts protecting deadbeat taxpayers ahead of shielding unsuspecting citizens from additional taxes and penalties resulting from the majority's inaction on the a m t yesterday i offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute to the underlying bill this amendment would have addressed the severe consequences to middle class taxpayers come next april as a result of the majority's inaction on the alternative minimum tax as has been noted here this amendment was fully compliant compliant with paygo rules of the house but it was dismissed out of hand by the majority as a result i am here today to strongly urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question on the rule so it can be amended to incorporate consideration of the english substitute the fact remains that the clock is ticking and without a minimum amount of for by this majority in congress millions of taxpayers will not only be socked with an unsuspected bill from the tax man in the form of the a m t but they will also be slapped with punitive penalties by the i r s for not withholding enough as a m t tax payers my amendment would have created a safe harbor for those taxpayers and not penalize them for something that they did not know they would be subjected to and frankly something they never should have been subject to in the first place let's put this and more concrete terms mr speaker there are now less than thirty legislative days left in this congress so far a bill has yet to be introduced by the majority to spare twenty three million american taxpayers from unintentionally being subject to the alternative minimum tax now after having ten months of the year to deal with this impending explosion of increased taxes on working families the majority has done absolutely nothing this is the longest period of time the a m t has been pushed aside and it is in comprehensible that we're not addressing the fall out from this inaction today even as forms are being prepared to send out to taxpayers working families should not have to pay the price for the majority's inaction on the a m t and fact mr speaker they can't afford to i oppose this rule because it embraces the misplaced priorities of the majority to chase phantasms rather than deliver real and meaningful legislation to spare working families from a huge tax increase that was never intended for them my substitute would strike the repeal of the private debt collection program and put in place a safe harbor for unsuspecting taxpayers about to be close by the a m t and then again by penalties otherwise my substitute would leave the bill on changed mr speaker we have to come to grips with the fact that we have to address the a m t we must do it now i urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question and bring a rule to the floor that addresses the immediate and pressing needs of working families in this country and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman years back retiring gentleman from california thank you mr speaker that while his amendment was paygo compliant it had we did not were not aware of that until this morning when the tax tables were submitted to the ways and means committee so last night when the rules committee was dealing with this issue we had no way of knowing whether his substitute was in fact paygo compliant or not with regard to mr mccurry substitute i have it here with me the substitute that was submitted by mr mccurry was in fact not paygo compliant now mr sessions says that he made the motion to allow it to be paygo compliant but the bill before us at that point in the rules committee was not i would like to say that also mr english is a substitute doesn't deal with the base bill which is to stop the privatization of tax collection and that is what the majority is trying to get at today now certainly there are other issues that are worthy of consideration in this institution and teenie is certainly one of them but in this provision today the majority wants to bring forward a bill that would stop american tax payers for being harassed by private bounty hunters that's the issue before us today and all the other issues that people are trying to discuss one way or another th texas has four minutes general from california fifteen minutes the speaker let's go to the heart of this thirty million dollars worth of uncollected taxes that by the i r s is own admission never would have been collected because they were accounts they did not want to or were not working which is are the only accounts that ever go to private debt collectors who as private private collectors receive a ninety eight percent rating from the i r s for regulatory procedural accuracy as well as a hundred percent rating for professionalism and less than one percent of those accounts have any sort of complaints that are filed with the i r s and none which have been validated that's the substance of the case that's why we oppose this bill and this rule it makes no sense unless you're simply trying to do what union bosses choose to ask you to do which is evidently what this bill is doing i'd also like to point up that what's very interesting is that this bill is supported by the chairman of the ways and means committee and has a whopping nine co sponsors whopping nine co sponsors and we're bringing the to the floor of the house today utterly amazing balance of my time is there decked out objections proved so in california thank you i'd like to inquire for my colleague if you have any remaining speakers thank you gentlemen for asking in fact i do not have additional speakers at this time jim unlike to close i would be very pleased to do that with the gentlemen i'd like to ask a question back does gentleman have a need to show speakers and i do not does not thank you mr speaker we've we've had a good debate here on the floor we talked about that from the republican perspective we're trying to follow the rules not only of the house but also the statements that have been made by our new speaker the honorable nancy pelosi who said she would have the most honest open an ethical house in the history and that would also extend to processes of amendments were here on the floor of the house saying today that's not happening has not happened all year and i would predict to say today probably is not about to happen still on the website for the speaker says