Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Committed against people around the world today based on their faith. We are in these days witnesses to some of the most glaring and brutal attacks on this universal right of religious freedom in all of our history. Islamic state, the cancer spreading throughout the middle east and north africa is targeting christians and other religious minorities and communities for extincton. The world has watched this terror unfold day by day for over a year. More than 407 days have have past since the city of most you will fell into the hands mosul fell into the hands of the islamic state. They drove them out of the land of their spiritual heritage which dates back for nearly 2,000 years. Nearly one year has past since the attack on a community where thousands were slaughtered. 5,000 young women and young girls were taken captive. 1,000 boys were captured and forced into isis training camps. Mr. Speaker, there is no room for the selfproclaimed caliphate. Innocent men, women and children are forced to choose between deeply religious beliefs and their lives. They are subject to torture, mass executions, beheadings. And they are drowned and burned alive in cages. They are raped, abused and sold as commodities in a modernday slave market. They are tied to chairs. They are december created and violated and stripped of their dignity, their places of worship and sacred sites are destroyed. Mr. Speaker, how many more unimaginable atrocities must occur before this Administration Takes off its heartless blinders and finds the courage and determination to decisively address this evil slaughter of innocence based on their religious beliefs . German lutheran pastor vonn ho fmp fer said silence in the face of evil is evil itself. And not to act is to act. Mr. Speaker, the Obama Administration can no longer remain silent in the plight of religious minorities cause in the wake of the islamic state. It is vital that we make the necessary responses to stop this campaign of terror and preserve these religious communities from extincton. In the middle of this scurge, the administration has allowed the special envoy to promote religious freedom in the far east. That position has remained vacant for nearly a year. So little effort has been made to equip Security Forces to protect these communities from isis advance. This administrations response is shameful and astonishing failure and affirms the islamics islamics state barbaric terrorism. Mr. Speaker, i would just ask the president of the United States not to continue to stand by and let this evil proceed. The assault on religious freedom we are witness to in the middle east is just one of the many attacks against this most sacred and basic right of religious freedom. There are thousands of innocent people around the world who are antagonized oppressed tortured and killed because of their belief or disbelief in a particular religion or ideology. I know these are challenging topics but god help us to echo the voice of these innocence in the halls of congress. May we all be committed to pursue that day when the light of hope will fall across all of the lonely faces of gods children all over this world and that this quote, most unalien able right of sacred religious freedom will be the possession of every human being and the destiny of future generations will walk in the sunlight of liberty as long as mankind has us here. I thank the gentleman and i yield back. Mr. Collins thank you congressman franks. Thank you for your friendship and outspokenness and we continue to bring this forward. One of the things i dont want to overlook before i turn it over to another colleague is the area of pakistan and this is overlooked where in pakistan, blast emmy laws carry a potential death sentence. In our area we get numb to the fact carries a death sentence. November, 2014, two were burned alive because of their Christian Faith. These individuals were accused of burning a koran and killed by a mob. Pakistani court convicted a mother of five of blast emmy. And the Pakistani Supreme Court temporarily suspended her death sentence. While the suspension is welcomed news, she is released from prison because of the trumpedup charges. These are two examples which minorities must grapple with the notorious laws as well as the dangerousness of the terrorist organizations. We must as congress and the administration implore, put pressure, whatever we need to do to say to pakistan, this is something thats got to be removed. This is something that needs to be done away with. These laws must be put away. To be a part of a free and Orderly Society that actually recognizes the beliefs and religious liberties. With that, i yield time to my friend from and fellow pastor from North Carolina, time to speak on this issue and bring his perspective on what he has seen across the world and also his time in congress. I yield to congressman walker from North Carolina. Mr. Walker thank you for bringing this to the house floor. It is a growing concern that we have seen boko haram and others, who have done great damage to those. Our nation was founded on the right to believe and believe in our beliefs. For people to live out their religious values without fear of discrimination is the corn stone that developed our country into a face of freedom. It should be a foundational element for all people groups. Who thought we would be in referencing the United Nations this was included in article 18 of the universal declaration of human rights. The right of all people, freedom of thought, conscious and religion. This right includes freedom to change his religion or belief. Freedom to manifest in teaching, practice worship and observance. Members of the very institution that is supposed to subscribe to this declaration proactively seek out and punish individuals in groups for their own religious beliefs. In violation of International Law and inherent human rights, iran is currently imprisonning a gentleman by the yame of abedini. A man working with children who had little hope, if any. I communicated with his wife, whose children have pleaded and begged this administration and iran to be able to release. In 2012, the history during a visit to tehran to talk about helping out with orphanages, the Iranian Revolutionary guard arrested him without any due process. He was given a sentence of eight years. Throughout his imprisonment, he has spent weeks in solitary confinement. The guards have allowed other prisoners to come and beat him. He is labeled an infidel. This house passed h. Res. 233 that demands the release of him along with a former u. S. Marine and Washington Post journal it. We need to return the pastor to his family now. As i was thinking about this whole process and speaking about it i thought back to the original mayflower compact and the words still ring true. Let me remind you of those words. In the name of god, amen, we whose names are written the loyal subjects king james by the grace of god of great britain, france and ireland, king defender of the faith. And advancement of the Christian Faith in honor of our king and country, avoids to plant the first colony in the northern parts of virginia. Do by these presence and mute tallly in the presence of god could haven ant and combine ourselves together and preservation is furtherance of the ends ainformationsaid and to enact, constitute and frame such laws, and from time to time, as shall be thought are convenient for the general good of the colony under which we promise all due submission and obedience. We have subscribed our names at cape cod, the 11 of november in the name of king james 18th of scotland, 1620. Ronald reagan said it best, he said the most essential element of our defense of freedom is our insistence on speaking out for the cause of religious liberty. That is what we are here today. And i hope and im proud to stand with representative collins to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves. I yield back. Mr. Collins its not just in far away places. We are dealing with this kind of issue and this world as well, and southern mexico and experience growing religious tensions and in a country which 90 identifies as catholic. The mexico constitution has protected freedom of worship. There is growing hostilities against the protest tants. And just a few decades, conflicts led to displacement of 30,000. The conflict has arisen once again. Utilities cut and appeals has fallen on deaf ears and violence and Death Threats and expulsion of communities. You dont have to go all over the world to see we have this rise of religious intolerance. As congressman stated, even one of those rights that is laid out in article 18 that everyone has the right to freedom of thought freedom of religion either in to manifest the religion in belief teaching, practice, worship and observation. With that i would like to come back to my dear friend from california, representative vargas. Its all over. And we need to continue this shine this light and continue now in doing so. Mr. Vargas i would like to thank mr. Franks from arizona, mr. Walker from North Carolina and especially you, representative collins, for your remarks and leadership on this issue. Thank you. I would like to conclude my remarks by highlighting a few other key issues. According to the u. N. High commission on refugees million half are women and children. As we saw earlier this year with a Record Number of refugees attempting to seek asylum. In this congress, i have introduced legislation of protecting the religious minorities protection isis to address the plight of religious minorities in isisheld territories. Additionally, there are far too many people imprisoned for religious belief and religious freedom advocacy. We heard about mr. Aberdini. I would like to focus on detailed in the u. N. Commission defending freedom prisoners. An evangelical christian leader from iran who led a church a city of less than 15 minutes outside the capital. In 2011, he was sentenced to six Years Imprisonment for his christian activities after a raid on a house church. In september 2014, he was hit with 18 additional charges, including spreading corruption on the earth a crime punishable by death. On october, 2014 this charge was dropped and was sentenced to six years of imprisonment due to his alleged action of trying to overthrowing the government. He is expected to serve 12 years in prison. And therefore due to be released in 2023. I brit a spotlight to antisemitism in europe. There has been