four foot level and that's a lot of what's burning the president spoke about federal assistance in this matter is there a federal presence on the ground currently there is i was with thema last night at qualcomm stadium not only is there federal but but in some ways we're we're kind of happy that the county of san diego four years ago we had the seeders fire and it was pretty darn bad the president came out along with two governors at the time incoming arnold schwarzenegger and outgoing gray davis and  we dealt with a fire that had a lot of a lot of problems this was just the opposite the county had has wonderful communication throughout even the outlying areas and who's in charge is better understood than it was four years ago so in spite of the fact that this is the largest evacuation in california history it's gone orderly with almost no crime and with excellent communication throughout you talked about there have been specifics about the kind of money that will be spent following this what kind of help and services will be available following and how much federal money that involves well it's first of all it's statutory we don't expect california's donor state we don't expect anything more than what we're statutorily in in title to the major areas that we're most concerned about most of the homes will be insured there's you know about two thousand homes pacifically in my district that have been lost what we're really concerned about are a lot of these public lands that need immediate erosion control before the rains hit unfortunately the wildfires in california come just before the rains which tend to wash away the hillsides after the vegetation has been burned off so that's that's an area we're hoping to have a very quick response on they do have teams doing the analysis even as the fire is still burning you know california is where we know the fires are part of of our life what we want to do is make sure that some of the self inflicted wounds that go on out here such as not being able to burn areas are allowed them to burn are don't continue in the case of this fire and all fires in california our biggest problem is that  too much wood piles up because of various environmental rules that actually in the long run are adverse to preservation of species it's a statutory situation as far as the money or in title how much is that well there'll be an assessment  of bright breakdowns of dollars obviously it's going to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars there's well over two billion dollars and counting worth of just housing loss that will be mostly borne by insurance companies there were twelve insurance companies who i could recognize had their banners up at the stadium meeting with people who have lost their homes or who might lose their homes to let them know what can be done you know there is a there is a significant amount of federal aid that when even be f probably added up we have military helicopters and c one thirty s which are fighting the fire right now we have military firefighters obviously involved with that we have eight hundred marines who have been activated for assistance all of that is is going on as we speak but it's going on in a very orderly fashion when you go through our roads in some ways we think they're less congested than they are on a normal day because people know not to come to work and and allow the emergency and necessary people to get back and forth we have had certainly calls for additional federal help and in some cases it's taken breaking through state bureaucracy in order to make that happen as far as the money that gets spent by local firefighters and state efforts on firefighting efforts does that get reimbursed by the government it often does especially if it involves public lands in the last fire  had everything from a direct reimbursement loss of equipment and you know one of these fire trucks can be a quarter of a million dollars so those can add up very quickly and i know in the last fire that was several of the the  dollars came for equipment that was lost literally caught up in the fire and that's one of the reasons that you don't add at least you shouldn't be looking at the dollars during the fight we will make sure that our  firefighters and all the agencies get the statutory reimbursements that we have to but right now we have firefighters even from other states and they come with their own equipment and except for meals pretty much nobody's doing  tabulation as we're in the field and nor should they as far as the future holds do you see more of a federal role in this kind of situation when it comes to firefighting efforts when it comes to california's specific situation as well well california is very self reliant we are a net donor to firefighting in the west so what we want to move continue to work to try to refine is that when we have a fire and need the resources in addition to our huge resources we have our own c one thirty s we have an awful lot of equipment we need to make sure that federal assets like our marines and navy we've put into the fight in this particular fire can be streamlined in the speed with which they integrate and help us with the fire but you know firefighting for those who are not in the west they often don't understand that assets right now from wyoming are in california but six weeks from now it could very well be the opposite and  assets not only would be in wyoming but hundreds many many hundreds of of assets from california would be in one of the western states and that's the way we fight fires in the west is no one state has enough assets to deal with the worst case but together we generally have enough assets to fight even something like as a fire the guy was hundred fifty miles from malibu to the mexican border every sign of their ice a serve the forty ninth district of california thank you so much for your time this morning well thank you and thanks thanks for continuing to let the people of america know what we're dealing with