this the american people are waiting for this promise to be made today we are debating a rule and a bill that would say to the american taxpayer that the i r s and their ability to collect taxes on behalf the american people is going to be changed change from accounts that the s has no reasonable reason to believe that they will be chasing after or trying to collect and that's why in the first place we said from doing audits you've got all these accounts please pass them to someone who will do it on behalf of the taxpayer because if you're not trying to collect these bills it means that people will never pay the result has been over thirty million dollars worth of uncollected taxes that never would have been collected not by the hour  and they're done by someone these private collection agencies that receive a ninety eight percent rating by the i r s for regulatory and pursue procedural act or say as well as a hundred percent rating for professionalism and less than a one percent complaint rate of which not one has turned out to be validated mr speaker this is an assault on not just the taxpayer this is an assault on really good and effective and proper government where the irish utilizes best practice they were utilized by over forty state governments today to have help in collecting money that is owed not just to the government but to the taxpayers of this nation and today despite this success overwhelming success that is occurring the democrat majority with now co sponsors plus the chairman is interested in taking away this opportunity for the tax payers and i will assume because the taxpayer union of the of the  treasury department does not lie this happening mr speaker we need to have best practices the president is right he will be told this bill this is a balanced effort by this democrat majority to pay back a f l c e o in the labor unions for their support but it is not in the best interest of not only the taxpayer but a good and proper government the republican party he is here on the floor of the house today saying that what is happening with the best practices that is happening today should continue we should have these private services that work in concert with the i r s we should continue to give the i r s and those particular departments that do go after this money to receive directly more money that is collected that would help them hire more tax collectors but we should not stop this process dead in its track because not only is it successful but is working as a best practice would for other people to see how important type of public private partnership is i ask unanimous consent to have the text of the amendment and a strenuous material to speaker the bill before us today the tax collection responsibility act of two thousand and seven stops wasting taxpayer money on programs that cost too much gives away confidential taxpayer information and results in taxpayer harassment by bounty hunters and simply never has and never will work it didn't work in the early eighty's hundreds it didn't work in the late eighteenth hundreds and doesn't work in the year two thousand and seven mr sessions mention that there was these republican best practices that would enhance our collection methods well let's talk about that there were republican bill sp seventy one million dollars to collect twenty million dollars resulting in a fifty one million dollar loss mr sessions wants to claim those republican brecht best practices he can do that however if the federal government employees the traditional men and women who have served our country honorably if they had had the ability to use that same seventy one million dollars they would have collected one point five billion dollars in taxes owed to this treasury one point five billion dollars that could be used to maybe fund s chip so that our poor young children could get the health care they deserve mr sessions talked about that this bill only has eleven co sponsors well this bill is a compilation of bills that was put together in the last few weeks and in fact the base bill that this bill is based upon mr van hollen bill has one hundred fifty six co authors and mr meeks of florida's bill has over one hundred so there is wide support for this bill the public should not believe that this is just a few folks thinking that this is a good idea this has wide support it has had a number of hearings in the ways and means committee and there has been great testimony with regard to the fact that the current program put in by the republicans in the last few years has not and will not work and should not be continued to allow be allowed as the law of the land h r thirty fifty six does something very fundamental it protects taxpayers and insurers their privacy it addresses withholding concerns raised by business and local government it cracks down on yet another tax loophole for the wealthy that has been left open under the prior congresses for far too long and most importantly it continues to make our tax system fairer for all mr speaker this is a good bill it deserves this house's strong support i urge a yes on the rule and on the previous question and i yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the resolution the question is on ordering the previous question those in favor say aye those opposed say proceedings on this question will be postpone speaker by the direction of the committee on rules i call a path resolution seven twenty and ask for its immediate consideration the clerk will report the resolution house calendar number one thirty two house resolution seven twenty resolved that at any time after that adoption of this resolution the speaker may pursuant to clause to the rule eighteen declare the house resolving to the can city of the whole house on this day of union for consideration of the bill h r twenty eight ninety five to establish the national affordable housing trust fund in the treasury of the united states to provide for the construction rehabilitation and preservation of decent safe and affordable housing for low income families the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on financial services after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five minute rule it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on financial services now printed in the bill the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read