this is important, mr. speaker. because when we talk about making tough decisions, when we talk about confronting the mountain of debt that's building when we talk about doing things that will make certain that the lives that our children will lead will be more prosperous than the lives we have led. we have to go after those issues that matter. these aren't just colors here what we call discretionary spending, that's spending we have taken over $1 trillion out of thus far going forward. it's defense spending in this pie piece. nondefense discretionary spending. and then that takes us to this giant red area, mr. speaker. the giant red area has three things in it. the big pie piece is medicare and medicaid. that's where the money goes. money in this country that the federal government spends goes to pay health care costs. medicare and medicaid $1.5 trillion this year. social security, folks been paying into social security all their life. they dag gum have a rate to get their money back. the bill we passed today begins to redefine that commitment for the first time, i'm concerned about that, but $820 trillion go into social security. then $250 billion $250 billion mr. speaker, goes to pay interest on the debt. now, just to put that in perspective, mr. speaker, we have defense spending, medicare, medicaid spending, social security spending, we have interest on the debt and in this pie piece we have every everything else. everything. our courts our highways, our environment. our homeland security our immigration. our parks. everything else. we spend half as much mr. speaker, half of that amount that goes to everything else. we spend on interest payments alone. half of the amount that this country spends on everything except social security and medicare, medicaid interest on the national debt, national defense, everything else we spend half that amount on interest payments alone this year when interest rates are at their lowest level in a century. mr. speaker, what do you think's going to happen when interest rates are no longer at their lowest level in a century? this bar is going to eclipse everything else. so what can we do? i'll tell you what we can do. the money is in medicare and medicaid, the money is in social security, mr. speaker. i'm in my 40's. we must, we must come to people in my age bracket and say no more. you will not get what your parents got. got to say that to me. you will not receive what your parents received. you got to say that to me. will there be a safety net? there will. can we provide certainty to folks that it will be there? we can. but if you talk to anybody in their 40's mr. speaker, they'll tell you they expect those programs to be long bankrupt anyway. why? because they are. so these are the tough decision that is we have to make. what are we going to tell the next generation. how are we going to protect these benefits from the current generation? mr. speaker, this budget does none of that. not a word. not an idea. not a proposal. nothing in the president's 2013 budget that even hints at the direction he would propose that america goes. to confront these financial challenges. you think we dodge these challenges, mr. speaker? do you think we can just put these things out of our head and pretend they don't exist? this is what we are looking at, mr. speaker. i wish you could see this. what we have here is a debt in to country as a% of the g.d.p. we look at places like greece where the debt has grown so large. this is the debt as a percentage of our economy in world war ii. in world war ii, mr. speaker. when things had gotten so tough and we were having to ration rubber and ration steel and ration sugar and ration salt, when the country had come together to fight a common foe around the globe, this was our debt as a percentage of our economy. here we are today, mr. speaker. we are not rationing rubber. we are not rationing sugar. we are not taking those common steps of sacrifice because we think our economy is about to go over the cliff, but it is. and this red line, mr. speaker if we continue with this blue budget that the president has sent to us, that makes no tough choices about our future this red line is the debt that's coming. this is what the law of the land spends on behalf of your family and mine and every other american family, mr. speaker. and spends our nation into oblivion. the truth is it's never going to get as bad as this chart, the congressional budget office, which does the projections, their computer actually breaks down about half way through that red line and says there is no way the economy can continue to function under these circumstances. america will no longer exist. the good news is, mr. speaker, it's not really going to get to the end of that line, but that's the challenge that confronts us and that's the challenge that this budget avoids. but that's not why you and i ran for congress, mr. speaker. we ran for congress to make a difference. to a man, woman in this freshman class, republicans and democrats alike, mr. speaker, i have not met one that came here because they thought it was a nifty looking business card. i haven't met one that came here because they couldn't do anything else and they thought why not i'll run for congress. to a man and a woman, every republican and democrat i met in this freshman class came to this body because they want to save america from certain demise. certain demise. it's not possible demise. it's not maybe kind of demise. it is certain demise. so what we did as a body mr. speaker, when the senate wouldn't act, when the president couldn't act what we did as a body is pass the prosperity budget which is this green line which changes the course of america. mr. speaker, there are two ways to change the correspond of america -- course of america. you can change the america we have always had into something different. that's where current law is taking us. or you can reclaim the america that we have always dreamed of that our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents passed down to us, sacrificed. we can reclaim that america by making tough decisions. mr. speaker, we have to make those tough decisions and with the american people behind us we will succeed. i thank you for the time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn. mr. woodall: mr. speaker, i mover the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until noon on tuesday next. >> u.s. capitol police say their officers arrested