mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 168, the nomination of david heyman and the nomination be con firmed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and no further motions be in order and any statements appear in the appropriate place in the record as if read, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the cloture vote on the dodd substitute am occur at 5:30 on monday june 8 and the filing deadline by 3:00 p.m. for first-degree amendments. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. br

mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i commend my friend, the senator from -- the junior senator from vermont for his words about this critique of the health insurance system. you know, what's right about it and what's wrong with it, we know that for those with insurance, we can get good medical care in this country we know that many people don't have any insurance. we know that many others have inadequate insurance, and we know that so many americans are in a situation where they're just anxious about the future of their -- of their health -- the future of the quality of health care that they -- that they have. too many americans have seen their health care premiums go up, their deductibles go up, their co-pays go up. they end up with a private insurance company that finds ways to delay paying them, to, in many cases, to not reimburse them at all for their health care insurance. it is insurance that doesn't really deliver. that is really no insurance at all. what senator sanders said is exactly right, the behavior of he

mr. brown: yes. mr. sessions: i see my colleague, senator durbin -- the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: my colleague from illinois is such a fine lawyer and excellent senator. i just would respectfully talk about some of the ideas he respected. one, he raised a question of brown v. board of education where the supreme court held that separate was not equal. and that somehow this is a justification for a judge setting policy. they thought it wasn't good policy. but i would see it differently, mr. president. i would see brown v. board of education as the supreme court saying that the constitution of the united states guarantees every american equal protection of the laws and they found that in segregated schools, some people were told they must go to this school solely because of their race, some people must goes to this school solely because of their race, and that in fact it wasn't equal. there are several constitutional issues plainly there, and i don't think that was an activ

mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to -- the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. in my state of ohio, especially states like michigan, indiana, pennsylvania. middle class families are facing a new wave of job losses. 400,000 ohioans are employed directly or indirectly because of the auto industry. the auto industry crisis is a crisis he especially in my state and in michigan and the other states in the region. as congress works to help the industry through the difficult times, the industry must do all it can to keep the jobs at home. it was welcome news when g.m. announced that rather than start more small-car production in china and mexico, which they have done in the past, that they would open a new small-car manufacturing plant somewhere in one of these auto states. this crisis, though, as congress works -- this crisis has hit home in my state, especially in mansfield where g.m. has one of its best stamping plants. wo

mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: and, madam president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. as members of the senate and the house tackle health reform, two overriding objectives have become apparent cloob we must bring down costs and we must expand access while allowing people who are happy with their health chair to stay in the plan that they're in now. bring down cost, expand access, fix what's broken, preserve what works. perhaps nowhere are these needs more obvious -- to bring down cost and expand access -- than in the area of biopharmaceuticals or so-called biologics. they are the fastest-growing segment of prescription drug spending in the united states. with costs of biologics ranging anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000 per patient per year, biologic treatments pose a significant financial challenge for p

mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i appreciate the comments of the senator from tennessee. i don't know how the vote will come out at 550 today but i know it -ps infrastructure -- come out at 5:today but we want the government to return wholly to the private sector, that this was an extraordinary situation i represent, as senator from tennessee represents. a lot of auto workers, in this case union and nonunion alike. i think all those companies that, certainly g.m. and chrysler, workers and people in the community want this industry back on its feet and want it run by the private -- by the private investors, as it should be. madam president, i ask unanimous consent to place my following remarks in a different place in the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. today marks the 40th anniversary when the cuyahoga river in cleveland burned. the june 22, 1969, fire wasn't the first or the biggest on the cuyahoga or in rivers all over the country in those day

mr. casey? would you like to comment? >> i would just deco mr. brown's response in that regard. we have not had been a problem and for the region -- recommend region 34 recruit -- approving your projects to be with my testimony 70% of the dollars have been awarded through me and we anticipate awarding 100% through the end of the calendar year and again in the fda region has been extremely cooperative to get the projects moving. >> mr. penrod? >> mr. chairman just as the colleagues have said so in me from my personal experience in the aviation airport business we have an abundant program that we track closely the local share on the typical routine projects are tracked and audited closely so it is another opportunity in our case put $12 million of your money to good work. and it was not problematic and four other airports and has not been an issue across the country. 100% bonds means 100% participation and that is the least we can do. >> very good. mr. keating your associates at this and gravel, stone, aggregate business, from the time the bill passed the house, and your associate

