Transcripts For CSPAN House Session 20150302

Let us pray. Dear chaplain conroy let us pray. Dear lord, we give you thanks for giving us another day. At the beginning of a new workweek, we use this moment to be reminded of your presence and to tap the resources needed by the members of this peoples house to do their work as well as it can be done. May they be led by your spirit in the decisions they make. May they possess your power as they steady themselves amid the pressures of persistent problems. May their faith in you deliver from them wear them down. All this week and through the week may they do their best to find solutions to pressing issues facing our nation. Please, hasten the day when justice and love shall dwell in the hearts of all peoples and rule the affairs of the nations of earth. May all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. Amen. The speaker pro tempore the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from michigan, mr. Kildee. Mr. Kildee those with us, please join in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The speaker pro tempore the chair will entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from North Carolina rise . Ms. Foxx i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. On february 18, the state of North Carolina lost one of its most generous and devoted Public Servants when former congressman cass balance injury passed away at the Cass Ballenger passed away at the age of 88. He was a beloved colleague to many who served in this chamber for 18 of those years. He never lost an election which tells you plenty about the honesty and tenacity with which he lived his life. In addition to his reputation as a straight talking legislator who reformed the Occupational Safety and health administration, he was known for his extensive humanitarian efforts in latin america where he helped build medical clinics supported orphanages and delivered medical and relief supplies with his wife donna. Although i never had an opportunity to serve with cass in congress i considered it a great privilege to know this remarkable man and always looked forward to seeing hism when our paths crossed in North Carolina. Cass was a man of integrity who said exactly what he thought and fought for what he believed was right. He will be greatly missed. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise . Mr. Kildee mr. Speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Kilmer mr. Kildee thank you, mr. Speaker. Well, this week in congress its deja vu all over again. Last week instead of bringing a clean longterm funding bill for the department of Homeland Security the house again kicked the can down the road. Now, we know we needed to preserve and keep open keep funded the operations of the department, but we certainly cant make this yet another manufactured political crisis this week. We know and everybody in this house knows that there is support in the house, bipartisan support for a clean Homeland Security bill. I dont know precisely what the numbers are but more and more we hear from our friends on the republican side they would like to see a vote to fully fund d. H. S. For the remainder of the year and then take up in regular order the process of determining what immigration policy ought to look like in this country. We have big countries in this nation. We have big challenges across the globe. We need to focus our attention on getting an economy that works for everyone and not continue to fight battles over manufactured political crises intended to pander to the smallest minds in this bill. Thats not the way people across the country wants us to work. We need to get back to the business of the American People. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Newhouse mr. Speaker, last week we celebrated national f. A. A. Week, the national f. A. A. Organizations more than 80 years of commitment to providing students with a path to leadership and career success through agriculture this theme, go all out, asked more than 600,000 students from over 6,700 f. A. A. Chapters to go all out for agriculture and show their communities how they live the f. A. A. Motto, learning to do, doing to learn, learning to serve. As a former f. A. A. Member, i have always been impressed with how well f. A. A. Helps hone certain skills and prepare students for the future. I find that f. A. A. Not only helps to advance the knowledge of agriculture and develop Community Relationships but you can always tell an f. A. A. Student by how articulate and wellspoken they are. My own experience in f. A. A. Not only helps shaped my career as a farmer but also prepared me to represent the Fourth District of washington state. Mr. Speaker, please join me in congratulating the f. A. A. On 80 years on commitment to agriculture and education. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from californ sk coitn . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Sak. Mr. Speaker, i rise today on behalf of the millions of americans who are concerned about the state of our National Security. In todays world, we face many threats from foreign enemies who intend to do us harm. Mr. Vargas americans expect congress will fulfill its duty to act in the best interest they serve. The question of whether or not to fund the department of Homeland Security should never even be up for debate. I respect the difference of opinion some of my colleagues hold with regard to the president s recent executive action on immigration. But by taking hostage a funding bill thats intended to keep American Families safe in order to get what you want is reckless and it is not the way this body was intended to function. Lets pass a clean d. H. S. Funding bill and then lets have a serious debate on immigration. We need to find a comprehensive solution to our immigration challenges and the only way to do that is by working together to pass a bipartisan bill. Lets utilize this chamber to debate and pass meaningful legislation and lets start right now by approving the department of Homeland Security funding for the remainder of the fryer. Mr. Speaker, remainder of the fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to honor the life of a man who was dedicated to protecting and serving the country. Mr. Davis the fire chief for medora died in the line of duty earlier this month. He was entering his 21st year of the Fire Department and had served as fire chief since 2006. While repairing preparing to respond to a 91 call, he was struck by a fire truck that was heading to the scene. This tragic event reminds us all to never forget the selflessness and sacrifices our First Responders make on our behalf especially when many give their lives for our safety. Earlier this month, more than 500 First Responders, family and friends packed a gym nair yum at Southwestern High School in illinois to pay their respects to chief layer. Some firefighters traveled more than two hours to honor chief lair. Friends and coworkers of chief lair noticed his unwavering willingness to help others both as fire chief and as a member of the community. Hes survived by his family, one son and three grandsons. My thoughts and this houses thoughts and prayers are with his familiarly, friends and the community as they family, friends and the community as they continue to mourn. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia pursuant to clause 4 of rule 1 the following enrolled bill was signed by the speaker on friday, february 27, 2015. The clerk h. R. 33, to amend the Internal Revenue code of 1986 to ensure that Emergency Services volunteers are not taken into account as employees under the shared responsibility requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care act. The speaker pro tempore pavilion called olympia by the sea. As the storm increased in intensity, these beach structures literally were turned into match sticks. The 1900 storm struck saturday september 8 1900 and tapered off toward midnight. That evening. This hurricane was and still is it the deadliest recorded natural event. In the history of the United States. Watch all of our events from galveston, saturday at noon eastern on cspan2s book tv and sunday afternoon at 2 00 on American History tv on cspan3. He said hes considering a run for president in 2016, and that he would base his campaign in New Hampshire which holds the first in the nation president ial primary. Why did you come here . What was the attraction . You like school . Yeah. Why here . Real professor teach you . Small school thats a big advantage. Close knit community . What else . A really oneonone thats what you pay for. Thats great. I appreciate youall coming. Ill try not to bore you. Im going to involve you guys. Be ready. Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of our center for engagement i would like to quome you to new england college. I a senior Political Science major. Today it is my pleasure to introduce our guest speaker governor bob ehrlich. Governor ehrlich has served as governor, member of congress, state legislator and civil lit gayor. Most recently hes advised clients on an array of Government Matters with particular expertise in Health Care Finance and Economic Development. As marylands first republican governor in 36 years when elected in 2002, he improved maryland as fiscal condition by turning 4 billion in deficit into over 2 billion in surplus. In the process, he helped create 100,000 new jobs. He made record investments in Public Schools and authored marylands first public Charter Schools law. He doubled funding for needbased college scholarships, helping enrollment reach an alltime high. Among his many recognitions, governor ehrlich was recognized by Chesapeake Bay foundation for the historic Chesapeake Bay restoration act. The foundation called the act the most important environmental achievement in 20 years. Governor ehrlich also earned National Recognition for empowering adults with disabilities. He created the nations first cabinetlevel department of disabilities for which he earned the highest Recognition Award from the secretary of health and human services. He earned his bachelors degree in politics from Princeton University and his law degree from wake forest university. Please join me in welcoming governor bob ehrlich. [applause]. Stephanie presented this to me, by the way. I want everybody to see. I appreciate that. [applause] hows everybody . We are going to be interactive today. Thank you for the nice introduction self fay. I doll a fair amount of college lectures. Do i not like talking at you i would like to talk with you. I move around a lot excuse me. So i brought my wife with me today. Kendall ehrlich. And she is the mother of my two sons drew, age 15, and josh, age 10. And what do you think whats your name . What do you think im doing here today . Youre speaking about your vision for america . Speaking of my vision for america. All right. What should that vision be . All right. Lets say you guys are running for president. Lets just say youre running for president , ok. I want to hear from you what you think the major issues confronting this economy this country, this culture what they are, and most importantly what you do about it. Im going to have my answers too. I want to hear from you. You are were interactive today. We get extra credit for hands. Professors here, right . Yes. How would you define wage and equality when we have so many laws on the books both state and federal with regard to wage fairness . What statute would you advocate . Not a specific statute i think women should be paid equal to men for doing the same work and the same job. Its the law. It is. I think the law should maybe be enforced more than they are now because if its going on, somebodys not enforcing the laws properly. All right. Its very interesting because when you deal with issues like this, you have the sort of objective goal, right . Equal work, equal pay, right . Whats your name . Muriel. Should someone at the same job whos been there 10 years be paid the same as someone who has been there two years . So youre not saying equal pay for equal work. [inaudible] ok. All right. Heres the deal. When you talk about these issues, define your terms. Do not let anybody label you. Prolife prochoice, progun antigun it means something very different to all of you. They are just labels used in politics. There are short cuts for reporters. You do not play into those short cuts because once you do, your opponent has you. Ok. As a member of congress, member state legislature governor, voigted on bills thousands of times in legislatures, two lurkse, one state one federal. Abortion issues, hundreds. Gun issues, hundreds. Each vote has to be taken on its own merits. So if i asked the students here if you identify yourself as progun, raise your hand. Youre progun. One, two . Three . Ok. No right or wrong answer. Now, if youre antigun raise your hand. Ok. I just told you not to raise your hand because i just defined you. I labeled you. You had no idea what i was talking about. So never answer that question. If somebody tries to corner you with some label on a social issue or economic issue or defense issue you make them define their terms. What that means to you. Medicaid financing t in maryland we have a really expanding medicaid statute when it comes to abortion. Longterm lateterm abortions parentsal consent judicial bypass, stem cell research. All of this these issues i voted on. Same with guns. Right to carry. Home invasion. Whatever it happens to be. Ammunition, gun shows. Do not let anybody force you into lanling yourself labeling yourself without you giving them to define you. You meant equal pay for equal work, equal experience, equal talent, equal pay correct . Define your terms. Always. Ok. So, if youre running for president and we have one issue pay and equality, what other issues out there confronting the american middle class . Every politician, every governor every member of congress likes to talk about the middle class. I guarantee you by statute alone defines middle class every one of you would have a different definition. As far as income, what your family situation is, where you happen to live, right . But as far as the sort of widely defined middle class what issues are confronting the american middle class today . Number one issue . Cspans here. That times not good on tv, im telling you. Yes. Income. As far as income. What do you mean as far as income . Based on what people make per year. Right. So wage stability. So we have, as you know, in this country today the sort of wage freeze. We have wages that have really not gone up. In an awful long time. So we have middle class stuck thats an issue. Thats why you have all these politicians playing to the middle class. Everybody wants to play to the middle class. Does the middle wage speak to the middle class . Why do some politicians talk about the middle class in the context of a minimum wage . We are trying to change the subject, right . Real income growth, which has been not very good in this country for the last eight years seven years, so thats one issue. So people feel stuck. They feel as though their lot in life is not improving. J. P. . Whats the number one issue for you . Introduce yourself, please. J. P. , i think security. Security, how defined . Immigration probably. I would define it as whats going on in the world today is distressing. Domestic and interinternational, Border Security and interNational Security. Border security, domestic security. Who here believes sovereignty . Citizenship should mean something . Raise your hand. What does it mean to you . First hand up. What does citizenship mean to you . I think it should be a group of people who come together with a common goal and common values. Whats your name . Morgan. A for you. Wheres your professor . Wheres wayne . Extra credit. Extra credit. A. What is this country all about . What did we what did our families what nationality are you . Ethnicity . American. Whats your folks come from . French, french canadian. Polish, german, ehrlich. We all came here, mostly without a buck. Some came here on a slave ship. They did not have a choice. But they came here for a central reason. They came here to try to make a buck. They came here for freedom. Some didnt have a choice. But they all came here to form this unique bond, its called a culture, a country, right . With a central language and a central set of values. What are our values . What are our values . What are American Values . Uniquely American Values . Freedom, equality. Blurel itch, democracy. Pluralism democracy capitalism. Someplaces not liking the yankees so much. So we come here with this set of values. And its call assimilation. And i would argue to you one of the major cultural challenges in our country today is some people who are not wild about assimilation. The ethnicities count. I go to the german festival. Im a german. I do not look to germany nor anything other than my family histry. I dont look to germany for ethics, anything. Im an assimlated american, german american right. And our idea is a singular culture that welcomes races and ethnicities and traditions across the world into this really unique experiment, pluralism and democracy and capitalism we call america. Thats what makes america exceptional. We are not perfect. We werent perfect from the founding. But these ideas are pretty cool. Those framers really knew something. You can be an american regardless of where you come from and what you look like in regards of your last night or anything. That really counts. We are losing that. Some items in our society not interested in Border Security, j. P. We have always welcomed from all over the world. You come here, heres our deal. You come here legally we welcome you. You learn the language. You vote. You raise your kids. You treat your wife, your husband with respect. You blend into our uniquely American Culture and share our values, to the extent you want to distinguish yourself from that, you may have a problem. You may have a problem assimlating, a problem generally. This is common sense. Its not controversial. Its not republican, its not conservative its not liberal its not democrat, its what the country actually used to be about and until recently very few people disagreed with. Until recently. And this is a real problem and its your problem. Because youre going to inherit this country. Youre going to be running states and businesses and running nonprofits and teaching and hopefully teaching these values. Have i said anything controversial to any of you . Anything that sacks of any political ideology . Could you predict my party identification, where you heard me talk about this after five, 10 minutes . Did you know whether i was republican or democrat . Hopefully you shouldnt. Because we share these views. Dissent is part of that tradition. Pluralism is part of that tradition. Religious freedom is part of that tradition. But when you lose the very front end when you say borders and sovereignty and citizenship dont mean much anymore you have a problem in the long term. I think slurelly this is maybe number one issue confronting our country. Not so long ago the president characterized isis as a j. D. Army. He has since rescinded that characterization. These are a group of radical murderers who go around killing people beheading people, doing everything that you read every day. This on the heels of america saying enough. Afghanistan, iraq, enough. Foreign engagements enough. Nation building, enough. Casualties, enough. Wars to nowhere against nonnation states, enough. And so here we are. America was there president obama got elected on that platform, bring the boys and girls home. Enough war. Enough blood shed, enough carbumets casualties, enough, enough. The American People said enough. And now we cant turn on tv or listen to the radio without hearing of naziera atrocities. Pol pot in colombia. You name the dictator, you name the mass murderers. And they are growing. And all the generals, the people we pay to make these decisions, say, these are really dangerous people and guess what . Youre not going to be able to stop them with just air strikes. And the American Public says now what . And thats where we are. The American Public post vietnam, i grew up post vietnam. I went to congress after the 1980s. That war did not impact my world view the way it has the way it did people just five years older than me. So i didnt sort of grow up with that presumption that these foreign engagements are roads to nowhere. We now have a situation in our country where we have a very unstable region in the middle east. Very dangerous with the emergence of this terrorist army. We have potential nuclear deal with iran that may in fact, give iran the bomb. We have Workplace Violence which used to be called terrorism, should be called terrorism, because it is terrorism. And we have part of this of a well established religion, very small part of people who make these interpretations that want to kill other people. I would say thats the number one security issue in our country. So we have talked about the economy, wage growth, we talked about our culture. Right. Immigration. We have talked about national defense. I would say that these discussions are occurring in a lot of dining room tables these days, a lot of families. And they are also going to be occurring in the context of governors races congressional races president ial races because the american American Public is fundamentally today uncomfortable with the status of things. They know their wages havent grown. They know theres an enemy over there and maybe here and they read a lot of unilateral actions by the president of the United States that are extra constitutional. That every time the president s been taken to court every time hes lost. Hell probably lose on immigration as well. I think theres a sense of insecurity. Thats why i wrote this book. Im not here to plug the book, but im plugging the book. America hope for change. Thats why i wrote the book because i think at this point in our history in our culture where we are the American Public is a little confused. And they are looking for leadership. And all very subjective term, all of you give me a definition of leadership, somebody. Anybody. Who is a leader . Ok. A leader is somebody that will take charge and show the best way to do it. Ok. Good definition. Somebody that will take charge, the best way to do it. What do leaders do . How do they do that . They get everyone involved. They build coalitions and you define stakes. Right. Im defining stakes for your generation right now. You better care about this culture because youre going to inherit it. You you better care that citizenship means something. You better care that capitalism works. And you better care that there are theres a growing army in a far away place ready, willing, to come here and kill you because you are you. Ok. I would say the stakes are pretty high. And i want to challenge all the young people here as a result. Either get involved, there is no right answer republican, democrat, liberal conservative, i happen to have some views on that. We can talk later quietly away from the cameras. But i do think that these stakes are enormously high today. Every politician, every cycle says theres nothing more important in this election because usually that persons running. Ok. We said that. This is a really important election, right . In this country in this era with the stakes as high as they are, these elections coming up are pretty important. So when i do these lectures around the country and all that, people say people come up to me and ask me questions the first question is, why cant we all get along . If the stakes are this high, if things are this dysfunctional why cant republicans and democrats in congress get along . You guys are smart tell me why that is. Remember the dead time thing here. Why do you think that is . Whats your name . Alanda. Amanda. Why can we not get along . They have political agendas. They pushing them. The country is about political agenda. You run on a political agenda. I have a political agenda. You have a political agenda. Thats not it. Its part of the answer. I think they want to get elected again. They want to get elected again. She gets an a, too. Thats ok. Do you want to fail . Your business, or your career . Not ideally. Thats another right answer. Its ok to want to get elected. I would just submit to you that there are concrete reasons why and youre learning this in Political Science why congress appears so dysfunctional. And probably the primary reason is there are so many safe seats in the house state legislatures have gone about the business, particularly recently, of drawing safe seats. And this is not my opinion this is fact. Every election cycle what do you see . Congressional approval at minus 18. Everybody hates congress. Reelect rate . 95. Wheres the disconnect in that . Where is that . How does that make sense . If everybody hates congress, and yet your woman or your guy gets reelected . Why is that . Because state legislatures have gone about the business in more recently times of getting serious about drawing safe seats. Which means almost regardless of what you do during your twoyear term, you cant lose. You can screw up, you could be an inyot. You could be smart. You could be articulate, i articulated. Unless you make big mistakes you dont lose because state legislatures have drawn lines to make sure you get reelected. Whats your impetus when you go to congress . Thats great. Just dont compromise. Ever. Ever ever. On anything. Go get them. You say, yeah. Go back to washington theres a bill. Give and take. Negotiate. Youre saying, no. No. Dont really need to. Might cost me my seat back home, too. My primary. So whats on top of the this phenomenon of this phenomenon is im in new england right now, and it used to be there was a republican tradition in new england. It was actually republican base. In my time in congress and afterward, its almost been wiped out. In the south and the west, it was a Democratic Base save burian democratic seats. They have almost been wiped out. So you do not have today in Congress Many third partyn Congress Many third party honest brokers. How Ronald Reagans tax go through . Southern democrats. Honest third party brokers. Now its very philosophical ideological, very partisan. And theres very little room to compromise, which is why you dont have compromise. There are other reasons there are voting right seats packing repuckicans, democrats blare v white, and the different seats that also plays a part here, bigtime. When you pack base voters into specific larstricts. Just maybe a thoonaht. Not just people have agendas they do. Not that they want to get reelected, nothing wrong with that. Very litgice room, very litgice impetus. Very time. Theres very litgice motivation in many cases to compromise. Now you have to understand what compromise means. I was a republican governor of maryland. Not many. Ok. I had a very liberal legislature, very democratoriented legislature. I game from legislature, i had friends got to be governor. Thats another story. So i had to learn what governors and president s need to learn. Youre not going to get 100 of what you want. You heard about that Chesapeake Bay restoration act when i was introduced. Bigtime environmental initiative. Really important for the bay. Phosphorous and nitrogen twin killers of the bay. Really important. I did not get6 c13 apres of that bill. I dits vnt get 9sid, i dits vnt get 80 . I got about 65 7sid of that bill. So my decision was do i upset some people in my base by signing the bill, or do i veto the bill knowing this is the best chance to get the bay cleaner in my generation . And i have a 15 and 10yearold and i want them to eat crabs. I know im in lobster land. I love crabs ok. Well teach you how to eat grahave a when you come down to baltimore. If i was dosomatic, it was forget it. See ya. I want 100 or nothing. Thats not leadership. Right. Thats not leadership. Now conversely, you have to understand when youre getting 42 or 38 of what you want, you may want to veto that bill because you dont think thats moving the ball forward all right. So just some thoughts about practical leadership. My party likes to talk about ronald reagan. Jack kemp was my really most influential person in my political life. A lot of republicans talk about presits vent reagan. Presits vent reagan compromised. He compromised on fundamental comprehensive tax reform. He sat down with tip oneill. He left the white house and tapined to democrats. He did. Got a big deal done. To get big things done immigration, tax reform, trade bills you need the active involvement of the president because leadership. Without it its not gorsng to happen. Its not. It cant. Theres too many vorsces. Oo many stopping points. Ok. The last question i want to give o you, you guys can ask whatever you want within reason, the last qronastion is money. How come monque . Cant you get money out of politics . Money is the root of all eviups money, money money thats all you guys do is raise monque. Who agrees with that statement . Money is the evil in politics. Raise youtanhand. What do you base your observation on . I just think its often that a lot of our decisions in life are based off money. How can we get more monque versus maybe whats doing whats right situation. Ok. Ok. Heres the problem. I thought about this a lot trust me. I thought when i went to congress i thought i had the answers. Free tv for nonincumbents. Except where do you draw that isine . When do you give the free tv . Who are you going to make run those ads . Do you stop at the republican or Democratic Party . What about the green party . What about the Libertarian Party . What about the natural rights party . What about the you fill in the blank party . Its so easy to think about these arbitrary lines we draw when we talk about Campaign Finance and monque theres no line you can draw in my view i wish it wasnt so, but theres wo problems. One i just talked about. Any line you draw is gorsng to be arbitrary. Any line. The second is, theres this darn emirst amendment thing. Darn. First amendment. And it says you get to speak and give opinions and you say ehrlichs i didnt lrde that guy emrom maryland. Write a letter and say that guys a bad guy. Youre protected in this condoiy. The First Amendment gives you the right to freedom. In a political contax. You can say a president s bad. I can say anything you want. And peocise in a free society they express those statements throonah dollars. It might be convenient. You might think money is the root of all evil. That speech, that highly protected constitutional speech. Ihen you s rrkse draw lines and contract that right legislature draw lines and contract that right you got a problem. Thats why i voted against mccain feingold. Arbitrary lines dont work very well in the context in my view. Of free speech. Thats going to be a problem. Any time you draw lines. Any time you carve out freedom and draw a line down the middle, im willing to hear other options. I just thoonaht about it for 25 years. How much time do we have . So you guys get to ask qronastions. I support traditional marriage. I also thibert there are rights that apply to adult relationships and i supported those rights in the state of maryland. Could you define traditional marriage . Lifman and woman. On what basis . Bickical marriage . Mysit your valronas are going to play do your moral values play into your vpresiws . Sure. So do mine. I think in my vpresiw, i talk a lot about rights, talk a lot about freedom. I talk a real prockem in poorer comine ght ties fatherlessness. I think we have to be very car sume d about lines and rights. I support traditional marriage and i sns. Port all sor i of rights that used to go with traditional marriage with regard o nondoiaditional relationships. Let me ask you a question. Why would you stop at one baseouse . Why not three spouses . The tax codes difficult. Thats a good thats really good. I like that. We agree with that, by the way. I agree with that. I agree with that. Thats pretty good. Give him an a, too. Seriously, intellectually, its not just of course peocise hhatse emotional aousachment. I understand that. Peocise on my stamake coulddraw t careless, not my business. Marriage as an institution, fundamental institution in our society, its the right thing. Can you name any negative impac i of gay marriage thats happened when its been legalized . Lifno. I would just say as a person who goes around and talks a lot about the ahave a ence of male role models and fathers with, in particular, comine ght ties, poor communitpresis, and its been 50 years since moynihan, senator moho should read his report. Its not a black issue not a white ies its an american issue. So i thibert its in my vpresiwhat b not he right policy. You can call it whatever you iant. But i thibert there needs to be both genders exposed to a child. Child rearing. Hat makes sense to me. Have you read i read a lot of stuhis res. Believe me. Ive red some you should maybe read. You read this study thats shown gay parents i have no problem with that. Id lrd,e to consider voting for the Republican Party because it stands for small limited government. But i dont see how. Libertarian . Soci ally, sure. I dont see how regulating, people can marry who they can isovesitupp states have always regulated that. Its not new. Afirays. But ill talk to you. Youre a catchable. Youre a possicke. I want to close you. Yes, sir. Chris. Come dd you give me tpos oread. Three examples of where you would fundamentally reform the size and scope of the federal government . You dont have to stop at three, if yousitupp first quick story about maryland. We had big buntsituppbudget deficit as you heard. Coming in, i wasnt going to raise taxes and we had big budget deficits. What are you going to do . Ouread. Debt