Transcripts For CSPAN House Session 20150205

Kurds were there. The kurds werent even at the table. This was a betrayal of the people who are on the frontlines fighting the big fight of today against radical islamic terrorism. We betrayed them. This is horrible. What kind of message does that send to other people around the world who have to stand up against this onslaught of radical fanatic, islamic terrorists and dictatorship that would be superimposed on them . We better make sure that these people understand whether its Abdula Abdullah or how about the crown prince of abu dhabi . Heres a man who is so strong in his conviction and leadership in that part of the world to try to stop this terrible threat but yet we dont yes, hes treated well. We should be honoring him. There should be there should be our administration shoulding leading the efforts to take abdullahs and crown prince there in abu dhabi and the president , these people deserve demonstrable support, not just ok. Not just sort of halfheartedly getting behind them. What about, for example, even qatar today. They are trying to make their decision what to do in the face of this. They permit us, for example, they permit us to have air strikes against isil, the radical Islamic Group up in iraq, they are permitting us to use their base for those an air base in qatar to launch those attacks. We should make sure people understand that we are grateful to them for it and be demonstrable about it. Part of it is being, yes, stand up with your friends. Somebody does something good like qatar has just done and wants to go back and has taken steps in the right direction after taking some steps in the wrong direction in a couple years, they lost faith in us, i believe. Now they are coming back in our direction. We should encourage that. The other half of the equation is, we need to be tough on the guys who are enemies, going the wrong way, who are supporting radical islamic fanatic terrorism. Like, for example, pakistan. We are still giving billions of dollars over a 10year period to pakistan. We are giving hundreds of millions of dollars on military equipment and foreign aid to a country that is, yes, supporting the taliban. Almost all of the people we have lost in afghanistan can be traced back to terrorists who are using pakistan as a home base, but not only as a home base, the i. S. I. Have been actively involved in helping these fanatic terrorists. Our people were up against in afghanistan. How do we know that . Well, we do know that maybe just the fact that they were giving safe haven to Osama Bin Laden the murderer of 3,000 americans on 9 11, they gave safe haven to this man. We didnt know. No one believes that. They knew. And now adding insult to injury they have taken the doctor who fingered who gave us the location of Osama Bin Laden and help us bring Osama Bin Laden to justice, that doctor, is now languishing in a dungeon. In a 10 by 10foot cell in pakistan. That act by pakistan is a hostile act to the United States. And for us to walk away and ignore it is to encourage others to treat us in the same way. We must be tough on our enemies and friends to our friends. Is that a difficult formula . Is that too difficult for people to understand . We are losing today because i believe this president has been treating our enemies better than hes been treating our friends in many cases in terms of willing to reach out to them. We should be reaching out and trying to do everything we can to help the friendly countries rather than reaching out to seek accommodations with these evil countries. Nowhere is that better demonstrated than the announcement that we had secretly negotiated a deal with Fidel Castros regime in cuba. Secretly negotiated. Congress didnt know what was going on. And now he is announced by edict this executive orders, heres a president , maybe he likes castro a little bit because castro, after all, he could rule with edicts. Just like our president now wants to rule with edicts rather than go through what we call your regular order seeking the legislative branch and seeking compromises, and establishing policy in that way. Instead, this president reversed 50 years of american policy towards cuba. On his own rather than coming here to congress and working out something with us and trying to find what is the best way and opening up cuba to having beginning of an economic relationship and having americans to go freely there and them to come to the United States. Well, he did that and there were no concessions. None that the cubans made for this president to give up that 50 years, 50 years of this is what our policy is, you are going to have to do this, free elections, opposition parties, etc. , then we will recognize you. This president gave it up and no concessions on the other side. By the way, what message does that send to all these other countries . Again its not just cuba. What message does that send to all these other countries that we complain about human rights, we try to set a standard, some standard, that will indeed take that country in the right direction. No. We are we end up giving up a 50year policy with no concessions thus every little petty dictator in the world, or even worse, every group thats out there who is trying to decide whether or not to go with radical islamic terrorism or not, they know they can make whatever decision they want and eventually the United States will cave in because we are projecting weakness. As i say, the one thing Ronald Reagan did that was terrific was to rebuild our military, and it did it created a sense of awe. But it was a sense of strength. He used that sense of strength, but it was his strategy in helping those people throughout the world who are our friends and the friends of things we believe in and the enemy of our enemies, thats what worked. We are sending the wrong message to the people who will be the enemy of our enemies. We are sending we are undermining by not providing positive and forceful support for those people who are standing up with the crown prince of abu dhabi and these others and abdullah and jordan and president al assisi in egypt. By not demonstrably standing with them, we send the wrong message. Thats why things are falling apart. Thats why things are not going in the right direction. Thats this isnt we just happen to live in a time when things are chaotic. That is not the case. Just like Ronald Reagan doesnt live in the times when there was a soviet communist threat that was undermining the peace in the world. That didnt just happen. It was the basis of things that we did yes, what they did, but also our response to that threat. Today this administration i believe believe, has led us down a path that has created the chaos we now see. Created a situation where you have a radical fanatic islamic Dictatorship Movement that not only tries to take over and dominate the islamic part of the world, but is threatening terrorist acts and is engaged in terrorist acts. We will have more and more bombings like we saw at the boston marathon. Well have more and more terrorist actions taken in western europe as we saw in paris. Or in africa. Unless we step forward and let the world know we are a strong, we are strong in our commitment and we stand by those who will help us in this battle. I visited recently new york city, and i had not been there since well for a long time. I had never gone to the 9 11 memorial. I visited the 9 11 memorial and i would advise anyone who has not been there to go there. Its a memorial to the 3,000 americans who died on 9 11, and most of them there at the world trade center, and those two great towers that were brought down on that day. You should go. Anyone hearing my voice, my colleagues others, should go and see this. They have managed to get the picture, a picture of almost every one of the victims who died that day. And there were firemen and policemen who when the airplane struck that building instead of running away and rushing away, they ran towards the building. They ran there to see what they could do to help and they gave their lives. These heroic people. We have to have a government as heroic as our own people if we are going to try over the evil that slaughter those people today. They slaughtered them in 9 11 and they will slaughter them today. And i looked at those pictures of those 3000 people and i was in the government when that happened. I was in and i worked with reagan and before that, but 9 11, we had been here a long time. We are all part of this. We owe it to the people of the United States, all of us on both sides of the aisle, and in the executive branch and whoever who is the government of this country, we owe it to our people to make sure we are doing the right thing. And i looked into their faces, i brought my children with me. To see this. I said, look, all those people, you know what theyre telling us . They are telling us, to me, and to all of us here in this body, you let us down. You let us down. Dont do it again. Dont let there be another wall in another city with 20,000 pictures on it because theyve got some sort of dirty bomb or something. These people that we are facing today are capable of that. I am not arguing for major employments of military units overseas, occupation in the world like we did for too long. I do not think it was right for us to go into iraq in the first place. But i do argue that when we find people on our side like Ronald Reagan did, we need to have a Strong Military and we need to make sure that the world respects us, but then we need to have activities and actions and stands that win their respect. Them knowing we stand with those people who will stand firm against this threat to the world, otherwise someday we will there could be another world war iilike thing 10 years down the road when we say why didnt you stop that fanatic hitler when he was just talking around, goose stepping around in these towns in germany when he could have been stopped . Why didnt you stop him then . No then there was hundreds of millions of people, this could lead to that type of conflagation. Unless we stop this radical movement there now, they will find ways of killing thousands of americans, and there will be other walls with other pictures saying, why didnt you do something . No. I call on my colleagues now to seriously look at this challenge that we face. I hope that those people, my negative comments about what i believe is the president not dealing with the situation in the right way is something that came from the heart. This is not im not doing this for political reasons. And let me just say today, we see examples where we need to make stands. We need to make sure, for example the regime in iran is facing a president of the United States and American Government thats making demands that they do not become that they do not use this system that they are developing now. That they have signed a treaty agreeing they will not have a nuclear weapon. We should hold them to that treaty, and we should