ideas economy. that's the sort of priming of the pump, if you will, that is essential for us to respond in substantive terms, for us to utilize government as a tool that is productive and enabling and empowering the middle class and empowering our small business community and empowering our entrepreneur. and it happened in the 111th congress. but something changed in leadership in the 112th congress. we are ranked in percentage approval, below 10%. some of the lowest points achieved or earned by this congress in its history as the house. that is a very telling statement. how do we go from the most productive in decades to most unfavorable in the history of the house? we have a reactionary response who want to destroy the essence of government and wean every government activity into a very difficult period in our economic history. it is one that is unpopular and unproductive, it is one that is rejected by people out there. when i go back to our district, i have heard from republicans, democrats and independents alike. there is a paralysis here and there is a sense of partisanship rather than partnership and an attempt to denny anything in the house to get progressive policy done. there are things that languish. there is this crush of big tax that work to produce a jobs bill, a response to the ag crisis, work to ininvestigate in the middle class. it's been this house when controlled by the democrats that spoke to the ladders of success. the democratic conference has always been about in my tenure here about producing ladders of success. you know, we believe in that american principle that you work hard, act with responsibility, play by the rules and expect to taste success. well, we haven't seen that sort of cooperative spirit from the new republican majority in the house. we believe as democrats that you produce those ladders of opportunity. you allow people to climb toward their american dream. we enable people to utilize their gifts, talents, passion, their skills to empower themselves, their families, the small businesses. and so we stand for this wonderful three-legged stool that speaks to the empowerment of small business, for ever the pulse of american enterprise that looks to create jobs with small business citizenship into the local community grain. and we talk about investing in entrepreneurs, those dreamers, the movers, the shakers, the builders of society that has forever been the american spirit, the pioneer spirit. i represent a district in upstate new york that is the area to the erie canal and gave birth to innovation and invention. the empowerment of the entrepreneur, and a thriving middle class, making certain that we utilize the policies that can be created in this whose that will empower with tax fairness and empower with investment in the worker and education, higher education, apresence tiesship program, to empower the middle class and small businesses. we have measures that we have asked to be brought to the floor. there is a denial of any single jobs bill in the house. we have requested over and over again to invest in that agenda, the empowerment of america, investing in entrepreneur and it has been rejected. i'm joined by a colleague from the state of connecticut. joseph courtney. joe courtney is a strong believer in the government process and when we can prime the pump and utilize government to make a difference, when we can create programs that speak to the honest-to-goodness agenda for all strata of america but utilizing small business, farming, making certain we utilize every sector of our economy and not relying on a service sector, especially the financial sector that brought us into a crisis situation. one of those prime sectors, agriculture. representative courtney, great to have you joining us. the agriculture industry from coast to coast is an important industry. you sit on the ag committee. as a representative from connecticut, i know you know the importance of agriculture. and reauthorization of an ag bill is fundamental to go forward and create opportunity? mr. courtney: it is. this is a place where the eyes are on us right now in terms of whether or not this body is going to have the strength and will to act and deal with, again, all the ticking clocks which you mentioned. sequestration and at the end of this month, a farm bill reauthorization. again, for those watching tonight, i think it's important to have a little context here, which is up until this year, every five years since the end of world war ii, congress has acted to enact a farm bill, which is a five-year policy bill that sets up the ground rules for a vast array of issues that surround producers in this country, the folks that get up every morning that milk the cows and harvest the crops and rural development, small-town america depends on funds and programs to build everything from sewers, hospitals, health clinics. again, all of the infrastructure, which again, small towns by themselves really don't have the financial means to create. conservation programs, policy, food policy, nutrition policy. the farm bill is a profoundly important measure that sets up both producer and production policies in agriculture, but also consumer ends in terms of food safety, food security, et cetera. increditly, we are, at the end of this month, end of september, the last farm bill will expire. and if congress does not act, then farm policy will revert to what the state of the law was in this country in 1949. again, that statutory construct is so completely disconnected from the reality that farms and agriculture is today in the 21st century, that it defies, really, the powers of any secretary of agriculture to implement. again, as you point out, when we look at the u.s. economy today, agriculture is leading the way in terms of growth, in terms of exports, in terms of renewed activity, even in new england, which is not viewed as a big farm state, but specialty crops, growing farmers' markets, really renaissance and movement towards making sure that foods that we serve our kids in american homes, that people have a heightened interest in making sure it's local and fresh. and the farm bill sets up the policies that makes that movement continue to grow. where are we tonight? senate passed the farm bill. they passed a farm bill back in june. it was a bipartisan measure, hard-fought and took three weeks to get through the senate floor, yet republicans and democrats in the senate came together with a farm bill, which does great things in terms of reforming agriculture policy in this country and eliminates direct payments to farmers, which saves the taxpayers $23 