Transcripts For CSPAN Public Affairs 20130731

Have a good day. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers room, washington, d. C. , july 31, 2013. I hereby appoint the honorable joseph heck to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, john a. Boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2013, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip each, to five minutes but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11 50 a. M. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Roslehtinen, for five minutes. Ms. Roslehtinen i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Roslehtinen thank you, mr. Speaker. Rise to support a cancer victims and also to recognize a valiant leader in our community who turns 86 on august 12, betsy kaplan. I start by asking all of us to support the patients, the families and victims of a special type of cancer, pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of all forms of cancer with a fiveyear survival rate of just 6 . In 2013 alone, pancreatic cancer will affect 45,000 patients. 73 of whom will die within one year of diagnosis. In my home state of florida, it is estimated that out of the 3,380 new cases, 2,770 people will die from this terrible disease. Last year i was proud to pass the to help pass the Recalcitrant Cancer Research act, a bill to help turn around these horrible statistics. Mr. Speaker, we must continue to make survival from pancreatic cancer a priority, colleagues to stand with us in this fight. And a south floridian whos involved in whorte while causes, whether theyre related to improving lives of others, or fighting for better treatment of the disabled is betsy kaplan. Betsy is a retired School Board Member from Miamidade County public schools, has been recognized in our community for her notable achievements and contributions, fostering Arts Education and student guidance in our public schools. With an unprecedented 47 years of professional experience in the education field, betsy retired with many honors, from her teaching career to speer heading the adoption of the spear heading the adoption of the tobaccofree School Policy and advocating for Educational Programs that cater to special needs students. A decorated award winner, betsy has received numerous honors, ranging from the Florida School boards president s award to being recognized as a woman of impact from the coalition of womens history. She received the breaking the Glass Ceiling award from the Jewish Museum of florida at florida university. Thanks to betsy as Miamidade County is county schools is known for their arts. We need to ensure that our students get the quality education they deserve, and i thank betsy for her exceptional efforts in creating opportunities for students to learn, to grow and to succeed in their educational, social and professional lives. So congratulations to betsy kaplan, and let us all keep up the fight to beat all types of cancer, especially pancreatic cancer. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. In a few minutes well be meeting with president obama here in the capitol. While i appreciate the president s commitment to the economy, and i do believe hes passionate about review renewing and rebuilding america, theres a certain irony to having the conversation today. Because this is the very same day the house is competing its work on a woefully inadequate budget bill to fund transportation, housing and urban development. By insisting on an increase in and approving budget target that is unrealistically low and freezing in the sequestration, were seeing budgets that bear no relationship to reality. 44 billion in transportation discretionary appropriations, wn 15 from the authorized level. It makes no attempt to deal with the looming collapse of the highway trust fund. It slashes amtrak a third below the current level. Hardly responsible. Many of the budget reductions in the housing programs and the Community Development block grant are even worse. And we began those deliberations on the same day the American Society for Civil Engineers released their report card on the state of american infrastructure. Dplus, and it was only that high because we have increased some private investment, some local government funding and, of course, the stimulus funding that helped reduce some of the most egregious shortfalls while putting people to work. Its ironic that some of the rationale for this bizarre budget behavior, which thankfully will never be enacted into law, is the need to save taxpayer money an reduce deficits. In reality if this budget were approved, it would actually end up costing american taxpayers more. Families will learn earn even less if we continue this funding level for infrastructure that is inadequate. There will be hundreds of millions of hours of time lost as people are stuck in traffic, and the number of miles of congestion increased over 30 . And of course our businesses will pay almost a half trillion dollars more in transportation costs and repair while business will be underperforming, and that will cost money too. The path forward is clear. We should provide increased funding for transportation and infrastructure. The gas tax has not been increased in 20 years, which incidentally was the last time we had balanced budgets. This is the quickest way to get the new revenues that many feel are necessary to be part of any rational, longterm, grand budget agreement and tax reform. It would be supported by a wide array of business, labor, environmental groups, local government. Indeed, there is a vast coalition that is saying, tax me so i can do my job better, and we can revitalize americas communities and our sagging economy. Its no longer acceptable for us to talk past one another, by dealing boldly with the infrastructure crisis in the context of realistic budgets and meaningful tax reform, we can put americans back to work. We can break the logjam here on capitol hill. We can strengthen the economy while we make our communities more livable and our families safer, healthier and more economically secure. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. Wolf, for five minutes. Mr. Wolf thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last two weeks i raised a series of questions focusing on the attack of the u. S. Consulate in benghazi as well as washingtons response or lack thereof. Today, little is known why ambassador stevens was at the u. S. Consulate in the days leading up to the anniversary of 9 11. Even less known is about where the other american facility in annex. I was the c. I. A. How many people worked at the annex . Of these how many were direct Agency Employees and how many were contractors . What was the ratio of c. I. A. Staff to security contractors . Why was their facility operated by the c. I. A. In benghazi . Perhaps it was to secure weapons in the wake of the libyan revolution. As early as 2011, National Journal reported that, quote, the u. S. Is also planning to ramp up money to secure the surface to air missiles and gaddafis ted from stockpiles. A Senior State Department official said clinton will tell libyan officials that the u. S. Contribution to these would go up to 40 million, end of quote. They said the u. S. Has already spent nearly 6 million on the weapons disposal efforts, sending experts to libya by october of 2011, end of quote. F indeed the facility in benghazi was involved in the collection of these weapons, where are they . The 40 million promised by secretary clinton would buy a very large quantity of weapons. Were they shipped out of benghazi . Are they in warehouses on u. S. Soil . Did they end up elsewhere . There has been speculation that some of these weapons may have ended up in syria. Its particularly noteworthy that during the same time period that the u. S. Engaged in collecting weapons in libya, respected National Security reporter, mark, wrote on august 1, 2012, quote, that president barack obama assigned a secret order signed a secret order for rebels seeking president assad and government. U. S. Sources said obamas order approved earlier this year is known as intelligence finding broadly permits the c. I. A. And other u. S. Agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust assad, end of quote. The article continues, the white house is now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some u. S. Allies do just that and precisely when obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported cannot be determined, end of quote. However, he also reported this important information. He said a u. S. Government source acknowledged thaund the provision of the president ial acknowledged under the provision of the president ial finding, the command center operated by turkey and its allies and nbc said the shoulder fire missiles, also known as man pads, had been delivered to the rebels via turkey. Is it possible that the president s intelligence finding included an authorization for the weapons collected in libya to be transferred to Syrian Rebels . Was the c. I. A. Annex being used to facilitate these transfers . If so, how did the weapons physically move from libya to syria . By plane, by ship . Again, i ask these weapons were not being transferred to other countries like syria, where exactly did they end up . Was the c. I. A. Annex being used as the Logistic Center to track and transfer these weapons . Was ambassador stevens visit to the c. I. A. Annex on september 10 associated with these operations . Activities were taking place, was this consistent with the president s intelligence finding . Was the congress notified . Mr. Speaker, i raise these questions knowing that c. I. A. Operations anywhere is sensitive and there is an appropriate time and place for the discussions. However, i dont think the American People will ever learn the truth about what happened that night and why, including the questionable u. S. Response unless they understand what exactly was taking place at the annex. That is why i continue to believe that a House Select Committee is the most appropriate path forward to investigate this and many other Unanswered Questions about benghazi. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Chiff, for five minutes. Mr. Schiff mr. Speaker, i rise along with my colleague representative Steven Palazzo to honor james watts for his many years of service to his community and country. Born in 1919 in mississippi, mr. Watts has dedicated his career to public service. His children and stepchildren have followed in their parents footsteps and have been leaders in their own right throughout the United States. During world war ii mr. Watson defended his country by tracking subma reaps as a member of the coast guard. Later in civilian life he would go on to hold executive board positions in both the boy scouts of america and girl scouts of america organizations. Mr. Watts passion for volunteerism speaks volumes about his character. While he he lived in grand junction, colorado, he volunteered as an e. M. T. And then a paramedic for what is now st. Marys hospital and Regional Medical center in grand junction, colorado. Upon relocation to gulfport, mississippi, mr. Watts taught c. P. R. And first aid for the american red cross, a testament to his devotion to the wellbeing of the communities he has lived in and visited. Perhaps one of the biggest accomplishments was in 1956 while he worked for the Atomic Energy commission. As a mine safety engineer in new mexico, mr. Watts noticed a uranium boom town of more than 10,000 residents living without access to a local hospital for emergency services. With ambition and selflessness he took it upon himself to spearhead organizational efforts for the creation of the subola General Hospital which has been committed to serving the medical needs of the Community Since 1959. Ever since patients continued to be saved, the critically ill continue to be treated, and the 24hour Emergency Care is Still Available to the community. Now at 84 im sorry, 94 years old, mr. Watts resides with his wife in gulfport, mississippi. Although hes retired, the organizations and Community Projects developed under his leadership are still in operation today. I believe mr. Watts life is a great example of generosity and devotion to the greater good of society. We can all learn from mr. Watts inspiring story of public service. I join my colleague in recognizing and thanking mr. Watts for his life of service. We wish him, his wife, and their children, susan and rick, who is here with us in the gallery, jane, denette, and paul all the best in their future endeavors and thank them for their legacying their fathers to noble sr. Viss to the community. I yield back, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore members will be reminded not to acknowledge those or recognize those seated in the gallery. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick, for five minutes. Mr. Fitzpatrick thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise this morning in strong support of the eight bills before the house today, or more importantly in support of what they represent, which is commonsense government reform. As a representative of the Hardworking Taxpayers in southeastern pennsylvania, it is my duty to make sure that they are getting value for every dollar that they send to the nations capital. Right now our federal government seems to find better ways to waste money than to save it. The culture of systemic waste, abuse, and lack of accountability needs to end. We had the opportunity this week, we can vote to streamline the federal government, to make it work for the american taxpayer. The stop government abuse legislative package being considered today works to reign in widespread waste and inefish rein in wide sprode waste and inefficiency throughout washington. They represent common sense, Bipartisan Solutions that solve problems. After this week members will leave for a month to head back to our districts. Many of us are going to be attending events and hosting town halls to facilitate conversations with our constituents. I am eager to report to them that despite our differences this body was able to come together to support so many commonsense reforms. He so i urge my colleagues to support the bills considered here and vote to begin restoring faith in government. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Mcgoverner for five minutes. Mr. Mcgovern, for five minutes. Mr. Mcgovern i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern madam speaker, for the 20th time this congress i stand here to talk about how we can end hunger now. Hung certificate a political condition. Hunger is a political condition. We have the food, we have the means, and the system to end hunger now. We know how to do it, we just dont have the political will to make it happen. But that wasnt always the case. The late 1960s america began seriously to confront its poverty problem. President johnson fought the war on poverty and his programs, including medicare, medicaid, and title 1 education programs, just to maim a few, started to combat the poverty and inequalities rampant across many parts of this country. President nixon followed in his footsteps by hosting the first and only white house conference on food nutrition and health, a conference that focused on hunger in america. The result of that conference was a precipitous drop of hungry people in america. Contrary to Budget Committee chairman paul ryans belief, the antipoverty programs with the johnson administration, and antihunger programs created by the Nixon Administration worked. Hunger and poverty would be much worse today if it werent for these programs. The truth is we almost eradicated hunger in america, thanks to a strengthened Food Stamp Program and the creation of the w. I. C. Program in the 1970s. But those gains were erased and hunger increased because of the policies of ronald reagan. Since then we have seen food stamp usage increase during every single administration, and we can and we must do better. One of the highlights of the effort that nearly ended hunger in america in the 1970s was the w. I. C. Program. Formerly titled the special Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, infants, and children. W. I. C. Is an Innovative Program that he provides nutritious food and food counseling for pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children under the age of 5. Why is this program so critical . Well, madam speaker, prenatal enrollment in w. I. C. Is associated with lower infant mortality. Fewer premature births, and lower likelihood that infants will have very low or low birth weights. Because an infants medical Cost Increases tenfold, every investment in w. I. C. , yields up o 1. 90 to 4. 20 in medicaid savings. This is literally about improving the physical wellbeing of developing children. This program affects these participants for the entirety of their lives. Its just that important and its critical we get it right. Unlike snap, w. I. C. Is a discretionary program. This means it is subject to the appropriations process. Budgetary time of austerity, w. I. C. Was included in the acrosstheboard cuts in defense and discretionary programs under sequester. Snap was excluded because its a entitlement like Social Security and medicare. But w. I. C. Was included in the sequester because it is an sniment. As if the cuts in sequester werent bad enough, the house agriculture appropriations bill now cuts the program even further by more than 500 million. The 7. 3 cut to w. I. C. In this bill could result in over 200,000 pregnant mothers and infants losing nutritious food. Even factoring in the reserve fund, 55,000 moms and kids will go without nutrition that they need. It is sad that the republicancontrolled house of representatives is cutting vital health and Development Programs for pregnant and nursing mothers and their very young children, while at the same time they find billions of dollars to send overseas in a wasteful war in afghanistan. Madam speaker, during my series of end hunger now speeches, theres been one unifying theme i believe puts us on the path to end hunger now. That theme is president ial leadership. We need president ial leadership to end hunger now. The last white house conference on food, nutrition, and Health Nearly ended hunger in america. I know that we can do even better if president obama would convene such a conference. Le with a white house conference on food and nutrition, we could focus on ways to reduce hunger and obesity in smart, not arbitrary ways. We can figure out how to treat hunger and obesitys health issues, while we work on ways to properly attack these scourges. Madam speaker, we desperately need president ial leadership. We need a comprehensive plan. We need the political will. We need a white house conference on food and nutrition. I urge the president to act now. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada, mr. Heck, for five minutes. Mr. Heck madam speaker, i come to the floor today with a heavy heart to pay my respects and bid a solemn farewell to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer, david van hollen buskirk. He was killed van aboutsu buskirk. He was killed while participating in a rescue mission outside of las vegas. He was 36 years old. To he me dave was more than a constituent, he was more than a public servant. He was one of my medics, and a teammate. You see prior to coming to advantage, i was a member of the search and rescue team and the departments medical director. A 1year veteran of the department and one of only seven missioned search and rescue officers on this elite force, officer vanbuskirk was called to rescue a hiker stranded on a rocky ledge above Mary Jane Falls on Mount Charleston. Once he reached the hiker via vanbuskirk fficer secured the man and himself with harnesses to go back to the helicopter. It was some point during the lift that he became detached from the harness and fell to the ground below. The hiker survived, he was saved by the heroic actions of officer vanbuskirk. Davids career with the department was marked by many accomplishments. But the notable achievements he would want us to remember cannot be hung on a wall or pinned on a uniform. These achievements can be summed up this way. David vanbuskirk answered the call when people needed him. This is a man who when the call came out to rescue a hiker stranded high on Mount Charleston didnt think of himself or the danger he would put himself in. Like so many times before, he climbed into the helicopter and thought only the person to be rescued, of the life to be saved. Of course answering calls like this are what david and the rest of the las vegas search and rescue team do. The work our Law Enforcement search and rescue officers do around the valley and nation to keep our Community Safe is dangerous work. This tragedy is a somber reminder they put their lives on the line every time they are on duty, every time they answer that call. Daves personal courage and selfless dedication to his work and the community he served epitomized the very core of those in the Public Safety professions. Those that run towards the sound of gunfire or run into a burning building while everybody else is running away. I remember when dave first joined the unit. He was ambitious, motivated, professional, and he he was always smiling. And he was smart. One of the brightest with whom i ever had the opportunity to serve. He was always looking to learn more about search and rescue techniques, about emergency medical care. We spent long hours together on missions sitting in the cab of our rescue vehicle or on the rock during training exercises, and he was always asking questions. He was the proverbial sponge for knowledge. He was always hey, doc, what if this or that. Or what if . He always put others first and nowhere is that more evident than how he spent his final hours. In the dark of night with the search and rescue team finding someone who needed help. Madam speaker, i think we use the word hero so often to describe athletes or celebrities or public figures, we sometimes forget what a real hero looks like. One only needs to look to my left. David vanbuskirk was a hero. That was evident by those who eulogized him this past mon and the out monday and the outpouring of public support and those who lined the procession route. He touched many hearts in his short time on this earth and stories about how he helped so many brought tears to the eyes of everyone who filled the church, even the toughest cops in attendance. While the las vegas search and rescue community, the metro police family, his friends, family members, wife, and all who knew him mourn his loss, we also celebrate officer david vanbuskirks 13year career answering the call to serve the residents of clark county. He is survived by his wife of 11 years, his mother, his sister, and her two sons. I extend my most heartfelt condolences to his wife and the family, and i pray they will be strengthened by friends and family during this difficult time. Police officer david vanbuskirk, p number 6482, secure, final. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today. Well have the house live for you when they return at noon eastern here on cspan. Off the floor, congressional leaders this afternoon hold a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. The 19 august 1963 rally which Martin Luther king jr. Delivered his i have a dream speech. Speakers at todays ceremony was john lewis, who was at that march in 1963. Also the leadership from the house and the senate. Well have that live for you from the capitol staff wear all 3 00 p. M. Eastern. That will be live over on cspan3. Well, just a short while ago, president obama, as youre seeing here, arriving at the capitol for the first of two meetings. Hes meeting with House Democrats first and then Senate Democrats, talking about the way forward on issues like the budget and more. We expect to hear from house leaders in just a bit 11 15 eastern. Well have that for you live on cspan once that starts. Meanwhile, the senate is in session today as well. They have a fairly busy agenda as well. Coming up this is a live look of senator corker from tennessee on the floor. They are talking about an amendment that would call what happened in egypt, the military takeover, as a coup. Senator rand paul of kentucky. And transportation bill. That vote coming up in the senate at 10 45 eastern. Also take up a measure, the cloture vote on tom jones nomination. Hes been nominated by president obama to head of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and explosives. Well get more of that from a capitol hill reporter. Reed, white house political reporter for politico, joining us to talk about the nomination of todd jones to head the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. That nomination is headed for a key vote. Whats the latest . Well, on wednesday were expecting a cloture vote which means that Senate Majority leader, harry reid, would need 60 votes to advance todd jones nomination of an up or down vote to the full senate. And it seems like theyre going to get it in part because the n. R. A. Has elected to stay neutral on this vote. When there was certainly a lot of expectation that the powerful Gun Rights Organization would whip votes against todd jones. Whats behind the n. R. A. s decision to stay neutral . It helps the n. R. A. To have somebody who they can say is a boogieman, that they can raise moneys by saying this person in particular is causing them all kinds of trouble. Someone head of the a. T. F. , theres someone to hold accountable and for some of members of congress to hold accountable at congressional hearings. It may help sort of all of those groups to have someone at the helm of an organization they dont like who they can call on the carpet and beat up a little bit for their own fundraising and political purposes. Why has the n. R. A. Been without a. T. F. Been without a director . The president appointed someone to serve to a position that was controlled by the senate. And the senate hasnt confirmed anyone since then in part because the n. R. A. And some senators who are aligned with gun interests have blocked it. President bush appointed somebody who never got confirmed and president obama, now hes been in office going on five years, has never had an a. T. F. Director confirmed by the senate. Well, with the n. R. A. Now staying on the sidelines, whos in the opposite corners . Whos supporting the nominee and whos opposing . Well, the Senate Leadership is certainly supporting the nomination. It came out of the Senate Judiciary committee on a party line vote. All eight republicans voted against jones. All 10 democrats voted for him. And the sense it is there will be some republican crossover, whether it will be the same makeup that voted for the president s nominees to lead the Labor Department and the e. P. A. Have yet to be determined. Jones wasnt part of the deal that the senate reached to save the filibuster and confirmed tom perez at labor and Lisa Mccarthy at e. P. A. But the expectation is that this point anyway there will be enough votes to move jones nomination to a full vote. Remind our viewers since its been a few years since theres been an a. T. F. Nominee. What are they responsible for . It does a lot less than they did in 2006, the last time they had a confirmed director. The agencys budget has been starved a little bit by various congresses. They dont get as much money as they used to. But its in charge for enforcing federal gun laws. Most highprofile purpose. Most of the time the a. T. F. Has been in the news has not been for good things. They have agents all over the country enforcing sort of specific elements of gun laws, explosive law. And theres some alcohol and tobacco elements of it but thats sort of less prevalent at this point than the gun responsibilities. When the president when president obama signed his 23 executive orders after the newtown tragedy in january, beefing up a. T. F. And giving it more responsibilities and gun control efforts was certainly part of that and thats something that the president and his administration would like to see done and part of why hes been pushing for jones to be confirmed. Some of the president s nominees waited quite a while for a vote. How long has todd jones been waiting to get his confirmation vote . He was named interim director in 2011. Hes been commuting between his fulltime job as the u. S. Attorney for minnesota and washington where hes been running the a. T. F. Hes been essentially running the a. T. F. 3 1 2 days a week and running the u. S. Attorneys office in minneapolis 3 1 2 days a week. After newtown the president formally nominated him to be permanent director of the a. T. F. Hes been waiting since late january to be confirmed. He finally got the Committee Vote last month. They finally held a Committee Vote last month. Chuck grassley, the Iowa Republican who is the ranking republican on the Judiciary Committee protested having that vote and hes protested said that jones should not get a full vote in the senate while based on some whistleblower complaints that a subordinate in the u. S. Attorneys office in minnesota filed. Democrats, including patrick leahy, the Judiciary Committee chairman, ultimately decided those complaints were not significant enough to hold up his nomination. Reid epstein, White House Reporter for politico, you can read his reporting at politico. Com. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. And just an update for you, sometime between 1 00 and 2 00 this afternoon, the senate will take that cloture vote. They need 60 to move forward with the nomination of todd jones to head the a. T. F. Lots more going on in the senate. You can follow that live on cspan2. Vote coming up shortly on egypt. In the house, they gaveled up to noon. Democrats on the house side meeting with president obama at this hour. And we expect to hear about that meeting with a democratic briefing coming up at 11 15. Well have that live for you as well. And the president will meet with Senate Democrats after that. Democratic senators chuck shumer and debbie stab know this morning reacted stabenow this morning reacted to the Economic Growth statistics. That showing the u. S. Economy grew in the Second Quarter at a modest adjusted rate of 1. 7 , but both senators critical of the effects of sequestration. Theyre briefing with their briefing with reporters is about 15 minutes. Well, good morning. Appreciate all of you being here this morning. Todays g. D. P. Numbers once again say that we are experiencing unacceptably slow growth in this country. We cannot sustain or grow the middle class in this country or have businesses be successful th a g. D. P. Rate of 1. 7 following last quarter where a year ago we were seeing growth of 3 or higher. Its just not good enough. If were going to have middleclass jobs, if were going to have a strong economy, be competitive in a global economy, and in past recessions, if you take a look, we have much more rapid growth coming out of it and there is no question economists are agreeing that the crazy sequester cuts are impacting our economy. Its damaging middleclass families and it is costing us jobs. We have had quotes this morning both from steve ratna who said, no, a person can believe anything other than sequester has significantly reduced Economic Growth this year. Mark zandi has made similar statements. Other economists are saying the same thing. This has got to get fixed because its hurting the economy and hurting middleclass families. Theres uncertainty, and the rigid, blind sequester cuts are only starting to kick in, so this is going to only get worse. When we look at all of the areas where theres an impact, we know that Small Business loans are slowing down through and were seeing an undermining of medical innovation and research. Were eliminating hightech defense jobs, and certainly we are seeing the elimination, the cutting of construction jobs which are critical to rebuild the infrastructure in america. Let me just give you one example of somebody who was in my office last week. Michigan ultra electrics a. M. I. Inian arbor is a power Data Management company. They have contracts with companies through department of defense. They just had to cancel a new product which was going to hit the market late this year. They had to cancel it. A 10 million contract. They were forced to lay off half of their staff after planning actually to add new people, so they were planning to add jobs. They had to cut half their staff and they told me their biggest concerns was uncertainty caused by the sequester. And i can tell you story after story across michigan where this is happening. Now, we all know that last year the republican gamesmanship led to the Credit Rating decline, the downgrade of the United States for the first time in our history. First time in our history in 2011 gamesmanship led to a downgrade. Now the sequester has created a situation where combined with all of the republican talk about the debt ceiling, we are seeing again tremendous uncertainty and slowdown in the economy. Businesses cant grow and create jobs while republicans are playing more political games that threaten uncertainty and confidence in the economy. You know, people used to say the economy is stupid. Now i would say the stupid way the sequester makes cuts thats hurting our economy. In fact, we know that sequestration will cost us up to 1. 6 million jobs by the end of 2014. Thats according to the congressional budget office. So what we would call upon our colleagues to join us in doing is to stop the rigid acrosstheboard cuts from sequestration and do something the smarter way. I would give one example i was deeply involved in. When we passed the Senate Farm Bill we actually passed spending reductions four times more than was required under sequestration, but we did it in a smart way, by cutting things that didnt make sense, by eliminating sdose, by cutting duplication, streamlining. We can do that. This is not about whether or not were going to balance the budget. We are paying down the deficit. We are committed to reducing and eliminating the deficit and balancing the budget. But we are committed also to making sure that the middleclass growth in this that businesses can grow and this takes us in the opposite direction. Senator schumer. Well, thank you. I want to thank senator stabenow with her leadership on this and her focus on the middle class which is where our focus should be. Now, while todays g. D. P. Numbers might have been better than economists expected, theyre still way below the expectations of most americans. If there was any doubt left that the sequester was a selfinflicted wound that our economy simply cannot afford, the report the Commerce Department issued today certainly should put an end to that. The economy should be taking off, creating millions of middleclass jobs and reversing the decline on middleclass incomes. Instead, the new figures show that sequester is an ankle weight on our economy thats responsible for fewer jobs, slower growth, delayed recovery. As Congress Prepares to address fiscal issues this fall, democrats are united and belief that sequester must be switched off. And let me say this, numbers are better than should. The 17 means that fewer americans will find jobs because the number that economists tell us that has to be a minimum, a minimum in terms of g. D. P. Growth to just keep the level of jobs the same as new people enter the work force is . So were not even threading water. The water is rising over our nostrils and over our head even with this 1. 7 number. And sequester is not an abstract concept not to middleclass folks. Sequester meets cuts to the middle class, cuts to their jobs. Last year without sequestration we saw growth near 3 . Now its 1. 7 . Thats a huge difference in job creation. If we turned it off tomorrow, c. B. O. Predicts g. D. P. Growth 1. 2 . Ncrease to by the end of 2014 we create 1. 6 million jobs. Sequestration robs the middle class of 1. 