all points of order against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute  waived except those arising under clause ten of rule twenty one notwithstanding clause eleven of rule eighteen no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report may be offered only by member designated in the report shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and enough alone it shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for the division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole all points of order against such amendments  waived except those arising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the committee shall arise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted any member may demand a separate vote in the house on any amendment adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments there to to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions section two during consideration in the house of h r twenty eight ninety five pursuant to this resolution not withstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone further consideration of the bill to such time as may be designated by the speaker generally orders recognize one hour mr speaker for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary thirty minutes to the gentleman from washington mr hastings all time hilda during consideration of the rule is for debate only and i yield 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 on house resolution seven twenty without objection mr speaker house resolution seven twenty provides for consideration of h r twenty nine eighty five the national affordable housing trust fund act of two thousand and seven as a clerk read the rule provides for one hour of general debate controlled by the committee on financial services the rule waves all points of order against consideration of the bill set for clauses nine and ten of rule twenty one the rule makes an order the financial services reported substitute the rule makes an order eight amendments including a complete republican substitute the amendments are each debatable for ten minutes except for the naga burger substitute which is debatable for twenty minutes the amendments are not amendable or divisible all points of order our way begins the emmons except for clauses nine and ten of rule twenty one the rule also provides one motion to recommit with or without instruction mr speaker so many american families today are facing a critical housing crunch the cost of an apartment or home is out of reach for so many but there is good news many of us in this congress understand and will keep fighting for a new direction for america and more affordable housing today we will we will create a landmark affordable housing trust fund under h r twenty eight ninety five in this role which will provide over one and a half million new affordable homes for hardworking folks across america over the next decade i would like to thank chairman barney frank and chairwoman maxine waters for their dedication to american families and their efforts to make housing affordable and available to those who could use a helping hand they pledged at the beginning of this new congress that they would focus on affordable housing and they have stayed true to their word for other bills in addition to this one that will be considered today expand american homeownership and provide relief to our neighbors many of whom have been subjected to foreclosure due to predatory lending in the subprime loan crisis this new affordable housing trust fund will focus on the construction rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing in our hometown and communities across america the trust fund will pull monies together with state local and private housing initiatives to target housing to families with the greatest economic needs the innovated innovative dedicated funding mechanism for this new trust fund comes at no new cost to taxpayers and our efforts come at a critical time federal money for affordable housing has largely disappeared under this current administration health care costs are out of sight the cost of living is higher and many of our neighbors have not received raises that keep up with these rising costs we have for heard from so many americans across this country a for example in south st petersburg just recently i was talking with a police officer that worked for the city of st petersburg he said it was his dream to have his young son move into his neighborhood nearby unfortunately affordable housing in that neighborhood is all but gone and he will just not be able to swing it in addition local housing agencies across america have thousands upon thousands of americans on waiting lists for fordable housing in my home town of tampa florida during a one week open enrollment session more than ten thousand seniors families and veterans indicated the need for affordable housing but there is just no inventory and instead of receiving housing they are placed on a waiting list that waiting list takes four years and it makes it it makes affordable housing completely unreachable for the other people that simply never made that call for help the number of american households paying more than half of their incomes on housing increased to seventeen million in the year two thousand and five with one in seven u s households being severely housing cost burden this imbalance is very troubling and  combined with predatory subprime loans it has caused many homeowners to lose their homes in the tampa bay area will alone in the first six months of this year over ten thousand of my neighbors found that their homes have fallen into foreclosure well this new affordable housing trust fund will provide for the new construction preservation and eggs of existing housing and homeownership assistance emergency housing repairs and housing rela related services help is on the way h r twenty eight ninety five is a positive step in a new direction to ensure that more families are able to find clean safe stable and affordable places to live mr speaker i am proud to support this bill in this role and i urge the congress to pass this legislation i reserve the balance of my time generator reserves or time gentleman from washington thank you mr speaker i want to thank the generally from florida mrs castor