stronghold and providence protector on this may fifteenth designated as peace officers memorial day we turn to you with great gratitude and heartfelt petition today we pay tribute to all the men and women who serve in law enforcement across this nation we thank you for calling them into public service and ask you to be close to them always in a special way we commend to you lord our capitol police each day with courtesy and professional care they guide and protect all who work here on capitol hill with all our guests and visitors willing to stand between us and all that could harm us they serve with dignity and excellence bless them lord their families and friends and through their prayers and reward them for their selfless efforts on behalf of others they are the shield you provide and they maintain your gift of peace on capitol hill and then thank you for the chair the jan examined the journal of the last day proceedings and announces to the house her approval there madam speaker yesterday this house passed a bipartisan veto proof farm bill strengthening american agriculture we successfully voted to ease the strain of rising food prices and to make a substantial commitment to land conservation and to our farmers i want to give special recognition to chairman collin peterson for his leadership and for his visit to missouri to hold an agricultural for more we have over one hundred thousand farms the second most of any state in the country since first being elected i've been working with local schools and parents to implement a healthy kids initiative i'm proud that this farm will help schools provide healthy snacks to students with over one billion dollars for more nutritious locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables and for the first time fruit and vegetable producers including the wine producers of st genevieve missouri will benefit from more than one point three billion for new programs and support research past management and trade promotion to make the transition from homegrown  madam speaker today the badges of american peace officers are draped with the black cloth of sacrifice and honor of those killed in the line of duty protecting america's people even though congress has not yet passed legislation this year to designate today may fifteenth this national peace officers memorial day this is the day we are met remember america's peace officers today at one o'clock in the afternoon in front of the capitol thousands of peace officers and families of the fall and will pay tribute to those who wear the badge and those who gave their lives so that others could live peace officers are the last trend of wire in the fence between the law and the lawless between the people and the barbarians between good and evil almost twenty thousand peace officers have been killed in the line of duty in the united states sixty thousand are year are assaulted nearly a million peace officers vegetal a fight fully patrol our streets neighborhoods and ru to the mill ians of americans of asian pacific heritage for their valuable contributions to our great country the district i represents represent benefited from the economic and social contributions from the asian pacific islander americans that include the city of monterey park known as little taipei rosmead west covina as well as other neighboring communities in the sangh gabriel valley in my district are approximately one hundred twenty thousand and eighty i descendants for example according to the chamber of commerce chinese americans own at least two thirds of monterey parks more than five thousand businesses many of the constituents i represent came to america in the hopes of providing for their loved ones and plan to reunite with their families this month comes at a tough time especially for many of those of asian descent particularly those that were affected by the recent earthquake in china my sympathies go to their families i look forward to continuing to work with the a p i community and that thank you very much madam speaker by refusing to renew the federal county payments program congress has broken the bond with rural areas all across this country counties such as cook county in oregon have been affected congress's inaction means that county's ro department's been whacked that's half what it was ten years ago road improvements needed for the future being shelved maintenance projects are being put on hold county judge scott cooper said congress just passed a new farm bill to help get products from farm to market without county payments the products won't have roads or bridges to go over h r thirty fifty eight would help solve this it's a bipartisan four year reauthorization for county payments yet the leadership of this house has held it hostage on the union gallanter since january fifteenth that's one hundred twenty hyundai's the democratic leadership past present prevented the house from voting to reauthorize the county payments program it's time to restore the federal government's century old commitment to rural timber communities where federal lands make up the bulk action the gentleman is recognized for one minute better speaker i asked my colleagues to join me in honoring the life of bishop louis dolphin stalwart sr who passed away after a courageous battle with kidney disease born in wealthy oklahoma in  bishop stallworth found his life's calling in the church in the community bishop stallworth was a leader in the community his influence extending far beyond the church that he founded in one thousand nine hundred sixty three they should start with volunteers the police chaplain hosted a weekly weigh your program and frequently participated in local community functions he also used his church as a place of learning opening a school original located in a church basement to educate young people he even organized a group of young men known as stalwart soldiers counseling them to get an education stand up trouble and become modeled members of the community as evidence of the ship stalwarts and during character and then peril passion his love for his family church and community less than five weeks after his death hundreds of all reproduced are already petitioned the school district consider naming a school after him i asked my college to join me in honoring the memory of bishop i rise today to recognize the great literal ice caps were crowned pennsylvania ice hockey state champions and saturday march twenty ninth this is the first state championship won by the ice caps in the twenty eight year history and only the second time in school history that a team  won a state championship that's kept the feet of the conestoga pioneers at memorial arena in johnstone head coach ron mccaskey who led the team to victory reminded the players that win or lose playing in a state championship game would be something that each of the players would remember for the rest  their lives i have no doubt that each of these players will remember this experience with great pride so congratulations to the icecaps the players the coaches and parents for capturing the pennsylvania cup class double a championship i know the school and community join me ban speaker i rise today in support of fully funding the low income home energy assistance program known as lively with energy prices at record levels it is critical that congress provides adequate lie he funding to protect low income seniors and families from the bitter cold in the winter and the extreme heat in the summer because of rising energy prices and limited ly he funding sixty two thousand pennsylvania households that were supposed to receive funding this year did not many of the families across the country who were not able to it's up tain ly he funds will be forced to decide between paying their energy bill or purchasing other necessities like food or medicine this it is a decision that no hardworking family should have make madame speaker live he provides millions of low income americans with some relief from ever rising energy prices but there are millions more that could use the help i urge all of my colleagues to fully support funding for a lie he bill meant to provide needed resources to our military it should only provide money for the brave men and women fighting terrorists in iraq and afghanistan to protect american families at home it is therefore disappointing that the supplemental bill crafted by the democrat leadership contains billions of dollars in non emergency spending while there may be components to the bill that should be debated this is not the time and certainly not the bill to be having those debates where a while our troops