House will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. July 14, 2015. I hereby appoint the honorable Carlos Curbelo 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 6 2015, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. 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 minority whip limited to five minutes. But in no event shall debate continue beyond 11 50 a. M. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. Roskam for five minutes. Mr. Roskam 00 thank you mr. Roskam thank you, mr. Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen of the house, we ought not bet against ukraine and we ought not bet against georgia. I recently returned from a delegation of the house democracy partnership. This is a bipartisan delegation over the fourth of july recess that visited ukraine and georgia. Our purpose was to reflect this body to those parliamentary bodies in ukraine and georgia. Ill tell you this. I came away, and i know the other members of the house democracy partnership, came away with a feeling of very seriousness, a feeling of encouragement, a feeling of gratitude for the tenacity with which the ukranians and the georgians are pursuing freedom. These are two nations that desperately want to be in the orbit of the west. They desperately want to be a part of the e. U. They desperately want to be part of nato. And they are doing everything they can to stiff arm and push back from the aggression of vladimir putin. They need one thing. They need our help, they need our encouragement, and they need our support. Its said there are some who look at this as the frontline of the rising voices against authoritarianism, and i think that thats true. So weve got to do everything we can in this body not only to provide the economic support and other support that these countries need, but also do everything we can to push the administration to do the right thing as well. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. This is a big day on capitol hill. The iranian agreement has been signed. Hopefully well all have a chance to study it and think through the implications of this historic event. But the legislative clock is ticking down in another area. We have only 10 days left this month, legislatively, before we face another transportation funding cliff. The expectation now is that there will be a 34th shortterm transportation extension that we have faced since our last meaningful sixyear reauthorization. People are scrambling for another shortterm Funding Source to keep us going for the next few months that target presumably eight to 11 billion to get us through the end of the year. This is actually worse than no solution at all. Because it perpetuates the uncertainty the crisis mentality, the inability of states and local governments that rely on this federal partnership to that supplies approximately one half of the Capital Expenditures for our surface transportation. This uncertainty comes at a time when our bridges, our roads, our transit, are all in serious areas of disrepair. We are desperately in need of bigger, longer term projects. Its a myth that somehow we cant afford to take action. The public is paying now. Hundreds of dollars a year in damage to each of their vehicles costs far in excess of a few dollars a year few cents a day for gas tax increase. American commuters and businesses are suffering over 120 billion a year cost of congestion, costs directly related to inadequate infrastructure. People are tying themselves in knots when there is a simple, obvious solution. As pointed out in the delightful oped in the Washington Post on july 9, we should simply follow Ronald Reagans example and fill up americas Highway Trust Fund. They ask how the famously tax cutting conservative president raised the federal user fee, the gas tax, on motor fuels 125 . Well, while he was concerned about general taxation, he was absolutely comfortable with having user fees to cover specific costs like the gas tax or aviation or inland waterway fees. He worked with republicans in congress who demonstrated significant support for user fee increases. Then he gave his secretary of transportation drew lewis, free hand to lay the groundwork. Finally, when he decided to support the gas tax increase his department of transportation swung into action as did Ronald Reagan himself. He gave an eloquent speech november 29 1982, on thanksgiving day, calling on congress to come back into session and approve the gas tax increase. We have the opportunity for such leadership today. My proposed gas tax increase, h. R. 680, is supported by all the major interest groups. Unions, the chamber of commerce truckers triplea, transit local government, environmentalists engineers, contractors. The same approach has been used in 20 states since 19 since 2012 to raise transportation revenues. Six states have raised the gas tax already this year. Six red republican states. Its simple. My bill would provide the money necessary to actually pass a sixyear bill. It would be sustainable so we wouldnt be back in the same pickle in a year or two years or five. And finally, its dedicated so people can count upon it to implement the steps necessary to rebuild and renew americas infrastructure. Its time to stop temperizing and time to act. Filling the trust fund with borrowed money, inadequate to do the job but enough to avoid responsibility is not a solution that we can be proud of. Especially when america is ready and Ronald Reagan pointed the way. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota, mr. Emmer, for five minutes. Mr. Emmer mr. Speaker i rise today to recognize and congratulate st. Cloud Cathedral High School baseball coach bob karn on being named not only the regional coach of the year but also the Diamond National coach of the year by the american baseball coaches association. Under coach karns direction they have won 50 consecutive games and this year they celebrated their second straight state title. These impressive statistics are nothing new for the coach. Hes coached a total of 45 seasons and under his leadership, cathedral has a record of 736237, and nine state championships. Coach karn you made a Lasting Impact on your players and they will use all you taught them wherever they go. Your team, your school, and community have all benefited from your leadership. Thank you so much for everything that you do. Keep up the excellent work and best of luck next season. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of the raines act f my time in congress one message i consist tently hear at home is washington is not listening to the people. Unelected nameless bureaucrats continue to impose harmful and burdensome regulation on the American People. In total compliance with federal regulation costs 1. 5 trillion a year. These regulations are devastating to Small Business and cost American Families nearly 15,000 a year. Using the raines act, the new congress has stepped up to the plate. Under the raines act, major rules from federal agencies would require congressional approval before enactment. Through congress, the American People would have up to 70 days to view a major rule before it is ever called for a vote. To prevent long legal challenges, courts are allowed to ensure agencies have adhered to all necessary requirements before final implementation. Finally, the raines act allows for congress to disapprove of any minor rule thus holding this Administration Accountable and protecting against run away federal government. I am a proud cosponsor of the raines act which restores the democratic process in favor of those who originally formed our government, the people. And i ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this vital legislation. Mr. Speaker, transportation is the key to the future Economic Growth of my district and our nation. For years, the federal Highway Trust Fund has run deficits and fostered an environment of waste and frivolous spending. This week, congress is poised to pass another shortterm fix. While i applaud the efforts of chairman ryan and shuster my constituents need longterm answers and solutions to the transportation gridlock and congestion that stifles growth and expansion. Projects in my district such as interstate 94 which is one of the most congested corridors in the region are slowing development and costs commuters valuable time and money while they are stuck in traffic. U. S. Highway 10 has become such an issue that cities are placing moratoriums on new business development. Mr. Speaker, this is a travesty and my constituents have every right to be frustrated. I call upon this body to work to pass a longterm funding bill and give our constituents the certainty they deserve in their Transportation System. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to recognize st. Clouds onlyic intaluki for his second place finish at the International Power lifting Federation World championships in finland. This past year after topping 108 competitors,ic inwon the National Title and a ticket to the World Championship in finland. With eight previously World Championship competition under his belt, nick finished higher than before completing a 744 pound dead lift for the gold. In addition to his Power Lifting career, hes also a st. Cloud Police Officer and swat team operator. As a child, nick dreamed of becoming a Police Officer and that dream was realized seven years ago when he joined the st. Cloud police force. I congratulate nick on his impressive silver medal at the World Championships and thank him for his service as one of st. Clouds finest. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Neal, for five minutes. Mr. Neal ask perfect permission to address the house. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Neal mr. Speaker, i rise this morning to mark the occasion of the new horizon spacecraft reaching pluto. New horizon launched on january 19, 2006, and since 2007 has been traveling steadily at 30,000 Miles Per Hour. This morning at approximately 7 49. 57 a. M. , the new horizon spacecraft rendezvoused with pluto. Three billion miles away from earth. Having just passed pluto this morning, new horizons will continue on to the kiper belt. Standing here is the spacecraft just past pluto, i take great pride in noting that a massachusetts astronomer helped in the discovery of its existence. While clyde formally discovered pluto, was a boston astronomer that led the way. The p and the l. Make that astronomical symbol for pluto serves as a testament to lowells part in the discovery of this small planet. Lowells contribution to astronomy also stands today with the establishment of the Lowell Observatory located in flagstaff, arizona. He inspired countless generations with his advocacy of astronomy and more than 80,000 visitors each year go through the doors of the observatory. Im certainly proud to have known lowells desendents, the Putnam Family and who for years have continued their advocacy of the Lowell Observatory. New horizons is the first in the new frontier series, inspired by another son of massachusetts, president john kennedy. Who said about the need to explore space and i quote, we set sail on this new sea because there is a new knowledge to be gained, new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. President kennedys support of our nations first Space Program set us on course for hope and optimism for our future. New horizons accomplishment this morning, along with other initiatives such as the International Space station which im very proud to say that i supported and recall in this institution the space station survived by one vote at a precarious time in our history. But it serves today as a strong reminder of the continued importance of Space Exploration and the very smart people that are drawn to this initiative. I also want to close by saying we want to remind ourselves of the optimism of the kennedy years and the Space Exploration program, which kennedy highlighted and helped to inaugurate but which he never got to see many of the benefits of is a statement that all members of congress should grasp and that is that the candidate who offers the best sense of optimism for the future is generally the candidate that prevails. During the course of the campaign when one makes arguments on behalf of a particular initiative were also to understand that its part of forming a government. So optimism becomes infectious in our political system when embraced properly, and i hope today that as we celebrate this remarkable achievement of new horizons and just the thought that that spacecraft travels at 30,000 Miles Per Hour and the fact that three billion miles from earth americas science achievement and initiative have once again prevailed in this world. So i hope that we will continue to support these space initiatives and embrace the notion and the role that science plays in our lives. Thank you, president john kennedy. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. Brooks, for five minutes. Mr. Brooks mr. Speaker yesterday democrat president ial candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her Economic Program stating, quote, the defining economic challenge of our time is clear. We must raise incomes for hardworking americans so they can afford a middleclass life. We must drive strong and steady Income Growth that lifts up families, end quote. And, quote, the measure of our success must be how much incomes rise for hardworking families, end quote. Clinton concluded that quote, if you work hard and do your part you should be able to get ahead but over the past several decades that bargain has eroded end quote. Hillary clinton identifies the problem and goals. However, i submit her trickled down federal government dictate solution while splendid recognize rick misses the target en rhetoric misses the target entirely. Three decades ago america gave amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. That amnesty beget millions and millions in more illegal aliens. This illegal alien labor tsunami has done more to take jobs from and suppress wages of struggling American Families than anything else over the past three decades. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated in 2009 that American Workers lost 7. 8 million Job Opportunities to illegal aliens. A more fair study estimates americans lost 8. 5 million Job Opportunities to illegal aliens. Economic studies reveal that wage suppression caused by the surge in cheap illegal alien labor cost American High School graduates an estimated 800 per year and americas lowskilled labor an estimated 2,300 per year in income. But it is not just illegal alien labor that undermines American Opportunity and the American Dream for american citizens. Americas generous Legal Immigration policy created a second tsunami of legal foreign labor that doubles the economic damage to struggling American Families. Since this bureau Homeland Security and Labor Department latea data offers a sobering and startling income in the 16 to 65 age bracket. While they created 5. 6 million new jobs in the 16 to 65 age bracket over the past 14 years, americanborn citizens lost 127,000 net jobs. All that job gains and more went to illegal and legal immigrants while americanborn citizens lost 127,000 jobs foreignborn persons gained 5. 7 million new jobs. Worse yet, when you factor in population growth, there were 17 million more americans in the 16 to 65 age bracket not working in 2014 than in 2000. Contrary to the propaganda of amnesty and open border proponents and their media allies, immigrants gained across the labor market in lower skilled jobs such as maintenance, construction and food service and middle skill jobs like Office Support and Health Care Support and higher skilled jobs including Management Computers and health care practitioners. The propaganda that immigrants only do jobs americans wont do is not supported by fact. Immigrants gained jobs while americans lost jobs in each of the following highpaying industries, architecture, engineering transportation and material moving, office and administrative support. Further, americanborn citizens of all major races lost ground. The percentage of american, africanamericans dropped 9. 2 percentage points. Hispanic americans dropped 7. 7 percentage points. Caucasian americans dropped 6. 1 percentage points. And clinton added that, americans, dont need a lecture, they need a raise, end quote. Mr. Speaker, Hillary Clinton is right. America does not need lectures. America Needs Solutions and the number one jobs and economic solution for americans is securing americas borders and implementing a rational immigration policy that reflects Economic Conditions and protects american jobs and american wages for struggling American Families. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson, for five minutes. Mr. Thompson thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend over 125,000 people flocked to the pennsylvanias Fifth District to attend the 49th annual central pennsylvania festival of the arts. Affectionatally known as art fest. They enjoy works of art, live music and great foods. Arts fest is home to one of the nations premiere outdoor fine art and craft shows and hosts over 300 exhibiters. These artists, ranging from International Talent to local artists, display a wide variety of art that fit any and all interests. Live musical performance also takes place throughout the weekend at a number of venues. Arts fest drives to instill an interest in appreciation of the arts in the areas per performances for performances for young people by young people. I rise in strong support of the arts and its my honor to recognize all the volunteers and the staff who did such a great job of putting on this years central pennsylvania festival of the arts. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida mr. Desantis, for five minutes. Mr. Desantis mr. Speaker, congress at this juncture has one overriding task and that is to stop president obamas capitulation to iran and make no mistake, this is less a deal than it is a list of concessions to the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism and theres a reason why you see smiles on the ayatollah is. Congress should stop this deal because it gives ayatollahs. Congress should stop this deal because it gives millions of dollars to them. They would foment terrorism throughout the middle east. Congress should stop this deal because it validates irans entire nuclear infrastructure. No dismantling. Not even irans underground nuclear bunninger at fordeaux which has no rational peaceful purpose. Indeed, iran is crossing all of president obamas red lines. President obama had said you could not have fordeaux. He said you cannot have a plutonium reactor in iran. You cant have centrifuges, and yet this final deal validates each and every one of those pieces of Irans Nuclear arsenal. Congress should stop this deal because it removes sanctions from irans commander who is responsible for killing hundreds of american soldiers in iraq and indeed when i served in iraq, iran was responsible for killing more americans than even al qaeda in iraq. Why reward those with american blood on their hands by lifting sanctions on them . Congress needs to stop this deal because it stabs our allies in the back, most notably our trusted ally, israel. Iran threatens to wipe israel off the map and refers to israel as a onebomb country. Congress needs to stop this deal because the inspections are not snap inspections. Indeed, the inspections depend on iran allowing the inspections, and theres an entire bureaucracy set up so that even if you end up getting approval, iran will have the ability to remove their offending conduct and conceal it before the inspectors see it. The bottom line is that this deal does not dismantle Irans Nuclear infrastructure. The deal empowers iran. It makes the world less safe by paving irans path to the bomb. Its a time for choosing in this house. Congress must act swiftly and decisively and reject this capitulation. This deal cannot stand. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. Walker, for five minutes. Mr. Walker mr. Speaker, i seek unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and permission to revise and extend my remarks. The president s Foreign Policy has been disastrous for more than six years. If youre keeping score with this deal on iran feel free to put mohr check in the failed obama doctrine. His insistence on force feeding a deal with iran is troubling. His boost of his legacy has a grass lack of discernment. They have left a trail of decisions devastating throughout the world. How can we forget the president s blurred red lines and claiming that assad end his human rights violation . After the president drew his line in the sand, assad responded with the bombing of hospitals and the use of chemical weapons against his own people. The president has failed to show any initiative or strategy and has consistently attempted to lead from behind. Meanwhile, of all people Russias Vladimir Putin was the one that intervened in this international crisis. Speaking to putin, the president s posture with putin has been pitiful. Of course, it was president obama who mocked president ial candidate mitt romneys 1980s concern of russia being a threat. Maybe its time president obama revisited Ronald Reagans Foreign Policy of the 19820s. Wasnt it Vice President joe biden say that president obama, this would be his greatest achievement. Russia, benghazi isis, and were supposed to be excited about a deal with the worlds leader in state sponsored terrorism. All the while, weve given the Cold Shoulder to israel, our greatest ally in the middle east, for generations. As weve listened to over the weekend, shouts from iran, death to israel, death to america. The great majority of americans had hoped that our president would sfind the strength to increase the find the strength to increase the sanctions on iran rather than remove them and surrender control of inspections to iran. As a member of congress, i will stand against any agreement that doesnt completely strip iran of all Nuclear Capability, and while were at it, mr. President , maybe its time to stop ignoring the imprisonment of abedini jason, bob levinson and amir hekmati, our four americans in iran. Both the house and the senate have shown compassion and strength, demanding these americans return home to their families. Saeed has been held over 1,000 days while his children plead for his release. I agreed with the president when he said, we should do everything in our power to bring these americans home safe. Mr. President , its time to honor the commitment you have made to these men these families and to all americans. May i close with the words of the Prime Minister of israel in agreeing that this is a mistake of historic proportion. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Barr, for five minutes. Mr. Barr thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to celebrate the life even note the recent passing of kentucky state trooper eric k. Chrisman of lawrenceburg, kentucky. On june 23, trooper chrisman was killed in the line ever duty during a vehicle collision while responding to a distress call. Trooper chrisman was 23 years old and had served on the force for only six months. The fact that in this year alone 64 Law Enforcement officers have already been killed while serving in the line of duty gives great testament to the dangers and challenges officers face every single day. Inscribed on the national Law Enforcement officers memorial are the words, carved on these walls is the story of america of a continuing quest to preserve both democracy and decency and to protect a National Treasure that we call the American Dream. Trooper chrisman gave his life while striving to preserve democracy and decency and i thank him for his service and his devotion to his community. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. Loudermilk, for five minutes. Mr. Loudermilk thank you, mr. Speaker. Just a few weeks ago in Fulton County, georgia, officers of the Fulton County Police Department were alerted to shots fired in a neighborhood around 1 30 in the morning. The initial call indicated that a man was terrorizing citizens by going house to house banging on doors and firing a weapon. Officers immediately responded and began searching for the gunman. About 45 minutes later another call was received reporting gunfire in another part of the same neighborhood. Additional officers were dispatched, one of the officers responding to the second call was detective terence green, a 22year veteran of the Fulton County police force. Upon arriving in the neighborhood officers could hear shots coming from the direction of one of the homes. As terence green and his fell officers bravely moved toward the gunfire, they were unknowingly walking into an ambush. When the officers were in range, the begunman emerged from a concealed position and began firing upon the officers. While running for cover, the officers returned fire and in the ensuing firefight the gunman was eventually wounded. When the officers approached the gunman, they discovered that two of their own officers had had also been shot during the ambush. All three were rushed to the hospital where the gunman was treated for nonlife threatening wounds. However, detective green had received a fatal shot to the head at around 4 30 in the morning succumbed to his injuries, leaving behind four young children. In all aspects of the term, detective green is a hero. He put himself in harms way to protect the lives of others. I wish i could stand here today and say that what happened to terence green was an isolated incident, but unfortunately this scenario plays out much too often in the cities, towns, and burrows burros across america. Even in the midst of imminent danger officers like detective green, courageously fulfill their duty to protect and serve the people of this nation. And i am grateful to those men and women who willingly put their lives on the line for us daily. Its the cop walking the streets, the officer on patrol, the sergeant on watch, or the deputy responding to a call who are on the frontlines in our states, counties and cities. Whether the call is for a crime in progress, an automobile accident, or a natural disaster, they are often the first on the scene to rerned aid, give comfort, or even save a life. While they dont do their job for accolades, or expect our continuous praise, it is encouraging for some to occasionally say thank you. But instead of thanking them for their dedication to duty, some officials instead publicly criticize our Law Enforcement community. This unwarranted public criticism not only undermines the morale of our Law Enforcement officers, but it undermines the public trust in these dedicated servants. With the growing number of violent protest and riots in our nation, tensions between the police and public have grown significantly over the past several years. But instead of using their positions of influence to diffuse the tension certain officials have stoked the fire which has rekindled this trust and encouraged public unrest. Careless remarks such as comparing Law Enforcement officers to terrorist organizations like isis have placed more officers lives at risk and sparked more antiLaw Enforcement sentiment across our nation. As a result, public bashing of our police has skyrocketed and now american Law Enforcement officers feel they have been thrown under the bus by the very people that should be supporting them. Recently during a meeting with local First Responders in my district, i asked if there was something i could do to help them. They asked for me to go back to washington d. C. , and tell our government officials to please stop undermining them. To stop publicly criticizing them for doing the job they are tasked to do. Please make washington understand they said, that it is incredibly demoralizing to be putting your life on the line fighting crime while those in positions of leadership are making you out to be the criminal. Mr. Speaker, as with any organization there are a few in Law Enforcement that havent held themselves to the high standards of dedication expected within the Law Enforcement community. And those who violate the public trust should and most often are removed from their positions to face harsh disciplinary action. But just as every elected official in washington, d. C. , our peace officers have sworn an oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States. While there are some instances where officers have strayed off course from what i have seen and the short time i have been here, as a whole Law Enforcement has a better record of upholding their oath than some of the elected officials here in washington. Mr. Speaker, our Law Enforcement officers deserve our admiration, respect, and appreciation. And today i want to thank them for the work they do for us. I want to thank the spouses and families who have endured many sleepless nights while their loved ones were responding to a call. And to the families of those that have given their lives in the line of duty on behalf of a grateful nation i thank you for your sacrifice for our safety, security, and freedom. Mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the choir declares the house in chair declares the house in recess until noon toda ms. Clinton how we build a coalition to try to prevent and undermine irans bad behaviors in other arenas. I will be talking as soon as i leave you with other secretaries of state and other National Security advisors to get more details, but as i say, i think this is an important step that puts the lid on Irans Nuclear programs, and it will enable us then to turn our attention, as it must, to doing what we can with other partners in the region and beyond to try to prevent and contain irans other bad actions. So all in all i think we have to look at this seriously evaluate it carefully but i believe based on what i know now this is an important step. Thank you all very much. Do you support the deal . Does it embolden iran . [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] Hillary Clinton after meeting with House Democrats this morning. You can see that entire thing today on our actually online, on cspan. Org. President obama did announce a Nuclear Agreement with iran based on verification. He says iran will not develop Nuclear Weapons and he Warns Congress that it would be irresponsible to block the accord. Here is the president this morning. President obama after two years of negotiations, the United States together with our International Partners have achieved something that decades of animosity have not a comprehensive longterm deal with iran that will prevent it from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. This deal demonstrates that american diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change, change that makes our country and the world safer and more secure. This deal is also in line with a tradition of american leadership. Its now more than 50 years since president kennedy stood before the American People and said, let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. He was speaking then about the need for discussions between the United States and the soviet union, which led to efforts to restrict spread of Nuclear Weapons. In those days, the risk was a Catastrophic Nuclear war between two superpowers. In our time, the risk is that Nuclear Weapons will spread to more and more countries, particularly in the middle east, the most volatile region in our world. Today, because america negotiated from a position of strength and principle, we have stopped the spread of Nuclear Weapons in this region. Because of this deal, the International Community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of iran will not develop a Nuclear Weapon. This deal meets every single one of the bottom lines that we established when we achieved a framework earlier this spring. Every pathway to a Nuclear Weapon is cut off, and the inspection and transparency regime necessary to verify that objective will be put in place. Because of this deal, iran will not produce the highly enriched uranium and weapons grade plutonium that can build a nuclear bomb. Iran will remove 2 3 of its be installed isntry huges, the machines to build a bomb and store them under constant international supervision. Iran will not use is advanced centrifuges to produce enriched uranium for the next decade. Iran will also get rid of 98 of its stockpile of enriched uranium. To put that in perspective, iran currently has a stockpile that can produce up to 10 Nuclear Weapons. Because of this deal, that stockpile will be reduced to a fraction of what would be required for a single weapon. This stockpile limitation will last for 15 years. Because of this deal, iran will modify the core of its reactor in iraq so that it will not produce weaponsgrade plutonium, and it has agreed to ship the spent fuel from the reactor out of the country for the lifetime of the reactor. For at least the next 15 years iran will not build any new heavywater reactors. Because of this deal, we will for the first time be in a position to verify all of these commitments. That means this deal is not built on trust. It is built on verification. Inspectors will have 24 7 access to irans key nuclear facilities. Iran will have access to irans entire Nuclear Supply chain, its mills minse, conversion facility, and its centrifuge manufacturing and storage facilities. This ensures that iran will not shall able to divert materials from known facilities to covert ones. Some of these transparency measures will be in place for 25 years. Because of this deal inspectors will be able to access any suspicious locations. Put simply, the organization responsible for the inspections, the iaea, will have access where necessary when necessary. That arrangement is permanent. And the iaea has also reached access to iran to get access that it needs to complete its investigation into possible military dimensions of irans past nuclear research. Finally, iran is permanently prohibited from pursuing a Nuclear Weapon under the nuclear none proliferation treaty which provided the basis for the International Communitys efforts to apply pressure on iran. As iran take steps to implement this deal, it will receive relief from the sanctions that we put in place because of Irans Nuclear program. Both americas own sanctions and sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. This relief will be phased in. Iran must complete key nuclear steps before it begins to receive new sanctions relief. And over the course of the next decade, iran must abide by the deal before additional sanctions are lifted, including five years for restrictions related to arms and eight years for restrictions related to Ballistic Missiles. All of this will be memorialized and endorsed in a new United Nations Security Council resolution, and if iran violates the deal, all of these sanctions will snap back into place, so there is a very clear incentive for iran to follow through, and there are very real consequences for a violation. Thats the deal. It has the full backing of the International Community. Congress will now have an opportunity to review the details, and my Administration Stands ready to provide extensive briefings on how this will move forward. As the American People and Congress Review the deal, it will be important to consider the alternative. Consider what happens in a World Without this deal. Without this deal, there is no scenario where the world joins us in sanctioning iran until it completely dismantles its nuclear program. Nothing we know about the iranian government suggests that can would simply capitulate under that kind of pressure and support an effort to permanently push iran into submission. We put this in place to get a diplomatic resolution, and that is what we have done. Without this deal, there would be no agreedupon limitations for the Iranian Nuclear program. Iran could produce, operate, and test more and more centrifuges. Iran could fuel a reactor capable of producing plutonium for a bomb, and we would not have any of the inspections that allow us to detect a covert Nuclear Weapons program. In other words, no deal means no lasting constraints on Irans Nuclear program. Such a scenario would make it more likely that other countries in the region would feel compelled to pursue their own Nuclear Programs threatening a Nuclear Arms Race in the most volatile region of the world. It would also present the United States with fewer options to prevent iran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. I have been president and commander in chief for over six years now. Time and again i have faced decisions about whether or not to use military force. The gravest decision that any president has to make. Many times in multiple countries, i have decided to use force. I will never hesitate to do so when it is in our National Security interest. I strongly believe that our National Security interest now depends upon preventing iran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon, which means without a diplomatic resolution, either i or a future u. S. President would face a decision about whether or not to allow iran to obtain a Nuclear Weapon or whether to use our military to stop it. Put simply, no deal means a greater chance of more war in the middle east. Moreover, we give nothing up by testing whether or not this problem can be solved peacefully. If in a worstcase scenario iran violates the deal, the same options that are available to me today would be available to any u. S. President in the future, and i have no doubt that 10 years or 15 years from now, the person who holds this office would be in a far stronger position with iran further away from a weapon and with the inspections and transparency that allow us to monitor the iranian program. For this reason, i believe it would be irresponsible to walk away from this deal, but on such a tough issue, it is important that the American People and the representatives in congress get a full opportunity to review the deal. After all, the details matter, and we have had some of the finest Nuclear Scientists in the world working through those details. And we are dealing with a country, iran, that has been a sworn adversary of the United States for over 35 years, so i welcome a robust debate in congress on this issue, and i welcome scrutiny of the details of this agreement. But i will remind congress that you dont make deals like this with your friends. We negotiated arms control agreements with the soviet union when the nation was committed to our destruction, and those agreements ultimately made us safer. I am confident that this deal will meet the National Security interests of the United States and our allies, so i will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal. We do not have to accept an inevitable spiral into conflict, and we certainly shouldnt seek it. And precisely because the stakes are so high, this is not the time for politics or posturing. Tough talk from washington does not solve problems. Hardnosed diplomacy leadership that has united the worlds major powers offers a more effective way to verify that iran is not pursuing a Nuclear Weapon. Now, that doesnt mean that this deal will resolve all of our differences with iran. We share the concerns expressed by many of our friends in the middle east, including israel and the gulf states, about irans support for terrorism and its use of proxies to destabilize the region, but that is precisely why we are taking this step. Because an iran armed with a Nuclear Weapon would be far more destabilizing to the destabilizing and far more dangerous to our friends and to the world. Meanwhile, we will maintain our own sanctions related to irans support for terrorism, its Ballistic Missile program, and its human rights violations. We will continue our unprecedented efforts to strengthen israels security efforts that go beyond what any American Administration has done before. And we will continue the work we began at camp david, to elevate our partnership with the gulf states to strengthen their capabilities to counter threats from iran or terror terrorist groups like isil. However, i believe we must continue to test whether or not this region, which has known so much suffering, so much bloodshed, can move in a different direction. Time and again, i have made clear to the iranian people that we will always be open to engagement on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect. Our differences are real, and the difficult history between our nations cannot be ignored, but it is possible to change. The path of violence and rigid ideology, a Foreign Policy based on threats to attack your neighbors or eradicate israel thats a dead end, a different path, one of tolerance, and peaceful resolution of conflict leads to more integration into the Global Economy, more engagement with the International Community and the ability of the iranian people to prosper and thrive. This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction. We should seize it. We have come a long way to reach this point. Decades of an Iranian Nuclear program, many years of sanctions, and many months of intense negotiation. Today i want to thank the members of congress from both parties who helped us put in place the sanctions that have proven so effective as well as the other countries who joined us in that effort. I want to thank our new voting partners the united kingdom, france, germany, russia, china, as well as the European Union for our unity in this effort which showed that the world can do remarkable things when we share a vision of peacefully addressing conflicts. We showed what we can do when we do not split apart. Finally, i want to thank the american negotiating team. We had a team of experts working for several weeks straight on this, including our secretary of energy, ernie moniz, and i want to thank john kerry, our secretary of state. Who began his service to this country more than four decades ago when off to war. He is now making this country safer through his commitment to strong, principled american diplomacy. History shows that america must lead not just with our might but with our principles. It shows we are stronger not when we are alone but when we bring the world together. Todays announcement marks one more chapter in this pursuit of a safer and more helpful, more hopeful world. Thank you. God bless you, and god bless the United States of america. The president making the announcement this morning at about 7 00 eastern. Irans president responded on irans english language twitter account tweeting upon the iran deal implementation, all sanctions will be lifted and not suspended. Otherwise there was no need for 18day round the clock iran talks. He praised the deal saying today is a new chapter to work towards development with the deal with iran. Heres his entire remarks on the agreement. [speaking foreign language] just recited the verse from the holy koran. Greetings to and sal takes to the prophet of islam prophet mohammad and his infallable household and also the imam of the martyrs and the martyrs particularly the nuclear martyrs. Salutations to the immadam of the imam of the time. Make his appearance. The month of ramadan is a month of blessings. Its a month of seeking proximity to god almighty. And this years month of ramadan what i heard based on what i heard, many people in their prayers in the night the grand night they prayed to god almighty, praying for Irans Nuclear negotiating team in order to reach a good