Transcripts For CSPAN House Session 20150107 : comparemela.c

Pursuant to the order of the house of january 7, 2014, 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 the minority whip limited to five minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11 50 a. M. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Roslehtinen, for five minutes. Ms. Roslehtinen thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to strongly oppose the december 17 announcement by president obama on policy changes toward the cuban communist regime. The cuban regime from day one was planning on using alan gross as a pawn to receive concessions from the Obama Administration and their strategy worked. In april, 2013 when asked about a possible swap for mr. Gross secretary kerry testified before congress that, quote, we have refused to do that because there is no equivalency. Alan gross is wrongly imprisoned and we are not going to trade as if it were a spy for a spy, end quote. That turned out not to be true. President obama unilaterally released three cuban spies. They were responsible for the deaths of three american citizens and one u. S. Resident carlos, Armando Mario and pablo, whose brothers to the rescue planes were unjustly shot down over International Airspace on direct orders of the castro brothers. And to make matters worse, we learned that u. S. Government used resources to facilitate the Artificial Insemination of one of the wives of the cuban spies. Good grief. So the white house ignores the fact that these innocent u. S. Pilots were not able to have their own families but rewards one of the persons responsible for their deaths. Not only did the dictatorship achieve the return of five convicted spies, it was also able to attain major concessions from our president in order to support cubas struggling economy. Cubas largest supporters, russia and venezuela, are struggling due to their own fiscal crises so the castro brothers needed a bailout from a new source, and sadly they found one with president obama. By increasing Tourism Travel on the island, the Obama Administration will be injecting millions of dollars into the pockets of the castro brothers. The cuban police state runs the hotels. Lets examine the president s announcement very closely. First, he claims these new policy changes will empower the cuban people. Well, the prodemocracy advocates on the eye atlanta have stated that the changes will help their repressor, not the people of cuba. Second the issue is not only impacting the people of cuba, it also poses a greater threat to u. S. National security interests. Cuba is a designated state sponsor of terrorism and is an avowed enemy of the United States. With these concessions by the administration the castro brothers will use some of their new economic stream to invest more funds into their espionage activities, activities that are aimed against our nation. With the ability to garner more intelligence against the u. S. , the castro brothers are likely to hit the black market and sell this intelligence to the highest bidder. This is not a theory, it is a fact. One example of the fact is the case of anna montez. She was a convicted cuban spy who worked for our u. S. Defense Intelligence Agency collecting information for castro so it can be sold to our enemies. Third, the human rights situation on the island has not changed one bit. The president says that he got raul castro to agree to the release of 53 Political Prisoners prisoners who should never have been in jail in the first place. Yet, the white house will not release the names of these 53 Political Prisoners. Why not . What do they have to hide . Plus, what good is it for the castro brothers to release these 53 when he doesnt stop capturing and detaining other prisoners, which he will. What has been happening in cuba lately in these past few weeks well, according to reports, more than 80 cubans have been detained. The cuban coast guards sank a boat recently on International Waters that was carrying over 30 people, causing death of some of them onboard. Hezbollah celebrated the president obamas announcement after meeting with the cuban ambassador to lebanon. Mr. Speaker, this misguided message sends a signal to our enemy that we will cave and we will surrender at every turn. We in the Congress Must do everything we can to prevent this disastrous policy to go into effect. This is a bad deal for u. S. National security and for the cuban opposition, and it is a sweetheart deal for the repressive cuban regime. Thank you, mr. Speaker for the time. Mr. Speaker, for the time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. Theres always a great deal of excitement surrounding a new congress and a new year. One area thats been very encouraging is the focus on rebuilding and renewing america. That was where we left off in the last congress, frustrated by an inability to produce a sixyear reauthorization largely because of an inability for congress to address meaningfully how it would be funded. This continues the struggle of almost two decades as weve not increased the gas tax or develop a viable sustainable adequate alternative. Its why we recognize that america is falling apart and falling behind. Our infrastructure, once the envy of the world, has put us to a secondtier status with the risk of america falling