for national affordable housing trust fund members of the house of this house share in the commitment to meet the housing these of lower income americans however mr speaker we differ on how best to achieve this goal the bill that will be the force today creates a new a new national housing trust fund and with it a whole new level of federal bureaucracy as a speaker there are already over thirty separate federal programs designed to promote affordable housing the new trust fund created by the underlying bill is modeled in large part on one of those existing programs the home invest invest a partnership program so mr speaker why create a new level of federal bureaucracy the to administer essentially the same program that has already successfully be in a ministered by state and local governments closest to the problem it seems to me that ought to be a big subject of the debate that we have today but mr speaker i am pleased that this rule makes in order a substitute amendment offered by mr naga by our texas that would estab a national fordable housing grant fund program within the current home program this proposal would meet the need to meet the goal of expanding rental and homeownership opportunities for low income families without mr speaker without adding new layers of red tape well i support the naga hower memet been made in order i am troubled that this is the only republican amendment allowed to be considered under this restrictive rule total of fifteen amendments were submitted to the rules committee by the ten a m deadline yesterday one minute amendment offered by representative kept line of massachusetts to change the short title of the bill to the quote barney frank national forty affordable housing trust fund act of two thousand and seven and end quote was withdrawn out of the remaining fourteen amendments seven were submitted by democrats and seven were submitted by republicans this rule makes all seven amendments offered by democrats made an order but just one republican amendment if this rules adopted many thoughtful ideas will be united deny the opportunity be considered on the house floor today unfortunately shutting out a minutes offered by republicans has become the norm for the democrat rules committee this is speaker americans want to see members on both sides of the aisle work together to address the problems our nation faces unfortunately with this restrictive rule the democrat majority has chosen to deny millions of americans of voice on several significant issues related to meeting the affordable housing challenges that lower income americans face therefore i must urge my colleagues to vote against house resolution seven twenty and i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves the time  from florida mr speaker i would inquire of my colleague from washington if he has any additional speakers otherwise he can proceed to klaus this is speaker i had requests from two members but i see that they are not here and so if the general eighty has the no more speakers i will be prepared to close on my side that is generally she is prepared to watch the value correct we have no speakers we have request as well but they are not here in attendance so i think it's rules are flawed when it comes to the enforceability of earmarks earlier this year republican leader boehner eric do some measure to close loopholes in the rules and allow the house to debate openly and honestly earmarks contained in all bills currently one hundred ninety six republicans have signed a petition to bring this proposed to the floor for immediate consideration unfortunately we need twenty two more members in order to get real real earmark reform before this can be considered by the house the house cannot deny a delay action on this any longer each day we put off closing loopholes in the house earmark rules american taxpayers are left to wonder what hidden earmarks are contained in bills before the house it is time we act to prove to the american taxpayers this house is serious about earmark transparency enforceability so mr speaker i'll be asking my colleagues to vote no on the previous questions so that i can amend the rule to allow the house to immediately consider house resolution four seventy nine introduced by republican leader boehner by defeating the previous question the house will still be able to consider the national  trust fund act today but will also be able to address will be able to address the earmark and force ability in order to restore the credibility of this house to mr speaker i ask unanimous consent to have the text of the amendment and extraneous material inserted into the record prior to the vote on the previous question without objection this regards my colleagues to oppose the previous questions and the restrictive rule which denies debate on several significant issues related to white house we will continue to stand on the side of america's hard working families today and pass this landmark affordable housing trust fund bill this will help our state in our communities achieve over one million new affordable homes for our neighbors over the coming years i urge a yes vote on the previous question and on the roll i yield back the balance my time and i move the previous question on the resolution the question is on ordering the previous unfinished business is the question on ordering the previous question on house resolution seven twenty which the chair will put to an oval the current report the title of the resolution house calendar number one thirty two house resolution seven twenty resolution providing for consideration of the bill h r twenty eight ninety five to establish the national affordable housing trust fund in the treasury and the united states to provide for the construction rehabilitation and preservation of decent safe and affordable house came in today at ten o'clock and for the last hour and a half or so been dead debating a couple of bills just a few minutes ago the national housing trust fund the affordable housing trust fund bill and most of the morning been spent on a bill that would repeal the s authority to use private debt collectors this is a fifteen minute vote the first in what looks like a series of four votes here on the house floor procedural vote on the housing trust fund bill but going back to what consumers to the debate this morning