deal and to now i announce to the great nation of iran that god has accepted their prayers and has responded to their prayers. Today we are in a critical juncture in the history of with respect to the history of our country and our revolution and also the condition that prevails in the region. In fact in the past 12 years, in fact witnessed illusions by the major powers and such illusions was spread by them in the Global Community and for Public Opinion you see this page has turned and in fact a knew chapter has been opened. This new chapter is based upon the fact that the solution there are shorter roots with less costs in order to come up with solutions to the problems speaking of irans important Nuclear Issue that on the one hand it had turned into political and International Issue to the extent that it was raised that the u. N. In chapter 7 of the u. N. And there was several resolutions calling for sanctions against iran and on the other hand the issue had turned into a subject for spreading iraniphobia in the region and the world claiming that iran is after manufacturing Nuclear Weapons or w. M. D. s and on the other hand you see that from the view of science and technology and development it was from the view of research and development and signs of progress. This was an important issue for us and it had turned into a subject related to our National Pride and dignity. Economically speaking. Those imposing sanctions had sought to put us under pressure and that had created a difficult situation a difficult condition in society. As i had earlier said, the sanctions regime was never successful but at the same time it had affected peoples lives. I am pleased that today after 23 months of negotiations by the Islamic Republic of iran with six world powers, today we have managed to reach a new point. Of course the month of ramadan has always been a month of blessing for the 11th administration and its been a fateful month and the month of ramadan 1393 iranian calendar was the day for investiture and then we had the day for the old taking and today you see that today is the day for the deal reached between iran and the six world powers concerning the joint comprehensive plan of action. In order to resolve this Nuclear Issue, we had to take the necessary steps in different sectors. From the political point of view we had to make the necessary political arrangements. From the view of the Public Opinion in order to know that to negotiate does not mean to just read out text, substatements. To negotiate means to bargain. It means you give money and you purchase your desired house. After benefiting from charities after negotiating we were after protecting our National Interests and we were after engaging in a just bargaining process in order to maintain our National Interests. We have always stressed that this is not going to be a winlose negotiation. Its not i mean, its not you see one side becoming a winner, victorious, the other side becoming a loser. If its a winlose negotiation, its not going to be sustainable agreement. We do not come up with a sustainable agreement. In order to attain a sustainable agreement, they should be a winwin situation for both parties, both sides. We did clarify that as our negotiators have been have started talks and negotiations 23 months ago in order to have an achievement in the course of negotiations, we were in need of domestic and national consensus. It is quite clear that politicians associations, political factions they do not share common views, but with respect to to items pertaining to our National Interest and National Security and National Development such we see Nuclear Issues related to our National Security, its related to National Development and also its related to our National Interest so you see that fortunately in this Free Democratic atmosphere prevailing in our society we managed to reach a consensus in this regard. The path of negotiations before this, basically from the very beginning, imagine this problem, 12 years ago i think it might be 12 years ago based on the view of the leader of the Islamic Revolution, the path of negotiations, from the very first day, and we have been negotiating since 2003 in tehran or the Capital Cities of neighboring countries or the european capitals. We have been witnessing these negotiations and we continue the talks p the course of the 2013 president ial elections our people expressed views and explicitly said that we want an administration that would actually protect the Nuclear Achievements of the country along with protecting peace and also contributing to the countrys development and also obtaining public develop. This was the path that the 11th administration pursued. Of course the great nation of iran is a symbol of courtesy and logic and rationality from the very first day on the day of the ceremony, i said the west can interact with us provided that it sets aside and eliminates the approach of intimidation and threats and instead the west should choose the path of dignity and respect. Once we obtained today was a deal within the framework of that comprehensive joint plan of action, it has its roots in irans interaction and also dignity shown by the people of the group. In the case of the absence of these parameters, we would not have been able to come up with any achievement. In the meantime in order to gain success in the course of negotiations, we had to be able to actually improve our economy under sanctions and in the condition of stagflation. When we started the negotiations , we had an inflation rate above 40 and our Economic Growth rate was minus 6. 8 . But in the course of negotiations by improving our Economic Conditions, we managed to contain inflation and we came up with a positive Economic Growth, this was the strongest message conveyed by the 11th administration. Strongest message sent by us to to the pplus one group of countries. At the same time, what mattered the most was the steadfastness and patience and resistence shown by the courageous nation of iran. And today with the grace of god has been the year of steadfastness and resistence and at the same time brought about victory and success for us and this was an indication of peoples steadfastness and resistence. Such a resistence, steadfastness brought the other party to the negotiating table. In the course of these negotiations we were pursuing four objectives. The first objective was to protect our Nuclear Capability and technology and even nuclear activities. To continue such activities inside the country. The second objective was to actually put an end to the inhumane and tyrannical sanctions. The third objective was to address all the resolutions that there our point of view those illegal resolutions we were after annuling all these illegal resolutions issued by the u. S. Security council. And the u. N. Security council. And the fourth objective was to actually take the nuclear out of chapter 7 and out of the u. N. C. And based on the deal reached today and based on the joint comprehensive plan of action, all the four objectives have been obtained. Of course in the past 23 months in order to observe the redline and at the same time gain our objectives, you are aware that an extraordinary effort was made by iranian diplomats, lawyers and the economists and also Nuclear Scientists continue. On the initial date of the negotiations the other party told us that during the period of limitation based on the deal has said that period of limitation could be eight years. The period of limitation they said that iran should have only 100 is interer fugse sentry cugse after continued discussion and debate, they came up with a figure of 1,000 centrifuges. After a great deal of resistence they said that they will agreele with 48,000 centrifuges. Something that cannot be changed anymore, but today the deal was reached and based on this deal we have 6,000 centrifuges, 5,000 they will remain and all these centrifuges in that time will continue their enrichment activity. They said that your limitation period must be set for 20 to 25 years. Later they said 20plus 10 years. And said that 20 years must be the final viewpoint but this figure was reduced to 10 was reduced to 10 years and in the course of the final negotiations, the figure was reduced to eight years. Concerning research and development, they said that research and Development Must be only about i. R. 1. Only concerning i. R. 1. It was a ridiculous statement. It was illogical because we already had i. R. 1 and it was operating. The research and development did not make any sense. Later they said its going to be maximum i. R. 2 and eventually they said it must not go beyond i. R. 8. And what Islamic Republic of iran was seeking was i. R. 6 and i. R. 8 and we won a deal, so the deal, limitation of the deal the it would be injected into i. R. 8 and today we have attained such a deal today. Regarding our reactor can remain in iraq, but heavy water has no meaning there. Is meaningless. But we have reached a deal today and based on this deal, reference has been explicitly made to heavy water and that iraq reactor will be completed with heavy water based on the deal. Regarding fordo they said its really been difficult to hear the name of fordo, do not name it and we will we wont hear it. Then they said that they said that there should be no centrifuges in fordo, and also its going to be a resent sent for sustainable isotopes. After several months of bargaining they said that one cascade should remain in fordo. 154. Let me tell you that there will be certainty fugse in fordo, and part of that will be allocated to r d concerning sustainable isotopes. Regarding the annulment or lifting of sanctions, they said that the sanction also not be lifted at once and they said that the sanctions several months we will gradually lift the they said we are not going to lift the sanctions. Do not speak of lifting of sanctions. They said the sanctions have to be first suspended and then in years to come if the iaea gave a positive report then we the sanctions would be lifted step by step. Today i announce to the great nation of iran that based on this deal on the day of implementation of the deal, all the sanctions even arms embargoes and even missile sanctions as stipulated by the resolution, they will all be lifted. And all the financial and banking sanctions related to ensuring insurance transportation, and sanctions related to refineries and valuable minerals, Precious Metals and all the economic sanctions will be fully lifted. They will be lifted. Not suspended. And even the arms embargo will be eliminated and there will be a sort of limitation for five years, and it will be lifted and speaking of commodities or dual use commodities or goods, there will be a committee that will be looked into by the committee and in this way regarding the u. N. s resolution, they said that how can we annul a resolution that has not been implemented . They told us to implement the resolutions for six months and in this way the resolutions will be annulled. Based on todays deal in the upcoming days when the deal has been endorsed by u. N. S. C. , all the previous six resolutions will be annulled. And also regarding the Nuclear Dossier of iran, in order to take it out of the unsc, they said that the iaea should present a report that will include a 20year period, 15year period, but today without regard considering report by the iaea, after the implementation of the deal that will be taken out of the unsc after 10 years. We may be asked whether this deal is based upon confidence and trust, and if it was the case, then we would there was no need for 23 months of negotiations and we had 18 nights of continuous negotiations. Speaking of trust, the implementation of this deal will be the starting point for a test. If the deal precisely implemented every step of the implementation of this deal can gradually eliminate mistrust and its quite clear that based on we are going to start to proceed by closely monitoring the implementation of the deal and of course countries that have a very bad record. Some of these countries have a very bad record concerning iran. And some do not have a good record concerning iran. Of course this is a mutual deal, reciprocal deal. We have already examined such deals that was actually of interim agreement reached in geneva, and regarding the final deal, today implementation of the deal is reciprocal. If they abide adhere to this deal we will also comply with it. The iranian nation as always shown that, always fulfilled its promise. In the course of history and we will fulfill our promise provided that the other party would also fulfill its promises. Of course several stages and steps with respect to the deal today was actually the first stage. That means only seven countries have agreed. And they have actually agreed with full text and the annexes of the deal. Speaking of the impreliminaryation in the days to come, the text of the deal and also the text that has been prepared for the u. N. S. C. Has to be endorsed by the u. N. Security council, based on not chapter 7 and in case annulment of previous reSolutions Based on article 41. Later, there are stages in other countries and stages to continue and after determination of these stages on a day, that is the day known as the day of agreement, in fact the day was the day of joint statement several days later when the u. N. Or the unsc endorses the statement that will be the day of finalizing the agreement after approximately two months we will reach that day of agreement and the day of agreement is a day when e. U. And the u. S. Will openly and now and declare the lifting of all sanctions and then will announce the decisions. From that day irans measures will begin and these measures will be accompanied with their executive actions for the lifting of the sanctions. Thats going to take up some time. That may also take two months. That will be the day of the implementation of the deal. So several months from now we will have the day for the full implementation of the deal. We have these stages before us and of course this is the most important day in the past 12 years. Today is a day that historically speaking major world countries and powers have recognized Irans Nuclear program. Todays the day that after 12 years the world powers have announced that regarding Nuclear Technology and modern technology they will help iran. Todays the day that world powers have announced that all sanctions will be lifted and all tyrannical resolutions will be annuled and a normal situation will prevail in relations with iran. Today is an end, today marks an end to acts of tyranny and operation against the great nation of iran. At the same time its the starting point for a new trend in order to commend Nuclear Operation at a global level. Speaking of the tehran, terman, and other cities they are witnessing that the change of sanctions have been torn a chains of sanctions have been torn apart and they are happy for this. And the people of gaza antiwest bank and the people of lebanon they are also happy because made futile efforts, made futile efforts in the past 23 months. All these futile efforts have been crushed and defeated and the originations are also pleased because many baseless pretext for act of tyranny against the region claiming that iran is after manufacturing a Nuclear Weapon. A nuclear bomb. They will all be pretext will come to an end if some of the countries want to announce that we prevented iran from acquiring a Nuclear Weapon. The whole world knows very well that manufacturing of a nuclear bomb based on a fatwa by the leader is considered forbidden by religion and also a wrong action. Iran has never sought to manufacture a Nuclear Weapon and will never seek manufacturing of a Nuclear Weapon. An agreement or absence of an agreement. So if they want to speak of any achievement, they should speak of a real achievement. The real achievement is that a new atmosphere has been created in the region for the sake of cooperation at the regional and global levels. I deem it necessary to send all those people who have played a role in order to attain this Historic Deal i wish to appreciate the great nation of iran for its steadfastness and resistence in the past 12 years in the face of pressure and which wish to thank the leader of the Islamic Revolution who guided us during hardships and he guided the nation and the administration through his prudence and provides us guidelines and he also shouldered a heavy burden. I also wish to thank the plarlment the parliament, the speaker of the parliament, the judiciary, the judiciary chief, the armed forces and support the nation and the government antiestablishment, the assembly of experts, the seminaries, the emulation, academe mishians young people, women, and all the people from different walks of life, i wish to appreciate them of and their smiles always giving us hope and their decisions have always empowered us. He declare this that in case of criticism, everyone is flee to criticize, but i will not is free to criticize, but i will not allow anyone to destroy peoples hope, peoples hope for economic prosperity. Peoples hope for peace and security. I will not peace and security in the region of the world. I will not allow anyone to destroy such a hope through lying, belying or leveling allegations. I will not allow anyone to harm peoples trust. Today is not the end day actually. Today is the day of day that marks the starting point. The starting point for a new move a new dynamism and exuberance. Starting day for a new hope of Better Future for our young people. And starting point for a more rapid move for the country for our great country of iran with development and progress. And in conclusion, i wish to address the regional and neighboring countries do not be deceived by the propaganda of the regime and the ill wishers of this nation. The iran and irans power is your power and might. We consider Regional Security as our own security. We consider stability of Regional State our own stability. We consider science knowledge and our development, these are scientific progress, these are all to the benefit of neighboring and Regional States. Iran has not been after wmds and is not after wmds. Will not be after wmds. Iran has not been and is not after and will not be after putting pressure on Regional States. The country speaking of our we see a new chapter has been opened in our relations with you. We call for greater cordiality greater brotherhood, more unity. And further expansion of relations. Thank you very much. The great nation of iran relook forward to your further progress and dine nism dynamism and we will tread this path successfully to attend with your help. President obama announced the agreement this morning at about 7 00 eastern and cbs reporter mark knoller tweets out this morning that president obama phoned congressional leaders last night to inform them of the iran nuke deal. He will phone other key members of congress as well. House Speaker John Boehner says the house will review every detail, but before then he said the president s deal will hand iran billions in sanctions relief while giving it time and space to reach a breakout threshold to produce a nuclear bomb. All about cheating. Instead of making the world less dangerous, this deal will only embodden iran, the Worlds Largest sponsor of terror, by helping stabilize and legitimatize its regime. The top democrat in the house nancy pelosi says, aggressive restrictions and inspections offer the best longterm plan to stop iran from building a Nuclear Weapon. Congress will closely review the details of this agreement. Congress does have 60 days to review the agreement and vote it down. The hill newspaper reports that senator tom cotton is already predicting congress will reject it. House Republican Leaders use their Weekly News Conference to express skepticism about the agreement. At the outset of the iran negotiations the Obama Administration said that a good deal would affirm that iran does not have the right to enrich. They also said that keeping sanctions in place until iran met concrete verifiable standards. And they believe that they have toe stop irans searching a nuclear bomb. The president has abandoned all those goals and thats why the deal we have out there in my view from what i know thus far is unacceptable. Its going to be going to hand a dangerous regime billions of dollars in sanctions relief while keeping away for a nuclear identify rafpblet this isnt about democrats or republicans. Its not a partisan issue at all. Its about right versus wrong. And we are going to do everything we can to get to the details and if in fact its as bad a deal as i think it is, well do everything we can to stop it. Mr. Mccarthy the president announced this morning an agreement with Nuclear Weapons with iran. History has always proven peace without greem is meaningless. Congress will have a role. Well look at every detail. Well look at the future. Well look at the criteria. And well have a say. There is another bill that will be on the floor this week brings a great interest to many throughout the country. It deals with the water issue through the west. I want to congratulate one thing you have to look out if you are from california the challenge that we have. The challenge does not have to be as great as it is. The last two congress with republicans in control. We passed a bill that would give us greater reserves to be able to deal with the drought. Unfortunately, the senate never took it up. The president felt this issue was so great that he took air force one and flew to california. He walked the arid land, the dry land with the farmers and he said he would do something about it. But nothing has been done. Now is their moment that they can come to an agreement dealing with an issue that affects all. In california this bill is very simple. It does four things. It allows water to flow through the delta. It provides greater storage for those we have promised years in the past that have just stayed. Increase the reservoirs we have today. For the last 30 years you have built no new ones where the population has continued to grow in california. Protect the water rights and state projects. Its simple. Its common sense. And david has led the charge to make a real difference. Its clear that the administration wanted to deal with iran at any cost and unfortunately they got a deal with iran at a dangerously high cost. Mr. Ask a lease i think history will look back if this is able to go forward on this bad deal as the sanction beginning of irans path to a Nuclear Weapon. Thats dangerous not only for america, but for all of our allies throughout the middle east, especially israel. We will fight hard to reject this deal using every tool we have. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers we are a little over six months into americas new congress, and on issue after issue what you have seen is we are promoting solutions 21st Century Solutions to the challenges that americans face all across the country. We trust people to make better decisions for themselves and the federal government than the federal government ever will and our goal is to empower people, empower families empower communities to be able to make those best decisions. Just look at the Student Success act which is about empowering local leaders, parents, teachers, and students. Last week we passed in big bipartisan support the 21st century cures act which is giving hope to millions of americans for lifesaving innovation. We passed a resilient federal force act which again is a bipartisan collaborative approach to ensuring bert management over our better management of our forest in reducing the likelihood of catastrophic fire. We passed the u. S. Freedom act which ended bulk collection of americas phone data. And we have made veterans a priority unanimously passing the clay hunt Suicide Prevention act and hire more heroes act. Im proud of the work we have done over the First Six Months and confident that we will continue to do more work to improve peoples lives in washington and across this country. Over the past six months the house has stripped away needless regulations, passed a budget that achieves balance, passed new tools to fight human trafficking, reformed s. G. R. So our doctors can continue to afford to provide services to medicare patients. Miss jenkins ms. Jenkins protect the 529 college saves plans for hardworking families trying to ensure a better life for their kids. And this week the house will advance more legislation to have our veterans with the veterans entrepreneurship act so that our veterans have the support they deserve to start their own business and succeed. Its amazing what we can do in congress when we put the priorities of the American People first. Not the priorities of the bureaucrats in washington. This is just a start. House republicans will continue our work to pass solutions that bring increased prosperity promote achievement and build the opportunity economy the American People deserve. This week my bill comes up, 2998 2898, this bill is personal to mee. Because im a farmer. I grew up in the Central Valley ran for congress. My background is agriculture. I still farm today. Watching all my friends and neighbors, people that live in my communities suffer because of the regular laces passed by this building. We have a legislation that makes a difference. But to the folks that live in the valley when, you look around to all the folks that now have lost their jobs, we have People Living in shacks alongside of the road and its gotten to that point where we are trucking water to some of these homes. Its a real dire situation. For most people around the nation that think this doesnt affect them, you got to remember that we grow food. We grow food for everybody around the nation. This has had a real impact. I know every mother, father out there when they are budgeting what money they have to spend, they look at what they spend on groceries. This has had a real impact there. Food prices have risen and this has the direct effect on that side of it. This is a bill that affects the nation as a whole. Its very important we get this legislation passed. Very important that the senate takes it up. Its very important that the president signs this because theres water that we did have this year. We are in a drought. And the excuse of being in a drought does not work anymore. We had opportunities this past winter where there water going throughout delta and we had the opportunity to pump some of that water and that wasnt taken up because of bad policy we can fix in this house this week. Thank you. [inaudible] mr. Boehner once the agreement is submitted formally, congress will have 60 days to review it and then to pass judgment on it. We havent made any decisions in terms of how we would proceed or when we would proceed. But i think its pretty clear, it should be clear that we do intend to act. There will be a lot of time for people to look at the details of this agreement and come to a decision. [inaudible] mr. Boehner based on what i know now, it doesnt look like a very good deal. Im going to review all the facts, but based on what i know, im highly skeptical at best. [inaudible] ling mr. Obviously the past few congress we legislation. I do believe there is real opportunity to get it done. The bill will pass the way it passes in its current form off the house floor. What happens in the senate is still up in the air. We do believe we have some sport over there. [inaudible] mr. Boehner i wonder if you brought her emails. [inaudible] mr. Boehner there were an awful lot of ifs ands, and buts, there. Welcome to the capitol. If Hillary Clinton wants the Benghazi Committee to finish their work she could help them by turning over all her emails sooner rather than later. [inaudible] mr. Boehner we had a very good meeting with the chairman last week and frankly the week before. And theres a lot of issues, moving parts around here. And i think he understands it may not have been his preference but clearly the congress preference in terms of how we proceed. Spending was offset by other reductions in mandatory spending. A good relationship. Well keep working at it. The president called me last night told me i should expect an agreement was, in his words, imminent. I was skeptical. Thank you. Fun fun [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] latest person to key dee claire for the presidency, republican governor, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker today tweeted out i all on all congressional leaders and congressional candidates including Hillary Clinton to repudiate this bad iran deal. Democratic president rention candidate Hillary Clinton was on capitol hill today speaking at democrat caucus meetings. She took the opportunity to briefly speak to reporters outside the meeting with House Democrats with the iran Nuclear Agreement. Ms. Pelosi good morning, everyone. Today as you can imagine a very special owe case for the House Democratic occasion for the House Democratic caucus. We were pleased to welcome to the full extent of that word secretary Hillary Clinton, to our caucus for discussion of how we go forward. Good deal of time in the caucus was spent on the economy, the creation of jobs entrepreneurship, and all that goes into making that a success for our country. The second pleased the members with her discussion about fairness and growth. Growth and fairness, how they are connected. Always with our caucus, was very members are knowledgeable about their issues and relationship between investing in our children and their education and the success of our economy. The success of women when women succeed america succeeds. Very important. It wont surprise you to know that the subject of iran also came up during the discussion as part of it. But overwhelmingly our discussion was about the economy. So again in gratitude and most welcoming spirit it is my honor to present to you the secretary of former secretary of state, candidate for president of the United States, and many of you heard me say over and over again, when she enters the oval office, shell be one of the most prepared people to do so in recent history. With that i present Hillary Clinton. Thank you. Secretary clinton i want to thank leader pelosi and the entire caucus for welcoming you me so warmly and having such a positive, robust discussion about the issues that people around the country are talking to me about and in particular giving me a chance to talk further about the economic speech with the agenda that i laid out yesterday for strong growth, for fair growth, and for longterm growth. As the leader said iran did obviously come up. This is a very important moment. The president called me late last night to tell me that agreement had been reached. I applaud him and both secretary kerry and secretary mow nizz moniz for their extraordinary efforts in bringing about this conclusion. Based on what i know now and i will be being briefed as soon as i finish addressing you, this is an important step in putting the lid on Irans Nuclear program. There will be a number of issues that have to be addressed. I want to just mention two. The first is enforcement. This agreement will have to be enforced vigorously, relentlessly. We have in the agreement the access for inspections and the transparency that was absolutely necessary. But we have to treat this as an ongoing enforcement effort, which i certainly strongly support. And as president would be absolutely devoted to ensuring that the agreement is followed. And secondly, this does put a lid on the nuclear program, but we still have a lot of concern about the bad behavior and the actions by iran which remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism, which does go after and undermine governments in the region that poses an exy tension threat to israel exexistential threat to israel, that tries americans on trumped up charges, that bad behavior is something we have to address. Having been part of building the coalition that brought us to the point of this agreement, i think we will have to immediately upon completion of this agreement and its rigorous enforcement look to see how we build a coalition to try to prevent and undermine irans bad behaviors in other arenas. I will be talking as soon as i leave here you with other secretaries of state and other National Security advisors to get more details. But as i say i think this is an important step that puts the lid on Irans Nuclear program. And it will enable us then, to turn our attention, as it must, to doing what we can with other partners in the region and beyond to try to prevent and contain irans other bad actions. All in all i think we have to look at this seriously. Evaluate it carefully. But i believe based on what i know now this is an important step. Thank youall very much. Do you support the deal . Does it embolden iran . Reaction to the nuclear deal from other president ial candidates. Republican ted cruz says Congress Must stop the deal that puts iran on the path toward a nuclear bomb. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair bob corker released a statement that says in part, i want to read the agreement in details and fully understand it but i begin from place of deskepticism that the deal actually meets the goal of prevent identifying ran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. A short time ago we spoke with the congressional reporter looking at oversight of the Nuclear Agreement by congress. Now that the Nuclear Agreement has been reached whats the current process for congressional review and whether or not they are going to approve or disapprove of this deal . I think we can both expect that the Senate Armed Services Foreign Relations and counterparts in the house, as well as the intelligence committees will hold a series of briefings with Administration Officials and outside experts. We can anticipate some classified briefings for lawmakers to give hear from officials about the deal. And then i think we can see three things happen in the 60 days that congress has to review the deal. They could let the 60 days go by and do nothing. They could take up a resolution approving the deal which is unlikely considering that republicans hold both houses of congress and have already come out mostly against the deal. And the third option is that the congress would take up a resolution of disapproval and pass it. At that time, the Obama Administration, president obama, would have 12 days to veto the resolution, sending it back to congress, which congress would have 10 days to try and override that veto. We are not going to see this fully resolved until the fall. Host what are some key points we can focus on in this deal . Guest i think one thing thats becoming increasing important is the announcement that u. N. Security councils conventional sanctions on iran on banning the export of weapons to iran would be lifted within five years. Five years in the deal. And that sanctions on the export of Ballistic Missile technology will be lifted within eight years. Now, the president had previously said that this deal only would consider nuclear sanctions. But to some in congress are likely to say missiles should not be lifted as part of the deal. There could be some controversy with that. It would be interesting to see whether that sways some democrats who might previously have declared their position whether they will then come out against the deal. Host you wrote about president obama. He says he would veto any legislation that blocks this iran deal. What can you tell us from the white house angle of things . Guest that veto threat was long assumed. It essentially for the president has always had the upper hand here in Foreign Policy. What congress did with the iran nuclear act was gave themselves a little bit more authority to at least review the deal. In order to actually stop the deal from going forward, to stop the lifting of congressionally impose the sanctions it will require both the house and senate to have a 2 3 majority to overcome the veto. So thats going to be pretty difficult. We saw that shortly after the april preliminary agreement was announced that about 150 House Democrats signed a letter saying that so long as the final deal follows the framework of the april agreement, they would stand with the president in helping him to hold a veto. So its going to be pretty hard for opponents of this deal to actually block it. Its not impossible, but its going to be pretty hard. Host lets focus in on a couple of lawmakers. Chair of the Foreign Relations committee, bob corker, then also the Ranking Member, ben cardin. What have their reactions been and any other democrats or republicans . Guest so senator corker came out with a statement earlier today saying that he was deeply skeptical in general that a deal with iran would hold. He didnt completely condemn the deal, but he said he wanted to thoroughly review it and he planned to hold hearings on the matter. I do not know what Benjamin Cardin said of the deal yet. Host whats the timetable here . When will Congress Actually get to see the text of this deal and then moving forward whats the time frame . Guest according to a Statement Released by the iranians and the european members of the negotiations, we should see the full text of the deal released later today. I dont know if that means it will be formally sent to congress, but it should be available online, the main text and technical annexes. Host rachel oswald, a lot of information here. Well keep following you on twitter. We can find you at oswaldrashele. Youre reporting at c. Q. Com. Thanks. The israeli newspaper author offered this on the Nuclear Agreement on the front page. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely criticized the agreement reached calling it a stunning historical mistake. The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday. The Prime Minister said the six world powers poorly bet or collective few tear and added israel was not bound by the agreement because iran continues to seek our destruction. A quick look now at a broad overview of the Nuclear Agreement with iran from this mornings washington journal. D press. He is a diplomatic writer. What is your sense of a final agreement that has come out . What has been the reaction from the World Community . Guest so far, i think the action is as you would expect. The p5 plus one countries negotiating including the United States are all in favor of it. They all think it is a great deal. Then the row the congressional republicans, israel, and some of the gulf states that are not happy about it and do not see it as closing off irans pathways to a Nuclear Weapon. They see it as a temporary diversion that will allow iran to go ahead and continue its work. Host as far as the specifics you laid out it would stop the spread of Nuclear Weapons. It would increase verification. What are the hurdles that this agreement faces. Guest the main thing, the main issue that the critics have with that and the main issue that the u. S. And its partners would agree is that iran has to comply with the. If you are going to cheat on a deal, you were going to try to do so stealthily. What is very important is the verification that the International Atomic Energy Agency will be able to do and what kind of access they have. Will they have the kind of intrusive access that the u. S. And its partners claim that they have under this deal. Will that be the reality or will it not be and will iran find a way to do so without anyone noticing. I think that is one of the big fears for countries in irans neighborhood. Host matthew lee how automatic are these inspection processes . What is the timeframe and could well leave this to go live to the u. S. Floor. Comment from the Nuclear Agreement with iran. Prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. Lord, our god thank you for giving us another day. Protect us and guide us as a free people who turn to you in faith and prayer and who strive to grow in virtue and integrity. Be with the members of the peoples house and all in all their undertakings today. May the recent celebration of the birth of this nation 239 years ago renew all hearts in the same spirit that guided the signers of the declaration of independence and the framers of the constitution. May those goals and aspirations still serve to guide every informed decision here today and across this nation. Let us, the people of the United States in order to form a more Perfect Union establish justice, ensure domestics domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. May all that is done within the peoples house this day be for your greater honor and glory. Amen. The speaker the chair has examined the the speaker the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlelady from indiana, mrs. Walorski. Mrs. Walorski i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The speaker the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one minute speeches on each side of the aisle. For what purpose does the gentlelady from indiana rise . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker without objection. Mrs. Walorski i rise today to recognize principal james condign of Plymouth High School for being named the 2015 principal of the year. His success in providing high quality learning opportunities for students in plymouth in nothing short of remarkable. Principal condigns leadership is instrumental in the development of digital and project based learning, creation of dual credit courses in preparation for students in the job market. As a rufflet his leadership, hoosier classrooms are full of future doctors scientists, and entrepreneurs. His success reminds us of how important educators are to kids everywhere. Every one ever us depend on our teachers and because of that they deserve our support and appreciation. Principal condign condign has helped spark imagination. Today i thank him for helping students in plymouth develop their talents and back our future leaders. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. For what purpose does the gentlelady from connecticut seek recognition . Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Esty thank you, mr. Speaker. Exactly two months ago i came to the floor to speak out against this houses reckless inaction on the Highway Trust Fund. Needless endangering hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. Yet here we are again with only 10 legislative days left before the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money. Mr. Speaker, this is harmful and it is wrong. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers 73 of connecticuts roads are in poor or mediocre condition. These poor Road Conditions cost the average connecticut driver 628 in otherwise unnecessary repairs and expenses every year. 35 of connecticuts bridges are structurally deficient. Functionally obsolete or both. A great nation does not respond to crises with duct tape. A great nation leads with bold action. I urge the leadership of the house to work with us to pass a longterm highway bill and invest in americas infrastructure. Thank you. I yield back. Some the gentlelady yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, as students across pennsylvanias sixth Congressional District and the rest of the country enjoy the summer months, many are looking for activities to participate in to occupy their days. I wanted to highlight the value of Public Libraries and specifically an Exceptional Program in my district that empowers, inspires, and supports Performance Arts. The library is offering a series of camps that seek to cultivate Performance Art skills and instill confidence in students in rising fifth through rising ninth grades. The vocal and musical theater camps are led by connecessary toga High School Graduates and serve as a wonderful resource for area students to perfect their skills over the summer vacation. Its been proven that students that participate in the arts have improved academic performance and strong sense of community. I applaud the Public Libraries across pennsylvanias sixth district in their efforts to promote Lifelong Learning entertainment and enrichment. Our Public Libraries are local treasures that promote learning in our communities. I encourage everyone to show their support and yearround by attending their libraries, supporting those who work there, and offering thanks. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the the gentlewoman from california seek recognition . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Hahn thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise to highlight americas infrastructure crisis. Almost 30 of our nations major roadways and 50 in california are in poor condition. Meaning they must be rebuilt not just patched up. Drivers are now paying a hidden pothole tax. The extra costs to maintain a car because of bad roads. In california the average driver pays 760 because of poor roads. People and goods are slowed down by congestion. In just 10 legislative days our Highway Trust Fund expires. Congress must pass a longterm surface transportation bill to ensure that the United States has the best infrastructure. In may, this congress kicked the can down the road and passed a shortterm bill. It seems we are likely to do that again. This is not a responsible way to govern. We should invest in our Transportation System to be globally competitive and to move these goods efficiently. Drivers want less time stuck in traffic and more time at home with their families. Lets invest in americas future and pass a longterm transportation bill. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Poe mr. Speaker, while the ayatollah has preached death to america, the United States and the west have made a deal with the deceitful wolf of the desert. Iran promises to temporarily cut back and not continue its Nuclear Weapon development capability. Then iran will receive sanction relief. It will be able to export oil and receive billions of dollars in cash. Until five years the embargo on most conventional weapons against iran will be lifted. In eight years iran will be able to import icbms. In 10 years the deal expires and iran can develop Nuclear Weapons. Thus legitimatizing the number one state sponsor of terrorism and allowing it to be a Nuclear Weapons power. This is dangerous. This will start a Nuclear Arms Race. Israel will be less safe. So will america. In theory this deal is supposed to give us peace in our time to coin a phrase. But iran is a wolf in wolfs clothing and the wolf has made a deal with the sheep not to eat them for 10 years. Then what . Suffer . And thats just the way it is. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . To respectfully ask mr. Speaker, to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Doggett in the great seal of the United States the eagle clutches arrows and olive branch. While todays iran agreement puts the olive branch out first, the arrows remain firmly in our grasp. The safety of all our families and the United States and israel and elsewhere is advanced by pursuing a verifiable, enforceable diplomatic solution. Refusing to be frozen by fear, or pushed into conflict by those who are just campaigning or who are campaigning for war, the president recognizes diplomacy as our greatest strength. So many of those who loudly renounce this deal before they even read it also loudly supported the stunning historic mistake of a goitalone invasion of iraq. No choice is without risk. But strong inspections and verification are the best path to peace and security for all of our families. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Dold mr. Speaker, far from backing irans path to a Nuclear Weapon, the inherently flawed deal announced this morning preserves and legitimatizes Irans Nuclear program. The fact that iran is celebrating and that our allies are not should tell you everything you need to know about this deal. I have read the deal. I have it right here. And i believe that it will usher in a terrifying new era of proliferation in which neighboring nations feel no choice but to build Nuclear Programs of their own. While the massive sanctions relief in the deal will provide iran with hundreds of billions of dollars in new funds to foment terrorism around the globe, prop up its proxies ike assad and syria, and launch brutal attacks on israel. The measure of success in diplomacy is not simply whether an agreement is reached, its whether a good agreement is achieved. Unfortunately, the administration arrived at this deal through a parade of concessions on core issues and by straying far from the insistence that Irans Nuclear program be dismantled. The world is a more dangerous place today with this as a result. Mr. Speaker, congress can and must step forward, do the right thing, and reject this deal. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise to urge my colleagues to take up and pass a long overdue bill, to fund our roads and bridges for the long term. Yet again we are approaching the end of a shortterm extension with the Highway Trust Fund in danger ever expiring at the end of this month. We cant keep kicking the can down the road. We need a longterm bill and we need it now. In my Congressional District alone there are 421 bridges that are structurally deficient. Just earlier this month i stood alongside the murray baker bridge in peoria that runs over the illinois river, the heart of my district. Its structure is in need of replacement. Further northwest where i live theres the interstate 74 bridge. Just over the weekend i stood alongside it. It spans the mississippi river. It was built for traffic of about 40,000 cars. Today it accommodates about twice that many. In fact, former secretary of transportation ray lahood stood alongside that bridge and said it is the worst bridge hes seen in the United States of america. The families i represent deserve better. The businesses i represent deserve better. We need to pass a bill, a longterm highway bill and pass it now. Thank you mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition. Without objection the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker i rise to talk about this iran deal. President obama has made a deal with the Islamic Republic of iran, a regime that regularly leads chants of death to america, burns our flag and has killed hundreds of american soldiers. In april Energy Secretary moniz said inspectors would have anywhere, any time access to irans civil and military sites. Unfortunately, this deal sets forth no such requirement. Under the deal inspectors can only ask for permission to access Iranian Military sites, like their fortified underground facility. Decisions about access will be left to irans leaders who have said inspectors will not be permitted to access sites even in their dreams. This has no acknowledgment of iran of israels right to exist. These provisions would signal that iran is serious about changing their ways but they have said no. And thats why congress should reject this bad deal. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expire. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition . Without objection the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker june may be lgbt pride month but back home in san diego we continue to celebrate well into july. And we sure have something to be proud of this year, the Supreme Court finally affirmed what all of us know to be true that love is love that equality is for everyone, and that discrimination against one is discrimination against all. Without knowing the outcome of the Supreme Court decision but knowing that all are created equal, san diego pride appropriately chose this years theme as liberty and justice for all. Mrs. Davis as we continue to push toward that goal, we cant forget that theres more to be done. Lgbt individuals still do not have workplace or housing protection in many states. Many lgbt students are not protected from bullying in schools. Transgender individuals in particular face added obstacles that arise in stigma and ignorance. So while we have much to be proud of, there is still work for this house to do. Lets come together to ensure that truly it is liberty and justice for all. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you mr. Speaker. From the very beginning of the negotiations, president obama and secretary kerry placed far too much faith in the iranian regime. Mr. Lamalfa trusting iran to adhere to the ferms terms of the agreement is a foolser rand. This allows them to advance on nuclear technologies. The temporary restrictions on Irans Nuclear program will wind down. President obama admitted that Irans Nuclear breakup time is down to zero. Iran will receive sanction relief a boon of 100 billion of frozen assets. At the h the same time chanting death to america and death to israel. The agreement lists an arms embargo of conventional weapons in five years and theyll achieve the ability to have intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in eight years. Meaning theyll have more money and more weapons to continue to destabilize iraq, syria and the neighbors in the northeast and even the United States of america. Kuok now has 60 days to review the plan and see if theres something good in it or not but we need to be very cautious of any deal just because just to take any deal is not a good deal. Its time that we be tough with iran mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlelady does the gentlelady from new york seek recognition . Without objection, the gentlelady from new york is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Maloney thank you mr. Speaker. As of the first day of this month, thousands of american exporters big and small, were unilaterally disarmed in the battle for new business overseas. The conservative members of the body succeeded in their quest to kill the u. S. Exportimport bank. They did it. The eximscharter has expire. Now theres only the exportimportback of china, the export finance institute of australia, the export development of canada finnish export hungarian export credit the israeli export insurance corporation, the japan bank for international cooperation, the Exportimport Bank of korea the norwegian exportimport credit, the export credit bank of turkey and about 75 other foreign governmentrun agencies that are all helping businesses big and small in their quest to export and create jobs in their countries. American companies alone find themselves at a distinct disadvantage. Our colleagues have successfully cut off their nose in spite of their face. But its never too late to fix a mistake. Let this chamber vote on re on renewing the exportimport charter and reate more american jobs. The speaker pro tempore and create more american jobs. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition . Without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Roslehtinen mr. Speaker lets not forget the kind of regime that exists in iran, a country that will soon be receiving billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Look at this poster. Friday was alquds day in iran. What were they all doing . Officially sanctioned parade shouting death to america, death to israel. Iran has been labeled as a u. S. Designated state sponsor of terrorism for over three decades now. Yet just yesterday, the white house spokesman couldnt even confirm that iran would remain on the terrorism list after this deal. How hard a question is this to answer, mr. Speaker . Will the administrations next concession to iran be to remove it from the terrorism list. In addition to the billions of dollars in sanctions relief. Doing so would mean that we will be helping to finance irans support for terror, most of it aimed at us and our allies, the democratic jewish state of israel. Look at this poster, mr. Speaker. Where the Supreme Leader says, no cure for barbaric israel but total anilings. Doing so would be a problem of serious consequences to the United States. Lets get a better, tougher deal. We deserve better. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlelady from nevada seek recognition . Ms. Titus i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Titus we all agree we should provide veterans the tools they need to successfully transfrigs active duty to civilian life. Yet far too many service successfully transition from active duty to civilian life. Yet far too many service men and women struggle as they return home. We can and must do better. Thats why im proud to partner with my republican colleague, david mckinley, to provide resources to help veterans pursue Higher Education and gain the skills and training they need to succeed in stem careers. The ability to analyze communicate and motivate honed while in the military makes veterans ideal candidates for the stem fields. With growth and demand for stem experts expected to outpace other professions in the next two decades this legislation will help meet the needs for a highly skilled work force enabling us to better compete in the Global Economy while also creating new Employment Opportunities for our nations heroes. So i urge my colleagues to join mr. Mckinley and me in supporting the g. I. Bills stem expension act. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expire. For what purpose does the gentleman from New Hampshire seek recognition . Without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to urge participation in my new initiative, we the people. Imagine a congress that functions effectively. Imagine a congress that hears from you daily and as a result devises legislation and legislative Solutions Based on your individual needs and from your own experiences. This is my view of what an effect of an effective government and its why ive launched the we the People Initiative this week. Because of your ideas and feedbacking we have been able to pass two pieces of legislation this year. Lets continue to build on that success and continue to make washington work for the granite state. I know we have much left to accomplish. I want to hear from you. From now on, my office will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can email me directly, your legislative solutions and ideas, to we the to wethepeople mail. House. Gov or call or email me direct me direct. I will be better able to tailor legislation to meet your needs. Spread the word about the we the People Initiative. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from the United States Virgin Islands seek recognition . Without objection the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Several weeks ago, the president announced resumption of diplomatic relations with cuba. While we celebrate the implications of renewed rellingsship for cuban and american citizen the citizens of my own district do so with guarded welcome. Le the u. S. Territories of the the u. S. Territories of the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico make us a direct economic competitor. All indicators point to massive growth in cuban cubas tourism industry. While the Virgin Islands continue to be a Tourist Destination for americans, cuba is shaping up to be a formidable competitor. Prior to resumption of relations, report doctors the Tourism Organization showed just over four million visit dwrors cuba. However in the First Quarter of 2015, the cuban government reported more than 1. Million tourists visited, that more than doubles the amount for the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico at the same time. Ms. Plaskett the u. S. Must consider its own territories of u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico. Investment must come to the u. S. Virgin islands. I yield back the balance of my time and wish all our french citizens a happy bastille day. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, we should always strive as a country to make sure that the promises we make are kept. Unfortunately, when it comes to the students at our bureau of Indian Education schools, our promise to them is falling far short. Students at these schools in minnesota and around the country have endure dead employerable conditions including leaking roofs, schools are no schools with no heat and other circumstances that make it impossible to learn. Some of us in the minnesota dell congratulations, including my colleagues john kline and betty mccollum, highlighted the need for critical repairs and construction of these schools. Mr. Paulsen the issue is not just financial. In washington, including the executive branch needs to ensure that red tape is not keeping these students from getting an acceptable learning environment. Mr. Speaker, its time for taos take action and focus on making sure that these students have a safe School Setting where they can learn gre, and excel. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentlelady from missouri seek recognition . Without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to give honor to Payton Dahmer haley farmer, for earning the 2015 World Champion livestock judging team. These members practiced for countless hours, traveling across the state and nation to evaluate the quality of classes of cattle swine, sheep and goats as well as demonstrate the reasoning behind their placements in the oral presentation. At the national competition, the team placed first overall with all four competitors placing in the top 10 individually. Mrs. Hartzler winning nationals qualified them for the International Livestock judging competition in scotland where they again placed first in the team judging event. While it was a long and challenging journey to earn this title, i would like to commend the 2015 World Champion f. F. A. Livestock judging team for their dedication perseverance and poise they displayed in this competition. Im proud of how they represented themselves their families and our country and i want to congratulate payton, kaley, cara and schuyler for this amazing achievement. You are the future agriculture leaders this country needs. Thank you, mr. Speaker and i yield back. 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. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about the California Water crisis. Late they are week well be debating a bill, the Western Water and American Food security act of 2015. Which was born out of many conversations with the senate with the administration over years, we have discussed how dry california is. Now we cant prevent Mother Nature from creating a drought but we can plan and store water for those dry years. Mr. Benham its happened for centuries. The problem is it hasnt been happening in the last several decades in california. Which means over a million acres of farmland will go fallow. This is not just a california issue, this is an issue that will affect the entire United States food supply. We need to make sure were capturing water. While members want to continue to debate climate change, shouldnt we all agree that hydroelectricity the cleanest electricity out there, is good for the environment . The trees i grow as an almond farmerer good for the environment. If you want to reduce carbon, plant more trees. If we want to have safety and security in our community that have forestlands, shouldnt we clear the brush and make sure we dont have a fuel supply . Again creating a better environment with a healthy forest. There are things we should do to create a healthy california and a healthy country. This water bill is one of those solutions. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. The clerk senate 179, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14 third Avenue Northwest in chisholm, minnesota, as the james l. Oberstar Memorial Post Office building. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to rule 20, clause 8, 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 a vote incurs objection under rule 20, clause 6. Record votes on postponed questions will be taken later today. For what purpose does the gentleman from movement seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 2722 as amended. To require the secretary of the treasury to mint coins in recognition of the fight against Breast Cancer. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 2722, a bill to require the secretary of the treasury to mint coins in recognition of the fight against Breast Cancer. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the movement, mr. Luket myer, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luke myer i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. At this point id like to yield as much time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from chairman of the rules committee, mr. Sessions from texas. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Session thank you very much. I appreciate the gentleman, my dear friend from missouri for his opportunity to allow me to speak today. Mr. Speaker i rise today with my friends and colleagues including the gentlewoman from new york, congresswoman carolyn maloney, in support of h. R. 2722, the Breast Cancer awareness commemorative coin act. This Bipartisan Legislation supports research only and awareness with a new 1 gold minted coin with proceeds will benefit Breast Cancer research. Mr. Speaker, Breast Cancer research is one of the most important pieces of research that the federal government and other organizations perform on behalf of the American People and people all around the world. This is going to allow for the First Time Ever for this congressional approved coin will be minted a pink gold in honor of the fight against Breast Cancer. Mr. Speaker, today i wear this win of this Breast Cancer fight. I applaud organizations all across the country who are not only trying to make progress in this issue, but are making sure that awareness about Breast Cancer and Actual Research to eliminate this deadly disease that progress is being made. And thats what the funds would do from private contributions of individuals all around the United States. There will be approximately 231,840 cases, new cases of Breast Cancer among women and 2,350 of new Breast Cancer in men this year alone. Every 13 seconds a woman will die of Breast Cancer in the United States, making it the second leading cause of death in women in the United States. So i think its important that we understand what we are trying to accomplish with this coin and this act today. The bottom line is is that the United States Congress Allows several organizations each year to be able to mint coins on behalf of and highlighting the service that is they offer to the American People. It comes as no cost to the taxpayer of this country. Matter of fact the treasury makes a small amount of money as a result of them doing the work. But what will happen is that through this legislation today that is very intricate and well understood, no money outside of any money that is brought to bear would be for anything other than Breast Cancer research. I am aware of the sensitivity of taxpayer money and how that might be used, but no taxpayer money would be used for this effort today. I want to recognize not only the people in Breast Cancer research, but also many of their survivors all across this country who are recognizing that the awareness and highlighting this project and the money that would be brought to bear of how important that is. So i would say to my colleagues today that Breast Cancer research cannot be done entirely through taxpayer money. We are counting on outside money. And this is allowing the American People to buy coins just as we did when i handled the boy scout coin for the 100th anniversary of the boy scouts several years ago. People who are a part of the boy scouts of america paid money and it helped us to sell a coin and celebrate the 100th anniversary of boy scouting. Thats exactly what this coin would do also. It would be money from citizens all across this country who would highlight Breast Cancer awareness and the Research Dollars that would come as a result of that. And that is why we are here today. The incredible medical research thats improving the lives of those who are diagnosed and undergoing treatment for Breast Cancer. I believe this is the right thing to do for Breast Cancer research. I want to thank my colleague, carolyn maloney, who has been doing this bill not only from the hard work necessary to get 290 members of congress to say we want to vote on this bill, but also the awareness that if we will join ranks with millions of people who are back home in our Congressional Districts who want to see Breast Cancer to be solved in our lifetime, that it means that it would be all of us across this country. I want to thank the gentleman who is handling this on behalf of the Financial Services committee, the gentleman from missouri, for his great work. I think that this is an overwhelming bipartisan bill where the money will go 100 for research not a dime of taxpayer dollars and it will its a well understood process thats in the best interest of Cancer Research for our country. I want to thank the gentleman and i would yield back my time to the gentleman. Mr. Luke myer mr. Luetkemeyer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california. Ms. Waters i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the yeal is recognized. Ms. Waters i rise today to speak in favor of h. R. 2722 introduced by my distinguished colleague on the Financial Services committee, representative maloney. The Ranking Member of the Financial Services committee on Capital Markets and government sponsored enterprises. I commend the gentlelady for introducing the bill before us today. The Breast Cancer awareness commemorative coin act, which provides a chance for all of us to come together to raise awareness about this Critical Health issue that impacts the life of so many women and families. The statistics are startling. Approximately one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive Breast Cancer during her lifetime. And many of these women, approximately one in 36, will lose their lives from this horrible disease. This means that every 1 minutes a woman in this every 13 minutes a woman in this country will die from Breast Cancer. Thats 40,290 women in the United States are expected to die from Breast Cancer in 2015 alone. And while this disease affects women in every Community Across this country, for a variety of reasons such as the lack of adequate care, the likelihood of dying from the disease is particularly high for africanamerican women. In fact africanamerican women have a 44 higher rate of Breast Cancer mortality than white women. That is why the conversation we are having here today is so important. With increased awareness, early detection, new research and better medicine, we can save lives, thousands of them, each year. In consideration of the bill before us today if consideration of the bill before us today causes at least one woman to get screened for Breast Cancer well be better off for it. I urge my colleagues to support the bill before us today which will help raise awareness and modest sums for the fight against Breast Cancer. Again, i would urge adoption of the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from missouri. The gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from california. Ms. Waters i yield to the gentlelady from new york, the author of this legislation, as much time as she may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i thank my friend and colleague from the great state of california for yielding me the time and for her leadership in so many areas before this body. Mr. Speaker i am very, very proud to rise today to urge passage of h. R. 2722, the Breast Cancer awareness commemorative coin act a bill that i authored with my good friend and colleague, congressman Pete Sessions of texas. I also want to add my thanks to chairman hensarling Ranking Member Maxine Waters of the Financial Services committee, and the house leadership for bringing this bill so quickly to the floor and a very special thank you to my partner in this effort, congressman sessions, who has worked with great commitment and i would say creativity in bringing this bill forward and has selflessly worked to have it pass in this body. With his leadership, we were able to secure over 307 cosponsors supporting the passage of this bill in writing. And what were doing tooth with this bill is what were going to do is save american lives. I am absolutely delighted that senator hay dee heidkamp of north dakota, she shers a Breast Cancer survivor, and she has pledged to put 100 of her effort to make sure this bill passes in the United States senate. In the United States, over 200,000 new cases of Breast Cancer will be diagnosed this year and more than 40,000 women will die. Breast cancer is the second largest and leading cause of cancer deaths in women. And over 2,000 men will be diagnosed. Many people think that it is a womens disease but there will be on average over 400 men a year that will die from Breast Cancer. And there is only one thing and one thing only that can possibly save these lives and that is research. The Breast Cancer commemorative coin act will create the opportunity to raise millions of dollars for badly needed Breast Cancer research out spending one taxpayer dime. Money buys research and Research Saves lives. Make no mistake there have been significant advances in medical research and better detection efforts over the years. But 40,000 women are still dying every year. Much more needs to be done. I suspect that absolutely everyone in this body and everyone who is listening who hears my voice today knows someone that they love, some william they admire some Family Member that they care for who has been touched by the shadows of Breast Cancer. And through this bill we offer them hope. Our bill directs the u. S. Mint to create up to 50,000 5 gold coins. 400,000 silver dollars and 750,000 clad commemorative coins and make them available for purchase by the public throughout 2018. So that the American Public can be involved with their dollars themselves, making a decision to support Breast Cancer research. These coins will feature designs submitted and judged through a National Art Competition that will symbolize the fight against this terrible disease. The gold coin will be unique made out of the beautifully highly prized pink gold to reflect the bink ribbon, an International Symbol of Breast Cancer awareness. Like the ribbon we hope that americans across this nation will be wearing the pink gold coin. Actually, mr. Speaker, there has never been a pink gold commemorative coin made like this in the u. S. History. This will be another congressional first. This bill is a creative way to raise awareness about Breast Cancer entirely from private funds for critically needed research thats necessary to find a cure. The proceeds will be split between two outstanding organizations, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the susan g. Komen. Over the year the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and komen each have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Breast Cancer Research Across the nation. Im privileged to represent the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and appreciate the constant support and effort from its founding, evelyn lauther who passed and her successor. The Research Foundation has been responsible for many of the cures that have come forth and breakthroughs. There are 3. Million americans alive today because of cures that have been financed by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and komen. Those organizations have low administrative cost rates so that the majority of every dollar received goes directly to research. For instance, every dollar donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, 91 cents goes directly to research and that is incredibly important. The bill requires that every dollar generated through the coin program must also be matched by private fundraising dollars that are raised by these two organizations. The coin program has the potential to raise millions of dollars to save lives and at absolutely no cost to the american taxpayer. It can raise as much as 8 million and the money will buy research and the research will save lives. When so many lives are on the line, every dollar counts, every dollar matters. I thank my colleagues, particularly my partner in this effort congressman sessions, for their support. I urge the continued bipartisan support in passing the Breast Cancer commemorative coin act. I want to thank the speaker i want to thank Maxine Waters for yielding me time and i yield back my time to the distinguished Ranking Member of the Financial Services committee, Maxine Waters. Ms. Waters we have no additional speakers, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from missouri. To reiterate, the gentleman from texas and the fine gentlelady from new york have done a good job explaining this bill. The importance of this, the fact that were going to try to go after one of the nations leading killers, disease thats claimed many lives, i think its important to show the bipartisan support here and the wellish herb well wishes and intentions of the group. Mr. Luetkemeyer its nice to see Something Like this happen in congress. I urge support of the bill and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 2722. As amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed no. If the preponderance of the chair, 2 3 being in the affirmative the gentleman from michigan. The yeas and nays are requested. Those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to rule 12, clause 8 further proceedings on this question will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Luetkemeyer i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 251 to transfer the position of special assistant for veteran affairs to the office of secretary and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 251, a bill to transfer position of special assistant for Veterans Affairs in the department of housing and urban development to the office of the secretary and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri mr. Luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Luetkemeyer i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Luetkemeyer today i rise in support of h. R. 2501, the homes for heroes act of 2015. This bill introduced by my colleague from texas, congressman al green, would establish the position of special assistant for Veterans Affairs within h. U. D. To coordinate services for Homeless Veterans and serve as h. U. D. s liaison to the department of Veterans Affairs. The position is currently in the office of the Deputy Assistant secretary for special needs. This transfer highlights the importance of this issue. H. R. 251 would also require h. U. D. To submit a comprehensive annual report to congress on the Housing Needs of Homeless Veterans and the steps undertaken by h. U. D. To meet these needs. Previous iterations of h. R. 251 have garnered broad support in the past. In 2013, the bill passed by a vote of 4203. In 2012, by a vote of 4145. In 2009 by a vote of 4172. And in 2008 by a vote of 4129. Our service our service men and women continue to bravely serb our country here and abroad. The at least we the least we can do is make sure they have access to the Services Offered to them. I encourage my colleagues toport to support this worthy endeavor and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from california. Ms. Waters i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Waters i would like to thank my colleague and friend, mr. Green, for introducing this important bill, the homeless the homes for heroes act of 2015. This bill aims to help prevent low income veteran families from falling into homelessness while also providing rereef for those currently homeless this bill tissue relief for those currently homeless. This bill achieves those bames elevating a position at h. U. D. Aimed specifically at coordinating efforts to ensure that all federal agencies working to house our Homeless Veterans are working together at Maximum Capacity this position will work closely with the h. U. D. Secretary to achieve these outcomes. The homes for heroes act will also ensure the longterm coordination of services for Homeless Veterans by requiring h. U. D. To submit a comprehensive annual report to congress on the Housing Needs of Homeless Veterans. This bill will help ensure that we continue to make progress on the goal of ending veterans homelessness so we can ensure that every veteran has a roof over their head. Recent efforts to house our Homeless Veterans have seen bipartisan support in both the house and senate and in the form of supporting robust funding for the h. U. D. Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Programs. Also known as h. U. D. Vash. We have an obligation here in congress to protect and provide for those who are most vulnerable. No person in the country should be deprived of a safe decent, and affordable place to call home. No person should be deprived of a roof over their head. This bill would help to ensure that were taking care of those who have taken care of this country. In addition, this bill is supported by the National Alliance to end homelessness. A National Advocacy organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. An identical bill passed the house last congress. I urge my colleagues to again pass this important piece of legislation and i want to thank mr. Green for his persistence in reinforcing this legislation. Its another wonderful moment for him. So i thank him mr. Speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer with that, id like to yield such time as he may consume, the gentleman from New Hampshire, mr. Guinta. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Guinta thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, the u. S. Department of housing and urban Development Estimates that almost 50,000 veterans are homeless on any given night that means right now, there are roughly 50,000 of our nations heroes on the streets without shelter, struggling to find a place to live. This is not how our country should treat the men and women who have risked their lives to protect our nation. The issue of Homeless Veterans needs to be addressed and resolved and needs to be done now. Its always been a priority of mine to eliminate veterans homelessness, not just in my home state of New Hampshire but across this great nation. I think my colleagues can all agree that we must ensure that veterans and their families have access to Affordable Housing to help promote independence and well being. When i was mayor of New Hampshires largest city, manchester, i launch an initiative with liberty house, the safe, supportive, and Housing Community substancefree Housing Community for veterans. We can start now by cutting down the bureaucracies, bureaucratic hurdles and ensure that the highest care is given to our veterans. This bipartisan bill is eap is a step in the right direction. I thank my friend from texas mr. Green, for fighting on behalf of Homeless Veterans. Im proud to rise in support of our nations heroes and proud to support h. R. 251 and yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, we reserve the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from california. Ms. Waters thank you. Ill yield to the gentleman from texas and the Ranking Member of oversight and investigations of the Financial Services committee mr. Green, as much time as he may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Green thank you very much, madam Ranking Member. I am so honored to stand on the floor with you. Your reputation for supporting the needs of the homeless across the length and bred of our country is breath of our country is widely known and bredth of our country is widely known and appreciated. You have been there for the homeless. You have spoken up in committee and you have passed legislation to assist and it does not surprise me you would be supportive of this legislation. And while it does not surprise me, i still must tell you that im greatly appreciative of your support, because your support makes a difference in legislation moving forward in our committee. I want to thank the chair of the committee, mr. Hensarling, who without question reservation or hesitation, immediately concluded that this legislation should have an opportunity to be voted upon. He has been a supporter of the legislation in the past, and i thank him for his current support. Mr. Luetkemeyer has been supportive of the legislation and i thank you for your willingness to allow it to come to the floor as quickly as it has come to the floor. Sometimes it can take a little longer than wed like for legislation to come to the floor, but you immediately responded and this legislation has made its way to the floor. I also would like to thank the gentleman from New Hampshire who spoke very eloquently about the needs of veterans and it means a lot to me to know that we have the breath of support in the house of representatives that we have. I believe that it is almost sinful for us in the richest country in the world to pass veterans who are living in the streets of life Holding Signs indicating that they are homeless and that they need help. I believe that the richest country in the world can afford to provide for those who return home and are homeless. I think that when a person signs up to serve in the military, you dont know where that assignment will take you. It could very well mean that you will go to some distant place or it could mean you could stay here right here within the continental United States. But when you sign up you do whatever youre told and do what is required. When those that sign up and do whats required dont always return home the same way they left. And as a result, we see not only veterans on the streets asking for help but you see veterans who are sometimes without all of their body parts. And it is especially painful when you see a person who has served the country and may be in a wheelchair now asking for assistance on a street corner. Im proud to say that i thank the Obama Administration for the work that has been done to eradicate homelessness among our veterans. In houston, texas, we had a meeting with the h. U. D. Secretary and others and at that meeting our mayor announced that we were ending homelessness in houston, texas in the sense that a person who needs help could find help if youre a veteran in houston texas. And that means a lot to me, to know that my hometown city now is moving forward and is helping those who are living in the streets of life. But this piece of legislation, h. R. 251 does is this. It makes permanent what is already taking place. There is a person who is there to look out for veterans in h. U. D. , but we want to make sure that that person is there permanently and thats what this legislation does. Youve heard about the reports that will have to be submitted. Exceedingly important to know how many people are homeless in the veterans population. Exceedingly important to know what it cost to house and to take care of them. These are the kinds of things that the report will reveal to all who wish to know. But its also important for us to understand that this is not an effort that we can end because we are making progress. Progress is important, but to continue the progress and to completely eradicate this homelessness we have to have people who are there acting as sentinels, as watchmen for those who have served us well. That is what this person will do when theyre stationed in h. U. D. The situation in terms of the homelessness for the veteran population, let me share the information with you. On january of 2014 the demographi that on any given night, as was indicated, about 50,000 49,933 veterans were homeless. But lets talk about the people themselves and not allow them to become numbers. Heres what the statistically information further reveals. It reveals that 12 of the homeless Adult Population of veterans, of the homeless Adult Population, 12 veterans, reveals that 20 of the male Homeless Population are veterans revealed that 51 of individual Homeless Veterans had disabilities. 