6 million jobs. Thats not a small number. Ith sequestration, as debbie mentioned, people can get loans through the s. B. A. Scientists and researchers who contribute to our economy while researching have their projects put on hold, sucking money out of the economy. So sequestration isnt an esoteric inside the beltway debate. Its a direct assault on middleclass families and the economy and the polls show the public knows it. Some say, well, the word sequestration when you ask the average citizen, they have a question mark. What is that . No, no, no. They know its bad. They do. So with todays figures, its clear that as we work to fund the government in the coming year, our goal absolutely has to be finding a way to end sequester. While some extreme republicans on the hard right of the party are busy trying to score political points by defending the Affordable Care act or trying to play with fire with the debt ceiling, democrats will be focused on the middle class by switching off the sequester and allowing the economy to grow the way it ought to. We can take questions. Yes. Senator, republicans have repeatedly said tax increases are just is there a way you can fix the sequester just using shifting costs to, lets say, change c. P. I. Or other entitlements . There are lots of ways to raise revenue. We save 24 billion by reforming farm programs and there are multiple ways in which we are seeing tax loopholes taking jobs overseas thats costing us middleclass jobs as well as revenue. And so we can be competitive. We can do tax reform in a way that makes us competitive as a country, but competition also has to mean increasing middleclass jobs. I just want to throw in a quote i think is really important from the Harvard Business school sorry. Harvard Business School surveyed thousands of businesses and they used the definition of competitiveness that the president i know is embracing, that we are embracing, that affects tax reform, sequestration, how we proceed in the economy because they said the United States is a competitive location to the extent that firms in the u. S. Can succeed in the global marketplace while raising the Living Standards of the average american. You grow the economy by growing the middle class. We are committed to that. We get that. The president gets that. And that means whether its tax policy or whether theres investment in innovation or education for the future, the bottom line has to be a strong middle class and better standard of living for americans. I would just followup, i agree with everything that debbie said. I dont think our republican colleagues will be for raising rates anywhere, but i do think closing loopholes, closing egregious loopholes is a place where we might be able to meet them part of the way even though now some are saying no. Senator schumer, on the just a few minutes ago on the floor senator mcconnell said hes encouraging republicans to vote against the thud bill. What happens if the pick and rollses bill doesnt get the votes for cloture tomorrow . Well, i hope it would. This is just what were talking about. This is not some esoteric outoftheway government program. This is building highways, which everyone in america, the vast majority of republicans think we need. Is is not, again, some crazy unneeded program. Cdbg helped communities bounce back and create housing and roads and economic development. And so i hope that some of our republican colleagues will do what they have done in the past and vote differently than senator mcconnell. Weve got and i think it was six or seven votes in economy led by Susan Collins 19. And we got 19 on the floor to move forward. I hope that some of our republican colleagues will realize that the continued mindless cuts of middleclass bread and butter as exemplified by the comment that we should just continue to cut the thud bill will be rejected by some of our republican colleagues. I dont know if that will happen but i hope it will. Let me add that i think senator murray and senator collins deserve a lot of credit by getting beyond partisanship and working together in a very effective way on the floor. The reality is that republicans and democrats both drive on roads. Republicans and democrats care about whether or not the bridge theyre driving over is safe. And this should not be a partisan issue. And im hoping when it comes to the final vote people will understand that part of the way you grow the economy creates a competitive situation for businesses and communities and creates middleclass jobs is by supporting rebuilding americas infrastructure. How optimistic are you you can avoid a Government Shutdown . I think cooler heads will prevail. I do. I dont think i think republicans realize that leaderships realize theyre playing with fire if they risk either default by not raising the debt ceiling or Government Shutdown by not funding the government. So even though you have those on the extreme right busy, you know, banging the table, shut the government down unless we get our way, whether its Affordable Care act or cutting spending so much deeper, i dont think theyll prevail. Senator schumer, Anthony Weiner how did i know when i saw you here do you think he should from even before the time he started running for mayor i have not commented on Anthony Weiners situation or his mayorial race and im not commenting today. Any other questions . If not, thank you very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] that briefing from about half an hour ago. Busy day on the senate floor today. Have a vote coming up shortly on u. S. Aid to egypt. It is an amendment by senator rand paul of kentucky that senator john mccain of arizona, he and senator lindsey graham, by the way, have been asked by the president , or were asked yesterday to go to egypt and meet with the military leaders in that country. Senator pauls amendment would prohibit the state department from providing assistance to egypt until another democratic election takes place. That vote coming up shortly in the senate. 10 45 eastern. And its the first of a couple of votes, 2 00 p. M. Eastern theyll take a vote on limiting the debate on the a. T. F. Nominee, todd jones. 00 p. M. , a vote on u. N. Ambassador Samantha Power. Follow it on cspan2. At this hour on capitol hill, president obama is meeting with House Democrats. That meeting is under way. We expect a briefing after that meeting with Democratic Leadership in the house. Well have that live for you about 11 15 eastern here on cspan. Then the house gavels back in for their legislative work at noon eastern. Well have that for you as well. And up until that bringing briefing, rather, well bring you a conversation on the house agenda from this mornings washington journal. Host congressman Steve Scalise is with us. Guest good morning. Good to be with you. Host we saw president obama gave a speech yesterday in tennessee. Hes talking about the economy. The headline in the tribune newspaper, the grand bargain gets a makeover. The president offered what he builds as a new grand bargain proposal that includes cutting Corporate Tax rates with a jobs program that would spend more money on roads and bridges around the country. What did you think of his proposals . Host its ash guest it seems the president does not know that the campaign is over. Hes traveling around the country campaigning. This plan raises taxes on people and asks for more federal spending, whereas people across the country want washington to start living within its means and stop deficit spending. So he doesnt want to get spending under control. He wants to have a rehash of his failed stimulus bill from his first two years. You know, obviously that didnt work when he came back into office. In fact, we have tax reform that actually lowers rates on everybody. Theres a bipartisan plan being put together both in the house and senate that would lower the overall rates not only for big corporations but also for Small Businesses. If the president was serious about that, hed Park Air Force one and sit down in washington and work with republicans and democrats were trying to get a bipartisan agreement to lower taxes and get the economy moving again. Host we see in the New York Times this story, a lonely bipartisan approach to lowering to improving the tax code finally gets noticed. Guest you have dave camp who is the republican chairman of the house ways and Means Committee and hes working with senator max baucus to put together a republican and democrat plan that would lower overall tax rates and make our country competitive again. Right now we have the highest Corporate Tax rate in the world. It makes it hard to compete internationally. We need a lower overall rate and that would actually create more jobs. The president s idea is to change the rate on one group of people, just businesses, continue to make Small Businesses uncompetitive and then raise additional tax revenue to spend it on more federal programs. That didnt work back in 2009. I think he should stop ignoring what is happening in washington. Park the plane, the campaign is over, lets get to work. Host coyou support what congressman camp is proposing . Guest i do. Families realize that if they i think families across the country recognize if they dont spend so much time filling out the irs tax forms, they could have more time to create jobs and having money in their pockets to spend things they would do a lot better than having washington spend that money. Host congressman Steve Scalise is our guest. Lets listen to president obama peaking yesterday. So, again, heres the bottom line. I am willing to work with republicans on reforming our Corporate Tax code as long as we use the money from transitioning from a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middleclass jobs. That is the deal. [applause] and, you know, im just going to keep throwing ideas out there to see if something takes. [laughter] i am going to lay out my ideas to give the middle class a better shot. But now it is time for republicans to lay out their ideals. If they have got a better plan to bring back more manufacturing jobs in tennessee and around the country, let me know. I want to hear them. If they have got a better plan to create jobs rebuilding our infrastructure or help workers earn the hightech skills they need, then they should offer up these ideas. But i have got to tell you, gutting our environmental protection, that is not a jobs plan. Gutting investments in education, that is not a jobs lan. They keep on talking about an oil pipeline coming down from canada. That is estimated to create about 50 permanent jobs. That is not a jobs plan. Wasting the countrys time by taking Something Like 40 meaningless votes to repeal obamacare is not a jobs plan. That is not a jobs plan. Host president obama in chattanooga yesterday. Congressman scalise, whats your response . Guest clearly he hasnt been listening to whats been going on around the country and especially here. If he parked air force one, stop flying around the country and giving these campaign speeches, and listen to what was going on around here, the bipartisan plan to create jobs and get the country moving again, we could change the rhetoric of this partisan divide. If you listen to what the president said, just look at the regulations. As he is giving the speech yesterday in tennessee on jobs, the new e. P. A. Administrator was talking about new jobs and regulations on Climate Change. This is something they have been doing for four years, and its running more manufacturing jobs out of the country. He has declared war on the coal industry, literally shutting down coal plants around the country. Killing jobs. The keystone pipeline, the president talked about that. With the president s pen today he could create 25,000 new jobs today and he laughs at that like its some insignificant number. That is just the beginning, and lso a path to Getting Energy security. Every Million Barrels we get from canada is a Million Barrels we do not have to get from middle Eastern Countries who do not like us. If the president was for a sound Energy Policy hed get it. He thinks its some kind of joke. Even the labor unions, who are not typically friends with republicans, they support our man that we passed with a big bipartisan vote in the house, like the keystone pipeline. These would create jobs in the private sector. He is only focus on raising hes only focused on raising taxes and creating jobs in the federal government. He tried that in 2009 and that didnt work. He increased the Unemployment Rate across the country. Host congressman scalise is in his fourth term in congress, serving on the energy and Commerce Committee and is chairman of the republican study committee. Democrats, 2025853880. Republicans, 2025853881. Independents, 2025853882. Well get to the phones but i want to ask you about a town hall you had two days ago monday back in your home district. Guest its great to have town Hall Meetings where you can hear from the people that we represent. You hear about the real problems they are facing every day. This one was focused specifically on health care. We held at the General Hospital. We had an overflow crowd. Clearly there is a lot of interest in this issue. Just about everybody there is very concerned about this law from a number of different perspectives. We have the head of the Louisiana State medical society, this is the group that represents the doctors across the state, he said they just got their new bill for next years Health Care Plan for the doctors, and their premium went p 60 , 60, because of the president S Health Care law. So when doctors themselves are seeing a 60 increase in their health care costs, you can see whats happening to families across the nation. They are seeing not only higher increases in the premiums they are paying for health care, but they are seeing less access. Fewer doctors are taking health care patients. The expansion of medicaid, again medicaid is the most broken part of health care in the country, the president s plan puts 30 million more people on a plan where doctors dont even go see medicaid patients. Thats one of the reasons the president himself admitted theres problems with the Health Care Law. The problem is the president said hes going to delay the law just for big businesses not for families, not for Small Businesses. And ultimately the president himself doesnt have the authority to just ignore a section of the law. You ought to work with congress. We passed a bill to delay not only the employer mandate but also the individual mandate. Host hear from deborah in florida. A democratic caller. Hi. Caller hi. Good morning. Steve, everything you said this morning is not true. You republicans dont intend to give us jobs and help the president get this economy going. Id love to tell the American People its time for us to hit the streets. And fight this thing. We need jobs. And what the president is proposing with his grand bargain is going to help us. I want to thank you very much for taking my call this morning. Guest thanks. First of all everything i said not only is true but its verified. Well be happy to send it to you. You can contact our office at scalise. House. Gov. Ill send awe copy of every single one of the jobs bills we passed through the house not just the keystone pipeline, Energy Production bills, bills that would get our economy moving again in the manufacturing sector. These are all bills that have broad bipartisan support. Not just republican ideas. Well not only be happy to send you the bills we passed out of the house, but also the record votes so you can see its not just republicans but its a lot of democrats voting for these bills that the president just makes jokes about. Again, his grand bargain, its a rehash of what he did in 2009. Go look at the record. That didnt work. We saw unemployment in the country increase and we saw deficits increase. We sure dont want to see that again. We want to get our economy moving again, people working again. We have good bills that passed the house with bipartisan votes to do it. Well be happy to give awe copy of those at scalise. House. Gov. Host david, republican, hi. Caller good morning, steve. My comment is i work for a company that was about 100 billion, with a b, billion dollar company, because of the taxes and they told the employees this is the reason because obamas high Corporate Taxes, they in fact moved 50,000 jobs to china. Now, they stated in a letter to all employees when obama or republicans can get that Corporate Tax under 15 they would be happy to return to america and high hire those 50,000 people back. And hire those 50,000 people back. This goes along with general motors, live in michigan, so g. M. Has moved to china. Laid off millions of people for the very same reason, as has apple, steve jobs went to president obama, told him this. If he didnt lower the taxes they would be forced to move to china. They did. This is true of dow and General Electric and all these Companies Agree these Corporate Taxes were lowered to about 15 they could bring 25 million million jobs back to the United States. And obama does nothing but laugh it off. Host lets get a response from the congressman. Guest thank you, david. The question that you brought up is something we hear from businesses big and small all across the country. Again, our Corporate Tax rate makes our nation uncompetitive. Its forcing jobs, literal, forcing jobs out of the country. We need to not only lower the overall Corporate Tax rate antiindividual tax rate, but if you look at what they call repatriation, if a Company Makes a profit in another contry, right now if they want to bring that money back to america to invest that money in creating jobs in america, they are actually penalized under our tax code. You brought up apple specifically. I think they have around 100 billion, just one company, that they could bring back to america to create jobs. If we didnt tax them double. They pay taxes in these other countries where they made those profits. They want to bring that back to america and create jobs. Our tax code penalizes them if they bring it back to america and it forces them to keep that money sitting in foreign accounts. It makes no sense. Everybody recognizes that in town maybe except president obama because he wont work with us to get rid of that. This is a bipartisan proposal. If you parked air force one, came back and talked to people trying to get this done in a bipartisan way, we could probably get that done quickly and create those jobs in america. Host philadelphia, independent. Hi. Caller hi, good morning. Cspan. I would like to say this is nonsense. This is exactly whats wrong with our country. I mean if this representative realized that you have to compromise on deals, you talk about jobs, like this is a jobs bill. We need jobs out here. If you want to go build our roads and bridges, yes, take that ref nue. Lower Corporate Tax rates. Thats whats in his bill right now. What you are saying you are contradicting yourself. We cant go down to 15 . Ireland goes to 11 . Why dont you talk the deal he wants to work with the e. U. , he wants to reformat our trade so we can bring jobs back and forth between countries. I just dont understand. We are hurting out here. Yes the stimulus plan worked because i play with the stocks. The stocks are high. They are doing well. We are not doing well. Finally give you some and give us some and to fly on air force one. He has to fly on air force one because you dont Pay Attention to him. He has to come to us. Guest first if you look at the policies, as you say are hurting people like you across the country, those are president obamas policies. His first two years in office, remember, he had a supermajority in the house and the senate, and he