increasing anticement act in france between 2013 and 2014. These include violent acts and acts with an antijewish motivation. Earlier this year the world saw four jewish patrons being attacked. We must continue to partner to mitigate these attacks. With that i want to thank my republican colleagues on this issue and yield back the balance of my time and again, thank, in particular, my colleague and friend, mr. Collins. Thank you. Collins thank you. And thank you for being here, congressman vargas. I think there are many things we can stand for. Nothing more basic to our liberties, not only here in our country but around the world. Standing for those as congressman walker said, those who cant stand for themselves. Who are right now being persecuted simply for the act of conscious belief, the act of having a faith that others disagree with. And i think thats why were here tonight, mr. Speaker, is to talk about this in terms of things that we can do and things that we can highlight and one of the issues that is concerning to me and its going to be debated in this chamber later but is when were dealing with countries who have and weve talked about this today with iran dealing with countries w seem to encourage not seem to but encourage religious persecution. They have issues with this and we enter into agreement without discussion. If matter of trade and all International Leaders come, president s, goverent officials, whenever they come and trade and business and they want to do business because this is the market that everybody wants, then this is our timeto bring this up. Its in those times that we bring u the persecution. It is in those times we bring up the five that are held in an. It is those times that we stand for them while they are shackled and cannot stand for themselves. You know, we have to get over this ridiculous notion that we shouldnt bring up religiou liberty in certain context because we dont want to offend anyone. Were worried causing offense for men, women, girls and boys are being raped killed, crucified and losing their life. No american faced this because he or she believes different faith than another. Mr. Speaker, in is parof the freedom that we have. Its this is part of the freedom that we have. Its part of the freedom that was given us who passed before us. I always bieved that we stand on the freedo and the charters that went before us and not only what they did to sign their names to a declaration of independence, to sign their names to a constitution but to sayhat we will fight for those rights. And those men and women who have died over the years to say these are worth fighting for, when we understand that there have been even issues in our own country of intolerance. And what we have to understand from my rspective, even as an air force chaplain is there has been mordiscussions on what is right and how are we going to stand up for what we believe, as an air force chaplain, i am there not only from my faith background that i hav but for all. Whether they have a hardened and fast faith a faith just being developed or they have no faith at all, that is what a chaplain is there for is to present encourement and to preserve the religious freedom and protections that we have. If wback up on that, if we back up on the basic freedoms such as religious liberty, freedom of conscious, this thing we take for granted, this human right in our country, then what else are we going to back up on . If we start messing with the fundamental pillars, where will it end . And the ligh that shines brightest heris the one that shines brightest across the seas and we cant let this issue become dull to us by simply reading headlines on a page. Maybe saying a prayer for those in need or believing that a book of martyrs is something that used to happen and not anymore. Today,here are those around the world who are simply dying or being persecuted because of their own conscience, because of their belief that they hold. That is wrong. It is time for us to use all of our resources here in the freest country of the world to say were not going to stand for it. We need to make this the light, and today i thank congressman vargas, again, those who have come to be part of this to make sure that this light is not dimmed, it is something that will continue to shine brightly. And with that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy of january 6, 2015 the gentleman from connecticut, mr. Himes, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. Himes thank you mr. Speaker. I appreciate the time. I come to the floor today on this fifth anniversary of doddfrank to reflect a little bit on a signal piece of legislation that to this day remains controversial. Doddfrank was of course the response of the worst economic meltdown that we have seen in this country since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And i want to reflect back on what led to the need for doddfrank, the impact that that great recession, as we have come to call it had on americans and American Families all over this country and then think a little bit about what doddfrank has and has not done in the five years since its passage. It remains a controversial piece of legislation. All you have to do is look at the steady stream of press releases from the majority part on Financial Services. I have a few here. Doddfrank has enshrined too big to fail into law. Obama claimed doddfrank would lift the economy. It has done the opposite, despite the fact we learned today that we have the lowest jobless rates in a very, very long time. Financial crisis was caused by washingtons dumb regulations. That would come as a surprise to pretty much anybody with economic knowhow who saw the long chain of malfesance and irresponsibility in the Mortgage Market that actually led to the crisis. Doddfrank is setting the stage for the next crisis. Doddfrank act leaves america less stable less prosperous, less free. Truly extravagant claims. So lets back up a little bit and remember january of 2009. That happens to be the month that i was given the privilege of serving in this chamber, and it came after a quarter the last quarter of 2008 in which the United States economy actually shrank at an 8 rate on an annualized basis. The economy was very literally melting down. The stock market was half of what it is today. Businesses were closing. Americans saw literally trillions of dollars of value. Lets talk for a second of what value means. Value means that Retirement Fund that you were relying on in order to retire. It means the money that you had set aside in a brokerage account to educate your children. It means those savings that you had accumulated over many, many years of forgoing that vacation or scrimping on the budget. All of that for Many Americans wiped out or cut in half. Devastation. And by the way, in january of 2009, i remember this. Though the bailout had passed this house what was known as the tarp, the troubled assets relief program, and though that had been put into place by the United States congress and seemed to have stabilized the market at least temporarily, we worried day in and day out as to whether this lets face it on knocksous measure. I dont think obnoxious politically toxic measure which nonetheless reasserted some stability in the Financial Services sector, nobody really knew if it was enough. I remember wondering whether we might not see a bankruptcy in a money center bank. A moment, perhaps, in which a. T. M. s wouldnt have money in them. This was january of 2009. Most importantly theres a lot of big words asset values this, that and the other thing money center banks. This meant devastations for millions of americans who lost their jobs, for families who werent going to be able to send their families to school, who had to postpone retirement. Unemployment going into double digits meaning that i spoke to somebody, one of my constituents yesterday who had an Ivy League Degree who found himself working as a clerk at home depot, surrounded by other people with lots of education who were fortunate to have that job back in 2009 2010 because the economy had been devastated by a Financial Services industry and yes by fannie mae and freddie mac and insufficient regulations, irresponsibility on the part of the regulators had devastated the economy and left the American People holding the bag. So what happened . We went to work. We went to work in 2009, in 2010 we passed the doddfrank act. The doddfrank act is a complicated big thing, but it addressed every stage of that chain of irresponsibility and malfeesans starting with the selling malfeesens starting with the selling malfeasance starting with the selling of mortgages to the bundling of those toxic mortgages into complicated securities which frankly you needed a ph. D. To understand, to the fact that some of the Credit Rating agencies then put Investment Grade a. A. A. Ratings on these toxic securities. To the fact that derivatives were then written on these securities. Derivatives that were largely unregulated as a result of an act of this congress. A long line of malfeasance and irresponsibility, of insufficient regulation and of regulation insufficiently enforced. Of Terrible Market practices, and, of course, in the middle of 2008 the chickens came home to roost and the economy was devastated and the American People, almost without exception, suffered. And we saw the troubled asset relief program, the bailout passed. Imagine how shocking that is to the American People. Id lost my job, ive lost my home and there is a bailout of these institutions that i dont know a whole lot about but i suspect correctly were at the heart of this crisis . No wonder we had political upheaval in this country after that happened. So every step from that chain from toxic mortgages to securities that nobody understood to Credit Rating agencies doing an awful job in evaluating those securities to fannie mae and freddie mac acting irresponsibly to regulators being asleep at the switch, doddfrank addressed every element of that set of problems which combined to devastate the American Economy and to hurt American Families. Did it do it perfectly . Of course it didnt do it perfectly. We were legislating under conditions of great fear, of heightened emotions and at the end of the day we are mortgagals addressing very mortals addressing very, very complicated issues. But it was a good faith effort to address what had clearly caused this problem, this notion that the republicans are peddling that it was caused by washingtons