behind. This is costing americans, far more to endure the damage to their cars and the delays to their lives through congestion than simply funding an alternative and fixing it. Its encouraging that both parties in both chambers might be prepared to aagrees the issue anew. There are some shortterm stopgap solutions which would nowhere near solve the problem but nudge us in the right direction. In the senate theres bipartisan interest in and openness to a comprehensive solution, including the gas tax. Senators bob corker and his partner, chris murphy, have been champions. Senator carper continues his leadership and advocacy for the gas tax solution. Senator john thune a key republican leader, has signaled his openness to the gas tax, which is the simplest, most logical and most effective solution. Even the problematic proposal to use dynamic scoring to evaluate budget proposals could make a difference in solving this huge problem for america if it would be applied in the spirit of dynamic scoring. The Standard Poors research report, u. S. Infrastructure investment, a chance to reap more than we sow pointed out the overwhelming Economic Impact in terms of jobs created, economic benefits actually exceeded the direct amount invested and longterm deficit reduction of 200 million for every 1. 2 billion invested. This should be one of the easiest economic decisions we ever make. In an era of low interest rates, gasoline prices falling dramatically, when theres still hundreds of thousands of people ready to go to work at family wage jobs rebuilding this country, the economic case has never been stronger. By all means, lets evaluate all of the proposals. Lets expand the discussion. Lets look at the leadership of states around the country who are stepping up to do their part. State, local and private investment all have a role to play, to be sure but recognize that the 25 of infrastructure funding that comes from the federal government plays a critical role. Let this Congress Give america a solution thats sustainable, not one that would put us back in the same fix in a year or two or even sooner. Lets have a Revenue Source that is dedicated so that we can begin on longer term projects that demand multimodal, multistate multiyear solutions and is large enough to give us a long overdue sixyear comprehensive reauthorization. Stable dedicated big enough to do the job. This is a test that new congress and administration should meet to revitalize our economy and rebuild and renew this country. At a time at dramatically falling oil and gas prices, when the public is suffering from congress dithering on our transportation and other infrastructure needs, interest will never be a better time to heed the advice of president Ronald Reagan 33 years ago in his thanksgiving day radio address to the country to raise the gas tax and put americans to work fixing the problem that has only gotten worse. It was good advice then, its good advice today. I would ask unanimous consent to add to submit this for the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlemans time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Murphy, for five minutes. Mr. Murphy thank you, madam speaker. Sadly, each day we read sensationalized headlines that boggle the mind, but heres the rest of the story. In new york, headlines read, a 30yearold man has been charged with killing his father who found a hedge fund because his allowance had been cut. The rest of the story, he had been in a Mental Health decline for years. A friend told the press, clearly their son had serious Mental Illness. There were stories about things he had been doing in the past few years really erratic behavior. Another newspaper reports the man was off his medication. In florida, headlines read a 23yearold man cut off his mothers head with an ax last week because of her nagging about daily chores. The rest of the story, this man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been involuntarily held under the states civil commitment law but released. Despite his illness and past commitments he was no longer in treatment because florida requires a person to be homicidal for treatment. In pennsylvania, a former marine killed his exwife and five of her family members last month because of quoteunquote family issues. The rest of the story, the marine hab evaluated and cleared of having suicidal or homicidal tendencies by a department of Veterans Affairs psychology five days before, a decision we now see is wrong. Each week there are half a dozen new reports that man more than a sensationalized headline because the rest of the story tells the real story. Mental disease is not lifestyle choice. Psychosis skets friendia translates into a specific set of disturbing behaviors. This is not a condemnation of the mentally ill nor criticism of those who have issues. Hallucinations lead to those to a bad choice. For those that dont have a brain disorder its hard to think about. When we hear that behaviors is symptom attic that is occurring in the brain we can address those like other medical diseases and other lifesaving treatments. The reason why a individual acts out in a violent matter on a mass scale are complex and not as simple to a response to a mothers nagging. Sadly, in all cases the families knew there was something wrong but they were ignored and