be helping the people in iran who are struggling against that regime. I dont say we should attack iron with iran with American Military might. We should be supported and have done so all along. There were demonstrators in the streets of tehran and there was no message, there was no message at all of support from our government. That was the first thing this president did is he refrained from helping and supporting those young activists for democracy in iran. The about a luche people are fighting the baloch people are fighting against the corruption and oppression of the pakistani government which is dominated by these radicals. We should be helping the blooch who can also well, that goes this. Anyway. There are options that we can have throughout the world today. Actions both in terms of policy and in terms of actually helping People Struggle for freedom that will ensure the peace of the world 10 years down the road. It will ensure as Ronald Reagan when he took over he left us a better world. We need to take the steps now to make sure that when we leave this body when we leave congress or leave the whoever becomes president the next time around that we leave that government, this government at a time when our people have a greater chance for freedom, a greater chance to live in peace and we need to make sure that our people can live in peace and prosperity. Those pictures on the wall at the 9 11 memorial shout out to us do your duty. You didnt do it. You let us down. Dont do it again. Make sure the American People are safe. You have a challenge now. Meet that challenge. Stand firm. Stand strong behind those who are with you. I now yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy of january 6 2015. January 6 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona, mr. Franks, for 30 minutes. Mr. Franks well, thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, weve heard a great deal about protocol this last week, and it all centers around the invitation by the speaker of this house to the Prime Minister of israel to come and speak to the body as he has done twice before. Its worth pointing out mr. Speaker, that Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most precious voices we have in the world to address some of the subjects and dangers that face the United States of america. And yet this administration is caught up in a conundrum over prote owe crawl. While it might protocol. While it might be worth reminding this government that it is made up of three equal branches, its more important to remind this administration that when iran is pursuing a Nuclear Weapons capability with which to threaten the peace and security of the entire world, when isis and groups like it are slaughtering people the world over, when isis is crucifying and killing and torturing people in iraq, when theyre burning their prisoners alive in cages, this administration is caught up in protocol. Mr. Speaker, that is a profound distortion of reality. And yet this administration, for all its talk of protocol, not only violated protocol when it traded five taliban leaders for sergeant beau bergdahl, this administration has usurped the power of the legislative branch by brash fiat. It has chose to listen to this mysterious voice of those that didnt vote in this election. Obamacare and a number of others, but if we just put that litany aside for a moment and just consider the arrogance of this administration as it comes now to claim to proclaim that are the speaker of this house has somehow broken protocol by inviting the Prime Minister of our most vital ally on earth to speak on this floor. Worse, mr. Speaker, it has sought to go after and silence the guest speaker himself. Hearing the visceral rhetoric of this white house, one would think our speaker had invited the Prime Minister of an enemy nation instead of one of our best friends on the planet. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately this administrations claims of breached protocol are an attempt to overshadow the real elephant in the room and truth itself. The actual outrage here is not about the israeli elections as some might say. It is not about the doomed diplomatic overtures of this administration. The real crisis and threat is a Nuclear Capable iran. And president netanyahu, with the greatest credentials, in coming to speak to all of us, is acting as a trusted ally should act. And i hope this administration and in congress and the American People will listen to him very carefully. The true problem here mr. Speaker is that an outspoken enemy of our nation, one that is indeed the leading state sponsor of global islamic terrorism, is actively pursuing Nuclear Weapons that could create the gravest of threats to the United States, israel and the entire free world. How quickly we forget that rhine considers the United States of america the, quote, great satan. How quickly we forget that last year on november 4, iran once again celebrated death to america day, commemorating the 1979 seizure of the United States embassy. How quickly we forget that death to america is the rallying cry of hezbollah for which and its been backed by iran and launched attacks on israel just last week, killing and wounding good men. How quickly we forget that one of irans stated goals is quote, wiping israel off the map. How quickly we forget that iran collaborates with u. S. Antiu. S. Regimes in south america and is actively seeking to exploit our borders and, of course, this administrations complete inattention to them. How quickly we forget that iran continues to cooperate with north korea and the development of longrange missiles capable of carrying Nuclear Warheads to the United States of america. Mr. Speaker is this administration so naive or were so arrogant as to believe welcome have any type of credible diplomatic agreement with the leadership of such a regime . I think its embarrassing, mr. Speaker, to the United States of america that this supposed breach of protocol has somehow permitted this administration through anonymous yet somehow authoritative sources to politically threaten the elected leader of our only democratic ally in the region calling him names in the media and being vindictive in every interaction with him. Yet none of sh suave of the ego has furthered the interest of the United States one iota. Ultimately, it has only diminished Americas National security and israels right to defend herself. Mr. Speaker, there are unfortunately only three things that will prevent iran from eventually gaining Nuclear Weapons. One is a fundamental change of the regime in iran. Two, a direct military action to destroy their capability to build Nuclear Weapons capability. Or finally, mr. Speaker, the conviction in the minds of the leadership in iran the jihadist leadership in iran that military action will occur if that capability is not dismantled. Mr. Speaker indifference cowardness, diplomacy, call it what you will, but in the end, ignorance, whether intentional or not intentional is not a viable alternative to the truth. Along with so many in this body, mr. Speaker, and really in america itself, i have every conviction that when Prime Minister netanyahu speaks on the threat that irans pursuit of Nuclear Weapons and its sponsorship of terrorism poses to global security, he will be speaking the truth. And once again, for the sake of america, for israel and for the free world, i pray that we all listen very carefully. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Under the speakers announced policy of january 6, 2015 the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey, mr. Mcarthur, for 30 minutes. Macarthur, for 30 minutes. Mr. Macarthur Superstorm Sandy battered the coast of my state, new jersey leaving behind a wake of devastation, interrupting the lives of many, many thousands of people in our communities. Were still recovering from this. It was the second costliest hurricane in the United States history, but out of that destruction, our communities came together, neighbors took each other in, people looked after each other families started over Small Businesses slowly started to rebuild. And there was hope again in new jersey. My heart goes out still to the many friends and neighbors that are still trying to put their lives back together again. Mr. Speaker, the federal government has had a vital role in our recovery. Disaster assistance came through the federal Emergency Management agency, fema. Nearly 183,000 disaster victims were awarded 1. 3 billion in disaster assistance, money to rebuild homes or find new ones, money to help people get their lives back again and thats why it is so upsetting for these victims to now two years later be receiving letters from fema demanding repayment of those aid grants. Mr. Speaker, im referring to a process called recoupment, and it goes like this. Fema receives an application for aid makes a determination gives a grant and later changes its mind. It could be for fraud or applicant error in which case fema has my full support. But sometimes fema just changes its mind. The application is correct. An examiner evalue waits the claim, makes the payment and then later a supervisor can change their mind and say we dont think you got this one right, and a letter goes out demanding repayment. Months, even years later. Mr. Speaker, i worked for 30 years in the insurance industry. I started as a claims adjuster. I had the privilege at the end of my career of running a large Insurance Service company, and sometimes errors did get made. Sometimes a supervisor disagreed because it was just a difference of opinion. I might have even made a few errors myself. But in the private Sector Companies cant just reach out and demand those funds back again. And in the case of the federal government demand with an or else and an or else from the long arm of the federal government is a serious matter indeed. Wage garnishment or worse. Mr. Speaker, by october 31 2014, two years after sandy, 1,200 of my fellow new jerseyians had received letters demanding 8 million be returned to the federal government. These are people who used these funds to rebuild their homes, to find new places to live to repair what was broken, to replace the clothes on their backs and begin again and now the federal government wants to take it back. Its a terrible blow to these dear people our fellow citizens whose lives were overwhelmed in just a few short hours, something that could happen to every one of us. And thats why i have introduced the disaster assistance, fairness and accountability act of 2015. Like it says in the title its about bringing fairness and accountability back to this process and it does it, mr. Speaker, in a few simple ways. First, fairness. It allows fema to recoup funds if theres an applicant error or if theres fraud. But not if fema just changes their determination on an application that was accurate and later just subject to a change of opinion. It applies the same standard to fema that applies to the private sector. And