are desperately in need of additional funding defense secretary robert gates and our military leadership have told congress that the money is vital to ensuring our troops have the resources they require to defeat terrorists overseas including billions of dollars in unrelated spending is a dangerous impediment i hope my colleagues will instead support the clean supplemental bill introduced by represent jerry lewis of california in conclusion god bless our troops and will never forget september the eleven hundred ninety four nearly five hundred thousand americans or have served with thousands of nonprofits public agencies and faith based organizations across america through america or these individuals dedicate their time and energy in a variety of areas to help meet the needs of local communities my home state of california alone more than seven thousand nine hundred people this year will participate and one of more than seventy five hundred american program throughout the state one such program is coordinated by the santa barbara county education office in my district this program provides daily tutoring in reading for over seven hundred at risk students recruits volunteers for additional educational programs and works to increase disaster preparedness in the schools in the county the sixty two point four million our third by americ members have better their communities and touched the lives of countless americans this is the usa at its best to all these incredible america our members i commend you and thank you for your service thank animals california factor time for what purpose the gentleman who florida ri objection the gentleness recklessness won and i thank you madam speaker i rise to congratulate my good friend pavel about your let the latin american correspondent in washington for my hometown newspaper the miami herald pablo is leaving the paper to join the interim american bank for development pablo the father of two is a sophisticated and keen observer of the history and politics of latin america writing incisively about the democracy diplomacy and security issues and exploring the rich and sometimes complicated relationships that america has with the people of this dynamic region pablo has traveled extensively in latin america writing about everything from hurricane devastation in grenada to the struggles against drugs and corruption to the grief caused by the disco fire and burn his ira's and the u s policy toward mexico or cuba colombia venezuela throughout his career pablo has six always displayed a masterful command of the issues to keep us the herald loyal readers informed about a region so important to our interests pablo's extensive experience and knowledge will serve all of us who care deeply about the economic and social progress in latin america my words are not one of farewell but one of welcome for a new beginning and end up with march of a great talent and a warm and thoughtful human being fully see that these problems the gentleman you factor time pass resolution eleven ninety seven and ask for its immediate consideration the clerk for the resolution health calendar number two eighteen house resolution eleven ninety seven resolved that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the speaker's table the bill h r twenty six forty two making appropriations for military construction the department of veterans affairs and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september thirtieth two thousand and eight and for other purposes with the senate amendment there to and to consider in the house of the intervention of any point of order except those arising in the clause tangible twenty one a motion offered by the chairman of the committee on appropriations or his design that they help concur in the senate amendment with each of the three amendments printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution the senate amendment to the motion shall be considered as read the motion shall be debatable for two hours equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations the previous question shall be considered as ordered on a motion to its adoption without intervening motion except that the chair shall divide the question among each of the three house amendments section two during consideration of the motion to concur pursuant to the strength aleutian notwithstanding the operation of the previous question the chair may postpone the consideration of the motion to such time as may be designated by the speaker section three the chairman of the committee on appropriations may insert in the daily issue of the congressional record dated may fifteenth two thousand and eight such material as he may deem explanatory of the consideration of this rule is for debate only i feel myself such time as i may consume and ask unanimous consent that all members be given five legislative days it which to revise and extend their remarks on house resolution eleven ninety seven matchmaker a trans levon i seven provides for the consideration of the senate amendment to h r twenty six forty two the supplemental appropriations act of two thousand and eight the rule makes  order of the motion by the chairman of the committee on appropriations to concur initiated amendment with three house amendment the rule provides two hours of debate on the motion controlled by the committee on appropriations the rule provide a division of the question on the adoption of the three house amendments listed in the rules committee report there also provides that the chairman of the committee on appropriations may insert in the congressional record dated may fifteenth thousand and eight such material as he may deem explanatory of the motion man speaking with a deep appreciation for the importance of the legislation before us today the rules committee has reported out a rule that allows for a f third debate on three amendments critical to the future of our nation this process will give each member ample opportunity to vote their conscience on whether to fund the war or not place conditions on our rock policy or not or choose to support veterans over millionaires the legislation we're about to take up was forged with the idea of consensus it meets the spending requirements made by president bush including the five point eight billion that he asked for to strengthen the levees in new orleans in addition it does not include a single earmark except those explicitly requested by mr bush's administration on the other hand the legislation is not a blank check because it is important to remember why we are really here today this is the sixth year of the war in iraq more than four thousand united states servicemen and women twenty eight from my district alone are dead tens of thousands have been wounded and physically disabled and far too many suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and a host of other mental health issues what's more the civilian death toll is devastating m not thousands of iraqi men women and children are dead maybe it's more of being forced into camps or the countries that will accept them piecemeal at occam of economic emergency when the american family is under siege war continues to be waged the staggering cost of the american taxpayer and at the expense of our economic security a few weeks ago the new york times reported on the bush administration's practice of paying off supposedly independent military analysts to shade the truth about what was really happening in iraq this image gratian was so concerned that it merican to find out the truth that they paid former u s military personnel to read from prescreened whitewash pentagon talking points to hide from the american people what was happening in their name this may be the greatest foreign policy disaster in american history and the american people overwhelmingly are calling for it to end they have seen that th is far from nearing the end we were told trust us the iraqi oil revenues will pay for reconstruction if the american people are feeling the pinch their hard earned tax dollars finance the rebuilding of a foreign nation while their country's own economy and infrastructure are falling apart they were told trust us we will make sure your sons and daughters have the equipment they need yet we have all seen reports of desperate searches for junkies to refit ill equipped armored vehicles and we've all heard the tales of war and mothers scraping together the family savings to purchase adequate body armor for their children they were told trust us we weren't sure our fighting men and women will be taken care of when they return home ye we all remember the disgraceful