platts: -- mr. broun: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? mr. broun: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: all those in favor of taking the vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? mr. tonko: i move the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 411. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 411, supporting the goals and ideals of the intermediate space challenge in mojave, california. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. tonko, and the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. platts, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. tonko: mr. speaker,

platts: thank you, madam speaker. i yield five minutes to the distinguished the gentleman from california, mr. royce. mr. royce: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, i rise to support this resolution. in recognizing the national center for missing and exploited children on its 25th anniversary, it is time for us to reflect on just what a role it played in terms of increasing the recovery rate over time of missing children. if you think about the last 25 years and the fact that 138,000 missing children have been recovered, returned to their families, but then in the early years, that rate ran at 62%. and now that rate is up to 97%. you begin to get an appreciation for just what the national center for missing and exploited children were able to do for humanity for these children, for these families. as mentioned, it was officially opened in june of 1984 by president ronald reagan and since its inception, it has become the leading organization worldwide dealing with the issue of missing and exploited kids.

platts: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the health and wellness of america's children is undoubtedly a subject of great concern at this time in history. over 33% of america's elementary schoolchildren are overweight or obese and over 13% of america's high school children are obese. overweight and obese children are developing diseases and vascular conditions once thought of as conditions affecting only the middle-aged. these children are shown to be at increased risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, respiratory problems and numerous other diseases. in addition, think often suffer low self-esteem and a sense of isolation and other psychological side effects. physical education is important in defeating obesity in children and adults. regular physical activity reduces the risk for many problems, including stroke, coe colon cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. it helps control weight, reduces falls for older adults and is associated with fewer hospitalizations. physical activ

platts: mr. speaker, how much time do i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: you have 30 seconds. mr. platts: mr. speaker, i do not have any additional speakers and i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. tonko: yes, mr. speaker. if there is a common threat woven through the fabric of volunteers across this great country of ours, it's a sense of positive, positive spirit, positive attitude, positive energy in going forward in building stronger communities, enhancing the quality of life of american citizens. their deeds speak to our needs. and so to focus effectively and most positively on the subject at hand, bringing us to the house resolution 453, i will close with my comments focused in great respect for the volunteers of this country, the spirit of this house resolution. i would suggest that they are that muscle of america, they make the total dif

platts. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. platts: i appreciate the gentleman yielding and especially given that we have different views on this piece of of legislation, him yielding time to me. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 1256, the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act. i appreciate the senate's swift consideration of this bill after many years of consideration, i'm pleased this important public health legislation will final finally be signed into law. as one of the deadliest products on the market, tobacco should be subject to the same serious regulation oversight as most other products consumed by americans are subject to. this helps ensure americans are fully aware of the harmful effects posed by tobacco products. most importantly this legislation will ensure that tobacco products are not advertised to or sold to children. addiction to tobacco begins almost universally in childhood and adolescence. tobacco companies have long taken advantage of this vulnerability by promoting their products

waxman, dingle, platts, who did extraordinary work in getting this to move forward. i want to thank all of them but there are three i have to thank, waxman, sen. dodd, [laughter] >> and most importantly, sen. ted kennedy, who cannot be here today. this legislation represents change decades in the making. since the middle of last century we have known about the deadly effects of tobacco products. 400,000 die every year, making this the legal will cause of preventable death in the united states. nearly 8 million merit -- million americans suffer from something caused by smoking, and this costs us over $100 billion a year. even worse is the effect on our children. one out of every five children are current smokers by the time they leave high school. every day over 1000 children become smokers, much of this began before the 18th birthday. i was one of those teenagers and i know how difficult this habit can be to break. and i know that children do not begin for no reason. they are targeted by the tobacco industry, and are exposed. raj of advertising where they live and le