its fundamentally fair. Accountability my proposed act requires fema to prove that the applicant was guilty of error or fraud instead of the other way around. It shifts the burden of proof from the individual to the government which is where it should be. Only at fema are you guilty until proven innocent. Thats fundamentally unamerican and something my bill will change. Whether there is fraud or applicant error, fema has full authority to recover funds so the Hardworking Taxpayers of our country are getting a fair shake as well. Lastly the bill is reasonable. It imposes a threeyear statute of limitation on fema for these recoupment actions. Now theres no limit. They can reach in many years after if they choose to. Nearly every other law in the United States is subject to a statute of limitations, and this should be no different. Mr. Speaker, there are many ways that we can help the survivors of Superstorm Sandy. And they need and deserve our help. This bill is just a start, but this bill will also help victims of future disasters. I think one of our most important responsibilities as legislators is to listen to our constituents and to find ways that we can improve this government on their behalf, and this is an important step in that direction. Im hopeful that we can work together, republicans, democrats and bring this bill to a successful vote, to bring some fairness and accountability back to this one small part of the federal government. Mr. Speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the seek recognition . Mr. Macarthur i believe im the last speaker and i move that the house do now adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 1 00 they also want to stop the president s unilateral actions with regard to immigration. The thats exactly what the housepassed bill would do. Several times this week, Senate Democrats, including senators who claim that they opposed the president s executive actions have voted to block debate on this bill. I think its real simple. Republicans are standing with the people, while democrats are protecting the president. I dont think the American People are going to forget these votes. Finally, on a happier note, a bit of good news. On september 24, his holiness, pope francis will visit us here at the United States capitol. That day his holiness will be the first pope in our history to address a joint session of congress. We are humbled that the holy father has accepted our invitation and certainly look forward to receiving his message on behalf of the American People. Mr. Speaker, is there an update on the Selection Process for i think they are still having discussions and interviews. I think those discussions are still under way. Nobodys gotten to my level. Mr. Speaker, do you think the administration giving the jordanians the equipment they asked for to take the fight to isis following the brutal murder of the pilot. Jordan someone of our staunchest allies in the region. Theres an awful lot of things already in the pipeline. Speeding that process up through the bureaucracy would certainly help the jordanians in a time of significant need. I think frankly all of congress is in support of this. Mr. Speaker senator mccain said yesterday that the he asked a question, isnt that the definition of insanity . The same bill over and over . Do you believe the Senate Democrats should be called out for do you believe they are trying to shut the government down . Second of all, what should senator mcconnell do after this third im the speaker of the house. Not of the senate. Im not going to suggest what the senate should or shouldnt do. All ill say is this. The house did its work. We won this fight. Now its time for Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats either come together and hold the president accountable. Im with all those democrat senators who made comments in opposition to the president s overreach with regard to executive action continuing to vote to block debate. Talking about amendments on the bill. They are not even going to allow a debate to occur. Its time for them to get their act together. Nancy pelosi just told us regarding an a. U. Match shed like to see something about scope. Boots on the ground time, repeal of the 2002 iraq one, what would you like to see from the aumf in life whats happening with isis . I clearly believe and i have always believed, when it comes to fighting a war, the congress should not tie the president s hands. Im expecting that there will be an authorization of the use of military force set up here in the coming days. And we are going to go through a rigorous set of hearings and continue to discuss this. Its going to be incumbent upon the president to go out there and make the case to the American People for why we have to fight this fight. And his actions are going to be an important part of trying to get for us to get the votes to actually pass what an authorization. This is not going to be an easy did you say the white house can extend the aumf in matter of days . I believe that, yes. Given the fallout of the last few weeks, was the invitation to Prime Minister netanyahu still a good idea . Have you spoken to the ambassador . It was a very good idea. Theres a message that the American People need to hear and i think hes the perfect person to deliver it. The threat of radical islamists terrorists is a real threat. The threat of iran to the rest of the world is a real threat. And i believe that the American People are interested in hearing the truth about whats happening in that part of the world. Last month the u. S. Supreme court agreed to take up the issue of samesex marriage. From your own state of ohio. What do you hope the outcome i dont expect that we are going to weigh in on this. The court will make its decision. Thats why they are there. To be the highest court in the land. Theres been talk today about burr and hatch working with chairman upton on an a. C. A. Replacement. How does that interact the working group with ryan and upton, and would those recommendations be what would be possibly reconciliation instructions . Through out the issue of reconciliation because there decision has made if we have reconciliation and if we do what we would use it for. Do i believe that senator burr and hatch have worked on this issue before. Clearly our three chairmen have an awful lot of work to do to come up with a replacement. I would expect all of this to be part of the discussion. All of it. Separate what burr and hatch come up with separate from what the working group is working on. There are a lot of ideas out there. The key is will be to blow those concepts down to what real replacement would look like. Do you have idea what mcconnells end came is on d. H. S. . Are you clear on what hes doing . No. Hes got a tough job. Hes got a tough job over there. I got a tough job over here. God bless him, good luck. To that end is there practical message thats being received over here by these repeated sort of demonstrations . Is the message senator mcconnell is trying to win the fight that we won in the house. Even if democratic hypocrisy, its not going to happen over there. Is there a practical message being taken over here about d. H. S. . Ill say it one more time. The house fought this fight. We won this fight. Now its time for Senate Democrats to work with Senate Republicans to stop the president s unilateral actions with regard to immigration. Three times a charm. Whats next . They are voting on it right now. You should be asking the Senate Democrats. Why they block the consideration of the bill. Do you have a birthday song thanks, everybody. Good morning. Already called for the vote. Be brief. I just returned from a prayer breakfast, National Prayer breakfast, which is lovely and always hopeful. Always hopeful that much was talked about in terms of ministering to needs of gods poor and all. Sounded very bipartisan. In any event, that at a time when this week the president released a budget that expresses those values, that is a statement of values. Of our country. Of a powerful budget for the future. Its dedicated to working families and recognizes that they are the backbone of our economy. And our country. Both of our democracy and our economy. The investments we make today have an impact on our future as we all know, and a budget that invests today for the future in terms of our strengthening investments in education and job training and deepens our commitment to our veterans, 7. 7 increase in funding reduces the deficit by 2 trillion. Again strengthens americas investment in innovation builds better paychecks. Bigger paychecks. Better infrastructure. The president s budget recognizes the reality that the middle class are the job creators. In america. And a consumer economy, when workers had better wages and confidence to spend, they create demand inject demand into the economy as they spend and create jobs. Which in turn reduces the deficit. Its about bigger paychecks. We cannot say it enough. About bigger paychecks. The success of the middle class is the most important engine of our Economic Growth and of meaningful deficit reduction. We keep coming back to that. Bigger paychecks better infrastructure, greater prosperity for everyone. And as we do this to create more productivity, more job creation, more manufacturing in our country. Its a strong plan based on his middle class economics that he put forth in the state of the union address. Middle class economics. It stands in sharp contrast to trickle trickledown economics that the republicans had relentlessly pursued. A policy that got us into a fix in 2008. Scars the confidence of the American Worker even as the economy improves, still that concern of 2008. So this week we february 2, groundhogs day, we all know what it is. If you didnt see the movie. Even if you didnt see the movie, 25 or 30 times republicans began the week celebrating groundhog week by bringing forth their 56th vote to repeat or undermine the Affordable Care act. Thats the bill they took up in rules on february 2. According to c. B. O. 19 million previously uninsured americans will be covered in 2015, thanks to the Affordable Care act. The law has extended the life of medicare by 13 years. For 356 times now, the republicans have brought forth a bill to undermine the Affordable Care act. I think they have they are putting forth the illusion it cant possibly be taken seriously, but it is their latest a. C. A. Repeal unveiled by chairman upton. It would hand the Health Care Insurance back to the insurance industry. It raises Health Care Costs on working families increases the number of uninsured jeopardizes the health of middle millions of americans but puts coverage for essential Health Care Like Maternity Care up to the state. Its no longer a guarantee. Dismantles a. C. A. s bedrock guarantee you no longer lose or be denied coverage due to preexisting conditions. It increases the deficit. It adds it takes away the medicare cost reductions for seniors, it eliminates those. Seriously undermines its not a repeal, but it is a repeal of all the things they profess, we dont want to repeal denying coverage for preexisting medical conditions, all the rest of that. To judge by the priorities brought to the floor by this Congress Republicans have little regard for the security of americas families. Their economic security, Health Security and their Homeland Security. Republicans have passed have not passed a serious Homeland Security funding bill. There are only 23 days left until the department of Homeland Security shuts down, on february 28. One of their spokespersons mr. King, has said im really not worried about the 27th coming and going. Hes not worried about shutting down the department of Homeland Security. Which protects americans. 