levels were higais we couldnt replace paygo with debt. I called my bbitget secretaries in and gave them a work book. My budget secretary came ns. With his idea. I wont take credit for it. It said, you know what youre gpeopng to start nmodt years fiscal budgeting in your agency at 88 . Not 100. And youre going to justify to me the governor every pen ye foerlego w8. Upp foer 88 in a facetoface showdown. And some provedgo w8 was right. Some proved 92. Some proved 105. But thats how we started the prhe sess ofsit as you know, in washington, if you start at bitg ca, sns. Posed to go to mybitg through a cola or whatever, it goes to 105 thats a cut. Hats c13 cazy. Thats not how you run your family. He school dfubitg t run like that. It cant to answer your qronastion. The federal department of education has a federal role to play with rundard to people with his rsabilities and title 1. Ok. Constitutional rights follow. Thque are very serious activities of the federal government. Other than that i thibert that posme dd be one place. A lot of people have issues with certain commerce, corporate welfare, you dont like corporate welfare i know that. Right . Being libertarian. Republican in congress, you see a lt of these d mates. Then the issue is defense. Under see quester we have the ilbitget talk saying, not enoonaais and some respects they are right. But you and i bothhis rsnow theres a lot of waste. I havent gotten to obamacare. Ilecause it is a really bad ppresice of legislation. Maybe the antipiece ms anddle claes recent memory and start there. Hats three. For you conservatives here. Do not say they need to read every page of every bill in congrees happen and its impossible. Its silly to say it. But if youre a member of congress you have your personal staav, you hhatse your commiousee staff and you have your caucus stthe af. Heres no excuse ever why you should not know any major provision in a big bill. Night. But do not say they need to read every page of every bilough that is impossible. Its silly to say. Lifhow would you go about handling immigration nationally . I thibert senator rubios bill is a good prehis rcate. It needs to be worked on. I thibert we lose sith t of d suinitions. It drives me crazy. Earlier lectured you about not ead. Detting labeled, right . Road to citizenship road to isundaltecatioprh road to you fill in the blank, you have to fill in your terms here. There are l i of illegal folks here. I think i thibert what the press andent ds and is clearly unconstitutional. So the rubio bill is a place to start. I think theres a big difference between sending out wrong mees doing practical things. In other wormio, riag youre here illundally we are probably not going to we are not going to, send myhere. My4, my2, dageenhis rng the number, illegals here. Making them legal is far curiag, in citizenship. Big difference. You cant morally reward illundal behavior and put those folks ahead of people who hhatse done the right thing and gotten in line and followed the law and modpethats becoming american adefittecens, right . Cant do it. In my view. Its immoral. So theres all sorts of plans out there senator rubio has one. Others have others. But at some point you need to have a statute that identriagpresis, se i a deadline by the way deadlines havent worked well in the past. And says we are going to make you, guess worker, whatever temple you want to use, at least respect for the country, we are goinithto check recormio criminal ilackground, we are going to make sure Child Support english. adefivics. Everything it takes to get back to the issue what i talked about earlier is m thiing american mean something. It means something youre an americaprh. We give money at the local level to the nursing association. We give money to planned parenthood. We give money to all of these different groups. Ehrlich i had a problem when i was a member of congress, giving too much money. How can you let the people start spending their own charitable dollar, rather than government . Ehrlich this is one of the fundamental questions out there. I would ask all of you to think, because it is not the governments dollar, but it is appropriate to spend money on some government functions. Two different things. What is inappropriate is losing a sense of federalism. What has happened in this country over the years, we run over the 10th amendment and ideas our founders had, which is, for the most part, governments want to create dependency. Read more in a ham. Promise me. Im going to read what you give me. When you make it such that government replaces what the Nonprofit Sector and people should do, you are creating a dependent society. Social security, disability has quadrupled. Quadrupled in the last seven years. I do not think the number of legitimate cases have quadrupled in seven years. Whenever there is a work requirement discussed in congress, some people yell race. They yell unfair. They turn into some other issue. I am begging you young people here to think about this stuff. Think about where those lines are drawn, because today, they are way too out there. I will not name the senator, because i protect the guilty. The issue was schools, and i am a radical when it comes to giving poor kids opportunities to escape dysfunctional school systems. I am for everything. Enough. Enough. We have cheated in a multigenerational way too many kids out of the chance you all had to punch her ticket, and we have got to care. So im in this debate, and this person the issue of School Construction comes up. The person said, sure, the federal government should be building schools. And i went, what . And nobody said anything because those lines have all been crossed today. A stroke of a pen, we can make it illegal legal. Wrong way to do it. I got the problem. Wrong way to do it. Ways to do it have to count. The federal government should never be involved in School Construction, ever. It is not a edible job. Some things to think about. Thanks, you guys. Stephanie thank you so much. Ehrlich my pleasure. Stephanie the governor will be around for another 10, 15 minutes if you have questions for him. Thanks so much for joining him today. Ehrlich thanks for having me. We are glad to have you. Hi, i work for the associated press. Can i talk to you for a little bit . Can you tell me what else you have been up to while you are here in New Hampshire . Ehrlich i was with jp. Went to see the rocking him giants. Rockingham giants. Did some interviews like this, tv interviews, radio interviews. How seriously is your consideration about running for president . Ehrlich i dont know. I am surprised. This tipped off organically. It came up in a speech. A bunch of people said, do you want to come back . This was in manchester. I came back and they said, why dont you come back again . I came back. Now, this is my fourth trip. It was a very difficult decision. I have a real job. So when you hear this phrase which is sometimes phony listening to all that this is actually appropriate here. It is not the cover for some secret campaign. What are you looking for when you are looking at ehrlich you hear me talk about leadership. Is my platform, my record, my views, my style of leadership the way it plays here, and whether it is a viable candidacy. You cannot figure that out from maryland. Today was more of a q and a instead of a speech. Ehrlich i make my points that way. If you were to run, what would be your platform . Ehrlich you heard me talk about it. I walked my kid i walked to the kids over them. A sense of security. The middle class, obviously. Some of the traditional stuff we see as far as denigration of our manufacturing, and lack of wage increases over the past seven years. Culturally, we talked a lot about culture. Culture, what it means today. I think we are losing a bit. We have more people insecure. The definitions are more unclear than they have been. Obviously, the issue of defense. Can you expand on that a little bit . Ehrlich the president makes fun of remember the no speech . Everybody laughed. Homeland security is really serious. We are trying to struggle with this issue of keeping our foundation, keeping our history, welcoming people from all over the world. Assembling them into this unique experiment in pluralism and democracy and all the other stuff we talked about. But you dont do that by encouraging illegal behavior. And you dont do that by degrading sovereignty. And you dont do that by strokes of the pen in a quiet hour. That is not leadership. And then, the third part of the story this is a national event. What we talked about here, people are confused right now. They are concerned. We have a very strong isolationist trend in this country, post iran, post iraq, post afghanistan. People said, enough. Were going to withdraw. When the good guys left, bad guys tend to fill back in. You see that in ukraine, in the middle east, and all over the world. And that is not good for their future. It is a lot more than, i kept my campaign promise, we are out of there. We are out of there is a semicolon. Its not a period. History does not stop. There is insecurity in the country. I am trying to figure out how deep. This isolationism is dangerous. I think what he said about foreign conflict and isis is pretty mainstream. I have been clear, i do not talk about any other politicians. A lot of them are my friends. A lot of them are very successful governors. Some senators. I am tentative to even ask the question, but i will say that from what i have seen of his recent statement, it is much more mainstream when it comes to our goals for the world, and the fact you cannot ignore all the bad guys. You just cannot. See you disagree with him . Ehrlich i think recently there has been more a lot of other republicans considering running have more recognition than you do, chris christie, rand paul. Realistically, do you think there is a way that you can break through and find a path . How can you do that . Ehrlich yes, please. I will say that i am not going to degrade the importance or minimize the importance of money in politics. But i will say with social media, given the fact that there are so many other ways to reach people today, money is not as important as it was 10, 20 years ago. It is just not. Now, it is so important. We are not there. And i am not going to allow the calendar to rush me into any decision. I am pretty confident in my ability to campaign and engage. And i have a record and a history, obviously. But for now, it is truly trying to figure out whether my style my focus, fits the here and now. Thank you. Ehrlich you are welcome. Ehrlich i will do it. Hang out. Hang out. Thanks for having me. I dont know. I just want to know what you think. Ehrlich free trade. I think we trade with the world, and the world can be a better place, and america is a better place. I think there is a dangerous threat in our country, and isolationist track. I think we need to engage. We need to engage on many fronts. Defense, development, i am not against foreign aid. Something has to make sense. It needs to make sense to the american taxpayer. They have an interest here as well. I am not some of the republicans feel that anything international thank you. Ehrlich nice to see you. Good to see you. Thanks for watching. If elected, the programs, what will you do . Ehrlich you heard what i did in maryland. I meant to say this, actually. I meant to talk about this area it sounds like a good idea, so we look at it. And then there is a bureau, and then we hire people. Then, we need to protect our turf. And we really fail to measure. You heard the gentleman back there. I think we need to measure our government. We tend not to do that. And we tend to forget what some of the worst predictions Medicare Part d was going to cost this amount. This is the way the market is. It is 6 million under what cbo projected, because we used Market Measures to reduce costs, and it works. We save money. That is an example where it was less, because we used the market. I think too often, we fail to measure. I think that leaders do that. And sometimes, when i had cabinet meetings, they were unpleasant. Something might get cut. If they made the case to me, they are doing well it was a jobs department. Sometimes, the private sector does not do a good job. If you are a republican, and you increased government i did. It was about where the market does not necessarily work. People who can work with technology we can get them into the workforce, but they need some help and we need experienced understand what they are. Government should be able to do that. The program was pretty successful. My first secretary of my cabinet had lobbied me in congress. I ran with her in the federal government. She was right. People with disabilities today using technology, can really make a difference. I had a question also. The rising cost of college education. Ehrlich yes. In maryland, we doubled needbased aid. It is more a problem it is a middleclass issue. One of my great frustrations in life is to see tuition increases every year. I think there needs to be a National Conversation on that. What do you think of the proposal to make Community College free . Ehrlich i thought it was a bad idea. It would tax 529s, which is about as middleclass as you get. I have one for my kids. Most middleclass families do. In order to make the most affordable level of college by far relatively few people come to me and say they cannot afford it. It really is the best deal. People come to me all the time. I cannot afford four years of tuition. I think the way he went about it was wrong. I happen to disagree with it. All right, you troublemaker. How are you . Good to see you. Talking a microphone. Good to see you. Thanks for coming. Maybe i can come and talk to you after. Ehrlich good guy. Had you think ehrlich you take out a major player, with a lot of money. It impacts two aspects of the race. A big player out, and then where do the dollars go . There is an impact on the backend. It is a big deal. Why now did you decide to get back into an election . Ehrlich what is the reason i run run the country giving speeches . I think there is and it is a real thing. It comes from a lot of bad decisions in washington, d. C. We did not go back. It is this minimal as asian minimalization. We did bill that. Sorry, we did. That kind of stuff. The messaging from the president is a lack of respect for sovereignty, a lack of respect for entrepreneurs. If we exit stage left in the world, we have got a problem. Your biggest topics. Ehrlich my get my big topic . Criminal justice reform. And restoring a good to see you. Say hi to my wife. Justin justin. Ehrlich good to see you justin. Justin what do you think will be the cost of college in five years, based on tuition cost . Ehrlich are you painful cost . In maryland, my kid went to school. Let us know, because my wifes College Roommates daughter jason Justin Ehrlich are you that good . Can i get a picture of you together . Is that right . Excellent and actually, my College Roommates daughter is there. Ehrlich that is what i was just saying. Good. All right, justin. Here we go. Justin keep taking pictures. That is fine. Look over here . Ehrlich there you go. Then, we got to roll, unfortunately. Ehrlich sure. Trust jp. Ap i got to get you to manchester in a half hour. Less than that. Back to jps house. I will take one too. There we go. Ehrlich what do i have to do . What am i doing . Jp right here . I am serious. The cost people dont know. Jp i have to take my place. This is your phone. Thank you, dear. That is all right. Ehrlich everybody, can we Stay Together . Nice to meet you. Ok, great. Good luck. Ehrlich lets go. No more talking. Lets go. Hey, hey, hey. Still going on. Yeah. Ehrlich you are welcome. Nice to meet you. Good question. First woman to chair the Senate Appropriations committee, a position she just lost when republicans gained the majority. Prime minister netanyahu is in washington this week and tomorrow he speaks to a joint meeting of congress. We will have live coverage. Some members of congress are skipping the speech because the white house was not consulted. House Speaker Boehner invited him and obama says he will not meet with the leader. Israels elections are two weeks tomorrow. Mr. Netanyahu spoke this morning at a policy conference and addressed the controversy. You may not have heard. I will be speaking in Congress Tomorrow. [cheers and applause] you know never has so much been written about a speech that hasnt been given. And im not going to speak today about the content of that speech but i do want to say a few words about the purpose of that speech. First, let me clarify what is not the purpose of that speech. My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to president obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have Great Respect for both. [applause] i deeply appreciate all that president obama has done for israel, security cooperation, intelligence sharing, support of the u. N. And much more some things that i cannot difference ulling to you because it remains in the realm of the confidences that are kept between an american president and an israelly Prime Minister. Im deeply grateful for his support. Our coverage of the americanisrael conference continues later today. National security susan rice addresses the gathering and will be talking about iran and see it on c pan3 live at 6 00 p. M. Eastern. The city tour takes book tv and American History tv on the road traveling to u. S. Cities to learn about their history. Next weekend we partnered with comcast to galveston texas. The rising tide drew them. I watched in an amazement as both of these battered the beach front structures. We had wooden bath houses over the gulf of mexico and we had piers and huge pavillion called olympia by the sea. As the storm increased in intensity, these structures were turned into matchsticks. The 1900 storm struck galveston, saturday september 8 1900. The storm began before noonan increased in dramatic intensity and then finally tapered during the night that evening. This hurricane was and still is the deadliest recorded natural event in the history of the United States. Watch all of our events from galveston saturday at noon eastern on book tv and sunday afternoon on American History tv on cspan 3. We received more than 2,200 entries from 400 schools across the country on the theme the three branches and you. On thursday we will announce the grand prize winner and show their winning documentary and see all documentaries at studentcam. Org. The house subcommittee on the environment held a hearing on Drinking Water in rural areas. I would like to call the hearing to order and recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Todays hearing focuses on challengeses on rural Water Systems. I thank mr. Tonko and mr. Harper for their bipartisan work to raise this issue before the subcommittee. According to the Census Bureau 27 of the u. S. Population lives in rural areas. The smallest Water Systems account for 77 of all systems. As someone who represents communities and small town and Rural America, im glad we have bipartisan interest in tackling this subject. Small and rural drinking rural supply systems are subject to a number of regulations issued by e. P. A. They are monitor and treatment to remove contaminant and reporting. It requires technical and managerial capabilities that are difficult to develop. When it comes to Regulatory Compliance its ironic where these communities work hard to support the communities and earning wages below those of their counterparts in the area and demands that are disproportionate to many larger communities. Sometimes its a matter of having the ability to keep up with the red tape. While im sure we will explore the funding mechanism the Agricultural Department and other federal agencies its not just a matter of throwing more scarce money at the problem but smartly assessing what the needs are for these systems prioritizing the importance of those needs, finding whether the Current System can be improved to remove unnecessary burdens and eliminate bureaucracy and examining whether efforts can aid where congress cannot. I want to thank our witnesses who put their lives on hold to battle the elements and join us. People who live in Rural Communities deserve every bit of the Water Quality and Technical Resources than folks that live in densely populated urban centers do. Thanks for everyone on this issue. Mr. Tonko is addressing some issues and i appreciate the work they are doing. With that, i would like to yield to the vice chair for the remainder of my time. Thank you, mr. Chairman and i appreciate you holding this hearing. Like you and many other members of congress, i represent a rural district where many of my constituents get their Drinking Water from smaller cities, towns and Water Associations. According to the National Rural Water Association more than 90 of the community Water Systems across the United States serve the population of less about than 10,000 individuals. They provide our constituents with clean, safe Drinking Water that are often at a disadvantage bus of economics of scale and the need for more Technical Expertise. I know that this is an important issue to you mr. Chairman and the Ranking Member. And i thank you for the opportunity to continue working on legislation to ensure our constituents get the help and clean water they need. I say welcome to my fellow citizens of mississippi and thank you for providing insight to the subcommittee today. Thank you for your commitment on this issue and i yield back. I have a remaining minute left. I recognize mr. Tonko for five minutes. Thank you and good morning to our witnesses and thank you for holding this important hearing on what is a vital topic and appreciate the opportunity to work in partnership with our vice chair harper as we address a very important phenomenon for all of our communities across the country. We have all heard the often repeated statistics about rural and small Water Systems. More than 94 of the 150,000 public Drinking Water systems in the United States serve fewer than 3,300 customers. Small systems dominate in numbers, they serve 8 of our population overall. But to households and businesses across this great country the key feature they are interested in is not the size but reliable, daily delivery of safe, clean water at an affordable price to their homes and businesses that matters. We will hear from managers of these small systems here this morning and what we will hear is they simply cannot pass all of their costs for Technical Assistance, tapping into new Water Resources or keeping pace with Drinking Water regulations on to their customers with ongoing rate increases. The rate bases are too small to cover the costs of these essential materials and services. It is long past time for us to provide robust Financial Support for our water utilities. In additional to support, the s. R. F. And grant programs, we should examine alternative financing mechanisms, new technologies and new partnerships that will enable every dollar to go forward to reduce the backlog of Infrastructure Projects and reduce inefficiency. Im pleased to have the mayor here that represent small water utilities. The mayor and our witnesses from representatives harper will provide us with a glimpse of the challenges they face and effort to deliver clean, safe Drinking Water. They do a remarkable job in keeping clean water flowing to every home every day. Water infrastructure is essential. Its is the only way to say it. We cannot afford to dely these investments any longer. Public health, community viket and economic rest on a sound infrastructure. We cannot compete in a 21st Century Global economy with 20th century infrastructure held together with a hope and a prayer. We have an excellent panel with us today. Thank you for taking time away from your important work and busy schedules to be here to do your messaging this morning. And thank you witnesses for the expertise and dedication youll demonstrate to your communities that you demonstrate to your commeents each and every day at work. I look forward to your testimony and look forward to working with each and every one of you. And pleased to be working with the chair of the subcommittee and with our vice chair, representative harper, and other members of the subcommittee on this very important issue. With that, i thank you. And i yield back. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair looks to the republican side. Anyone seek recognition . Seeing no one the chair recognizes mr. Pal own for five minutes. Water companies are staggering replacement costs. Resources is essential to any conversation about safe Drinking Water. Much of our infrastructure is well beyond its useful life and in need of replacement. It protects public health, creates jobs and boosts the economy. This is particularly important in the case of small and rural systems which even minor projects can be unaffordable and i thank the chairman for calling this hearing. 1996 this committee passed amendments to the safe Drinking Water act that started programs to help small and rural programs. They focused on infrastructure funding and Technical Assistance. All of them are designed to ensure that customers receive safe and affordable Drinking Water. The small part of money set aside for Technical Assistance distributed through grantees such as the Rural Community Assistance Partnership have been important for small systems and im glad that those are represented here today to discuss any changes that might be needed to strengthen the program. I expect we are going to hear the need for Technical Assistance far exceeds the funding available and this program is given sufficient resources. If we want to ensure that small and rural systems are providing safe and affordable water we should reauthorize the whole program and not the Technical Assistance piece. It is less than 2 of the whole pot and not lose sight of the bigger picture. It allows states to have Additional Support and most funding goes out as loans. For disadvantaged communities states are authorized to provide zero interest loans. For small and rural systems with small customer bases, this is incredibly important. Unfortunately, states are not currently required to provide this assistance to disadvantage communities and not all do. This assistance may become scareser as the need continues to grow faster than the available funding. When this subcommittee addressed toxic algae, i would hope it would be the extent of broader water works and the chairman is addressing these issues. Our responsibility on Drinking Water is comprehensive. Small systems serve only 8 of the population. We should do what is necessary to ensure they have safe water, but we should protect the other 92 . And that means reauthorizing the s. R. S. , ensuring that fracking is done safely, ensure that source water protection, addressing drought and planning for Climate Change. I look forward to more Drinking Water hearings and bipartisan conversations about some legislative solutions. And thank you, mr. Chairman. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time. I will introduce you one at a time. And then your full record is submitted for the record. You will have five minutes. We expect votes between 10 45 and 11 15. With that, i would like to recognize mr. Gomez, director of the Natural Resources and environmental area for the Government Accountability office. Welcome, sir. And you are recognized for five minutes. Good morning everyone, Ranking Member tonko and members of the subcommittee. Im pleased to be here to discuss the infrastructure needs pull that closer. If you notice there is a button in the middle. Hit that button when its time to speak. Im pleased to be here to discuss the infrastructure needs facing Rural Communities across the nation particularly for Drinking Water systems. The u. S. Faces costly upgrades. The demand for Drinking Water projects in communities with populations of 10,000 and fewer estimated to be more than 190 billion. My Statement Today summarizes the results of our report on rural Water Infrastructure. I will focus on two main areas. First, rural agencys funding for Drinking Water and waste Water Infrastructure and issues for communities to obtain financing for this type of infrastructure. Federal agencies administer programs that can provide funding and Technical Assistance to help them build Drinking Water and comply with federal regulations. E. P. A. s Drinking Water and Clean Water State Resolving Fund programs provides the most funding totalling 907 million and 1. 5 billion in fiscal year 2015. States are required to provide 15 of the s. R. S. Fund to Water Systems that serve 10,000 people or fewer. The department of agricultures Rural Utilities Service program is the next Largest Program at 485 million in fiscal year 2015 all of which goes to Rural Communities. Some of the other agencies that can provide funding include the department of housing and urban development, the Economic Development administration and the bureau of reclamation. While these agencies can provide funding, they have varying ell gibble criteria and focus to specific communities on the base of population size, economic need and geographic location. Second our Previous Report found several issues that affect Rural Communities ability to obtain funding for Drinking Water and waste Water Infrastructure. This includes financing Technical Expertise and agencies coordination. You have noted some of these challenges. With regard to financing, communities typically did not have the number of users needed to share the cost of major Infrastructure Projects while maintaining affordable use of rates. They have limited access to Financial Markets restricting their ability to use bonds to raise capital. As a result, these communities depended heavily on federal and state funding. Rural communities germly did not have the expertise to rebuild their Drinking Water and waste Water Systems. They have few staff and needed to help engineers to help them with plans and environmental documents. Agencies provide for some Technical Assistance that communities can use. Lastly we found that federal communities face potentially duplicative application requirmingtse for applying for multiple state or federal programs. This included including one preliminary engineering report and environmental analysis which likely made it more costly and time consuming for communities to complete the application process. We recommended several actions to improve coordination among the agencies and programs. In response as the february 2015 e. P. A. And the department of agriculture have developed union norm preliminary engineering report templates that applies to multiple programs. Seven states have adopted the template for their use. E. P. A. And usda have taken steps to develop guidelines to assist states in developing uniform environmental analyses. In summary the nations Drinking Water and waste Water Infrastructure needs funding. They face additional challenges for funding infrastructure needs given the Technical Expertise and coordination challenges they face overall. Federal agencies with states should consider how to ease communities efforts to obtain funding and provide Technical Assistance. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member tonko, that concludes my statement. I would like to recognize mayor joseph keying and keegan, i. E. See it is castleton on the hudson. I went to a small Technical School down south the West Point School for wayward boys. I know the river and valley. Welcome. Good morning mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee and my congressman, good morning, congressman tonko. Im a mayor of a charming village on the banks of the hudson called castleton on the hudson. We have a population of 1,500 people. My village is a member of the new york Rural Water Association, a Nonprofit Organization of small and Rural Communities throughout the state to be somewhat responsible. I got a call from the association on monday asking about my vaket and i was traveling from a trip related to my day job. My village is representative of communities that have Water Supplies in new york and the rest of the country. According to the e. P. A. , the state of new york has 2,305 Water Systems. All of us smaller communities and water and sewer utilities have to comply with the same regulations, testing and certifications as the biggest cities. And we have to operate, maintain and update our Water Infrastructure with very small budgets. As a Small Community mayor my number one concern and worry is Drinking Water and number two is waste water. Everything else is a depant third. If there is a problem, it has to be addressed middle of the night or winter. Every citizen and especially the most vulnerable depend on the safety of the water including families with infants, schools, Nursing Homes and people with compromised immune systems. We cannot have any contamination. Our sewer system needs to function properly to avoid any possibility of a sewage backup into peoples homes. This does keep me up. Congressman tonko knows that our part of the state is buried in snow. The frost penetrated the grouped so deeply that we experienced two rupturs in our water mains that are five to six feet underground. We have to tell families to boil water and avoid contact. They have to cover their water fountains, the Nursing Homes. I called many citizens as i can by robot call. We manage the situation around the clock locating equipment repairing the water line getting the test to the lab and waiting for the results to lift the boil water order. We appreciate the assistance in helping us to protect the public and various funding programs and onsite Technical Assistance initiative. My village relies on this assistance. I thank congressman tonko. Small and Rural Communities support your legislation because it enhanced the current Drinking Water state Revolving Fund by targeting the funding to communities most in need. We do need help. Everything from financing, regulations, compliance and the various programs are very complicated for small communities. We dont have professionals on staff and dont understand many of the funding processes. We have needs approaching 300 million. We need new tanks and sludgedrying equipment and new pumps as our facility is over 30 years old. My water operator is constantly explaining to me the need for upgrades and his concerns of possible failure. We dont have a way to finance it. It would triple out the sewer rates. You can see at the back of my testimony that we have some old Drinking Water pipes that need updating or replacing. The one in the picture is stamped with a date from the 19th century and still in the ground in parts of the village. We are concerned without more water line replacement we are vulnerable. And you can see the other picture of a pipe recently dug up that is loaded with corrosion and deposits to the point it is almost secluded. I want to mention the assistance we received and explain why it is so helpful. The association has circuit riders that are on call throughout the state and will assist us. The circuit riders are experts in the technical side of water operation. A week ago we called for help for locating a water leak from a ruptured pipe that have occurred. The circuit rider has equipment ta can detect noises and vie bations underground to locate the exact location of a break. My operators received 90 of the training needed to retain their licenses from the new york Rural Water Association. We depend on them just like every other Small Community. I have a lot more to say, but you have been charitable with your time and attention to small and Rural Communities. We are grateful. Thank you for hearing from us and ill answer questions later. My district has communities below 20,000 people. Those bells signal that we have been called to vote early. I think we will just break here. We as a congress, i dont think are going to be in a hurry today. Well get back here and hear the final testimony and then go into questions. With that, ill recess the hearing. Well call the hearing back to order and i will turn to mr. Newman on behalf of the Rural Water Association. You are recognized for five minutes. Good morning, mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. My name is k. T. Newman and i have been working for or in Small Community rural systems for nearly 20 years. I started out as a small city manager in my hometown, which has about 1,000 homes. I have then worked for the mississippi Water Association as a circuit rider for 10 years. In this capacity, i visited every one of the deltas approximately 500 small communities to help them with their water and sewer problems. Currently, i am working for two dozen small delta communities assisting them with their water and sewer utilities. Im honored to be accompanied here by the mayor of one of these small towns. The town has a population of approximately 1,200 persons. The mayor challenges are compounded by the fact that as a small town mayor, he has a fulltime job as a truck driver and has top handle much of the citys issues on his time off. In the town, the waste water system is failing because of its age and enact to meet its current e. P. A. Treatment. The cost to update the sewer system to be compliant is approximately 2 million. It needs an additional one million in upgrades. The town was recently find by the department of Environmental Quality for failing to comply with the waste water discharge permits. It is actually discharging only partially treated waste water due to current failure. The town is just like thousands of other small communities in the delta and the other states. Sending a grantrich Infrastructure Program like the Usda Rural Development program and they need access to someone for Technical Advice and help with managing the funding application process. Mississippi has 1,234 regulated public Water Systems. Only two serve populations over 50,000 persons and only 59 serve populations over 10,000 persons. More Training Needs to be provided to smalltown mayors like mayor hill so upgrades that will certainly tax the rate pairs of these communities can be readily understood and communicated to these residents that will be responsible for bearing the financial burden. Recently many of the small communities in the delta have received violations for a relatively new e. P. A. Regulation referred to the disinfection rules. If these small communities limit or reduce the levels of the water, they will comply with this e. P. A. Regulation. But the water may no longer be safe to drink. Once the rule is violated, many small communities are forced to spend limited resources to report these violations to the consumers. In the town of shawl 1,900 persons, they were under a boil water order for six months because of a broken colorin ator. They had to buy bottled water. After they called the circuit rider, they were able to come up with the plan to pay for a new one and revise the towns Billing Program able to come up with the plan to pay for a new colorin ator to receive the payment, train a new mayor and town council and get the towns credit stable and secure financing. In closing whenever a Small Community is facing a compliance issue, the complication of a new e. P. A. Rule, a line break that they cant find that is causing people to lose Water Service and emergency from a storm or power loss we call the circuit riders to tell us what it means and what to do. They have developed a trust relationship with small communities in their state that know how to fix things and are willing to come to your town, day, night or weekends. Thank you tore the opportunity to testify here today. Mayor hill and i are available for questions. Thank you very much. And welcome mayor hill. And i would like to turn to mr. Bobby felledman feldman. Good morning. It is an honor to appear before you today. Im a certified drinking and waste water operator in the state of mississippi. I have been working in the water world for 25 years starting in my hometown in Lawrence County. I still work for the Lawrence County administration and i wont to thank my congressman greg harper for his support and assistance. 150,000 small Water Systems across the country and sponsoring the grassroots rule. Representatives harper directs the e. P. A. To prioritize the type of Technical Assistance that small communities find official. The rural water type of Technical Assistance is what all the small communities in mississippi and other states to help with compliance operations emergencies, line breaks loss of water, setting rates and training for operator certification. I am told that Congress Funds the e. P. A. s budget by hundreds of bill quons of dollars every year. Small and Rural Communities Want Congress to know that the only benefit we get from the small portion of the e. P. A. Funding that directed to onsite assistance is called circuit riders. What small communities do is call their local circuit rider no know, trust and they come immediately on site to small communities and teach them how to fix their problem. There is not ng in the local level providing this essential help. After katrina, two of my small communities were devastated. Each served approximately 2,500 people and were without power and water. People can get by without power for a while but not without water. I called the mississippi circuit riders and found emergency generators and delivered them to the community at no charge. Since they know everybody in the state, they were able borrow generators from northern communities not impacted by the hurricane and had them delivered. The circuit riders also have the technical knowhow to rig the generator system and drive a back hoe if needed to clear the streets and dig up ruptured lines. All this type of assistance is essential to restore water supply. I called the circuit rider out. A community of 1,000 homes to find a line break causing a loss of homes. It came with advanced radar equipment that could identify the location of the break which happened to be out in the woods. By funding the circuit riders congress is sharing the technical resource that no one community can afford that their own. We think it is the best use of our federal and water and environmental dollars. With the federalization of the operator certification under the safe Drinking Water act of 1996 state Rural Water Associations have become the main source of training for operators and the main source of continued education credits, which are needed every year to maintain this certification. Many parts of Rural America have seen energy move on, leaving behind oppressed economies. The Garment Industry moved souths. Raising rates becomes overly burdensome. In a town of new hebron, mississippi, were now being told that we need to comply with a new e. P. A. Wastewater discharge permit that will cost 2 million to 3 million. I will close with some comments on the federal Water Infrastructure programs. Namely the e. P. A. State Revolving Funds its a the us da Rural Development grant and loan program. Were very president bushtive for congressional funding of these initiatives. And realize that funding constraints in congress and the nation. Notwithstanding the Regulatory Burden continues to increase and become more complex. We urge you to emphasize granltses in these funledsing programs. Lowinterest loans often dont help the communities facing the most severe hardship from federal compliance. Leaving the fundings to be used for compliance with greater ability to afford financing. Were very grateful for the funding assistance. Its alout many rural and small communities to have access of Drinking Water and sanitation that would otherwise not have been able to afford without the federal assistance. We want to be partner notice effort to make it as efficient and successful as possible. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, and im eager to answer any questions at the appropriate time. Thank you very much. Our last but not least panelists is mr. Robert stewart, the executive director of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership. Welcome, sir and youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, chairman shimkus Ranking Member tonko and members of the committee. I think the previous witnesses and yall have done an excellent job of framing the issue. As someone that has worked 20 years with hundreds of communities in texas both for the Rural Community Assistance Partnership and the Rural Water Association, and someone who has drectsed the National Program for 10 years, im here to tell you that the needs of small communities are many. The resources are limited. But i tell thought dedication, and the determination of small communities to provide their assistances with the best possible water is strong and undiminished. I want to im sure everyone knows a little bit about the role Community Assistance partnership, its in my testimony, i wont repeat things that are in my testimony. I just wanted to sort of make a few points that have been touched on maybe i can amplify a little bit. One is access to capital. I think theres a real issue in small communities accessing the Financial Resources they need to build the infrastructure, extend lines to new customers. Mr. Gomez talked about bond markets. For small communities, this is not an option at all. We fear there are 53,000someodd Water Systems in this country. Perhaps 4 of them have the ability to access the Municipal Bond markets. What they are left with is the two primary federal financing programs being the Drinking Water s. R. F. And Usda Rural Developments water environmental programs. And so its really critical that those programs continue to be supported in a robust manner. We work a lot with Rural Development and their water environment program. They are the primary lender in Rural Communities. They have some 18,000plus loans out with us small Water Systems and as you probably know theres virtually no default on these loans. We take these matters very seriously in repaying the loans that are made to small communities. Run with other thing that they have going for them is field staff in every state. They have the ability to work directly with the communities, the communities know theyre local folks in the district and state offices, its just a more cooperative, easier way to get funding through Rural Development. Rural Development Also funds both the Rural Water Association and rcap to do Technical Assistance for training. A lot of staff work through the application process and all the requirements that are needed in order to get a loan from Rural Development. E. P. A. s state Revolving Funds are also a very important part of the financing scheme for small communities. I think all of you know that as a result of the 1996 amendments to the safe Drinking Water act, the state Revolving Program was formed and it was mainly to deal with compliance issues. If you look at who is out of compliance or where the most healthbased compliance issues are, 96 of those are from small communities. So you would think that, you know, most of the money or a big portion of the money would go to the communities, where theyre urban, rural small or large, that have the compliance issues. But as you can look at e. P. A. s own numbers, perhaps 24 of the fundingually goes to the small communities in this funding actually goes to the small communities in this country. We would think a larger amount of money from the s. R. F. Program should be dedicated to economically disadvantaged and small Rural Communities. E. P. A. Does have a program as a result of the 199 96 amendments that funds the Technical Assistance, a program that both rural water and rcap have taken advantage of. Its not funded at the authorized level that was auths rised 20some years ago. We would hope that would you consider some Additional Resources for that particular program. I know one of the things youre looking sat, what else can be done . You know, what else can we do to work with small communities . Theres a lot of other options. One of which both rural water and rcap work on is the sharing of services. How can small communities get together, share an operating, share a manager, share purchasing . How can we look at possibilities of actually combining systems if theyre close . Its very difficult. One of the problems the funding agencies have is that its easier for them to make a 10 million loan than 10 1 million loans, so that sort of hurts small communities even more, with reduced Staffing Levels in both e. P. A. And r. D. Theres an emphasis for larger loans which i think adversely affects small communities even more. They need to work through those issues. One of the other things real quickly, because my time is running out, you talk about tools. Id like to give credit to e. P. A. For developing the variety of tools and for working with Rural Development on tools. As et management tools, tools to look at sustainability for communities. Again, tools are important to be developed for use by small communities. But it takes someone in the field, like a rural water or an rcap person to actually bring those tools out to these communities. Maybe this could be handled in the questions, i know youre interested in some of the alternative financing programs. Id be glad to talk from that also. My time is up. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today. Thank you very much. I recommend myself five minutes for the starting of the questioning. Before i start im in my 19th year, my First District was 19 counties. My second Congressional District is was 30 counties. And now i represent 33 counties out of 102. We have really been able to access and use the usda rural water. Its helped and forced a push to regionalism. And kind of closing the gaps of water or addressing the challenges small communities have because they just in Rural America, sometimes these communities communities in shrinking. Theyre not growing. Theyre shrinking, so theyre based to keep up sperblingsy with new capital expenses. Thats in my area, its been a very very successful program. I just throw that out because i have great people work on that theyve done great work. Id like to go to mr. Gomez first and youve heard some of our witnesses claiming that the Drinking Water state Revolving Funds are not being made available to provide safe Drinking Water to the needs of our most needy communities. There a way to measure across the country whether the Drinking Water state Revolving Fund is meeting its congressionally attended purpose or authorized purpose . Thats a really good question. What we are aware of is that the Drinking Water s. R. F. s are required to provide 15 of the funds to the small communities. Now, the extent to which states are doing exactly what youre asking, we dont know yet. I mean, that would be a good question possibly for g. A. O. To look at. There are estimates from e. P. A. For example, that about 38 of the Drinking Water s. R. F. s have gone to small communities, ases of 2008. So thats the estimate as of 2008. So thats the estimate thats out there. To the extent that its its meeting small communities needs, we dont know. That are there any reports that show how fast this Drinking Water funding is spent by, by whom and where it goes, including distribution to the neediest communities . One of the things we are doing at the moment is we do have ongoing work looking at the Financial Sustainability of the Drinking Water s. R. F. So there we are looking at different ways in which states are managing these s. R. F. s. And were hoping to identify best practices that states are using. That report should be coming out this spring. Great. Thank you. Mr. Stewart, in your testimony you state that the e. P. A. State Revolving Fund needs to be, and im quoting, better managed to meet small system needs. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that . When you look at the numbers e. P. A. Has a difference in between the number of loans theyre making and the amount of the loans theyre making. The amount of the loans is not sort of the same as the number. Theres not as much actual money thats going in there. The whole purpose of the s. R. F. Was to give the states the latitude to run it how they see fit. And i think most of the members of this committee will sort of agree with that. The conditions are different from state to statement but i would think theres some minimum requirements, if were looking at the high noncompliance rates of utilities, the problems with affordability, the problems with small customer bases, that, you know, just some greater emphasis needs to be paid to providing more funding for these disadvantaged and small communities. Some states, my home state of texas has a lot of money now that theyre putting into water problems as a result of droughts. California has done the same thing. So each state runs it different. A lot of states put extra money in. Some states dont. I think its good, g. A. O. s done a terrific job of looking at some of shes issues and i would encourage them some of these issues and i would encourage them to do so. Can you give us briefly your success on the state Revolving Fund versus the r. U. S. Or do you access that . We havent had very much success. Weve had some limitations due to the average income of our community. Weve been told its been too high and our average bill doesnt meet the minimum to qualify for the funding. Weve hired two weve paid two separate Consulting Firms to search out funds for us and both reported the same thing. Thank you. Mr. Newman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In my experience, one of the issues with the s. R. F. As compared to the Rural Development has been the paperwork isnt considered to be cumbersome. And the added administrative cost in applying often nullifies the low interest which in turn makes the s. R. F. An option of last resort, which i dont believe was the intended purpose. Some of my systems we have used s. R. F. Were drilling a well right now in one of the systems because, it depends on what area youre in in the state. We had trouble with Rural Development, the timely process of getting money to drill this well and it was needed. We got a state Revolving Fund grant for a sewer project right now that we just completed. In our district, in our part of the state, weve used it and its helped. But the usda seems to be more with the grant. Some communities cant afford that much of a loan. The grant helps them that much more, with the usda money. My times expired and know mr. Stewart wanted to answer but im going to need to go to mr. Tonko who is recognized for five minutes. Thank you again chair shimkus, for calling this hearing and inviting a witness from the 20th district of new york. I appreciate you making the trip here today. Drinking Water Systems in the district that i represent, and i think every District Across the country, are facing significant challenges as they work to ensure that everyone, including people in small and Rural Communities, have access to safe water. Thats why i introduced the aqua act last congress, to improve all of the tools e. P. A. Currently has to assist these systems. I appreciate the work that my colleague, mr. Harper from mississippi, has done on these issues. I look forward to working with him to get at least some of these changes into law. It seems that every week in my district theres another water main break, treated water and the money weve invested is being wasted. So its dollars and water flowing out of those pipes. Can you describe some of the issues you have had in your town with water main breaks and the obstacles you face in preventing these ruptures . We dont really with the recent frost, when we have a water main break, it doesnt always just pop up through the because the ground is so frozen, so we dont often know where the break is. And we dont have the tools or equipment to locate the break. So we have to either call a Consulting Firm, that could be 1,500 a day to come with special tools, worry call the new york Rural Water Association, if theyre available theyll come, so thats its very difficult, we dont always know where the breaks are located. Thank you. This is such a serious issue. And one that will require more significant infrastructure financing, including that investment in technology. Not just Technical Assistance. Mr. Gomez, g. A. O. Has studied the range of Government Programs that provide assistance to rural and small Water Systems. As well as the need the systems face. What is the funding gap for Water Infrastructure . I know earlier you gave a combined total. I believe for water and Drinking Water and sewer. Whats the funding for the Drinking Water infrastructure and how much money does it entail . E. P. A. Has estimated the funding gap and they have estimated it to be 662 billion. Thats an estimate from 2002. That estimate is based on the next 20 years. Thank you. Obviously the Water Systems represented on this panel, i would think agree that more resources are required. So do you support legislation to reauthorize the s. R. F. And increase the funding available . You mentioned in that testimony the need for grants, not just loans, and i think many of you mentioned that. Is it fair to say your village has reached the limit of its ability to borrow more for the needed funds . Absolutely. We really just cant even entertain a Municipal Bond at this time. And right now were only spending our budget items on repairs. We dont have enough money in our budget for replacement of old infrastructure. We are looking for funding. But its just been a struggle to find any s. R. F. Is also a favorable thing for you . Yes absolutely. We encourage the refunding of that. Do you also support e. S efforts to expand Technical Assistance like the aqua act . Yes. We call on lots of different any Technical Assistance that can be provided to us is really of value. To the other gentleman on the panel, any responses in terms of Technical Assistance . Any relevant role it might play . In my experience, Technical Assistance is absolutely essential in complying with the various rules and regulations of the e. P. A. Particularly because many of these rules are often complex and require innovative approaches. So the training and Technical Assistance thats provided for example, by our state Rural Water Associations is indeed an essential component of compliance. And the other gentleman in terms of Technical Assistance funding and the s. R. F. . Very essential. We get mayors and water board managers or whatever and they need all the training they can get. The secretaries, rural water puts only trainer for them, they certify them. Every bit of the assistance we can get is very well needed. And mr. Stewart . Yes, sir. The one part id like to make, Technical Assistance is important also because we need to ensure the investment that the federal governments making through e. P. A. And Rural Development. And that Technical Assistance allows people to go out and work with these communities, make sure that those loans are going to be repaid and also toimplement like Asset Management programs so the infrastructure and the materials that the utility has is going to be maintained in top operating condition, so we dont having to go back repeatedly necessarily to replace things that could have been maintained to start with. The aqua act i introduced would cover some of these costs so i appreciate your comments and with that i yield back. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Mr. Harper for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. I can think of few topics more important across the country in every Congressional District than the one were on today. So thanks to each of our guests who are giving testimony today. And also welcome, mayor hill, and also, you know, just to have each of you here is something that we greatly appreciate and my dear friend concerny mayfield, who is here, who is c. E. O. Of the mississippi Rural Water Association, whos been a great contact and person sharing information with us. So were grateful for that. If i could, mr. Newman, ask you in your testimony, you talked about the trust relationship that small communities have with circuit riders. As we continue discussing she into this issue on how e. P. A. Could and should help our small communities reply comply with federal regulations, among other things, could you please take a minute and elaborate the trust relation shch relationship that our Water Systems have with our circuit riders . Yes, sir. The relationships that have been established over the years between the Rural Water Associations and the utility managers the certified water operators, mayors and small town council, has been well established over many years. Prime example just last evening , a Small Community in mississippi, their water well was down due to snow. And they lost power for a significant period of time. And the mayor of course customs were calling it was developing into quite a situation the mayor contacted me and i immediately contacted the mississippi Rural Water Association and they in turn immediately began locating a generator for that town and thankfully were able to get that generator delivered. To resolve that situation. So in essence the experience is if youve got a problem and you dont know what to do, then you call the mississippi Rural Water Association. And theyre there every time to provide the needed assistance. And im also glad that you explained to some of our folks, some of our member, that we actually have snow in mississippi, so that was a surprise to i think some. Yes, sir. And thank you so much for your kind words in your testimony. I look forward to visiting with the double ponds Water Association folks next month in d. C. Thank you. You talked about Hurricane Katrina which impacted our state and louisiana greatly. It was the greatest, most costly Natural Disaster ever in our states history. Aunds mentioned two Water Systems in simpson county, in my district, and the assistance they received after katrina. Would you talk for a minute about some of the tools circuit riders have at their disposal that small Water Systems often dont have or have other access to . I think you mentioned radar equipment. How important are these tools to the survival of our smaller Water Systems . Yes. Very important. Before katrina we hasnt had a Natural Disaster in south mississippi like that since camille, in 1969. We were without power and we were about 120 miles from the coast and we were without power about 20 days. 19, 20 days. And at that time some of the Water Systems had started putting in generators, very few, but some had. Like i said, you can make it without power for a while, rig up your generator to get the tv on or something, but without water, you cant make it. We immediately called our circuit riders, they found generators in arkansas north mississippi, wherever they could get them. Brought them to us. Helped us get them hooked up. We got water flowing again. Same way with the wastewater. We had some stations that you have to pump wastewater, we hooked into those wastewater stations and got water to the lagoon or the treatment plant. The Ground Penetrating radar you mentioned, they keep one of those, any time we need to locate a line. A lot of these lines were put in or grown newspaper trees now. You dont know where the line. Is they come out there with this machine and locate that line for us and help us tap it. Help us do whatever we need. That machines about 35,000. Most of these little systems dont have the money for that. What we do, we call rural water and they help us in whatever needs we need. Thats great. Thanks to each of you and great to have all of you here and thank you for that and also want to specifically thank Ranking Member tonko for his assistance as we try to work through these important issues. Thank you. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Green, for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. For both you and Ranking Member tonko for holding the hearing on the Drinking Water needs of smaller communities. I represent a very urban district, unincorporated and Incorporated Houston texas. We have some of the same problems in our suburban areas that will not be annexed by our cities because the property tax could never cover the cost. And yet theyre literally south of intercontinental airport in houston and areas in that district. Over the years, in texas, weve received money from the state Revolving Fund. In fact, partnered with using it in some of these communities we find freshwater but also partnering with the county, because for sewer service. But it bothered me that last year texas received the lowest amount of money from the state Revolving Fund of 53 million and that goes back to 1997 and thats not anywhere near accounting for inflation. The fact is deeply troubling because of the significance in growing Drinking Water infrastructure needs of texas in general and like i said, a very urban district. If its in the city, theyll do it. But this area is not attractive to be annexed and its very poor communities. Thats where we need the help. Very urban area, very Shallow Water wells. Thats why this hearings important. My first question is mr. Newman, mr. Stewart, do you believe that the congress should reauthorize the Drinking Water state Revolving Fund this year . Ill be glad to start off. Yes. It seems like an easy one. Yes, sir, exactly. Thats one of the most important funding mechanisms we have in this country, to fund Water Systems. For the other three gentleman, do you all agree, we ought to reeighth rise it . Yes, sir realtogether reauthorize it . Yes. Do you believe congress should provide the funding through drinking watt forer state Revolving Fund . Raise the authorization for it . I explain to folks authorization is, we have that, but you can raise the authorization as high as you want. You still have to go back every year and beg the Appropriations Committee for the money. Yeah. If i may, hes saying, do you think that the authorization amount should be raised . Across the country . If we could ask for appropriations. The water needs around the country, not only in your state but others. Yes, sir. My opinion is, this is an investment. This is to capitalize the Revolving Funds the states have. This is not money going away in grants thovements capitalize money that can be revolved again and again for use of communities, large and small. But should the fund be raised so we can cover more communities . Absolutely. I would also like to add that, in addition to raising the funding to cover more communities, take a look at the process and make sure that the money is being utilized by the communities that it was intended to be beneficial for. You think theres something in the authorizing law that we need to change, that would make that happen . Im not so sure about the process of the authorization of the law as i am concerned about just the implementation of the funds and those things that discourage the smaller communities, you know, in mississippi, that im familiar with, from pursuing those funds. Because these funds are were intended to benefit these small communities. And theres a gap. I think that we all need to just figure out how to bridge that gap. The biggest problem we have in my area is that these are very poor communities. And to have a Revolving Fund and have it paid back, they can hardly afford the monthly water bill and sewer bill, to be able to pay it back, so thats the issue again in my area and i assume its in north mississippi just like had in rural parts of texas. Mr. Stewart, you indicated you worked two decades on Drinking Water issues. Weve had i used the last two years, our range stopped from the louisiana border. From beaumont, texas, all the way out west, its been drought. Not so much in the last year, though weembings had good rain. In the houston area, Southeast Texas and all the way to the rio grande valley. But we still had problems out past san antonio. Thats still in a drought area. How would you describe our current state of Drinking Water infrastructure . Texas . In texas . I would say for the most part its pretty strong. But i think theres certain disadvantaged communities like youre talking to. Youre talking about that i really think need some Additional Resources. And theres some hardhit drought areas in North Central texas, my area of Central Texas that i think just needs some Additional Support. Fortunately texas has benefited because we have river authorities, we have a progressive Water Development board, we have people looking at this issue from a lot of different angles. Texas did provide recently the voters voted for a constitutional amendment to provide for it, because of the problems we have. In 2011, harris county, as much of our state was in the grips of the drought, during the iggete of the drought due to aging water lines, hardening soil, hundreds of water line breakage, resulting in billions of gallons loss. Do you have any sense of the Economic Impact of the 2011 drought had on our state . Thats something the g. A. O. Might be better to eafpblet but i know its been severe Economic Impact. Because if you dont have the water sources, youre not going to be able to support the businesses, the growth thats occurring all over texas. Waters just the foundation of all the economy in this country. I know im over time. Thank you. Way over time. I know. [laughter] we talk a little slower. I thank my colleague. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Murphy, for five minutes. Thank you all. Im talk a little fast. See what i can get in. Thank you all for being here. Very informative panel. He can nears who serve in some of these engineers who serve in some of these rural water areas in my district, they tell me that states oftentimes impose their own Drinking Water requirements, which are far more strict than the e. P. A. Standards. Set forth in the Drinking Water act. Could you please provide some examples for me where some of these stateimposed requirements that youve seen in your community or other communities go beyond or different from the e. P. A. Standards. In mississippi, and correct me if im wrong, but i believe in mississippi that our state regulations are exactly the same as the federal guidelines being no more or no less stringent than the language in the federal act. Same here. Does anybody else see differences in their communities . No, thats correct. I dont think our regulations could be any more stranjent than what the federal act is written. Thats the way the state of mississippi does. I might note that some states, e. P. A. Regulates Water Quality. They dont regulate capacity requirements. Some states require that you that you have a certain well production surface Water Treatment plant, storage and pumping capacities. And a lot of cases those adversely affect small communities because theyre not really theyre not on an engineering basis justified on the basis of how much water is being used. To so, for example, when theyre dealing with things like small dam or water line extension, not Water Quality, but that has to do with water delivery, is that where youre saying . Exactly. The capacity requirements, pumping or storage, you know, elevated ground storage tank, sometimes those capacity requirements are a little bit higher than i think to whats needed to protect public health. What this gets into, let me come back to that, so how much could the heightened standards cost rural Drinking Water systems . If we make some changes in here will it affect i heard some of you alluding to the cost issues here. Mr. Keegan, you talked about cutting an engineer and what those costs are what does this vary from Rural Communities . Anybody have any estimates here that cost that would you bear . Probably save us on all the consulting fees that we spend looking for funding. Anybody else have any thoughts about this . I would just say, it depends on the requirement. If youre having to treat for arsenic, then youre probably talking doubling or tripling of the water bill for a Small Community. So it just depends on what kind of treatment what kind of constituent that e. P. A. Is requiring the Small Community to treat for. So the question i have, how do rural systems get the funds they need to deal with this compliance issue . Do you have any thought on this on what we do . I heard one comment account federal government send more money . Where the federal government increases or changing standards, i think its unfair to say, must do these things and bear the cost. But it comes down a question of what else, i mean, how are these costs borne . Oftentimes when you have someone who lives a mile from the next person or a half mile and theres huge costs associated with this. Anybody have any comments on how that should be set up . We just raise our rates. We just had the d. E. C. Required our local School District to be on municipal water and they passed a bond so they passed that price onto the taxpayers. To hook into the system. At quite considerable expense. What kind of percentage increase would you say . Im not sure. Anybody else have any other thoughts other than put it on the rate payers . Raising rates is the only way small communities like i work for, thats the only option they have. In a 10 to 20 range sometimes. We have these grant systems. I know that some of my communities are asking for some changes in the way that the loans are established. Rates, etc. Any comments on those . The paperwork is quite cumbersome. And usually we have to hire a Consulting Firm to help us apply for the loan. Can you elaborate that cumbersomeness, what kind of hours and time that teeds your cost . That adds to your cost . We just dont have the staff who can understand, you know, whats required in the paperwork. We give them the data, how much water we use every day and that kind of thing. Is it safe to say that simplifying paperwork and if youre going to be givinging required to have lots of paperwork, to also provide assistance in filling that out . Absolutely. Thank you very much. For the second time im going to try to be quicker on the gavel so everyone gets a chance. Mr. Latta is recognized for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman. And to our panel, thanks very much for being here. This kind of strikes home to me because i was a county commissioner in ohio for six years. And handed a lot of water and sewer issues and we also created a Regional Water and sewer district when i was the commissioner, to put things together because my home county was over 600 square miles. We had five cities. 21 v. I. M. Ages, 19 townships and lot of unincorporated area. Its important and hearing all of you brings back memories of over 20 years ago, that i used to sit in a lot of meetings and hear people talk about, because theyre really very important issues. In ohio alone i think we have about 21 billion right now that were looking at that we need in Infrastructure Improvements from water to wastewater. And storm water. And so what youre saying here today is very, very important. I really appreciate you being here because i can commiserate with what youve all said. Ive also been working on legislation for at least one session to try to help on the wastewater side, to help Rural Communities. But if i could, because you all had very good testimony today and i appreciate you being here. If i could start with mr. Gomez. I think its important because one of the things is, weve been hearing, theres a short and of dollars out there that we have especially when youre talking about a rural area. Could you discuss the relationship between the e. P. A. And usda programs and whether they are, you know there are overlaps out there and what about the efficiencies or synergies that could occur if we were really looking at these programs to make sure we didnt have duplication out there or anything like that. Sure. Thank you, so we have looked at those two programs in particular and also at the other agencies that have programs that help Rural Communities. With respect to the usda Rural Utilities Service and the e. P. A. Drinking water s. R. F. , they are they do have some similar programs. We did not find any areas where they were duplicating effort, meaning that they were funding the same project for the same purpose. Projects can get funding from both programs. But theyre usually focusing on different areas. The other thing that weve reported on is the importance for those two agencies to Work Together to collaborate. But also to encourage the state s. R. F. Programs to work closely with the usda Rural Utilities Service so that they can get efficiencies. One of the recommendations we made was that they needed to come up with a uniform preliminary engineering report so the communities arent filing multiple engineering reports which cost money. So those are things that were tracking we were happy to theyre that they have come up with a uniform preliminary eng theiring report and that engineering report and that some states have already adopted it. We think those are places where if by working together they can better target the moneys. Thank you. This is for mr. Stewart and mr. Newman. You both kind of touched on it. And your testimony you had mentioned, mr. Stewart, about bringing the tools back to the communities and the cost of that Technical Assistance. Because i know what that would cost. What do you find . Are the tools there . Are they readily available think . Know we heard from some other members asking the panel about the cost. But do you find that you have that assistance out there, to be able to get that as soon as you can get it . Both rcap and watter have a variety of tools that we bring to bear with small communities. Theyre readily available. And e. P. A. And r. D. Are working on different tools. I think i touched on them in my testimony. Its the access to those tools thats needed. We need the Technical Assistance to bring those tools, whether its an Asset Management program or a Financial Management program, whether its an o m manuals, whatever the tools might be, the real expense is not just creating the tools, its bringing it out to the small communities that cant access them unless you have a Technical Assistance provider out there. Mr. Newman. About to reiterate the comment ivebs made, as well as mr. Stewart ive made, as well as mr. Stewart, from the perspective of the water system manager, the resources, the assistance is invaluable. Because theyre very vary idea issues that occur across a water system or a wastewater system that may be beyond the scope of that particular utility and beyond the financial capabilities. So utilizing the services of the Rural Water Association is absolutely essential. Thank you. The gentlemans time has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from West Virginia. Thank you mr. Chairman. Going to go in several directions with this. But ive got weve all had a heard a lot of Horror Stories and ive got mine in my drinth. I have a little town in West Virginia, thib weve got a slide perhaps of a water line that theyve been facing. Can we get that up . Here it is. It shows how just colluded the line. Is they have applied knowing this theyve applied 10 times to try to get money. And theyve been rejected 10 times since 2002. It just isnt we just dont have the money in the s. R. If. Whafse particularly pleased about was s. R. If. What i was particularly pleased about was the president this year actually maintained, for the most part, the funding from the Previous Year as compared to what weve seen in the past where the year before he made a 40 reduction in the s. R. F. Because they said the priority was Climate Change. Weve heard that mentioned from the other side of the side of the aisle. They thought Climate Change was a higher priority than funding our water problems in Rural America. Ive got im curious, so i hope someone has seen the light with that. But im confused a little bit about their Regulatory Burden. Because particularly a lot of you have been talking, this hearing is about Rural America not whats been offered is we have to be concerned about the big cities. Im worried at this hearing, we stay focused on Rural America, because heres the soliciting am some of the rules. Ive designed a lot of sewer and water lines. Im quite familiar with this. We have things that a small city has to take care of, the arsenic rule the chemical rural, the lead and copper rule, the groundwater rule, the enhanced surface water rule. The surface water, i could go on and on. These are rules that small cities have to deal with just as well as a Larger Community of 100,000 or 200,000. So and ive got three other communities, theyre just trying to find money for operations. Let alone install this one community, theyre working on a 19th century system. Theyre trying to replace it with that water line right there. How can we get money for operations . Because we have one community in West Virginia, theyre dumping raw sueage in the river. Because they dont have money to be able to do the Maintenance Work that they have to do. We have others i have another community, theyre getting their water through water buffalos. Poured into a sis alternative so they have water. This is 2015 in america. But yet we have an administration that until this year, every year for the last three years has been reducing money to the s. R. F. What how are we failing our country when we dont put enough money into the s. R. F. . Thats what ive heard many of you say, we need to put more money into that program. How much more money . Can any of you suggest . Where do we have to go with that . I would also add should we be prioritizing the s. R. F. Money for Rural Communities so that were weighting thepping a little more heavily than the big cities . Youre preaching to the choir here. I think all of us would agree that a significantly greater percentage of the s. R. F. Money should go to small communities. And they should be able to access it easier. One thing id like to say, you cant even have a chance to get the s. R. F. Money unless you get on the intended use plan and for a Small Community, how do you get on that . All of us can tell you, thats difficult to do. Do you have the Technical Assistance, do you have an engineer youre working with somebody thats going to submit the paperwork . Thats a problem. Thats something i said in my testimony. We need assistance just so these small communities can get on the intended use plan which is what they do to prioritize money under the s. R. F. How can we wait . What are some what would be some of the factors that we might be able to wait so that a Small Community putting in will be given better consideration than a Larger Community . Any thoughts . Generally what g. A. O. Always rebling recommends is that you target federal funds to these communities most in need. So if these are the communities thats where the thats one of the areas that we could target. I guess were running out of time. Again, mr. Chairman, thank you very much for bringing up this. I hope we continue this is for small cities. Big cities have their own issues but they have the resources and the mass Critical Mass to be able to take care of. It our small towns of 400 500 people, were struggling. We better find it. Thank you very much. I thank my colleague. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. Johnson, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I represent appalachia, ohio, and i dont have to tell you folks, probably, how rural that is. I hear the Horror Stories, many of which youve just heard. I could cite similar cases that my colleague from West Virginia, mr. Mckinley, did. Long before i was elected to congress, i served 26 years in the air force and i was stationed in columbus, mississippi. And you know how rural that area is. So ive seen this for a long time. Mr. Gomez does the g. A. O. Track and can you tell us in regards to all urban and rural systems, how many municipalities have their systems charged the true cost of providing water to their customers . In other words, how many of them are operating in the red . Thats really good question and thats always one area thats debatable. Whether people are actually playing paying the true price of what the water costs. I dont believe that we have done work on that. But if we have id have to get back to you on that. Would you take a look at that, please . I think the American People would be interested to know how these small, Rural Communities are struggling and many of them are operating in the red, as it stands right now, because their residents cant even afford the cost of providing the water. What i can also say is that e. P. A. Has estimated that for these Rural Communities, if they have to undertake these water and wastewater Infrastructure Projects, their rates will likely be four times what the urban rate payer would be paying. Absolutely. Its not affordable. Yeah. And ive got rural areas that are under that exact pressure. They dont have the money because of the economy, they dont have the money to comply with the e. P. A. s clean water mandates and system mandates today, and on top of that, theyre being leveled with these fines that they also cant pay. So its like trying to get blood out of a turnin. I know you guys know what a turninis. Its tough. Its tough. Let me ask you a question, mr. Newman. Your testimony mentions that the town of combow, mississippi, has two 2 million in weight wafter needs and 1 million in Drinking Water upgrades that it needs to undertake. Whats the annual operating budget of that . The annual operating budget in the town is approximately 150,000 annually. Ok. And whats the average income of residents . Per capita, about 21,000. Ok. Is raising local water rates a realistic possibility . Its a realistic possibility from a standpoint of operation and maintenance. But not from the standpoint of addressing makinging these upgrades. Thats correct, yes. And even if you raise the rates, operationally and maintenancewise, would it be enough to cover the cost of providing the service . No. Ok. What is their access to or are there limits on other Funding Sources like commercial lending . Thats a doubleedged question because the question itself kind of says, well, why dont you go and debt . Sure. To provide water. And thats certainly not a principle that i subscribe to. But are you considering other sources . By and large the primary source is Rural Development. Primarily because of the grant component. Other options, as we have discussed, include state Revolving Fund, even commercial lending. However, as is the case with s. R. F. , commercial lending is 100 loan and the Interest Rates on a commercial loan is typically going to be higher than the s. R. F. But at either case, because of the low economies of scale, a Community Like komo cant afford to to borrow the money necessary to make these improvements. They just dont have enough customers over which to spread the cost. Ok. What challenges do you have in assessing the Drinking Water state Revolving Funds and how does that compare with accessing Rural Utility Service funding . Well, ill allow these gentlemen to elaborate, but one of the issues, and i think we touched on it as well youve got more help in a plying with r. U. S. As opposed to s. R. F. The cost of applying for s. R. F. , you might have to utilize services from a consultant, which adds to the cost and thats typically not the case with the Rural Development process. Weve been able to use some s. R. F. Money. Our engineer takes whatever they allow as that consultant amount. Whatever they allow for attorney, for an engineer or whatever, he does the paperwork for whatever that is. Theyve got that specified in the loan. Weve been able to i know certain regions maybe not. But weve been able to take advantage of some s. F. R. Money. We were having trouble getting money through Rural Development. Thank you. My time is expired. Mr. Keegan, do you want to respond . Weve had a lot of trouble accessing funds from either program. In new york state a lot of funding goes to communities that have some sort of citation, some problem with their system. We are our engineers work very hard to keep our system smoothrunning. Were sort of at the bottom of the pile. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, Rural America knows how hard it is to get blood out of a turnip and i appreciate you having this hearing so that we can shed some light on how difficult it is to do this. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I thank my Ranking Member and my vice chair who is trying to lead this charge too. Last but not least, mr. Cramer from a rural state of north dakota. So youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman from illinois, and Ranking Member from new york. For acknowledging Rural America and for reminding us there are other rural places that are better known for their urban centers. Its good to have an alliance. My colleagues or my constituents with the north dakota rural Water Systems association would be very proud of all of you. Youve done a great job today and i felt right at home even with the unusual accents. Its a reminder that there are some things we Work Together on and that are very important. I wont delay except to tell that you i hear a lot about the Circuit Rider Program from our folks. And i think you raise a very important issue. I think its incumbent upon us now as policymakers and eventually appropriators to look for opportunities to prioritize some of the praps programs you talked about within the context of the entire act. And given the constraints, financial constraints we have, we do have to be a little bit creative. But certainly we can reprioritize. I want to just ask for maybe a little bit of elaboration on one point. I thought the g. A. O. Report was fantastic, frankly. I think that it was its nice to see the alphabet soup, as my constituents often refer to it, and see that theres both recommendation findings and then response by multiple agencies that have that have a tendency perhaps to create extra burden by virtue of requiring sort of uniform processes. But not in a uniform way. So the uniform preliminary engineering report template i think is a great tool. And i would i think at a time when our constituents really are looking for any an efficient and effective government this is a good example. I raise it because i wonder how many more times we can duplicate this throughout the system. One of the frustrations ive seen in the last two years here is not just with e. P. A. And Usda Rural Development. Certainly in fact, you know, there are many others that have more. I just hope that we could, as a house, as a congress, and as Public Officials at every level, look for more of these types of opportunities. The public could go wow, that makes perfect sense. Because right now they look at it, im sure you all do and say you mean, i have to hire the Engineering Firm to do the exact same thing all over again for another agency and pay them the same . So i guess mainly what i want to say is thanks for that. I will want to be monitoring that very carefully. To see how it works out. I know will you as well. Mr. Gomez. Because i think therein lies the nuggets of opportunity to demonstrate functionalality of government in a way that people expect of us and that we havent probably done so well. Thank you. And we are tracking that, by the way. Its part of our tracking that we do every year. Because we want to make sure that those agencies are making progress and that its helping the communities that are in need. Thank you for that and thanks to all of you. I will leave some time on the clock and not just thank you for being so patient to hang around with me this long. Thank you. I yield back. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Looks like were about gone. Does do you have anything else you want to say . Take an opportunity. Thank you, mr. Chair. I just want to commend the entire panel. I think what you shared with us is not only great insight but advocacy for what is a very high priority. And youve done it through that frontline experience. So it provides an extra bit of impact i think on the decisions that are made here. But thank you for reinforcing what we have understood to be a problem and this is a very high priority problem, i would think, for the country. So thank you very much and i was impressed by all the statements that youve made and the responses that youve provided. I want to thank the Ranking Member for those comments and again thank you for being here. I think its just going to energize us to try to ive kind of asked mr. Tonko and mr. Harper to now get together and try to see where theres similarities and agreements so we can kind of move Forward Together and you can see theres a lot of areas in our country that are kind of left behind just because theyre small. Its not a political statement, its just the nature of our country. So i really appreciate the involvement of my colleagues too. So thank you. I need some business to do. I ask unanimous consent that all subcommittee members have five legislative days to submit Opening Statements for the record without objection, so ordered. Also unanimous consent inseverting a record from dr. Ralph jones and a letter and report from the environmental working group. Without objection, so ordered. And members of the committee have 10 days to submit written questions for the witnesses to be included. You may get some. As followup wed ask you that ask that you answer those and return those if you can and thats without objection, so ordered. And with that the hear something adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] the cspan cities tour takes book tv and American History tv on the road. Traveling to u. S. Did hes to learn about their history and literary life. Next weekend weve partnered with comcast for a visit to galveston, texas. People throng to the beach. And the rising tide, the rising wind, certainly drew them. They watched in amazement as both of these factors battered the beachfront structures. At that time we had wooden bath houses out over the gulf of mexico. And we also had piers and he would even we heen a huge pavilion called olympia by the sea. As the storm increased in intensity, these beach structures literally were turned into match sticks. The 1900s storm struck galveston saturday, september 8 1900s. The storm began toward noon, increased in dramatic intensity and then finally tapered off toward midnight. That evening. This hurricane was and still is the deadliest recorded natural event in the history of the United States. Watch all of our events from galveston, saturday at noon eastern on cspan2s book tv and sunday afternoon at 2 00 on American History tv on cspan3. The u. S. House is gaveling in next. A light legislative agenda this afternoon. A couple bills dealing with Veterans Administration. One would authorize the v. A. To provide longterm care to veterans through nonv. A. Medical foster homes. And also the other would grant the v. A. Secretary the authority to recoup bonuses or performances awards from some v. A. Employees. Theyll debate those bills, nen break, we expect them back at 6 30 for any requested votes. Still ahead in the house theyre facing an end of week deadline on Homeland Security spending before that oneweek measure passed on friday evening expires. The senate too will be dealing with Homeland Security this afternoon. Theyre in session and at 5 30 eastern this afternoon, the senate lold a cloture vote on the motion to agree to the house request for a conference on Homeland Security spending. Trying to merge the two measures. Again a oneweek measure, the deadline on friday, the National Journal d writes, House Republican leaders still dont seem to have a plan to avoid a partial shutdown of the department of Homeland Security at the end of the week. But they may have an escape hatch, one that technically could keep the Department Open without g. O. P. Fingerprints but might infuriate conservatives in the process. Writing, an obscure provision would allow any member of the house to force a vote on the senatepassed fullyear d. H. S. Funding bill. If the senate refuses to go to conference with the house, as theyre expected to do on monday evening. This evening. So Senate Conference is live now. You can follow that on cspan2. And the house gaveling in momentarily. For their legislative work here on cspan. A reminder too that israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to a joint meeting of Congress Tomorrow at 10 45 a. M. Eastern. We will have live coverage of that here on cspan. Cspan radio as well. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the ica coedo he yeas anna o o which thvo iurobctn lae oful20. Record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . Mr. Speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 280 as amended a bill that would authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to recoup bonuses and awards pay to employees at the department of Veterans Affairs. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the of the bill. The clerk Union Calendar number 21, h. R. 280, a bill to authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to recoup bonuses and awards paid to employees of the departmof vanafir the speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. Miller, and the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Brown, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. Mr. Miller mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to the speaker pro tempore without objection so ordered. Mr. Miller mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Miller thank you very much, mr. Speaker. H. R. 280 as amended is similar to a bill i introduced last congress. Id like to thank my friend mr. Chaffetz for helping us bring this bill to the floor today. It would authorize and provide for the secretary to have the authority to resend rescind a bonus or a performance award from v. A. Employees when the secretary deems it appropriate. To ensure a fair process, the provision would also give the employee an oppoittool egn erars decisn to rtho news. That bonus. I proposed this legislation last congress because v. A. Had given the Veterans Affairs committee conflicting states. Whether or not they had the authority and later they confirmed that they did not have the authority, so its clear to me that this is still an authority that the secretary still needs as more and more investigations in fact are being completed by the department, the v. A. Inspector general and the Veterans Affairs committee. As these investigations into falsified wait times data manipulation and several other issues at the v. A. Continue i hope this authority will be applied appropriately and that it will be utilized as yet another tool for the secretary to use to instill true accountability throughout his agency on behalf of americas veterans. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from florida is recognized. Ms. Brown thank you mr. Speaker. This measure would provide the secretary of Veterans Affairs with the authority to issue an order directing an employee of the v. A. To repay a bonus or a portion of the bonus provided to that employees employee. H. R. 280 provides the secretary may do this if the secretary determines that the repayment is appropriate. This would apply to an award or bonus paid by the v. A. Before or on or after the date of the enactment of h. R. 280. The bill provides that any effective employee be provided with notice and the opportunity for a hearing conducted by another agency or department. I support this measure, but i want to take this opportunity to address a few concerns for the record. I believe that the secretary should have a limited authority beyond administrative error to recoup a bonus paid to the v. A. Employee when the underlying basis of thabo us in is false that bonus is false or the result of wrong doing, fraud or criminal conduct by the employee. I hope that the secretary will use this broad grant of Rulemaking Authority provided in h. R. 280 to provide narrow and specific grounds for recoupment. Secondly, i am concerned about the application of this authority to bonuses provided before the date of the enactment. I know that chairman miller and all of us are concerned over bonuses that may have been awarded over the last number of years to v. A. Managers who took activitys, steps to cover up the delay and wait time faced by our veterans and even though i am unhappy with their action, i would not like to see the authority provided to the secretary under the bill to be done away with because a constitutional challenge to this authority. Finally i would like to point out that if this bill is enacted, the v. A. Will be the only department that im aware of where the secretary will have the power to recoup bonuses. I hope the secretary and those that follow the secretary will use this authority with caution. I reserve the balance of my time. And i urge my colleagues to support h. R. 280. As amended. And yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller thank you, mr. Speaker. At this time id like to yield to the gentleman from the First District of michigan, the subcommittee chairman of the health subcommittee, mr. Benisheker, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan voiced for two minutes. Mr. Benishek mr. Speaker, today i rise from support of h. R. 280. Legislation to allow the v. A. Secretary to claw back bonuses from senior employees who are were found to have manipulated veterans care da at it. I cant believe that this is already had the case. No business in america would allow employees to not only stay at work but to hold on to bonuses that were that they earned by cooking the books. This is exactly what the v. A. Has done. The v. A. Has paid more than 380,000 in 2013 to directors and top executives at v. A. Hospitals that were under investigation for falsifying data. Im the father of a veteran. I know exactly the character of those who choose to serve the cause of freedom. They deserve so much better. Bonuses should be awarded only for exceptional performance. This kind of severe mismanagement has to end. I know i spoke for all of my colleagues when i say it will not be tolerated by this congress. Secretary mcdonald says hes working to change the culture of the v. A. And i give him credit for that. Too often the v. A. Seems to be focusing on the health of the organization, not the health of the veteran. I agree with him that the v. A. Must return the focus to the veteran. However, i would like to see more meaningful strides toward accountability than ive seen thus far. Congress will keep giving him the tools but its ultimately up to him to use them. This is a management problem and its best solved by good management. I thank chairman miller for his leadership on this bill and urge my colleagues to support it. But even more, so i urge secretary mcdonald to use his authority. You have a willing partner in congress in the fight to change the culture at the v. A. Thank you mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller we reserve at this point. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from florida has yielded back the balance of her time. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller thank you, mr. Speaker. We have two more speakers at this point. Id like to recognize the gentleman who chairs the subcommittee of oversight and investigation from the sixth district of colorado mr. Coffman, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from colorado is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Coffman thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of h. R. 280, because like most americans, i am appalled at the bonuses awarded to officials within the department of veterans a department of Veterans Affairs despite gross Miss Management and incompetence but those mismanagement and incompetent by those very same officials. In colorado, a v. A. Director conveniently announced her retirement just days after yet another secret waiting list was discovered at her hospital in denver. Incredibly she had received over 1 hub,000 100,000 in bonuses over the past seven years. I believe bonuses are a reward for exceptional work. And not an entitlement for simply showing up at the job. However, the v. A. s broadly abused bonus system has bred a sense of entitlement and a complete lack of accountability. This law gives the v. A. Secretary the ability to reclaim bonuses paid to corrupt v. A. Officials on behalf of the american taxpayer. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense measure to help combat v. A. s broken culture. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller mr. Sak, wa to yie two minutes to the gentleman from the sixth district of pennsylvania, a new member of the committee, an outstanding supporter of americas veterans, mr. Costello, two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Costello mr. Speaker, bringing more accountability and transparency to our Veterans Affairs system is something members of both parties can and should support. As a member of the Veterans Affairs committee, i believe this is an area where we can make immediate and substantive reforms that are supported by both parties. After months of being in the spotlight for scandal after scandal, after widespread and systemic lack of accountability, we all agree that we need real change in an effort to assist our nations veterans. H. R. 280 is one such piece of legislation that will help bring accountability to a department where it is severely lacking. Mr. Speaker, i rise today as a cosponsor of this legislation that will authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to recoup bonuses and awards paid to employees at department of Veterans Affairs. The v. A. Paid more than 380,000 in cash bonuses to top executives at 38 hospitals that are under investigation for falsifying wait times for medical care. At every twist and turn these executives received a bonus while so many of our veterans have been faced with long wait periods or failed care at v. A. Hospitals around the country. Its disgraceful that employees would be benefiting while so many veterans are struggling. Its only right that we would authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to recoup many of these bonuses and awards in an effort to instill more accountability at the department. In fact, its common sense. If you receive a bonus under false pretenses, you should have to pay it back. I along with so many other americans are asking the question, where is the accountability . H. R. 280 will not only ensure our veterans receive the care they deserve and have earned, but it also promotes transparency and accountability where it is greatly needed. I want to thank chairman miller for his leadership and his work on this important issue and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the ntfrloda recognize mr. Miller thank you very muc mr. Speaker. I appreciate my colleague from florida and her support and at this point i urge all members to support h. R. 280 as amended and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h. R. 280, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative mr. Miller mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida voiced. Mr. Miller i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order thaa or inopren the speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponeded. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . Mr. Miller mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 294, as amended, the longterm care for veterans choice act. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 294, a bill to amend title 38, United States code, to authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into contracts a rets t sr vetera tept med ftehos r certtehorenae to ide. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. Miller and the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Brown, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. Mr. Miller mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on h. R. 294, as amended. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Miller and mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Miller thank you mr. Speaker. H. R. 294, as amended, the longterm care veteran choice act, would authorize the department of Veterans Affairs for three years beginning october 1 of 2015 to enter into a contract or agreement with a certified medical foster home to pay for longterm care for not more than 900 eligible veterans. An eligible veteran is defined as one who is eligible for v. A. Paid nursing home care and would agree to receive v. A. Home health services. The bill would also limit the amount of awards and bonuses paid to v. A. Employees at 300 million for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2018. Medical foster home care is a noninstitutional longterm care alternative for those who prefer a smaller, more homelike and familiar care setting than many traditional Nursing Homes are able to provide. V. A. Has been helping to place veterans in medical foster homes for over a decade and providing the oversight and the safeguards needed to ensure that veterans receive safe, highquality care. According to v. A. , over 900 veterans currently receive medical foster home care. However, v. A. Does not currently have the authority to pay for the cost of medical foster home care regardless of whether or not the veteran who chooses medical foster home care is eligible for more costly v. A. Paid nursing home care. This creates a situation mr. Speaker, where many serviceconnected veterans are limited with their Financial Resources and are unable to access the medical foster home care that they desire because of limited Financial Resources. Instead, these veterans often move into Nursing Homes at a much greater expense to v. A. With the creation of the Choice Program last august, congress, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis agreed that our veterans deserved the right to choose for themselves where and how they receive health care that they have earned. With todays passage of h. R. 294, as amended, we will reaffirm that right to choose the growing population of veterans in need of longterm care services. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from florida is recognized. Ms. Brown thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of h. R. 294, as amended providing highquality health care is our nations veterans has always been a number one priority for this committee. Ensuring that v. A. Is a leader in the provision of longterm care to our veterans have also been a priority. We must work to make sure that the v. A. Provides a full range of longterm care programs and h. R. 294, as amended, is a valuable improvement in providing veterans the choice of obtaining longterm care in a medical foster home. H. R. 294 gives v. A. The authority to pay the veteran longterm care in v. A. Approved medical foster homes. These homes provide care in a private home at much lower costs than nursing home care. Medical foster homes are safe, and we know through experience that many veterans prefer them to the traditional nursing home. Older veterans also indicate that they prefer to receive care closer to home. The longterm care veteran choice act will provide the opportunity for more veterans to take advantage of this home care setting. I fully support this legislation and thank the chairman for introducing it. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller thank you, mr. Speaker. I have no further speakers at this time so ill reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida reserves. The gentlewoman from florida is recognized. Ms. Brown i urge my colleagues to support h. R. 294, as amended and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller once again, mr. Speaker, i encourage all members to support h. R. 294 as amended, and i would ask, again, that all members would have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks or add extraneous material on both h. R. 280, as amended, and h. R. 294 as amended. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Miller with that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 294, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 having responded in the affirmative the gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Miller with that i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately 6 30 p. M. Today. Then also on cspan3. Washington journal continues. Host each week, we look at how your money is at work in a different federal program. We are looking at an entire agency this week, the department of Homeland Security. Were joined by a Alicia Caldwell with the associate press. She covers dhs for the ap. Alicia caldwell, give us a sense of the scope of this agency in terms of staffing size and in comparison to other federal agencies. Guest think largest biggest most obligated agency you can think of. 230,000odd people. The folks patrolling federal buildings to coast guard customs and Border Protection, immigration and Customs Enforcement, u. S. Citizenship and immigration services. Immigration is one of the primary missions, but they have all these other components, as well. The folks who protect federal buildings. You have the secret service. Host second only to the department of defense . Guest correct. Host in terms of budget, this fight over funding this week in the immigration executive action, what is the budget that is actually being debated this week for extending the department of Homeland Security through the end up the fiscal year . Guest the department of president have asked for about 40 billion over the last year or so. Slightly less in the last budget request is what they are debating. Youre talking quite a bit of money to fund the entire department. Putting it at peril is the debate over the president S Immigration decisions, his decision to implement executive action on immigration authorizing some roughly 5 million or so people in the country currently illegally to sort of normalize and stay for up to three years at a time. He does not provide legal status. They are actually still in limbo. It is a divisive issue on capitol hill. Republicans have argued it is amnesty and providing a legal path to save your when one is not due to these individuals. Host breaking it down within dhs customs and Border Protection 13. 5 billion for the fiscal year 2016, the proposed budget. Federal Emergency Management agency, 13 billion. Coast guard 10 billion. Transportation Security Administration seven billion dollars. Immigration, 6 billion. That is just five of the components of dhs. How many components are there within dhs . Guest 27odd components. The big ones are the ones everybody knows. Psa, customs and Border Protection, ice. One many people may not know but is at the center of the budget debate is uscis which handles the immigrant cases. Those who want to convert their visa to a green card or such they go to that agency. Perhaps little known to the average american, hugely important in this debate because it is their job that is at the center of are they going to get funding immediately or are they not . Host if you have questions about the department of Homeland Security this shutdown debate and how it would impact dhs and the different agencies within that department, our phone lines are open. Republicans, 2027488001. Democrats,7488000. Independents 7488002. We are now five days away from another shutdown deadline. There were certainly preparations being made last week. What is happening right now at the department of Homeland Security . Guest not as much as well probably think. Memos go out. There is a lot of back office planning. Who gets to stay, who has to go . About 30,000 employees have to go post at they are considered nonessential. So they will go home and not work during any potential shutdown, furlough. About 85 of the department will continue to come to work. Youll see customs and Border Protection officers. If you live on the border, you will see those Border Patrol checkpoints. That might be good news, mike beebe add news, depending on how much you go through them that might be good news might be bad news. There are essential functions that do not go away. What happens is they go to work and do not get paid. It is one of those situations where you have got to be here but we do not know when we will pay you. We will give you an iou. You will ultimately get paid, but we have to wait for the budget to pass. The question remains, those who were furloughed, will they get paid . Historically, they have been paid retroactively for the time that they were not allowed to come to work. Literally, you are not allowed to come to work. You are not allowed to check your email or interact in any official capacity, even so much as going into your office could be a potential violation. Host concerning the shutdown and if youre working at the dhs, who decides whether you are essential or nonessential . Guest i believe it is laid out very specifically within each agency in a contingency plan. If you are not a frontline employer or a uniformed individual there is a chance youre going home. Office workers come all the folks who handle the stuff we do not always think about. The payroll folks, they are gone. All of the secretaries, those sorts of things. And those are hugely important jobs because their handling paperwork and doing things that the field officers do not necessarily have the time to do. There are civilian employees at the coast guard who will be furloughed, as well as fema. Fema has probably one of the larger hits in terms of personnel actually off the job. If a disaster strikes, as did during the shutdown a year and a half ago, government white partial shutdown, they would have to bring folks back on an emergency basis as storms were rolling in. That sort of thing happens, but they go home in the interim. Host a Washington Post chart makes it down about 14 would be considered nonessential. That is 12 of customs and Border Protection, 7 of the transportation Security Administration 12 of the coast guard, and so on down the line. It places the office is taking the biggest hits as the office of undersecretary for management 91 since home considered nonessential. The federal Law Enforcement training center, 94 . The science and technology directorate, 96 . So you can see that chart from the Washington Post. Alicia caldwell is taking her questions and comets about the department of Homeland Security its history and funding. Greg in chattanooga, tennessee line for independents. Caller thanks for taking my call. A couple things one of the main things is, i find and amazing, the hypocrisy about people saying the vhs and immigration has nothing to do with each other separate them out. That is about one of the main things, i would think. Order control, hello border control, hello. I am curious why nobody brings up the fact that our Border Security had to sue secretary Janet Napolitano because she did not want them to enforce the laws. We never hear about that. Why dont media ever cover that . Host are those things you are familiar with . Guest a couple. First is the most recent. 26 i believe states have sued the Obama Administration, most recently in december, for the administrative action. That action is actually on hold. The center of the budget issue is that executive action. It is on hold under a federal court ruling. I believe the lawsuit greg is speaking about, filed in 2012 or so, by a group of ice agents also impacts it. That was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, i believe, or technical grounds. They argued implementing effort action or prosecutorial action on a wide scale is violation of their jobs so they were asking the federal court to strike that down. The judge said, while he might agree, he did not have the jurisdiction or authority to handle the case and there were other avenues by which they should take it up. I am not sure the status of that case, to be honest. It has lingered. Host william in eureka california, line for democrats. Caller yes, good morning. What i am concerned about is you keep reading and keep hearing on fox noise in all the other stations that they are going to send 30,000 people home. Nonessential it seems to me that we have to trim our budget, so it seems that some of those people can eventually be trimmed to. That is all i have to say. Guest i am not entirely certain how to respond. When we talk about nonessential essential, it is not it does not mean what we think it means in terms of a budget shutdown. Essential means literally what function the government has to have, like the coast guard. The military has to operate. Law enforcement has to operate just as a function of the way the government is set up. When they wrote in some of these provisions, budgeting and so on host the caller is concerned about wasted workforce at dhs. 231,000 and 117 staffers at dhs. Has that gone down over the years . Has dhs cut workforce over the past years with budget cuts . Guest a little bit. Border patrol and customs and Border Protection, in particular. Obviously, admitted the cry about the border. Those agencies have expanded ever so slightly. They have trimmed, under napolitano, the trimmed various functions that had a lot of repeat when the department was created. 26, 27 component agencies were under Different Department heads under the Transportation Department treasury justice and so on, and they cobbled them all together in one network. So there were some redundancies. Those have been trimmed but not significantly. I do not have the number in front of me, but i would say not a proportion that perhaps william would be happy with in terms of eroded government. The department will tell you it is not. Host that combination and happening in the wake of the september 11 attacks, if you want to talk about the history this chart shows where different euros and agencies within dhs, where they came from post from the Treasury Department dhs got u. S. Customs service and the federal Law Enforcement training center. Justice department, immigration and naturalization services, office of domestic fairness. From the Transportation Department, the transportation Security Administration, and so on down the line. You can see where the different agencies moved from. Guest right, and they all had different demands. When the coast guard was at transportation they they are working with immigration functions. They had done all along. We remember about the crossings from cuba to florida in the 80s and 90s. The coast guard was all in charge of that. Instead of it being a transportation issue, they are under Homeland Security area. The have some additional rules and abilities to enforce different laws so they can put customs guy on that boat or an immigration guy on that vote. Boat. Is it good or bad to have them under the same umbrella . They are all under the same umbrella. There is no getting around that. The dod is many years older. It took a while to know before the components of the dod. The navy and marines are under the same umbrella. Host we are talking about dhs and the history of funding its personnel. Steve is in wisconsin on the line for republicans. Good morning. Caller my question to the guest is why cant money from other departments such as energy or education be taken from them. They are more nonessential. Itwhy not . Why is the press not asking about doing those particular things . Thank you. Guest its complicated it. I am no expert in federal budgeting. Each agency is allocated a budget. It is writ large in the federal budget. When the department of energy is given its budget, its appropriated for the department of energy. They can use it in whatever rules congress has approved. It doesnt allow for the transfer of money to the department of Homeland Security. Within each department, they can transfer money and they do. We saw that last year. We have seen that in the last several years, particularly with the budget sequester. Homeland security had a crush of immigrant families at the border. They had to reprogram money. Secretary johnson is said they needed to bring more Border Patrol agents into that area. People were apprehended at the border. You can reprogram within your agency. Host is there a process for interagency reprogramming . Guest its like saying we both work in media, can i borrow 30,000 . You would laugh at me. Its not just darling from peter to pay paul. Its an entirely different world. It doesnt quite work that way. Host tom is in tennessee on the line for independent. Caller good morning. Is it president obama enunciating the policy that bush implemented by not deporting this many people out of the United States . Was bush as good at deporting as obama has been listed mark . Guest deportations have gone up since president obama took office. There is no doubt about that. Posted 9 11, from the Bush Administration into the Obama Administration, there has been a focus on immigration. The reality is there are 11 Million People in the country without Proper Authority whether they crossed the border or overstayed a visa. They are here. How do you find them and remove them . There isnt the money to remove 11 Million People. Everybody has recognized that for decades. What president obama has done he has stepped it up further than resident bush. He has said that these are people we are not going to deport. He has three levels of priorities. Anybody on a terror watch list is in the first group. Serious criminals are in the second group. Third are those of an a notice of removal since january 2014 who have misdemeanors. It could be a dui. It could be considered a serious misdemeanor. We are prioritizing. We are not giving anybody a free pass. We are prioritizing during. Republicans say that you are. Hes gone to expand that to parents of u. S. Citizens and legal permanent residents. That is about 5 Million People. To not allow permanent residence or let them on threeyear terms stay in the country and give them authorization to work. That is different than anything we saw under the Bush Administration. They considered something very similar and for a variety of reasons said we are not going to do that. One of the reasons they said it no on a deferred action of program was we dont have the support of congress. Lets see what happens in congress. They were very close to e and Immigration Reform bill. The Obama Administration has said were not getting anywhere with legislation, heres what we are going to do. We will say that these people who meet these criteria and we approve you, you are good to go. You can stay in the country for three years. That would bring numbers significantly higher, about 5 Million People is on hold with this issue in texas. Host she is the Homeland Security reporter at the associated press. She has previously reported on the drug war. We have her for the next 20 minutes. We are on the line for democrats in texas area. Caller good morning. I am talking about this executive order. Abraham lincoln was a republican the. He passed the emancipation proclamation by executive order and freed the slaves. Obama hasnt freed anybody. Hes just postponed. When something is wrong the country, if you tell a lie long enough, its true. That is what they do, they attack obama until his term is over. Host tag has a question or you on our twitter page. Can you talk about morale at the dhs . Guest its the lowest in the government. We have known that for years. There is a r survey. It has come in rockbottom or very close to the bottom. There is no getting around it. When you are at the airport and your interaction with tsa, we have different versions of that. They have a very difficult job. Its the same with the Border Patrol. They are driving two hours just into a patrol section and then they go to work. There have been Management Issues in the department. When secretary johnson came in, there were a third of top management positions vacant. He had to fix that. He has tried to address the morale problem. Things are getting better. If you tell somebody come to work but were not going to give you a paycheck for i dont know how long, that is going to erode morale. If this happens for three weeks like it did in 2013, it wasnt a fun experience. It was a government wide shut down. Its not the most fun thing to come to work and not in a check. This is a department that is highly criticized like everybody. Everybody has an opinion on Homeland Security. Think back to your airport experiences. If you live in a Border Community you may be asking through a checkpoint just to get to work. You are having interactions with these people and it may not leave the best impression with you. It might leave a fabulous impression with you. Its a Massive Department that is constantly under an umbrella of observation from congress and the public. That we are having this conversation is a much talked about agency. You dont have the same criticisms fair or not of the department of defense or the department of justice. Justice might be a bad example lately. Host 86 of the 231,000 employees would be told to come to work and no guarantee of a paycheck here it. We have an independent caller. Caller thank you for having me on. I think the whole thing here is that she said it exactly. Its massive. That is the problem. Everybody is talking about we are struggling and the government is getting massive. How can you control massive . Dhs was created a while ago after 9 11. Bush added more things. It becomes massive again. To me, lets get rid of whatever was has done. Go back to the department of Homeland Security and lets stop being so massive so we can start communicating and rejecting the country protecting the country. Host on the history here and the efficiencies. Guest its important to remember that the department of Homeland Security is a direct result of the september 11 terrorist attack. There was no consideration of a department of Homeland Security. Other countries have something of this nature. We did not. We had the components in other departments. The coast guard was under transportation. Ins was under justice. Customs was under treasury. Say you are crossing in el paso, there would be three different uniforms and badges there. There would be a customs employee from treasury and immigration agent from justice. All of those individuals would talk to you. They would have something behind you. You had some tshirts that you bought and then you forgot your birthday the get or your drivers license. You have another set of individuals. Today, you have one individual who sits at the border checkpoint and take sure passport and asked to all the question that the other two guys were asking and now its one guy. Is it still too big . Host in all of this reorganization after september 11, did any agencies go away . Guest sort of. Instead of a Customs Service and a border troll, you have Border Protection. When you pull up to the border, they are field operations. The guys in green are Border Patrol. They are part of the same agency. Its the same thing as citizenship and immigration. You put some people at Customs Enforcement. Ins had this function of handling green cards. You took a little peace out here and a little peace out here. Ice is a brandnew agency. It is nine or 10 years old. Its function is 100 plus years old because everybody forgets about the Customs Enforcement part. They been doing that since the old days of the treasury. They had those people in place in one form or another. Now they are under a different umbrella. Is it too big with too many components in one agency . Perhaps. Its been debated. There is a lot of oversight. Whether its too big is another persons question. What happened was posted 9 11 we need to do something to and these different agencies and organizations doing similar jobs being in such disparate agencies. There are some others. I dont understand why protective services is there. Host weve got another 15 minutes in this segment. We are taking your questions about those agencies. We are focusing on the department of Homeland Security. Rex is waiting in North Carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to know how the Obama Administration gets by with counting the illegals at the border and turning them back as the porting them. Host definitions of deportation. Guest what happens is if you get caught the border, crossing the border illegally, if you are from mexico you can be quickly turned around. In the much older days, in the mid to thousands, you would drive a bus of to the border and send mexican immigrants home here it now you have more people from central america. You cant send those folks back to mexico. They are not mexican nationals. You have to put them on an airplane. That takes time. How they tell them has been a question. The people rarely would the to mix. In large part, you have more people from countries other than mexico. Once they get apprehended, they become an apprehension. The Border Patrol cant remove you to honduras. Ice does that. Maybe some of these are only here for a few days. Others will be here for six months because they are fighting removal. If you go into ice custody there is great consternation from congress about why we are double counting those numbers. They are just giving you an accurate representation of what ice is doing. Host pennsylvania is next where john is waiting on the line for democrats. Caller good morning. We have a democrat and a republican in the home. Its very interesting it. I am calling about the Homeland Security. It all goes back to the middle east. If both had been that are stewards of the middle east and the people been treated differently, they are getting run out of the middle east. All these other things are just immigration on the border sideshows. It goes back to the middle east and it always does. Its always about oil. Thats why they are beating up our country now. Its not a good situation. It comes down to that. These fortune 500 Companies Like these airlines that use marshals, they can provide their own security. You look at the ryman security agents private security agents, they are capable of controlling bridges. There is no reason why the taxpayer should be putting any of these. Delta will make 3 billion alone. We are paying for their airplane security. One of their ceos made a 22 million profit sharing. Silly. It goes back to the same things here it. Host has there ever been an effort to get airlines to pay for their own security . Caller we have air marshals and the tsa as a result of 9 11. We remember pre9 11 security. You kept your shoes on. You could bring any liquids. You could walk your friends to the gate. That all changed. They wanted a uniform security. They implemented the tsa. San francisco is an airport that has private security that is funded with tsa funds partially. There are security funds that go into when you buy a plane ticket. I dont have the breakdown. I dont know what delta is paying for security. There are contributions. Host we havent question from twitter. Caller its under the department of Homeland Security. It has been since the beginning. They will continue to run protective operations and so on. We wont have a freeforall of Security Issues at the white house. Host 8 of the secret service has been deemed nonessential. They would be furloughed if there was a shutdown of Homeland Security. Don is in South Carolina. Caller thank you for taking my call. I was glad to hear your concern for the dhs employees who might not get a paycheck here it i only wish that you and the people in the media have the same concerns for the american citizens who cant get a job and who went up line for a job applying for a job lose it to an illegal immigrant. Its the white house that is shutting down dhs. They will not accept the funding bill unless it includes money for him to do what the Texas Court Says illegal. You people dont explain that. You jump on the congress and say its the republicans fall. Fault. Host can you talk about the immigration debate and your work on that . How many years have you been at the agency . Caller 10. I have been the el paso correspondent. We are across the street from the border. 