the man and a sting operation. a spokesman said the person was monitored by officers and the public was not in danger. coming up in under a half an hour, we will take you live to washington, where the president will be speaking at the boeing plant there. until then we will show you some of the house floor debate ahead of the passage of the payroll conference agreement. conference report. as a result of a lot of long hours, hard work, and determination on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the capitol, this agreement shows the american people that congress can govern and washington can work. first and foremost, this legislation prevents a tax increase on 160 million americans. as a conservative, i look at the agreement and see some very big wins. chief among them are the most significant reforms to the federal unemployment program since it was created in the 1930's. all designated to promote re-employment and paychecks instead of unemployment and benefit checks. while extending unemployment benefits through the end of the year, this agreement creates a national jobs search standard for the first time. covering benefits from beginning to end and requires every unemployed american to look for a job if they receive unemployment benefits. the agreement allows states to spend unemployment funds on paying people to work instead of just sending them a check while they are out of work. it ensures taxpayer funds are properly spend by -- spent by permitting drug testing under commonsense rules that help people get ready for a job. it expands work sharing programs to help avoid layoffs in the first place, and it improves fiscal responsibility but not only recovering more overpayments which currently total a staggering $12 billion per year, but also by making sure that this program is fully paid for. the last item something i want to focus on for a moment. all government spending in this agreement is fully paid for and not with one dime of higher taxes. all spending object un-- on unemployment and health care are fully paid for. this is a significant victory for those of us concerned about the national debt. and the culture of deficit spending that has gripped washing for far too long. for example the unemployment program has added nearly $200 billion to our nation's debt over the last four years. no more. we paid for it in december, we are paying for it today, and we set a clear precedent that the congress must live within its means, no more spending unless it's paid for, period. i understand this is a compromise. and not everyone likes everything in here. if i had my way, the bill passed by the house in december would be the law. that was the only bill that extended these programs through the end of the year. it was the only bill that was fully paid for. and it was the only bill that ensured seniors and their doctors were protect interested dramatic cuts for at least two years. but we don't control washington. democrats still control washington. they control the senate and they control the white house. utilizing a process that dates back to our founding fathers, house republicans have scored significant victories in this conference committee. our founding fathers recognize that washington would not always be united. in their wisdom they knew even divided government must still govern. and that's what we are doing here today. governing and providing a solution to the very real problems americans are facing in their daily lives. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in supporting this legislation which pays for new spending with spending cuts, prevents working americans from getting hit with a tax increase next month, reforms our unemployment programs, and ensures seniors continue to have access to their doctors. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield such time as i shall consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time he may consume. mr. levin: the basic fact is that this legislation is very different from the december house republican bill, very different. and any efforts to mask that are false. and that house bill was the main bill before the conference committee. the basic fact is the conference committee made major changes to the house bill that passed in december essentially on a partisan basis. and therefore this legislation is much better for the american people. the speaker said this about this bill, let's be honest, this is an economic relief package not a bill that's going to grow the economy and create jobs. that's not an honest statement. it's wrong. this is a bill that relates to the economic growth of the united states of america. we are recovering. and this bill will provide a boost to continue that recovery. it continues the 2% payroll tax through the calendar year. and it is not offset as was true of the house republican bill in december. it had massive harmful cuts that would have been counter cyclical and would have undermined further economic growth. so in that respect this is very very different. it's also very different in terms of unemployment insurance. let's be clear about that. the bill that the republicans passed through the house that was the main bill before the conference committee would have slashed 40 weeks of unemployment insurance for millions of americans in every state regardless of the unemployment rate in that state. and this bill essentially changes what was in the house bill. it extends unemployment insurance through the rest of the year up to, this is the maximum, up to 89 of 99 weeks through may, up to 79 weeks through august and up to 73 weeks through december, depending on the level of unemployment. let me just say our chairman has talked about job search and now a requirement of people be looking for work. that's already in the law of every state. that isn't a meaningful reform. in terms of job search, everybody not only registers but also, as i said, is requiring to look for work. and you know, i find it an insult to the unemployed of this country to say essentially what we're simply giving them a check instead of a paycheck. you know if you talk to the unemployed through no fault of their own, they are looking for work. they had a paycheck, in most cases, year after year after year. they work for their unemployment insurance, and to simply label this an effort to get people off of unemployment insurance, unemployment insurance is not a welfare program. people work for it and they need that assistance