passed everything he wanted through congress. Not only the stimulus bill, not only hiS Health Care law, he wracked up so much racked up so much new spending and higher taxes, look what its done to our economy. What we are trying to do is reverse that. Are you not going to fix that problem by having a repeat of what he did the first two years. Look at his plan that he talked about yesterday. It actually raises more taxes. And it spends more money on the federal government. Thats what he did in 2009 that led to even higher unemployment and mushrooming national debt. Thats crippling our economy right now. There are good bipartisan ideas, again republicans and democrats who Work Together in washington while the president s flying around giving campaign speeches. He needs to roll up his sleeves and do his job and we could get jobs created across the country in a bipartisan way. Its going to take the president willing to sit down and stop rehashing and raising taxes and putting more job killing regulations in place. Hes got to work were republicans and democrats to get something done here in washington. Host congressman Steve Scalise, chairman of the republican study committee. Youll be leaving washington soon. The august recess is around the corner, and members of the house and senate will head back to their home districts. What is the republican study committees game plan for messaging and helping their members think about how they talk to constituents back home over the august recess. Whats the goal . Guest sour members will go back, we have 173 members of congress in the r. S. C. We cover a lot of country, a lot of different types of communities. And our members will be going back home and talking to people in their districts just like ill have town Hall Meetings throughout the rest of august. Meeting with people in a lot of different commutes communities and hear from different people and the real problems thefment health care is one example. Well talk to people about how thiS Health Care law has impacted them. They are starting to see these problems now where they are having limited access. They are seeing their premiums go up in a high way. We have an alternative plan we are putting together that not only repeals obamacare but replace it is with reforms at a lower cost, that will actually address the real problems in health care, we are going to make sure people with preexisting conditions cant be discriminated against. Well focus on allow people to buy insurance across state lines just like Car Insurance where you can shop around and get lower rates, a better deal for your family. Also fixing the tax code. Right now if you buy your insurance through your employer, they are able to deduct those costs, if you feel like there is a better plan for your family somewhere else, you have to pay every single dime of that with after tax revenue. Why shouldnt an individual get the same kind of tax treatment that a corporation gets if they buy the health care . All of the things we put together have been scored and proven to lower the cost of health care. Those are going to be some of the things well talk about and how to get our economy moving again. Host the town hall you held on monday was covered this way by the timespicayune in new orleans, scalises town hall meeting draws opponents to the obama Health Care Law. There were a couple people in the audience we learn in the story who are kind of trying to take advantage of the law. It says chris edmunds, a 29yearold selfinsures jazz musician was one of two people to publicly question your opposition to the law. He cited a number that puts uninsured louisianians at more than 20 , one of the largest in the country. He wanted to know from you whether you think its a problem that people dont have insurance. How do you and can you balance helping people figure out how to take advantage of the law, at the same time as you fight the law . Guest if you look at his question. I was happy to answer his question because i do think its a real problem for people who do not have insurance. If you look at what happened with the president S Health Care law, its made that worse because now young people, many of the uninsured were young people, people under 40, including people in their 20s and 30s like chris, they are seeing increases in their Health Premiums by over 300 . That is a skyrocketing sticker shock that going to make health care unaffordable for those people that are looking to go buy it. The problems with health care before the president S Health Care law were that the costs were too high. Hard to get access. The president s law made it worse. You dont fix a problem by making it worse. So if you look at what the president did with the employer mandate, that was president obama admitting his own Health Care Law is unworkable. Every week we have hearings hear on capitol hill and Administration Officials come before us in committees and they testify that this law is not ready to be implemented on january 1, which is what the law says. So if you are saying there is no exchange set up, there is no rules and regulations for businesses to comply, i met with the c. E. O. Of whole foods, over 30,000 employees, they have a Health Care Plan their employees like. They get to vote on the benefits. Yet that plan would not qualify under the president S Health Care law. You got are you talking about people that are uninsured before the Health Care Law. Here you have a business with over 30,000 people in the tsh shall and the employees like your plan. If you remember the president s promise, if you like what you have, you can keep it. Thats not the way to solve the problem. We need to focus on solving the real problems not making them worse. Host how does your office deal with someone who calls up saying i need help, i dont understand the exchanges will be set up. Can you help them and guide them . Is your opposition to the law a blockade for that . Guest if it was working we could help them with it. The problem is its not working. In fact its not even set up. They missed so many legal deadlines, the Obama Administration, with their own law. The president brags that its called obamacare, yet he hasnt evenet the deadl the exchanges. U cant even answer these basic questionop have. Wertrying to get the nfl to get their athletes to put their credibility on the line to encourage people to sign up for the Health Care Law when their Administration Officials are testifying in committees in washington that its not even ready. We wrote a letter to the nfl saying before you put your credibility on the line, they are admitting in washington this isnt ready for prime time. The nfl agreed. Host congressman Steve Scalise serves on the energy and Commerce Committee and the subcommittee he sits on are energy and pow, communications and technology, and oversight and investigations. As we mentioned hes chairman of the republican study committee. Larry next in graphton, ohio, and a democrat. Hi. Caller hello. I would just like to ask the senator there that why does he come out there with first a straight up lie about cutting taxes . Under reagan he cut taxes, under reagan and bush. Clinton raised taxes and had the greatest job growth, more job grothe in eight years than reagan did and bush in 12 years. Plus he created a surplus. Bush came back in with a surplus, he cut taxes, put us in the largest deficit, and destroyed the economy. Now obamas in here and we have you areonths of sir, basically lying to the American Public. Guest thats not accurate. You need go back and look at the numbers. There are real numbers that you can look at throughout history. I have gotten my numbers from president obamas own website. When you talk about how tax increases, tax decrease vs. Affected our economy. Ill go back to president kennedy. President kennedy cut taxes. President reagan cut taxes. When those tax cuts were put in place, you even mentioned the bush tax cuts, when the bush tax cuts were put in place as well, all three of those president s cut taxes and the federal government got an increase in revenue. These are facts. Dont use my numbers. Go look at president obamas website, the white houses website has this. You can see when they cut taxes actual revenues to the federal treasury increased. The problem is you look under whether it was under reagan or bush or any president , when they have had increases in the deficit, its not because they werent getting enough revenue, they got and crease in revenue but congress did not control spending. Republicans and democrats alike are to blame for that. I think you would probably agree with me on that. The problem is if you cut taxes you will get more revenue coming into the federal government. History shows you that. Please dont take my word for it. Go look at the record. Once that revenue comes in, congress has had a bad record of controlling spending, thats what gets you deficits. If you cut spenged and control spending, not only will you create jobs and get the economy moving again, but you can reduce the deficit so that our kids and grandkids arent being sent this massive bill they are receiving today. Host congressman scalise, one of our followers on twitter writes in and asks, are there any lingering Environmental Issues from the b. P. Oil spill. What needs to be done . Guest we continue to focus on restoring our coast in louisiana. You look at some of the marsh, bay jimmy is an area where they still have oil in the marsh and working hard to clean that up. Some of the areas look like they did before the disaster. Some still have issues. We passed a bill in congress in a very bipartisan way last year that would say any of the fines b. P. Has to pay, they are going to have to pay billions of dollars for the damage they did with that disaster, but the lions share of those fines will stay along the gulf coast to clean up the damage and restore not only the coast but the way of living. Make sure the seafood industry which has come back already can continue to thrive. So that people that love our seafood, our shrimp and oysters, which i do, eat every day, thats something we are going to continue to focus on and make sure its cleaned up. Host patrick is in pennsylvania on our republican line. Hi. Caller good morning. Thanks for cspan. What id like to do is make a comment and then ask a question of the good congressman. First of all the thing i love about cspan is enables us to become well informed citizens. Obviously being well informed is essential in democratcy. Democracy. Theres an Organization Called numbersusa. Com. Withis being well informed respect to these immigration proposals. But in any event what id like to do is ask the congressman, does the Republican Party realize that this legislation, this senate bill, and the possibility of actually having a bill in the house, is a transfer of wealth from the middle and the works class to 1 . The Republican Party representing working people and middle class people, we dont want it. I dont want it. And im a member, vote for a republican. Host you called on our republicans line. Caller i am a republican. I am a republican. And i intend to continue as long as the republicans stand up for americans. We put americans first. Guest absolutely. If you look, i strongly opposed the senate bill for a number of reasons, by wait the senate is run by the democrats right now. If you look at the senate bill, it doesnt do anything to secure the border. Theres a lot of talk about border security. But ultimately they can even double count the fence already in place. We need to secure the border first and focus on the real problems with our Legal Immigration system. I love the great work that immigrants have done to build our nation. My great grandparents came here from italy and came here to seek out the American Dream for themselves and for us. We need to continue to allow that system to work. There are four Million People waiting in line right now playing by the rules trying to come to this country legally. They are waiting in other countries. We need to respect them. You dont give amness at this to somebody who broke our laws and let them get a quicker path to citizenship than somebody waiting in line right now. If somebody wants to come here to work, thats what the American Dream is all about. We ought to encourage that. We want people from all around the world to come to america, be part of the American Dream. That also means playing by the rules, and we need to make sure our rules work and right now they dont. We have to start by securing the border and making sure that our system of Legal Immigration works in this country. Host we sear here in a california newspaper, republican donors are urging House Republicans to support an immigration bill that includes a path to legal status. Guest again, there is currently a way for people to come to this country legally, stroingly support that legal system. But i also recognize we are a country of laws. We have got to resmect the rule of law respect the rule of law and make sure you follow the rules to come to america. Some of those rules dont work well. You look at our visa system wlrks its a work visa or student visa, neither works well. We have to fix both. Make that work better. For the four Million People waiting in line. Some people wait over 20 years to come to america legally. Thats too long. We ought to fix that part of the system if you fix that, you wont have 11 Million People coming here illegally if you have a system that actually works of Legal Immigration. Thats what we need to focus on. Again we start by securing the border and fix the things that are broken. Host oakland, michigan, independent, hi, christina. Caller good morning. Thank you for allowing me to talk on cspan. Mr. Scalise, where do i start . So many things you did say today are totally, totally wrong. All the major problems we have, they were all there before anybody even knew who barack obama was. Thats the simple truth. I got a whole bunch of notes here and i wish i had the time to discuss every single thing with you. You talk about business taxes. Those existed before anybody who knew who barack obama was. You talk about he had a supermajority in the senate. No, he didnt. Because al franken wasnt seated until july. Lieberman was in there, who campaigned with mccain. And then when franken got seated, senator kennedy died. So i dont know how you guys do math. I really dont. Guest go back and look when the president S Health Care law passed. He actually had 60 votes in the senate to support that bill. Not a republican, not one republican voted for that bill. Yet he passed it in the senate with a 60vote requirement. Which is their supermajority. Go look at the map. Believe he math, believe me it adds up. I wish they didnt have the votes to pass that law in 2010. But they did. Host what do you think about our caller, said there were problems prior to the Obama Administration. Youre a conservative republican. Fiscally conservative as well as looking at some of the social issues and feeling strongly about those. What do you make when a caller calls up and say this has been going on for too long . Guest if you heard to what i said to one of the previous callers, republicans and democrats alike spent too much money in congress. Even when the government was taking in more money, congress, republicans and democrats over the last 30 years, spent too much money. The mid 1990s, they did finally balance the federal budget. It wasnt bill clinton that bushed for that. It was a Republican House that finally said we are going to balance the federal budget. And they did it. It was a good thing they did. After time republicans i think lost their way on spending and spend too much money again. There is blame to go around. When president obama came in office, unemployment was below 8 . Thats a fact, can you look it up on the president s website. Dont take my word for it, go to the white house website. Theyll show you those numbers. After he passed his stimulus bill which was supposed to create millions of jobs, unemployment went up. Stayed above 8 for almost the rest of his first term. Not only that, we saw a mushrooming of the national debt. The federal deficit rose above 1 trillion for the first time in our countrys history under barack obama. It wasnt george bush that did that. It was barack obama that had that massive increase in debt while we saw an increase in unemployment. Host our guest has to leave in a couple minutes. One last call in. Reggie in san francisco, democrat. Hi. Caller yes. How are you doing. This guy is the biggest liar i have ever seen on cspan. Guest you might not like the facts being talked about. Go fote white houses website go to the white houses website. Caller everything you said. Im a student right now in san francisco. The only reason im still on my parents insurance is because of obamacare. Stop telling these people lies about a fence. A 5,000 mile fence. Its virtually impossible. You laugh but you seem to laugh host reggie, lets tackling the issue you brought up. You talked about being on the Health Care Plan, part of the new Health Care Law, you can stay on until youre 26. Lets get congressman scalise to that point and your concerns about the border, fence issue. Guest sure. While you are on your parents insurance, your parents are paying a lot more for that insurance. Again, the president promised you, the president promised you that your premiums would go down. The president promised that hiS Health Care law would reduce the deficit. The president promised, if you like what you have, you can keep it. All of those promises were broken. If you havent seen that in the law, ill be happy to send you a copy of the president S Health Care law. You can go to scalise. House. Gov and well give you the facts. You can disagree with the way i feel about it, but those are the facts that are in the law. And the president said all those things are going to happen, and they did. I had a town hall meeting the other day where the head of the state medical society talked about the 60 increase they are seeing in their Health Care Premiums for doctors. A 60 increase. So this is happening all across the country. I wish this was made up stuff because these are devastating impacts that its having on families across the country. So while you might like the fact that you can be on the plan, your parents are paying a lot more money for that. Thats not a good thing. Thats not what the president promised was the law. Host congressman Steve Scalise, republican of louisiana. Represents first district. Chairman of the republican study committee. Thank you so much. A here