frustrated or turned away by a broken system of state and federal laws that create walls and barriers instead of access to care. Parents know theres a problem and on when they have the resources to get a child help the family efforts are thwarted by this broken system and not in getting effective evidencebased treatment and communities rarely have the programs, doctors to deal with the most severe cases. In the face of this growing crisis, we must approach serious Mental Illness as a medical emergency that engages the community and medical response to help people and families trapped in the system that is misguided, in denial or disconnected. We can change this tragic pattern and thats will ill reintroduce the helping families in Mental Health crisis act which makes sure that mentally ill gets treatment. It clarifies and simplifies hipaa privacy laws. It reforms federal programs to folks on programs that reach or shows work, not feel good fads. It helps patients who are unable to understand their treatment get care. People with schizophrenia are not even aware they have problems and this leads to noncompliance with treatment. And helps explain why 40 of americans with serious Mental Illness do not get any treatment. It occurs most frequently with schizophrenia because of frontal lobe problems and we need to understand it. There is accountability of how Public Health dollars are being spent. We owe it to the 10 million americans with a serious Mental Illness and the five million who are not with treatment to take meaningful action. To fix the chaotic patchwork of problems and laws that make it impossible to get meaningful medical care until it is too late to do anything beyond mourning. Each day i receive countless letters and telephone calls from parents across the country who most courageously battle a broken system who is trying to help a loved one in a Mental Health crisis. Let their struggles be our motivation to take action of our own now. As i said ill soon be reintroducing helping families of Mental Health crisis act and i welcome all members interested in joining me in this quest to Work Together as we reintroduce this to make sure we get treatment before tragedy. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico mr. Pierluisi, for five minutes. Mr. Pierluisi as the new Congress Begins the work on behalf of the American People i rise to address my colleagues about an issue of national importance, namely puerto ricos quest to discard its status as a u. S. Territory and to become a u. S. State. Puerto rico has been a territory since 1898. Puerto rico does not desire to remain a territory, it can follow one of two paths, the territory can become a state or it can become a sovereign nation, either fully independent from the u. S. Or with the compact of Free Association with the u. S. That either nation can terminate. If puerto rico becomes a nation, future generations of island residents would not be american citizens. My constituents have made countless contributions to the United States in times of peace and war. Serving in every military conflict since world war 1. They fight today in afghanistan and other dangerous locations. In the same units as young men and women from states such as florida, texas, and new mexico. Many of them have made the ultimate sacrifice in battle. When they, too, their casket is flown back to this country draped in the american flag. It takes a special kind of patriotism to fight for a nation that you love but one that does not treat you equally. Although puerto ricos home to more american citizens than 21 states my constituents cannot vote for president , are not represented in the senate, and have one nonvoting delegate in the house. Moreover, territory status gives congress license to puerto rico worse than the states and congress often uses that license. Everyone other than apologists for the status quo comprehends that territory status is the root cause of the economic crisis in puerto rico. As a result of the structural problems this status has created, residents of puerto rico are relocating to the states in staggering numbers. I know it breaks their hearts to leave behind the island they love, but most see no other option. Yet through the clouds a bright sun is emerging. The people of puerto rico have finally said no more. They have come to the conclusion that they deserve a status that is both democratic and dignified. They will no longer tolerate being second class citizens. They do not want special treatment. Rather, they demand equal treatment, nothing more, but nothing less. The puerto rico people was expressed in a 2012 referendum sponsored by the puerto rico government. There a majority of my constituents expressed their opposition to territory status. Statehood received more votes than territory status. And statehood received far more votes than independence or Free Association. Proving that puerto rico has no desire to weaken the bonds forged with the United States over nearly 12 decades. In short, statehood is now the predominant force in puerto rico. At my urging and in response to this landmark referendum, the Obama Administration proposed and Congress Approved an appropriation of 2. 