images of walter reed hospital the recent reports of appalling living conditions for troops stationed barracks in fort worth texas under such circumstances it would be an abdication of our duty to perpetuate a clearly unacceptable status quo for that reason the legislation we take up today represents a break from the past and a renewed chance of changing a stale stagnant situation it does indeed provide immediate funding for our soldiers in iraq and afghanistan who are currently in the field however while the needs of our troops will always be at the front for front of our national priorities funding for this war must not come in the form of a blank check this funding only comes with conditions that will begin the process for ending this war supplemental requires a truce begin redeployment from iraq within thirty days with the goal of completing  withdrawal in eighteen months we do this not because we can see one it's to those who would do our nation arm or because we lack the will to fight for our national security we do this because basic respect for our military demands it longer will they be asked to fight an open ended conflict whose finish line keeps moving and in keeping with this respect for our troops and legislation mandates his soldiers must be properly rested and equipped to meeting ministrations own standards for combat reading this before redeployment furthermore we will honor the parents who continue to serve our nation by finally providing for funding for the military daycare services this legislation also keeps our promises to our veterans part of the cost of waging war is ensuring that our men and women in uniform have the resources that they need to resume their lives upon their return home the bills the voice dramatically expand the education benefits that veterans of the united states military will receive under the new g i bill not only do our troops deserve this benefit and much more but every dollar we spend on education today w come back to bolster our economy tomorrow it is also an investment and i would add that this provision is fully paid for by asking the wealthiest to solve their tax rates dropped nineteen point six percent  thousand and four down and they have saved around one hundred twenty six thousand dollars since that time we are asking them please to give us five hundred dollars to help fund the g i bill of rights at no time ever before in the history of this country as we've been burdened with massive tax cuts for the wealthy during a time of war obviously this has been a new his administration these actions of fiscal incompetence by the bush administration left this country's economy struggling and american families are paying the price and no families are paying it more than the families of the men and women who are fighting this war no sacrifice has been asked f many of the rest of us rising levels of sustained joblessness required to extend unemployment benefits to those workers who understandably cannot find a job this bill does just that and additionally up until this point american people have been unfairly asked to shoulder the full weight of the reconstruction effort in iraq the underlying legislation requires that u s reconstruction aid be matched dollar for dollar by the iraqi government removing some of the pressure from families already struggling to make is made furthermore it prohibits the establishment of permanent bases in iraq bucking this ministration from saddling the american people with a costly occupation long after the army is gone after our citizens have been sent to fight a conflict in a war far away from home and we owe them not only our support and our deep thanks for not only with words but with the deeds that we commit to in this congress this bill is about who we are as a society and the values that we hold and i'm proud to support this rule and the underlying legislation and ask my this rule over the last year and a half my colleagues messrs diaz balart hastings and sessions have stood right here at this lectern and opposed many many deeply flawed rules we began this congress very an auspicious leah's the leadership jam through the opening week agenda before even bothering to set up the rules committee allowing this is slaughter to become sure of that committee from the very outset there has been no pretense of concern for due process not an inkling of respect for the rules of this house what we started at a low point we have sunk lower and lower with each subsequent rule one by one the democratic leadership has trampled the rules and traditions of this body in an effort to shut down debate cut both republicans and democrats out of the process and jam it through poorly constructed bills that rarely rarely if ever become public law i frequently marvel at each new low and assume that we have reached the rock bottom as we consider new forms of restrictive rules crafted under an ever more restrictive process i've often thought this one takes the cake the democratic leadership couldn't possibly stoop any lower than this until the next one comes around shutting down due process to an even greater degree so this time i'm not going to say that this rule is the absolute bottom of the barrel i don't doubt that with a little more time and effort based on the track record we've seen the democratic leadership will find a way to trample the rules and traditions of this house even more thoroughly i will say this say that this is clearly the worst example that we've seen in the last seventeen months since they've been in ch but before i get into the details of this agree just rule madam speaker i think it's important to discuss why it even matters what kind of a process is used to craft legislation and hold votes i know the inner workings of the rules committee are thought to be so arcane that even some of our colleagues consider them to be a little too inside baseball in fact the distinguished share just spent over time talking about the bill itself she didn't talk about the fact that they're trampling on the rights of all democrats and republicans start talking about rules and procedure a regular order and most americans eyes and even some of our colleagues start to glaze over so to illustrate why process matters i'll use another set of rules that are more widely understood as an example even before the advent of the television show law and order most of us were familiar with the basics of our criminal justice system we are all familiar with our basic rights and shrines in the constitution we cannot held without a charge we're protected from self incrimination and unlawful searches and seizures we must be read our miranda rights when placed under arrest these basic rights are fundamental fundamental madam speaker to american democracy we know that there can be no justice without a fair process and we know that the protection of the rights of the individual is more important than the outcome of any one particular case the bill of rights and the laws that have been enacted to to up hold it aren't just a cryptic system of rules and regulations they guarantee madam speaker they guarantee our civil rights and they guard against tyranny without a fair process power is abused and rights are abridged process matters madam speaker process matters because process is has democracy the rules of the house were established for the very same reason they ensure that the american people through their elected representatives have a say in the crafting of laws that govern them the rules guard against abuses of power and they ensure that the legislative process is transparent and fair thwarting due process is not just arcane political maneuvering around obscure complicated rules that no one should care about verse the principles of representative democracy let me say again madam speaker the rule that we are considering at this moment very clearly subverts the principles of representative democracy the democratic leadership casual disregard for these rules and principles his face growing criticism in the media last week the politico accuse them of breaking promises promises for an open legislative process that followed regular order and the rules of the house and not surprisingly the paper cited today's underlying bill the supplemental appropriations as exhibit a in the democrats assault on an open and inclusive process which was promised at the beginning of this congress that's not me saying that that's an independent newspaper that made that statement even before the new lows the supplemental another publication investor's business daily reported recently on the leadership's widening power grab