as they look for work. the bill that passed through the house had a g.e.d. requirement. that's out. to say to people, you don't get a check if you're not in a g.e.d. program when there are 160000 people in this country who are on waiting lists for education, that's out of here because it deserved to be out of here. and in terms of the drug programs, the effort to test people for drugs it is so limited so it is really masking the reality to call this major reform. it freezes in terms of the reimbursement for physicians through december. and let me just close by saying a few words about the limits on this bill because there are limits. it would have been much better to treat unemployment insurance as an emergency as we have for 20 years. this is the highest level of long-term unemployed on record in this country, which is another reason not to blame the unemployed for their unemployment as the house bill in december did and some of the rhetoric on this floor continues to do. we were not able to obtain this and i want to say this in terms of a precedent. in my judgment, it should not serve as a precedent. the precedent is 20 years treating it as an emergency, and let me also say it's deeply unfortunate that some on the other side insisted that federal workers carry a disproportionate share in the cost of this bill. even if there were put forward bipartisan pay-fors that would have cost -- covered the cost of u.i. in a bill that was brought in a bipartisan basis, there would have been an impact on federal employees of $67 billion. this bill has a provision that will apply to pension programs $15 billion over 10 years, compared to the $67 billion that was in the bill that the house republicans passed. so let me just say in closing, this argument provides tax relief to working families, a framework is in place for the year for the unemployed workers, and a real commitment -- and i emphasize this -- but -- by us democrats to pursue efforts to strengthen the economy and boost job growth so that those hardest hit by the recession can return to work as they desperately want to. and i just want to reiterate how wrong the speaker was when he said, let's be honest, this is an economic relief package, not a bill that's going to grow the economy and create jobs. the opposite is true. the provisions in this bill will help to continue economic growth. the payroll tax, most economists say that. unemployment insurance, people spend it, and that is not only good for their subcystens but good for the economy of our country. for all those reasons i urge support of this conference committee, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: madam speaker, i yield myself five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. hoyer: thank you madam speaker. i've taken the unusual process of claiming time in opposition to this bill. i have done so so i could place in context the bill we are considering. i do not rise to necessarily defeat this bill. i'm going to vote against this bill. i am for almost all of this bill. what we are funding this bill with was unnecessary unfair and ought to be rejected. i want to say at the outset that my friend mr. camp, and i had a very positive discussion. i believe that mr. camp and i could have reached an agreement which would have put me in support of this legislation. we didn't get there. we tried late in the game and we didn't get there. i regret that. i think mr. camp tried. i know that everybody on my side would have supported the agreement that mr. van hollen and i put forward. that agreement would, as the current agreement would say that the only individuals paying for this bill out of 315 million americans are the two million civilian workers who work for us, who work for all of us, who day after day, week after week, month after month make sure we give the services to the people of the united states, protect the united states, ensure that our food is safe, ensure that we have amphibious agents on the job, -- make sure we have f.b.i. agents on the job, these are all civilian employees. highly skilled. highly trained. highly educated and, yes highly motivated. and every day they give outstanding service to the people of the united states. we talk here and we pass laws here but none of those -- none of that talk and none of those laws makes a difference unless somebody implements what we say and the policies that we set. this congress is on the path to be the most anti-federal worker congress that i have served in. and i'm going to place that in context for you which is why i wanted the time. first of all, what is the context we find ourselves in? first of all we have a very struggling economy. the good news is the economy is coming back but not fast enough. we need to create more jobs, expand opportunities and make sure that the american dream is alive for all working americans. working americans like our federal employees, working americans like the folks at g.m. who have done just very well, working americans who work in the hardware store, the grocery store, the gasoline station, hardworking americans. and we don't have enough jobs for them. as a result we have high unemployment, and i congratulate my friend mr. levin, for his leadership in making sure that the unemployment provision in this bill is sufficient to try to reach those folks and make sure they don't fall off the ledge. we walked away from them in december. i'm glad we are not walking away from them today. now, we also have, as all of us know, a struggling economy and therefore we put into effect giving $1,000 more to each and every worker. now, many of your leaders did not support this 2% reduction, and i understand that. i won't go into their names. some are in the chamber, but the fact of the matter is it puts $1,000 of additional pockets into average working americans' pockets. people paying fica. that is people making less than $6,000. that is an important thing to do for us to keep this economy growing. i'm for that. i was for it in december. i'm for it in february. i'm glad we are going to have consensus on that today. but what i am not for -- let me go on because in addition to that, we are playing a silly little game. with the doctors and with medicare patients, and this silly little games pretends we are going to extend s.g.r. for 10 months. that's balo nmbs ey and everybody knows it -- baloney and everybody knows it. we are going to extend s.g.r. over and over and over again. we should h