2005 was the peak of when we were looking at immigration again. We looked at it in the 80s and a little in the 90s. Post 9 11 it became a big issue. We had a big drug war across the street in 2005 and 2000 takes. The job 2006. Those guys are in this strategy position. They get a lot of criticism for not stopping everybody. A lot of people think an analogy with your cat in the backyard. I just would open the door. Immigration is different. If you hear that cat the person is already there. Its a big place, the border. There is aligned in the sand. You have to wait until somebody crosses the line to pick them up. Thats where you get this huge debate about is it secure or not. After watching those guys thats all they were doing. Those numbers of dropped her it we have one of the lowest apprehension rates in the last 40 years. Host continue with the back door analogy. What does it do to row if youre told to go to work and are then told not to do your job . Caller guest there is some concern from ice agents in particular. A group of agents suited. The law requires them to apprehend people and to remove them. When you have seen in the last year in particular is an influx of families and children at the border. When you arrive as a family, they cant just put you in a detention facility. They have to have a special detention facility. When 60,000 family units arrived suddenly last spring, they gave people a notice to appear. People did not appear. About 70 according to ice figures they were not returning to enroll in alternatives to detention. If you get caught at the border, you agree to show up when you get to your destination. I will get myself on the court docket. 70 were not showing up here it we can debate all day wide. Why. Some people said there was a language where he or. Area or barrier. Others said this is willful. They just dont want to show up. The reality is a lot of people did not show up here in that 30 are on the nondetained docket. That is part of the the department of justice. There are cases being docketed for 2019. Host we are trying to get a couple of more calls. Tony is in sugarland, texas. Caller thank you to cspan for taking my call. My question is, i read an article that the administration released 30,000 illegal aliens with criminal records in American Cities in the last year. I want to know if that is true and when will the next surge come now that mr. Obama has issued this executive action . Guest i think that is generally accurate. If youre from a country that wont provide travel documents for you to come home, we cant send you home. We cant send people back for fear of torture or government persecution. You have cases where somebody is fighting removal. You cant keep them in jail indefinitely. Others are awarded ons by an immigrant bonds by an immigration judge. That is out of ices hands. In individual was released after a felony conviction. He did not get a jail sentence in arizona. He is now in custody on a homicide charge. Does anybody have a crystal ball to predict that . I would like one. I am not trying to make light of it by any stretch. Sometimes decisions work and sometimes they dont. The department ultimately has to answer to those. The secretary is looking into how they can detain more convective convicted criminals. The courts are clogged. There are years long backlogs. There is only so much detention space. Host lets see if we can get caller thank you. I would like to as the lady that clarify something for me. It seems to me that they are thinking that the democrats added the immigration bill to the homeland funding bill. I do not think the democrats did that. The republicans put that in there in order to have a fight with obama about his executive order. I feel that they are so well because the homeland funding bill should be separate from anything else. Anything else. They should not have attached that bill. I would just like you to clear it up for people, and me, to let the people know who attached that immigration bill to that homeland funding bill. Host certainly a topic that you have been writing about recently. Guest republicans did add the rider to limit any funds to be used on immigration. That has been job by some republicans. Some have said, lets do what is called a clean bill for an entire budget bill and that we will separately work on the immigration bill. Again, there are pending lawsuits. Everything is on hold anyway. But, they did attach the rider and that was the big hangup. It continues to be a hangup, even within the Republican Party. Then, of course, democrats are saying buell we do not want to pass a shortterm bill. We certainly will not pass a bill that includes this, gives us a clean bill, we will vote on a up and down, then we will bow on the immigration bill. It is still up for debate what will happen this week. Be funding runs out again friday at midnight. There has been some conferencing saying that this divide, we want a clean bill, we will worry about the other part later, we arty have a victory in tech is we dont want to mess this, we want to stop what they see is a uncut searn unconstitutional push from the president. The judge did not caller unconstitutional he rolled on a very nerdy understanding that there was a need for Public Opinion. He did not go through the rulemaking process. That is what the judge has pointed out so far. Later on in the case, he may rule something else, but that is where we are now. Host a bill would authorize the Veterans Administration to provide longterm care through nonv. A. Medical facilities. The senate was in moments ago. They blocked from 4743 vote to blocking a motion to go to conference with the house over their different versions of Homeland Security spending. The vote that followed that, tabling the request to negotiate with the house. The house has passed a longer term that would fund the department. The oneweek measure expires this friday. And the house will have to consider that legislation before that deadline before the end of the week. In a couple of minutes we hope to hear from Democratic Senators on the Senate Efforts on Homeland Security. Well bring that to you live if they come out before the house gavels back in. Headliner boehner in a pinch on d. H. S. Funding. Can he control his classroom of Congressional Republicans . Guest what we do need to do will it be funded. We dont want a shutdown. But we have these other issues that need to be addressed. The court cases coming out of texas gives us an alternative and that may be one of the better alternatives we have. Its not an ideal situation. So we will have to be more creative. Guest as it deals with specifically with immigration, we have a role to play in that especially along the southern border. How it plays out in the northern border but not to the same degree. From california to texas i dont know if they can see the map, 80 of that is controlled by the federal government and half of that is in the wilderness designation. The Border Patrol are not allowed to go into those areas unless they are in hot pursuit. It means they come to a line in the border and have to go in sfoot or wait for the horses. The Border Patrol doesnt need more manpower but equipment and access to those areas. And i have been down to the southern border. The retired border agents, people who can talk openly, its being prohibited by environmental laws. When we finish the fence along the california section, can Congress Passed to waive laws. But they are being restricted. The red areas on this map are federally controlled lands, not necessarily National Parks, but bureau ever Land Management lands, Forest Service lands and you are talking about restricting Border Patrol agents . Half of that is what the Border Patrol agents can do. The cartels are causing the environmental damage. Host are these the key routes. These are the areas they are coming through . Guest tucson sector is 50 of the Illegal Immigrants that we can catalog are coming. There has to be reason for that route of choice and my premise, the easy access because of the environmental laws is making the route of access. There are other factors. But it is much more difficult on the southern border because of the amount of federal land. In texas, they have less federal land. Along the northern border, same situation, not a whole lot of federal land. Same kind of problem but not to the degree that we have on the arizona, new mexico and california borders. Host there was a bill by you better access to go through these lands. The solicitor of the interior during the Clinton Administration saying republicans are waiving environmental laws to activities that would otherwise be controlled by Land Management entities. Your response . Guest ridiculous. They have to do a memo of understanding and all the benefit is given to the land managers versus the Border Patrol. One of those National Monuments abuts the border. The Border Patrol wanted to move a device which is on the back of the pickup truck so they could use it. And it took them six months to get them to back up the trucks. Thats ridiculous. We have morgses there where they want helipads. They are still waiting for them. Thats ridiculous. What they are saying, what the argument is is basically, see what sticks on the wall and that doesnt work. Bottom line is Border Patrol needs to be able to do their job. Our environmental laws are prohibiting them from doing the job. They have to change. Host congressman rob bishop is the chairman of the Natural Resources committee. Comments for him as we have him with us. I think we made our argument in the point that the last several bills that have been introduced in the house that have this concept as part of it. People understand that argument. The restrictions on the Border Patrol has passed and needs to change. The budget, 13. 2 billion is the proposed fiscal budget 18 above, National Park service would get 3 billion . Those are highlights of the proposed funding effort. Is it enough . There is never enough when it comes to funding any kind of program. What bothers me about this budget is not the numbers and the numbers are inflated, but what bothers me, there is nothing creative on how to approach the problems we have. Host whats an example of a creative example you would want to see from her . Guest on Invasive Species, they cannot keep up. The more Invasive Species we have they are great things those who are experts in the area suggests that projects that statesville done. We need to incorporate those and put it back on the ground instead of sending it back here. There is nothing of that that will deals with Invasive Species or how we actually get more people into the park. We keep expanding the amount of acreage without being able to maintain what we already have. If the white house is not going to come up with anything creative. Host not necessarily about the secretary, but from the white house looking over the shoulder of the department of the interior. Guest secretary jewel tries to look at things in a different way. The white house has illustrated in this budget. Not what i consider creative and two distinctive issues. Caller good morning. Mr. Representative, the only thing after listening to you that im worried about you are seemed to throw the baby out and the environmental regulations with the Baby Washington journal live every day. We will live you this and take you over to the senate to hear from Democratic Senators following a couple of votes in the senate. Good evening everybody. Well we are here again with five days to go before funding runs out for the department of Homeland Security. And feels like groundhog day, thats because it is. After tonights vote, however, i can report that the bill that the house sent over is as buried as puxatawney phil. Now to put the politics aside. We cant afford amore shortterm measures. We have seen a number of threats last week alone. Law enforcement officials captured suspected terrorists in new york. We live in a realtime of threats to our Homeland Security. We need to stop politics with the agency tasked with keeping us safe. The American People are counting on us to put our safety ahead of part san politics. Good evening everyone. At a day and age several of them planning actively to do harmful things to the folks who live in those states, a day when we have all kinds of people trying to bring things through our ports of entry, in fast boats and aircraft, some cases strapped to peoples bodies, folks are trying to deliver a dirty bomb, where we have a lot of people who try to come into this country for a place to work and make a better life, with all that going on, the folks who run the department of Homeland Security are spending time of their times not focusing as much as they need on to on each of those challenges. They are focusing on what if we dont get a c. R. What if we do. And how does that affect the way we are going to run this agency. A whole lot of time, a whole lot of energy is devoted to those kinds of issues when they to be devoted to be devoted how to be safer. We need to get over this. I understand you are upset. I understand that they want to find a way to reverse the president s suggestion and i would suggest again theres a great offramp for them to pursue and the offramp is to the courts. They succeeded at the court level and could succeed at the fifth Circuit Court of appeals. I offer them to take that off ramp. Take that offramp and take it through the courts and go to a comprehensive bipartisan Immigration Reform that will work to reduce our deficit. With todays vote, we could actually do those things. Thank you. First let me thank my colleagues for the great work they have done, jean shaheen head of the Homeland Security subcommittee ted carper he on aappropriations. We are days removed fl iceis from brooklyn arrests and five days away from the shutdown of the department of Homeland Security. Today, democrats rejected with republicans to play politics with department of Homeland Security. There are only two reasons to go to conference. First, to negotiate new funding levels for d. H. S. Or second to put more extraneous riders back into this bill. This bill is already negotiated with both parties in both houses and with days to go, time for republicans to stop tying funding for d. H. S. Against the president s policies on immigration. The price for that is in the courts. This has already gone too far. Isis isnt funded a week at a time or alshabaab and the department of Homeland Security shouldnt be either. How can we be secure when Congressional Republicans wont even promise to keep the lights on for more than a week at a time. Its time for Speaker Boehner, now that the senate has once again in a bipartisan way rejected another gambit, to try to get the right wing off his back, time for Speaker Boehner that puts the bill that Funds Department of Homeland Security for a vote. Speaker boehner has the power to end this standoff with the snap of his fingers. Put this bill up for a vote and it will pass, just like many House Republicans said it would. If house leadership puts it up for a vote, our First Responders will be funded, our biometric screeners will be upgraded, the secret Service Improvements will be made. Put the clean vote up for a vote so the department of Homeland Security isnt forced to keep america safe with one hand tied behind its back. Bottom line is that terrorist threats around us, republicans continue to play politics holding Homeland Security funding hostage and enough is enough. I want to continue to stress in one area with First Responders, they have been holding their breath since october because this shortterm funding process has meant that for Police Firefighters in michigan, we have 84 communities in michigan that fund Police Officers and firefighters through grants of Homeland Security that have not been reissued, have not been reissued. Wont be today tomorrow or the next. And we are finding ourselves in a situation that we dont know if we are going to have the adequate staff for First Responders as well. Enough is enough. Frankly, its an embarrassment as we watch what is happening. And we are here to say its time to fully fund Homeland Security and get on with the business of keeping america safe. Ready for your questions. [inaudible question] we hope we are not getting up to this deadline. Enough already. We dont want to think about it. Its time for Speaker Boehner to act. Can you give us any assurances that they would take up a clean bill . We are hoping and praying that Speaker Boehner does the right thing. Enough already. [inaudible question] speaking for myself, im worried, if on funding Homeland Security, Speaker Boehner cant control his troops and get something done that 90 of america continue to watch this on cspan. Org. Democrats have blocked to go to conference with republicans. Live coverage here on cspan. Ll to amend title 38 United States code to authorize the secretary of vet raps affairs to enter into contracts and agreements for the transfer of veterans to nondepartment medical foster homes for certain veterans who are unable to live in dependently. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended . Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 402 the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 405, the nays are zero. 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Without objection, the title is amended. The Unfinished Business is the question on suspending the rules and passing h. R. 280 as amended, which the clerk will report by title. The clerk Union Calendar number 21, h. R. 280 a bill to authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to awards of employees of Veterans Affairs. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house pass the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3, the rules is suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise . I ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourn today it meet at 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Without objection so ordered. The speaker pro tempore the chair announces the speakers appointment pursuant to executive order and order of the house of january 6 2015 of the following members of the part of the house of the president s export council. The clerk mr. Kildee of michigan and ms. Dell binny of washington. The chair the migratory act and order of the house of january 6, 2015, the following member on the part of the house for the Migratory Bird conservation commission. The clerk mr. Thompson of california. The speaker pro tempore the chair will now entertain requests for oneminute speeches. Members and staff will please take your conversations off the floor. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson mr. Speaker, last week the f. C. C. Voted 32 on bipartisan lines to allow unprecedented government regulation of the internet and reversing nearly two decades of bipartisan policy. In a recent interview, f. C. C. Commissioner pi said this is a solution that wont work to a problem that doesnt exist. Mr. Speaker, the f. C. C. Commissioner is exactly right. Why are we trying to fix a problem that simply does not exist . This decision by the f. C. C. Represents a dangerous and reckless disregard for free market principles and is just another example of government overreach by this administration. Mr. Speaker, president obamas 342 page plan to regulate the internet will lead to slower services, less investment and more taxation. Together with my colleagues, i will continue to fight top free andpeinrn. I yiek e balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The house will be in order. Members please take your conversations off the floor. For what purpose does the gentleman from West Virginia seek recognition . I ask unanimous condition sent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. I rise today to honor the special friendship between the United States and israel and to welcome Prime Minister netanyahu before his address. The group known as isis has made the slaughter of innocent christians a priority. In the face of this senseless violence, israel stands as a bee cop of safe toism end this barbarism, israel and all our allies should develop a longterm strategy to wipe isis off the earth. The United States and israel are also confronted with the potential emergence of a nuclear iran. Like israel our government should keep all options on the table to prevent this outcome. In facing these and future challenges, our nation is fortunate to call israel a friend. Israel and the United States share common ideals of freedom justice, and Fair Elections by the people in a republic. I welcome Prime Minister netanyahu back to congress and i look forward to his remarks on protecting our shared values against terrorism and a nuclear iran. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I ask unanimous condition sent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Poe the nation of israel is surrounded by some mean, aggressive neighbors that want israel destroy the leader of the pack of jackals is iran. The Supreme Leader of iran has made it clear he wants the jewish state to vanish into the sands of time. Prime minister netanyahu of israel will be here tomorrow to speak to congress on the serious pliggete israel faces from our mutual enemy, iran. The white house is snubbing the visit because supposedly the house did not follow protocol. Meanwhile, the white house is working on a deal with iran that will be good for iran. Israel is the Lone Star State in the middle east for freedom. So on this texas Independence Day and on behalf of the people of the state of texas thembing Lone Star State, i want to welcome Prime Minister netanyahu to speak candidly and openly about the true threat from the jackal of the desert iran. And thats just the way it is. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minutearound revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore weather, the gentleman is recognized without objection the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker over 100 years ago a man changed the world with 102 words. These words are we therefore pursuant to the power of the people of texas, appealing to a world for assessing our conditions do hereby declare that our political connection with the mexican nation has forever ended. Mr. Olson and that the people of texas do now constitute a free, sovereign and independent republic fully vested with all rights which properly belong to independent nations and conscious of the of our attention, we farelessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the arbiter of the nation. Happy birthday to my home, the republic of texas. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from mississippi is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to welcome our friend and ally, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the United States of america. Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will address this chamber as a head of state. Some are protesting and will not attend. Mr. Palazzo this is shortsighted and frankly disheartening. We have no greater ally in the middle east than israel and israels very existence is being threatened by its neighbors in the region. Words like oh total destruction are being thrown around by its enemies iran marches toward a nuclear bomb. Yet we do nothing, we say nothing. We negotiate, but we dont lead. Mr. Speaker, the president needs to step forward and lead. Tell the world we will do what it takes to protect our israeli friends as we have done for over 70 years. Prime minister netanyahu, welcome to the United States. I look forward to your remarks tomorrow and to our nations continued friendship as do the majority of americans. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection thembings gentleman is recognized for the without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Gohmert thank you, mr. Speaker. It is important that we recognize that its not just a person coming tomorrow to speak to us, it is the leader of israel. Our best friend in the middle east. You think i like to come here and get lectured about Citizens United case by a guy that doesnt understand that case . Do you think i enjoy coming over here, being told, you pass my american jobs act right now, when he didnt even have one for a couple of weeks . Of course not. I come and listen to the president because of the respect for the position. This is a dangerous precedent some are thinking about starting tomorrow. Im just not going to show up because i dont like the man thats leading israel. They are our ally and if you want people to stop showing up for others like the president , then start that tradition. Its wrong move. Lets pay respect to our best friends leader in the middle east. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. Mr. Barton i thank the speaker. Mr. Speaker, 179 years ago new york a hamlet in whats now grimes county, texas called washingtononthebrazos, a handful of brave texans voted to declare independence from mexico. We call this kay texas Independence Day. As those brave men were declaring their independence at a decrepit old mission in san antonio, texas, less than 200 patriots, led by people like Davy Crockett and William Barrett travels and james bowie were fending off an army of somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 mexican soldiers under the leadership of general santa ana. The alamo fell on march 6, but on april 21 1836, general sam houston at a bayou called san jacinto led about 350 texans in a surprise attack on the mexican army and won independence from texas for texas from mexico. God bless texas and god bless all those patriots 179 years ago for what they did. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Are there any more requests for oneminute speeches . The chair lays before the house the following personal requests. The clerk leaves of absence requested for mr. Crenshaw of florida for today and mr. Tonko of new york for today. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the requests are granted. Under the speakers announced policy of january 6 2015 the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. Kelly is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Ms. Kelly thank you, mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Kelly thank you mr. Speaker. This evening the Congressional Black Caucus will take a moment to discuss our strong support for the confirmation of u. S. Attorney lo rhett Loretta Lynch as next attorney general of the United States and we will examine the larger issue of justice in america. Tonight, c. Tonights c. B. C. Hour is entitled bridging the divide observations on race and justice in america. As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the selma march the events of planned parenthoody sunday and the progress achieved in the years since, we must remember that the Voting Rights act was achieved not only because of those marched, it succeeded because of those who cared enough to get involved a congress that became engaged and an active department of justice that was diligent about enforcing the Voting Rights act. Loretta lynch is exactly the type of educated principled character we need as our next attorney general. Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee Voted to confirm her as the next a. G. , paving the way for her confirmation by the full senate this confirmation must come soon and cannot be held up for partisan political purposes. With experience as a frontline prosecutor and u. S. Attorney and a strong record of service over several decades, mrs. Lynch is more than qualified to sit at the helm of the department of justice and protect the rights of our democracy. On the issue of justice, theres so much more we can discuss tonight. Right now its most appropriate for us to examine a few topics that so many citizens in the districts we represent want to look at. In addition to mrs. Lynch in the department of justice, wed like to take time to explore the value of black lives in america and the fact that they do really matter. Perceptions in minority communities regarding Police Treatment. The impact of black incarceration on communities. And Voting Rights and disenfranchisement. I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from the garden state mitigating circumstance good friend an anchor for this hour of action, representative donald payne. Hes been a thoughtful advocate for justice issues in america and a leader in the true sense of the word. I yield to congressman payne. Mr. Payne id like to thank the gentlelady from illinois who has demonstrated her leadership throughout her time here in congress and i am just delighted to also be working with her. Mr. Speaker, we want to thank the congresswoman once again for opening tonights Congressional Black Caucus special hour. It is an honor to join with her and the other members of this caucus to speak directly to the American People and keep them up to date on our efforts. Were here tonight to talk about the urgent need to ensure the nomination of Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general of the United States of america. Ms. Lynch has a distinguished legal career in private and Public Service, earning the respect of her colleagues and establishing herself as a topnotch lawyer and federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of new york. She has successfully prosecuted cases on farranging issues including public corruption Violent Crime and terrorism. They have included a number of high profile cases such as United States vs. Volpine. In that case she was part of the trial team that convicted several new york Police Officers involved in the torture of a haitian immigrant in 1997. She also prosecuted the bangladeshi man convicted of attempting to blow up the mr. Speaker, mrs. Lynchs credentials are only matched by her strength of character. She has demonstrated character integrity and independence. She has displayed an unwaivering commitment to the rule of law, to Public Service and to this nation. She has proven time and time again that she is highly capable independent leader who carefully considers all sides of an issue and does not cave to outside influences. These are the characteristics we look for, characteristics we should and do demand when considering nominees for the u. S. Attorney general. Ms. Lynchs character suggests she would be capable of using her position to address a number of issues to achieving true equality and justice for africanamerican communities. These include perceptions of Police Treatment Voting Rights and sentencing disparities, which undermine the foundations of the africanamerican communities. There is every indication that ms. Lynch would make an outstanding u. S. Attorney general and it is our hope that this caucus hope of this caucus that she can quickly be confirmed by the senate. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back to the gentlelady of illinois. Mr. Clarke i ask for unanimous consent that all mr. Kelly i ask that all members may have five legislative days. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Kelly the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, congressman butterfield from North Carolina. Mr. Burton mr. Butterfield thank you for yielding time to me this evening as a representative of the 46 men and women comprising the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr. Payne, i thank you for what you do for our caucus and what you do for the state of new jersey and what you mean for all of us. I am pleased this evening that we have set aside this hour to remark about the confirmation process for Loretta Lynch. President obama should be commended for choosing an attorney general nominee who is well qualified, well fall qualified in every respect. Though she lives in new york city she is a citizen of North Carolina. Her father, whom i have known most of my life, is a native of martin county, North Carolina, from the town of oak city, which is right in the heart of my Congressional District. The lynch family has deep roots. Ms. Lynch has a 30year distinguished career. She is a well respected lawyer and federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of new york which serves eight Million People throughout brooklyn and queens, Staten Island and long island. Loretta lynch is consistently recognized among her peers as fair, tough and independent lawyer who has twice headed the toughest u. S. Attorneys office. She has a tough record of hate crimes and public corruption without regard to Political Party or affiliation. And she has a reputation of being committed to human rights and ensuring equal opportunity for all americans. Ms. Lynch poses high moral character and integrity. Has the perfect set of professional credentials on to lead the u. S. Department of justice and remains unflappable when facing the court of Public Opinion and upholds the letter of the law in all circumstances even when it is unpopular. Throughout her confirmation process, senators in both parties have lauded her qualifications and her career. She has waited long for a confirmation vote than any other u. S. Attorney general in modern history. Her nomination has been pending now for more than 100 days. The politics republicans have played is deploreable and opposition to her nomination is nothing more than a political ploy to use any means necessary to show their disdain for the president. And im deeply disappointed as im sure North Carolinaians are as the vote last week against the nomination of one of North Carolinas own. He has had the opportunity to be on the right side of history in supporting her nomination, but he did not. If confirmed, ms. Lynch would make history as the fir africanamerican woman to serve the role as United States attorney general. She is an outstanding nominee and choice. And the senate should move swiftly to confirm Loretta Lynch as United States attorney general of america. Mr. Kelly we appreciate i introduce congresswoman fudge and congressperson. Ms. Fudge i want to thank my colleagues for leading the black caucus special order hour. You are our message team and let all of america know what the c. B. C. Is dealing with and i thank you for your work. Last week, Loretta Lynchs nomination to serve as the next u. S. Attorney general was passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee by a vote of 128. I use the words finally, because there has been a significant delay with her confirmation. Why her confirmation has taken so long confounds me. What is the Senate Majority waiting for . What is the delay . The fact that it took over 100 days to get her to a Committee Vote is particularly troubling when one considers how long it took to actually confirm. Janet reno, 29 days. John ashcroft 22 days. And Alberto Gonzalez who had to resign as attorney general 86 days. Clearly her nomination has been singled out for delay. Ash carters confirmation moved expeditiously. Voted out of committee on february 11 and confirmed on the senate floor on february 12. When testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Attorney lynch showed grace under pressure. While enduring long hours of vigorous questioning. Later, she provided answers to hundreds of questions, all on the record resulting in more than 200 pages of testimony. Her professionalism and responsiveness are well documented. Further senators in both parties have lauded attorney lynchs qualifications. Her record speaks for itself. Senator hatch, one of the three republicans who recently voted in favor of attorney lynchs nomination in committee stated, and i quote, i have concluded that ms. Lynchs full record, including but hardly limited to her hearing testimony shows she is qualified to serve as attorney general. And that is all that they are trying to show to the American Public. All they need to say is she is qualified. If they have the president in the white house theyd pick who they want. They dont have the president in the white house, and she is qualified. Further, the senators in both parties understand how important it is to fill the position of attorney general. Yet, she continues to be penalized by many members of the Majority Party because of barack obamaS Immigration policies and disdain for attorney general holder. We wont fund the department of Homeland Security because of immigration. There is a problem in the congress of the United States. In fact, she is being judged for the actions of others and we know that. This is nothing more than political gamesmanship. I call my colleagues to stop the charade and get on with the confirmation. I urge the senate to put her confirmation on the floor immediately. Judge attorney lynch on her record and her merit and do it now. I yield back. Thank you for your very, very pertinent remarks. It is my honor to introduce one of our new members freshman from the Virgin Islands, staysey plaskett. Ms. Plaskett ms. Plaskett thank you for this opportunity to speak. I want to thank my colleagues for yielding time. Thank you, ms. Kelly, from the great state of illinois, as well as mr. Payne from the great state of new jersey. I want to extend my support for the confirmation of ms. Lynch. A former bronx District Attorney as well as having worked at the Justice Department, i have the utmost respect for ms. Lynch who has served the people of new york and indeed this great country who is imminently qualified to be the attorney general and should be confirmed. I additionally, mr. Speaker would like to discuss another issue that is grave importance and that is territorial Voting Rights. As we commemorate the 50th march on selma and passage of the Voting Rights act, i want to call to the attention of my colleagues here in congress there are still american citizens today who do not have equal Voting Rights. While we may discuss the i will logic mechanisms which have excluded those who have been convicted i want to discuss another group. That is some four Million People to be exact. These are citizens of americans island territories, u. S. Virgin islands puerto rico, and guam and american citizens who risked life and limb in defense of a great nation. American citizens who in their great patriotism have paid the ultimate sacrifice and in this last conflict in iraq and iran have died at a right of seven times the national average. Citizens of the u. S. Territories have fought in every conflict including the American Revolution when we gave our own person from ex deer hamilton from the Virgin Islands. Yet, these citizens who have contributed and sacrificed so much cannot vote for their commander in chief. This inability to vote has a direct correlation to the poverty and disenfranchisement in so many areas. Poverty in the 21 century is a shameful reality and for decades it has been a serious and percent cyst tenth problems. Child poverty for us is a heartbreaking reality. Recent report from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands 31 of the children in the Virgin Islands are living in poverty. To further underscore this statistic, Virgin Islands families are struggling and many much of our Food Supplies must be imported with the high cost of electricity. We pay some of the highest prices in the nation. While the American Economy is on the rebound and reports of job growth is very good news, unemployment on the islands which i live is 15 or more. The benign neglect to the territories that got to end. Each island that was bought for military purposes and now believed by the country that the geo political need is not there the people have been forgotten. Some may have questioned whether the people were remembered on these islands, that the land and the resources were what this nation wanted, not the people. But we have contributed much, and we deserve better. The sovereign soil on which an individual is born is the basic english and american law. Virgin islanders are proud people who have committed their faith and so very willing to work hard for a better, harder future for themselves, their future and their country. And deserve the right to vote. I yield my time. Ms. Kelly thank you, ms. Plaskett, and your words are so pertinent as we remember selma 50 years ago. It is now my distinct honor to call to the podium the gentleman from new york congressman hakeem jeffries. Mr. Jeffries i thank the gentlewoman from illinois for yielding. Of course toicht thank congresswoman kelly and congressman payne for their wonderful leadership in i want to thank congresswoman kelly and congressman payne for their wonderful leadership in creating this opportunity to speak about the Justice System generally but specifically the urgent need to confirm Loretta Lynch as our next attorney general. Let me say parenthetically that it feels good to be in the presence of my two classmates, r. Kelly and d. Payne. I feel like im in the midst of celebrity. Certainly theyve done a tremendous job of calling us all together. Weve got a serious issue we need this capitol to confront. In the midst of terrorists who are all across the world who want to strike at our homeland, not only are we dealing with a dynamic where some in the house of representatives refuse to fully fund the department of Homeland Security because of an unnecessary obsession with the president s executive action on immigration, let me note of course though individual mace differ on its legality every president since the since Dwight Eisenhower has taken executive action on immigration. Its occurred 39 times. Since the 1950s. President eisenhower did it. President nixon did it. President ford. President reagan did it. President George Herbert walker bausch. Bush did it. President george bush did it. Every president since eisenhower has taken executive action to provide some form of immigration relief. But of course when president obama steps forward to deal with our nations current problems, a constitutional crisis has been provoked. And what also seems to be interesting is that the effort to address the issues that some may have with president obamas executive action has crossed over into trying to stop delay, obstruct Loretta Lynch from becoming our nations next attorney general. Some over on the senate side have even said as much. Well, were concerned that shes got a supportive attitude as it relates to president obamas executive action. Well, many of my good friends on the other side of the aisle, socalled strict constructionalist. They believe in the sanctity of original intent as it relates to the constitution. The constitution had an article 1 legislative branch, an article 2 executive barge, an article 3 Judicial Branch and the founders suggested that if there are issues that need to be worked out, its the courts job to coit. So theres a lawsuit right now pending in texas challenging the legality and constitutionality of the president s executive action on immigration. Let the courts do their job. Stop holding hostage our nations safety and security and stop holding hostage the confirmation of Loretta Lynch. You take a look at jerez may new york reasonable person could argue that shes not exquisitely qualified. Jerez may reads like the american dream. A southern girl, born in North Carolina. Jerez may reeds her resume reads like the american dream. A southern girl, born in North Carolina. Raised by a baptist preacher father. She exceled in studies so much that she went off to Harvard University and got a law degree from that same institution, one of the best law schools in the world. She didnt join the high powered Litigation Law Firm in new york she joined the high powered Litigation Law Firm in new york, excelled there but after several years, took what i believe buzz was a 70 cut in salary, left the private sector, to go work as a federal prosecutor and do some good. In that office she quickly rose through the ranks, tried high profile cases, in the rough and tumble of new york city, with grace and with dignity. Always making sure that she was guided by the law and the facts. Not politics, drama, and hyperbole. Loretta lynch was confirmed twice, i believe by the United States senate unanimously. The American People recognize that this is a congress that cant agree on basic things, yet unanimously Loretta Lynch has been confirmed twice as the lead prosecutor in the Eastern District of new york. By the way she is a proud brooklyn resident now and i had the honor and privilege of representing mrs. Lynch when i was in the state legislature. She has excelled at the consummate Law Enforcement professional. Shes fair. Shes equitable. Shes tough. And shes just. And so were here today simply to say, its time to confirm her. The president has made the observation you cant stand eric hold, the easiest way to get rid of him is to confirm Loretta Lynch. Whats the holdup . Allow her to take the help over the helm over these final 20 or so months so that we have some stability at the allimportant department of justice. We need all hands on deck right now as it relates to the war on terror. We need the f. B. I. The c. I. A. , the n. S. A. , the department of Homeland Security, weve got to be correct 100 of the time. Terrorists only have to be right once. Seems to me if youve got a confirmation pending of a clearly qualified individual to head the department of justice, the responsible thing to do is to act and to act now. I want to thank my good friend r. Kelly and d. Payne for giving me this opportunity to spend a few moments on behalf of a tremendous brooklynite by way of North Carolina who is clearly qualified to be our nations next attorney general. Its time bring the confirmation to the floor and to allow her to serve the American People. And i yield back. Ms. Kelly thank you kindly to the gentleman from new york, congressman jeffries, a man of much wisdom and truth. Congressman payne weve heard from a number of members why Loretta Lynch would be a great attorney general. Hopefully we can move on this and she will be confirmed very soon. At this time id like to introduce one of my freshman colleagues, the woman from the great state of ohio, congresswoman extraordinary, joyce beatty. Mrs. Beatty thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you to my classmate and colleague for host us this evening for the Congressional Black Caucus special order hour. Mr. Speaker, during the last month we have honored the rich history of africanamericans and the Africanamerican Community. We reflected on the unfortunate journey through slavery and segregation, prejudices and discrimination. Though we bring black History Month to a close, the Congressional Black Caucus will continue to fight for justice. Tonight our special order our is bridging the divide. Observations on race and justice in america. Our attention to the divide in our society however, does not end because we entered a new month. We must remain focused on how we can bridge the divides in our society and how we can bring our nation closer together. The divides are striking and we know them all too well. The School Pipeline to prison. The prison pipeline. Education disparities. Health disparities. The injustices in our Justice System. It is well established in fact that students of color face harsher punishment in schools than their white peers. Leading to a higher number of of youth of colors in detention, suspension and yes, expelled. Mr. Speaker, africanamerican students are arrested far more than their white classmates. Black and hispanic students represent more than 70 of those involved in schoolrelated arrests or referrals to Law Enforcement. Currently, africanamericans make up 2 5 and hispanics 1 5 of combined youth today. Disparities are found not only in how we punish behavior in schools, but also how we fund education. Mr. Speaker, this is true in k through 12. It is also true in Higher Education and we know what a College Degree and we know that a college zeg a path to a middle class life. If africanamerican students graduate with more debt than their white classmates the cuts to pell grants are threatening africanamerican access to a better education. Without the pell grant program, hundreds of thousands of young africanamericans would not be table afford college. The disparities in access to Health Coverage are startling. The infant mortality rate among africanamericans is 2. 3 times that of Nonhispanic Whites and africanamerican infants are four times more likely than Nonhispanic White infants to die, mostly due to complications related to birth weight. We must confront these prejudices these injustices in our nation, head on. The Congressional Black Caucus is committed to re resolving these challenges. The Congressional Black Caucus has fought to ensure funding the pell grant. Pell grants are contained in each years appropriations bills. We have worked hard to make sure that the maternity and newborn care are part of Health Care Plans under the Affordable Care act. Over 390,000 africanamerican women in the individual in the individual market alone, and are projected to gain maternity coverage thanks, yes thanks, to the Affordable Care act. Our task force on the elimination of sentencing disparities is moving the ball on how black men and women are treated in the judicial system. And we have been working here in congress, our partners, the deltas, my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta sorority, held their annual deltas in the Nations Capital today with thousands of women from across this nation gathering advocating, for these disparities and injustices. As deltas were unites in their efforts today in our Nations Capital we were also uniting for one of our very own nominees, Loretta Lynch. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee Voted 128 to approve the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as the next United States attorney general. Bringing her confirmation to the full senate for consideration. I remember all too well a couple of weeks before that, when we were in that hearing room and it looked like a sea of red as deltas marched in and lined up one after another wearing our colors, crimson and green. Deltas lined the outside of the hearing room and mr. Speaker, we did that because prior to entering that room, media and some of my colleagues on the other side had tried to make it a bad thing that she organized and was a founder of her College Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. But what we were able to do was show them when we Work Together, whether thats democrats and republicans or Sorority Members or nonSorority Members, when its the right thing to do we can make a difference. I was proud to sit with my other colleagues with congressman butterfield with the 100th woman sworn into the United States congress congresswoman alma adams, to be there with the 23 president of the sore orty, congresswoman fudge. We sat next to Loretta Lynchs father, the reverend from North Carolina while the Judiciary Committee favorably reported the nomination on a vote that was closer than it needed to be. Mrs. Lynchs nomination is well deserved and historic. Ms. Lynch testified before the Senate Judiciary committee for nearly eight hours and she responded to nearly 900 written questions which is unprecedented. Many of the written questions, mr. Speaker, were from senators who had already declared their opposition to her nomination. Ms. Lynchs nomination has been pending far longer than any recent attorney generals nomination, which in my opinion, mr. Speaker, is shameful. She deserves to be voted our next attorney general. If senators have a reason to vote against her nomination, they should make their case public. Yes hiding behind procedural tactics does not help our nation. As the senate has the opportunity to unite behind a well qualified nominee for critical position, Congress Members will have an opportunity to be united this weekend when democrats and republicans will travel to alabama to march to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the selma marches. 50 years ago, people marred for equal Voting Rights. Out of those marches, we got the Voting Rights act. However, disparities remain and the Voting Rights act has been eroding. We can end this divide, mr. Speaker, of who votes if my republican colleagues would vote and bring up the Voting Rights amendment act, h. R. 885. Let me say that again, mr. Speaker. We can end the divide of who can vote if my republican colleagues would bring up the Voting Rights amendment act, h. R. 885. How long will it take . How long must we wait to have equal rights and justice . It is well past time that we deliver to all americans what they deserve like we did 50 years ago in selma, we must do so again today and stand united arm in arm, as my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues and i did recently in ferguson and as we will do tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Together, united, we can bring an end to the disparities that hold our hardworking families back from achieving the middleclass dream and the dreams of all americans, that we should be equal. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i yield back. Real real thank you to the gentlelady of the great state of ohio. You have shared the progress that has been made thus far and given us the call to action. Mr. Speaker, once confirmed, Loretta Lynch will replace eric holder as attorney attorney and she will be in charge of managing and directing the policies of our nations Law Enforcement officers. Ms. Lynch is uniquely fitted to serve that role for our nation especially at this critical point in our national discourse. As u. S. Attorney of the Eastern District of new york, she serves as the chief federal prosecutor of brooklyn, queens, Staten Island and long island. Eric garners death, followed by the death of Michael Brown in missouri spurred a National Discussion on use of force by police. This discussion has increased distrust between Law Enforcement officers and the communities they serve. This is especially true in communities of color. This is not the right approach, mr. Speaker. This is not the way to move our country forward. We cannot afford distrust between Law Enforcement and the communities. We need increased compassion and increased understanding and increased trust between police and communities and Loretta Lynch understands this. In her Opening Statement last month, ms. Lynch stated, few things have pained me more of tensions between Law Enforcement and the communities we served. If confirmed, one of my key priorities will be work to strengthen the vital relationships between Law Enforcement personnel and the communities we serve. I have many friends in Law Enforcement. So i have been fortunate enough to have many positive experiences with the Law Enforcement community. I understand just how courageous and brief the men and women who dedicate their lives. However, i understand the fear that many citizens in communities of color have towards our Law Enforcement following these tragic events. Nobody should have to live in fear of the institutions that are put in place to protect them. We must change the conversation from Law Enforcement versus community to Law Enforcement and community. Essential toll advancing this cooperative and mute tallly beneficial relationship is the policing services or cops office within the department of justice. Continues is tasked with Building Trust and Mutual Respect between police and their communities. Increasing trust is essential to advancing public safety. A citizen who trusts their local Police Office understands their mission is less likely to engage in antisocial and unlawful behave. And a Police Officer who can empathize with the fears and concerns of Community Members will be less likely to take rash, unwarranted or disproportional responses to those unlawful actions. These focused efforts allow for Law Enforcement agencies and communities to Work Together and instead of addressing immediate concerns, address issues plaguing communities many of which are the root cause. The cops program is building relationships, solving problems. For the past 20 years, cops has done that. Cops grants have given billions of dollars to state and local Law Enforcement agencies to conduct Training Programs and teaching skills and increased shared learning and advancing sensitivity training. Mr. Speaker, i can think of no better person to lead our justice person than Loretta Lynch. Ms. Lynch is exactly right in her zrired focus of prioritizing and improving relationships between Law Enforcement and communities. Her vision is exactly what the Justice Department and the cops Program Department need. I fully understand the anger and deep concern in communities across the country. However, it is simply unsustain able where police fear communities and communities fear the police. To ensure all state and local Law Enforcement agencies treat all americans fairly and value all americans lives lawfully and we must provide them with necessary training to protect and police diverse communities. We recognize the 50th anniversary of the march on selma, alabama and the countless others of the jim crow south were on the end of police brutality. We have come a long way over the last 50 years. However much work remains and i can think of no greater person to lead that charge than Loretta Lynch. I look forward to her service as our nations attorney general and robust cops programs she will advance. I yield to my partner from the great state of new jersey. Mr. Payne i thank the gentlelady from illinois for her concise assessment of the nomination of an outstanding prosecutor outstanding attorney and outstanding american. As was stated by one of my colleagues, ms. Lynch has followed and been a part of the american job, coming from meager beginnings, having a mother and father who cared for her and nurtured her, allowed her to get a good education and move on to as was stated, one of the best schools in our nation and in the world and also to get her law degree from that same school. Now it appears to me that based on the hearing that i saw ms. Lynch has one problem. Is it of qualifications . No. Is it her demeanor . No. Has she done everything she has been asked to do as a prosecutor in the Eastern District of new york . Yes. Why is she not qualified . Well, no one is saying that shes not qualified. Theres a political issue in the way. And that political issue is that shes a nominee of president obama. And that is her only issue. As i see it. Done everything that a Good American should do. Played by the rules all her life. Pulled herself up by her boot straps. Got a good education. Went into the private sector and then decided, you know what . Im going to go and be a federal prosecutor at a 7 decrease in salary. Now thats an american committed to this nation i dont know what is. So her only violation is that she was nominated by this president. And immigration continues to be the issue thats why we dont have funding for the department of Homeland Security because of immigration. Because my colleagues on the other side dont agree with what the president did. This is outrageous. This is absolutely outrageous. That a person that has done everything that theyre supposed to do gets to this point and was confirmed twice by the senate. Now i dont know if president obama nominated either one of those times, but now that he is nominating her for this position well, she doesnt cut it. Well, there are issues. And theyre not her issues. There are issues with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and their disdain for this president at times absolute disdain. Its a matter of, well mr. President , youre better off not saying that youre involved in the president , the way its going around here. It makes no sense. Absolutely makes no sense. Now here is a woman that has allowed herself to go through this process and knew it was going to be rigorous knew there were going to be challenges knew she would be challenged and came through the committee 128. But people who were initially going to support her, mr. Speaker, decide something is wrong. I mean what happened in two weeks, in the space of three weeks, that has made you anti lore etaver lovetta lynch. We need to fund the department of Homeland Security. I hear my colleagues and its interesting, hear my colleagues interested and concern about people coming across the border, well, if you dont fund the department of Homeland Security how do you think that work continues . You think its bad now . Dont fund the department. And you have people you dont think terrorists are listening to this and dont think this is a great opportunity for them to decide to go rogue and come out of their lone wolf status and do what they need to do because no one is minding the store because we decided to furlough people . And youre concerned about this nation and its security . Doesnt doesnt make sense to me. We have many issues in the Africanamerican Community. And we are here every other monday night to express them. The criminal justice the issue around black lives matter. Processions of Police Treatment in the Africanamerican Community. I could tell you a personal story about my interaction with a member of the police force back in my home, in newark new jersey as youngster. And it was a horrendous, horrendous episode in my life. But i got a break because the officer realized that my father was a member of the city council of that town. But what he had said to me prior to seeing my name on my drivers license and learning that, he told me that if i didnt produce the papers that he wanted theyd throw me so far under the jail that they would never find me. But once i produced this document that said that i was all of a sudden im somebody, im a person, im relevant. Then he became nurturing. He says, dont you know making a uturn is dangerous . And became paternal. But prior to that, it was theyd throw me so far under the jail that they would never mind if he. Find me, so i stand here mr. Speaker, on behalf of all the people that wouldnt have gotten that break. It is my obligation my obligation to make sure that the Playing Field is level. Not because youre related to someone, not because you know someone. Not because you have connections. But every american should be afforded that opportunity. I was afforded that day. That opportunity i was afforded that day. In closing id like to thank the gentlelady, ron robin kelly, for her leadership in leading tonights Congressional Black Caucus hour. These special orders give us the opportunities to speak directly to the American People about the work on their behalf and the issues that we care about. This is something that we do and we are honored to be able to do it. Id also like to thank the people at home that are tuned in tonight and i hope, it is our point to engage the ongoing and meaningful dialogue and i hope that we will continue to join us on monday nights. We began by discussing the nomination of Loretta Lynch as the next u. S. Attorney general. Ms. Lynchs nomination has been slowwalk by the republicans who would rather make it more about the president S Immigration policy than about ms. Lynchs qualifications and strength of character. Ms. Lynch has earned a number of outside endorsements, including the International Association of the chiefs of police, and her record is impeccable. It is the hope of this caucus that the full senate comes to realize the urgency of her nomination and confirms her immediately. Ms. Lynchs professional record suggests that she will embrace a vision of the department of justice Whose Mission is to advance the cause of justice and equality f a arins isbsutelital to the Africanamerican Community who needs quhose needs are not currently being whose needs are not currently being met by our criminal Justice System. Today we see criminal justice the criminal Justice System that does not treat all black lives as though they matter. From statin island to ferguson, unarmed black men have been the victims of Excessive Deadly force by Law Enforcement. This creates and perpetuates a distrust in our communities and it makes tin creasingly difficult and it makes it increasingly difficult to have a meaningful dialogue between Law Enforcement and our communities theyre charged of protecting. These negative perceptions of Police Treatment are compounded by a number of other factors, including the disturbing gaps in incarceration rates. Africanamericans are incarcerated at a rate that is seven times higher than our white counterparts. These individuals are removed from the work force, often for drugrelated crimes during their prime working years. They struggle to reenter society, having difficulty finding jobs and becoming productive members of their communities. Instead of immediately incarcerating those who commit drugrelated, nonViolent Crimes, more efforts should be devoted to rehabilitation. At the same time we need to reevaluate the effectiveness of the war on drugs. A war that disproportionately affects africanamericans and devastates africanamerican and minority communities. And when exfelons reenter society, we need to make sure that our criminal justic st avoids purely punitive measures against them, including expelling disenfranchisement. Finally, reform of our criminal Justice System is eliminating disparities and sentences. According to the National Urban league, mandatory minimums and disparities in crack cocaine sentencing, incarcerated countless numbers of africanamericans for an inhumane length of team and time and had the u. S. The world leader in prison population. This has created a modernday cavet system in america. When we are cavet system in america. When we address caste system in america. When we address these issues, well make progress on a criminal Justice System that reflects our values of full equality for all americans. And, mr. Speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore does the gentlewoman from illinois yield back her time . Mr. Kelly yes, i do. Thank you mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore ms. Kelly yes, i do, thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore all time is yielded back. Under the speakers announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentleman from utah, mr. Stewart, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. Mr. Speaker im honored tonight to lead this special mr. Stewart mr. Speaker, im honored tonight to lead this special order on one what is one of the most Critical Issues facing our nation in generations. I know that sounds dramatic. And it sounds like its a statement that is just designed to capture peoples attention. But it is actually true. This is a question that will define our safety and our security for generations to come. The question we face and the issue that we want to address tonight is, will the u. S. And the International Community allow iran to develop a Nuclear Weapon . For generations it has been the policy of of republican