accusing them of and i democratic behavior running a dictatorship and showing little or no concern for holding actual votes or building consensus on issues now madam speaker those are pretty harsh charges coming from a newspaper that is clearly a very independent publication and they go on to say that this is all being done in an effort to manipulate congress madam speaker  dictatorship and i democratic those are pretty harsh words but they are clearly worn and the process used to craft the underlying supplemental appropriations bill has been atrocious committee work was completely abandoned without a single hearing without a markup without so much as consulting mr lewis and the committee members this bill was concocted behind closed doors zero input zero deliberation zero consultation senate of course won't stand for that kind of treatment and intends to hold a markup later today before proceeding with its florida bait but the democratic leaders in this house apparently deem this to be a lesser body with no right to due process the democratic leadership intended to bring this bill up last week they had to pull it from the schedule because fiscally conservative members within their own caucus were outraged at the contents a week later a week later madam speaker a backroom deal has now been struck bringing the remaining democratic members on board how bringing members on board by imposing a tax on small businesses in this country which is exactly what this is you see democrats love to stir up class warfare by justifying this small business tax as just a tax on the rich unless of course we're talking about millionaire farmers and then they like to give them massive government payouts which is what they did just yesterday in the farm bill to add to their inconsistency they actually waived their own pay goal rule to fund the farm bill subsidies and today they refuse to waive the same pay go rule and use it as the excuse to levy massive tax increases on small business men and women in this country only in washington would such logic be employed and we became aware of the rough outline of this acts increase along with every other provision of this bill only through press reports some of reported a one hundred eighty three billion dollar price tag on this bill others have said it would be costing at least two hundred fifty billion dollars various outlets reported on various provisions but we didn't get a chance to see for ourselves what was in this massive bill until three pm yesterday in fact the distinguished former chair of the committee on appropriations  ranking member my good friend mr lewis came before us he had just within the hour before that three p m meeting he had just gotten the copy of the measure most egregious of all we're not actually considering a bill here today will be voting on three amendments to a senate amendment to an old house bill that has already passed but was never an active did you catch that if it sounds gimmicky and underhanded that's because that's exactly what it is in fact this morning i heard our colleague mr macdermot on national public radio in which he said ah the crafting of this is tantamount to john kerry's very famous line in which he said i voted for it before i voted against it the democratic leadership knows that a vote on their full package would never pass so they plotted a way around an actual vote on final passage for anyone who missed that let me repeat the house of representatives will not be permitted a vote on the full underlying proposal what investors business daily calls that's a dictatorship they seem to have a point so what exactly is in this one hundred eighty three to two hundred  fifty billion dollar bill that comes to us without any due process and will pass without a vote who can say for sure but i know that at least sixty two billion dollars in new entitlements are included eleven billion dollars in unemployment insurance our friends mr whelan's me talking about this in a few minutes and at least fifty one billion dollars in benefits for veterans clearly these are very very important issues that need to be addressed and i don't doubt that the democratic majority will try to claim that republicans don't care about our veterans or those facing economic hardship we hear that time and time again to the contrary these are such critically important issues for us that we passionately believe that we must address them in a serious and deliberative way it is simply not good enough to slap together a proposal without a single moment of testimony or debate throw some money at our problems and call it a day the very critical issues addressed in this bill from funding for iraq and afghanistan to international food assistance to the tremendously important domestic programs all of these deserve a substantive deliberative process we should have an opportunity to examine which of these are truly emergencies and what should be included in the regular appropriations process and all of them should have the benefit of an open debate to ensure that we are addressing our priorities effectively this rule allows for none of this madam speaker and thwarts the rules and traditions that were put in place to guard against abuses of power and it blocks consideration of even a single amendment including the very thoughtful and responsible alternative proposed by the man sitting to my right here the distinguished ranking member of the committee mr louis he's offered a clean supplemental appropriations bill which simply provides our troops the funding they need without boggling it down with all kinds of unrelated items or adding new policy that prevents them from carrying out their mission our hope is to get this critical funding to our troops before memorial day which is fast approaching that's not an arbitrary deadline and it's not a gimmick our military commanders have told us that they desperately need this funding now and we want to be able to go home for memorial day and tell our veterans and our military families that we passed a clean bill that funds our troops and their mission we want to tell them we crafted a bill without regard to politics without regard to providing political cover or fodder for political ads we simply gave the troops the funding they desperately need now madam speaker that's exactly what the distinguished ranking member mr lewis should be able to provide and i'm going to seek an opportunity for him to do just that but unfortunately the democratic majority can advance their flawed policies without shutting down  process so they prefer a close rules to open debate they prefer backroom deals to the transparent committee process they prefer hollow ill gotten victories that die after the house vote to substantive bipartisan legislation that is an active into law that's exactly what we need to do madam speaker so i urge a no vote on the rule and i'm an urgent no vote on the previous question with that i reserve the balance of my time you can listen california  gentleman from new york main speaker and peace deal for missing gentleman from massachusetts member the rules committee next to my battery gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for four minutes thank you madam speaker five years ago in a well orchestrated public relations stunt that featured landing on an aircraft carrier president bush proclaimed and i quote in the battle of iraq the united states and our allies have prevailed have prevailed and quote just two weeks ago on the fifth anniversary of mission accomplished the white house can only express exasperate in that anyone would even make a fuss that five years have gone by and we're still in iraq deeper than ever well here's why people are making such a fuss madam speaker over four thousand aurukun servicemen and women killed in iraq over thirty thousand of our troops wounded or maimed a continuing u s occupation of iraq and a mission that i never ending never defined and completely open ended ironically the u s s abraham lincoln the aircraft carrier president bush declared victory in iraq was just deployed last week for another tour of duty in the persian gulf today this house will have a choice to make whether whether to continue this war well into next year today we will choose whether to support the george bush strategy of keeping the war going until he can safely get out of town once again u s forces are engaged in some of the most intense combat since the height of the insurgency once again they are battling iraqi militias not al qaeda in the markets homes  alleyways of baghdad april two thousand and eight was the deadliest month for iraqi civilians since last