51 with disabilities. 51 needing our help. 51 that will benefit from having a person whose job it is to monitor and make sure they are taken care of. But further, it would reveal that 70 have Substance Abuse problems, something that we really dont like to talk about. We know that it exists and we know that something can be done about it, but you need someone who is there as a sentinel as a watchman to make sure that these needs are taken care of. Many of them developed their Substance Abuse problem while in the military, while serving the country, and thats unfortunate but it is a fact and what we want to do is make sure we take care of all of them. So i am so honored to say to you that this bill has received great bipartisan support in the past, overwhelmingly so, i might add, but i also want to just thank my colleagues by reminding us of the words of ruth. Some measure their lives by days and years. Others by passion and tears. But the surest measure underseason gods sun is in the lifetime what you have done. I want to thank those who are going to do whatever they can to reduce the homelessness among the veteran population and those who support this legislation and hopefully we will get it past the senate so next term we dont find ourselves in this situation. I want to thank the Ranking Member for your many years of service and your support for this legislation as well as the many years of support that you have accorded those who live in the streets of life. God bless you and god bless our country. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. Mr. Green i yield back. Ms. Waters thank you very much, mr. Green. I have no additional speakers. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you, mr. Speaker. Just to reiterate and again congratulate and associate our remarks with the fine gentleman from texas, mr. Green. You can see that his hard work and advocacy and passion for this issue is unparalleled. We want to urge support of his fine bill here, h. R. 251, and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 251. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair 2 3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended the bill is passed mr. Luetkemeyer i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1047, to authorize private and nonprofit organizations to administrator permanent housing rental assistance provided through the continuum of care program under the mckinneyvento homeless assistance act and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 1047, a bill to authorize private nonprofit organizations to administer permanent housing rental assistance provided through the continuum of care program under the mckinneyvento homeless assistance act, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, i rise today in strong support of h. R. 1047, the Housing Assistance efficiency act, introduced by the gentleman from california, mr. Peters. This bill makes a technical correction to the 2009 hearth act, the mckinneyvento homeless assistance act. It restores the ability of nonprofit organizations to administrator permanent housing rental administer permanent housing rental assistance. Second, it would authorize the h. U. D. Secretary to reallocate any Housing Assistance provided from the Emergency Solution Grants Program that is unused or returned or that becomes available after the minimum allocation has been act. It combined the Shelter Plus Care Program and the Housing Program into a single competitive program. In combining activities, the harth act created a requirement that local governments or Public Housing authorities could have this. They used private nonprofit organizations to administer the assistance. H. R. 1047 corrects an unintended consequence of the harth act by restoring nonprofit participation. The bill maximizes community flexibility to allow existing nonprofits that operate leased housing to homeless families and individuals to continue to manage the mckinneyvento grants as rental assistance as well as continue to develop innovative practices that assist homeless families and individuals. It requires h. U. D. To use Grant Program funds only once per year. As i understand from h. U. D. And many nonprofit organizations there are very few unused funds available, yet, a complicated reallocation program, as required by current law, must be conducted twice a year even if the amount is minuscule. Mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to pass this commonsense legislation that is supported by the administration and many of the nonprofit organizations that continue to serve Homeless Populations with limited resources and with that, mr. Speaker i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters thank you mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague from california, mr. Peters for working on this important issue and introducing this bill. This bill entitled the Housing Assistance efficiency act, makes two key changes to the mckinneyvento homeless assistance act, that are long overdue. Specifically, this bill is designed to fix two technical problems that have arisen in h. U. D. s homeless assistance programs due to technical errors in the language in the herth act, which was a bipartisan bill that significantly reformed the homeless assistance programs in 2009. Among other things, h. U. D. s homeless assistance programs help Homeless People pay rent when they move out of shelters or off the streets into housing. Since the inception of these programs, local nonprofit organizations have received funding from h. U. D. To administer efficient and costeffective rental assistance programs, working with local landlords to get places for Homeless People to live. Unfortunately, in 2009 when certain programs were merged under the herth act, these nonprofits became ineligible to directly administer permanent rental assistance. This unintentional result of the herth act has created huge uncertainty on the ground for many nonprofits who work hard to house our Homeless Populations across the country. The permanent fix in h. R. 1047 would be extremely helpful for communities that are working to end homelessness for chronic individuals, veterans, children and other populations. The second provision in h. R. 1047 addresses the Emergency Solutions Grant Program a program aimed at Homelessness Prevention and rapid rehousing activities. The bill would amend the current h. U. D. Requirement to reallocate or return otherwise available funds from twice per year to just once per year this change provides h. U. D. And local agencies with administrative relief while having no negative impacts on beneficiaries of they have programs. In addition, this program is supported by the National Alliance to end homelessness a National Advocacy organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. An identical bill passed the house last december on the suspension calendar by voice vote and i urge my colleagues to again vote in favor of this bill. I thank you and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. Ms. Waters i yield to the gentleman, mr. Peters as much time as he may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Peter mr. Peters i rise in support of the housing efficiency Housing Assistance efficiency act. An identical version of this passed the house by voice vote last december. Many laws are intended to ensure efficiency in federal agency bus often have unintended consequences, preventing agencies from serving the public and costing taxpayers money. Currently, the department of housing and urban Development Continuum of care program is forced to spend too much time fulfilling obligations instead of helping families transition out of homelessness and putting them on a path to independent living. This will reduce government inefficiency and make it easier for americans struggling to find a foothold to access the already existing Resources Available to them. Twice a fiscal year, h. U. D. Has to reallocate unused or returned funds in the Emergency Solutions Grant Program. Because funds are almost never unused or returned other this program, the reallocation of funds takes a lot of time and Human Capital to complete but with little end purpose. This is administratively more efficient to reallocate funds only once per year this frees up h. U. D. Employees to provide more Human Resources for better providing resources to constituents. We shouldnt saddle h. U. D. With administrative work that isnt helping anyone. In addition to mandatory fund reallocations, h. U. D. Faces mountains of paperwork as they try to administer the important system used by millions of americans each year. Prior to 2009, private nonprofits could administer rental assistance through h. U. D. s continuum of care. Nonprofits are uniquely able to hand they will needs of rental assistance to serve the clients where they are. The hearth act, however muddles rental assistance laws and private nonprofits were left off the list of efferentities able to administer these this assistance. Currently only h. U. D. And official offices can administer this assistance. Private nonprofits can still execute other homelessness programs but have to go through Public Housing agencies or another layer of bureaucracy to get rental assistance to their clients or to the landlord this creates more bureaucratic burdenses when individuals and families need the help quickly to stay in their home. Passing this bill would remedy both these problems, make h. U. D. A more Efficient Agency and get homelessness assistance to those who need it more quickly. This is particularly important in san diego, where access to Affordable Housing has been continually one of our regions biggest obstacles, and where we have the Third Largest Homeless Population in the country. By passing todays bill we can help h. U. D. Be more efficient and ensure that Community Experts and nonprofits are not ham strung by federal inaction. In their statement supporting this legislation, the San Diego Housing Federation said this bill removes barriers to helping get support and resources to those who need it most. Mr. Speaker, thats what its all about. I urge my colleagues to help pass this legislation and take substantive action to help fight chronic homelessness in our country. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields g yields. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Luetkemeyer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from the gentlewoman from california is recognized. Ms. Waters i have no additional speakers, i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields. The gentleman from missouri is recognized. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you mr. Speaker. We want to reiterate our support for the h. R. 1047 that corrects some problems that have arisen inadvertently and we yield back the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1047. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Frump does the gentleman from missouri for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Luetkemeyer i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 2482 to amend the low Income Housing and preservation act of 1990. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 2482, a bill to amend the low Income Housing preservation and Resident Home ownership act of 1990. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Luetkemeyer i rise in support of h. R. 2482, the preservation enhancement and savings opportunity act of 2015. As my colleague will explain shortly this bill provides technical changes to the low Income Housing and residence ownership act of 1990. To allow Property Owners to the profits while ensuring longterm preservation of affordable multifamily housing properties. By correcting inequities resulting from a fixed return on investment we are providing for continued preservation of an important asset and supporting future recapitalization to utilize the remaining life of the properties without any cost to the federal government. H. U. D. Recognized the need to address this we reck to address this issue in the 2014 and 2015 budget requests. It has determined it lacks authority to correct this with this portfolio this bill ensures the continued viability of the properties through continued adherence to the use agreement. This includes compliance with physical need requirements and requirements to provide any identified capital needs. I would like to reemphasize that this provision does not result in a cost to the program and ensures longterm preservation. I thank the gentleman from minnesota for his hard work on this issue and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from california is recognized. Ms. Waters sprk thank you, mr. Speaker. Ms. Waters thank you mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters this bill is the product of years of thoughtful consideration and negotiation. Im very pleased with the compromises that were reached on this bill, especially some additional tenant protections that include rent affordability restrictions for existing tenants. There are currently about 640 properties subject to restrictions in the low Income Housing preservation and Resident Homeowners act of 1990, otherwise known as lithra. It has proven to be problematic by making it more difficult for Property Owners to preserve these aging properties. This bill would help address this issue by providing effective Property Owners with greater flexibilities on the condition that they comply with basic requirements that ensure that the properties are adequately maintains and that tenants do not see dramatic increases in rent. By providing these flexibilities Property Owners will have better access to capital to carry out repairs and other improvements that will help preserve these aging properties and ultimately benefit tenants, particularly in light of the current rental housing crisis. This is an important bipartisan measure that seeks to preserve our Affordable Housing stock. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. Paulsen who has been an advocate on this issue for a long, long time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. Mr. Paulsen first let me start by thanking the gentleman along with the Ranking Member of the committee for their long efforts to bring this legislation forward with support and i also want to rise in support of the legislation of preservation enhancement savings opportunity act. As mentioned in 1990, congress enacted the low Income Housing and resident act to extend the availability of housing throughout the country. Many low Income Housing at that time were nearing the end of a 20year period of the owners obligation to maintain below market rents for qualified tenants and congress was worried about a flood of hows of properties coming out of the low Income Housing pool system of congress used lith rah to create new lithra to create low interest, restructured mortgages to entice owners to maintain properties as low Income Housing. In exchange for incentives, owners that agreed to extend low income use of properties became obligated to operate properties as low Income Properties for 50 years or the remaining useful life of the property, whichever would be greater. Property owners agreed to a fixed cap on the allowed cash distributions on rents from the properties. The cap was designed to provide loaners with provide owners with an 8 equity return, based on Property Values at the time. The income from properties above the cap is still the owners money but held at h. U. D. At an account that owners have no right to access until the end of that 50year period. These 8 distribution limits, while initially workable, have resulted in adverse and unexpected consequences, particularly relating to the federal income tax liabilities of the owners. Initially owners were able to offset a portion of their taxes owed with depreciation, mortgage interest deductions and the 8 cash distributions were sufficient to meet those tax obligations. However, since that time rents have increased and deductible mortgage interest and depreciation deductions have decreased for Property Owners. This effectively means the annual federal income tax income of the owners has increased substantially, despite the fact that theyre allowed cash bistbutions have remained capped at a dollar amount set in the 1990s. In recent years, owners income tax liabilities have often been more than double the amount of cash permitted to be distributed to them under the law. This is unfair to Property Owners and will only worsen over time. Unfortunately there is a simple solution to the fortunately, there is a simple solution to the problem. The preservation enhancement and savings opportunity act will allow owners to access their funds after all operating expenses and Property Maintenance costs have been paid. More importantly, removing the limitation on distributions will not result in any cost to the federal government as the funds belong to the owners and not to h. U. D. Legislation also requires individuals refinancing these properties to provide adequate rehabilitation and replacement reserves and includes protections for tenants, low income hughesing tenants from excess rent increases. Removing the distributions and refinancing provisions will encourage other development which will extend the availability of longterm housing for those who most need it. This all happens at no additional cost to american taxpayers. Mr. Speaker, i would just ask unanimous consent to insert into the record a letter to chairman hensarling and Ranking Member waters from Nine National housing organizations endorsing this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Paulsen with that, i close and yield back. Mr. Luetkemeyer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters thank you, i have no additional speakers. I encourage support and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields g. Yields. Mr. Luetkemeyer we yield back the balance of our time and urge support of h. R. 2482. The speaker pro tempore the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 2482 . Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 2997, to authorize the secretary of housing and urban development to carry out a Demonstration Program to enter into budgetneutral, performancebased contracts for energy and Water Conservation improvements for multifamily residential units. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 2997, a bill to authorize the secretary of housing and urban development to carry out a Demonstration Program to enter into budgetneutral, performancebased contracts for energy and Water Conservation improvements for multifamily residential units. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from california ms. Waters, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, today i rise in support of h. R. 2997, the private investment in housing act of 2015. This bill, introduced by my colleague from florida, mr. Secretary of housing and urban development to establish a Demonstration Program to make assisted multifamily properties more energy and water efficient at no cost to the u. S. Taxpayers. Currently h. U. D. Spends in excess of 7 billion in annual energy and water costs for h. U. D. Assisted properties. These properties are generally older with inenergy and water usage. In most cases owners of these properties lack the money to perform energy and water efficiency. H. R. 2997 would create a demonstration for no more than 20,000 assisted units most likely nonprofit entities, to produce energy and water efficiency in exchange for a chair of the savings. This demonstration in a contract with the intermediary would allow these entities would raise capital from foundations. H. U. D. Would not provide upfront capital for Energy Retrofits and would be no risk to the federal government. Savings due to the retrofits verified by an independent third party would have h. U. D. Remit the savings. The loss will be absorbed by the foundation. Mr. Speaker, h. R. 2997 is an example of a Publicprivate Partnership needed to attract Capital Investment to our public and assisted housing stock. This demonstration, in addition to the rental Demonstration Program is the beginning of bipartisan legislative initiatives to bring private sector resources and management to Affordable Housing for low and very lowincome families. As chairman of the housing and insurance subcommittee of the Financial Services committee, im working with mebles on both sides of the aisle to develop legislation similar to h. R. 2997 which would make the operation of h. U. D. And its programs more efficient. This bill is a step in that direction. In addition to the sponsor, representative ross, i want to thank you, the Ranking Member of the housing and insurance subcommittee, mr. Cleaver, along with the representatives himes of connecticut and dalene eave maryland for their hard work on this legislation. I urge members to support h. R. 2997, and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters mr. Speaker, this bill would create a Pilot Program within h. U. D. Which would allow for energy and water efficiency upgrades to be made to certain private multifamily h. U. D. Properties at no cost to the government. Under this innovative Pilot Program, investors would provide all of the upfront capital to make the improvement and they would only get paid based on a portion of the cost savings a portion of those cost savings that result from the improvements. If there are no cost savings, the losses would be completely on the investors, not h. U. D. , or the taxpayers. This is a rare winwin situation. H. U. D. And taxpayers benefit from cost savings. Tenants benefit from improvements made to their home. Investors benefit from the profit and of course the environment benefits from the more responsible use of natural resources. This bill also ensures accountability by requiring a thirdparty evaluation to verify any cost savings and also by requiring the secretary to report on the outcomes of the pilot within a year of enactment. There is simply no reason for bipartisan bickering on a bill like this. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you mr. Speaker. With that id like to yield as much as he may consume to the gentleman from florida, mr. Ross, a distinguish member of the housing and insurance committee. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. Mr. Ross thank you, mr. Chairman, to the Ranking Member, for your support. Currently h. U. D. Spends more than 7 billion annually in energy and water costs. In our current fiscal environment, we must look to new technology and Innovative Solutions to generate savings for both taxpayers and the federal government. Today im proud to ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the bipartisan h. R. 2997, the private investment in housing act. This legislation will establish a demonstration project that will encourage private sector entities to retrofit and modernize a limited number of h. U. D. Multifamily Housing Units at absolutely no cost to taxpayers. This legislation is necessary because nonprofits today and other entities that focus on financing for Affordable Housing are unable to enter into contractual agreements to retrofit h. U. D. Multifamily Housing Units. Imagine leveraging private capital to enhance the livability and habitability at no cost to taxpayers and the federal government. It doesnt involve any risk to the federal government and to the taxpayer. In fact, investors take the first loss on energy upgrades. If savings are not realized, the federal government does not pay anything period. If savings to these projects are achieved they would lower h. U. D. s energy expenditures by as much as 20 creating tremendous savings to the taxpayers. Private entities would take on the risk to retrofit these units will receive 1 return for every 1 that is verified by a third party. The program would help improve up to 20,000 h. U. D. Assisted apartments receiving assistance, supported housing for the elder loar or persons with disabilities. This demonstration project will help a limited number of people first in florida and across the country. However, over time once it is proven a success, more than 47,000 Eligibility Properties in the state of florida alone and the 900 units in my district alone may be able to benefit, again, at no expense to the taxpayer. These upgrades will bring meanful health and benefits creating a healthier and safer environment for residents. I want to thank my colleagues, representative himes, representative cleaver, Ranking Member of the subcommittee and representative john delaney for their support on this legislation. I also want to take Enterprise Community partners for their support of this legislation and for the support of the projects and encourage Publicprivate Partnerships in support of Affordable Housing. I ask you to support this to help h. U. D. Reduce its 7 billion in energy and water spending, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, well reserve the balance of our time at this point. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the chair the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters thank you mr. Speaker. During the foreclosure crisis of the last several years, we have learned how important the role of Mortgage Servicing is to our economy. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer we have with that, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time as well and just encourage support for h. R. 2997. I think its a great idea to, again, going to a Publicprivate Partnership and, again, at no cost to the taxpayers. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields, the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 2997. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 having responded in the affirmative mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. The yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 further proceedings on this question will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1408, as amended, to require certain federal banking agencies to conduct a study of the appropriate Capital Requirements for Mortgage Servicing assets for nonsystemic banking institutions, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 1408, a bill to require certain federal banking agencies to conduct a study of the appropriate Capital Requirements for Mortgage Servicing assets for nonsystemic banking institutions, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from california ms. Waters, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of h. R. 1408 as amended. I want to thank the gentleman from colorado mr. Perlmutter, for introducing this legislation. Mortgage servicing assets, or m. S. A. s, also known as morality servicing rights, are contracts to Service Mortgage loans. Historically these assets have been held by banks and Credit Unions that have existing or developed relationships with their customers. The basel 3 forced many Financial Institutions to sell off these assets. Many have been sold to hedge funds or other nonbanks with little to no experience in dealing directly with consumers. In recent years, the Bipartisan Group of five members of the Financial Services committee sent letters to the federal banking regulators asking whether or not they have studied m. S. A. Ace or m. S. A. Performance during the financial crisis before generating the basel requirements. Regulators had not. There was no consideration of m. S. A. s, how the assets performed hiss tore cleerks or the impact that higher capital would have on consumers. What is more disconcerning, m. S. A. s exist only in the United States. These are uniquely american product. Nowhere else in the world do m. S. A. s exist yet, it was International Regulators to decide how these assets should be treated. Benjamin losky stated that, were finding were creating giant nonbank servicers who in a couple of instances are not fully able to prepare for this rise in their own portfolios and they dont have the capacity to service the loans they are taking on end quote. He went on to say, and i quote, while on the one hand we were trying to get rid of a problem, we have made the problem a different problem worse. End of quote. H. R. 1408 is a straightforward, bipartisan bill. It says the banking regulators need to go back and study m. S. A. s and the impact of the new Capital Requirements and what they will have on consumers. Given that weve seen in this space of the last year i think is not only appropriate but completely necessary that we take another look at m. S. A. s. I want to again thank mr. Perlmutter for his work on this legislation and ensure a more methodical approach is taken with banking regulators and with that i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Waters thank you, mr. Speaker. During the foreclosure crisis of the last several years, we have learned how important the role of Mortgage Servicing is to our economy and our constituents. Im proud of the work we did in the doddfrank acts and the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to do to reform the practices of the Mortgage Servicing industry. Unfortunately, this congress has not been able to move legislation on broader housing financial reform. While we have left this business unfinished there has been a large shift in the structure of the Mortgage Servicing industry as nonbank servicers who are supervised by state regulators play a much larger role than they have in the past. That is why im supporting the good bipartisan work of mr. Perlmutter and mr. Luetkemeyer. They have gauged in they have engaged in to make sure that state and federal regulators are working together to understand the changes in the Mortgage Servicing industry and to make sure that bank and nonbank servicers are treated appropriately under new financial rules. This study will give regulators the information they need to monitor the impact of capital standards on the Mortgage Servicing market and encourage state and federal regulators to Work Together to ensure that all Mortgage Servicers are appropriately capitalized regardless of who regulates them. H. R. 1408 will ensure that regulators are paying close attention to a vital part of our housing and financial system, and im happy that we were able to work with the majority to pass this bill. So i thank you and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you mr. Speaker. With that id yield as much as he may consume, the gentleman from arkansas, who is a distinguished member of our Financial Services committee, mr. Hill. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from arkansas is recognized. Mr. Hill i thank the manager, the gentleman from missouri. I rise in support of h. R. 1408, the Mortgage Servicing asset Capital Requirements act. Mortgage servicing is a valuable service for banks, having Mortgage Servicing assets connected with a Residential Lending portfolio adds value. Its incidental and important to banking and effectively its a proper hedge a natural hedge, for that Residential Lending business. However, because of the Capital Requirements imposed on Mortgage Servicing organizations, many banks are being forced to sell their m. S. A. Portfolios. The hedge funds tissue to ledge funds or nonbanks which dont have the experience with the local customers or personal knowledge Like Community banks do m. S. A. s, are unique, as the gentleman from missouri said, to the United States, but theyre being regulated by rules developed by an International Body without any study as to whether Additional Capital is even needed or any review on the impact of customer relationships. In my view, while staying implementation of these Capital Requirements during a study as provided in the original version of the bill would be optimal, it is nonetheless imperative tat impacts of this rule be thoroughly analyzed, vetted and understood. I thank my friend, the gentleman from colorado my friends, the gentlemen from colorado and missouri for their work, i ask my colleagues to support this commonsense bill and i yield back mr. Chairman. Mr. Luetkemeyer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters im pleased to yield to the gentleman from colorado and id like to thank him for the work that hes put into this legislation. And i would yield to him as much time as he would consume. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. Mr. Perlmutter to my friend from california thank you, thank you thank you for allowing me to bring this forward thank you to mr. Luetkemeyer and thank you for the remarks from think friend from arkansas. Im glad to see that our work is culminating in the passage of the billion before us today. The language before us today represents a compromise requiring federal banking regulators, and by those i mean the Federal Reserve and federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the office of the comptroller of currency to jointly study the capital trement of Mortgage Servicing assets or Mortgage Servicing rights. Ill say m. S. R. s or m. S. A. s. Under the bazell 3 accords. Its nearly identical to section 116 of senate bill 1484. It differs from the original bill passed out of the Financial Service committees passed out on march 26 that included language to delay the current rule while regulators conducted a study and proposed new Capital Requirements for m. S. R. s. While many of us wish the bill included those provisions the study is what is key. The study will be an important step in informing how we proceed with future actions establishing the appropriate Capital Requirements for m. S. R. s. Now what does h. R. 1408 require . Under h. L. 1408, regulators will have six months to study and report back to congress in outstanding questions about the Mortgage Servicing industry, including one, the risk to banks and Credit Unions of holding Mortgage Servicing assets m. S. A. s. Two, how the assets performed during the financial crisis. Three, the ability to establish a value and liquidity for m. S. A. s, four, the impact of imposing bazell 3 Capital Requirements on banks versus nonbank servicers, and five, the impact to consumers and the ability of regulated bank tosser vis mortgages that they originate. The Mortgage Servicing industry has chifted has shifted since the financial cry soifs 2008 as congresswoman waters mentioned. We have seen a significant sale of m. S. R. s and m. S. A. s from banks to nonbanks including to specialty servicers, private equity firms and hedge funds. In 2013 about 1. 03 trillion of Mortgage Servicing rights were sold with a vast majority going to nonbank servicing companies. Moreover, the percentage of loanser is vized by nonbanks has steadily increased from 12 to almost 31 . Now why is the market shifting . There are several factors for the growth in nonbank servicing activity. I believe the primary driver has been the capital treatment of m. S. A. s under the bazell 3 awards. Bazell was always meant to apply to the largestering interconnected banks but the m. S. A. Treatment is having the greatest impact on our smaller, Community Banks. Bazell 3 caps the value of m. S. A. s that depository institutions can count toward their Tier One Capital at 10 . Any m. S. A. s that exceed the 10 threshold are subject to 100 risk weight, a standard that will increase to 250 by 2018. Why is this a concern . In addition to the capital treatment, there is a discrepancy between how banks and nonbank servicers are regulated so theres additional regulation that comes down on the Community Banks while that same kind of regulation isnt seen by the nonbank servicers. If there were to be another sudden market disruption or downturn, it is important we understand if nonbank Mortgage Service have the capacity or the expertise to manage defaults or modifications. The Financial Stability oversight council, the fsoc, in wits 2014 annual report, specifically named the transfer of Mortgage Servicing rights to nonbanks as a potentially potential emerging threat. Report says m. S. R. s are increasingly being transfered to nonbank Mortgage Servicing companies while the cfpb and state regulators have some authority over these companies, many are currently not subject to prudential standards such as capital liquidity or risk management. Adam levinson, the democratic witness at our hear, spoke favorably in support of the bill, saying m. S. R. s have traditionally been an important class for demozzer tos as they provide a countercyclical offset to Mortgage Origination activity and its subject to give depositories room to smooth their earnings. Bazell 3 changes make m. S. R. s an unattractive asset for banks. Representative luetkemeyer and i have questioned whether the prudential regulators struck the right balance between limiting risk exposure and making sure they can still compete with nonbanks in the Mortgage Servicing arena. From conversations we have had it is clear they did not study the specific capital treatment applied to m. S. A. s and the impacts on consumers and the market. Banks want to continue servicing mortgages they originate and maintain these connections to their communities as mr. Hill mentioned. However, if the current Capital Requirements remain in effect, it would make it more and more difficult. Id like to, mr. Speaker, with unanimous consent, place in the record two letters that weve received, one dated jewel 13 from the American Bankers Association the dated july 13 from the American Bankers Association, the other dating july 14 from the National Association of federal Credit Unions in support of h. R. 1408. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Perlmutter with that, im glad we were able to seek and reach a compromise on this bill. I urge the quick passage of h. R. 1408 and with that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Ms. Waters i have no additional speakers and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to reiterate my support and thanks for the hard work of the gentleman from colorado, a leader on this issue and certainly its been a pleasure to work with him. I urge passage of h. R. 1408 and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1408 as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Without objection, the title amended. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Mr. Luetkemeyer i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 432, to amend the Investment Advisors act of 1940 to prevent duplicative regulation of advisors of Small Business companies. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk Union Calendar number 148, h r. 432, a bill to amend the Investment Advisors act of 1940 to prevent duplicative recklation of advisors of Small Business Investment Companies. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. Luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. Waters, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. Mr. Luetkemeyer i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Luetkemeyer thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of h. R. 432, the sbic advisors relief act this legislation allows for commonsense changes to allow for greater Small Business Capital Formation and job creation. The sbic advisors relief act pro vidse regulation for advisors. These are advisors who make longterm investment in Small Businesses and have to the tune of 63 billion since 195. Sbics are heavily regulated and closely supervised by the Small Business administration and have been for 55 years. It includes an in depth examination of management, strong investment rule, numerous operation requirements recordkeeping examination and reporting mandates and conflict of interest rules. These entities and the management of these entities are anything but unregulated this robust Regulatory Framework has been well recognized by congress. The intent of congress in dodd frank was to reduce the Regulatory Burden on smaller funds and sbics. However the law resulted in unintended consequences that need to be addressed. The sbic advise yorse leaf act does three things. Number one it allows joint advisor and relief funds to be exempt combining two cat goirs, advisors and venture funds. Number two, it excludes sbic from the threshold management. And number three it exempts advisors with less than 90 million in assets leaving them to be regulated by the s. B. A. As they are today. Enge we ka we can agree this is commonsense. The legislation is not only bipartisan but includes changes suggested by the s. B. I. C. It eliminates redun daunt mandates. Financial Services Committee has thoroughly examined this Bipartisan Legislation in both the legislative hearing and markup. H. R. 432 passed the committee by a vote of 530 in may. Identical legislation passed the house last year by a voice vote. I want to thank the gentlelady from mork, mrs. Maloney for her help on the bill. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. Ms. Waters i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized. Ms. Waters thank you mr. Speaker. Im pleased to support this bill. This legislation has broad bipartisan support and clarifies the intent of congress when we passed doddfrank. H. R. 432 which representative luetkemeyer and maloney worked on in a bipartisan fashion exempts advisors to Small Business Investment Companies or sbics from registration with the s. E. C. In cases where they are inappropriately being required to do so. Under the doddfrank act, congress explicitly exempted advisors is; to sbic funds and adviors to Venture Capital funds from registration. However the s. E. C. Has interpreted the language in the fact as still requiring ledge strare. If a funds advisors. This is not consistent with the act and i applaud the authors of the bill for solving this problem. This bill would also exclude sbic fund assets from the calculation of fund assets triggering the 150 million registration threshold. Another provision i believe is reasonable. The sbic program was created in 1958 to help Small Businesses grow. It is a selffunded program and has provided needed capital to communities via the partnership between the Small Business administration and private businesses. Im also comfortabled by the provisions in this legislation because the s. B. A. Actively oversees sbics ensures compliance and restricts leverage. Im pleased that were able to Work Together in this committee to ensure the continued vitality of this longstanding program. Last congress i met with an sbic low catted located just outside of my district. Escalot financial fartherers in which manages technology firms. Since 2010 the