mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume .  mr. speaker , i thank my friend from florida ( mr. putnam )  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 .  