august the un now reports that four point seven million iraqis have been forced by violence to leave their homes roughly two million of them are refugees in neighboring countries and another two point seven million are internally displaced what's worse we don't even have the decency to pay for this war which has created a mountain of debt that american taxpayers will be paying off for years to come this generation's mistake is becoming the next generation's burden currently the war cost two point four billion dollars each and every week reports estimate that the cost of this war even if we could bring it to an end over the next two years will exceed three trillion dollars when we take into account rebuilding our broken military and addressing the needs of our military veterans billions for the care of the severely wounded billions for the care of veterans traumatized by war billions to stanch the flow of shoreside by young men and women who have served in iraq and billions mortar rebuild and reequip our armed forces why can't the iraqi government which is currently running a huge surplus do more to rebuild their country mr spanish speaker i'm holding office hours across my congressional district in massachusetts these are mainly small towns and communities every weekend i meet a steady stream of constituents who come in and who want to talk about the war people are so disappointed so frustrated so angry that this war is still going on and it's not just massachusetts it's illinois loui louisiana and mississippi and every other state in the union now i know madam speaker that there will be opportunities today to support strong conditions on the war and redeployment of our troops we will have the opportunity to vote in support of greatly expanded educational benefits for our military veterans and for a generous response to the emergency global food crisis and i thank chairman obie for those initiatives but madam speaker i cannot vote for one more dime for this war anough is enough democracy which we all aspire to in iraq and other places in the world without a like yield for a menace to the author of the very important measures that will be made in order if we are able to defeat the previous question a clean supplemental like good friend from redlands the ranking member of the appropriations committee mr remember jerry what you are not willing to do in order to win think about that what you're not willing to do in order to win those running the democratic leadership of the house need desperately to learn that lesson so enamored with their power after twelve years out of the majority the democrat majority is now moving rapidly in the direction of reinventing the authoritarian system  that was a part of their control for the previous forty years the outrageous movement of the iraq supplemental of the house floor without consideration by the committee on appropriations and under a closed is the case in point the supplemental began as a one hundred eight billion dollar request for funding requirements for the troops for the remainder of two zero zero eight this must pass emergency legislation has now grown to somewhere near two hundred fifty billion dollars a whole array of legislative for the asians have been added that could have been and should have been addressed by way of regular order during the appropriations process unfortunately the supplement will bypass the appropriations committee altogether and through use of parliamentary trickery will avoid the inconvenien of democrat and republican members who have real expertise in the subject areas involved regular order is designed to ensure that people's voices and interests are heard on serious public policy questions as they move through the legislative process to have the democratic leadership cut off the people's to be heard by such a crass parliamentary set of maneuvers results in great harm to the appropriations committee and seriously undermines the credibility of the world's most admired legislative body on li three or four members at most have provided serious input throughout this misguided process all members democrats and republicans alike should be enraged by this arrogant demonstration of dictatorial control i know from private conversations with many of my friends on the other side of the aisle that there is a great deal of frustration among democrats with chairman obie and speaker pelosi for their excessive and abusive control of this process madam speaker let me assure you that my colleagues and i will continue to exercise every tool available to us to protect the established traditions of the house and the fundamentals of our democratic system it is clear that speaker pelosi is willing to do anything including stifling the voices of nearly every member of the house to when i urge all of my colleagues to remember the words of my mentor dr atala and gunther who said always remember what you are not willing to do in chairman for going to me fourteen million dollars an hour twenty four seven over five years ten billion dollars per month for on four thousand dead americans tens of thousands of wounded warriors i'm told sacrifice of military families innocent civilians in iraq killed by the hundreds of thousands and one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world that's the cost of this war and you know the president says that he has sacrificed too yes he has sacrificed he has given up golf and and the president has as determined to veto the bill when it gets to him because it includes really a patriot tax and people who make over a million dollars they're going to help to pay for things like an expanded g i bill for our veterans that come back a g i bill that will cost about five months in iraq over ten years and yet the president has said that he wants to yes like to remind my colleagues that eighty two percent of the people who fall in that category about what she's just mentioned are all business men and women i take it i was a base that night that my friend for you and i take back my time we are talking about people who are making over a million dollars to submit to pay a small sacrifice for this war where our military families are paying a huge sacrifice the question really is though what are we doing there what is the mission of our young men and women who is the enemy who is our ally what does that do we even look like i am not going to vote for another penny for this tragic war except to bring our troops home or to resolve the humanitarian crisis our government has helped create i'm not voting to give more to the real winners of this war the halliburton's the blackwaters and i'm disappointed that my amendment to stop funding blackwater a company that raises the question is that the policy of the united states  member of the committee on the budget my friend from janesville wisconsin mr ryan agenda from wisconsin is recognized for three men i think jennifer yelling madam speaker i come to the floor today in strong opposition to this emergency supplemental spending bill that not only would bust the budget with billions in non emergency spending but would also raise taxes on small business i can't think of a worst time to implement a tax increase with a weak economy that is struggling to create and grow jobs republicans will not support this bill the president will veto this bill yet the democratic leadership brings it to the floor and continues to play politics with funding for our troops the president's request submitted fifteen months ago was for one hundred eight billion dollars the democrats once again can't help themselves and they have added an additional six point six billion dollars of this and to add insult to injury to the american taxpayer in our troops in harm's way this amount actually reduces the president's request by three point five billion dollars i guess that's what you get when it bill is written unilaterally and in secret if the majority brought us a clean supplemental it's just funding for the troops it would have fundamentally been passed with a big bipartisan vote and sent to the president before memorial day so there's no disruption in funding that should be what we're doing in not playing politics with funding for our troops that's what a majority would do if they were serious about passing a bill and not playing politics but that's not what the democrat majority has done here instead fifteen months after the president asked for the troop funding the majority has brought a bloated bill to the floor that will cost the american taxpayer two hundred fifty billion dollars over the next decade this is a bill they wrote in secret without