dumb regulations is beyond insane. Doddfrank addressed the problems. So what happened . We were told that doddfrank would be a job killer. This is back in 2010 when anything that the thendemocratic congress did was going to be a job killer. The Affordable Care act has provided health insurance. That was going to be a job killer. Doddfrank was going to be a job killer. Everything was going to be a job killer. When we turned the lights on in this room, it was a job killer. You dont hear that much anymore because since those fantastic descriptions of jobkilling legislation, we added 13 million jobs to the economy. The Unemployment Rate today is is as low as it was before the meltdown in 2008. The stock market has doubled since then. Business confidence is up. Business investment is up. Our Capital Markets are healthy. So this idea that it was going to be job killing was just flat out wrong. Certainly compared to the crisis, which was the true job killer. The other accusation that was made was that doddfrank was going to crush credit markets, that the sources of financing that a family needs to buy a home or to send a child to college, the sources of financing that give rise to Startup Companies Companies Like google, venture capital, the stock market that gives equity to our businesses to grow and expand, those were going away because of doddfrank. The criticisms leveled and the predictions made about the credit markets were apocalyptic. Lets look at what happened. I assembled a little bit of the data here just to show what has happened in the credit markets. We all love venture capital. That iconic image of the entrepreneurs in the garage developing a product that grows into a multibillion dollar corporation, that changes our lives, venture capital. Heres the line. Venture capital at the start of doddfrank, and today. That is a line running up and to the right. Lets look at total consumer credit. Consumer credit, you want to buy a car a television set, consumer credit, we all use it. Start of doddfrank five years ago, today. A dramatic increase in consumer credit. Stock market. The stock market is where established companies go to raise money and where we put money hoping it will grow. What has happened there . A near doubling of the stock market. Robust. Commercial and industrial loans. What if you are a business and dont want to raise money in the stock market but want to borrow money, commercial and industrial loans. Every and each of these lines and how healthy they are running at the point in time when doddfrank was started, to today running strongly upwards. All of those crist simms it was going to critsisms, it was going to crush it. Lets spend a minute, mr. Speaker, in what was actually doddfrank because this is pretty complicated stuff. What was in doddfrank were a couple of important ideas that we should have something called a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau that says to Credit Card Companies no, you cant switch the order of a purchase to make it look like somebody overdrew an account or spent too much money so you can charge a 25 fee. That said to mortgage brokers, no, you cant put someone in the an inappropriately or highcost mortgage just because you make more money for doing so. Mr. Speaker, we have standards in our country. You cant buy a toaster that will burn down your house. You cant buy a car that will explode when you turn on the ignition. That happens because we have minimum safety standards. If you cant buy a toaster that will burn down your house, why should you be allowed to be sold a mortgage that will cause you to lose your house . Thats what the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau does and has returned millions of dollars to the American Public as a result of telling those cheats, those people who would prey on the American People, that you cant do it anymore. If you do it we are going to shut you down and give money back. That is what the bureau is doing today. Second important thing that doddfrank say that for the first time maybe we ought to regulate this Derivatives Market. It is a complicated financial instrument, most americans dont use them directly and dont necessarily know what they are do. They are essentially bets, and thats ok. If you want to bet that oil prices are going to go up or down because you use oil you ought to take that bet to hedge your risk. Thats ok. But in the early 2000s the Derivatives Market had become a betting game who wanted to roll the dice on the Mortgage Market or on the direction of Corporate Credit or on the stock market. You can take any bet. You could place that bet and off you went. And thats what brought down what was otherwise an iconic American Insurance Company a. I. G. This was truly a storied Insurance Company that got into the derivatives business and touched off the crisis. And shockingly, by law the Derivatives Market, even though its more complicated and larger than the stock market, by law, was not regulated. When you wanted to buy or sell a derivative, you picked up the phone and called your broker and did the deal. That doesnt happen in the stock market. You go through a broker, the s. E. C. Looks over the shoulder of the market to make sure it operates. By law the Derivatives Market was unregulated and doddfrank says it does not make sense and said if you are going to trader i have vatives, you are going to do it over an exchange, the way we trade stocks. If you are going to trader i have vatives, especially risky ones. You are going to put up capital so if you lose, you are going to pay it off. A. I. G. Took bets and had no ability to pay them off. Who lent them money . Banks and brokerages. There was no money coming to them, thats when we got into real trouble. So we said, crazy as it may sound a market as complicated as large as the Derivatives Market ought to be subject to the same standards that the stock market. Doddfrank said, we ought to actually have a Mortgage Market that is a little friendlier to the American People, because for most americans, the savings that they have is in their homes. For generations, until 2008, generaly home prices have gone up. Not making a lot of extra money. So the growth and the value of their home was the way you amassed a northwest nest egg and yet by 2008, that had become yet another dangerous casino. It was true at the time, though its not true anymore, that a broker could sell a mortgage to a family that was a lot more expensive and a lot riskier than it needed to be because that broker could get paid more in commission for selling that more complicated more risky mortgage than that broker would get paid for selling a plain vanilla mortgage. Those days are gone. And thats a very, very good thing for the American People. Homes are where people, most people have their savings. Thats what doddfrank was. My friends on the republican side who have these incredible statements like the financial crisis was caused by washingtons dumb regulations, failed to see that doddfrank was actually a proportionate and targeted response to a devastating financial crisis that had real impact on an awful lot of families. Im sorry about that. Doddfrank is not perfect. There are clearly issues around some things like fannie may and freddie mac. Today, the vast mortgages are backstopped by the federal government because we didnt reform on freddie mae and fannie mack. And the republicans have been controlling this chamber. We should take that up. Im very proud to be along with congressman delaney and congressman carney, sponsor of legislation that would do just that. There is still difficulty for americans who should probably qualify for getting that mortgage in getting that mortgage. They swung the pendulum a little far. At the core of the crisis in 2008 where mortgages that a lot of people shouldnt have been, an overcommitment to make every american a homeowner, to have complicated mortgages. So carefully, we ought to look at what is happening. There are more technical issues. There is there are questions about whether there is enough liquidity in the mechanisms, particularly bonds that Companies Use to finance themselves. There are fair questions about whether we have adequately dealt with the question of too big to fail. Doddfrank certainly put profound strictures on large institutions and gave the government Unprecedented Authority to look into the too big to fail institutions and say, you have to shrink down and put Additional Capital and the Federal Reserve announced the Additional Capital that large institutions will be required to set aside but its a fair debate as to whether or not we have truly dealt with the question of too big to fail. And this is the rub. As long as the discussion we have about doddfrank is a near religious discussion with my friends in the Republican Party making statements like, dodd frank should be repealed, doddfrank leaves america less stable, less prosperous and less free and yes, sir frankly, as long as the democrats dont open the door to the notion that we may not have gotten it perfectly right, we wont be able to come together to do something which is essential in any piece of legislation, but particularly in financial regulation, which is to adapt and allow the regulatory structure to change to reflect changing conditions. There are very few markets as adaptive that change more rapidly that innovate for good and for ill as rapidly as the Financial Services market. As a result, we need a regulatory apparatus that adapts with the market that looks for new threats and the regulation of 40 years ago doesnt make a lot of sense today. And yet this near religious conflict that we have with the republicans saying you ought to do away with the whole darn thing. They say that but never brought legislation to repeal doddfrank which would cause you to ask them how serious they are about repealing it, repeal or dont change a word of this legislation, we give up the opportunity to make it better and to make it change with the underlying conditions that it seeks to regulate. Thats where we need to go. We need to acknowledge that doddfrank has done some very, very good things. It has addressed some catastrophic problems. That it took on behavior that is embarrassing to contemplate looking back five, 10 years, and start that conversation. We should do that to make sure that American Families are never put in the position they were put in back in 2009. We should do that because the truth that the Financial Services industry is crucial to prosperity in this country, if you want to buy a house, educate a child buy a car, start a company, grow a company, you have to have access to capital. And one of the competitive advantages of this country is liquid and efficient Capital Markets. Its a big part why we are as prosperous as we are today. If we cant acknowledge that the regulatory structure has to adapt and change we risk either putting americans at risk one more time or damaging these incredible Capital Markets that are truly a National Competitive advantage of the United States. One of the reasons we are the center of innovation on the planet. I think, mr. Speaker, we can get that balance right. We just need to take the temperature down, approach this from the standpoint of what makes sense, acknowledge that we all have good ideas, and move forward, so we remain innovative and keep our competitive advantages but never ever allow the American People to suffer the way they did starting in 2008. So looking back over five years doddfrank addressed a cataclysmic problem but it doesnt stop there. And i urge my colleagues to recognize that weve taken a very big step in the right direction, but the next step demands us to be constructive and remember that we can find a balance between innovation and liquid and strong Capital Markets and the protection of our constituents. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Under the speakers announced policy of january 6, 2015 the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas mr. Gohmert, for 30 minutes. Mr. Gohmert thanks mr. Speaker. We had a statement from the white house spokesman yesterday at the White House Press briefing in which he had said, quote, that the republicans have no one to blame but themselves. So mr. Speaker i thought it would be helpful if we looked at the statements he made about the vast amount of crime in america disproportionately being committed by people who are illegally in the United States. First and this is in quotes, the white house spokesman said, quote, it included and hes talking about the president s bill and how if the house had passed that, then all our problems are over. And he said about the president s bill, quote, it included an historic investment in border security. Well, let me help. Obviously hes just not up on what the law said. He hadnt read it, as i had, but what it did is it set forward a plan to have a plan made by Homeland Security within so many months. Its been a good while since i looked at it, but they had all kinds of time to put together a plan and then that would be looked at by Government Accountability office, the government accounting office, as i recall, and then theyd have so much time, a vast amount of time to analyze that to see if the Situational Awareness and occupational control would be adequate under the plan that was being proposed by Homeland Security the very people that have not secured the borders so far. And then as time went on, i believe at the end of five years it got really serious. If the border occupational control and Situational Awareness were not adequate, then there was a real tough penalty. And that was that the i believe it was secretary of Homeland Security had to give a report on why it was not adequately controlled. Look. The senate bill was a disaster. It did nothing to control our border. It was the same kind of gobbledygook we have been dealing with from the white house. And we have said consistently as republicans in this house, most of us, if the president will secure the border, we will pass an immigration bill that takes care of Everything Else. Its pretty basic. Secure the border. Then, we will deal with the people who are here illegally. Until the border is secured, then youre going to keep having people like Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez coming back across. So it wont matter how expansive a bill is and how much Situational Awareness there is on our borders or in our country. It wont matter because people like mr. Lopez sanchez will keep coming back. We got to have border security. Thats all there is to it. Once the border is secure, we can work Everything Else out, and i pointed out many times what i learned on the border, what i heard repeatedly from our immigration officers our border patrolmen that theyre not allowed to properly secure the border. And we had this massive influx of people coming in and apparently its expected to grow some more again this year, but were not securing the border. We let them come in. And once theyre on our side of the border then we go ahead and ship them off. This has been going on for sometime. One of the border patrolmen told me among the drug cartels and the gangs in mexico that Homeland Security department is called logistics after the commercial forget if its fedex u. P. S. Hey were the logistics. We you get us your package and then we get it wherever you want it to go. I ask just in the last i asked just in the last couple of weeks the director of Homeland Security or the secretary, rather, are you still shipping people all over the place . Didnt get an adequate answer. Im afraid the answer is, theres still the logistics. We come we wont stop you at the border, you know, if you come across the river. We arent going to have people out there at the river to stop you from coming onto the United States property. No. Were going to let you get onto the United States property and then were going to take you where you need to go. You may have to stay in a facility here, there, beyond. Thats the kind of thing that was going on that was luring more and more people. And as the border patrolmen multiple told me chris crane testified himself, every time somebody in washington talks about amnesty, talks about legalizing people that are here, it becomes a massive draw, a lure to people to come into this country illegally. That lures people to their deaths. It lures young girls into situations where they are being sex slaves, were told that the sex trafficking is horrendous and that young girls coming up here are often raped on the way by the gangs bringing them. As one border patrolman said, since he was spanish he spoke spanish, he asked the question that was required to ask, why did you come to america, and 90 of the time they said, to get away from gang violence, and he said, hey, some gringo may accept that but you and i know you paid some gang to bring you up here. So dont be telling me you came to get away from the gangs. You used the gang to come here. And 90 of the time the responses were, yeah, thats true. But were told to say were getting away from gang violence. Well, mr. The spokesperson for the white house also said about the president s bill, the senate bill rather, it would also have ramped up interior enforcement of immigration laws against dangerous individuals unquote. Well Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchezs case, the immigration laws were being enforced to some extent, not completely, but to some extent. He had been to prison a number of times. He violated the immigration laws and had illegal reentry been deported five times. So at least on five occasions the interior enforcement was happening. The issue was that the bureau of prisons released him to a sanctuary city of San Francisco and not to i. C. E. , and San Francisco released him then to walk freely. So even we followed the white house advice and ramped up interior enforcement, which clearly this administration has no intention whatsoever of doing and i have stories to back that up shortly then that would not have changed in all likelihood the outcome of that case. For those who are attempted to say, youre making a big deal about one case where a sweet young daughter was shot dead by somebody deported five times a criminal a felon multiple time felon, but its not that big of deal. Well it is a big deal, and just recently we had an article 7th of july this year written by carolyn may. Headline, Illegal Immigrants accounted for nearly 37 of federal sentences in fiscal year 2014. According to fiscal year 2014, ussc data of 74,911 sentencing cases, citizens amounted for 43479 54 . Illegal immigrants accounted for 27,505, or 36. 7 . And legal immigrants made up for 4 of those sentences. As far as Drug Trafficking Illegal Immigrants represented 68. 8 of all Drug Trafficking cases. They represented 20 of the kidnapping and hostage taking cases. They represented 74 of the drug possession cases. 12. 3 of Money Laundering cases. And 12 of murder convictions. All the federal murder convictions in america, 12 would not have happened. Since this president has taken office there are thousands of people who would not have been murdered if we enforced our immigration laws and had a secured border. Its not just this precious girl in San Francisco. Its not a race issue. There are hispanics being killed there are hispanics being taken hostage, there are hispanics being raped. There are whites, blacks, asians, you name it. They are victims of illegal immigrant criminal activity. It is absolutely outrageous for anyone in a government position to belittle thousands of people being murdered, raped kidnapped , and be so cavalier about it. The white house says, well, the bill they were plugging for would have enhanced penalties for repeat immigration violators with sentences up to 20 years for certain aliens quicked of felonies. Look this there were laws in place. They were violated. Hed gone prison. Until you secure the border, people like mr. Lopez sanchez are going to keep coming back. You have to secure the border. He also said it would have encreased penalties for passport and immigration document trafficking and fraud. Yeah, like that would have stopped him. He came back across illegally five times. It wasnt a passport issue. Its pretty dramatic what kinds of things have occurred. I also filed a bill today, got some cosponsor, regarding the district of columbia. The district of columbia, by authority of the constitution that was empowered to congress, we set up local control and so some would say well, wait a minute. If youre trying to punish a sang ware city like the district of columbia, the only real federal city in the country, the only real city under congressional constitutional control, why dont you just leave it to the locals. Well, we did. The local officials allowed it to become a sang ware city that was not enforcing the law. So the bill passed today wasnt near as tough as i felt like it should have been. Wasnt near as tough of a bill as the king amendment had been that