billion over the next five years, so it actually helps the deficit in this country by passing the senate farm bill. it supports dairy farms, which is critically important because the structure that is in place today was shown to not be adequate in 2009 when milk prices crashed. it sets up a risk insurance program for farmers to have security about their future. it does a great job in terms of protecting and maintaining the network of food supply for americans who are struggling to put food on the table. it's a good, solid bipartisan measure that addresses all the challenges of the 21st century. in the house, we actually reported out a farm bill in the house agriculture committee with a strong bipartisan vote. it cuts too deeply into nutrition. people close to it are very confident can be worked out in a conference committee if the house floor will take up a farm bill. and the speaker, to this moment, has refused to even signal that he will schedule a vote for a farm bill to move the process along. so, literally, the clock ticks towards the end of september. farmers and producers all across america are in horror, looking at this chamber, looking at this speaker, and saying, are you kidding me? you won't even schedule a vote and send it to conference committee and get real movement and get a farm bill pass snd a couple of hours ago i was with the farmers union just down the block where we have farmers from california to maine who are gathering here in washington, d.c.,, american farm bureau who are flooding the halls of congress saying we need a farm bill. this should not be a partisan issue that should gridlock one of the most vibrant and critical components of america's economy and to this moment, we have gotten no signal from the republican leadership they will even schedule a vote. it is incredible. the agriculture committee produced a bipartisan bill. they did their work. chairman lucas, ranking member peterson, i was there for the 13-plus-hour markup to get the bill through the floor. they did a great job in terms of getting the bill to the floor. this was done before the august recess. the speaker refused to bring it up before we went home for five weeks. farmers are demanding in action and we are back in town and nothing has been scheduled to bring up a farm bill we can send to the conference committee and get real action and results. totally unacceptable. and let me finish before i throw the baton back to you. the last farm bill had a measure -- called a feed adjust ter index, which would allow farmers who are facing high feed costs to get help and relief. anybody who looks in the financial pages can see that corn prices are hitting record highs because of the drought. feed costs have gone through the roof. fuel costs are going through the roof. all the input costs for running a dairy farm are at record highs and yet as of a couple of weeks ago, the dairy farmers of america have basically the rug pulled out from them because this chamber did not move and do its job back in july and get a farm bill passed out of this chamber and sent to conference committee. they were the first wave of victims of republican inaction in this house to move a farm bill. at the end of this month, it will be the rest of american agriculture will revert back to a statutory structure in 1949 if we don't move forward and get a farm bill done. i'm glad you scheduled this session tonight, because i think the american people need to hear that democrats stand ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work on this floor, pass a farm bill, send it to the conference committee and work with the bipartisan majority in the senate to pass the farm bill and help the american farmers and producers who are making sure that the system of food production and supply works. it is a very fragile system as we are seeing with the drought. and people in this chamber are treating with, in my opinion, outrageous neglect in not doing their constitutional duty and showing leadership and bringing up the farm bill in this chamber and i yield back. mr. tonko: you are a great friend not only to me, but to this house, the district you represent and to the state of connecticut. you are a good friend because of the academics you have put into the job. i know you are about building consensus. what we have here -- doesn't this become even more urgent with the drought situation we have had across this country. grain prices are going to rise. so they have present difficulties built into the ag outcome for many sectors of agriculture, it becomes even more critical and to revert to a 1949 formula is sinful and immoral. people talk about the lack of productivity, but talking about immoral outcomes that don't enable people to do their work. i mean, this is a small business, but agriculture runs that. for many it's small business, family business, a way of life and denying that very fabric of this country. i know groups have come together, outside groups that are putting pressure here and come in partnership and said hey, look, get this done. get it done. you have done some of the basics, why are you ignoring this number one industry? . . >> again, the house did bring up a so-called disaster relief bill right before the august break. mr. courtney: something which the american farm bureau dismissed as inadequate in terms of actual agricultural policy in this country, used as a pay-for taking money out of conservation which again is critical a priority as almost anything else in the farm bill. again, it was just a almost pathetic attempt to provide political cover for people who knew that, again, with the catastrophe happening out in the midwest, they couldn't possibly leave town without at least trying to make some small gesture towards acknowledging that that was actually happening. but again the senate measure includes a full disaster relief, the house committee bill, which came out and has full disaster relief, and that's what really the american agriculture community is looking for. and tomorrow on the steps of the capitol there will be a huge rally with farm groups from all across america gathering on the steps, senators, congressmen are going to be out there leading the charge and we understand some republican members are going to show some, you know, courage and get out there on those steps and join those farmers in saying, we need a farm bill now to be voted on in the house of representatives and it's time for the republican leadership to listen to the people who again are out there busting their tail every single day making sure that there's food on the table for this country. mr. tonko: right. you know, i listen to you and your state was tremendously impacted by irene and lee last summer. my state was tremendously impacted. we reached to those very pots that we've emptied with the republican solution that served our community so very well with disaster funds. we can't tamper with some of those legitimate set-asides because they're there, they're required by mother nature or by manmade situations where we need to have disaster dollars available. but you can't help but quantify, i mean, you just imagine the extrapolating out of jobs, the impact of jobs. if you don't get this done, the ripple effect into those ancillary businesses that feed into the needs of agriculture, it is a tremendous opportunity for us to grow stability in the economy. and to not do this, this do-nothing republican congress is devastating the economy. we could have made major strides we could have gone forward with a lot of attempts to do good. now, what i sense here from what you talked about with these poison pills that have been adopted or placed into the solutions or the ignoring of greed upon regulation in committee, this is an occurring thing. we saw the f.a.a., the federal aviation administration, the aeronautics administration impacted again by delays that games that were being played because they need the full loaf or they want it their way. there's no sense of consensus that is driving these outcomes and so we delayed for months the f.a.a. outcome which challenged, put at risk hundreds of projects, tens of thousands of construction jobs that were going to speak to safety at our airports. we saw with student loans. you were so actively involved with that. you were outspoken in your criticism of perhaps doubling our students' loan interests on their loans and they again inserted poison pills, we waited until the midnight hour to get something done, with a lot of unpredictability again, we saw it with the payroll tax relief that we were trying to do for middle income america and small businesses. couldn't get it done, waited until the last minute. poison pills that delayed progress. this is a recurring theme, is it not? mr. courtney: it is, of course. and again another example of a measure that really is just teed up and ready for action in the house is the postal reform. ok, we have a postal system right now is both technically and substantively in bankruptcy. the obligations of the postal system in terms of its expenses and pensioning costs now exceed the revenue that's coming in and once again we have a situation where the senate has already acted. they passed a bipartisan postal reform bill, my colleague from connecticut, joe lieberman, senator joe lieberman, is the chair of the committee that put together again a significant bipartisan coalition to get a postal reform bill through which would provide stability in the finances of this system which again isn't bankruptcy. you know, nothing has happened on this side of the campus, of the capitol, in terms of any action, in terms of bringing a bill to the floor to make sure that, again, the postal system which goes back to the birth of our country is not going to cap size into hopeless bankruptcy. i mean, just totally unexcusable to have an issue like this which, you know, i challenge anyone to point to any time in american history where the postal service has become sort of a partisan political fble yet this republican leadership has done nothing to bring a postal reform bill to the floor. violence against women act, again, a measure which is really a law enforcement measure in terms of giving our police and court systems and victim advocates the tools they need to eliminate domestic violence in this country. my wife is involved with disciplinary teams in dealing with she this issue as a pediatric nurse practitioner. again, the senate passed a good, strong, bipartisan bill. we had a partisan measure that just, you know, turned the clock back in terms of protecting victims who again are here on temporary visas. again, as some kind of statement i guess about immigration. and yet this is a measure which has not been sent to conference by this side of the chamber and we have a situation, a priority such as domestic violence which has traditionally been completely nonpartisan since it was enacted back in the 1990's and no action has been taken by this republican leadership who seems intent on going home pretty soon and just basically leaving town until election time. it's just stunning that farm bill, postal reform bill, violence against women, we should be able to do these things tonight and give this country some confidence. mr. tonko: representative courtney, you talk about the reducing of the violence against women act. if the spirit and letter that have law has been to protect women, why would you weaken certain protections? there's this order of meanness and selectiveness and insensitivity that has abounded in this house. where they reduce efforts that have been championed over the decades. hard-fought efforts, bipartisan efforts, bicameral efforts. the executive branch working with the legislative branch, making certain that the heart and soul of this reform, through the ages, has been about making america stronger. it's we the people working toward a more perfect union. a more perfect union. we've made such wonderful progress, we've had acknowledged the needs of women, where they were ignored in legislative or statutory concepts. we go forward and now it's like, as you suggest, rolling the cost back. you know, being insensitive to so many needs out there and reducing the fabric of our government. it's like try to speak to an archaic sort of quality that's driven by extreme thinking. it's the tail wagging the dog in the conference where this extreme thinking has take ever owe -- taken over the majority and this do-nothing republican congress is not responding, not stepping up to the plate at a time that it's very, very critical. we saw this economy challenge more greatly than perhaps the depression of the past that really was a prime test, but in many of the lives of today's working americans, this is the first time, greatest experience of challenge before us and when we should step up and be the champions of fairness and justice and resolve, to move forward with progressive policy, we're getting almost the reverse . it's the antithesis of what's required here. mr. courtney: i would just say that the inaction of this leadership, today we received an ominous warning from moodies investors services which warned that basically that congress' failure to strike a deal on the fiscal cliff