i couldn't agree more with the gentleman from north platte, nebraska, who wrote me a letter recently, and he said this -- and i'm quoting -- "it's important to remember that while government consumes wealth, transfers wealth, sets the ground rules for the generation of wealth, it is the private individuals that create it." as a final note, the president today rightfully acknowledged the reckless fiscal policies of the past have left us in a redeep hole. i would add to that, and the present. digging our way out will take time and patience and tough choices." again, i could not agree more, other than i would add to that, the present. however, instituting pay-go does nothing to cut the deficit or the debt. it simply attempts to hold the line, which the president's budget fails to do. and his proposal is actually a more liberal approach than what is already incented in house rules. you see, rightsizing government, cutting spending is far from revolutionary, so while the president is saying when you find yourself in a massive hole, stop digging, but the more important question might be: ho

she had several platts cases with leather buckles tied together with assorted straps to secure the contents. fill to bursting, the suitcases had apples and pears from her front yard and virginia. she also had a smoked shoulder of pork placed inside a burlap bag. this was a prized possession. aunt lilly had come to feed a hungry family in baltimore and she was always right on time. because the way to get her to the house. i should klan the rickety front steps to 1641 barnes street around the corner from the johns hopkins medical school she called out for the children to get the paring knives to appeal the apples and pears. she called for the big pots, to boil the water for that old-- when aunt lilly pulled on her old white campus apron, we knew we would have many tasty treats for the winter. perched on the edge of a not so steady chair or an old aluminum tub turned upside down, aunt lilly would hoist the progressive bit in place and an deepak between your legs because she had no shame better heavy nylon nodded at the knees were exposed. when the children left about stalking she said i'm not

thank you, signed sincerely todd russell platts, member of congress, 19th district of pennsylvania. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the resignation is accepted. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. d >> mr. speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 530. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. clip resolution 530, commending the purpose of the third annual civil rights baseball game and recognizing the historic significance of the location of the game in cincinnati, ohio. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott and the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the legislation under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scott: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognize

larry summers, director of national economic council told cnn wolf platts search you'll see the effects begin almost immediately. christine romer along with vice president claiming 150,000 jobs have already been created said we will turn the corner and start adding jobs and then we've got a press secretary sitting stimulus has already started to save and create jobs. the stimulus has already started to save and create jobs get when you look at the numbers they don't seem to bear that out. the on unemployment rate being probably the most dramatic comparison of the claims of the administration and the real economy. as you bring reports in the future is it possible for you to do deeper analysis on the effects of the stimulus or of targeting those states of the higher unemployment rate so that we can see if there is some impact that we ought to be encouraged by, and again, no spin, just facts, how do we get to the facts? >> we just aren't geared up and it's not our mission to do that sort of analysis. to be honest, we are fully adopted by counting the number of jobs month by month to. to pu

i want to thank my colleague, representative todd plats, for his strong leadership -- todd platts, for his strong leadership on this legislation, as well as representative john dingell and frank pallone for their diligent work in moving this bill forward over the years. i also want to thank representative ed towns and steve lynch and ike skelton, all of whom were critical in getting us to this point, each of these individuals made this possible and produced a great victory for public health. food is a tremendous day. i am proud to be part of this historic moment when congress finally stands up to big tobacco and stands up for the health of all americans. that is the task before us as we send this bill on to the president of the united states. madam speaker, i wish to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves his time. the gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. buyer: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. buyer: and what is the allotted time? the speaker pro tempore: 3

my good friend todd platts who also assisted in this, and frank lobiondo who was a co-spon or sor of this bill almost two years ago. i especially want to single out for their efforts two reform-minded freshmen who have come to congress in john boccieri of ohio and glenn nye of virginia and especially to amy o'donnell of my staff and jackie sheltree. we refer to this bill in the short form just, frankly, as providing an independent inspector general for the financial services committee that are in such desperate need of this oversight. i thank the -- i think the chairman outlined it well. the genesis of this bill took place from conducting a public forum back in my district and listening to former republican mayor of south windsor, connecticut, john mitchell, and our attorney general of the state of connecticut, richard blumen thall. the idea, when -- richard blumenthal. the idea, when we were looking at commodities and the market, we realized the more and closer we looked at who was regulating these agencies, it was somewhat a case of the foxes guarding the hen house. many have asked