we previously passed with plenty of votes. We could have passed again today. But thats not the bill that was brought. But it was a good first step. It is a step in the right direction. Thats why i ended up voting for it. Even though it wasnt as strong as the original king amendment. So it is important to avoid having kang wares refuges for people who are felons like having sang wares refuges for people who are felons. Then we have this story, july 22, elizabeth harrington, points out that the Obama Administration, not only are they not planning on enforces enforcing the law despite all the hogwash coming out of the White House Press room, not only are they not going to enforce the law, heres whats coming out. The oarticle points out, the Obama Administration is moving forward with plans to expand a Waiver Program that will allow additional illegal aliens to remain in the country rather than apply for legal status from abroad. The department of Homeland Security issued a proposed rule on tuesday that would make changes to a Waiver Program created by president Barack Obamas executive action on immigration in 2013. Unconstitutional as it was. The action created a waiver that primarily allowed Illegal Immigrants with a u. S. Spouse or student to save but this new rule expands eligibility to a host of other cat gores of illegal aliens. Jessica druwan, director at the center for international study, said its very bad. It makes it possible for illegal aliens to avoid conditions quenses of coming here illegally and adjusting the status by green card. She said it would increase fraud. Its a slap in the face to the many legal immigrants who abide by the law, follow the process, and wait their turn. She said. In addition it will increase the likelihood of fraud in the marriage category which is produce tens of thousands of new green cards each year. The president should not be issuing executive actions that serve only to expedite the legalization process for those who have ignored our laws. This legalization gimmick is unminds undermining the integrity of our Legal Immigration system and congress should take steps to block it. The public has 60 days to comment on the new proposal. It appears to be yet another unconstitutional act by our president , still seeming to thumb their nose at the judge in south texas that put a injunction on the last amnesty issued by the president system of were just going to keep going, apparently. This article by Julia Preston has a title from the new york times, most undocumented immigrants will stay under obamas new policies, the report said. Under new Immigration Enforcement programs the obama admgs put into place across the country, the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants, up to 87 , would not be the focus of deportation operations and would have a degree of protection to remain in the United States, according to a report published thursday by the migration policy institute. The report found that about 13 of an estimated 11 Million Immigrants without papers or 1. 4 Million People have criminal records or recently crossed the border illegally making them priorities for deportation under the guidelines the administration announced in november. So makes it very clear theres so much disingenuity coming out of the white house, oh, yes, if we had passed this ridiculous bill that the senate passed, that really wasnt going to address the issue of enforcement adequately, we were going to have studies and plans and if it didnt all work in five years, heck, well let the secretary give us a report on why it didnt all work. Its absurd. Secure the border. Its very basic. The president has the power. Hes got the money. They just blew off the 4 million virtual fence a few years ago that we had appropriated money for. What are they doing with that money . Why havent they secured the board we are that . They could do it. And just when you think news about people acting illegally and being given amnesty couldnt get much worse, story by steven green july 20 p. J. Media said iranian worshipers chant slogans during their friday Prayer Services at the Tehran University campus in tehran, iran, friday. The main Prayer Service in the iranian capital has been interrupted by repeated chants of death to america, despite this weeks landmark nuclear deal with world powers that was welcomed by authorities in tehran. But the devastating revelation from Mitch Ginsburg and the times of israel, was that mustaba adoradi arrested in california for attempting to acquire weapons for Irans Nuclear program, was released back in april due to back channel talks. The contacts mediated in oman for years by close colleagues of the sultan have seen a series of u. S. Iran prisoner releases, not exchanges but releases, and there may be more to come. Its incredible. Were told they have seen the deal. Oh, yeah, there were parts like the iaea has to work out a side deal we dont see here in congress. But its a good deal. And lest i forget my friend that spoke last from the other side of the aisle was talking about how great the doddfrank bill is, let me say quickly about that the dothfrank bill that was passed supposedly to punish these evil investment banks in on wall street, what has it really done . It has punished the Community Banks that didnt do anything wrong. They werent invested in Mortgage Backed securities. They werent doing all kinds of machinations to try to create new forms of legalized gambling on wall street. They werent engaged in that. Yet doddfrank has so punished Community Banks that every month, there are fewer commun theyre getting gobbled up by the guys that caused the problems. Thats what doddfrank did. It added so much expense and burden on the local bank that it and provided a lot of benefits to the biggest banks, theyre the ones that could absorb the parts of the law were losing banks constantly. And so as far as the great Economic News well, we know we have at least 93plus Million People for the first time in our history, 94 million, maybe now, that have given up looking for jobs. Never gotten that high before. Got close once before i think under carter but never got this high before. People have given up looking for jobs. Youve got more on food stamps than ever before. Is that really something to be proud of . It is if you want indentured servitude of the people of the United States. The middle class, we hear now recently is growing smaller they feel grap between the the gap between the ultra rich and the poor is growing bigger under this president s redistribution model because it doesnt work. And the most troubling economic statistic that anybody should have been seeing over the last few years, last two years, came out in 2013 that under president obama, for the first time in american history, ever, 95 of all of the income went to the top 1 income earners. And at first i was it still bothers me greatly but i read actually that even as much since the top 1 making 95 of all the income, it was Slower Growth to them than in the last two expansions. So really it wasnt that great of news for them. Well, its not good for america when 95 of the income is made by the top 1 . But its just this wink and a nod with wall street from this administration, were going to call you fat cats, were going to punish you, were going to hit you with doddfrank. What happens . You kill the smaller banks, hurt the middle class, overburden the middle class, you make it more difficult for them to live, more people end up on food stamps, its a disaster and thats why it was no surprise in the last couple of days when we saw a report that there is a great majority of americans who feel like this president has hurt the economy more than hes helped it. I dont know that thats true but i do know that more people, according to the poll, are saying that. So Capital Markets, wall street, theyve done well. Yeah, thats what happens when we create more money than at any time in american history. Were creating money. Notice mr. Speaker, im saying creating money, because i learned it was improper to say were print manager money than ever before. I was told by someone with the fed, some years back, when i said how much more money are we printing than weve ever printed. Oh none, really. But theres more money in the system. Oh yeah, we couldnt possibly print all the money were creating. Are you kidding me . Were just adding numbers. Were not even boston toring print it anymore. Were increasing money so fast. It is an outrage what has happened and the bottom line is, americans are suffering, government has does not make things better. Its better when they get a job not more food stamps. Its time that we knock doddfrank down to size where it does deal with the investment banks that cause the problem of that caused the problem of 2008 and doesnt punish the banks that didnt get us in that trouble. But in the time i have left, ive just got to go back to this horrendous iranian deal. It is putting the United States and all freedom loving people at risk. Iran cannot be trusted. And im still concerned about language that might like if you say in a bill, or in the iran agreement, oh, yeah, you cant use icbms or develop them for eight years, or at the broader conclusion of the iaea that Nuclear Material is being used for peaceful purchases, whichever is earlier that concerns me about the eightyear requirement. Is it really an eightyear requirement . Seriously . I mean, what does that mean . I went down and cleared that that was not classified so i could speak of that. There are a few places where ive seen that that language, the broader conclusion by the iaea, holy cow, thats completely out of our control. And thats one of the time deadlines that some of the important timing can be. Iran continues to make clear, as this story from july 12 from adam credo says, that irans saying we will trample upon america. The iranian cleric ayatollah muhammad ali who was hand picked by the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader to deliver the prayers, delivered a message of hostility to the United States in the First Official remarks since a final nucleardale was signed between Iran Nuclear Deal was signed between iran and world powers in vienna last week. Analysts who spoke with the Washington Free beacon about the antiamerican tone of last weeks prayers said it is a sign tehran believes it bested the United States in the talks. You think . The article further down says irans defense minister on monday said the deal will also prohibit all foreigners from inspecting irans quote, defensive and missile capabilities, unquote, at sensitive military sites. Look, you dont have to be you dont have to have my s. A. T. Scores to know theyre going to be classifying as many sites as they can. As defensive sites that we cannot have inspected. So its time to say no to the deal. Americans need to rise up and demand it. And lets crush the iranian deal before iran crushes israel and the great satan, the United States. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek reck fligs . Recognition . Mr. Gohmert i move that we do now hereby adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly, the house stands adjourned until noon on monday next for morning hour debate. Speaker boehner if the president would work with us, we would get a lot more done. This week we passed an energy bill that the president threatened to veto to protect e. P. A. s power and were finalizing a defense bill that the president threatened to veto to protect his plan to bring terrorists to american soil. On benghazi, the select committee continues its efforts to hold the administration accountable. By refusing to comply with all relevant requests for documents, secretary clinton and the state department are actually prolonging this investigation. Because the state department, their refusal to comply, the committee has called secretary kerrys chief of staff to testify next week. Four americans lost their lives in this terrorist attack. Their families and fellow citizens deserve to see all of the facts. Its not too much to ask nor frankly, is it too much to expect from our government. On iran, weve come to learn about two secret side deals regarding the regimes nuclear program. These pertain to key issues such as irans past Nuclear Activities and access to the military facility. Congress and the American People have a right and an obligation to review these ideals. Well be sending a letter to the president asking his administration to make sure that those documents are available for congress and the American People to review. One way we know that this is a bad deal is because the more we learn, the more questions we have. Is america safer with a deal that provides the worlds biggest state sponsor of terror with more than 100 billion in cash. Is america safer with a deal that allow ice ran to evade inspectors for at least 24 days and possibly longer . Is america safer when the with a deal to lift the embargo on Ballistic Missiles . And is america safer with a deal where after 10 years, iran will have an industrialized nuclear program. Will america be safer . If theres even a question, i think its a bad deal. Lastly a recent shooting of a young woman in california highlights a serious problem in our Immigration Enforcement system. Because while terrible people do terrible things this tragedy was preventable. And the fact is, some city december side to ignore our laws and not only is that wrong, but its clearly dangerous as well. The house is acting today to put state and local officials on notice that well no longer allow them to decide how and when to enforce our nations laws. I call upon the Obama Administration to follow suit and stop covering up for these sang ware sanctuary cities and enforce the laws that are there to protect the American People. What do you it could blow up this edeal and theres a history of other times when there are side agreements. There is precedence. Speaker boehner when you look at the iran review act, it requires the administration to turn over all of the documents pertaining to the agreement. In my view that would include these documents as well. Without the support of democrats, what can you really do to block the iran deal . Speaker boehner i think theres a lot of tools at our disposal. Clearly, first of all, this is going to be on a review of the deal and a vote that i expect will occur in september. Thats what kind of tools can you use . They said they can stop the a veto proof majority. Speaker boehner they say they can. Will that law Fund Planned Parenthood . Speaker boehner the planned parenthood issue is under review by two of our committees. Ive seen these two videos. Theyre groosm. I think theyre awful. Theyre gruesome. I think theyre awful. Thats why the committees are doing an investigation. I expect we will have hearings and the more we learn, the more it will educate our decisions in the future. Mr. Speaker House Democrats today passed legislation called the equality act to amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination against lgbt people. Would you support this . Speaker boehner i havent seen details of this but ill take a look at it. Theres an act called the donald trump act. What do you think about that . Speaker boehner we have a horrible tragedy that was preventable. Cities do not have the right to ignore federal law that require them to incarcerate people who commit serious felonies. Regarding the appropriations process, when the senate was taken by republicans, you went out of your way to say there wasnt going to be a shutdown or a debt ceiling fight yet we seem to be heading toward the possibility of those two things by the end of the year. Speaker boehner no, were not. What are your plans in terms of the c. R. . For how long and what levels . Assuming youd want to do a c. R. . Speaker boehner well see. With what you know at this point are you going to use the appropriations process to gut planned parenthood funding . Speaker boehner theres an investigation under way and i expect that there will be hearings. And after that process develops well make decisions based on the facts. But lets get the facts first. Can you go become to september 30 and give us any hint of how the appropriation process might be able to avoid a shutdown . Speaker boehner the democrats in the senate have blocked any appropriations from coming to the senate floor. And while weve done 6 7 8 of our Appropriations Bills, its pretty clear, given the number of days were going here in september, well have to do a c. R. Of some sort. But no decision has been made about that. Well do well deal with it in september when we get back. Did the republicans do their Due Diligence on the iran deal or have you opposed this just from the start . Speaker boehner ive voiced my concerns about these discussions for over a year. The administration een the administrations own guidelines they pointed out as they were going into these negotiations. Theyve violated every one of their own guidelines. I just dont see how this does anything to keep americans safer. Should the senate pass a highway bill, what happens next when it comes to the house . Will the house take it up . Speaker boehner the house has pass as responsible bill to fund our Highway Program for the next five months. Theres a lot of concern being raised by our Committee Chairman and others about the policy thats contained in the bill the senate is considering. We dont know what that bill is going to look like until they pass it and until they do i think ill reserve judgment on how well proceed. Thanks. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also held her Weekly Briefing with he reportest. She discusses the Iranian Nuclear agreement and the plcy concerning sanctuary cities. Ms. Pelosi the agreements that have been reached, im proud of our members in terms of the thoughtful approach and serious approach they had taken to seeking information, or not even seeking it but the administration has provided. Yesterday we were briefed by three secretaries, secretary of the treasury, secretary of state, and the secretary of energy as well as representative of the intelligence community. Information, education secondly, validation. Last week, 100 democratic and Republican Former ambassadors came out in support of the bill. This week, over 50 over 60 National Security leaders in our community democrats, republicans people not identified by party at all came out in strong support of it. In their letter, they say we congratulate president obama and the negotiators for a landmark agreement unprecedented in this important and its important for preventing the acquisition of Nuclear Weapons by iran. We have also not heard any viable alternatives from those who oppose the implementation of the jcpoa. Thats signed Madeleine Albright brent scowcroft, and a wide range of advisors in between. This intensifies our vigilance over every aspect of our of the iranian knew leer program and all options remain on the table should this not go forward or mor importantly should they not comply. But again we, in terms of information, were getting it, validation its there. Outside sentiment is very positive. Of course well be facing tens of millions of dollars of mobilization against the agreement over the august break or even starting now. But i feel confident in the mobilization of the American People who support this agreement. Today, as you know, on the floor of the house we have a bill that affects sanctuary cities. Its a bill the administration has issued a veto threat on, saying the bill undermines Current Administration efforts to remove the most dangerous convicted criminals and to work collaboratively with state and local Law Enforcement agencies and threatens the civil rights of all americans. This really this is a really inappropriate attempt to address a very serious situation, a sad situation that happened in my city of San Francisco. Our thoughts and prayers of course are with the family. The Republican Congress, though, should not use this and blur the distinction between what happened there, which was a tragedy and must be addressed and sanctuary cities and their purpose. As you know, the Republican Congress almost shut down government because they didnt want to fund the department of Homeland Security. Theres no clear theres one clear solution to these problems pass comprehensive immigration reform. I want to pay special tribute to my colleague, congresswoman zoe lofgren who is an expert on these issues. Shes been an immigration attorney, shes taught immigration law, shes tchared Immigration Committee and shes a strong, strong supporter of protecting the American People. Well see what happens in the debate today theyre debating the rule right now so i may have to lee momentarily. The clock is ticking, time is running out on the highway trust fund. This clock is running out on the exim bank, it already ran out in terms of money and now it will run out in terms of authority by the end of this month. Last week, we sent the house sent