quorum call: mr. brown: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brunmr. brown: madam presidi ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown brown: madam presidenn 1945, president truman delivered a speech to a joint session of congress in which he declared, "millions of our citizens do not know have the full measure of opportunity to achieve and enswroi good health -- enjoy good health. millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. the time has arrived for action, to help them attain that opportunity and that protectio protection." that was said by president truman 10 or 11 presidents ago, perhaps, six decades ago. 64 years later, we're still fighting to provide that opportunity and that protection. a severely weakened economy, growing unemployment, rising health care and insurance costs, and declining employment-based insurance are all factors contributing to the current health care crisis. today, 47 million americans are uninsured, an additional 2 25 milli

brown. let me turn to you, mr. casey, and i am so familiar with septa having spent a little time as a youngster visiting my grandmother and using the septa system. i can attest to the work that is needed on the septa system as while. but i wanted to ask just in terms of the current authorization for highway and transit programs that expires on september 30th, can you tell me how the lack of a long-term authorization for these programs affect septa ability to plan for capital improvement projects? >> some of our critical means our multi year. i can specifically say we are completing a project now between engineering and construction in eight years and without a long-term project cannot have committed those funds to get that project completed. we have a number of projects that are on the drawing boards and city hall station is a major station under city hall that is very complicated system and. the project will take multiple years from a design and also construction efforts and so is critical that we have a multi-yea

mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. in 1989 was the seminole year in world history, late in the year, november 9, the berlin wall fell. and like dominoes, poland, hungary and czechoslovakia went from being soviet satellites to democracies. the revolution of 1989 would set the tone for the peaceful breakup for the soviet union. the winds of change were bringing democracy in freedom to the oppressed. i look forward to honoring the peaceful revolutions of 1989 later this year. but i want to speak today about the revolution that never was, an event that took place 20 years ago this week in a country whose people remain subject to totalitarianism and tyranny. a peaceful pro-democracy rally that was snuffed out with the brutality the world hadn't seen since the invasion of czechoslovakia by the ussr in 1968. it started much like the revolutions of 19

mr. president, i yield the flo floor. mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i want to make a couple comments on my -- senator casey's comments. and he is -- we sit next together on the health, education, labor, pension committee nearby the presiding officer from oregon, and senator casey reminds us almost every day that as we work on this health care bill, that he reminds us that no child should be worse off and that's something that, frankly, all of us need to hear, that every member of this body and the house of representatives needs to hear, and i appreciate senator casey's work on that because it really is -- really is our mission here to do this right. and one of the most important dictums is that no child is worse off. so i thank my friend from pennsylvania. we spend more than $2 trillion a year on health care in this country, more than double that of any other industrial nation. americans account for more than 35 million hospital visits, more than 900 million office visits every single year, more

we will begin with mr. brown. >> thank you madam chairman as a special note we have included a few figures that were correctly added and not have been fixed and we ask we have been allowed to submit the revised testimony is just a couple of technical changes. think you'll. >> my name is larry butch brown i am the director of the mississippi department of transportation serving vice president of the american association of state highway and transportation officials and m the incoming president this fall. i want to thank you for your efforts in securing transportation funding as part of the legislation. today want to emphasize three major points. allstate's of obligated 50 percent are more of the funds will before the june 30 deadline. projects are under construction and people are going back to work and states are directing funds were ready to go projects that will spread economic recovery and job creation to all corners of the united states with special consideration being given to the economic needs and ge

mr. brown: i thank senator dodd. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: mr. president, i've watched with great admiration, senator dodd's work on this. i worked with chairman, with henry waxman in the house of representatives. and senator kennedy, senatorred ssenatordodd and congressman wae never given up and i am appear tich particularly to senator dodd. i boil this issue down to almost one sentence: i remember sitting in front of the "help" committee in the house of representatives many years ago and seeing the tobacco company executives stand in front of us, raise their right hand and swear to tell the truth and they didn't exactly tell the truth when they talked about nicotine not being an addiction but i learned one simple concept that we have known this number for years, 400,000 americans die every year from tobacco-related illness. that means on the average more than 1,000 americans die every single day from tobacco-related illnesses. no if you are a tobacco executive, mr. president, what you think about is this: you've lot 4 hundred dho 400

i'd be happy to answer questions when the time allows. >> thank you mr. brown. mr. casey. >> in afternoon representative edwards and members, my name is joseph casey, representing the public transportation of philadelphia and surrounding counties area and the american public transit authority with 1500 members including public transit agencies and private businesses. public transportation can be a critical component to reduce this nation's dependency on foreign oil. improving the and vermin and achieving sustainability and improving the economy. with the increased price of gasoline over the last couple years america has rediscovered of public transportation. apta reporting last year 10.3 billion trips taken on public transportation, the highest in the last 50 years. we've seen a similar increase of the last three years, ridership has increased so% and even though prices again dropped last year better ship remains strong and say another 3% increase for we were last year. the american recovery and reinvestment act is critical to mass transit. prior to enactment apta d

mr. brown: thank you, madam speaker. for years my republican colleagues and i have focused on implementing an all-of-the-above energy plan to cut the ties of foreign oil and create affordable american energy. however the democrat tax and cap plan will serve as a national energy tax, resulting in fewer jobs. more than $3,100 will be added to the annual energy cost of american families if financial hardship that will greatly impact the poor who spend a large part of their income on energy. these taxes would directly im pact farmers of south carolina as every day costs of fuel and fertilizer may become too expensive for them afford. additionally our state's clean energy production would be excessively taxed. forcing companies to move to countries with less stringent standards resulting in little progress towards protecting our environment. the relocation of these businesses could result in the loss of up to seven million jobs, increasing unemployment and placing further economic strains on the american families. all for a p

henry brown, for such time as he may consume. mr. brown: i appreciate my colleague from wisconsin for yielding. i rise today to to support house resolution 410, legislation i was proud to introduce with representative klein. 75% of south carolina's coast and many of my commercial bothers, i'm proud of this resolution that recognizes the numerous contributions of the recreational and boating community. boating is big business in the state of south carolina with more than 826 million in sales a year and nearly 9,000 boating industry employees across the state. boats are owned by families of all income levels and across communities in the state. there are 145 boating businesses rangesing from small businesses to major boat manufacturers and employ hundreds of my constituents. nationally, the recreational boating community includes 59 million americans that make a significant impact to our community. they serve as stewards of the marine environment. it has a long history of education of future generations on resources. additionally throu

>> mr. bloom, i have heard what you said to mr. kohl, mr. brown, mr. johanns, and it's not coming together for me, either. i'm going to refer to the march 30th white house determination of viability summary for the general motors corporation in response to their viability plan of february 17, in which the document states the company is currently burdened with underperforming brands, name plates and an excess of dealers. the plan does not aggressively enough act to curb these problems. it goes on to say that gm has been successfully pruning unprofitable or under performing dealers for several years, however, its current pace leave it with too many dealers which create a drag on the overall brand equity of gm and hurt the prospects of the many stronger dealers who could help gm drive incremental sales. then on may 15th, the treasury department says that as was the case with chrysler dealer consolidation plans, the task force was not involved in deciding which dealers or how many dealers were part of gm's announcement so it seems to me that the task force

modes of new hampshire, mr. welch, mr. mann zulea, mr. stearns, mr. brown and mrs. miller. the speaker pro tempore: clause 10 of rule 1 and the order of the house of january 6, 2009, the chair announces the speaker's appointment of the following house to the british interparliamentary group. the clerk: mr. chandler of kentucky, chairman, mr. sir is, mr. clyburn of south carolina, mr. etheridge of north carolina, mr. bishop of new york, mr. pete try of wisconsin, mr. crenhaw and mr. aderholt and mr. latta of ohio. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 578 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the competent committee of the whole in the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2996. the chair appoints the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: house is in the committee of the whole on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 2996, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of interior, environment and related agencies for the fiscal ye