and democratic administrations that we would not allow that to happen. Its critical to the security of our friends and allies in the region that we are successful in denying them this. Its critical to our own National Security to the interest at home and to our interest abroad, that we not allow iran to nuclearize their weapons program. So we come to this question, will we allow that to happen . Tonight i stand here, along with many of my colleagues, to express my great concern about what the president is doing and the state of the negotiations as they are now. Tomorrow we get to hear from the Prime Minister of israel. I look forward to hearing his comments. He certainly has, as they say, a dog in this fight. But so do we. Let me begin by telling you about my background. I spent 14 years as pilot in the air force. I flew the b1. At one point i was a pilot rep for the implementation of the strategic arm reduction talks implementing a treaty that we had with the former soviets union. This was a very interesting experience. I learned a lot from. This i certainly learned from this. I certainly learned that the details and the necessity of following through with every tiny detail of these treaties, and implementing them our russian counterparts could show up at our base at any time, with only a few hours notice. They had access to the most highly had sensitive areas. They would measure, they would observe, they would talk. They had incredibly sophisticated ways of verifying that we were complying with elements of the treaty. As we did with russia. These elements are one of the keys to making sure that this treaty that the president is negotiating is successful. Which brings us then to really one of our central questions. Because i learned from my own experience that for a treaty as sophisticated as this would have to be to be successful, there has to be a modicum of trust, an element of trust between the two parties. A grain, a core of trust where they both want the treaty to succeed. I dont know if we have that now. I have the opportunity to address this concern with secretary kerry just last week. I asked him very simply, can you name me a single example where the United States and our allies, for generations, have had a positive, constructive experience with iran . Can you show me any example of where they have worked with us in a positive manner . And he could not provide me with a single example. Once again this is one of the central questions that we have to address. So lets ask this question. Can we trust iran . Let me explain to you why i think the answer to that is no. You see this map beside me. This indicates irans range of influence around the world. And it reaches, as you see, from north korea through central asia through the middle east through parts of europe to south america and to mexico. Iran has been a statesponsor of terrorism for more than 30 years. They by themselves have developed an extensive military complex, Defense Industries organizations, as they call it. D. I. O. Is able to supply iran with all of the materials that they need in order to carry out their terrorist activities around the world. All of the ammunition, all of the equipment, all of the weapons. In fact, iran is the primary supplier of weapons and ammunition to two other officially recognized state sponsors of terror. Sudan and syria. Theyre a primary sponsor to a list of terrorist organizations, including hezbollah and hamas. And numerous shia militias in iraq. Iran has directed the terrorist activities of numerous of these shia militias. And let me point out this fact. Over the last dozen years or so these iranian militias have been responsible for the death of hundreds of american soldiers. Working in the theater. Hundreds of american soldiers have lost their lives due to the direct activities of iran. As i mentioned, and as you can see on the map they engage in narcotics trafficking and human smuggling in mexico, in the triborder area of brazil and argentina and in paraguay. Hezbollah has a safe haven for recruiting, trading and fundraising. Even venezuela is similarly a safe haven. In india they provide support for a man who is recruiting shia militias to fight in iraq and syria. They cooperate with north korea in cyberwarfare. The list of their had interventions in a negative and destructive way around the world is indeed very long. Theyre a strategic ally of russia and china. They provide port facilities. Theyre a strategic ally of north korea. And theyve cooperated with north korea to develop police dick ballistic missiles. So once again, let me come back to my conversation with the secretary of state where i asked him, can you give us a single example of a positive or constructive alliance or agreement or partnership that we have had with this nation of iran and the answer has once again been no. They have said to destroy israel. The great satan in the west. And if i can show you. Look at this picture, its not something taken from world war ii. This happened last week where iran completed a successful exercise on a simulated attack on a us air craft contrary does that sound like a potential partner . They have stockpiled 60,000 surfacetosurface rockets in lebanon. Hamas has stockpiled 10,000 surfacetostatistics rockets in gaza. Iran is the supplier of both of these. And their stated purpose is to destroy israel, to wipe it off the map. As the current president has said, and i quote, the regime has been a wound in the regime and the wound should be removed. The former president said in 2015 that iran has no roots in the middle east and would be eliminated. Let me conclude my part of this juncture in our hour by emphasizing once again, iran has demonstrated several generations now of destructive warlike deadly activities around the world designed to zoy israel and destroy or weaken the United States and kill soldiers overseas and this is the partner we can trust with one of the most Critical Issues of our day. I hope the president realizes the danger we would face if they prove not to be a reliable partner. Let me have others share. I yield my time to you mr. Ross. Mr. Ross thank you to my good friend from utah, mr. Stewart. Madam speaker. On november 4, 1979, the American Embassy in tehran was seized and they held 50 american whose stadges for more than 444 days. The seizure of our embassy. While we are celebrating thanksgiving and president s day and Martin Luther king day and memorial day, for the last 35 years iran has been celebrating death to america day. The party with whom we are negotiating nuclear capability, celebrates death to america day. In 1983, two car bombs exploded in beirut killing 300 United States ma evens. Iranian militants claimed responsibility. Make no mistake, iran is a lead sponsor of radical islamic terrorism throughout the world today including sleeper cells in the United States. As mr. Stewart pointed out last week, irans revolutionary guard blew up the mock us air craft carrier, the kay mainy claimed quote, that americans are ready to be buried at the bottom of the water. The Supreme Leader of the party with whom we are negotiating a nuclear exabets deal. My point is iran has a track record of terrorizing the United States. Iran wants to destroy america as they proclaim every november 4. Iran is a Nuclear Threshold state. Recently, just two weeks ago, i had the privilege of traveling to israel and meeting with Prime Minister netanyahu. We discussed in great detail about the threat posed. Iran openly declares its intention to destroy the state of israel. Today, iran has the largest and most diverse missile arsenal in the middle east. They are comparable of carrying it within a 1500 miles. They are developing a longer range missile capable of reaching the United States in just a few years, they will have that technology. Im deeply concerned about the negotiations between president obama and iran. The current deal coming out of the white house would allow iran to develop Nuclear Weapons after 10 years and develop Nuclear Capabilities for the files their determine nation and kill the United States. Iran said it is for peaceful purposes and not aimed at aimed at Nuclear Weapons. There is quite the opposite. Iran is not our friend. It should not be allowed to develop Nuclear Weapons. I look forward to hear Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow. President obama cannot unilaterally implement this dangerous plan. Congress has the ability to prevent in. Unless it is willing to information go its program and should not allow iran to become a nuclear state. I yield back. Mr. Stewart thank you mr. Ross. Thank you for your comments tonight and your defense of this concerns that we have. I would ask the question to emphasize something that you said, sir, why is iran building icbms . As Charles Krauthammer said, you dont build them to deliver dynamite. Its very clear what their intentionsr i would think. And although we will come back to this, i would like to follow up with one other point that you made but before we do that, let me turn the time now to mr. Roger williams, from texas, who serves on the House Financial Services committee. Mr. Williams, i yield you the time. Mr. Williams on tuesday israels Prime Minister will make a direct appeal. His pleas will not be made in front of a press conference and not in a home 6,000 miles away. Tomorrow morning, he will stand right here, right behind me at this podium to address this congress sm the Prime Minister will speak before us to directly Petition Congress and the American People because sadly, he has, like so many, lost faith in the abilities of our commander in chief. He has lo faith in the Foreign Policy by the president s guiding advice, dont do stupid stuff. He no longer trusts our president. He is skeptical about the state departments trust about all else policy with iran, whose leaders proclaim their desire for israel to be wiped off the map. He regrets the president s ability to condemn hamas without blaming israel in the same sentence. Mr. Netanyahu has rightly questioned americas commitment to his homeland israel. Israel, our partner our ally, but most importantly, our friend. Mr. Speaker madam speaker, we have responsibility. No, we have a commitment to watch over and protect our greatest advocate in the middle east. To my colleagues in this body that do not believe in the United States moral obligation to watch over israel i remind them of the United States strategic obligation. Israels interests are alined with ours. It benefits from a secure america as america benefits and relies on an aleye. America has a moral obligation to ensure israels peace and prosperity, i cannot disregard the benefits our relationship has brought us. The Obamas Administration to realize this bond between the United States and israel illustrates how out of touch they are. I welcome you to the chamber of the United States house of representatives. Mr. President , you and your supporters, who refuse to meet with our friend, i must remind you of your Foreign Policy advice, simply, you said dont do stupid stuff. In god we trust. I yield back. Mr. Stewart thank you, mr. Williams. I cant let the moment pass without reemphasizing what you said. Is it stupid to trust iran . Is it stupid to negotiate an agreement that is fatally flawed and i have deep concerns about this agreement and it is fatally flawed. Perhaps more glaringly there is this provision that allows for a sunset. We are not precluding iran from developing Nuclear Weapons. At the very best scenario, we are precluding them. How in the world is it in the interest of the United States or our allies in the region or others in the area as well to say we are going to stop you from developing Nuclear Weapons for 10 years, which is reportedly one of the provisions of this agreement. That doesnt stop them. It delays them. And delays them assuming they adhere to the agreement, which we are very skeptical about. I could elaborate. Let me turn to my friend from North Carolina. We came to congress together and he is a chairman of the task force on terrorism and warfare. Mr. Pittenger thank you, congressman stewart, for your leadership tonight on this very important timing precluding of the important meetings we will have this week. Madam speaker, im here tonight to pay tribute and gratitude to Prime Minister netanyahu for taking the time to come to the United States to express his grave concern over the perilous threat that he sees for the United States and for israel. Since 1948, there has been a steadfast democratic ally for the United States. They have stood strong as a surrogate on our behalf fighting terrorism, the hamas, hezbollah al qaeda. Being there, as i saw last week when i was in israel up at the golan heights, these young men and women, tank division, prepared for battle, courageous down to the gaza, the same type of commitment, breaking the realities of those missiles firing across those missiles that are funded by iran. I met with the Prime Minister and i asked the Prime Minister this question, the same question i asked him a year ago, mr. Prime minister, at such time that you need america, will america be there for you . The best answer he could say was congressman, i hope so. What a sad commentary on a relationship that we have with our most important ally in the middle east. The footprint of terrorism of iran is throughout the middle east and yes, throughout the world. They have been the primary funding agent for terrorism for the last 35 years. Every incident that you have seen in iraq and syria and lebanon, yemen and other parts, has their hand of funding a commitment. The Prime Minister understands the Critical Role that is played in addressing this threat like Winston Churchill, he is coming to america to awaken, to awaken the world to this perilous threat a threat that Winston Churchill saw, that he spoke of time and again while the world allowed germany to take austria and the schecks. We thought nothing else would happen. We have given concession after concession after concession to iran. 12 billion in oil profits have been renew mexico rated back to iran. We have fueled their economy enabling them to go forward. Any negotiation and i have been around any is go after your adversary when you tighten the screws and not when you loosen them. We have had an effect in this entire communication and dialogue with iran. What we have what we have done is created an entity that is willing and able to continue this further negotiation because we have sustained their economy. Yes, all prices have come down the oil prices have come down. But what if wed kept our screws on them . You know, soviet union came to the table. Back in the late 1970s and in the early 1980s. And through the 19 0s. Why did 1980s. Why did that happen . Because we have sustained economic pressure, sustained political pressure, sustained military pressure, sustained human rights pressure. We kept the pressure on. We have releeved the pressure from iran relieved the pressure from iran. And as a result we are faced with a consequence now where they have changed the entire narrative. The narrative in the beginning was, should iran have Nuclear Materials . Now the narrative is, at what level of Nuclear Materials should we allow iran to have . Thats how much we have lost in this process. This is no time for weakkneed. This is a time to work with our allies in the middle east. Ive been and sat down with the crowned prince in the united arab emirates. Ive sat down with the mir in qatar. They all understand the graphicity of terrorism. They all understand the issue of iran. The world sees this threat. This is no time to appease. This is no time to denever defer. This is a time to be strong. Ronald reagan was strong. The world knew america was strong. And yet he never fired a shot and the wall came down. When america is strong, the world is at peace. God help us to understand the gravity of this hour, the importance of the message that will come from Prime Minister neth. Netanyahu. Thank you and i yield back. Mr. Stewart thank you, mr. Pittinger. Thank you once again for the great work that you do as the chairman of the task force on terrorism and unconventional warfare. This sunset provision. We have to recognize what a dramatic change in policy that is. It is no longer our policy that we would not allow iran to have Nuclear Weapons. It is simply our policy, if that provision is agreed to, that we would delay them from having Nuclear Weapons. The sunset provision allows them to grow their economy, it lifts the sanctions. They can sell their oil they can continue to finance terror operations around the world. All under the understanding that in 10 years they can resume their nuclear program. And again that assumes that they dont cheat in the interim and it is in my opinion likely that they will. Let me ask this question. Why a sunset provision . Do you think the world is going to need more stable going to be more stable in 10 years than it is now . Will iran become our trusted friend and ally over the next 10 years . Will they lose all of their regional ambitions . It will lead inevitably to a dangerous and chaotic and destabilizing arms race in the region. Let me quote our own president. In an interview with the atlantic about three years ago he said, it will not be tolerable to a number of states in the region for iran to have a Nuclear Weapon and then not to have a Nuclear Weapon. So the dangers of an iran getting Nuclear Weapons that then leads to a freeforall in the middle east is something that i think is very dangerous to the world. Mr. President , i could not agree more. Which is why it makes no sense for your agreement to contain anything had close to a sunset provision. That allows them to develop their Nuclear Weapons a few years down the road. Id like to turn the time now to my friend, tom mcarthur from new jersey. He serves on the House Armed Services committee, as well as the Natural Resources committee. Hes one of the bright young members of the congress. Tom, thank you. Mr. Macarthur thank you. Madam speaker, i rise today with so many of my colleagues to not only reaffirm our friendship with the state of israel, but to express my deep appreciation for it. Our two countries share an unbreakable commitment to the democratic ideals of individual, religious and economic freedom. Israel stands as a beacon of democracy in a region characterized by political repression. And for that she should be honored. And protected. Our friendship with israel should not be a political talking point. It shouldnt be a friendship of convenience. We cant settle merely for maintaining the relationship between our two countries. We must strengthen it. Too often we talk about the threats to israel. Or whats in israels interest . Madam speaker, a threat to israel is a threat to us. Israels interest is our interest. As our closest ally in a highly unstable part of the world, israel faces countless threats and challenges to our very existence. Without qualification or hesitation the United States must stand by israels right to defend herself against terrorism and aggression by those who would do her harm. The rise of the Islamic State and the growing instability in the region remind us that we cannot take our ally for granted. We must stand against a nuclearcapable iran. As weve heard tonight. A very real and imminent threat that would jeopardize not only our ally not only this region, but the freedom israel deserves and the stability of the world. The partnership between the United States and israel is strong. Our shared history of Cultural Exchange and collaboration has enriched countless lifes. Our open lines of trade have lives. Our open lines of trade have benefited not only israel but both of our great countries. This is a friendship that endure for scombren ration for generations. But we have to commit ourselves to it. If we continue our robust military aid in cooperation to israel, to ensure her security in the region then the United States and israel will continue to stand together as shining examples of democracy and freedom in the world. Madam speaker, i yield back. Mr. Stewart id like to thank my friend, mr. Macarthur. And now recognize another friends, someone who ive come to respect tremendously from the tireless work that she does on the House Armed Services committee, and has become a leader among her peers here in congress mrs. Walorski from indiana. Mrs. Walorski i thank the gentleman from utah. And i commend those of my colleagues tonight that are here as well talking about the existential threat of a nuclear iran. I rise today to express my deepest concern over the growing threat of a nuclear iran. And the threat it poses to the rest of the world. Satellite images show that irans Nuclear Weapons can reach the eastern seesh of the United States. If iran seash of the United States. If iran, the Worlds Largest statesponsor of terrorism achieves Nuclear Weapons capability, the affects would be catastrophic effects would be catastrophic. While its certain that a rogue iran would target israel as a onebomb country, its also certain that the u. S. Is their target and final target. News from last weeks Nuclear Negotiations with iran is troubling. Iran will be allowed the right to enrich, retain thousands of certainty funals, which they dont deserve centrifuges, which they dont deserve, and build a plutonium reactor which they should never have practical need of. Yet they continue to obstruct inspectors who reported last week about the possible existence in iran of undisclosed development of a nuclear pay load for a missile. And whats more disturbing is that in the midst of a hurting economy and harsh sanctions, iran still managed to find a way to build, develop and test their Nuclear Weapons capability. Can you imagine the possibility of their capability if the Current Administration were to even lift those sanctions . One thing is very clear. Weve made too many compromises in trying to broker a deal with iran and there have been too little consequences for their unwillingness to cooperate. Past administrations were adamant that our position was zero enrichment and zero centrifuges. Under president obama this has been abandoned as being unrealistic. Negotiations began with an offer to end iranian enrichment. Now today the deals a temporary arrangement that allows a strong internationally authorized nuclear program. If we lift sanctions and legitimatize their nuclear developments, we are sending a signal to the rest of the world that a rogue state can disobey all rules, maintain their supply of the illegal enrichment and still get International Leaders to approve an enrichment program. A nucleararmed iran would dramatically change the balance of power in the middle east and threaten freedom and peace for the rest of the world. They would clearly spark a Nuclear Arms Race in the middle east and destabilize the entire region. Other nations like egypt, turkey and others will have no choice but to develop their own Nuclear Programs to protect their countries from the threat of iran. Not to mention that iran will likely share their Nuclear Technology and knowhow with extremist groups hostile to not only the United States but also to our allies in the west. If theres to be any hope of reaching a peaceful deal, and if iran wants prosperity and success for its own people, it must stop its pursuit of a Nuclear Weapon sponsorship of terrorism and human rights abuses. If they truly want to move forward, they must give inspectors unfettered access to covert facilities iran has to cooperate and stop obstructing inspectors. Preventing iran from acquiring a Nuclear Weapons capability is the surest way to prevent war and preserve peace. If unrest continues, the United States must maintain our rich partnership with our allies including israel who is our closest ally in the middle east, ape and i welcome Prime Minister netanyahu to the peoples house tomorrow. Thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Stewart thank you, ms. With a lors chemist you know, you bring up so many mrs. Walorski. You know, you bring up so many good points. Let me emphasize a few of them, if i could. New york times reported just last week that the iaea said iran was refusing still to answer questions regarding its previous weapons program. Even if the in the midst of negotiating with the administration, they are still refusing to answer questions about their previous Nuclear Weapons program. I think the administration, even now, has refused rseheulte of the deal. Its even been reported that there is an informal side deal that is Something Like a 30pluspage text. These facts prevent observers like myself and others who are interested and concerned from determining what constitutes cheating by the iranians. Theres so many other reasons that were concerned about this. Let me just mention one more very quickly. It was reported that iran can still produce enough Nuclear Material to fuel a bomb in as little as two months. In as little as two months. They would be a breakout nation that would keep the region and in fact the entire world on a knifes edge wondering, would they make the decision to weaponize and to break out . Those are some of the concerns that we have. Let me recognize my friend, brad win strum went strum from ohio. Hes a wenstrup in ohio. Hes a past army man. Hes a doctor. He serves with me on the House Intelligence Committee as well as he serves on the Armed Services committee. Mr. Wenstrup thank you, congressman stewart. I thank you for your service to our nation in the air force and your service to our nation here in congress. I thank you for organizing this event here on the floor tonight. As my colleagues have highlighted this evening, on the eve of Prime Minister netanyahus dress to congress we stand with israel and the israeli people, shoulder to shoulder, in the face of growing islamic extremism. The United States was the first country to recognize israel upon its founding in the years aye after world war ii. Madam speaker, it took us just 11 minutes to recognize time and time again since then, israel has been be sieged, but our relationship has always stood firm and thats because our friendship is based on the shared values of democracy, free enterprise, respect for life and commitment to a lasting piece. I contend when your very existence is in jeopardy, its more than helpfulful to have a committed ally. And whether by the threat of terror tunnels or rocket barages now is not the time to turn away from our friend israel. In these challenging times, im disappointed when i hear comments coming from our own government directed towards israel. Im disappointed when a Senior Administration official describes israel with words i cant repeat. Im disappointed when susan rice calls the visit of our ally destructive. Im disappointed when our allies turn our backs and boycott the speech. For them, i say, and i quote, let us make it clear we will never turn our backs on our friend in israel and must be admired by all friends of freedom and these arent my words, madam speaker, these are the words of john f. Kennedy, 56 years ago and still ring true today. In stark contrast to j. F. K. The president is asking congress to stand silently to the side in his quest to negotiate with iran. I cannot do that. In these times we cant afford sealens. Support for global terrorism threatens the stability of the middle east the security of our allies in the region and the very existence of israel. Just last week, iran conducted military drills to sink a replica class aircraft contrary and while it made for great propaganda film, it doesnt build my confidence in negotiating with iran. These hostile actions be rewarded. I dare say this administration is more willing to negotiate with iran than with congress. If this administration was as firm in negotiations with iran as with veto threats, we might actually stop iran from getting a bottom. We have a close ally. We are seeing too vividly the threat of radical islam as it spreads across the middle east. There is no more urgent of a time than right now for congress to stand with israel. Tomorrow israeli Prime Minister netanyahu will be speaking to congress. The subject matter is timely. The threat of a nuclear iran. In recent years, i heard the leaders of ukraine and south korea address congress and we will hear from leaders from afghanistan and the vatican as well and i understand that afghanistan was invited the same manner. Its curious why we dont hear the same roar of disapproval. We know a nuclear iran will tilt the balance of power, throwing way to the illintentioned and the evilterrorist actors. This is a message repeated again by me or the Prime Minister of israel. A steadfast ally in our commitment to freedom, democracy and peace, i welcome Prime Minister netanyahu tomorrow. And i yield back my time. Mr. Stewart thank you. So we conclude our time tonight. Do you sense, do you understand those who are listening and watching, do you see we have legitimate and deeply held concerns about the direction that this administration is moving. There are so many questions. Can we trust iran . You have seen and herald example after example of how they have worked against our interests, how they have been destructive influence in so many parts of the world. And we ask the question as i asked secretary kerry last week, can you give us an example of them parnering with us in any positive way . The answer was no. Are we being true to our allies . Israel is our only friend and ally in a chaotic part of the world. They recognize human rights including minority rights, including the rights of women. They have called this a threat. Theres a reason they call israel and all it would take to destroy their entire country. Could we allow ourselves to be put in a position where that might be their reality . Is this agreement within our own National Interests . Remember the map i showed you north korea middle east, central and south america, even on our borders of mexico and finally madam speaker, i hope the president understands our concerns. I hope he isnt so determined to add a feather in his legacy cap that would conclude an agreement that endanger our allies or our own National Interests. I sit on the House Select Committee on intelligence. Im reminded almost daily in the briefings that we have that we live in a dangerous and chaotic world. It is unpredictable. It is becoming more so. It is dark and chaotic, and yet as Abraham Lincoln said we are the less best hope on earth. That was true when he said it. It is true when i taught my children that. It will still be true when my children teach my grandchildren that it will only be true if we stand by those principles that allow us to secure our own freedom and to protect the interests of our allies to whom we have made meaningful and important promises. So, with that, we conclude this time asking the president to listen to our concerns and to address them as he moves forward with this critically important issue. And with that madam chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. And pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the cal israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today the nuclear deal the u. S. Is negotiating with iran is a threat to israels security. The Prime Minister scheduled to address Congress Tomorrow, smooth spoke at a conference in washington. That is next. We will also hear from ambassador to the u. N. Samantha tower, who addressed the same meeting. Later, remarks from National Security adviser susan rice. On our next washington journal a preview of netanyahus address to congress. The Washington Bureau chief joins us. We will talk to South Carolina congressman joe wilson, a member of the committee. Later, an update on the spending bill. Washington journal is live each morning on 7 00 eastern on cspan. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Now, remarks from israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in washington to express concerns about Ongoing Nuclear talks with iran. Prime minister netanyahu spoke at the americanisrael public Affairs Committee meeting. Thank you. 16,000 people. [laughter] [applause] anyone here from california . New york . These are easy ones. How about colorado . Indiana . I think i got it. Montana . Texas . You are here in record numbers. You are here from coast to coast. From every part of this great land. And you are here at a critical time. You are here to tell the world that reports of the demise of the israeliu. S. Relation is not only premature, they are just wrong. [applause] you are here to tell the world that our alliance is stronger than ever. [applause] and, because of you and millions like you across this great country, it is going to get Even Stronger in the coming years. [applause] thank you, bob , and the leadership of aipac. Thank you. For your tireless, dedicated work to stressing the partnership between israel and the United States. I want to thank most especially, members of congress, democrats and republicans, i deeply appreciate your steadfast support for israel, year in, year out, you have our fondest gratitude. [applause] i want to welcome the president of the czech republic. [applause] mr. President israel never forgets its friends. And the czech people have always been steadfast friends with israel and the jewish people from the days of when i entered the israeli army in 1967, i received a czech rifle. That was one of the rifles given to us i your people in our time of need. Thank you for being here today. [applause] also hear, our two great friends of israel. The former Prime Minister of spain. And former canadian former foreign minister john baird. Thank you both for your unwavering support. You are true champions of israel, and you are true champions of the truth. [applause] i also want to recognize u. S. Ambassador to israel dan schapiro for your friendship and