5 million to fund the first federally sponsored vote in puerto ricos history with the stated goal of resolving the status issue. I have proposed that the funding be used to hold a simple federally sponsored yes or no vote on whether puerto rico should be admitted as a state just as alaska and hawaii did. This approach would yield a definitive result that nobody could reasonably question. And it has broad congressional support. Since the bill i introduced last congress that embodies this approach had 131 cosponsors and led to the filing of an Identical Senate companion bill. All that remains is for the governor of puerto rico to schedule the vote. Yet a year has passed and we have seen only inertia and indecision. All talk and no action. For my part, i will continue to press for action both in san juan and in washington, d. C. , using any strategy and technique that will advance the statehood cause. Since none of my colleagues in this chamber representing states would accept territory status for their constituents, i know they will understand that i will not accept it for my constituents, either. Thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson, for five minutes. Mr. Thompson thank you, madam speaker. Madam speaker, i rise today to recognize one individual and one organization from pennsylvanias fifth Obama Administration<\/a> and their strategy worked. In april, 2013 when asked about a possible swap for mr. Gross secretary kerry testified before congress that, quote, we have refused to do that because there is no equivalency. Alan gross is wrongly imprisoned and we are not going to trade as if it were a spy for a spy, end quote. That turned out not to be true. President obama unilaterally released three cuban spies. They were responsible for the deaths of three american citizens and one u. S. Resident carlos, Armando Mario<\/a> and pablo, whose brothers to the rescue planes were unjustly shot down over International Airspace<\/a> on direct orders of the castro brothers. And to make matters worse, we learned that u. S. Government used resources to facilitate the Artificial Insemination<\/a> of one of the wives of the cuban spies. Good grief. So the white house ignores the fact that these innocent u. S. Pilots were not able to have their own families but rewards one of the persons responsible for their deaths. Not only did the dictatorship achieve the return of five convicted spies, it was also able to attain major concessions from our president in order to support cubas struggling economy. Cubas largest supporters, russia and venezuela, are struggling due to their own fiscal crises so the castro brothers needed a bailout from a new source, and sadly they found one with president obama. By increasing Tourism Travel<\/a> on the island, the Obama Administration<\/a> will be injecting millions of dollars into the pockets of the castro brothers. The cuban police state runs the hotels. Lets examine the president s announcement very closely. First, he claims these new policy changes will empower the cuban people. Well, the prodemocracy advocates on the eye atlanta have stated that the changes will help their repressor, not the people of cuba. Second the issue is not only impacting the people of cuba, it also poses a greater threat to u. S. National security interests. Cuba is a designated state sponsor of terrorism and is an avowed enemy of the United States<\/a>. With these concessions by the administration the castro brothers will use some of their new economic stream to invest more funds into their espionage activities, activities that are aimed against our nation. With the ability to garner more intelligence against the u. S. , the castro brothers are likely to hit the black market and sell this intelligence to the highest bidder. This is not a theory, it is a fact. One example of the fact is the case of anna montez. She was a convicted cuban spy who worked for our u. S. Defense Intelligence Agency<\/a> collecting information for castro so it can be sold to our enemies. Third, the human rights situation on the island has not changed one bit. The president says that he got raul castro to agree to the release of 53 Political Prisoners<\/a> prisoners who should never have been in jail in the first place. Yet, the white house will not release the names of these 53 Political Prisoners<\/a>. Why not . What do they have to hide . Plus, what good is it for the castro brothers to release these 53 when he doesnt stop capturing and detaining other prisoners, which he will. What has been happening in cuba lately in these past few weeks well, according to reports, more than 80 cubans have been detained. The cuban coast guards sank a boat recently on International Waters<\/a> that was carrying over 30 people, causing death of some of them onboard. Hezbollah celebrated the president obamas announcement after meeting with the cuban ambassador to lebanon. Mr. Speaker, this misguided message sends a signal to our enemy that we will cave and we will surrender at every turn. We in the Congress Must<\/a> do everything we can to prevent this disastrous policy to go into effect. This is a bad deal for u. S. National security and for the cuban opposition, and it is a sweetheart deal for the repressive cuban regime. Thank you, mr. Speaker for the time. Mr. Speaker, for the time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. Theres always a great deal of excitement surrounding a new congress and a new year. One area thats