. >> mr. brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you for holding this hearing because i voted for this gentleman and i think that canada is a major part as we move forward with other transportation bill. but i have a question for mr. boardman. mr. boardman, you know, for so i want to thank you for the leadership that you have provided in and track content and amtrak. certain i was at the announcement week we announced the sanford project and the wilmington project, and i think i came to a total of 25 million. and today, we have announced a total of 41 million. i guess my question is, we have another 16 million that pot and then we're looking at another 190 projects. you know, amtrak has needed or eight years, we struggled with zero funding and now we finally got the funds and in no you've got to handle it in a proper manner, but can you give us a status report as to how amtrak has been able to use those additional stimulus dollars? >> certainly. congresswoman, i appreciate your support and your kind comments. one

mr. franks: i now yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. brown. the chair: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. mr. broun: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the chair: without objection. mr. broun: mr. chairman, i rise today to speak in favor of the amendment to restore $1.2 billion in funding for missile defense. just yesterday north korea threatened to wipe the united states off the map. it's unconscionable we would decrease funding for our missile defense system during a period where north korea and iran's nuclear programs and ballistic missiles pose a real and increasing threat to the united states. in may iran test fired a new two-stage medium-ranged solid fuel surface-to-surface missile which can reach europe, israel e. and the united states. this $1.2 billion cut forces an unnecessary choice between protecting our homeland against longer range missiles and protection of our forward deployed troops and allies against short range missiles. the threat will only continue to increase over the next d

mr. rohde rebel to interview a taliban commander for a book he was writing. they said they had been threatened with death by their captors. the two escaped early saturday morning. michigan, bill on our republican line. caller: good morning. i have something to say about iran. i do believe we need to back these people. i do believe if we do nothing -- if we do nothing in supporting these people they will massacre them. these people have no chance to fight. we won't give them a chance. one thing i realize, our president is a young man and he is trying to do his thing, but the ask me, he is scared to death of doing anything except attacking the white people and the white structure, he is all for the muslims and he does not care about anything else. host: greensboro, n.c., on the democrats' line. caller: calling in response to the lady who said the republicans are not interested in war. does she remember that during the campaign that senator mccain kept singing the song, bomb, iran? and on th

mrs. brown indicate what is they wanted to do was look at those responses and there are changes they're making to the report in light of the contentions that were con tauned in the responses -- contained in the responses they examined. we are pretty close to the end of that and my hope is to share as much of that report as i can with members of congress and with the public. there are some potentially classified portions of that report that i think we want to work to declassify because it has been expressed by the head of o.p.r. and i agree with her that you can't get the full context for this report unless the entirety of the report, close to the entirety of the report, is declassified. >> can you give me a time frame when we can expect to receive the declassified or unclassified portions of this report? >> i think we're talking about a matter of weeks. they're pretty close to the end. and then i think we have to try to work through the declassification process. but we with a -- we'd be in

senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i support mccain amendment and oppose any second degree amendment. i've been through this as john as 1 1/2 decades working with john on these and patent issues, too, that pharma seems to, even when we went to battle they seem to win the war. any weakening language does two things. one, it denies these cost savings to consumers and second, it's got something about public safety as john points out. it denies savings to consumers and only doesn't save us the money it would save if we were to do this right. for years, several years when what is in the house of representatives, i represented a district in northern ohio about four hours from windsor, ontario. i used to take bus loads of ohio consumers, mostly elderly, but not all, to canada to buy drugs. it was a peculiar thing for a federal official in one country to take people to another country to buy prescription drugs, the same prescription drugs they could have bought in a local drug store, same brand names, same box even, the same -

. >> now, commissioner brown, mr. casey, i would ask you to review our expediting -- project expediting language and give us your thoughts about improvements that we might make in it. you know, i was somewhat disappointed over the past five years -- actually, four years of implementation of the safety legislation, that few states actually used that language that i crafted -- we're now planning something substantial in the future, transformational. we need your suggestions. >> mr. chairman, we call it project delivery. you call it expediting. they are all the same. we'll use your language now and it will help us in the future doing expediting than project delivery. but in doing that, what we want to emphasize is that, you know, we know that projects can be delivered at an expedited way. if you remember back in the former administration there was -- there was a presidential edict that was going to be called environmental streamlining, and we were going to do environmental documents faster than ever before in history. an