23 days left until it shuts down. Only eight of those are days in which congress is in session. They are holding our Homeland Security hostage because of their opposition to commonsense Immigration Reform that strengthens the economy. Of all the other arguments we have about what immigration how immigration invigorates america, according to the c. B. O. Immigration reform would reduce the deficit by 138 billion over the first 10 years, and 700 billion in the 10 years after that. This is a deficit reducer. This is an extraordinarily dangerous game the republicans are playing about the safety of americas families. We have to pass a clean longterm Homeland Security funding bill and would have to do it immediately. You have heard me say over and over. They kicked the can in december, they didnt want to pass a bill except for shortterm until february and saying well take care of it as the new Congress Comes in. Before the new congress as a new congress was coming in, we saw what happened in paris, the whole world was galvanized around Homeland Security. The whole world except for the hermetically sealed chamber of the house of representatives. Which then said that we are not doing it because we dont like what the president s doing on immigration. Something that he has every right to do in terms of the law and in terms of precedent. Any questions . Madam leader, im wondering following the horrific murder of the juror dabian jordanian by lot whether the administration should move quickly to help the jordanians to get equipment. Yes. I know there are senators who signed a letter to that effect. I certainly support that. So yes, i believe that the administration should move quickly to give more capacity to the jordanians. As you know, his majesty was here. Went home when they learned of the whenever it took place. They made it known now. Thank you for your question. On that front, whats the status of the authorization of military force . Have you heard from the white house . We have been in conversation with them three of our Ranking Members plus one more member whos been very active, that would be Authorization Committee , so thats eliot engel, armed services, adam smith intelligence adam schiff, and in addition to that Chris Van Hollen whos been very active on this issue for a long time. We have been talking to them about i assume i have been having similar conversation was the republicans about an authorization of the use of military force it around three points. One is time, what would be the length of time. Two, what would be the geography of it. And third, what is the scope of the authorization . It would also involve repeal of the 2002 authorization, the authorization to go into iraq, but would maintain the 2001 authorization to go into afghanistan and the authorities given to the president in that. We dont have answers to those t i think they are talking about three years. Theres a question of geography some people say very limited. Other people say boundless. And the scope language like enduring combat for troops on the ground obviously going and rescue somebody, we have boots on the ground. So what is the language around boots on the ground . Enduring combat engagement, Something Like that. Im not saying anybodys come to any agreement on it. I think its going to be a challenge, but we will have a solution to it and hopefully in a very strong bipartisan way. I want to ask you about israel. You were at the white house last night. Was wondering if it came up with the president what your message was to him. What did you make of meeting with boehners decision to invite hoyer and engel with a meeting to the speaker of the knesset yesterday and not you . Let me start with your second part. We did have a meeting yesterday with our distinguished whip, mr. Hoyer, assistant leader clyburn mr. Engel, Ranking Member, on foreign affairs, and adam schiff ranking on intelligence. It was a meeting put together rather rapidly because the speaker called us and said they thought it was a bipartisan meeting. Would we meet with him. Which we did. Thats the context. It was a very, shall we say, we are friend. It was a meeting in friendship. I think it was a meeting, i would say, more by sadness on my part anyway, really sad it has come to this. That but hopefully there will be a path out of the situation that we are in. We have, many of us have been fighting a fight on nonproliferation our whole lives, our whole Political Public Service lives, so we understand that even if israel did not exist, wed still have to make sure iran did not have a nuclear weapon. Because thats very an arms race that in itself we cant have it. The arms race it would lead to would be disastrous. We all stipulate to that fact. I do happen to think it it was the greatest political achievement of this 20th century, nonetheless even if it didnt exist, the United States is committed. Its a pillar of our National Security and our foreignpolicy. Foreign policy to stop proliferation of w. M. D. This is really more about the casualness with which an invitation extended to head of state two weeks before his election and using politicizing deeply, deeply deep convictions about the important relationship between israel antiUnited States. Our shared values, our shared National Security interest. And i just would hope that as these negotiations go forward, diplomacy is given a chance so we have every option on the table we can demonstrate that we exhausted every remedy. Diplomatic remedy. And the diplomacy will work. It was a meeting in that frame. I was interested in seeing the speaker again, i have seen him before when i was speaker and visiting israel, when he was a member of plarlment, knesset but not speaker at the time, but i said to him, before i ever met you i was before i was in congress outside the soviet, it was soviet at that time in the 1980s he was a very wellknown one at the time, and it was just wonderful to sit across the table seeing him as the speaker of the knesset. Some of these relationships are deep. Even when we didnt know each other. And the friendship between our two countries is important to both of us. And our friendship with Prime Minister netanyahu is respectful and i think that i hope we can find another path. The white house that was a reception to welcome the new members. Did the white house have a photo of you and the president we were waiting for Mitch Mcconnell who was coming so we could go out together. It was really more about this, that, and the other thing. Any number of subjects came up. Fleetingly. Including trade. That was probably where if you asked me what we were talking with was trade. Did the other subject come up . Maybe for a moment. Does the invitation in your view on the world stage undermine at all the american negotiator, the p5 negotiating position in the final sort of stages of this negotiation . Or is it just kind of seen as an internal squabble that doesnt tint balance . I hope it doesnt undermine our negotiating. Have you heard any concerns from people in position to know that it does . The more the bigger concern was would we pass sanctions before. Thats resolved. We are not passing sanctions. Everybody knows we could pass sanctions at the drop of a hat. So its not a question of we have to exploit this opportunity that we have now because it wont exist again. That moment exists whenever we choose to use it. The fact that there is a recognition that for the sanctions would further sanctions would undermine the agreement as how we go in, we should have had more sanctions, they cant have any enrichment. So those were some of the terms of bringing people to the table. It was a really remarkable achievement of the Obama Administration to bring together the p5 countries plus one, the permanent members of the security council, plus germany in concert in these negotiations. This is no small feat. And i was telling yesterday the speaker, that 20 years ago, more than 20 years ago, some of us were traveling to russia or meeting russian officials here, to china to say stop transferring technology to iran. And to the europeans, french, and others. Stop transferring technology. Russians said youre the biggest arms salse in the world. Who are you to tell us not to transfer technology . We are talking about unconventional. The chinese said we are arent doing it. Rocket delivery system. And the europeans were saying its not really intended. But three of those three countries i just named are part of the six countries that are engaged in these negotiations. That is a guy gantic step forward and should not jy ganttic step forward and should not be taken lightly and every one in those countries knows it is important to stop iran from having a weapons of mass destruction. It sounds like what youre saying this is highlighted politicized some debates about israel here in this country. But if Prime Minister netanyahu is trying to derail the deal with iran, that this episode its not going work. Im hoping this doesnt take place. So im ever optimistic and hopeful. The fact is our negotiators are on track and firmly there, the question is could that advocacy it resulted in passing of sanctions in the congress . It didnt. So that was very important. The fact is these negotiations, from our point of view, of the president of the United States. And you know again this is countries are we have great friendships in terms of country to country leaders to leaders, its really something that we should be able to resolve. Maybe we have to even review the idea of joint sessions of congress because it should not be a political arena two weeks before an election. Some people who just think its outrageous. Some staunch supporters of israel say its outrageous. And theyre supporters of netanyahu, that our floor of the house would be used, exploited in that way for a political purpose. In israel. And in the United States. So again, ive taken to long on this question, i know, because i have to go vote. And the speaker is going to be here in just a minute because he doesnt have to vote. But but it lets put it this way, we all know that iran cant get a nuclear weapon. We all know that everything is on the table, and in order to have moral authority on how we proceed, we have to have the