in the west and hopefully the twelve or thirteen members of congress that are away right now will be back in washington next week doing our other job over that if i for thanks congressman i see from earlier this morning one of several california members in california because of the wildfires and it's become a bit of an issue on the house floor and that republicans had asked majority leader standing hoyer to postpone the vote postpone the debate on the children's health insurance bill which is set for debate today this vote you're seeing here the tail end of a second motion to adjourn vote it is a fifteen minute vote should wrap up shortly the children's health insurance bill passed by the house in late september vetoed by the president on october the third and then last week a week ago today as a matter of fact the house failed to override the president's veto the vote fell short by about thirteen votes the hill reporting that after tinkering with their bill house democrats believe they have made the necessary concessions to attract a veto proof majority on legislation expanding the state children's health insurance program also known as s chip know now running about twenty four two purposes the gentlewoman from new york rise before that the house will be in order we'll break up all the conversations on my right except for the speak of course i left gentlewoman from new york mr speaker bad director of the committee are rules that call of house resolution seven seven four and ask for its immediate consideration the clerk will report the resolution house calendar number one forty one house resolution seven seventy four resolved that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h r thirty nine sixty three to amend title twenty one of the social security act to extend and improve the children's health insurance program and for other purposes all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those right rising under clause nine or ten of rule twenty one the bill shall be considered as read all points of order against provisions of the bill are waived the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final passage without intervening motion except one one hour of debate equally divided among and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce and the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means and two one motion to recommit section two during consideration of h r thirty nine sixty three percent 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 what purpose a gentleman from texas rise mr speaker i raise a point of order against consideration of the rule because the rule contains a waiver of of all points of order against the bill and its consideration and therefore is in violation of section four twenty six of the two of the act of gentleman has met the threshold burden to identify the specific language in the resolution on which the point of order is predicated on the section four twenty six b when four of the act  gentleman from texas and the gentlewoman from new york each will control ten minutes of debate on the question of consideration pursuant to section four twenty six b three of the act after the debate the chair w it is not in order and we need the house in order to hear this very important point on both sides gentlemen thank you mr speaker we make this point of order with great respect to this body we're here to do business today we have asked this body to please consider an adjournment because we have a lot of members who are in california we were denied that request we also believe this point of order should be heard because it's important last night a two hundred ninety three page bill was brought forth to the rules committee which we received only twenty five to thirty minutes before that meeting took place i believe in violation of what regular order for legislation that speaker pelosi has outlined for all members of congress as well as the american people a congress working for all americans and under regular order for legislation it states members should have at least twenty four hours to examine bill and conference report text prior to floor consideration mr speaker that's not happened again today again today we find that the legislation not following regular order is presented to this house last night as we began the discussion the rules committee we found out this is not even a house bill no one took responsibility for the bill that was coming to the rules committee last night every person there said this is a senate bill this is the house bill and then we tried to discuss what was in that bill i don't know what's in that bill sure we've had some time today but we have not digested all two hundred  ninety three pages and mr speaker we believe that what is happening here today is not only in violation of what we have seen a congress working for all americans but also the establishment of the way this house would run itself under regular order and for the best interest of all members of congress are as of the balance of my time from new york  i see that the distinguished speaker of the house is on the floor was on the floor and although i don't have the quote in front of me i don't know if she took the gavel to become speaker of the house and she said that this would be something along the lines of the fairest and most democratically run house in the history of our country i'm trying to see where the fairness i'm trying to see where the democracy comes in where most of us most of us didn't even know the existence of this almost three hundred page bill until we arrive this morning and so on having a little trouble seeing exactly where we're having fairness and democracy specifically mr speaker i think speaker pelosi said bill should generally come to the floor under procedure that allows open full and fair debate consisting of a full amendment process that grants the minority the right to offer its alternatives including a substitute member should have at least twenty four hours to examine the bill that is certainly not true for this member i don't think it's true for the vast majority of members here so the speaker may say one thing and i respect her words but the actions are speaking for more loudly then the words are and i would think i would think with the great human tragedy that is taking place in california unfolding upon the television screens of almost everyone in america i would think that if any speaker would be sensitive to that human tragedy would be this speaker i should she held from the state of california yet we have countless members who need to return home to be about the biz this of their constituents and they're not here they're not present for a very very important vote in a vote that could have obviously taken place months ago a vote that could have taken place weeks ago in a vote that can take place early next week when these people will return and yet i fear and i'm not questioning the motives or the heart of any one member but the actions are such that people could be led to believe that this is simply a move to manipulate the outcome of a vote and i'm not sure that's the appearance that we want to give the american people and again the republicans members on this side of the aisle have stood ready for weeks and for months to reauthorize a nest schip program the vast majority will vote to support funding for every eligible child but a program a program that was designed and passed by a republican house to ensure health insurance benefits for uninsured low income american children that's been hijacked and again yet again the democratic congress will try to transform that program into something else instead to give a dentist additional benefits to adults while we still have children that are not serve to give benefits to illegal immigrants while we still have americans unserved to give benefits to the uninsured while we have those who are insured in finally to give benefits to higher income americans before we serve lower income americans that is not right this is not fair this is not democratic it's not what the speaker committed to in this point of order should be sustained now you'll back about one time hello  from new york i continually share gentleman from texas this your speaker last congress the distinguished chairwoman of the committee on rules thought it was so important to require at least twenty four hours before voting on any rule that she authored a rules change h rest six eight six co sponsored by the gentleman from florida mr hastings the gentleman from massachusetts mr mcgovern and the gentlewoman from california mrs matt tsui also senior members of the rules committee that proposed change would have prepared it prohibited calling up a report by the committee on rules within twenty four hours of presentation to the animists consent to include in the record a copy of h rest six eight six of the hundred ninth congress mr speaker i wasn't really surprised when the new democrat majority didn't actually follow through on their commitments on the opening day package however i just wonder what happened to the dedication of democratic members who once showed the right support serving those things which they think are good for members to have time to know what the heck they're voting on and i believe today a two hundred ninety three page bill with zero co sponsors and even the gentleman who brought the bill to the rules committee last night said not  bill is since it is nearly three hundred pages we received it last night why is the question of unfunded mandates so important well a great example would be exactly what is happening in my home state of california right now the tremendous tremendous pressure that my home state is under at the current time as a result of a unprecedented series of fires raging at the same time and that brings to the question of those members of congress from my home state who traveling or are traveling today back home with the pres in the united states in order to assess the damage to show that the federal government is fully involved in concert with the state and local governments and we would ask that  the consideration of this rule in this bill be postponed not only on this point of order but because of the circumstances that are occurring in our state at this time the majority leader said a little bit earlier that well things happen all the time and members miss the opportunity to be here on the floor because they're back home as if this is an everyday occurrence my home state has lost almost fifteen hundred residents residences fifteen hundred destroyed we have somewhere between a half a million and a million people a vacuum waited that is not an everyday occurrence that is an exceptional circumstance and it just is beyond the sense of chords of the cordial nature of the collegiality of this house that ought to prevail for us to be considering this nearly nine thousand firefighters from all agencies on the fire lines in california over the last number of days at least one confirmed death eighteen fires and seven counties almost half a million acres destroyed five hundred and o hundred for commercial structures destroyed the fact is that we ought to come together and work together on issues as important as responding to the natural disaster that is occurring in california just as we should be coming together working together to try and solve the problem of the unmet needs of poor children and their health in this country mr speaker we have not been invited to the table to be able to present this this point of order or to be sustained technically on the question of unfunded mandates but really philosophically time is on the fire that this is not the time for consideration  from new york feel compelled to point out that this is not about a point of water i'm funded mandates that is because this is ministration and me the people in this half do not want to give health care to ten million children and i reserved about for my time strictly to that time