. >> mr. chairman? >> senator brown. >> i appreciate dr. coburn's question and i always appreciate the comments he makes because they're genuine and thought through. i don't think you're doing this -- i think your amendments have been cogent and coherent and well stud did and well reasoned, but delay -- you know, this is something we've been working on for decades. i mean, we've worked on intensively on this legislation per say with what senator arkin is doing and mikulski and senator murray on each section. but we've been working intensively for months and years on these issues. we know these issues. we know how to discuss them, by and large how they're going to work. let's wait -- people say we shouldn't do health care now because the economy is so bad. but then when the economy is good, we shouldn't do health care because the economy is good. senator dodd, i think, has done this masterfully when, you know, certainly not hurrying anything through their amendments, not hurrying anybody through their opens statements. i sat through a lot of

. >> mr. chairman. >> senator brown. >> thank you. senator murray for your leadership on this. this sets us into ways the enzi amendment and i appreciate his genuine concern for primary-care physicians, but we had a hearing three or four weeks ago in a row position representing academy of pediatrics and to talk about how the of all that was not just for finding specialists and rural areas but simply an of specialists generally pediatrics specialist for all kinds of various iran diseases are relatively rare disease as she was already looking in a long way from a children's hospital and she also could i get patients in because of a long wait here and there is example, a 3% of children's hospitals report a gain over nine went to schedule their relative is a it's and i can give a six examples of gastroenterology and a whole host of a sub specialists that we find in short supply in pediatrics, so that would be a help eliminated and also as some said the issue of community health workers and others, not md is, who are so important providing less expensive for direct and more importan

brown? >> thank you mr. chairman and thanks for hol holding the hearing. i voted for the stimulus and i think accountability is a major part of this as we move forward with the transportation bill. but i have a question for mr. boardman. you know, first, thank you for your leadership that you're providing with amtrak. and certainly, i was at the announcement when we announced the sanford project and the wilmington project and i think that came to a total of $25 million. to date, we've announced a total of 41 million. i guess my question is, when are we going to make the -- we have another $16 million this that pot and then we have another 190 projects. amtrak has needed, for eight years we've struggled with zero funding and now we finally got the funds and i know you've got to handle it in a proper manner but can you give us a status report as to how amtrak is being able to use those additional stimulus dollars? >> certainly. congresswoman, i appreciate your support and your kind comments. one of the things that we're doing right now is alot of the work in

mr. camp, mr. barton, mr. mckeon and jenny brown-waite and we will talk about elements of the plan. we will be working with the drafting folks on that and hopefully while we are almost always last in line with the resources available to congress these days, we are going to be working hard now to bring these concepts into legislative language as quickly as we can. >> thank you, roy. thank you for your leadership on the solutions group. i want to thank leader boehner and all of my colleagues here and those that are not here who helped really make it possible for us to come forward with an american solution to healthcare. the president said this should have a uniquely american solution. we have an american plan. one that we believe as has been said will really focus on affordability, accessibility and availability. the question is how do we do that? we think that it is very important that there be a robust waste fraud and abuse oversight of healthcare, not only in the government programs and medicare and medicaid but clearly the duplicity that away find in our healthcare system there s

brown-waite of florida. amendment number 15 of mr. royce of california and amendment number 19 of mr. kirk of illinois. the chair will reduce to two minutes the voting. the unfinished business is the request of a recorded vote of amendment number 1 by the gentleman from california, mr. berman, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the yeas prevailed by voice vote. the clerk: amendment number 1, printed in part b printed in house report 111-143 offered by mr. berman of california the speaker pro tempore: a -- the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. those in favor say aye. in favor of the amendment will votea. those opposed, no. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is e

brown-waite: thank you. mr. chairman, i rise in support of my amendment to the national defense authorization funding which is included en bloc one. i thank chairman skelton and also ranking member mckeon for allowing this amendment to be included. in 2005 the department of army authorized the creation of the combat action badge to provide special recognition to soldiers who personally engage the enemy during combat operations. this is a very honorable distinction. however, the award limits eligibility for this badge to those soldiers that served after september 18, 2001. overlooking the thousands of veterans who have made similar sacrifices in previous wars. my amendment corrects this error by expanding eligibility to include those soldiers who served since december 7, 1941. in accordance with the wishes of veterans who may be eligible for this badge, the cost of it would be born by the individuals not the military. therefore not only does this award recognize veterans who engage the enemy in combat, but it doe