and finally, we have amy from platts and an original member of the npc softball team. [applause] of the old washington senators it was often said washington, first in war, first in peace and last in the american league. substitute nationals for senators and national league for american and you can describe the situation for our local major league team today, and today speaker. in fact, it is hard to think of anyone that this had a worse season than the washington nationals except for perhaps the republicans. [laughter] today's speaker formerly served as president of the atlanta braves, who ran off in an unprecedented 14th straight division titles. the braves have not won since he brought his baseball expertise to the nationals. so far however, success on the field-- ball field has eluded the nation's capitol despite a new stadium attendance is down unless you count the red sox fans. and so it is the wind loss record. still they did beat the yankees to a lot of three earlier this month. [applause] by the way, that is the team that mr. kaston rooted for as a kid. when mr

so the universal ballads, properly platt, and about which this trial took place, stand at 299. now, obviously the margin separating the two candidates is a 312. as a result, even if every one of those 300 or so ballots for which a voter registrations, doesn't mean that witness was registered, doesn't mean the certificate was properly completed, it doesn't mean that they only cast one ballot. but they were at least registered. even if all 300 of those were for the appellant, and even if all 300 met all the other requirements, it would still be impossible for the appellant to make up the difference. and since the jurisdiction of the trial court and the jurisdiction of this court is determine who received the most lawfully cast ballots, the question answers itself. al franken received more lawfully cast ballots on election day ended senator coleman. >> council, were any illegally cast absentee ballots counted and included in the vote total? >> i'll answer that two ways. one is to say that there is nothing in the record identifying a specific ballot that was in the vote totals. i t

platts, i introduced the federal firefighters fairness act to create the presumption that federal firefighters who become disabled by heart disease, lung disease, certain cancers and other infection diseases contracted the illness on the job. this effort is strongly supported by all five major fire organizations and has 130 bipartisan co-sponsors. i offered this bill as an amendment to the national defense authorization act. however, it was not made in order due to pay-go issues. mr. skelton: i thank the gentlewoman for raising this important issue. i certainly share her concern for our federal firefighters while protecting our national trend military installations, nuclear facilities, v.a. hospitals and other federal facilities. federal firefighters are routinely exposed to toxic substances, biohazards, temperature extremes and stress. i will be pleased to continue working with the gentlelady on this important issue. mrs. capps: i want to thank the gentleman for improving the health of our firefighters. 42 states already recognize this link by providing some sort of presumptive disability for

valerie jackson, editor with platts. ira allen, public affairs specialist with the fogarty international center and the national institutes of health. skip, he is independent writer and author of letters from washington, a column and international magazine. iraq, washington bureau chief, one for former presidents here with purse newspapers and we're glad to have a creek here as well and finally editor and publisher with american journalism review. and i can give your applause, thank you. [applause] it may come as a surprise to some of you here today as you have watched our speakers lunges of the years that we do not tend to invite members of the press to speak at the podium and one thing that all that way out of control if we start letting the doors open, right? but we have a special cause to do that today because our speaker is really a special individual, but generally we think that journalists cover the news and we try not to perhaps put them in the spotlight than might otherwise feel uncomfortable when but as i said

platts, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. tonko: thank you, madam speaker. i request five legislative days during which members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on house resolution -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the house is not in order. members will take their conversation off the floor. the speaker pro tempore: members will take their conversation off the floor. the gentleman from new york. mr. tonko: thank you. again, madam speaker, i request five legislative days during which members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on house resolution 454 into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. tonko: i yield myself such time as i may consume. madam speaker, i rise today in support of house resolution 454 which recognizes the 25th anniversary of the national center for missing and exploited children. the ncmec serves as the national research center for national and exploited children. it's estimated that 850 children are reported missing in the uni