to the senate a fivemonth bill to extend the trust fund and to reauthorize the exim bank. Our thought was and hope was that the senate would send that bill back to us but our bill did not address the exim bill. Our hope was that the senate would put the exim bank on our bill and send it back over to us. Insed instead theyre saying it would have to be on a longterm bill cannot possibly be finished by the 31st of july when the authorization runs out. We hope that they would follow the path we set here in a bipartisan way from the house to the senate, even though were reluctant to support another shortterm bill. But the fact is, july 31 is fast upon us. I believe the seekers wish was not to have this take five months to do but that we could do a bill in a shorter period of time, two or three months and i would hope that the senate would recognize that and send us this bill. As they proceed to pass or not, their own longterm bill which we would then go to conference on. So there we are on that. The president has proposed the grow america act a sixyear bill, its robust its paid for. Its exactly what this country needs. I hope that whatever we did was more looked more like the president s proposal even if we cant go that far but has that robustness and that strength to crow ate jobs, to grow the economy, to reduce the deficit, to improve the quality of our air the pace of our commerce, to take to and from work, to and from market, products. From the field to the marketplace. Some of it destinned to abroad. This is really important to our economy. In addition to which, the American Society of Civil Engineers has given us all kinds of failing grades on how we maintain our infrastructure and also has said that were in a deficit of trillions of dollars. Theres a way to address this. We dont have appropriated funds to the tune of 1 trillion but we can repatriate some money. We can have an infrastructure bank. We can leverage the money we do have to do much more. We know one thing for sure. No maintenance is the most expensive maintenance as we see with our crumbling bridges roads, and transit systems. Id be pleased to take any questions. Im trying to mix it up for people who didnt ask last week to have a question. So no other questions . Ok, you go and then well come back. Sounds like youre opposed to the sixyear senate bill. This is not just a mcconnel bill ms. Pelosi i didnt say im opposed to it. I said its not going to be done by the end of next week. So lets deal with it. Excuse me. We dont know what it is, theyre in the process of amendments today. I commend senator boxer she has many good things in the legislation that ive seen so far but theyre going through the process of amendment. I dont like several of the payfors in the bill, starting with using Social Security to pay for roads. But if we cannot apparently they pulled that out last night. Ms. Pelosi that was the rumor that it would be pulled out, well see. But theyll pass a bill well pass a bill and well go to conference. Perhaps we can go to conference with our i think we would want to go to conference with something stronger than our fivemonth bill. This is going to take some time. Thats why were just say, lets take the time, lets get the job done but in the meantime dont let the trust fund run out and dont let the exim bank expire. Are you aware of the tens of bolves dollars being spent in research what do you say to your members in terms of holding tirm firm . You took a lot of heat on the Health Care Bill. It what is your message to them in this august recess in the face of the adversity theyre going to encount her ms. Pelosi i dont stipulate that the Health Care Bill is why we didnt win in 2010. There were many things that relate to, we saved the country, passing the tarp bill, probably one of the most unpopular bills i had to convince members to vote for and the republicans took a walk from their own president on that legislation. But the members are going to do what they believe and thats why we want them to have the information, all the information that they require and the administration is endless and downless in its interest in supplying that information. As i held up last week, the agreement is not a long one but there are some other and the annexes are not that long. But there are other documents that are classified that were encouraging members to read. Today we have a meeting with a couple of secretaries, secretary of state and interior, for two, so members can ask direct questions. Im proud of the thoughtfulness and seriousness that members are bringing to this. I would caution anyone to whatever anybody outside and i know people want to consult with their constituents and families and advisors, and thats admifferable. But at the end of the day, its their vote. Members votes. And members have to vote what they believe. Nobody makes you do it. You cant say somebody made me do it on an issue of this magnitude. How did those Security Leaders characterize it . They said a landmark agreement, unprecedented in its importance, presented the acquisition of a Nuclear Weapon by iran. So members will be responsible for their vote. I cautioned that on the vote on iraq. Ats the time, as the senior democrat on the intelligence committee, i said, the intelligence does not support the threat. Overwhelmingly, democrats voted dwebs the war in iraq. Those who voted for it had a lot of explaining to do later and now hopefully were past that. But study the information. Review the validation on either side of the issue. Understand what the decision is. And make a vote. Im proud of the time, attention and seriousness that members are bringing to us. One of the criticisms by opponents of the bill is the agreement is it doesnt do anything to change irans support of crism. By lifting sanctions money might be flowing in to allow them to continue along that path and even expand it. Is that a legitimate complaint . Ms. Pelosi the money is their banks, not all the banks in the United States, there are foreign banks. The secretary, i dont know if i can go into what he told us about let me find out what i can say about that. I heard it in a classified setting. It may not be classified but i heard it in a classified setting. The iranian americans that i hear from, large numbers in california, the largest number of immigrant into our state are iranian, or was until recently anyway, may be still the same. What theyre saying is that people keep thinking that two options are bomb iran or let iran have the bomb. But we believe theres another path. That path is about a nuclear, excuse me a nonnuclear, secular, democratic iran. And many of those people, they have no trust for the government of iran. Dont get me wrong. I told you last week, its distrust and verify. This is not any compliments to the government of iran but a compliment to the people of iran that but we have this agreement that takes us down the road a decade or more for stopping iran to have increase its Nuclear Weapon capability that in the mentime we can move to a different iran. We dont know if that will happen. But thats the aspiration people have and the choice shouldnt be, do we bomb or do they get a bomb . Theyre a threshold country. Theyre on the verge of having a bomb. We have stopped that for a while with negotiations. We can continue to stop it with an agreement and as these leaders also said we have not heard any viable alternatives to those from those who oppose the implementation of the jcpoa. By the way, i refer this letter to you i dont have the names on it, but they are readily available, a range of National Security leaders in our country who support the agreement. The activities of iran, let me find out what i can say but the activities in iran let me put it this way. The hundred billion dollars which irans assets held in foreign banks are, some of it are is some of the money is accounted for in other ways. Its a lower figure and some of it is desperately needed in iran. So they have their own domestic challenges to how theyre going to spend whatever money they get. Whether to grow their own economy or to support terrorism. But i think that that is a very legitimate question people want to know. How far can they go on this as we know, republicans have had prolife in their sights. Theyre threatening to add to the highway bill. Do you view this threat as having any more threats to deFund Planned Parenthood . Ms. Pelosi they have been after planned parenthood for as long as i can remember. I was a top democrat on the foreign operations committee, which funds foreign assistance and cooperation and has always had a debate in that committee about the gag rule, how we support Family Planning throughout the rest of the world and what is allows and what allowed and what is prohibited. They have on that committee been after planned parenthood for a long time. Planned parenthood has as its top priority Womens Health. Thats what they have always been about. Part of it is and Womens Health does include reproductive health. But its about breast cancer, cervical cancer, testing and services to women. Its a very, very important part of the lives of many women in america. The for some reason, the republicans have had this in their sites, to use your expression, i dont like it, but for a very long time. To the point where people recall one of their first actions was a threat to shut down government rather than Fund Planned Parenthood. Shut down government rather than Fund Planned Parenthood. Again, this is about Womens Health. The planned parenthood has said they have done nothing illegal. They do not ever charge which would be illegal, for fetal tissue. That theyve only defray the cost of mailing to someone which is which is not breaking the law. I support what my colleagues are doing, to say, everybody is calling for an investigation. Lets have an investigation of those people who were trying to ensnare planned parenthood in a controversy that doesnt exist and just look at the disparities which some of our members have between the actual film and the edited versions of these that other people have put out system of again, no, i dont think this puts it in a different place. I think its just a continuation. This has been going on for a long time. Has been going on for a long time on the part of this outside group. But Womens Health is what is at stake and planned parenthood is an important part of promoting Womens Health in our country. With the end of the fiscal year approaching, to what extent, what are you at at this