world see that we tried everything with iran. And hopefully that will work. As we all know, israels election is two weeks before the speech before the congress. It just it just this is i think Going Forward in this way, the way this conversation is taking so much energy and really stressful is really beneath the dignity of the challenge that we have. Stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Respecting americas approach to this, which has brought five other countries to the table, and across the table from from iran. I think theyve done a wonderful, wonderful job and deserve the right to have us and congress support them and thats my view on the subject. You said you really hope it doesnt take place. Yeah. Do you get the sense from your meetings that israelis are considering or the Prime Minister is considering, and whats theyre not and the speakers not going to change the date. Whats your recommendation to members who are considering a boycott . Theyre hopeful that decision in favor of respecting our system would you never know, things happen. And people schedule. They do. You just never know. As of now i am. As of now i am, yeah. As of now i am. Are you looking to schedule Something Else . No, im just saying that you have to be leaving the option of boycotting open . I dont think anybody should use the word boycott. Not attend. You know when they said this this is not people are here doing their work. Theyre trying to pass legislation. Theyre meeting with their constituents and the rest. It not a high priority item for them. So if you want to invite a head of state and have that invitation shared by the other leaders, because thats usually how house and senate does, work with the white house you have to demonstrate that youre going to fill those seats. Sometimes you look at that audience and it looks like every member the average age of congress is 21 years old and you know thats not the case. Not even close. So you can just imagine how low the ages of some of the people sitting in those seats. To be clear, are you leaving the option of not going on the table . Are you considering not im seriously considering going. I mean, i am as i said, as of now it is my intention to go. Its still my hope that the event will not take place. Theres serious unease. Dont even think in terms of the word boycott. Members will go or they wont go, as they usually go or dont go. This is not a surprise to me when i first came to congress, it started to snow outside and somebody said, im going home. Two senior members. I said they said im going home. I said well, youll never be back in time for the joint session and they looked at me as if i were really a freshman. So in any event, again, with all the respect in the world for Prime Minister netanyahu, we have welcomed him royally on two occasions to the congress. Only Winston Churchill was welcomed three times, and one of them was during world war ii. My father was there as a member from maryland, december 26 1941. I have the picture in my office. So it isnt that there isnt any respect and admiration, even affection for the Prime Minister, and certainly the strong ties to israel. But at this time, i think it would be better if we didnt have it. And that is, i think ive said quite a bit on the subject. So you have to ask them how they thought the meeting went. The israelis. We treated them with great courtesy and warmth. And sadness. Thank you. Well, both the u. S. House and senate were in session today, and the house members approved a Small Business regulation bill and earlier this week, lawmakers voted again to repeal the 2010 health care law. Over in the senate today, lawmakers failed for the third time to advance the Homeland Security Department Funding bill that would also block the president S Immigration executive order. That vote was 5246. Elsewhere on capitol hill today, the Senate Armed Services Committee Looked into the future of the guantanamo detention facility. Well have that hearing for you in its entirely later. But heres a brief portion. Now i want to explore the socalled risk balance between recidivism of released terrorists and the propaganda value that terrorists get from Guantanamo Bay. How many are there at Guantanamo Bay right now . Im not sure i follow the question. How many are engaging in terrorism or antiamerican excitement . There are because theyre detained, because they only engage in that kind of recidivism overseas. Now, lets look at the propaganda value. How many detainees were there on september 11, 2001 . Zero. How many were there in october of 2000 when al qaeda bombed the u. S. Cole . Zero. What about 1998 when they bombed our embassy . The facility was not open for 1992. 1993 and the first same answer. 1999 when iran 1983 when hezbollah bombed our embassy in lebanon . The answer is zero. Correct. Islamic terrorists dont need an excuse to attack the United States. They dont attack us for what they do. They attack us for who we are. It is not a security decision. It is a political decision based on promise the president made on his campaign. To say it is a security decision based on propaganda value that our enemies get from it is a pretext to justify a political decision. In my opinion, the only problem with Guantanamo Bay is there are too many empty beds and cells there right now. We should be sending more terrorists there for further interrogation to keep this country safe. As far as im concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell. But as long as they dont do that, then they can rot in Guantanamo Bay. The Political Landscape has changed with the 114th congress. Not only are there 43 new republicans and 15 new democrats in the house and 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate theres also 108 women in congress including the first africanamerican republican in the house and the first woman veteran in the senate. Keep track of the members of congress using congressional chronicle on cspan. Org. The congressional chronicle page has lots of useful informs there, including Voting Results and statistics about each session of congress. New congress best access. On sara , sara cspan radio and cspan. Org. Earlier this week, federal Communication Commission chair tom wheel area nounsed his proposal to regulate the internet like a utility. President obama also proposed recently. The plan would senten the f. C. C. s regulation of internet, extends the rules to mobile phones and devices and allow the f. C. C. To step in and address interconnection issues as they arise. The plan is to ban fast and slow lanes for delivery of content over the internet. The proposal was to be presented to the other four f. C. C. Commissioners today. The f. C. C. Is to vote on that on february 26. Internet Service Providers such as comcast ver oozeon and tat tat have strongly opposed such regulation. And some leaders in Congress Also strongly opposed such a move. Join us on saturday for a special presentation of our communicators program. Well good indepth on the chairmans announcement. The f. C. C. Counsel will join us to talk about the proposed new rules. Thats at 6 30 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the cspan networks. On cspan 2 saturday night at 10 00, Washington Bureau chief for the sunday times of london. On the british efforts in 2009 to stop the taliban advance in afghanistan while awaiting u. S. Marines reinforcement. And sunday at 10 00, the Senior Editor of medicalville house books on the u. S. Senates torture report and why his company decided to public publish it. And all this month, interviews with former korean war p. O. W. s. This sunday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, charles ross, an Army Sergeant who was captured by the chinese and held from 19501953. And just after 9 00, a look back at the Voting Rights act 50 years later with congresswoman Eleanor Holmes norton and bill plante. You can find our complete Television Schedule at cspan. Org. And let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us. Email us. Or send us a tweet. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook. Follow us on twiter. Twitter. On capitol hill, the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Consumer Protection held a hearing today on Data Security breaches. Members heard from representatives from the retail and banking sectors. This weeks hacking of anthem was also discussed. This is just over 90 minutes. This is the first subcommittee that ive chaired in eight years in congress and i was nervous apparently nervous enough to the no turn on the microphone. So we look forward to being educated and getting a good understanding. First i want to thank my colleagues and their level of interest in this important topic. Id also like to thank our witnesses for joining us today. Expertise is important to us as members of congress. And unfortunately, this is a very timely topic. The purpose of this hearing is in many ways somewhat narrow. Its to examine the merits of the federal Data Security standard and the need for preemptive and uniform federal data breach notification. We all know we live in a Digital World where consumers have embraced online products and services. My folks at home, they know they can make purchases, determine their credit score, conduct banking and examine Health Care Plans all from a mobile phone computer or a tablet. That is true of consumers across the country and increasingly around the globe. But this Digital Economy creates new risks. In a world where one bad actor can battle against a team of highly trained experts we face challenges to make certain that consumers are protected and that businesses have the tools and incentives to protect their customers from harm. For more than a decade, congress, the Commerce Committee in particular, has been contemplating issues surrounding Data Security and data breach notification. In 2004, the Committee Held its first congressional hearing to examine the highprofile breach of choice point, a data aggregation firm. This breach forced the first of many conversations here in congress and today we continue that dialogue. A recent highprofile data breaches as well as the headlinegrabbing sony cyber attack from late last year are the latest exam else that highlight the ongoing and serious Cyber Threats that face americans and businesses. And just this morning, we woke up to news of what experts are calling the Largest Health care breach to date. This time, the cyber criminals were able to infiltrate the nations second Largest Health insurer, to steal names, birth dates, medical i. D. , Social Security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data. These highprofile breaches are the most severe of what has become a common occurrence in our digital society. As of 2015, the privacy rights clearinghouse has estimated more than 4,400 breaches involving more than 932 million records that have been made public since 2005. The verizon 2014 data breach Investigation Report reviewed more than 63,000 