but i would see it differently, mr. president. i would see brown versus board of education as the supreme court saying that the constitution of the united states guarantees every american equal protection of the laws and they found that in segregated schools, some people were told they must go to this school solely because of their race. some people must go to this school solely because of their race. and that, in fact, it wasn't equal. there were several constitutional issues plainly there. and i don't think that was an activist policy-making decision. i think the supreme court correctly concluded that these separate schools in which a person was mandated to go one or the other based on their race violated the equal protection clause of the united states and, in effect, they also found it wasn't equal which they were correct in doing. and with regard to the lily ledbetter case, senator durbin and my democratic colleagues during the last campaign and during the last several years have talked about this case a lot. i would just say

senator brown? >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for your work and all the members and their dedication as we have had these discussions and hearings and walk-throughs and this is the way the process should work and i am proud of all of my colleagues in this institution and i appreciate senator dodd's comments about the history in this room, the mccarthy hearings, mcarthur hearings -- this is the room where senator kennedy, both of his brothers announced presidential campaigns in this room in 1960 and in 1968. and this is a room just down paul in the office even when he was vice president had an office in this building much of that time then senator harry truman and vice president and harry truman who in 1945 president truman said millions of americans to not enjoy good health, millions do not have protection or security against economic effect of sickness. the time has arrived for action to help obtain the lubber to eddy and that protection. it in a dozen years before president truman ordered those words franklin roosevel

. >> senator brown? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you senator harkin for this amendment, especially for your work on the section of the bill. i watched in the late 1990s from the health subcommittee and participated in the doubling of the funding for nih something that i know senator harkin and all of us were very involved in, all of us supported. i also watched during that same period no real change in the cdc budget. nih has some -- way more interest from people that dress well and come to washington and lobby and have way more interest from regular people that had parkinson's in their family or have multiple sclerosis in their family, organized groups that advocate on behalf of the sick and we all supported that. cdc doesn't have the same kind of organization lobbying for them. they're far and away in georgia or somewhere. and they're not even nearby. they're seen as an organization, a government agency that helps the poor but nobody else for reasons i don't understand because it's all about public health. the point is that

brown-waite:00 thank you -- ms. brown-waite: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise in support of h.r. 403. for our nation's veterans the fight does not end when they return from battle. readd jsing ---readjusting to civilian life and coping with the physical and psychological effects of war can be a daunting task. current reports estimate that about 154,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. this statistic is a tragedy. however congress is now taking a step in the right direction. the homes for heroes act creates a special assistance for veterans' affairs want h.u.d. and provides at least 20,000 low-income veterans with rental vouchers and aids veterans in applying for and obtaining assistance. additionally i'm proud that this bill includes help for veterans with mental health disorders and assists low-income veterans and their families with personal and financial planning, obtaining veterans benefits and vocational training. as a former member of the committee on veterans' affairs, i'm aware of the many unique issues that our veterans face. the homes

. >> mr. chairman, we will have to vote on that but let's have no doubt you wrote that parma and thus have no doubt about the fact, it would kill the bill so you can vote for this if you want to but the fact is that it kills the ability to import drugs and that, let's not have a charade. and so i would be happy to do what ever the committee wishes are two have a vote on that but have no doubt it would have the effect of killing legislation and amendments before us. >> mr. chairman i have supported this proposal and the past and i think the case has been made on the importation. i supported this in the past, we had a vote to something similar to this and i supported it and i would again today. i think this is an important provision and moving that direction but obviously members i have disagreed at this point i don't think the when bush necessarily kills the bill, it does raise the issues about effectiveness but nonetheless i want to be on record as being supportive of this effort and another h

mr. kemp from ways and means, mr. barton from energy and commerce, mr. mckeon from the workforce committee, generally brown-waite and charles boustany are going to come and talk about elements of the plan. we'll be working with the grafting -- drafting folks on and hopefully have -- while we're almost always last in line with the resources available in the congress these days, we're going to be working hard now to bring these concepts into legislative language as quickly as we can. mr. kemp. >> thank you, roy. dave camp from michigan. thank you for your leadership on the solutions group. i want to thank leader boehner and whip eric cantor for their leadership on this issue, as well as all my colleague here and those who aren't here to really make it possible for us to come forward with an american solution to health care. the president said this should have a uniquely american solution. we have an american plan. one that we believe has been said will really focus on affordability, accessibility and availability. and the question is, how do we do that? we