allowing committee markups while only allowing members eighteen hours to review a bill that will provide an amount equivalent to twenty six percent of the spending in last year's regular appropriation bills and without allowing the full house to work its way in an open and democratic process it violates the budget passed by the majority by adding six point six billion to the amounts assumed in the war supplemental for the house passed budget resolution and the democratic leadership has decided to lard this bill up with sixty six billion dollars in mandatory spending while they raise taxes to pay for the g i benefits this bill adds billions in funding that has nothing to do with the war and is not fully offset so they say they're meeting the pay go rules but they don't need it for all the other spending in this bill mandatory mandatory spending does not belong in war emergency supplementals the mandatory provisions in question deserve serious debate as stand alone bills why are they had hiding this in a war supplemental they should be proud of these provisions and let them stand  full light of day through the regular committee process and if increasing spending by over sixty six billion dollars wasn't enough they're proposing to raise taxes on americans as well to tax and spend rather than paying for this increase with reductions in other spending the last thing we ought to be doing today is raise taxes they will say this is a tax on millionaires but this tax is going to hit small businesses these are the job creators in america this is the worst thing we could do is this economy is struggling yesterday the house waive taxes on small businesses i fear for this institution the majority is taking us down a slippery slope and i don't think they're going to be able to put this genie back in the bottle the committees have been ignored the budget has been ignored the rules have been ignored what's next you madam chair today i rise in strong support of the rule and of the domestic priorities the house will consider today as a part of h r twenty six forty two i strongly support provisions to expand and improve the g i benefits for veterans education our veterans who have served our country in combat and who are looking to begin to complete their college education deserve g i benefits i also strongly support provisions which provide vital support for workers by extending unemployment benefits for an additional thirteen weeks in the district that i represent in california east los angeles in the sangh gabriel valley unemployment rates are above eight percent this legislation will help to keep food on the table for our families and our workers affected by the kleinian economy this legislation also appropriately includes a moratorium on seven misguided medicaid regulations more than a hundred seventy thousand people in my district alone in california rely on medical for their health care and although healthy families serves more than one hundred thousand children in my district another eighteen thousand children remain uninsured if the regular if the regulations go into effect in los angeles county we will also devastate our l a unified school district and our public hospitals who serve many working class people i'm pleased that today we're prioritizing education for our veterans the health of low income medicaid beneficiaries and of course our families and working families i strongly urge all of my colleagues to support the rule and provisions which address pressing domestic needs i strongly disagree that small business owners and wealthy millionaires are going to be heavily impacted by this resolution that's the republican playbook trying to tell you that somehow we're going to harm those people that are requiring and calling out for our systems this bill addresses their issue i yield back the balance of my gentleman yells back our time that is to go to this day in the name of saying they're taxing the rich the facts show eighty two percent of the people who fall in that category are small business better weapons that's just the facts with that i'm happy to yield three minutes to my very good friend from morris illinois the distinguished ranking member of the income security and family support subcommittee of ways and means the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes thank you madam speaker and i ask unanimous consent to add place in the record some charts in support of the statement i intend to make thank madam speaker i rise to oppose this rule i also rise to oppose the the way that the house majority the democratic majority is managing this legislation bringing forward a fiscally irresponsible fiscally irresponsible supplemental spending bill i would note as i recall on january twenty ninth the speaker of the house made a statement on the bipartisan economic stimulus package that was about to pass and speaker pelosi said let's hope for the senate to take the lead from us and be disciplined focus fiscally responsible and to act in a timely temporary and targeted way and behalf of meeting the needs of the american people mr chairman madam speaker i agree with the speaker we should act in a way that is timely temporary and targeted unfortunately that's not what the house is being offered today in addition a large tax increase and additional a large tax increase the bill before us today includes in an targeted and overly expensive extension of unemployment benefits consistent with the speaker's call for targeting help to those who need it most i introduced legislation and offered an amendment in the ways and means committee to focus extended unemployment benefits on people in states with relatively higher fast rising unemployment rates combined with regular unemployment benefits available in all states under my amendment a total of thirty nine weeks of benefits would be available to unemployed workers whose jobs are hardest to find a main street usa that helps the those who need the help most yet this targeted approach was rejected by our democratic colleagues a majority on the committee why target benefits why target benefits to only relatively high unemployment states for the same reason the democratic legislation proposes longer benefits in high unemployment states because workers there of a harder time finding new jobs and thus are need of extended benefits target is especially important today since today's national unemployment rate is  low five point zero percent with a third of all states having unemployment rates below four percent that national unemployment rate is well below the lowest prior level when such a program was created in the past i have note two thousand and two it was five point seven percent and again today's unemployment rate is five percent this targeted approach that i offered is also more fiscally responsible the un targeted democratic approach cost at least twice as much as a targeted approach and as aggression a budget office has reported the democrat legislation or require state tax increases to pay those additional costs the bill before the house would require state tax increases state tax hikes totaling one billion dollars over just the next five years and if this program is extended as all such temporary programs have been the tax increases require will only grow the speaker was right we need to act in a way that is fiscally responsible and targeted unfortunately this legislation before us today achieves neither of these goals and adds to budget deficits and requires a payroll tax increase we can should do better in this with a record like amendment three concerns unemployment compensation it's estimated that in the first six months of this year one point three million americans will exhaust their benefits the number of long term unemployed americans is almost twice as high now as it was in the last recession this is targeted at the long term unemployed wherever they live the republican approach mr weller's approach the president's opposition it's not targeted it misses tens of thousands of people who are unemployed for more than the twenty six weeks i come from michigan with a high unemployment level i want all the unemployed long term to be covered wherever they live i think it's time that the minority in the president get out of the offices they reside in and get into the shoes of typical american families and i read a letter that came from a person in roseville whose husband had lost his job as a machinist and i quote with the job market as bleak as it is today the fear that unemployment benefits may run out is something no family should have to face my husband has been actively seeking work since  layoff