security incidents and found 1,367 confirmed data breaches in 2013. So on average, thats just shy of four breaches every day. While congress has developed sectorspecific Data Security requirements for both companies, congress has been unable to reach consensus of the development of a national Data Security and data breach notification standards. As a result, states have taken on this task by developing their own standards and as of today, businesses are subjected to a patchwork of over 50 different state, district, territory laws that determine how businesses must notify consumers in the event of a breach. In addition, 12 states enacted laws regarding Data Security practices. The need for federal action becomes clearer each day. Last month president obama voiced his support for data breach notification legislation with Strong Language in part because he recognizes the benefits to American Consumers and businesses of a predictable uniform data breach notice. The president s support along with bipartisan congressional interest has renewed optimism among stake holders that congress can develop a balanced and thoughtful approach with legislation in the near term. Today well focus our attention on some of the key questions and topics of this debate, including what are the benefits of a national breach notification standard should should congress implement a basic Data Security standard . To whom should that standard apply . Should the federal standard preempt state standards . What should be the trigger for notification . The specific conditions that represent a potential harm to consumers. Should there be exemptions and safe harbors . If so, for who . And what circumstances . Within what time frame should a company be required to notify consumers . Should Congress Enact new or stronger penalties for enforcement authorities and remedies . What lessons can we learn from states that have implemented their own standards . Im confident that our panel its expertise k. Share valuable insight into those questions and others that the Committee Members may have. As we work and help us find a right balance to these issues. Id like to recognize the subcommittees Ranking Member for him to deliver his opening statement. And i would indicate to him here in public as we have in private that i look forward to working very closely with you in a very thoughtful and bipartisan way to see that our subcommittee accomplishes good thing for the country. Thank you. First of all, my than rks to senator moran for his leadership in a very bipartisan way, reaching out to me and also convening this subcommittee on a critically important topic. And i really look forward to his continued insight and very thoughtful leadership on Consumer Protection issues. Im proud to serve as the Ranking Member of this very important subcommittee. I have served on this subcommittee for two years now. And it is critical to consumer issues that affect everyday americans. We have delved into the General Motors recall, the deadly airbags and more. And today, the issue of data breach is no less central to american lives, even if it seems somewhat less spectacular. 2014 was known as the year of the data breach. And the importance of this issue was brought home as senator moran said just this morning when we read about the anthem breach, which is absolutely breathtaking in its scope and scale. It is not only breathtaking but mindbending in its extent and potential impact and potentially heartbreaking for consumers who may be affected. Not only birthdays addresses email and employment information, but also Social Security numbers, and income data were taken from anthem. And potentially although the company has said it was not theres no evidence of it so far, Critical Health information. This breach comes after j. P. Morgan indicated a loss of personal information to hackers of about 83 million households. Of course, in november, hackers that the United States government has said had ties to the north korean government orchestrated a destructive attack on sony. The sony attack would be comedy, but it is literally no laughing matter. To other businesses, including Financial Institutions on wall street, Health Insurers and others whose vital data may be taken. And to quote the f. B. I. Agent in new york, who supervisors the cyber and special operations division, yote we are losing ground. Thats a quote. We are losing ground in the battle with hackers. In december of 2013, we first learned about targets data breach, which affected credit card information and personal Contact Information for as many as 110 million consumers. The point here is that these losses of data are not only losses to these companies, they are potentially lifechanging losses to consumers. Target and j. P. Morgan and anthem failed not only the companies, but they failed their customers and consumers when these data breaches occurred. This fact of life is more than the cost of doing business for these companies. It is an invasion of their privacy. Its an invasion of consumer privacy. Potentially threat of identity. Theft of identity and personal assets. So the billions of dollars that could have been saved by consumers, creditors banks and others of companies and universities were collecting Sensitive Data, spent money and resources on better protecting that information is one of the facts that brings us here today. As attorney general, i brought a number of enforcement cases against companies that violated connecticuts data breach law, and i worked with my colleagues including lisa mattigan, who is here today. But i worked with kelly iot who is now a colleague. So this issue is hardly a partisan one. In fact, it is distinctly bipartisan involving stronger protections for sensitive consumer data, and we recognize the states as laboratories of democracy and the great work that theyve done in this area. So let me just conclude by saying i think that we have a lot of work that needs to be done, a lot of good work that should be done. But one guiding principle is first do no harm. That is, do no harm to the state protections and state enforcers who every day are seeking to protect their citizens from this scourge and spreading the problem of data threat. In order for consumers to trust retailers, banks and online sales, they need to know their data is secure without abuse, whether theyre shopping online or at bricks and mortar stores. Retailers collecting their Sensitive Information will do everything in their power to protect that data, and thats a reasonable expectation. They have a right to expect better than theyre now receiving from retailers companies, ininsurers, banks all of the institutions, including universities and nonprofits that increasingly have the coin of the realm, which is data about consumers. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator. We now will turn to our witnesses. With us today is ms. Sherry f. Mcgwire. She is Vice President Global Government Affairs in Cyber Security policy for system tech. Mr. Mallory duncan, general counsel, National Retail federation. The chief Information Officer at brown university, but easier for me to say Wichita State university, his previous employer. The Vice President for Information Technology technology counsel. The attorney of the state of illinois. And finally, mr. Doug johnson, senior Vice President and senior advisor, chief economist of the american bankers association. Lets begin with you. Thank you very much. Thanks for the opportunity to testify today on this very important issue. As the largest Security Software company in the world, we are made up of millions of censors that give us a unique view of the entire internet threat landscape. We all have seen, even as of this morning, the recent headlines about Cyber Attacks have focused mostly on data breaches across the spectrum of industries. These Network Intrusions that result in stolen data have deep and profound impacts. For the individuals who must worry about and clean up their identities, for the organizations whose systems have been penetrated, and for the government trying to establish the right notification policies as well as deter and apprehend the perpetrators. The magnitude of thefts of personally identifiable information is unprecedented. Over just the past two years alone, the number of identities exposed through Network Breaches is approaching one billion. And those are just the ones that we know about. While many assume that breaches are the result of sophisticated malware, the reality is more troubling. According to a recent report 90 of last years breaches could have been prevented if organizations implemented basic Cyber Security best practices. While the focus on data breaches and the identifies put at risk is serntly warranted, he must not lose sight of the other attacks, that are equally concerning and can have dangerous consequences. There are a wide at risk is set of tools. Which often seek to exploit older known vulnerability, Many Organizations do not have uptodate security or patch systems, do not make full use of the security tools available to them or have security unevenly applied throughout their enterprise. So what can we do . Cyber security is about managing risk. Assessing ones risk and developing a plan is essential. For organizations, there are many guidelines, including as you discussed yesterday, the Cyber Security framework, the f. C. C. Guidelines for Small Businesses, the Online Trust Alliance Data Protection and Breach Readiness guide and many others. For the individual, we provide resources to our norton customers and the f. T. C. And others have many tips available on their websites. And, in fact, just this week, the s. E. C. Published best practices for individual investors to secure their online accounts n short, theres no shortage of available resources. Strong security should include intrusion protection, reputationbased security, behavioral based blocking, data encryption backups. And while the criminal tactics are evolving, basic cyber hygiene is still the most Cost Effective first step. Turning to the policy landscape, semantic supports, as you said, chairman moran, a balanced and thoughtful National Standard for data breach notification built on three principles. First, the scope of any legislation should apply equally to all entities that collect, maintain or sell significant numbers of records containing sensitive personal information. This covers both the government and private sector. Second implementing prebreach security measures to be central to any legislation. New legislation should not simply require notification of consumers but should seek to minimize the likelihood of a breach in the first place. Third, encryption or other measures that render data unreadable or unusable should be a key element to establish the riskbased threshold for notification. This limits the burden for both consumers and for the breached organization. We are committed to improving Online Security across the globe and we will continue to work collaboratively with our partners on ways to do so. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify again today. Exactly five minutes. Thank you very much. Mr. Duncan . Mr. Duncan . Chairman moran and members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity. Data breaches need to be correctly and forcibly addressed. It fundamentally affect our economies push toward greater efficiency and costeffectiveness. By way of context, there is a long history of interception by individuals and governments from opening letters to tapping and telephone conversations. Today, we had Super Computers and the internet. Theyre crating a Public Network with no boundaries, far more versatile and efficient than all the technology that has gone before it. Governments entrust them with particle infrastructure businesses with their most valuable intellectual property and millions of people type their deepest secrets into google, all while knowing the system is vulnerable. This technology is still in its infancy, having commercially begun just a quartercentury ago. We are still discovering its capabilities and implementations and risks. We are here to address one of the most significant risks to emerge, data breach. It is congresss challenged with some nice incentivize companies to manage this risk. How can congress do that . There are three essential elements. Uniform notice come express preemption and strong consensus law. Lets recognize that data breaches affect everyone. The 2014 verizon report, retailers and suffered their share of breaches, 11 . Government agencies and for a higher percentage. Hotel in restaurants constitute 10 while financial institutes represent 34 . It is not because those with the most breaches have the weakest security. Bad actors are always looking for the biggest tank for the buck. Biggest bang for the buck. Each type of business is honorable in a different way. Vulnerable in a different way. Congress needs to provide incentives for companies to increase their security and nothing motivates like sunlight. Requiring every company have the same Public Notice obligations will provide this the light needed light. It has two benefits. It can help individuals take steps to protect themselves. The consequences of requiring all companies to publicly expose their data breaches is a powerful incentive for them to improve security. Members are some of the best Retail Companies in america. Click breaches public breaches have engaged our members and senior executives. Our members are investing in unique and Terry Lundgren tailored solutions. Our nations economy is bigger than retail. Congress needs to encourage disclosure and the incentive for security brings across the board. Preemption there are more than 50 jurisdictions with breach of notice loss. Some come with different data sets and so forth. Midsized companies struggling with the consequences of a breach face conflicting loss. In the midst of a breach when a company should be focusing on securing its network and identifying effective customers effective customers, they diapered their resources to paying law foirms. The law with simple fiify the process. It must be real preemption. Finally, it would be it would not be appropriate to preempt the states to only adopt the weakest law. You should be looking well above , not the most excessive, but language that reflects the strong consensus of the state lost. We urge you to go further. Establish the same notice obligations for all entities handling Sensitive Data. Congress should not permit notice holds where they are exempt from reporting their known breaches. We want meaningful and incentives come Everyone Needs a skin in the game. An rf believes those three elements nrf believes those three elements enforced by federal authorities are essential steps to properly and forcefully addressing the data breach conundrum. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Duncan. Good morning. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today about the data breach and notification legislation. It is truly an honor. I want to commend you for investing your valuable time to discuss this important area of Cyber Infrastructure and protection. As younger citizens get online to learn and create knowledge, your work on this legislation will be critical to predict protect our youth. As the amount of data continues to increase exponentially primarily driven by our highly connected lifestyle, your work on this legislation will be cripple to protect critical to protect our citizens. Increasing the number from 10 million to a predicted 50 billion by 2020, impacting our economy by as much as 19 trillion according to many experts, your work on this legislation will be critical a critical catalyst. As connected robots and 3d printing fundamentally change how we manufacture goods and manage our supply chains your work on this legislation will be critical to supporting next generation innovation and our leadership in the world. We are looking at exciting times. I have the privilege and honor to serve as Vice President and chief Information Officer at brown university. Im also a faculty member in both Computer Science and engineering. I area of expertise and research is in the internet of things Cyber Security and Aviation Network security. I take great pride in admitting that i am a nerd. There have been over 932 million records compromised in over 4000 since 2005. And the reported a very large breach that may be impacting many people in this room. Many federal employees are covered by the programs anthem offers. We must maintain a focus in this area for the protection of our consumers and National Security. Currently, 47 states including rhode island, the District Of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have enacted data breach legislation. No two are exactly alike. As a university with students from all 50 states, we are impacted by all of them. Maintaining the necessary standards for each state is challenging and difficult. This can create a barrier for small innovative organizations lacking expertise to address the specific state laws. This type of burden stifles an abuse and that stifles a stifles innovation. Legislation to clearly define the roles in case of a breach. We should identify the method, speed, delivery and content of notifications. A hard time limit for breach notification may be unattainable for small organizations. A tiered approach based upon the size and designation of an organization would make compliance possible for all. We should encourage organizations that collect data to be transparent about the use of such data. Consumers appear to be happy to give over their data and their privacy to services for the sake of convenience. We should clearly define expectations for security and storing personally identifiable data. Given the highly publicized breaches, it is apparent that more work is needed. No matter the size of the company, certain expectations of security should be defined when data is collected and stored. It should provide incentives to establish education to better combat breaches. Preventive action is necessary. It is important for us to develop Cyber Security expertise in the u. S. It cannot be off short. I applaud your efforts and appreciate the opportunity for this dialogue. I stand by to assist you in any way i can. It cannot be offshored. Thank you. Mr. Johnson . Good morning. Germanmy name is doug johnson am a senior of american bankers association. I currently lead the Cyber Security policy efforts at the association. Aba shares the concerns of congress of not protecting consumers in this world of Electronic Commerce and recordkeeping. It is clear that consumers enjoy the convenience of conducting transactions electronically. Our Payment System remains strong and functional. It is mandatory that we maintain that trust in the system so it remains a system that our customers can continue to trust. While the majority of the transactions are conducted safely, occasional breaches will continue to occur. Consumers have a right to swift, accurate, effective notification of these breaches. They have a right to trust that whenever they conduct business electronically, the business is doing everything they can to prevent the breaches from occurring in the first place. Mr. Duncan mentioned an International Sample of private companies and police stations around the world. Other organizations such as the Identity Theft Resource Center note that the United States businesses reported over 30 of breaches for 2014 while Financial Institutions represented 6 . While our numbers may differ and we do believe the United States numbers are more appropriate to site, i believe our intent is the same. We are protecting customer data. That is both of our goals. The Banking Industry supports servicing 30 policy. We will continue to work with congress to achieve that goal. Supports Cyber Security policy. From the Financial Services perspective, it is critical that legislation takes a balanced approach that builds upon but does not duplicate or undermine what is already in place and effective for the financial sector. There are three key points that must be considered with regard to Data Protection standards. As others have noted, we need a National Data standard. A data breach standard payments are not confined by borders. Breach notification is of paramount importance. There are 46 states and three u. S. Territories and the District Of Columbia that have enacted laws. Although some of these laws are similar, many have a consistent and consistent and conflicting standards. Inconsistent and conflicting standards. They should be preempted in favor of strong federal Data Protection and notification requirements. Any federal Data Protection and notification requirement must recognize the existing Data Protection and notification requirements. Some Industries Including Financial Services are already required to develop and maintain robust internal protections. They are required to protect Consumer Financial information and notify customers when a breach occurs. We believe the extensive breach reporting requirements currently in place provide an effective basis for any National Data breach reporting requirement. Finally, there must be a strong National Data protection requirement. Associated with any data breach law. All parties must share theresponsibility and costs for protecting consumers. The costs of the data breach to limit such breaches, and encumbrance of data breach requirement must have strong Data Protection Requirements Applicable to any party with access to important Consumer Financial information. Thank you and i will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, chairman moran. I appreciate having an opportunity to testify today. Data security is one of the Biggest Challenges we face as a nation. It is an ongoing struggle for all americans and the companies nonprofits and Government Agencies that hold our personal information. By last years massive data breaches reawakened many, they are not i joined 43 other attorney generals including in a bipartisan call for a strong, Meaningful National breach notification law. For over a decade, my office helped individuals cleanup from Identity Theft damage. In 2005, i directed the launch which were customers are told when their personal Financial Information is copper mice are in 2006, i created a hotline to help consumers restore their credit when their information was obtained and used without their authorization. We have helped over 37,000 people remove over 27 million worth of fraudulent charges from their credit. Americans realize that its not a matter of if, but when they will be a victim of some form of Identity Theft. What do we do to best assist them to prevent data breaches . I want you to recognize that for the most part, we already have data breach notification in this country. 