point if youve prouth abit at all in terms of a c. R. . In terms of length and whether it should be at existing funding levels. Ms. Pelosi ive thought about it at all. Thats what we think about almost every day here in our work. As you have seen, we are not taking up any Appropriations Bills this week because they were stopped in their tracks on the issue that related to the confederate flag. But as you also know, we have democrats have voted in numbers to sustain a president ial veto of every one of the Appropriations Bills the republicans have put forth based on the fact that those bills are based on a figure thats unsustainable and for taos meet the needs of the American People. They know, republicans in congress, realize that and know that. Thats why some of them want us to get to the table sooner to have a budget agleement. So that we agreement. So that we can lift the caps, get rid of sequestration, have some resources to pay for that, and to do so before september 30. A c. R. At this rate, and thats what a c. R. Is, a continuing resolution of the budget number of the Previous Year is really a very significant cut in terms of how we meet the needs of the American People, how we defend our country and how we create jobs and produce growth to reduce the deficit. What wed like to do is of course go to the table as soon as possible. Well be out by the end of next week for the house. The senate has another week. I dont know that there are any Appropriations Bills on the agenda but i would hope that on the agenda in dept in september we would go to the table because we only have until september 30 and the fiscal year begins october 1. Perhaps a shortterm c. R. To see us through. But a c. R. Is not is a failure. Its really, nlings its a shortterm to just get unless its a shortterm to just get the details of what will be, but a c. R. Through next year would be a failure. Sanctuary city, i understand the democrats dont support the bill on the floor today. Is there a need for any sort of legislation pertaining to those . I ask because your fellow San Franciscoian, senator feinstein, said recently, that she believes a narrower bill may be in order to address the issue of whether cities can be required to comply with these. Ms. Pelosi the fact that San Francisco is a sanctuary city, and there are many sanctuary citiesmark people live in sanctuary cities across the country, has nothing to do with what happened in San Francisco. The should we take a look, always review what the standard is, for example in this case, having nothing to do why did this did they not hand this other over to i. C. E. Which they have done in the house. A series of events unraffled which was unfortunate and poor judgment was used by the sheriff in the city to not turn him over to i. C. E. The suspect over to i. C. E. I do my own personal belief is that when we examine this and i think the senator, senator fine steyns registration relates to pep and how to increase communication but should there be a way to increase communication among different authorities . Yes. Should there be a review of what constitutes a deportable offense . In other words it says now violent felons. There are lots of misdemeanors that are very violent that wouldnt fall under that category. And there are lots of felonies that arent violent but that are breaking the law in a serious way. So i would say lets review what that standard is. Remembering, of course that also the violence against women act, we have this prosection for immigrant women and thats why i dont have it here but se certainly will be talking about it on the floor well leave the citys well citys Law Enforcement officials across the country are saying, vote no on this bill. It harms their discretion to protect people, to solve crimes, to use their time more effectively to do that and again if youre not familiar with the organizations, i should have brought that. Well put it out. Its overwhelming in opposition to the proposal that is there today. But should we review . Not for the purpose of sanctuary cities but just for the purpose of our policy, in general, what is serious. Multiple arrests in years or a nonviolent felony . We have to have more discussion there i think. And then of course what would solve most of it, no guarantee all of it but to pass comprehensive imgreags reform. What we also have to look at is how did this person come into possession of a gun in a state where his having possession of a gun as a convicted felon would raise serious questions. With that, we have to go to the floor i have to go to the floor because were having debit on the floor now on the rule and late thorne bill. Its a tragic, tragic situation. Our hearts are broken over it. So much heart break so sad what happened in chattanooga. How to you explain that . Again, a person got a gun online. Bought a gun online. Another reason for us to have a serious background check. When youre so close to the incident, our focus is on mourning with the families. As we go forward, as people look at various things whether we should be having arms in Recruitment Centers that policy started under president George Herbert walker bush as you may not recall but can research. Thats up to the military to decide. Is that not heartbreaking that young people who risked their lives in a military theater were not safe at home here . So again our thoughts and prayer we have a lot of thinking and a lot of prayering praying to do around some of the incidents that have happened. Thank you all very much. Oh, at 12 00 well be in the l. B. J. Room to announce our equality act. I hope many of you will join us there, well be house and Senate Leadership and member whors cosponsor of the legislation. Thank you. Members who are cosponsors of the legislation. This afternoon the house of representatives debated legislation to withhold certain federal Law Enforcement grants to sanctuary cities. Those are cities where local police dont enforce immigration laws. The bill passed, 241179. Sanctuary cities act, and commend representative hunter for introducing this legislation. It helps to address one of the main factors contributing to the collapse of Immigration Enforcement in the United States. Sanctuary cities that prohibit their Law Enforcement officers from sharing information with federal immigration authorities to enable the removal of unlawful and criminal aliens. Nearly 20 years ago, congress realized that sanctuary cities were impeding the federal government from enforcing our immigration laws and jeopardizing the safety of our residents, immigrant and nativeborn alike. Legislation cowritten by former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, lamar smith, prohibited states and localities from becoming sanctuaries for unlawful aliens. The ilLegal Immigration reform and immigrant responsibility act of 1996 ensures that jurisdictions cannot prohibit or restrict government officials from sending to or receiving from federal immigration authorities information regarding the immigration status of any person. Unfortunately despite the proliferation of sanctuary jurisdictions, the Justice Department has never initiated a prosecution for violation of the 1996 act. If the administration wont act, congress must, and that is what mr. Hunters bill does. It withholds key federal Law Enforcement grants from sanctuary jurisdictions that violate the 1996 act. Representative hunters legislation will help persuade sanctuary jurisdictions to simply abide by current federal law and in doing so advance public safety. Representative hunters bill is an important first step, but there is much more we will need to do to rebuild Immigration Enforcement in the United States. Once jurisdictions notify d. H. S. Of arrested unlawful and criminal aliens, it is crucial that they hold these aliens for transfer so that d. H. S. Can launch removal proceedings. The center for Immigration Studies has revealed that in the first eight months of 2014, sanctuary cities refused to comply with d. H. S. Detainers for 8,145 aliens. After releasing these aliens, in only an eightmonth period 1,867 were arrested again for a criminal offense. Once again San Franciscos refusal to deal with a detainer resulted in the tragic death of kathryn steinle. That is why it is so important that jurisdictions honor d. H. S. Detainers. In fact, just this morning we held a hearing in the Judiciary Committee where a representative from the steinle family testified. The conclusion of the witness was we need to make Crystal Clear that compliance with i. C. E. Detainers is mandatory yet, this administration openly proclaims that detainers can be ignored and has chosen to dramatically scale back their issuance. This administration has chosen to create enforcementfree zones for millions of unlawful and criminal aliens. It has turned the u. S. Into a sanctuary nation. That is the current reality. Despite d. H. S. s pledge to prioritize the removal of serious criminal aliens in the last year, the number of administrative arrests by criminal aliens has fallen by a third. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to release thousands of criminal aliens onto our streets. 30,558 in 2014 of which another 1,423 have already been convicted of new crimes. There are almost 180,000 convicted criminal aliens currently in removal proceedings living in our neighborhoods and almost 170,000 convicted criminal aliens who have been ordered remove from the country also still living free and causing crimes on our streets. Under the Obama Administration, the total number of convicted criminal aliens who are not being detained has jumped 28 since 2012 to a total of nearly 350,000. We must prevent this from any other administration from turning the switch on immigration. Mr. Gowdy has ensured enforcement of our immigration laws despite the purposeful inaction of any administration. His legislation the Michael Davis jr. And danny oliver in honor of state and local Law Enforcement act, allows states and localities to enact and enforce immigration laws of their own as long as they are consistent with federal law. Jurisdictions could proactively take responsibility for protecting their communities and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system. Today we are making an important down payment on protecting our constituents, and i appreciate the majority leaders commitment to me that we will take additional action to ensure compliance with our immigration laws in the future. I urge my colleagues to support h. R. 3009, enforce th