mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , i thank my friend from florida ( mr. putnam ) xz4003280 for yielding me time . 
i also thank him for bringing the real florida orange juice to the 7 a.m . 
rules meeting this morning . 
i oppose this closed rule , mr. speaker , and the underlying legislation . 
mr. speaker , i wondered to myself earlier this morning as the rules committee majority members passed yet another closed rule which stifles debate and shuts off meaningful contributions from members of this chamber . 
what is the problem ? 
congress has only had since january 3 of this year to complete work on the 12 annual appropriations bills , the so-called `` must pass bills '' that congress works on every year . 
in case anyone is unclear , so far the president has signed only five of the 12 appropriations bills that must pass and become law before september 30 . 
defense appropriations ? 
not done . 
military quality of life and veterans affairs ? 
not done . 
transportation , treasury , hud ? 
not done . 
of course , the bill which funds this very institution , the legislative branch appropriations legislation , well , we did that to protect our branch . 
and the sad part ? 
no one is to blame but the party in control . 
it is an irrefutable fact , the last time that there was sole democratic control of congress and the white house , all 13 appropriations bills were passed by september 30 . 
we had a balanced budget . 
and oh , yes , budget surpluses as far as the eye at that time could see . 
my , how times have changed . 
now we have debt as far as the eye can see and disdain from much of the rest of the world . 
the people here are the modern day incarnations of nero . 
the majority fiddles while the nation burns . 
more than 45 days have passed since congress passed its last continuing resolution , 48 to be exact ; and in that time , republicans have managed to pass a measly three of the ten outstanding appropriations bills at the time of the last continuing resolution . 
in baseball , their batting average would be pretty good . 
but in the real world where salaries and promotion are based on accomplishments and contributions , getting done 30 percent of what you are supposed to get done is absolutely abysmal . 
in any other job in america , 30 percent would get you fired . 
it should here too , mr. speaker , and i hope america is paying attention . 
so i ask , what in the world have the majority members been doing over the last month and a half that they can not get these constitutionally-mandated appropriations bills done on time ? 
we know that they have not dealt with fema . 
i have been trying to get them to deal with fema since the agency messed up florida recovery efforts in the year 2004 . 
and now look at where their neglect got us . 
republicans have not dealt with the national security leaks in the bush white house . 
they have not dealt with increasing access to health care or investing in affordable housing for low and moderate incomes . 
they have not dealt with unemployment in this nation . 
in fact , this morning the chairman of the rules committee said to us that we have `` full employment '' in this nation . 
he identifies that as 6 percent . 
i guess there is no one looking for a job in san dimas where he is from or the greater los angeles area . 
so forgive me , mr. speaker , if i feel it unnecessary to grant republicans another 30 days to fix a problem that they , one , created on their own , and two , have shown zero ability that they are capable of leading our country in a responsibly fiscal manner . 
the problem is not hurricanes katrina or wilma or other disasters . 
it is not even the failing war in iraq . 
the problem republicans have is their beloved tax cuts that 95 percent of the people in this country barely benefit from . 
their problem is themselves and their failed fiscal policies . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