47 states have laws requiring companies to notify people when their personal Financial Information is copper mice. Is compromised. In this environment, americans need and expect more transparency with data breaches, not less. I held over 25 roundtables last year on data breaches throughout illinois with 1000 residents. Here is what they told me. They are concerned by the increasing number of breaches and when their information is stolen, they want to know. They want to know what they can do to protect themselves from Identity Theft. They want to know whether entities are doing enough to prevent breaches and protect their information. A Week National law will not meet americans increasing expectations that they be called when their information has been stolen. Any definition of protective personal information should be broad and included the growing types of Sensitive Information that entities are collecting. The ftc should be able to update the definition in response to new threats. In terms of whether entities are doing enough to protect the peoples data come unfortunately , it has been revealed that entities too often fail to take basic Data Security precautions. We have found numerous instances where entities allow sensitive personal data to be maintained unencrypted, failed to install security patches, collected Sensitive Data that was not needed, retain the data longer than necessary and failed to protect against compromised login credentials. Congress should provide a Provision Requiring them to take reasonable steps to protect that information. An entity who suffers a breach should not be conducting the selfserving harmon analysis to determine whether consumers get notified. Imagine if a landlord learned a renters home was robbed and they had the opportunity to decide whether the stolen items were significant enough to let the renter know about the robbery. This is what you will allow when they do their own harm analysis. Designate a federal entity to investigate when massive data breaches affect millions of americans, similar to how the ntsb should investigate accidents. I know commerce will consider printing statess notification laws. I oppose federal legislation that inhibits our ability. The preemption provision must be narrow. The law should preserve the states ability to use their own Consumer Protection laws and congress should give the states the right to enforce the federal law. I will be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you for a much thank you very much. Thank you. Chairman moran and senators of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Im the Vice President for global Privacy Policy and the federal council at the Information Technology industry council. Prior to joining itit in 2013, i spent years at the federal trade commission as an attorney advisor. I began my career at the ftc in the enforcement division, ensuring companies subject to act asftc orders were in fact complying. The 59 Technology Companies that iti represents our leaders in the information and Communication Technology sector. When Consumer Information is breached, individuals may be at risk of Identity Theft or other financial harm. Youre after year, Identity Theft tops the list as the number one complaint reported to the ftc. Consumers can take steps to protect themselves from Identity Theft or other financial harm following a data breach. Federal breach notification legislation would put consumers in the best possible position to protect themselves. I take this opportunity to outline three important principles in connection with federal data breach notification legislation. First is preemption thered a federal breach notification framework that preempts the existing state and territory breach notification laws provides an opportunity to streamline the notification process. Complying with 51 loss, 47 states, three territories and one district, each one with its own unique provisions is complex and it slows down the notification process to consumers while an organization addresses the nuances in each of these 51 loss. Complying with 51 different laws also results in notices across the country that are inconsistent and thus confusing to consumers. A federal breach notification law without state preemption would add to the mosaic resulting in a total of 52 different from works. Different frameworks. The second principle is the timing of consumer notification. An inflexible mandate that would require organizations to notify consumers of a data breach within a prescribed timeframe is counterproductive. Following a breach, there is much to be done. Hold her abilities must be identified and remedied hold her abilities vulnerabilities. Premature notification could subject organizations to further attacks if they have not been able to secure than their systems. Premature notification might interfere with law enforcements efforts to identify the intruders. The hackers might cover their tracks more aggressively upon learning that the breach has been discovered. Notification to consumers before an organization has identified the full scope of the breach could yield to providing inaccurate and incomplete information. Organizations have every incentive to notify impacted consumers in a timely manner, but a strict deadline does not afford the necessary flex ability. The third principle is determining which consumer should be notified. Notifying individuals that their information has been copper mice enables them to take protective measures. Has been compromised enables them to take protective measures put consumers would be unable to determine which warrant action. Notification should be made to consumers if they are at a significant risk of Identity Theft or financial harm. In number of factors would be considered in making that determination, including the nature of the breach information and whether that information was unreadable. Unreadable information would not warrant a notification. Upon receiving a notice individuals can take steps to help avoid being financially damaged. The three principles i have outlined today are included in the full set of principles iti has developed. I respectfully request that these be cemented for the record. 2014 has been referred to as the year of the data breach. I think many of us would like to see 2015 as the year of federal data breach notification legislation. Thank you. Thank you very much and thank you all of our witnesses. How do you respond to the concerns raised about 52 different sets of standards across the country . Is there a way to preempt state law but then continued to have states involved in the enforcement of the new standard . To answer your second question first, of course there is. It happens frequently at the federal level where you will set a National Standard but still allow state attorney generals to enforce the law. That is one of our most important concerns. There will be instances where there are significant data breaches. They may be smaller or may be confined to one or only a few states and will not be a circumstance where the ftc will look into it. The same situation we have in terms of different jurisdictions. Even for criminal matters. It has to be a big enough matter. We still need and want the ability to respond to and safeguard our own residence. In terms of the concern of having 52 different lossaws, i would say two things. One, to some extent, the concern is overblown. In a very real sense, if a lawyers it down and determines what the notice has to be and produces a notice that can be used across the country that happened with the target breach. It is not impossible to do. It doesnt take such an enormous amount of time that the other issues are ignored. It is not an overall necessity but i do think it is imperative everybody agrees if you set a National Standard, and cannot be a weak one. It has to be a higher one that some of the firstgeneration state notification laws. We are seeing an increasing number of breaches. You are going to have to start looking into the biometric data and things that few states considered. Thank you very much. Is there any indication that from state to state, depending on the law, that law or the effectiveness of that law has a consequence such there are fewer hackers . Is there any suggestion that a state law discourages hacking from taking place in that state . Is it effective as a prevention measure . Is there any suggestion that state law has increased the standards of businesses who operate in those states . Is there a different level of compliance or different level of desire to attack at a certain state because of state laws . Mr. Duncan . As i mentioned in my testimony, the very nature of this problem is that it is interstate. If you imagine a situation with a small startup, they instantly have connectivity throughout the entire United States selling merchandise. It is a fact of notice regardless of which state it occurs in that drives the interest in having greater standards. This is a national problem. I assume you look at states to see what standards are there. I want to make certain there is no suggestion that a particular state has found a way to prevent or discourage this kind of behavior. At least your answer, mr. Dokken, is no. I would echo that the answer is no. If you do not have both pieces you really do not have the ability to raise the bar from a security standpoint because i do not believe a breach notification in and of itself motivates businesses to raise the Cyber Security bar. Let me ask you, is there any developing Insurance Coverage market for data breach . Your banks have a standard in place today. Is there insurance that covers the consequences of a data breach . There is. We actually have a captive Insurance Company that offers some of these policies. It is a market that needs further refinement. As an industry, we are looking at that very carefully and are working with treasury and administration generally to dry figure out to try and figure out ways to improve the market and build insurance as a private incentive as opposed to Building Public incentives. Senator