but there's simply nothing to be had right now i've never seen him so sad look so sad and upset in all of our nearly thirty years of marriage the president and congress must be made to understand that what is happening to the workers of this country and most especially to the people of michigan is not something they've chosen for themselves opposition to enthusiastically to support this very important rule i congratulate the very strategic design of the appropriations committee this is tough and i thank the rules committee for listening to us as we presented our amen but i rise today to say that war is ugly but we applaud and appreciate the young men and women on the front lines we forever honor them and just a few minutes ago i was in a room listening to returning war veterans from a rak and they gave us these words horrible stories such as calling the iraqi's hajis or sand niggers telling us about the impact on their families how many families were destroyed how many have attempted to commit suicide and so i offered an amendment that focused on the idea that everything we've asked the soldiers to do under the two thousand and two resolution has been done and therefore it should expire the president has no more authority to continue this war and then i wanted to debunk the actions of what happened to the viet nam vet and i want to call for a national day of celebration national day of honor for all the returning war heroes that will come home this is what we should be doing today as we vote against the funding of this war in iraq it is important to stand for these soldiers but i am glad that we've extended the g i benefits for veterans education some of them were telling us that they are now being denied these benefits because of a general discharge because of their opposition to the war and yes it is valuable because we move on to help americans in this bill as well extending unemployment compensation getting rid of these cuts in medicaid and making sure that we don't damage specialty hospitals that are in our rule in inner city areas who are helping us i am grateful to what the appropriations committee did on food and world hunger it is a disaster and they moved it up higher than what the president asked for we had a briefing on world hunger and it was appalling is funding for this horrible drug war and between mexico and its own citizens that spilling over into the united states i am appreciative of this doll and these dollars but my friends we have got to stop drugs here in the united states it looks like it's mcdonald's where they send these various drugs to and when i say that i'm not talk about mcdonald's i'm suggesting that the pinpoints of where these drugs are dropped off in the united states it is tragic and so as we send more money and more money to mexico we've got to begin to devise a new policy for drug opposition here in the united states and on the vote against the funding for the war the underlying other minutes are very good i yield back my time gentleman  opposed this role not because i lack appreciation for the work of my colleagues in trying to craft a bill that would get consensus but because we're right back to where we were in january of two thousand and seven we made a commitment then we would take control of this congress would end the war now with this bill we're saying it will set a goal of eighteen months from now so what happens eighteen months from now we have to end this war by stopping the funding in this bill we're telling the iraqis they're going to have to pay for the reconstruction we're telling the iraqis are go have to give discount price for oil so they're going to subsidize the war against their own country we're losing a lot in this war not only hundreds of billions of dollars not only the lives of our troops not only the injuries but we're also losing our sense of humanity and compassion concern and fire over one million innocent iraqis killed as a result of this war the speaker i support this rule in part because it allows congress to finally rein in and out of control policy by the administration in iraq for too long  our congress has stood by why an administration has pursued a course in iraq fraught with peril with no plan for its conclusion with no plan for resolution with no meaningful plan for international involvement to end this problem in iraq and why the congress has not rained in this administration the american people have been rising raising a hue and cry for relief from this negligent lack of plan in iraq i came across a few weeks ago some work that some citizens a done to provide an exit strategy from iraq this is a plan call a responsible plan to end the war in iraq it was organized by a group of citizens a woman from carnation washington named darcy burner it is indorsed by considerable military thinking and major general paul eaton u s army retired former security transition commander general in iraq dr lawrence korb a sit former assistant secretary of defense in the reagan administration brigadier general john johns a specialist in counterinsurgency and nation olding captain larry seeing qwest u s navy retired former commander of the u s s iowa and acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy and planning here is a plan that has considerable parallels to the men that we will be allowed to offer to finally having some responsible plan to end the war in iraq a meaningful timetable a statement about permanent bas meaningful requirements for for not over burdening our military it's time simply for congress to act this rule allows us to do so we should pass the gentleman's time has expired general california minute thank you thank you madam speaker a rising opposition to the rule and the lead republican on the post nine eleven veterans education assistance act congress needs to increase benefits for those fighting in our military to cover the true cost of a college education and that's what this bill does that's what that amendment does despite my obvious support for this provision in the supplemental i'm saddened because i cannot vote for its passage as part of amendment three today i cannot democrats have chosen to include an egregious tax on small businesses in amendment three while claiming this taxes for america's veterans in reality the majority of it's paying for their penchant to send money of foreign aid money to governments many of whom do not support the united states of america however when the fortunes of this nature nation's veterans are at stake the majority always seems to play games there's no need for this tax and certainly is not welcome at a time when our economy is struggling but unfortunately the tax and spend folks are here at it again and this is part of the largest tax gentleman fired increase in history this rule is poorly devised and it's in the underlying bill is poorly conceived this bill did not go through the committee process and it is unprecedented in a violates the intent of the rules of the house why is this important madam speaker well the american people would not allow the democrat leadership to cancel the next election the american people would not allow one person to determine who our next president is going to be but on a smaller scale that's exactly what's happened on this bill the speaker  house is determined what is in this bill not appropriate committee and election was canceled there was no vote the representatives of the people did not have a voice in this process we did not have any committee hearings this is not the democratic process washington is broken and it needs to be changed the rule except this violation of our own house rules that's why i asked my colleagues to vote no on this on this rule because that i'm speaker i've just heard from the minority side of the aisle complaints about the process by which this proposal is being brought to us this criticism about process comes from the same crowd that brought a forty billion dollar proposal to the floor two days after nine eleven without ever running that proposal through either the appropriations subcommittee or the appropriations committee that criticism comes from the same crowd no i didn't interrupt you and i would always ask someone to yield in order to interrupt their train of thought i'd appreciate if you opt out of doing that with me not my goal madam speaker that stood by and allowed thirty pages of on red material to be surreptitiously and anonymously slipped into a conference report on the defense bill after the conference report had completed action language which insulated the drug induced tree from a liability in cases where their their products injure