caller: good morning, mr. meacaem come as a fan and someone who read all of your books, i want to take this liberty and be an assignment -- mr. meachem. please write a book on john brown as well as william -- general washington's trusted confidante. i believe out of all of the riders, only you can tell as deep -- billed as deep as necessity will dictate. a couple of recent things in the news -- and i have been called a rhino, and i proudly wear the badge because i'm somewhat of an independent thinker, although the no i would like to spell know. mr. gingrich stated he was not a citizen of the world, with much fervor and fanfare, yet, low and behold, mr. reagan, president reagan stated in front of the united nations that he was a citizen of the world. could you tie and the disconnect -- those who espouse reagan and yet strobel -- strobel in a plea at attempts to carry the banner of reagan -- struggle ineptly to carry the banner with shenanigans and over the top sound bites. guest: thank you for the assignment. i

he is a distinguished professor at brown university. i got the pleasure of his hospitality many times down there in connecticut, a fine gentleman about a -- with a beautiful smile and a beautiful wife, ok, who spent 16 years in a chinese communist prison for no reason than speaking the truth. dr. shu win lee. >> translating for mr. shu win lee is his assistant. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. [speaking in chinese] [speaking in chinese] >> this year a fellow in new jersey wrote me an email asking me for my thoughts regarding the tiananmen massacre and the unknown rebels tankmen. the young men who bravely stood before the tanks in tiananmen in 1989. her email moved me tremendously. it has already been 20 years, and yet this young american girl was still concerned about the tiananmen square protests that happened 20 years ago in china, a land thousands of miles away from where she lives. unfortunately, i'm sad to say that due to the brutal suppression of information and sensorship by the chinese communist party, many of china, many

mr. chairman i have got to tell you i am thankful that mr. obama has had some epiphanies lately. i hope that he accelerates those epiphanies because i think that the national security of the country and economic future, the constitutional foundations of the nations are at stake. but with that said i want to give mr. grossman and opportunity, the aclu said this isn't changed, this is more the same and i want to give you a chance to disagree or agree with the aclu director. .. >> what is important here, i think, is for all of us to realize that truth and time travel on the same road and that truth always has the last word and that somehow perhaps in this institution and in our campaigns we should try to figure out what's right instead of who's right all the time, and with that i yield back. thank you. >> i thank the gentleman. i think the purpose of this hearing is regardless of the purpose of any administration to figure out what's right, not who is right, and i agree with the gentleman in

mr. boozman: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of h.r. 1016, as amended, a bill that would authorize appropriations for several veterans health care accounts a year in advance beginning with fiscal year 2011. i also thank chairman filner for bringing this bill forward. and trying to solve a problem that we have had over -- in the past. the goal of the bill is to provide an increased level of fiscal certainty regarding operations of the v.a. hospital system. by funding the accounts for medical services, medical support and compliance, medical facilities, information technology systems, and medical and prosthetic research the department of veterans affairs should be able to manage its health care personnel needs and day to day operations. i would note that the last three accounts that i mentioned were included in the bill by an amendment offered by the ranking member, mr. buyer, and adopted by the full committee. adding these accounts has improved the bill by providing more complete medical funding needs. ad

brown of florida today after 2:00 p.m. ms. brown after 2:00 p.m. on june 11. mr. hill for today until 1:00 p.m. mr. heinz for today and mr. poe of texas for today after 4:00 p.m. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. >> i ask unanimous consent that today following business legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered, the following members may be permitted to address the house revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material. mr. paulsen today for five minutes. mr. moran for june 18. mr. poe, june 18 for five minutes. mr. jones, june 18 for five minutes. mr. bishop, today for five minutes. mr. mann zuleo today for five minutes. mr. gingrey, today for five minutes. mr. goodlatte today for five minutes and ms. bachmann today for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? mr. polis: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be pe

but he doesn't appear to want to take over from gordon brown. his job really, the ambition have you now mr. jansen? >> i am way past my ambition. some of my ambition was minister or something. so this is fabulous, and it's a real honor. >> the secretary john hutton also resigned but was often loyal in his departure spivak i believe very strongly that it is the responsibility of all labor to show unity and support for our leader and our prime minister at this time. and that is certainly what i will be doing when i go back to the backbenchers. >> the man credited with protecting gordon brown from the cabinet to is lord mandelson, the business secretary. he was awarded with a new title of the first to secretary of state. >> what the party needs to do now is unite behind the prime minister. he is by far the biggest figure in british politics, to lead the country in the face of a very difficult times, economically and politically, and i believe you will see the entire cabinet falling behind the prime minister, and nobody followed james' lead. >> the