on cspan we are live now in the house Briefing Room waiting to hear from Democratic Leaders. The Democratic Caucus just wrapped up their meeting with president obama. Hes up on capitol hill today meeting with both House Democrats and up next Senate Democrats. We expect to hear from leader pelosi and others in just a couple minutes. Well have it live for you here on cspan. The house itself gaveling back in at noon eastern today. Theyll resume consideration of the transportation spending bill for 2014. They are also taking up the bill that passed in the Senate Last Week addressing the doubling of the student Loan Interest rates. Again the house at noon eastern, about 35 minutes away. Well have it for you here on cspan. Meanwhile in the senate they are taking a vote right now on tabling an amendment by rand paul of kentucky to the senates 54 billion transportation spending bill. His amendment would prohibit the state department from providing assistance to egypt until a new election is held. So a motion to table that amendment is under way. A vote to table the amendment is under way. Can you follow that on cspan2. We expect that once the senate finishes up their work on the amendment vote here, the tabling vote, that they will recess as well. Democratic senators, again, are meeting with president obama. The senate has work this afternoon. They will take up the cloture motion on the nomination of todd jones to head the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, and also later today a vote on president obamas nominee to be the next u. N. Ambassadors manpower. Thats expected this afternoon as well. Can you follow that over on cspan2. On cspan3 today, we covered a hearing of the Senate Judiciary committee, New York Times writing about that hearing looked at government surveillance and privacy protection. In that hearing, the Obama Administration released formally released previously classified documents relating to the once secret n. S. A. Program, collecting records of domestic phone calls in the u. S. The New York Times writes that those documents include an apli foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, that supported a secondary order leaked by the former n. S. A. Contractor Edward Snoweden that requires, verizon, subsidiary, to turn over its customer phone logs for a threemonth period. Thats the reporting of the New York Times related to hearing we covered today. Just wrapped up as a matter of fact. The Senate Judiciary committee. You can see that later in our Program Schedule and also in our Video Library as well. Later today on cspan3, well be bringing you a 50th Anniversary Ceremony marking the august, 1963 march on washington. John lewis who was at the march will be part of the celebrants there at the capitol. Thats at 3 00 p. M. Eastern over on cspan3. Here on cspan we are waiting to hear from Democratic Leaders that again that briefing with the president just got under way a few minutes ago. President obama is celebrating a birthday on sunday and reportedly at this meeting today democrats presented him with a birthday cake. Well find out more when we hear from Democratic Leaders. Good morning. Good morning, afteryea becerra, chairman of the Democratic Caucus, joined by our leadership. And we just had an opportunity to hear from the real leader, the president of the United States, and i must tell you what hes saying to every single american these days, he said to the americans in that auditorium today who represent the vast breadth of america and every walk of life of america. His focus, again, is how do we help the middle class continue to just get itself going again . How do we help america create those jobs . How do we as our whip is so forceful in saying, make it in america . How do we do this in a way that makes people believe again that we are back, we are strong, and you can dream about that American Dream as well . 210 days into this calendar year, thats more than half a year gone by, with only about 81 of those days being work days for the congress here in the house of representatives, by mentioned to the president we want to do more with him. We are interested in doing more than passing some dozen bills, in that more than sixmonth period we have been in congress in 2013. We are tired of voting to repeal the Historic Health care reform, Health Security law, that today makes sure that people who have preexisting conditions dont have to worry about losing their Health Insurance, but yet this week as we mentioned to the president , we are going to vote for the 40th time to repeal those Health Security protections that americans now understand and need. So we are ready to get to work with the president of the United States, and we are ready to work with him to keep america working, because the best way to reduce our deficits is to put americans to work. So with that let me yield to our leader, nancy pelosi. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. We had a very enthusiastic meeting with the president of the United States. He reiterated some of the message thats gone out across the country about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Seeing everything we do through the eyes of how we can responsibly and in a balanced way reduce the deficit to create jobs and build a Better Future for our children. In a succinct way, it was a masterful presentation that he made on the subject of jobs and the future. On the subject of the Affordable Care act, we all agree nothing succeeds like success. Its really important and we are confident that the implementation of the Affordable Care act is successful. Its about our children and everything that he has talked about, whether it is income disparet disparity, whether its universal preschool, whether its the Affordable Care act, its about our children and giving them and their families a better shot to participate in the prosperity of our country. I was very proud of what this president has been doing on the road and as president of the United States. And today we had a chance to go back and forth on some of the issues that so he could hear some of our priorities and we his. I saluted the president because his birthday is this week. As the persistent president. He has been hes of course very brilliant and a leader and articulate and has Strategic Thinking as he goes forward. But he is its his persist tense persistence on behalf of americas working families thats something that serves our country so very well. Its that persistence that will improve their lives. We are very proud of our president and we had a great meeting with him this morning. Now i would like to yield to our distinguished democratic whip, mr. Hoyer. Thank you very much, madam leader. As all of you would expect we talked about a variety of issues. But the president brought every issue to how it impacted on expanding the middle class and rowing jobs. Talkeding about immigration being a way to grow jobs and our commifment talked about manufacturing and make it in america, about how we grow manufacturing, grow good jobs, good security for our people. He talked about education. Investment in infrastructure. He talked about the Affordable Care act that the chairman spoke about of giving security to our people, bringing costs down for our people so that they can have Health Care Assurance for themselves and their families. And lastly, one of the issues i would mention is i think its critically important, he talked about Voting Rights. Because ultimately it is the collective wisdom of america that will make a difference. Its the voting of americans. We need to ensure that all americans have access to the ballot box and that we assist not impede their access to the ballot box. The president then closed with what i thought was a very compelling statement to us all. And he said, look, its the values that we represent. Its the direction that we want to take this country. Its the assistance we want to give to all the American People to have a better quality of life. And more assurance in their security. It is that on which we are focused and that on which we are right, he says, and we just need to keep focused on those issues. It was a very positive meeting. A meeting which i think was an important one for us to have the president. To have with the president as we leave for this august break and go to talk to the American People about where we are and where we need to go. We have nine days after this week left in the legislative session before the government needs to be refunded. We have probably 60 days or so before we need to deal with the debt issue. And the president made it very clear that while he was prepared to work with our republican colleagues, he was not prepared to put at risk the creditworthiness of the United States of america. I think all of our caucus on that clapped and indicated their support of his resolve. I now want to introduce my good friend, the assistant leader, who himself has been very, very focused alt of his life, but particularly now, on Voting Rights for all our people, jim clyburn of south carolina, the assistant leader. Madam k you, mr. Whip, leader, mr. Chair, distinguished colleagues. I believe if i were to try and sum up the president s presentation to us today in just a w words, i would say Better Bargain for americas middle class. We have been hearing a lot this year about a grand bargain and all of that. How do we reduce the deficit, get rid pay down the debt. How we go about trying to create jobs. I think all of us would agree that the one constant that is seem to have gone throughout the entire stream of things has been the growing inequality that exists in our system. I saw it described a couple days ago that our country is becoming a country with the least amount of portunity and the most our society. Ies in and the president was very focused today on what we need to do to create jobs, to pay down our debt and deficits in a way that is fair and balanced, and how to create equality of opportunity for all of our citizens. I came away from the meeting today feeling very good about our prospects going forward. I think that we are poised to do what the American People would like to see us do and that is give us a better deal for working men and women in this great country of ours. With that id like to yield to our vice chair, mr. Crowley of new york. Thank you, jim. Thanks for the leadership. The first question to us all is, what was the message of the president . I was within earshot of the president as he was walking out and one of you asked him that very question, he said jobs, the middle class, and growth. Within those three words you have the essence of what the president spoke about today. You must have heard me say i think, after the break out in our caucus meeting, what our republicans republican colleagues are lack something a vision, vision for america. Now they wear that lack of vision as a badge of honor. We have heard the speaker on the sunday talk shows, quite frankly that is the Republican Caucus today. I know wed all like to see them become more functional and have a vision again for america. One that we may not agree with, but at least have a vision. And we in the Democratic Caucus have a vision for this country. We want to see it to continue to move forward as our president. With that i now introduce to you the chair, steve israel of new york. One of the things the president said if it means anything to be a democrat, its fighting for folks who arent looking to appear on lifestyles of the rich and famous. They just want a job. And they want a better job and they want bigger paychecks. And that is what this meeting was about. Who we are fighting for. Who the republicans are fighting for. We now have a compromise, 64 of voters in this contry, we saw a poll, 64 of voters in this country believe that House Republicans are not doing enough to compromise to move the economy forward. Over a third of republicans believe that House Republicans are not doing enough to compromise to move the economy forward. Now the president has proposed a compromise. The republicans get what they want. Tax breaks for big corporations, and democrats get what we want, jobs for the middle class. We are going to put that compromise on the bat local in 2014. On the ballot in 2014. The need for compromise and investments in the middle class was the focus of the president s appearance today w that i yield back to our chairman. Take questions. What was the persistent president has had ideas and more ideas and House Republicans havent taken them up. Other than going to the voters in 2014, what could you do between now and 2014 to see some of these ideas become law . Did he discuss that . I do want to mention, the president as a persistent president , i would say, this our members are ready to go out in august and talk to their constituents. We are asking them to please be out there as often as possible in august to talk to americans. And talk to them about how we are ready to work with the president to help this country create more jobs, to continue to expand and improve our health care opportunities. And to make sure we get things done like fixing a broken immigration system. We are ready. We are looking for our republican colleagues to join us. Make no mistake, we are ready to work with the president , compromise as has been said earlier, but work to get some of this done because we know while we created over seven million jobs in the last 40 months, thats not enough. We want more. Did the president ask you to do that during the august break . Go out there let me go to your first question. President lincoln as you heard me say over and over again, the public sentiment is everything. Only progress we have made in this 202 days of this congress has existed has been the result of public sentiment. Republicans in the senate realized 770 of the Hispanic Community voted not just for president but for congress. It was probably a good idea to move forward for a bipartisan and comprehensive Immigration Reform. It was hundreds of days late but nonetheless, the violence against women act, the Republican Leadership brought it to the floor, overwhelmingly voted against it, nonetheless they brought it to the floor. Income equality, for example, the president talked about, there is tremendous support for raising the minimum wage. That would help lessen the disparate in terms of income inequality and making work pay, especially for women, as you know we have in our womens agenda. But we dont really want to wait until the election, have these items on the elks agenda. We want to get something done sooner because the agenda of the republicans saying to the president , an agenda is nothing and our timetable never. Never doesnt work for the American People when they need jobs. So every subject you can name comes back does it create jobs, does it reduce the deficit . Lets take that conversation to the public. We hope to succeed with the issues thats more important in the election. Ill say another thing. Sometimes the public turns off the discussion of process here, its understandable. Also the inside language on reduce are we going to raise the debt ceiling . Are we going to shut down government . What does all of that mean . What it means to you and to everyone with a 401k is that they are going to be losers in this. I think its really important for people to know that these decisions we are making here have ramifications in the lives of the American People and how will that affect them . How many of you check your 401k on a regular basis . Maybe you dont, but Many Americans do. Since the president has been president , the stock market has soared, improving the individual lot, any discussion of a shut down or not reaching the debt ceiling and undermining the full faith and credit of the United States ever america hurts people individually of america hurts people individually. They should know that. This is about a few good items to take to the public, how it affects them, and most important thing somehow we create goodpaying jobs as we reduce the deficit to strengthen the middle class. We are depending on you to get the message out. A brief comment because i think the president has indicated as much as any president with whom i have worked over the last 33 years a willingness to talk to those with whom he disagrees or disagree was him to get something done and compromise. Hes indicated that in the budget he committed submitted this year he included compromise. Let me make a point all of you know very well, where do we make compromise in the congress of the United States . In a conference. When there is a disagreement between house and senate we go to conference. Thats the regular order of which the Speaker Boehner speaks. We passed a budget, over 120 days ago in the senate and house. No conference. Refusal to go to conference. An effort to go to conference by senator reid in the senate, we cant initiative initiate that here. The farm bill, they passed a farm bill and pete sessions, the chairman of the rules committee said, we are passing this farm bill without Food Assistance for people who need who are hungry. We are passing it without that so that we can go to conference. That was a couple weeks ago and no effort to go to conference. So that i think the president s willing, we are willing, very frankly we democrats have indicated both in the senate and house, we are willing to sit down to try to reach compromise which is how democracy works. Madam leader, did the president promise to do more to sell the Affordable Care act . Are you satisfied youre going to get enough can he make the case to the public strongly enough and all the impacts we are going to see . We are very confident about what the white house is doing and how we are working together to implement the Affordable Care ct, yes. The president did not bring up the subject of larry summers. Someone else did. The president is the president of the United States and he did he i wouldnt say spoke what he thought about larry summers. It wasnt really about larry summers. It was about how important this decision is, the ramifications the chairman of the fed is there for a long time to come, recognizing that there are differing views in our caucus on the subject and how we go forward, but understanding that whoever the president chooses will be received with Great Respect by our caucus. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] House Democrats meeting with reporters following their session with president obama. The president up on capitol hill to meet first, as he did with House Democrats, and next, now with Senate Democrats. The president actually just beginning that meeting a short while ago with Senate Democrats as the senate gaveled out following an amendment vote over there, but they are gaveling back in at 1 00 eastern. The house gavels in for legislative work today at noon. They will take up begin their agenda dealing with bills that deal with federal Agency Operations, then back to debate on the 2014 spending measure for transportation and housing and urban development. As mentioned, the senates in session. Theyll gavel back in, a couple more votes this afternoon. One a procedural vote, cloture motion on the alcohol, tobacco, firearms o nominee, tom jones. And late on the u. N. Ambassador, Samantha Power. Live coverage on cspan2. Earlier today we brought you a hearing by the Senate Judiciary committee, they were look at the Government Surveillance Program. And privacy issues. They have gaveled out and finished. You can see that in our Video Library at cspan. Org. Among those testifying was the d. N. I. , director of national intelligence, general counsel, and during the hearing this morning senator whitehouse, a member of the committee, asked him about the necessity of classifying documents. Heres a look what they had to say. Over and over now when we were fighting with the Bush Administration about the torture program, the executive branch got to tell its side of the story because the executive branch were the declassifiers, and we were stuck with facts that we knew blew up the argument that was being made by the executive branch, but that we could not articulate because they were classified. We have seen it on cyber where so much of the American Public is unaware of the cyberthreat that we are facing. Thankly we are becoming more aware, but for a thankfully, we are becoming more aware but for a long time we were in the dark about what was going on because in the private Sector Companies didnt want toe talk about for fear ever regulating their regulators, consumers, clients, even giving their competitors advantage. And the government just wildly overclassified everything. Now we have, i think, a terrific article that senator feinstein wrote. We have, i think, very good testimony by bob mueller. We have a lot of good information out there that helps the American Public understand these programs, but it all came out late. It all came out in response to a leaker. There was no organized plan for how we rationally declassify this so that the American People can participate in the debate. I think there is an executive branch reaction towards classification. I think that reaction is in part because of the advantage it gives the executive branch relative to the legislative branch which cant be classified. I think over and over again we found looking back we are worse off for that effort in the first instance. So i would really urge you to take a look at this. When this thing bursts, sthrs this old saying, im not going to get it right, but something about the rumor is all the way acrosstown but before the truth can get its boots on. You live that experience in the last couple months. I hope this has an effect on you because this is a recurring problem. And we really need to be balancing much more carefully the value of declassification against the value of classification. I think you guys are terribly onesided in favor of classification, and then Something Like this comes and, pau, are you still trying to get your boots on because you never took the appropriate steps to put news out about this program that would have avoided a lot of this. I would like to have you have a chance to react to that. I think you make very valid point, senator whitehouse, these are topics we need to debate. Their not easy topics because they involve, again, that same balancing. The same balancing that we are trying to do between National Security and Civil Liberties and what kinds of programs we put into place to gain intelligence information, is the same kind of debate we need to have about whats classified and whats not classified and what secrets we let out. If it was easy, we would be having these left and right. I dont think, at least from what i have seen, that the executive branch is doing it to disadvantage the legislative branch, but i think that it does have that effect. It may. I would concede that. I think its done because people are cautious. And its easier to overclassify than to underclassify. Its safer to overclassify than to underclassify. And now we are having to get into the hard work of finding just where that line is, and thats the difficult job to do. Ut its worth doing. Or something happens that shows that shortterm decision that it was easier to classify was actually the wrong decision. I just want to add on this, i know you are are you familiar with what im about to say, we are having the public debate now, but thats not without cost. The information that has been leaked is going to do damage to our ability to protect the nation. We are going to lose capabilities. People are paying attention to this. The way that typically the Congress Goes through the legislation it passes and own internal rules has historically sought to at cheeve the balance between appropriate oversight of intelligence activities and the the need to protect source and methods is through the intelligence committee, but also some other committees of congress. The appropriations committee. And typically thats the forum that has been used to strike this balance. It may be i get that. My time has expired. We all get that. My point is the American Public is an important part of this debate and we would probably be better off if there was not such a strong instinct in favor of classifying and keeping things classified and we developed information for the American Public in a way that minimized that intelligence selection loss and allowed us to have this debate. Thank you. Youll be able to see all of that hearing shortly in our Video Library at cspan. Org. During that same hearing senator al franken, democrat of minnesota, said he plans to introduce a bill that would force the n. S. A. To reveal how many people in the United States it has spied on. The hill writes that senator franken defended the Government Surveillance Program saying they, quote, protect our country and saves lives, but he argued the public has the right to know the extent of the spying. The senate itself gavels back in for more legislative work this afternoon at 1 00 p. M. Eastern. President obama is meeting with Democratic Senators at this hour you and well hold a briefing, Democratic Leadership will hold a briefing at 12 30 eastern. Well have that live for you on cspan. Org. Earlier in the senate they defeated an amendment, they tabled an amendment by rand paul that would have ended the vote there was 8613. The u. S. House is gaveling back in shortly for legislative work, including the department of transportation and housing spending bill for fiscal year 2014. They are gaveling in under five minutes. Well have that live for you here on cspan. When the first electronic computer was planned, it was estimated there could never be a market for more than two or three. Today there are more than 5,000 computers. This is a replica of the census ma sheefpblet this is a machine designed in 1890 to do the census. The 1880 census took almost 10 years to complete. So the government knew it was in big trouble for the 1890 census because it was going to run out of time before the 1900 census would be due. A way around this problem was to automate or meckianize the problem. The way it was solved was to ask a bunch of questions, the usual questions the census takers ask, and bunchu punch the responses into small pieces of cardboard, called punch cards. On american artifacts, the first 2,000 years of computing. Sunday at 7 00 p. M. Part of American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3. There should just be a flow of communication available to everyone in the country so that its just like electricity. We turn on lights, we dont think about t its an input into everything we do as a country. Communication should be the same thing. But because we have been a little confused, a lot of fog around this issue, people have a sense that Internet Access is a luxury. Whats interesting is that electricity was treated as a luxury, too, in the early 20th century. Water everybody needs. But electricity is for the rich. It took decades to change the perception of electricity from one thing to the other. We are in this middle point right now where Internet Access is still viewed as something slightly magical, expensive, but talk to someone who is trying to run a business from his home, for him Internet Access is just like you cant even get going without having that reasonably priced connection. Now there is no option for it. There is very little choice. Mao americas Economic Future is being impacted by companies controlling access to the internet. Susan crawford, sunday night at 9 00 on afterwards part of book tv this weekend on cspan2. Whats on the agenda in the u. S. House this afternoon as they gavel in next. Theyll take up bills dealing with federal Agency Operations and spending. Also a bill placing further sanctions on iran. And a bill that addresses the doubling of student Loan Interest rates. A bill that passed the Senate Last Week, 8118. The Main Business on the house floor later will be 2014 spending for the department of transportation and housing and urban development. The senate is also considering that bill this week. They will gavel back in at 1 00 p. M. Eastern. Take up the nomination of todd jones to be the a. T. F. Director, 2 00 p. M. Vote set for cloture whether to end debate on the nomination and possibly a confirmation vote there as well. 4 00 p. M. This afternoon. The senate will vote on the nomination of Samantha Power to be u. N. Ambassador. Can you follow the senate on cspan2. Democratic senators meeting with president obama at this hour. We expect a briefing by Democratic Leadership in the senate in about a halfhour. 12 30 eastern. Can you follow that live on cspan. Org. Now to the house floor, live here on cspan. The speaker the house will be in order. The prayer will be offered oday by our guest chaplain bef the chaplain almighty god, the most high possessor of greatness, we beseech your help on this house of representatives. Grant them accruemen as they debate the issues, grant them wisdom to follow the logic to its logical conclusion. Grant them the quality of excellence in planning both short and longterm that focuses on the right thing, the right way, at the right time. As we pledge one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, in acknowledging you, god, who created us all and cares about us all equally, bless this house to be reflective of e plure bus ewe numb, the many diverse, wonderful, beautiful expressions of human life that have contributed to the beauty and strength of america. And bless them to have always the right perception of our nation, that first of all, this nation gift from you, and under you, god, we are responsible for how we treat everything. Amen. The speaker 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 mr. Wittman. Mr. Wittman splk please join me in the pledge of allegiance to our flag. 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 nd justice for all the speaker without objection the gentleman from minnesota, mr. Ellison is recognized for ne minute. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker, its my distinct honor and privilege d pleasure to introduce imam talib sharif, the resident imam, which is simply a word at means leader of a washington, d. C. Mosque with a 75year history. Imam talib sharif is a 30year veteran of the United States air force and served our country nobly in uniform for many years and he also holds a masters in Business Administration from the American Intercontinental University and a diploma in the area of arabic studies and language from defense university. I might also add that the imam is a leader in the Interfaith Movement and regularly works with faith leaders of all faiths building understanding, cohesion, and unity among all people and all americans. With that, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the chair will entertain 15 further requests for oneminute speeches on each side of the aisle. For what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. I rise today to pay tribute to a former member of the house and a grand lady from louisiana, ms. Lindy boggs. They was a pioneer and trail blazer for the state of louisiana. She served louisianas second Congressional District following the death of her husband, h lambings e boggs. She was the first woman to represent the state of louisiana in congress and founder of the congresswomans caucus. Mr. Scalise in tribute to her service as a pioneer for women, the congressional womens reading room is rightfully named in her honor down the hall. She was the first woman and only louisiana ambassador to the holy see in the tenure of Pope John Paul ii. Lindy effortlessly balanced her role as a respected leader and loving mother. She loved her city of new orleans, in fact, lived on bourbon street for many of her later years in new orleans. She loved her beloved Tulane University and in fact, just recently, she and her daughter cokie participated in a benefit for Tulane University in new orleans. Shes somebody who will be dearly missed and somebody who we are honored to have, to be able to call a former colleague of ours here in the house. With that, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. I would also like to join my colleague from louisiana, representative scalise, and leader pelosi in recognizing such a great and remarkable woman. It is with a heavy heart that i rise to recognize the loss of a true legend in louisiana, ambassador and former representative lindy boggs. She was a perfect example of leadership, never afraid to fight for justice and demand equality. She took the responsibility of service seriously, addressing the plight of everyday people in the state of louisiana and our nation st better for it. She was an effective legislator. She loved this body, earning the respect of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle, which is an example here today with congressman scalise and i. Mr. Richmond s of it was this year in womens History Month we were able to recognize former ambassador boggs on her 90th 97th birthday. With that, i would ask that we take a moment of silence unless the leader is going to speak and recognize the great contribution and sacrifice of a true remarkable louisiana sint who i think displays whats best of the best in louisiana system of mr. Speaker, with that, i ask for a brief moment of silence. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition . Ms. Pelosi i would like to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Pelosi i thank the gentlemen for their kind words they said about congresswoman lindy boggs. I associate myself with their remarks and i say that bipartisanship is how she led in this body. Discussions ated on the floor, she would call us back and say, darling, hale always said dont fight each fight as if its your last. No wonder a room is name for her, a room thats shared a bipartisan enjoyment and participation, where weve come together as democrats and republicans to bring about solutions. Mr. It was referenced that we had a bipartisan tribute to her on her birthday, march 13, and i think you would find some joy in the fact that as a devout catholic, that was her birthday, that was when we plan to have had the tribute, that was the day white smoke went up in the chimney and rome so for r birthday we could also celebrate a new pope, pope francis, and what better gift for her than to enjoy that on her birthday. Some of us will be in new orleans for her service tomorrow, all of us, and all of us send our mourning and prayers to their family, i hope its a comfort to them that so many people loved lindy boggs and share their grief and are praying for them at this time. With that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson the congressional caucus convened a hearing at the institute of technology, im proud to have joined my colleagues to hear from state and local officials and leaders the Economic Impacts on Gas Production in the marcellus shale region. It offered an insightful look at the 3,551 producing wells in pennsylvania. One of those benefits is jobs. Today 30,372 people in pennsylvania are employed in the natural gas industry, a 104 increase since 2009. 600. Verage salary, 82 in just two rural northern pennsylvania county, testimony revealed an increase of 4,832 jobs and 226 businesses between 2006 and 2012. Most importantly, 80 of those jobs are now filled by local workers. Mr. Speaker, responsible production of natural gas is producing Energy Security and Economic Impact that surpasses all expectations. Thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, members of the house, im calling on the speaker to cancel or postpone the august recess until we get our work done here. As a businessman, the last thing i would ever consider doing is to giving my employees a month or five weeks off when were not getting our job done. Mr. Speaker, youre the boss. You set the schedule. You put together the work agenda. And the simple truth is, this congress is being recognized as the least productive, accomplished congress in the history of this country. Mr. Nolan we have an appropriations bill, the farm bill, immigrations, we have the president s jobs bill, we have the debt ceiling limit, we have members of congress threatening to shut down the government and were going on a recess . It makes no sense whatsoever. Its time that this congress go to work, put the subcommittees to work, go to work five days a week like everybody else in america and d our job. Put america back to work. Rebuild the middle class. Get this country moving again. Mr. Speaker, cancel this recess. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. I rise today with a few questions. Should 16,000 i. R. S. Ureaucrats be allowed to target you if they dont like your political beliefs. Theyve already targeted conservative groups. Will this be intensified . The i. R. S. Bureaucrat who previously managed the Tax Exemption Department Call foid run the obamacare Enforcement Division . Abuse of american citizens occurred on her watch. Is anyone worried, at least a little bit, that she is now that she now oversees our Health Care Decisions . The i. R. S. Forfeited any claim to impartiality and violated the trust of the American People. The i. R. S. Must not be involved in the Health Care Decisions of ordinary americans. On friday, i urge you to join me in supporting h. Reform 2009, the keep the i. R. S. Off your health care act. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from the gentlelady from florida seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for ne minute. Mr. Speaker, its been 941 days since i arrived in congress and the Republican Leadership has still not allowed one single vote on serious legislation to address our unemployment crisis. Mrs. Wilson according to a new survey by the associated press, 80 of adults experience either prolonged unemployment a year or more of reliance on government aid such as food stamps or Poverty Level income at least some point in their lives. Thats four out of five mericans experiencing severe n mr. Speaker, is this the land of opportunity . The people demand a remedy. Its time to bring the american jobs act to the floor. It deserves a vote. The american jobs act prevents layoffs, invests in longterm job creation and expands work force training. Mr. Speaker, the mantra of this congress should be, jobs, jobs, jobs. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition . I rise today in defense of freedom, i rise in definance of the ideals that our founding gathers fought and bled and died for. I believe we are in the fight for the very heart and soul of our country. Mr. Stewart we know that r. S. Agents tarring thed conservative groups and individuals. No one has been held to count for this. Such arrogance and impunity cannot go unanswered. We know that federal regulations are being proposed that will cost trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. These regulations are being proposed without any transparency or accountability to the people, such arrogance cannot go unanswered. Thanks to this administration, more and more americans believe government. Of big we have benghazi, we have obamacare, we have the politization of the justice department. We have government snooping on journalists. The federal government was created to serve the people, and it is now standing with its boot on the next necks of the people. Our Founding Fathers would not recognize the nation that we have become. We can change this. Join with me as we fight to overcome government abuse. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Higgins i rise in strong opposition to the 50 cut in the Community Development Block Grant Program in the housing, transportation, and urban Development Bill currently being considered. This cut is reckless and punitive to communities in need. This year western new york communities are scheduled to receive a total of 22. 2 million which they plan to use to improve public infrastructure, policing facilities, and Fund Economic development initiatives. The bill before us cuts that funding in half to 11 million next year. Cutting Community Development block Grant Funding is completely counterproductive and will cost the country in the long term. These cuts will erode Community Revitalization and job creation, only adding to the financial burden on our federal budget in the long run. I urge the house to reject these cuts to our communities and defeat this shortsighted bill. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today with disappointment because Congress Plans to adjourn without addressing Critical Issues important to the American People. It shouldnt take a Government Shutdown threat in september each year to will congress to do its job. Mr. Wittman it also should not be difficult to achieve an efficient, lean, and functional government with a real budget and appropriations blueprint. I appreciate that district work periods allow members to visit with folks back in their community, but this august the work is too important. Unfortunately, congress has not completed the job it needs to. It has not completed the work of the people. Too much Unfinished Business requires some overtime and it begs members to stay and finish. Lets clear our schedules, vote against the adjournment of congress for the month of august, and stay in washington to finish the business of the people. As i was last august im prepared to stay in washington as long as it takes. These issues are too important to wait. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Kaptur i ask unanimous consent to address the house for ne minute mrs. Beatty i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. I rise in opposition to the deep and drastic cuts to the transportationh. U. D. Appropriations bill. In existence since 1974 the cdbg program has invested 135 billion to local communities. In this chamber it is often said that we need to make sure that government is more efficient and reduces waiving taxpayer dollars. While im happy to report that this Program Continues to be one of h. U. D. s most efficient programs, with grantees devoting on an average 94 of cdbg funds directly to efforts that provides benefits to low and moderate income families. The republican chairperson has said, cutting over 7 billion in programs was very challenging. Mr. Chairman, i say if this chamber cuts these programs that provides jobs and infrastructure development, i can assure you that the children, the seniors, and the families helped by these programs will find it much more challenging dealing with 7 billion in cuts. I urge you to oppose these cuts. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to address truly disturbing comments president obama made during his hourlong speech on july 24. He mentioned, and i quote, an endless parade of distractions and phony scandals as if to belittle the significance of these stories. Mr. Gosar there is nothing phony about the debts linked to the fast and furious. Beside me is a photo of blood running through the streets of mexico. Gh School Students killed by guns from the justice department. Ryan terry, the Border Patrol agent, who holder gave the guns to, is not phony. These deaths are real. What else is real . Attorney general holders violation of the law and the ramifications which are far from phony. As Supreme Court justice bran sighs said n. A got of laws the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupe scrupulously. It invites every man to become a law unto itself. It invites anarchy. I asking will the attorney general invite anarchy. I will continue to make my case in the peoples house. I will be back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from iowa seek recognition . Request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Today i rise to recognize the 48th anniversary of medicare and medicaid. I grew up in poverty and my grandfather often relied on security benefits, Survivor Benefits to put food on the table. Mr. Loebsack i know firsthand how important medicare and medicaid, and how important they are to seniors and families in america. No senior should have to make the choice between putting food on the table and paying for their medication. Our con countrys retirees made into medicare their entire lives. Thats why its critical those who worked hard get their earned benefits. Medicaid is critical to lowincome families and individuals with disabilities that depend on the program for their basic health care needs. Many of whom are struggling just to get by. I look forward to continuing to work to strengthen and protect medicare and medicaid to ensure that the promise of health and Economic Security will be there for generations to come. With that i yield back. 10eu the speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Request unanimous consent to address the house. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore does the gentleman seek recognition for one minute . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, last week texas and America Energy industry lost a friend, George Mitchell who many knew as the father of fracking passed away last week in his home in galveston, texas. While his death is a sad occasion, his legacy will live on as the Energy Industry grows and prospers. Its ranked 13th in the Gas Production largely due to his innovator. He was a community builder, too, a visionary. He developed the woodlands Master Community when many just saw it as useless swampland. He played an integral role in reviving what i consider a freshes gem in my district, the island of galveston. George and his wife put countless hours and resources into restoring the strand which helped keep it a popular tourist destination. Its important we remember him not overwhelm for his contribution to texas business but also for his zeal and tenacity to give back to the communities where he lived and worked. Im randy weber and thats the way i see it from where i sit here in america. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Im proud to recognize dr. Emily ruffo, administrator of the haywoode Police Departments youth and Family Services bureau who has been named the California School resource officer Associations Law emen administrator of the year. Shell be honored with this award today at the School Safety conference in snime. Mr. Swalwell just this year dr. Ruffo was promoted to be administrator of the bureau. Her work has been a great help to the entire 1r5th Congressional District. They lead and Office Services to youth such as counseling and help keep kids out of trouble. It offers an alternative to juvenile justice to get them back on the right track. As a former prosecutor in the alameda counttry District Attorney east office i worked closely with the Police Department and know how important this program is. Dr. Ruffo is rightly being recognized for her commitment and care for the children and families of the east bay. Its people like her willing to dedicate their careers to helping those at risk who are helping to provide us with a brighter future. On behalf of the people of hayward and the entire 15th Congressional District, i want to thank her for her service, congratulate her on the award, and wish her all continued success. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from missouri seek recognition . Ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Thank you. Washington bureaucrats are up to their old tricks again. They are interfering with how we run our businesses, dictating the type of Health Insurance we have to purchase, and stone walling tax exempt status based on political speech. Now they are going so far as to tell magicians how to do their magic shows. Let me introduce you to marty haney, an area mishian from missouri who has been doing magic shows for over 27 years. This summer he received a chilling letter from the federal government requiring him to have a license. Not for himself but for his rabbit. The Agriculture Department is interpreting a decades old law on animal exhibitions to now include pet bunnies used in magic shows. In order to continue conveying to children that reading is magic, he has to not only obtain a license but also write a mandated disaster plan for his rabbit, including provisions for fires, floods, tornadoes, ice storms, and hower failures. Mrs. Hartzler this is just another example of government overreach and loss of freedoms in our country. Its time for this to stop. Its time for common sense to prevail. Its time for Big Government to leave us alone. With a track record of this current administration, that really would be like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Courtney thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i wrote the following letter to the undersecretary of defense a few days ago. Just this past saturday i attend add welcome home event for the 110 theth Kentucky National guard who spent the last year in afghanistan providing critical maintenance for our helicopter feet. Their joy being home with family was undermined with the reality that nearly a third of the 100 returning members are dual status technicians and hit by furlough. After serving in a war zone away from family, it was a bitter pill for these patriots to lose 20 of their pay almost immediately upon return. I do believe the department of defense can do a better job managing the furloughs, however the real responsibility rests in this chamber to turn over sequester. Its been 210 days since the governing republican majority took power. 1 legislative days. We have not taken up one measure to turn off sequester in that time. In three days we are going in a vacation. We should cancel the recess, we should focus on making sure that these patriots are not treated so shabbily, and we should make sure that the 600,000 plus civilian d. O. D. Federal employees have their furloughs turned off. Cancel the recess. Turn off sequester. Stand up for americas middle class. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlelady from indiana seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. When i was back in the district this weekend, indiana hoosier requested pretty simple, they say work on reforms, create more jobs, and just start the economy. So they are tired of big goast policies intruding on the lives of american citizens. Mrs. Walorski thats why im proud today to cosponsor and support bills that rein in washington. Every week we hear chilling reports about the Internal Revenue service exercising poor judgment, intentionally going after american citizens. Im cosponsoring a stop i. R. S. Act. While i. R. S. Employees are under investigation or forced to take administrative leaf, they continue to receive salaries funded under taxpayer dollars. Im cosponsoring the Government Employee accountability act to free pay. Its been reported the i. R. S. Spent 50 million between 2010 and 2012 to hold lavish indulgent conferences. Im cosponsoring the stop playing on citizens cash act to stop wasting our tax dollars. These same individuals are set to lead a commanding role implementing and enforcing obamacare so um cosponsoring the keep the i. R. S. Off our health care act. To prevent this agency from getting their hands on our health care. Washington needs a strong dose of hoosier common sense. Im proud to stand with the thousands of letters and phone calls from hoosiers and put the brakes on this reckless government. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition . The gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to remind my colleagues and the American People just how important passing comprehensive Immigration Reform is to the growth of our economy. Study after study has shown that comprehensive Immigration Reform will strengthen agriculture, cut the deficit, create manufacturing and Job Opportunities and put hundreds of thousands of americans back to work. This will increase our countrys j. D. P. And pump billions into our economy. Ms. Brownley here in congress we talk a lot about creating jobs and growing the economy but now it is time to act. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting comprehensive Immigration Reform for our economy and for the future of our country. Mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The president s 30 billion excise tax on medical Device Manufacturers is bad for america. Mr. Messer the tax is costing jobs, particularly in indiana, and limiting Patient Access to lifesaving devices and therapies. We should not be putting american manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage and forcing americans to look beyond our shores for care, simply to pay for the president s broken Health Care Law. There are more than 26,000 hoozecrers employed by the medical device Manufacturing Industry and thousands more hoozers employed by the medical evice Manufacturing Industry and thousands more employed in related fields. This house should pass h. R. 523, the protect medical innovation act to repeal the tax, preserve Patient Access to care, and save these hoosier jobs. Thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to shed light on the importance of the Community Development Block Grant Program. This Program Provides urban communities with resources need to address a wide range of Community Development needs to improve the quality of life for low and moderate income citizens. Mr. Veasey since the start of the program, the Community Development Block Grant Program has invested millions and helped families, create jobs, providing housing to Many Americans in need. The program has provided the eat state of texas with over 60 million in direct grant this is year alone, with over 28 million of those dollars going to the dallasfort worth metroplex. This is vital to constituents in the 33rd Congressional District. Its assisted them with rehabbing their homes, helping with down payments and providing closing cost assistance to qualified home buyers. The appropriations bill up for vote this week cuts the f. Y. 2013 votes for funds for these grants nearly in half, the lowest level of funding in history. I urge my colleagues to vote no and save this important program. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from missouri seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Today the house will vote on a series of bills aimed to stop government abuse. Mr. Speaker, it is extremely disheartening that the federal government has acted and continues to act in a manner that cultivates distrust. Unfortunately, there are countless examples of misconduct among the federal agencies ranging from the i. R. S. Discriminating against conservative groups to denying american citizens their Constitutional Rights in administrative proceedings. Ms. Wagner over the past month i have heard from 1,187 of my constituents regarding their distrust in government and as more activities of the agencies in the executive branch come to light who can blame them . What is even more troubling than the misconduct itself is the fact that the president stands by it. Last week he called such transgressions phony scandals. These are hardly phony scandals. These are real and unconscionable actions taken by our federal government and these actions are unacceptable and it is pastime for us to d something about it. We must take the necessary steps to start earning the trust of the American People and thats why i back and have cosponsored several bills in the house considered this week. They are commonsense measures that work to begin restoring confidence in the American People. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, i did not expect to still be waiting for a vote on Immigration Reform in august but here we are, 48 hours from leaving town for six weeks and theres been no definitive house action. Many of us will spend time with children and loved ones whether on vacation or just in the backyard. Mr. Gutierrez i urge my colleagues to think about the millions of immigrant families who are not able to spend time together. The mother who was deported esterday, the sister who was fraid of deportation and left. There are many because of their status, a trip to the hospital or a traffic ticket could mean they never see their children again. The dream will end for the 44,000 immigrants that will be deported between now and september 9. I ask unanimous consent to insert this letter from jared polis of colorado and myself to the president of the United States asking for release of the dream nine held in arizona and entered into the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Gutierrez thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Fleming president obama says he now has serious ideas about taxes and job creation. Id like to take him seriously but the truth is, the president has spent the last four and a half years hammering the nations businesses with taxes, regulations and obamacare. His business mandate has already forced many Small Businesses to convert falltime jobs to parttime jobs. And lets remember, the jobs that have already dissipated due to the medical dice companies that are reducing employees to pay a new obamacare excise tax. One company has already terminated more than 1,000 workers. As for taxes, the president s fiscal cliff deal pushes tacks up to as much as 45 for many Small Business owners and investors. That simply diminishes their incentive to move forward with expansions that would create jobs. Mr. President if youd really like this economy to get going, lets start by repealing obamacare and cutting taxes. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Members are reminded to address all comments to the chair. For what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition . The gentlelady is recognized or one minute. Ms. Duckworth yesterday marks the establish anniversary of medicare and medicaid. Since it was established into law millions have depended on it to live their lives with dignity this historic commitment and pledge from our country is one of our greatest achievements. Seniors like my mother and those living with disabilities understand the essential role medicare plays in the lives of so Many Americans. In april, i held a round table with constituents in elk grove village, illinois. They all stressed to me the importance of protecting and saving medicare but also cracking down on fraud and abuse in the program. I met with People Living with disabilities who rely on these benefit for their health services. As we celebrate and acknowledge the great benefits of medicare its important to reinforce our commitment to the program even as we cut down on waste and fraud. We must continue the fight to strengthen and enhance medicare and fulfill our 48yearold promise to millions of hardworking americans across this great nation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. For what purpose does the gentlelady from North Carolina seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Ellmers thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak in favor of h. R. 2009. The keep the i. R. S. Off your health care act. Obamacare has proven to be a terrible law that will continue to hurt individuals, employers, and our health care system. Ra regarding the law has been scarce, what we know for sure is that premiums are skyrocketing, American Families are confused, doctors and nurses are afraid they will not be able to continue to care for their patients. Businesses across the country are being forced to not only adhere to the erroneous paperwork requirements but have been in a Holding Pattern for over three years waiting for implementation. Recently we learned that the i. R. S. Has been targeting different groups and singling them out for intense scrutiny based on their political views. But as obamacare is set to be implemented, americans are expected to trust the i. R. S. With responsibility of implementing this destructive law. This has proven to be unworkable. And dangerous has proven to be an unworkable and dangerous path for our country and health s thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield back me remainder of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, Climate Change is a longterm threat to my home state of california and to all coastal states. Climate change will increase the risk of flooding and eventual sub megs of millions of americans lowlying homes. I hold up this article that a group of scientists from princeton and the university of arizona recently published which was a journal article that quantified state by state the coastal populations exposed to storm surges and sea level rise. Mr. Lowenthal the researchers found that in california, there are more than 138,000 Housing Units and over 325,000 californians living on land that is below one meter of high tide. And in the entire United States, there are approximately 3. 7 million americans living on land below one meter of high tide. Mr. Speaker, if congress and the world does nothing, Climate Change will have a devastating impact on these 3. 7 million americans who are on the front line of Climate Change. And that number will only grow. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you mr. Shimkus thank you, mr. Speaker. I come to the floor with a letter from a constituent a businessman, im just raing parts of it. I did not need to read about the owaugh because obamacare Health Insurance tax that will be passed on to Small Businesses, as its happened to my small firm. Was advised by my Insurance Agent that blue cross and blue shield of illinois is increasing my rate by more than 38 . Due to a decrease in business, likely caused by uncertainty of had to release one employee and advised all other employees that the increase in Health Insurance premiums will be passed on to them. I was able to pay 100 of Health Care Coverage but after two consecutive increases in the last two years and the latest 40 increase, simple business logic requires that i pass on this increase or simply go out of business. My employees will have less takehome pay under obamacare. Does anyone in congress realize that under this still uncertain program it is more logical for me to shut down my business and take the subsidies on one of the exchanges than to remain open . I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Sanchez thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of h. R. 1911, the bipartisan student loan certainty act. Last month i urged my colleagues in this house to take up and help our students because the Interest Rate was going to double on july 1. The senate has already acted and this week we have a chance to make things right. The bipartisan student loan certainty act will not only reverse the july 1 student Loan Interest rate hike, but it actually makes things better for our students. As students around the world are acquiring Higher Education masters and training, its imperative that our students here in this country also a global scale. Rtunities to by makingh educationssib, h. 19 accomplishes that. When it is signed by president obama, it will give 25 billion in debt relief over the next six years. It will give students the ability to lock in the Interest Rate for the life of their loan so they know exactly what they are going to be paying in interest, and it will save thousands of dollars in lower interest payments. I look forward to sending this bill to our president. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. In our declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote government derive their power from the consent of the governed. Years later Abraham Lincoln called our american democracy a government of the people, by the people, for the people. These great men think if they saw the waste and abuse so rampant in government today. Mr. Heck republicans are committed to maintaining a government that works for the American People not against them. Thats why this week we are bringing a number of bills to the floor to do just that. We believe america with expanded opportunity and more secure future for all. There is no place in that america for massive government overreach. Thats why the House Republicans will continue to fight it. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. Sir, pursuant to permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on july 31, 2013, at 9 45 a. M. That the Senate Passed without amendment h. R. 2167, h. R. 2611. That the senate agreed to without amendment house concurrent resolution 44. Signed, sincerely, karen l. Haas. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection on clause 6 of rule 20. Record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 2711, as amended. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 2711, a bill to amend title 5 United States code to establish certain procedures for conducting in person or tell phonic interactions by executive branch employees with individuals, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant te e gentleman from california, m issa, ane ntman frommiwill cont gentleman cnia. Mr. Issa thanu, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and includeheir remarks and extraneous material on the bill under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Issa thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have the author of this legislation before us, a principled member of congress who saw a problem and sought to fix it and we brought it before you today. We brought it before you today because we hear and hear rightfully Horror Stories of harassment that includes federal officials at the i. R. S. , the e. P. A. , the s. E. C. , the f. E. C. , and a list of other a. B. C. s. The truth is in 39 out of 50 states every member on a phone, every americans a right to record that conversation without ssio tha federal officer on the other end, but in 11 states, states that most people dont know which is which, that is muddied. When a conversation occurs between two states, it is muddied. Ms. Jenkins as the author of this bill sought in principle to fix that and aid like to recognize her for two minutes to explain her bill. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Jenkins i thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him for his leadership on this very important issue. Whether im talking to kansans back home or listening to witnesses at ways and means hearings, i have heard story after story of federal regulators abusing their power. What is worse, many people are afraid to share their stories of a harassment or other inappropriate behavior by government officials out of fear of retaliation. The citizen empowerment act will give them certified proof and help to alleviate this fear. This bill will give americans a new tool to protect themselves and their business from vernment overreach and abuse by expanding the rights of all citizens to allow them to record meetings and telephone conversations with federal regulators and officials. The citizen empowerment act will ensure individuals are made aware of this right by requiring Government Agencies to notify them of this right. Not only do federal agencies get to write rules, they get to enforce them, too. In fact, a citizen is 10 times more likely to be tried by a federal agency than by an actual court. And citizens have fewer rights during Agency Proceedings than in a courtroom. The citizens empowerment act will give americans a tool to even the Playing Field with safe federal regulators by increasing transparency and accountability within the system. Americans deserve who puts its citizens first, and this is exatlspd far too much te this body debating bi empower the government. Is bill empowers americans. And acting the citizen empowerment act and other nine stop government abuse bills will be a positive step toward getting Big Government out of the way of our economy and rebuilding trust that has been broken by rampant abuse of federal power. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from california reserves. The gentleman from maryland. Mr. Cummings mr. Chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Cummings i rise today in opposition to h. R. 2711. This legislation would have a Significant Impact on Law Enforcement and it would interfere with laws in a dozen states. The federal Law Enforcement Officers Association sent a letter to chairman issa and me opposing this bill. This is part of what they and as the chair and Ranking Member with jurisdiction over h. R. 2711, we urge you to ensure that the bill is not considered on the floor unless it is amended to exempt Law Enforcement from its provisions. Until that time, theyll continue to strongly oppose this legislation. They also wrote, and i quote, the legislation puts Law Enforcement activities at risk and does a disservice to the brave men and women who are asked to put their lives on the line to protect us from terrorists and criminals, end of quote. They are not the only Law Enforcement organizations that oppose the legislation. The National Association of assistant u. S. Attorneys also sent a letter opposing 2711. Heres part of what they wrote, and i quote. The most disturbing aspect of the legislation involves this dramatical ne imct on civil and criminal Law Enforcement investefforts, end. They went on to say, iote, legislation he approved by the House Committee on oversight andofthegovernment reform on july 24 did not contain any exceptions. Clearly this measure raises a magnitude of administrative and legal concerns that should be addressed before the house gives further consideration to approval of this legislation, end of quote. The Committee Held no hearings on the legislation and urged heard testimony from no Law Enforcement officials before marking up the bill. Now it is being rushed on to the floor in record speed with apparently no record to its consequences to Law Enforcement. Feelill also would end the the law put in place by 12 states to protect their citizens. For example, my home state of maryland enacted a law in 1977 that made it a felony to record a private conversation unless every party to the conversation recording or anotheexption applies. Crafted to provide great protection to maryland residents. H. R. 2711 preempts the laws of maryland and other states that require all parties to consent to a recording. The bill deems federal employees to have consented to a recording just by performing their official duties and does not even require that they be notified. Maryland statute requires actual consent not forced or assumed consent. To assume someone would have their conversation recorded by participating in the conversation undermines the states laws as well as tholes in california, massachusetts, michigan, pennsylvania, and other states that require multiple party exempt for recordings. Mr. Speaker, h. R. 2711 is a dangerous and poorly considered piece of legislation. I oppose this bill and irge thai reserve the balance ofti he gentleman from maran reserves. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Issa mr. Speaker, i would ask what day it is . What day of the month it is . Mr. Speaker, is it the 31st day of july . Can you verify that for me . Because on the 24th 6 july of july we amended this bill to send it to the house and the Ranking Member knows full well as im sure the National Association of assistant u. S. Attorneys and the federal Law Enforcement Officers Association know full well, and i am he shocked they would write and that in fact the Ranking Member would write in a Dear Colleague things that ju arent so in this bill. Before us today we do not preempt states, as the Ranking Member ritfully so said, we make a statement on behalf of t employees theebconsent that you may us. N 39 out of 50 states, theres a little ambiguity allese recordings, but does allow a recording for a Law Enforcement officer, having said that r it no, i will not. The gentleman cited portion of that letter from the National Association of u. S. Attorneys. Let me give you a portion that i want to make sure gets on the record. It it says, h. R. 2711 requires any employee of an executive agency before or at a personal interviewer or tell phonic interchange with an individual to allow the individual to make an audio recording of in person or tell phonic interaction. Well let that one slide. To e legislation requires the executive branch employeeo first provide notice to the individual of their right to make such a recording. Mr. Speaker, thats just not true. We went through a long markup. And in that markup in the managers amendment, we made it very clear that the only notice the federal government would give would be a notice publications, websites, and so on. Letting americans know that they no longer ha ask if they were in idaho, if in fact somebody caug them calling them from maryland did or didnt need to know they were ierstate situation is one in which the American People deserve to know that they have a right to document when someone calls them and if they trip up in that answer, they could go to jail or get a fine or lose their business. 39 out of 50 states recoize it and all we are saying very clearly is, the federal governmentproval these documents sadly were accu i looked at the bill on the 23rdofuly. The Ranking Member knows full well these dumtsre somewhat inaccurate. His own letter implies th Law Enforcement will somehow be crippled by having to give s just not true. In 39 out of 50 states, Law Enforcement would already know that somebody could be recording and not telling them. Thats the law of thosstates but more importantly, we are not affecting the Ranking Members maryland Law Enforcement. We are affecting federal officers such as the e. P. A. , esti, the i. R. S. When they call s. Could lead to real harm to you that you would be able to document. And if you are had a rationed, youll be able to hss able t. Thats what we are doing y. Empo know their federal government will never ask the question no. In no way shape or form are these personal this affects when a member of our federal employment is doing their official duty and calling a private citizen. And of course the private citizen should have the right and the federal government this isnt a personal call, this isnt one in which you should expect to be able to sayatev yot private, these are public conversations, these are public investigations, and p should have a right to protect itself. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kale reserves, the gentleman from maryland is