the health of customers this comes from the same crowd that several years ago blocked the ability of this house to vote on a single matter that it had anything at all to do with the most significant domestic appropriation the labor health education bill and simply wrapped it into other items and refused to allow the house to work its will on any piece of that proposal which had more than five hundred programs which were insulated from house review this comes from the same crowd that brought three supplemental appropriation bills to the floor without running those bills through the appropriations committee or s no they say that they all they want one vote on the package all put together well let me tell you what we're trying to do is to avoid members having to look at everything in one package what we're trying to do is to give them a straight up or down vote a clean shot on the issue whether you want to provide funding for the war or not it's a procedurally neutral approach if you want funding for the or you vote yes if you don't want vote no that way you can't hide on that issue it stands out there alone and people see where you stand where also having a separate vote on whether or not we should impose conditions on the administration in exchange for the use of that money straight up or down vote clean shot at it can't hide behind any other issue and then thirdly we are taking the the administration's other requests and two priorities of our own and putting them together in the third amendment again separate not tied into it package out there so that members can choose up or down whether they want to do that or not  apology for that i know we are being lectured about the fact that this is a bloated bill out of all of the appropriated items in this bill all the two billion dollars are requested by the administration congresses have the temerity to be asking to spend one percent of the appropriate amount in this bill the rest as the president takes ownership of secondly we are being told oh it's terrible because we've taken a military bill and larded it up was the term that the gentleman from janesville used that we larded up with unemployment compensation and with the the expanded g i bill well i suppose that additional unemployment compensation benefits may look like lard to a member who will make one hundred sixty five thousand dollars a year but people have exhausted their unemployment benefits and have been out of work for six months it doesn't look like lard to them it looks like basic bread and i think we ought to be ashamed of the fact we haven't provided this much sooner it also may look like lard to the gentleman from janesville  for us to say that we want to provide expanded education benefits to the g i so fought this war but i would remind every member of this house this is the first war in my knowledge where we have never had any sense of shared sacrifice the only people in this society are being asked to sacrifice are the veterans the military families may have been sent to iraq and afghanistan again and again and again and we have the quaint idea that we ought to be able to take six percent of the cost of that war to date six percent and devote it to expanding edge cation benefits for people who have sacrificed by wearing the uniform of the united states  half of one percent increase in in taxes for the most fortunate people in this society you make more than a million bucks a year if you think that that's even a close question whether we ought to put the g i s before those apologizing to my friend from wausau that the notion of engaging in debate on the house floor is something i feel strongly about and i'm always happy to yield to people when they make requests to yield i was simply asking the friend my friend to yield because of the fact that the forty billion dollar post nine eleven supplemental about which my friend complain referred to this crowd as came to this floor under unanimous consent a bipartisan agreement and the three supplemental appropriations madam speaker about which my friend referred never never denied the motion to recommit to the minority and i ensured as chairman of the rules committee that time to write the minority would in fact be maintained and madam speaker with that i'm very happy to yield a minute to my very good friend from all over washington the former reconstruction amendment was offered and subsequently ruled out of order before the rules committee the attend of this amendment was to allow for the recent gains in iraq to and you know at the same time reduce the burden on american taxpayers sense april of two thousand and three the united states taxpayers spent more than forty six billion dollars in reconstruction in iraq this amendment would have allowed us to begin to reduce american taxpayer dollars going to iraq for reconstruction this amendment would have directed that u s taxpayer dollars going to iraq to come to iraq in the form of alone it would have enabled the iraqis to still have a steady flow of reconstruction funding should they be unable to draw down their own funds now is the time especially with skyrocketing oil prices for the iraqis to stand up and take responsibility for their own reconstruction in order for the iraqi government to stand up their economy they must take the responsibility they must bear the cost for last thing i want to do is defend my friend from last saw by asking him to yield only point but i'd be happy to yield to him if he wants to respond to what i'm about to say and that is the fact of the matter is we have in this congress the single highest number of close rules in the history the two hundred nineteen year history of the republic never before never before has this as the united states congress had such a period of close rules and i will tell you it is absolutely outrageous why because we were promised something that was much much different than that ok the what is this from  supplemental appropriations bill my good friend the chairman of the committee said the majority leadership decided to obliterate the legislative process they discarded a bipartisan committee product and they threw in unrelated partisan political items that characterize full partisan agenda they have taken abuse of power to a new level and madam speaker let me say that we when we did that provided the minority a right to have a bite at the apple recommit they had an opportunity to offer a proposal and i will tell you it is just plain wrong to see what has been taking place here now i mean urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question so that i can amend the rule to simply give republicans one simple bite at the apple something we always guaranteed the now majority mr lewis the ranking member of the committee on appropriations introduced a bill on tuesday h r six zero six two a clean supplemental to provide true funding without strings and extraneous spending if the previous question is defeated i will amend the rule to make an order an alternative motion to concur by mr lewis which would simply state that the house concurs in a sentiment with an amendment consisting of the t of h r six zero six two this way the house has the opportunity to send the senate a clean supplemental to get our troops the money that they desperately need without the hocus pocus three and one vote political gamesmanship that we have before us at this moment it's simply the right thing for us to do to send that clean supplemental m madam speaker at this point i'd like to ask unanimous consent to have the text of the extraneous material and the amendment included in the record madam speaker it's just one simple bite of the apple something we always guaranteed the democrats when we were in charge it's one amendment we're just trying to help the democratic jordy become the majority minus sixty five almost that they would colleagues voting for this rule gives the president not only one is asked for the funding of the troops but allows the people in the house who oppose that to have an opportunity to vote no we also has in response everyone to vote for that the bill will rule and the underlying bill and pleas to move the previous question question as a lottery not as honoring the previous question on the resolution those in favor say aye those oppose device pursuant to clause eight and was nine of rule twenty this fifteen minute vote on ordering the previous question will be followed by five minute votes on adoption of house resolution eleven ninety seven and the motion to suspend the rules on h r fifty six fourteen h r four o six and h r fifty eight seventy two this is a fifteen minute vote