. >> thank you mr. chairman and welcome back. i want to follow up to senator brown backs, and one echoing my other colleagues concerns about the real human affects these decisions have had upon your dealer networks and their employees and families across the country but also recognizing the economic reality of the last couple years the national auto sales were down to about 10 million and the reality means that to shrink. with i also have to say at some level some of the two spent 20 years in the business sector before i went into public service if i would've ever thought in my business life that i would see a group of senators trying to micromanage the workings of american industry like gm and chrysler i would have said never would happen so if there was any more impetus to try to get back to profitability in get the garment out of your business soon as possible so these kind of sessions don't act going for and with today's session on to be that of the tests but dressing some with consternation and are as shareholders we have th

. >> mr. speaker, this morning i had meetings with mr. occultist and others. in addition to my duties in the house, i will have further such meetings today. >> at their expertise and knowledge are not always passed on, which means some patients undergo inappropriate operations that later have to be reversed or are prevented from having operations that could freedom from pain. could the prime minister's bear just 10 minutes to meet the chair of the federation of specialists hospitals to see how matters could be improved? >> of course i will, and i think he will understand as i will understand that that depends on proper investment in the specialist hospitals as well. i think he will be as an equally concerned as i am by the remarks of the shuttle house secretary that he is going to be cutting spending in the vital areas that are important to our country. mr. speaker, the shuttle health secretary has said he will review -- shuttle health secretary will -- want to ensure the unit cuts reduce rather than increase. he said he wants a 10% reduction in the department

. >> mr. chairman that includes the coley section. their three outstanding, one we want to get clarification on coburn 12, with the sentiment of the committee to take coburn 12. senator enzi and ire are working out in the number six, and i believe we are very close to coming to an accommodation with the senator and senator isakson and i have a chunk of homework to do together coming to see how we can promote the advanced directives among seniors. >> i thank my colleagues for that and again i would urge is to try and reach some agreement on these. i spoke to tom brief the moment ago and got answers for senator coburn on that. >> could i inquire of the chair that this is a complex topic. if we close here, are we going to be precluded come if we see something new and the steady this that we can come back? >> absolutely. >> i thank the chair. >> we know each other pretty well around here and i'm aat

mr. speaker, republicans have a positive patient centered prescription for america that doesn't result in a government takeover. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. speier: mr. speaker, we lost a lion of the labor movement with the passing of ambassador jack henning. he spent the vast majority of his 93 years fighting for men and women in the fields, factories and loading docks of america. the only thing i loved more than telling labor story to anyone who would hear it would be telling them to those who didn't. jack was a driving force behind the california labor federation, but he served our country in many ways. he was the director of the california department of industrial relations under governor pat brown, undersecretary of labor for president kennedy and u.s. ambassador to new zealand under p

examined the aforementioned mr. nardelli , and was asked why it was necessary to eliminate the franchises when neither the government or fiat, the group that's buying chrysler out of bankruptcy, asked for it to happen. mr. nardelli said the 789 dealers represent a host of expenses. then he was asked to quantify how much those things cost the automaker, and mr. nardelli said he couldn't. he wasn't sure if his company had ever determined those exact costs. at a hearing last week in bankruptcy court they had a number of dealers in, and there are a number of dealers here on capitol hill today testifying in front of the energy and commerce committee. just three quotes from car dealers who testified up in new york and the bankruptcy court. leo jerome who owns a car dealership in lansing. i just want my day in court and give me a fair hearing. after hi a 10-month supply of cars, they gave me three weeks to sell them all. i think the white house mafia is trying to run this thing through. tony manny cotty who has -- manna co