been very encouraging is the focus on rebuilding and renewing america. That was where we left off in the last congress, frustrated by an inability to produce a sixyear reauthorization largely because of an inability for congress to address meaningfully how it would be funded. This continues the struggle of almost two decades as weve not increased the gas tax or develop a viable sustainable adequate alternative. Its why we recognize that america is falling apart and falling behind. Our infrastructure, once the envy of the world, has put us to a secondtier status with the risk of america falling behind. This is costing americans, far more to endure the damage to their cars and the delays to their lives through congestion than simply funding an alternative and fixing it. Its encouraging that both parties in both chambers might be prepared to aagrees the issue anew. There are some shortterm stopgap solutions which would nowhere near solve the problem but nudge us in the right direction. In the senate theres bipartisan interest in and openness to a comprehensive solution, including the gas tax. Senators bob corker and his partner, chris murphy, have been champions. Senator carper continues his leadership and advocacy for the gas tax solution. Senator john thune a key republican leader, has signaled his openness to the gas tax, which is the simplest, most logical and most effective solution. Even the problematic proposal to use dynamic scoring to evaluate budget proposals could make a difference in solving this huge problem for america if it would be applied in the spirit of dynamic scoring. The Standard Poors<\/a> research report, u. S. Infrastructure investment, a chance to reap more than we sow pointed out the overwhelming Economic Impact<\/a> in terms of jobs created, economic benefits actually exceeded the direct amount invested and longterm deficit reduction of 200 million for every 1. 2 billion invested. This should be one of the easiest economic decisions we ever make. In an era of low interest rates, gasoline prices falling dramatically, when theres still hundreds of thousands of people ready to go to work at family wage jobs rebuilding this country, the economic case has never been stronger. By all means, lets evaluate all of the proposals. Lets expand the discussion. Lets look at the leadership of states around the country who are stepping up to do their part. State, local and private investment all have a role to play, to be sure but recognize that the 25 of infrastructure funding that comes from the federal government plays a critical role. Let this Congress Give<\/a> america a solution thats sustainable, not one that would put us back in the same fix in a year or two or even sooner. Lets have a Revenue Source<\/a> that is dedicated so that we can begin on longer term projects that demand multimodal, multistate multiyear solutions and is large enough to give us a long overdue sixyear comprehensive reauthorization. Stable dedicated big enough to do the job. This is a test that new congress and administration should meet to revitalize our economy and rebuild and renew this country. At a time at dramatically falling oil and gas prices, when the public is suffering from congress dithering on our transportation and other infrastructure needs, interest will never be a better time to heed the advice of president Ronald Reagan<\/a> 33 years ago in his thanksgiving day radio address to the country to raise the gas tax and put americans to work fixing the problem that has only gotten worse. It was good advice then, its good advice today. I would ask unanimous consent to add to submit this for the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlemans time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Murphy, for five minutes. Mr. Murphy thank you, madam speaker. Sadly, each day we read sensationalized headlines that boggle the mind, but heres the rest of the story. In new york, headlines read, a 30yearold man has been charged with killing his father who found a hedge fund because his allowance had been cut. The rest of the story, he had been in a Mental Health<\/a> decline for years. A friend told the press, clearly their son had serious Mental Illness<\/a>. There were stories about things he had been doing in the past few years really erratic behavior. Another newspaper reports the man was off his medication. In florida, headlines read a 23yearold man cut off his mothers head with an ax last week because of her nagging about daily chores. The rest of the story, this man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been involuntarily held under the states civil commitment law but released. Despite his illness and past commitments he was no longer in treatment because florida requires a person to be homicidal for treatment. In pennsylvania, a former marine killed his exwife and five of her family members last month because of quoteunquote family issues. The rest of the story, the marine hab evaluated and cleared of having suicidal or homicidal tendencies by a department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> psychology five days before, a decision we now see is wrong. Each week there are half a dozen new reports that man more than a sensationalized headline because the rest of the story tells the real story. Mental disease is not lifestyle choice. