Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140328

Remember is that it is in fact the russianspeaking population in the east, as well as the ukrainianspeaking in the west, that voted for independence for ukraine. That voted strongly to have a separate state. And if the this issue is allowed to stand without the world responding, the question is, is that argument then made in latvia and estonia . Is that argument made in all of the former russian states . I do not think in any way this is comparable to kosovo. In kosovo nato responded to a Brutal Campaign of ethnic cleansing by former ugeslaskian forces. In crimea, russia attempted to justify its actions by fabricating the myth of widespread violence against the ethnic russian population. Even going as far as to equate it to the bloodshed occurring in syria. Clearly this is not true. We know its not true. In terms of the election itself, opponents were sigh lenlsed, international silenced, international monitors were barred, crimean charters themselves boycotted the very election. Voters were not given the option of preserving crimeas current status within ukraine. Independence and de facto independence were the only options. And the bogus vote there was also unnecessary because the Ukrainian Government had made it clear that it was willing to discuss increased autonomy for crimea. Now, here is the problem going forward. We know the view taken internationally on this subject. The u. N. Security council condemns russias unprovoked aggression against ukraine and russia stood alone, stood slupetly alone in this case absolutely alone in this case. Because even ukrainians themselves have gone to the sites of the Russian Media reported attacks against ethnic russian minorities to show that is not occurring. Hat is in fact propaganda. We cant let this stand. One of the other things were doing in this bill is improving our broadcasting into ukraine in the region to dispel these myths and spread the truth about the situation there. So, im going to reserve the balance of my time at this time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from new york is ecognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I now yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. Jackson lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Jackson lee let me thank the managers of this legislation, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, and the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs committee for their leadership and for their commitment as i acknowledge the other body as well. This morning a bright announcement came from mr. Putin, that he was drawing russians to a program of exercise in the name of labor and defense. Someone said reminiscent of s drew tory, when other their nations together in Massive Public exercises to show the world that they were not going to be part of the world order. I believe that we should be engaged, that diplomacy is right. I also dont believe in condemnation of a nation purely for its ideological disagreement. But in this instance it is important for the United States to make a public stand. As a member of the interparliamentarian exchange, meeting with europeans over the years, i know that they are proud of the democracy that theyve maintained since the horrors of world war ii. Today the United States, the pass and of this legislation and ultimately hopefully the signing by the president will tell the world that the United States stands firmly on democratic principles. The people of ukraine, those in kiev and places around, still have the knowledge that america stands by it economically, with loan guarantees, but it also stands against a despot who has illegally moved into a sovereign nation with no provocation, undermining the military base of ukraine. And so id ask my colleagues to join against a despot and for a people and support the underlying legislation. I thank mr. Engel for the time. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Royce i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. Poe, chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation and trade. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Poe i thank the chairman for the time and i also thank the chairman and the Ranking Member for bringing this legislation to the floor and a very speedy and efficient manner in a very speedy and efficient manner. I will also say i have Great Respect for my friend from california, mr. Rohrabacher. He knows a lot about Foreign Affairs. But we disagree on what the evidence shows in this particular matter. Mr. Speaker, mark twain once said that history doesnt repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Well, russias quite the poet these days. In 2008 russia invaded georgia. Confiscated 1 3 of that nations territory. The world watched. Complained a little bit. The world moved on. There were no consequences. And the russians, mr. Speaker, are still there. Again, second verse, same as the first. The napoleon of siberia has invaded ukraine and seized crimea. Putin is bent on establishing a sovietstyle empire and allegedly uniting russianspeaking people throughout the world. Who knows who his next target will be . It could be our friends in maldovea, the rest of ukraine, or estonia. Russia has been able to maintain dominance over the region because of its vast energy sources, especially natural gas. Six countries in europe rely 100 on russia for their natural gas. Russia uses gas as a political and economic weapon to manipulate these countries. I was in ukraine in winter when russia turned off the gas for political reasons. It was cold. It was dark. This bill helps disarm that hostage tactic. It includes my amendment that commits the u. S. To helping ukraine use american natural gas. There must be consequences for the bully putin, for invading other nations like ukraine. Justice requires there be consequences. And, mr. Speaker, justice is what we do. And thats just the way it is. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Engel thank you, mr. Speaker. May i inquire of how much time each of us has . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has eight minutes remaining. And the gentleman from california has no minutes remaining. Mr. Engel has none . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from californias time has expired. Mr. Engel i ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from california be allowed to control three minutes of my remaining time. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Engel thank you very much, mr. Speaker. What were doing this morning is the congress at its best. What were doing this morning is standing up to a bully and telling him that his actions will not stand. What were doing is saying that in the 21st century, it is no longer acceptable for dictators to invade other countries. And what were saying to the people of ukraine is that we stand behind you, were with you, we havent forgotten you and were going to do Everything Possible to make you whole again. Were going to do Everything Possible to let you know that the west wants to partner with you. Were going to do Everything Possible to stand up for freedom and democracy with you. I think thats a very noble cause. Its not pie in the sky. No ones advocating a war with boots on the ground against russia. But we are advocating that there has to be some standards in the world. If we let putin get away with this, then it sends a green light to putin that he can continue to do this and to every other despot and dictator around the world that they can do whatever they like and the world is just indifferent or too afraid to act. I think this is a opportunity an opportunity and i think this is a time when one day well be able to say to our grandchildren that we acted together. I want to again commend chairman royce for working with me in a bipartisan fashion and we will be going to ukraine together in a few short weeks to show the ukrainian people that america stands with them. I urge my colleagues again to support the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Royce thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield one minute to the gentleman from indiana, mr. Messer, a member of the committee on Foreign Affairs. Mr. Messer thank you. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of this important bipartisan bill and commend chairman royce and Ranking Member engel for bringing this measure forward. Todays legislation makes clear that as a nation we speak with one voice regarding russias aggression. The situation in the ukraine is undoubtedly complex. The history between crimea and russia dates back centuries, close to 60 of the population identifies as ethnic russians. But several facts are clear. Russia has amassed troops and perpetrated a breach of International Law with its unwarranted aggression. The elections in crimea took place under an illegal occupation, it did not resemble anything close to a real election. And consequently the results should not and cannot be recognized. Lastly, there is little doubt that if the world does not act, russias territorial aggression will expand and continue. Whatever the complexities, this invasion of a sovereign country is not justified. Period. Todays bill makes clear america will not tolerate russias territorial aggression in ukraine or elsewhere. I urge my colleagues to support it. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Engel may i inquire, mr. Speaker, how much remaining time i have . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has 3 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Engel ok. Then i yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, the Ranking Member of the ways and means committee, mr. Levin. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. Without objection. Mr. Levin i rise in strong support of this bill. As ukraine is fighting for its independence and the people of ukraine are fighting to preserve and to deepen their democracy, we must stand squarely with them. Its been said here, including by the majority leader, that this is a first step. And id like to make very clear we really should be taking in this bill another step. We should be in this bill as was proposed in the senate and by many of us some assistance to make sure that the i. M. F. Can perform its fullest role. That was the preference of president obama. E made it clear we should act, the u. S. We should also be able to help the i. M. F. To act as fully and effectively as possible. So i think today instead of anybody here coming and criticizing the president , they should essentially be supporting him in his efforts to have the fullest array of assistance to the ukrainian democracy. So if this is only the first step, lets take some additional steps and stand together on a bipartisan basis instead of at times i think taking partisan shots verbally at the president of the United States. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from california is recognized. The gentleman from new york is ecognized. Mr. Engel thank you, mr. Speaker. May i inquire how much time i have . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york has 1 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Engel i yield one minute of that time to the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. Kaptur. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from ohio is recognized for one minute. Ms. Kaptur i want to thank the esteemed Ranking Member of new york, eliot engel, a dear friend, for yielding time in support of Ukraine Support act, h. R. 4278. And for his leadership from the time we traveled to ukraine together and to congressman royce, the chairman of the committee, to reaffirm americas strong support for liberty and the people of ukraine at this really critical time in World History and the history of central and eastern europe. The assistance that is contemplated here is in the form of a loan guarantee, and will aid ukraines efforts to recover its own missing assets to pay the money back. Ukraine is fully capable of earning its way forward. Its already the Third Largest grain exporter in the world. This is nothing that cant be repaid. In addition, the bill authorizes 10 million for International Broadcasting to ukraine. I can guarantee you i did an interview with voice of america about a week ago. I received emails from people in ukraine. They are waiting to hear the song the speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Ms. Kaptur pass this legislation quickly on a bipartisan basis and stand for freedom. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Engel thank you, mr. Speaker. In closing let me again say what a pleasure it is to work with chairman royce in a bipartisan basis. And you can see, again, strong bipartisan support for this bill. Ms. Kaptur didnt mention that she was cochair of the ukrainian caucus. We have members on both sides of the aisle all standing together to say, the United States stands with the people of ukraine. Please vote yes. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Royce i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Royce thank you, mr. Speaker. This is not a new cold war. President reagan ended the cold war. The way he did that, frankly, was by leading, but also with a strategy which drove down the price of oil and gas which was the stranglehold which not only russia had over eastern europe, but also funded the ability of the former soviet union, militarily, to carry out an expansion program. Today you have the circumstance where president putin relies almost solely, 70 of the exports, 52 of the budget as i indicated, comes from a monopoly position on oil and gas. That is why i think it is very important that we understand what the polls and what the hungarians understood when they exported 2 billion cubic yards of gas last year to ukraine in order to try to keep the ability of russia from manipulating the situation into leading to the very chaos that was brought about. We need to understand when the u. S. E. U. Annual summit just occurred, and the e. U. Asked us to be part of a program to ship gas into that market in order to offset this monopoly control and pricing by russia, that we should be part of this. This is part of this bill. But also part of the bill is the important consequence of communicating to the people in that region and offsetting the propaganda that russia right now is sending into the country. We address that issue as well in this legislation. As well as Good Governance issues and the steps that are needed in order to reform the economy inside ukraine. In order to set up the rule of law, independent courts. The polls are on the groundworking on this issue right now. The United States needs to support that effort. And this sends one last message that if youre in the business of helping to invade a country also on thursday the house passed a bill that would cut payments to medicare doctor said to go into effect monday. Over the next 50 minutes, we will show you that debate followed i a reporter by a report. Voice vote instead of a roll call vote. Unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and insert remarks extraneous materials in the record on the bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Pitts mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pitts mr. Speaker, i wish i was getting ready to vote on a bill that would permanently repeal and reform the Sustainable Growth rate. In the chamber we passed a bill that would do that and that would fully offset the cost of the repeal by delaying a provision of the Affordable Care act that the Administration Just keeps delaying themselves. In fact, it was partially delayed again just yesterday. Unfortunately, we have reached another doc fix deadline. I believe that we must act to protect americas seniors and ensure that they can continue to see the doctors they know and trust and that is why i have introduced legislation that represents a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that would give us additional time to work out our differences and pass permanent repeal. We are closer than ever to reaching that goal. We have an agreement on policy. We need to overcome our differences about the responsible way to pay for those new policies. I hope that we can act before we reach the new deadline of march 31, 2015. In fact, we should try to reach a bicameral agreement before the end of this congress. Im glad that Speaker Boehner has offered his continuing support to this effort. With the house having acted, we hope that the senate can also pass an s. G. R. Repeal that has real payfors. Then, we can begin the process of working through our differences in a conference committee. Im sponsoring this bill today because it is my earnest hope that this is the last patch well have to pass. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman virginia tech. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, im sorry but i simply cannot support yet another temporary s. G. R. Patch. This bill is bad for seniors and its bad for doctors. We want to achieve a permanent solution to this ongoing problem. This bill does nothing to achieve that goal. In fact, it sets back months and months of hard work. What we should be considering today is a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that my colleague and i developed. That bill is what doctors groups and patient groups support. That bill can also be offset without robbing one provider to pay another provider. Whats before us today doesnt fix the problem. It exacerbates t we had a true opportunity to finally accomplish what our constituents have asked us to do for a decade, and thats pass a permanent repeal of the s. G. R. , but the Republican Leadership sletting that opportunity slip away. And i respect my colleague from pennsylvania, but i dont believe that if we pass another patch that we are going to go back and do a permanent fix. My fear is by doing this we will lose the opportunity to do the permanent fix, and it simply slipsway. Two weeks ago republicans brought to the floor our agreement, but they added a poison bill offset that they knew the president and the senate would never accept, a delay of critical Affordable Care act provisions. All that accomplished was wasting time. And has led us to this scenario, spending another nearly 20 billion on a patch. Meanwhile, this bill includes Health Policies that have never seen the light of day. Some have been used as offsets. Others as sweeteners to get members to vote for it, but im not falling for t that is no way to govern. The senate is actually poised to vote on our bipartisan agreement that is fully offset. It does so without cutting from the health care system. That is the bill we should be considering here today. Seniors do not want us to kick the can again for another year. The Doctor Community spoke loud and clearly yesterday, no more patches. So i ask my colleagues, lets not go down this road again. Instead, lets come together and pass a permanent solution. Lets get the job done. Vote no on this bill. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Pitts mr. Speaker, at this time im pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, an important member of the health subcommittee, mr. Bilirakis. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minute. Mr. Bilirakis thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The s. G. R. Cuts would reduce doctors compensation for treating compare patients by 24 . Seniors and physicians cannot afford that and congress cannot let it happen in five days. The legislation before us would patch the s. G. R. For a year. I support this legislation. Of course reluctantly. Two weeks ago the house passed a permanent repeal and replacement of the s. G. R. That was fully paid for. The fix provided doctors who treat medicare patients with certainty. Thats what they need. And incentivized and rewarded doctors to keep seniors healthy. The senate needs to negotiate, mr. Speaker. If they dont like the house pay for, come up with one. Lets come together and get this done. A patch isnt the best solution, we can replace the s. G. R. But the senate has to work with us. Again, lets get this done, lets Work Together and get it done thank you very much, i yield back, mr. Chairman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone mr. Chairman, mr. Speaker, i now yield to the gentleman from washington, mr. Mcdermott, three minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington is ecognized for three minutes. R. Mcdermott mr. Speaker, Winston Churchill apparently once said, americans will always do the right thing. But only after they tried everything else. Then again, churchill never tried to fix the doc fix in the United States congress. For 10 years we have been trying to fix the Sustainable Growth rate in medicare. For 10 years we have kicked the can down the road for 17 different shortterm passed votes. The protecting access to medicare act of 2014 is a mixed bag of some important , some problematic provisions, such as the end renal stainl disease polcy, and some provisions that have never been vetted in front of the congress, in front of committees at all. And more importantly this bill represents our 18th failure to rebuild the bedrock of the medicare program. Our 18th failure to provide american seniors with the safety and security of a permanent fix to the s. G. R. Thats why the a. M. A. Is voting no on this bill. Thats why most physicians groups are strongly opposed to this bill. Last night my office was flooded with messages from various physician groups. I, for one, still believe in finding a way to do whats right. I, for one, am dedicated to the principle of seizing the moment and accomplishing big things on behalf of the American People. We thought we were going to do it this time. So when it comes to this mix bag piece of legislation, cooked up in the dead of night, put on the web at two minutes before 12 a couple days ago, revised several times since, not much more than 48 hours ago this stuff started. I vote no. Enough with trying everything else. Its time to do whats right. A permanent doc fix. Argued, debated, and agreed upon is what our seniors need, its what our doctors need to help them manage their practices. Its what our nation needs and deserves. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Before i mr. Speaker, yield to the chairman of the energy and commerce committee, it we have groups in support, who express support for this bill, the American Clinical Laboratory association, American College of radiology, easter seals, Family Research council, juvenile Diabetes Research foundation, medical imaging and technology alliance, Pennsylvania Partnership for children, zero to three, National Center or infants, toddlers and families, among others. And i would urge members to seriously consider this. At this time im pleased to yield whatever time he may consume to the gentleman from michigan, the chairman of the energy and commerce committee, mr. Upton. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan is recognized for such time as he may consume. Mr. Upton thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the distinguished chair of the health subcommittee. I have a statement for the record which ill ask unanimous consent to submit for the record. Mr. Speaker, here we are at the very end of when the doc fix expires, march 31. Thats next week. We have tried in a very responsible way for many months to try and resolve this issue, and i commend my friend, mr. Waxman, and others and we passed our bill out of Committee Last summer, 510. Speaker boehner said he didnt think we could honor Mother Teresa for sainthood with a vote like that. I commend my good friend, mr. Camp from michigan, and sandy levin, the gentleman from michigan, on the floor now, as we Work Together and work with the senate as well to actually lock in place a bill on literally the last day that chairman baucus was in the United States senate to resolve thflt and we knew all along we were going to have to have a pay for. And here in the house a couple weeks ago we passed a bill. Some on partisan lines, not 100 on either side, but we passed a 10year fix with a pay for. Great ninth grade civics teacher, no longer with us, hes with the lord. But i tell you as i sit down with my students as i did this week, a lot of them are here in town, and speak to my high schools and colleges, they know theres never such a thing maybe as a perfect bill. One of the first lessons in civics is that you pass a bill in the house, you pass a bill in the senate. They are always different. You go to conference, you work out the differences, it comes back. Nobody wants this expiration of the doc fix. Nobody. It hurts our physician community. They care about the folks that they treat. Literally they are going to have almost a 30 reduction caught in the services that they provide as early as next week. But lets think about our most vulnerable, too. Our seniors. Theyve got those doctor appointments. They want to be there. And maybe with a 30 cut those physicians will say, gosh, we just cant do this. That appointment is canceled. We are going to just stop serving medicare patients, period. Those over 65. We dont want that. We dont want that hurting our most vulnerable. So we passed here in the house a couple weeks ago a 10year bill. Response from the senate is, nothing. Yes, we have had some discussions. A former member of our committee, hes diligently trying to get something done, but theyve got no bill ready for passage on the senate floor that either matches what we did to go to conference. Theyve got nothing. Theres a lot of talk about maybe just doing a bill without a pay for. Some phony savings. Thats not what this house is about. Its a lot of money. And we have some rules in the house we got to you got to for it. Ay thats the real difficulty in trying to get things done. So, here we are the end of the week, the cuts come in, next tuesday, april 1, so we are sending trying to send another offer to the senate. Youre not going to take the 10year fix, lets try a oneyear fix. It is paid for. Its about 20 billion. A number of little provisions in there that i think are important. Again working with all sides. Last night we were somewhat surprised a number of groups came out against it, but the alternative is the door gets shut. We dont have a backup plan, all right. This is the bill. D if we can get 290 votes, everybodys here, 2 3 vote, thats great. Well send yet another offer to the senate, and they can choose either one. They can take our 10year bill, they can take a oneyear bill, they could pass Something Different and we can come to conference. And i must say that this bill, its a oneyear bill, it doesnt stop us from still trying to negotiate something for a permanent fix, because thats what every one of us wants. It doesnt stop us from getting that done. But at least it stops what otherwise will be the denial of services to the most vulnerable. Our seniors who may not understand whats happening. It continues the process to move forward. So weve got a couple options that we are teeing up. Obviously we have to pass it today here with a 2 3 vote and let the senate key side decide which alternative or pass something else, but pass something so that we can go to conference. The f that happens, then c fix is not fixed and for however long that period is, the cuts come into play. So it would be nice if we could actually pass this by voice. What do you think . It will get us off the dime. And again well toss it to the senate to try and get it done. No one wants it to expire, but without one of these two bills, it expires. And we dont want that to happen. I would urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, my friend, mr. Pallone, my friend, mr. Waxman and others, yes, we need to get this thing done. It is the best that we can do right now. And theres not a plan b for next week. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you, mr. Pallone. I cannot express my disappointment with the proposed additional temporary patch o the Sustainable Growth rate, the s. G. R. , the doc fix. Its morphed no an annual ritual, disrupting the provision of medical medicine in this country as the physicians plead with us to not do something crazy. Its simply today an accounting sleight of hand. Its a power play and a fundraising tool, to be sure, that disrupts the practice of medicine, but we have absolutely no intention of ever having the s. G. R. Cut occur. It may bite for a day or two, but were not going to allow a reduction on that order of magnitude. We will find some sort of adjustment, as we always have, that will not be satisfactory and will continue the uncertainty and the indignity that is inflicted on people in the Health Care Space and more important on the people that they serve. If you want to actually cut health care spending, we could do so, and if we would stop this charade of meaningless gestures of repealing the Affordable Care act and actually get down to cases, fine tuning and moving forward, we would be there. There are a range of potential savings within the Health Care Space that is acknowledged by virtually everybody in the industry and every expert thats looked at it. But it cant be done in a cavalier fashion, according to some ritualistic formula, and it cant be done overnight and its going to require a steady hand, slug politicians acting like grownups. In the meantime, i think its important to stop this trafficesty. Remember, when we had a similar pointless exercise with the alternative minimum tax, realizing that the supposed savings were not real, that the full bite would never take effect, what did we do . We finally reset the budget baseline and moved on. And thats exactly what we should do with the s. G. R. And then deal meaningfully in the adjustments in accelerating health care reform, not a 54th time to repeal the Affordable Care act. We should be rewarding people who are providing highvalue care and finding ways to be more efficient and adjusting the system to slowly squeeze out our areas of inefficiencyy. It wont be inefficiency. It wont be easy but it is definitely in our capacity and it is already starting around the country. Maybe congress should consider debating this issue with an open rule, allowing everybody to come to the floor to speak, to offer amendments, to debate it fully and see what we can come up with. It wont be any worse. Lets end the charade, give the Health Care Space some certainty and get down to work being a full partner in the reform and enhancement of our health care system. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Pitts may i inquire of the time . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania has 2 1 2 minutes. The gentleman from new jersey has 12 1 2 minutes. Mr. Pitts could i inquire of the minority how many speakers they have left . Mr. Pallone i have at least two left. Mr. Pitts ok. Ill reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone i yield now three minutes, mr. Speaker, to the Ranking Member of the energy and commerce committee, mr. Waxman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Waxman i thank the gentleman for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, today congress will vote on another patch to the medicare physician Payment System, but it should not be that way. We need a permanent fix. Earlier this year, we seemed on track for a permanent fix. We reached a bipartisan agreement on what a permanent fix should look like. That bill was introduced by both republican and democratic leaders, mr. Camp, mr. Upton, dr. Burgess, myself, senator baucus and senator hatch. That bill is supported by the ysicians and the patient groups. It would not cut payments and that bill would fix this problem permanently. The bill before us today is not a permanent fix. Its a shortterm fix. Two weeks ago republicans brought up the bipartisan bill for the permanent fix with a poison pill offset that undermines reform for lowincome families. That was two weeks wasted where we could have worked toward a permanent solution. I heard my colleague republican colleagues say its too hard to find offsets or we dont have enough time to come up with the offsets to get a permanent bill done. Lets not forget, republicans do not insist on offsets on things they really care about. Trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy, no need to offset that. A Medicare Prescription Drug bill that costs far more than this permanent fix to the s. G. R. , no need to offset that. But when we talk about protecting seniors access to their doctors, their answer is different. Speaker, i would urge that in the end this is a vote members will need to make up their own minds about. We may be forced to support a shortterm patch, but i am not ready to concede that so im not ready to support this bill thats before us. Lets keep working on getting a permanent solution, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Pitts i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania continues to reserve. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes now to the Ranking Member of the ways and means committee, mr. Levin. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Levin i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Levin so let me describe briefly the challenge before us. This bill is very disappointing. The three committees have to ed on a bipartisan basis put together a bill that would address once and for all s. G. R. And would reform the Payment System. Indeed it would transform this bill that we worked on a bipartisan basis, the physician Payment System into one thats acceptable for highquality care rewards value and provides needed stability for providers and beneficiaries. The bill has a much larger cost than this patch. Though patches themselves are expensive, but i want, in response to the gentleman, the chairman of the energy and commerce, to make a few comments. Theres been no serious discussion all of these weeks out how we would pay for the permanent fix. There just has been a dare gation of darigation of responsibility. Also, whats happened here is a product that hasnt gone through the legislative process , this patch. Instead, its a complex 20 billion bill, no public hearing, no committee hearings, no regular order. The draft of the bill became publicly available at midnight tuesday, and there were flaws so it was refiled and we got this bill just, what, 24 hours ago . In this present legislation, it contains a completely new unvetted lab Payment System. It undermines Delivery System reforms for dialysis patients. It includes promising things for patient care but fails to include key protections to minimize discrimination against certain patients. So, look, in a few words, we deserve better and we need to do better. As a result, a large number of physician groups have expressed their opposition to this. So what this bill does today is miss the opportunity to do fullscale repeal and replace the physician Payment System. The senate still needs to vote on a permanent fix. The chairman of energy and commerce said, well, we passed that kind of a bill. Yes, the 10year fix was a partisan bill that had no chance of passage in the senate. Zero chance of passage. The senate still plans, as i understand, to vote on a permanent fix. We should let the senate process unfold. We have more time to get this right. We do not i ask for an additional minute. I ask for an additional minute from mr. Mr. Pallone, i ask for an additional minute. Mr. Pallone i yield an additional minute to mr. Levin. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Levin so we have more time to get this right. It is not correct that if we dont act today that there will be any impact on seniors. We could let the senate act, to try to do something permanently and come back next week if we have to and take up this bill. So this is the challenge before us. Were here once again doing something thats very temporary, thats very, very expensive, and we are failing to step up to the plate on permanent reform, on permanent reform and a permanent fix. And doing it with a legislative process with a product that has not gone through committee, has had no public hearings, has had no real hearing. We should not be acting blindly. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman from michigan has expired. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Pitts mr. Speaker, i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania continues to reserve his time. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the democratic leader, ms. Pelosi. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. Ms. Pelosi thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him for his leadership on issues that relate to the health and wellbeing of the American People. I also commend the leadership of the previous speaker, our Ranking Member on the ways and means committee, mr. Levin, as well as that of mr. Waxman. They have been two champions on the subject of health care in america and doing so in a fiscally sound way. And while i appreciate the concerns that they expressed here, and i share them, and i will speak to that, i do think that we have to think carefully about the decision that we make. I know that they have. This is an example the leadership bringing this bill to the floor on the short fuse that the Expiration Date is march 31 without most people in this room without ever having on what is in the bill what is a missed opportunity. We should be considering right now a bill that would permanently, permanently speak to the s. G. R. For those in the public, i know its inside baseball talk, s. G. R. That is the rate that docs are compensated for treating medicare patients. So dont think of s. G. R. Think of the patients. And thats what were doing here. Think of the certainty that they need in terms of their health care, and that is our seniors. Think of the certainty that a permanent fix, paid for or not, but lets say paid for, would mean to remove the uncertainty from this debate. The American Medical Association is opposed to this bill that son the floor today is on the floor today because it is a pitch. How many times have you heard people talk how many times have you heard people talk about a bandaid . Were just putting a bandaid on it. We are not getting to the underlying challenge that we face. This is a bandaid and thats why the docs oppose it. This patch. Now, i did hear the distinguished gentleman from florida, bilirakis, say if you dont like these payfors, suggest your own. Weve suggested our own. Overseas d oco, the account. The republicans said its a gimmick. It wasnt a gimmick thats in the ryan when it was in the ryan budget. It works for you when it works for you but you dont want to put it to work for americas seniors. Heres the thing. The Senate Majority and the House Majority came together to produce this patch, this bandaid. Its the wrong way to go. It does not address the underlying problem. We could have done that. Weve been trying to do it for 10 years. And its always, always, always something that the republican majority has backed away from and limited and done in a short on a short fuse. Theres so many things that are wrong with this bill, but the simple fact is that the clock , ticking, and on march 31 its bad news for seniors and for the doctors who treat them in the medicare program. Our seniors depend on medicare. They depend on medicare, and this is a weakening of it. So its just the same old, same old, lets see what we can do to find some pay fors that really undermine the health and wellbeing of the American People. Those same pay fors done properly could be part of a permanent fix. But instead they are part of the bandaid. This is all to say to my colleagues, you are a going youre going to have to weigh the decision as you weigh the equity. Is it better to just succumb to what we have, no matter how mediocre and how missed an opportunity is . Is it better to say lets hold out until our republican colleagues agree to the full g. R. Essentially a fix forever, paid for by o. C. O. Its really important to note the following. The shorter the fix, the more expensive it is. We have been seeing that year in and year out. If we had dealt with this, six, seven years ago, it would have cost much less. Year to s to patch one next, sometimes less than a year to the next. So this is not about reducing the deficit. Its not about the good health of the American People. Its just an ideological reality that we have to deal with from the republican side of the aisle. So when the docs, a. M. A. , says we are opposed to this, vote it down, thats important to us. I say to them talk to your republican friends. They have the power to do a permanent fix paid for by o. C. O. They refuse to do it. So we have something less good that we can do for the American People. And if this sounds a little confusing, its because it is. And members have to make the decision as to whether they will vote for this just because we are forced into it or whether they want to hold out for something much better. This would be a more appropriate debate a month ago. Where the clock does not run out over the weekend. But this is a tactic, its a technique used by the majority to force the hand without the proper weighing of equities in all of it. So my colleagues, i just urge you to try to weigh those equities. I, myself, come down on the side of supporting the legislation because, frankly, i believe that any uncertainty in the minds of our seniors about their ability to see their doctors will certainly be republicans will say this is because the Affordable Care act. And i just dont want to give them another opportunity to misrepresent what this is about. If the Affordable Care act never existed, we would still be here debating s. G. R. They are two separate subjects. But as we know any excuse will do to undermine the great legislation that the Affordable Care act was about life, healthier life, liberty of people to pursue their happiness because they have the freedom to do so. Better quality, lower cost, more accessibility. Thats how i come to the conclusion of lets not give them another false claim. Lets just get this done, but let us not give up on the prospect of even before this expires of having a longterm permanent fix to s. G. R. It makes all the sense in the world. It has no partisanship about it. It is sensible. And it will cost less. To do more for our seniors. A challenge is there, the solution is clear, the republicans have rejected that, so we are at their mercy. My conclusion is to vote yes. Members will have to come to their own conclusions on it. I frankly wish that the republicans in their power would have brought the bill to the floor under a rule so we could have a proper debate on it instead of requiring a 290vote requirement to pass it. But the shortness of receiving this information only this morning members are finding out what it is, its really hard to predict who will vote pro, who will vote con, who will vote aye, who will vote no. This is a silly decision to bring this to the floor in this form when we know a path that is much better. But im not going to give you another reason to go out there and make your claims about the Affordable Care act which have no basis in fact. With that i urge my colleagues to pray over it as i will and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the time of the distinguished minority leader has expired. The gentleman from pennsylvania has 10 1 2 minutes remaining. The gentleman from new jersey has five minutes remaining. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Pitts may i inquire of the minority how many speakers they have left . We are prepared to close. Mr. Pallone at this time i have one more speaker. Mr. Pitts i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania continues to reserve. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from connecticut, mr. Courtney, a member of the Armed Services committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from connecticut is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Courtney thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i just wanted to follow up on a point that leader pelosi just made regarding the o. C. O. Account, the overseas Contingency Operations account. Which in Armed Services we are dealing with right now. The president came over with his o. C. O. Request for this year of 80 billion. This funds the troops over in afghanistan, the 34,000 that are still fighting courageously to defend our country. At the end of this year, the projection is is that troop level will be brought down to, at the highest level, of 10,000, possibly even lower, combat missions for all intents and purposes will come to an end. As the Congressional Budget Office has democrat straight over and over again, they will score savings with the o. C. O. Drawdown thats going to happen at the end of this year. The ryan budget has used those o. C. O. Savings to help balance its own priorities. So this is not funny money. This is not hypothetical. Anyone who has been on a could he dell codel over to afghanistan knows we are spending money over there, and next year well spend less money because of our change in deployments in afghanistan. The cost of a permanent fix to s. G. R. Is 135 billion over the next 10 years. You can only you only need a portion of the o. C. O. Account to permanently fix s. G. R. Everybody who has even come close to discussing this issue knows that in this building. And hopefully the senate when they take this up next week are going to move forward with a permanent fix using totally valid, verified savings by the Congressional Budget Office in the o. C. O. Account. It is a peace dividend in terms of drawing down from afghanistan that we can finally stabilize the medicare system by making sure that these are not going fees are not going to be subjected to this annual cliff, that denies access in far too many cases in doctors offices across the country. Again i just want to emphasize the point. It is not like we are powerless here to come up with an s. G. R. Fix for which there is bipartisan support using verifiable, valid savings by the Congressional Budget Office in the o. C. O. Account. Our brave soldiers are going to be drawing down closer to the end this year to zero. We can use those savings to fix Americas Health care system. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from connecticut has expired. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Pitts mr. Speaker, im prepared to close. I continue to reserve. Mr. Pallone i still have three minutes, mr. Speaker . The speaker pro tempore yes. The gentleman from new jersey has three minutes. Mr. Pallone ill go first. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone first of all, mr. Speaker, id like to point out and id like to ask enter into the record a letter from the American Medical Association and many, many other physicians groups as well as state medical societies in opposition to the legislation. Let me just read the first paragraph. Its addressed to the speaker and democratic leader. It says on behalf of the undersigned physician organizations we are writing to express our strong opposition to h. R. 4302, and we urge you to vote against the bill when it is considered on the floor. Again thats from the a. M. A. Many specialty doctor groups, and a number of state medical societies. I would also point out that its my strong belief, and i know that my chairman of the subcommittee disagrees on this, but it is my strong belief that if this bill passes that we will not have an opportunity to bring up the larger permanent fix. We will not negotiate that. I doubt very much that that would be the case. I would now reserve the balance of my time. Nd yield one minute to our democratic whip. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for yielding. Perhaps we ought to have a criteria of everybody who has read this bill can vote on it. My bet is it would be very few members who would be able to vote on this bill. This is an eightpage summary of this bill. With probably 50 paragraphs in it about changes that have been affected in the medicare system. None of us know what the substance of this bill is. We have a lot of rhetoric in 010 about reading the bills. I challenge any member to come up here and say i have read this bill. I am for a permanent fix in the Sustainable Growth rate for doctors. I have pledged that for the last four or five years. We have a bipartisan agreement to affect that exact end. But as so often is the case, we do not have the courage to rationally fund that agreement. That is why america is in trouble fiscally. This is a game. Unworthy of this institution and the American People. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield the balance of our time to the democratic whip. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey has 45 seconds remaining. That time will be yielded to the gentleman from maryland. Mr. Hoyer i thank the speaker. It is unfortunate that we have been put in this position with less than 48 hours notice of whats in this bill. To do something all of us know needs to be done. The doctors of america, at least the organized doctors of america, have said vote no on this bill. Because they know, we know, the wall street journal knows, we have to fix this permanently. Not patch it every year. Its a fraud. And both sides have committed that fraud. And we ought to stop it. We ought to fix this. Americans ought to expect us to fix it. The doctors expect us to fix it. Seniors expect us to fix it. What a lamentable fact we cannot sum mon summon the courage and wisdom to do just that. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman from maryland has expired. Mr. Hoyer i yield back the balance of my time. That i do not have. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. He has 10 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Pitts mr. Speaker, i want to read out the title of a blast that i just received from the heritage foundation, some of our members might be interested in this. Quote, a temporary s. G. R. Patch is better than permanent deficits. In support of the bill. My colleagues, this morning seniors are watching. This is not a game. We are thinking of seniors and certainty for them. A vote no today is a vote against seniors. We are not voting for the a. M. A. Today. We are voting for or against seniors today. We will continue to work with all of our might for a permanent repeal of s. G. R. We have worked on this for three years. We must get there as soon as possible. But we are at a deadline. And this is the last vote we will have. If you vote no on this bill, youre voting for more uncertainty. Youre voting for a cut to doctor reimbursements. You are voting against seniors. Let us vote for seniors this morning. Vote for h. R. 4302. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania has yielded back. All time having now expired on this bill, the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 432 4302. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Pitts i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order a quorum is not present. The speaker pro tempore pupu shortly after the debate, the house gavels shortly after the debate the house gaveled out and they met in the Speakers Office as reporters camped outside noting members and aides commenting on the uncertain fate of the doc fix bill at that point. It wasnt clear that Republican Leadership had the votes needed to pass the bill. About 40 minutes later, the house gaveled back into session and heres what happened. Session. The speaker pro tempore the ouse will be in order. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unpinnished business is the question on suspending the ules and passing 3302 4302. The clerk h. R. 4302, a bill to amend the Social Security act, to extend medicare payments to physicians and other provisions of the medicare and Medicaid Programs and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without joining us is daniel newh auser, covering the debate. It will need 60 votes to pass. Why is this bill an annual affair . Why are they working on it to get it passed. Why is it important . If they dont pass this, a Payment System for doctors will be cut by 24 . That is a huge pay cut for these doctors. Groupsly these medical are very much against that happening. Are working for their constituents and for these groups. The deadline they are facing is monday. Thats right. Abouthas been some talk leeway. It is not a hard and fast deadline. Monday is the official deadline. Tell us what was going on behind the scenes as republicans were gathering and figuring out a way forward. This was the strangest vote i have ever seen. Was they pulled a fast one on their members. They had this go past was a vote. They did not allow anyone to vote on it. That there was a suspension of the rules. There was a unique, two thirds majority vote. It became clear that those numbers were not there. In the morning, the vote was delayed. Leader met with members. They were in a room off of the house floor. Clear that that was not going to happen, they went across the hall. That was steny hoyer. They had a deal where they would bring this up on a boat and nobody would object. It was a tricky move. A lot of members went to the floor and they came from the office. They thought that they were going to be voting on this bill. To their surprise, it was are the past. There was some outrage about that. He essentially tricked him. You are in the house gallery when this vote happened. You are saying there were not a whole lot of members gather. They were not ready for this vote to happen. There were some members, but they were all in on the joke. It was a leadership decision to allow this to happen. They basically told the members who were stakeholders in the people who are affected by policy decisions. Do not go to the floor. The reason they did this was to turn the vote against it. Nobody has to put their name on. Either you would vote for something you dont believe in, or you would vote against it. Nobody had to take that top vote. The policy still passed. It was a tricky move. Not a lot of people were happy with it. You write about a secret deal angry rankandfile. There was a tweet earlier today where you said that you have seen a lot of dumb things stop is it possible that this will have a negative reaction from republican members . It is possible. There is simmering suspicion among leading conservative members. That this will have to touch on a conversation about this. They will have to have somebody sit on the edge of the house or to make sure they do not pass things over peoples objections. Memoriesmembers of last. Conservatives were in on this. They would rather have this behind them. They do not want to fight about it anymore. We will see what happens. We will see if they try to do it again stop the senate will take up the measure on monday. This it had been hashed out in the senate. Deal. Ad announced this they didnt seem to have enough support. We will see if it passes in the senate. We will see how much weight his opposition carries. This is probably his big test. If there would be enough support to pass it. Thank you. , after the vote representative louis geomet of texas polk on the house floor. Thank mr. Gohmert thank you, mr. Speaker. A surprising twist today. Who says theres nothing surprising in washington. We were told there was a potential for a bill to come to the floor today over to deal s. G. R. , issue of the Sustainable Growth rate, or the doc fix as its sometimes called. And there had been some disagreement in our party what would be the best way to handle it. We had a bill, oneyear extension, oneyear that included some other things that some of the people that are providing the care that havent been properly treated in reimbursement areas were not happy about. So it appeared we didnt have our leaders may not have had the votes. By the surprise that it was voice voted and no one asked for a recorded vote because normally, see, we trust our leaders that if theres an mportant bill that our leadership understands someone here, on a bill, will request a recorded vote and well get a recorded vote and well all be able to either vote for, vote against. Otherwise we have to keep people here all the time. And it did bring back to mind the time that was not so fond sometimes 2008, 2009 and 2010 when on the first day back in washington, whether it was a monday or tuesday, the first day, theres suspension bills. Those are bills that are expected to pass and have 2 3 of the body vote for them, naming courthouses, naming federal buildings, recognizing some important person or deed, those type of things. And they are generally agreed to. Despite all the negativity in washington, those are things that we agree to constantly. Both sides of the aisle Work Together on getting accomplished. But we saw very quickly after republicans lost the majority in november of 2006, sometimes Republican Leadership would agree to allow some suspensions to go when it was extremely important, it should never have been brought to the floor on suspension, which means it doesnt go through subcommittee, doesnt go through committee, just comes to the floor without having gone through rules committee, and thats why it takes 2 3 of a vote because its bypassed the normal procedure. So there were a handful of us that decided back in 2007, since Republican Leadership at that time were agreeing to things that we knew our other friends in the republican side, some friends on the democratic side, would never vote for, if it was a recorded vote, where everyone had the chance to vote, i started flying back early, i know tom price did at times, Lynn Westmoreland did at times, but i got to where i was flying back even if i thought somebody else was covering the floor. But the reason was to make sure that since we couldnt trust that our leadership would not agree to some bill that we thought was hurtful to the country, was hurtful to the constitution, or to our constituents, we had to be here to ask for a recorded vote. Went unnoticed except by leadership, staff on both sides, and it got to where when i came to the floor and would sit here for three or four hours, i would have staff come up, usually democratic staff since they were in the majority, and say, well, obviously youre concerned about some issue. Sometimes i would just i was just here to object to make sure nothing was brought to the floor without any notice. Sometimes there was a particular suspension that i felt should have a recorded vote. So i would show up and i would, after the voice vote, request a recorded vote. And thats why staff started coming up and saying, look, which one are you going to demand a recorded vote on . Are you going to object to . Sometimes i would get up and speak against the bill. But it got to where if i had an objection, they knew, because i had done it, between the time of the call for a recorded vote, would go back to my office, i would type up a notice on why a bill was not a good bill, and i would be standing at the door getting a few other people to stand at other doors to hand out little flyers to members of congress as they came to the floor explaining why it wasnt a good bill. Sometimes i won. Sometimes i lost. But all you had to get was one more than 1 3 of the votes to bring down a suspension. So we were able to deal with that issue and make sure that people knew youre going to try to pull that stuff, we are going to have people sit here so that you cant just pass something on a voice vote. Without it being called for a recorded vote. So i was very surprised today that with us in the majority, our own leadership in charge, something as important as the doctor fix would be brought to the floor on a voice vote. I would have come over earlier except there was a recess, back in session, recess, back in session. I didnt know how long the recesses were going to be. Now i know that i need to get with some other members and meak sure we have people on the floor make sure we have people on the floor since we wont be sure what our own leadership is going to do. Thats very unf in without objection. Mr. Speaker. It is time to take the mask off this institution. It is time to expose the checkwriting scandal. It is time to bring honor back to this institution very nine months ago, i stood on this floor what other freshmen and took the oath of office for the first time in our career. It was probably one of the most important days of my life. I have never been so proud. Home to my district and to have people laughing at congress, laughing at congressmen, laughing at this institution, brings dishonor on all of us. I was out at a pizza hut this weekend with my son and daughter. A gentleman from the booth behind me asked me are you going to pay for this with a check, congressman . Kind of jokes we need. We need to expose this. Announce the list of names. He is not supposed to use exhibits of which he did. Find more highlights from 35 years. Cspan, politics, public life and civics today. And Christian Science monitor contributor christina lindborg talks about the widespread use of heroin in the u. S. Especially in the suburbs. As always well take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal. Live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. A couple of live events to tell you about tomorrow. Our companion network cspan2. A new america noub Consolidation Forum at 9of 30 a. M. Eastern. And Deborah James speaks to the women in International Security conference. The u. S. Supreme court heard arguments this week on whether or not corporations have religious rights that exempt them from part of the new Health Care Law requiring coverage of Birth Control for employees at no extra charge. The case involves two familyowned companies that provide Health Insurance to their employees. But object to covering certain methods of Birth Control they say work after conception. In violation of their religious beliefs. You can hear those arguments hear on cspan tomorrow night t 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Nasad a nasa administrator Charles Bolden is confident the partnership between the u. S. And Russian Space programs continues to be strong. He was on capitol hill to testify about his agencys budget request. This is two hourgs. Hours. The subcommittee will come to order. Good morning. Well come to the days hearing. A review of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration g4 2015. In front of your packets containing a written testimony, and disclosure for todays witnesses. I recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. Mr. Administrator, i will begin with the sincere thank you for your leadership and the hard won and women at nasa. Am most concerned about the administrations insistence on reordering the priorities of the agency. Clear priorities to the administration, praise on the administration for the day it passed. We see the president chose to realign priorities he agreed to in the mass authorization act of 2010, and the consolidated appropriations act. The ministration is proposing funding for the asteroid Redirect Mission. There is no budget profile preventing the bringing considerations into row,he fourth year in a the ministration has requested a reduction for the rhine crude caps on the space launch system. Request cutbudget these programs by 330 million. The spaceeeps expiration program on track. Be290 million cut could derailing efforts. This is unacceptable. These critical assets of the components of our future of exploration efforts pretty administration cannot claim they support space sports place that is why well continue to work for appropriate funding levels for the systems. The ministration is requesting large increases in commercial crew program. One of my top priorities, nd in times of ensure [indiscernible] www. Cspan. Orour commercial pare key to making that possible. We must be making sure we do the best with a we have. The proposal should be justifying the budget request increase of 152 million. This years budget request also includes the cancellation of the sophia program. American tax payers invested on this oneofakind asset the posingtration is cancellation as a gets off the ground. He you might be more helpful in answering questions we have about the proposed cancellation of sophia. I would hate to see it canceled in the same manner as we did with the xl mars project. There is no doubt that our Nation Space Program is facing many challenges. That is on the more reason the ministration must be committed to exploration and stop using it as partisan football. The American Public is counting on the president very dear counting on each of us here to have an honest conversation about where we are at this time in our Nation Space Program. And to make tough choices. It means setting politics aside and investing in our future. Im ready to Work Together to ensure priorities from previous legislation will be honored. If you jabber Space Program depends on it. I recognize the Ranking Member. Thank you. Thank you for being here today i appreciate reviewing the budget for 2015. Administratorome bolden. Want to congratulate nasa and ce on theactor workfor milestones they have achieved over the past year. I am and always have been a passionate person about nasa and our Space Program. And the people who work in it. Our program has been a symbol of our greatness as a nation. A means for peaceful negotiation. A powerful source of inspiration for student and professional engagement in science and technology. Nasa will continue to be these things and more. Only if we provide it with stability and resources needed to meet its responsibilities and aeronautics, space science, earth science, human spaceflight, and exploration. Whichs why im pleased incorporates the funding request is part of the opportunity growth and Security Initiative is close to the level specified for fiscal year 2015 in the nasa authorization act. Introducedat july. Ast hell outgrow the nations economy and create jobs. I recognize there will be much discussion about this initiative. Impact to understand the of nasas programs. I have questions about the reduced funding requested for the space launch system. And the potential impact it will have on the Program Ability to achieve critical test flights in 2017 and 2021. I want to understand the implications of the shutdown of stratospheric observer he sophia. Undertakenhat was with germany. I would hear for options which should be explored and that were that may continue this study. I look forward to hearing from administrator bolden about increases for the crew program. We need to know what we will be getting for that money. How nasa will ensure that astronaut safety and the interest of the taxpayer will be protected. Thate to learn today research will be sufficient to ensure that a high punt is in place to support the proposed extension of iss operation through 2024. I have questions about the changes to nasas education programs. We have raise those questions before. Those programs play a Critical Role in inspiring our nations youth. I also want to take this opportunity to clarify for the i paid aat while compliment for the lucid explanation of the Redirect Mission to group of students recently, that is how i spend time on television, i continue to have questions about the potential mission, and how would contribute to two other potential goals to send humans to mars. Im hopeful todays discussion will help inform our continuing work on reauthorizing nasa. I want to commend you and your team. For working with our i think we can get from here together on the same page and support our space mission. We both share the goal of achieving a strong bipartisan authorization bill. Providing stability and resources needed. I thank you and youll. Recognize the chairman of the committee. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Smith. We appreciate administrator golden appearing before us today. While we may disagree on a few topics, we share the same desire to ensure nasa remains the worlds preeminent space agency tarnation continues to lead the world in Space Exploration and discovery. That is why im concerned with the fiscal year 2015 budget request. Three months ago, congress and the president reached agreement on nasas budget. Just a few weeks later, the president recommends 185 million cut to nasa. It also seeks to find an asteroid redirect or Retrieval Mission despite what one article this week described as scant support in congress and muted interest in the science community. The administration continues to push the mission on nasa without any connection to a larger roadmap and absent support from the scientific community. It is a mission without a realistic budget. The committee has heard a number of concerns about the mission and promising alternatives. The committee recently heard a hearing of the potential for a Flyby Mission to venus and mars. While the mission is not without challenges, it is intriguing and would catch the public imagination. The budget under finds the space launch system and orion programs. The white house approach has been to raise nasas budget to fund the administration agenda. There are 13 other agencies involved in Climate Change research, yet only one conduct Space Exploration. In the last seven years, the fundingience division has increased. Nasa needs to number its priorities. The priority is Space Exploration. Im glad to see nasa is working to complete the James Webb Space Telescope and initiate production of the widefield infrared space telescope as well. Nasa has included a budget line for europa mission. Even if it is just for one year and too little. Over the last two Years Congress has funded a mission and 75 Million Dollars and 80 million. Our leadership in space is swift. The administration i hope will step back, look at the agency as a whole, and work to put on a longterm path to achieve worthy goals on behalf of our nation. Space exploration inspires American Students and excites scientists. If we want to continue to be a world leader and take giant leaps, nasa must ensure its budget reflects the importance of Space Exploration. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you mr. Chairman. At recognize the Ranking Member from texas. Thank you. Good morning. Welcome. I know all of us appreciate the service you render tarnation. As the chairman is indicated, we are here today to review nasas 2015 budget request. At the outset, i want to say that i am heartened that the president has been willing to commit more than 18. 3 billion to nasa. Increase over the fiscal year 2014 appropriations. Achieving that level will require congress to work with the president to achieve targeted spending cuts and increase revenue to provide necessary offsets, and stay within the budget agreement. I hope that my friends across the aisle will agree with me that nasa and its program are worth a little effort on congresss part 20 defy the fines. Funds. Efy the needed by nasas troubled education activities. These cuts do not appear to be interagencyult of collaboration. They are cuts. Simple. Which i consider to be the wrong. Ission to be sending second, i have to confess that i ofleery of the annual cycle reductions in the funding for the space launch system. The orion exploration. Both those vehicles are under development and approaching initial testing milestones. Point in a Healthy Development program that funding should be increased and not decreasing. I expect this is an era that congress would want to address. Proposedled by the science programs. Provideograms not only exceptional science, but outreach opportunities. We are going to need to look closely at what is being proposed in this budget. I want to know more about the proposed increases in the crew program. Those increases are significant. Especially in the context of nasas budget environment. While i want to reduce our dependence on russia, the crew transportation from the International Space station has not prepared to provide a blank check to do so. As you know, representative edwards and i expressed concern ofr privatizing prices safety in its evaluation of proposals leading to upcoming contract awards. Unfortunately, nasa chose not to make any changes in its final solicitation. Counter with recommendations of the columbia accident investigation board. Despite administrative personal commitments to safety, i think that is the worst example to take. Data that has traditionally been required to protect the agency and the taxpayer, the nsa world basementuled that their final updates later this spring. I urge you to do so. Toould find it difficult support the funding you are requesting for commercial purex i would like to introduce our witness. An administrator of the aeronautics Space Administration. At a nasa3 years office. He traveled into orbit. And 1994. Etween 1986 prior to his nomination, he was nominated that she was the chief executive officer of a Small Business enterprise. It was a consulting firm. Spoken testimony is limited to five minutes. Members of the committee have five minutes each to ask questions. Thank you. Members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss nasas 2015 budget request. A more detailed summary has been made available. My verbal testimony will touch there is alights for bipartisan strategic explanation plan agreed to by congress in 2010. It ensures that the United States will remain the leader in Space Exploration for years to come. It is an investment on earth for the benefit of the American People and the global economy. I have a chart i would like to put up. Chart offer to this and on as we go. Nasa is on a steady path. There is a stepping stone approach to meet the president s challenges. As you see on a chart, it goes from left to right. From where we are to where we want to be. The International Space station remains our spring or. Springboard. We will have outpost for the next decade with our commitment to extend until 2024. This means an expanded market for private space companies, more groundbreaking research, and opportunities to live, work, and learn in space. Astronauts aboard the iss are helping us learn how to execute extended missions into space. This year, we will see exploration of orion. We will press forward with new developments with orion. We will prepare for and unaccrued mission in fiscal year 2018. The budget supports the commitment that nasa be a catalyst for the growth of a vibrant American Space industry. Two companies, space acts and and orbitalpace x are making deliveries. They will send astronauts to the station. It will end our reliance on russia. If congress fully funds fiscal year 2015, we can do this by the end of 2017. Unfortunately, due to reduced funding, for the president s launch plan, we may need to extend our current contract with the russians. Money intoinvesting the u. S. Economy to support american jobs, we could be spending that money in russia. Budgets are about choices. The choice is between fully funding a request to bring space launches back to american soil or continuing to send millions to the russians. It is simple. The Obama Administration chooses to invest in america. We are hopeful that congress will do the same. In addition to continuing research and strengthening partnerships and building the next generation of rocket and capsules to take our astronauts farther into space, are stepping stone approach includes a plan to robotically capture a small asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit were astronauts can visit and explore it. Our mission will help us develop technologies including solar electric propulsion needed for future each space missions. We enhance detection. We improve understanding of asteroid threats. Fiscal year 2015 continues to have sport for science missions. It enables nasa to continue making critical observations of earth and developing applications that benefit our nation and the world. It maintains steady progress on the James Webb Space Telescope during its 2018 launch. Aeronautics will focus on reducing fuel consumption, emissions, and noise. Nexgen a reality. We will drive technology and innovation and spur economic activity. That is why the opportunity providenitiative will nasa with nearly 900 million. There will be additional funding to focus on specific areas where we can advance our priorities. The budget advances nasas for teaching plan for the future. We will continue to build u. S. Preeminence in science and technology. We will protect our home planet well strengthening the american economy. Thank you. Im happy to respond to any questions you are members of the subcommittee may have. Thank you general bolden. Please limit questioning to five minutes. We will open with a round of questions. The chair recognizes himself. Last year, i asked you about the Administration Reduction to programs in the 2014 budget request. At the time, you said that the discrepancy was about how the money had been classified. Has year the administration very clearly broken out and shown that a reduction in Vehicle Development exists. You praise the appropriations for keeping nasa on track. Track, simply keep it on how will a cut affected. What activities do you plan to stop in his fullyear 2015 question mark in fiscal year 2015 . The budget as requested suffices for keeping us on track. There are three relevant areas. We are reliant right now and we want to get away from that. We need a proving ground. Theres so much we do not know. You have to have a place close to earth. That happens to be the earth, moon system. We selected this as our particular steppingstone to go to mars. We have the International Space station. It is viable and functioning. First things first. We have to make sure that we have a reliable system. Crew,o not get commercial that is better. That area becomes weakened. I do not want to be reliant on the russians to get my cruise to the internationals a stations. Need a space launch system if i cannot get my cruise into orbit. If we continue to depend on the russians, everything is in jeopardy. This is a critical need for this nation. I may have a question on commercial crew as well. You are saying that you are reducing the budget to fund commercial cruise. Crews . 299 cuts. That i have been the nasa administrator, we have invested 12. 5 billion into Space Exploration. Wellpoint 5 billion. If we had had the shuttle, we would have spent more. Have invested more than we would have spent on the shuttle if it were still around. The president has requested more since i became the administrator. Almost 52 of that has been requested for human expiration. Quibblingat were about hundreds of millions of dollars in a multibilliondollar budget. Since i am the ceo of the company, trying to get us on this path, i think that all we need to do is continue on the road we are on. Go to theembers to Kennedy Space center. They will ceo ryan. It is ready to find next fall. We are not cutting back on anything. We have hardware in production. I appreciate that answer. It does not satisfy my question. I will follow up later. You have graciously come before congress and testify that without receiving full funding, nasa would not be able to deliver crew transfer services. Continues to claim that these services will be available. It would seem that one of three things happened with this program. Nasa requested more money than needed or nasa will not be able to meet the 26th in 2017 launched casual. How can you say that if you dont get full funding for commercial cruise that the schedule will slip. This is the same thing you said in previous years. Nasa claim to be on schedule. If the committee would indulge me, i would ask everyone to think back to my first hearing when i became the nasa administrator. We were requesting a billion dollars. We requested a billion dollars for a total of 6 billion for commercial crew. That was based on my estimate. One provider would cost about 2. 5 million. We multiplied and i added a billion. We got zero the first year. Had 525nd year we million. We were targeting 2015. We would now find ourselves month away from watching americans launching americans from american soil. Time, i cap come back to the committee. If we do not get full funding, we will slip. I came back and said that we had slipped. We will not have commercial crew available until 2017. We may not have the competition that i need. The committee in florida we said that we need competition. I want to remind people of the history of commercial crew and how we got here. We are now faced with a 2017 availability. I am not i have been consistent. I have said that we will slip if we do not get our funding. I am the same thing today. If we do not get with the president requested, i cannot guarantee 2017. We will continue to pay the russians and i do not like that. In previous years, you said the same thing. You contend that we are on schedule . I said 2015 the first time i testified before this committee. I said we can do that if we fund the budget. Subsequent at a point and said that we will not make it. We will make 2017. Given the level of funding that we have, we are on track to still get you 2017 if we are given the amount of money that the president requested. I think this committee agrees a few. We do not want to be solely reliant on the russians for human access to space. We want to launch american astronauts from american rockets. Budgets are about choices. This committee chose to rely on the russians. They chose not to accept the president s recommendations and request. You cannot have it both ways. We are getting away from that. We are not continuing to rely on the russians. We have some serious budget constraints. Not just dealing with nasa, but all of our just cautionarys ending. We are looking at some serious issues. We know the world has not become a safer place. It has become much more dangerous. We need to have a presence in space. Friends that are not friendly to us will have a presence. You know that whoever has the high ground dominates the battle space. My time has expired. I will turn to the Ranking Member for her questions. Thank you. I will take advantage of that extra time. I will continue this line of questioning. You indicate that we can stay on to launch astronauts from american soil i 2017 if congress fully funds your budget request. 848 budget request is Million Dollars. 96. Year, you received congress is in order for you to commit to date, we have17 to commit to the 848. 3 million. In addition to that, i want to know what your confidence level 848 million. T my confidence level is good. It is high. Makingidence level for 2017 is not as high. That is the reason that we put money into the opportunity funds. I want to get to what informs your confidence. Know we have requested an independent cost estimate. It was not done. Tell me what the basis is for your 2017 confidence level. Domy basis for everything i before this committee is my leadership team. They head of the human expiration missions. If i am have to smart as they are, that will be good. We also talk to the industry. We are dependent on american industry contributing a major portion of what hes going in to the commercial group. We are able to stay on track because i do not know how much has putor goal weight of their own personal funds into commercial air craft. The difference to keep us on track has been because the companies are expecting that we will be fully funded. They continue to up their investment. That is my guess. With the 2014 levels of and what yourion 2017 resulting in 2017 him long before that stop if congress does not funds fully, with Development Activities will have to be delayed in order to accommodate . With humance standards and other requirements. They will be under contract. We will have to stretch that contract out. That is what always happens. You have less money. We have two things we can work with. Cost and schedule. If i do not have enough money, these little stretches out. It always does. In commercial crew, i did not have to worry as much about the cost because that was a partnership. The companies were also putting in money as necessary to make sure that they stayed on track with their milestones. Let me ask again and maybe you have it, can you provide to us the independent cost estimate that was done that informs your belief and your confidence in the 2017 date. Im told that that will be available shortly. We will get it to the subcommittee. We are counting on that. Yes maam. I am concerned about the possibility of a premature set selection of a Transportation Service provider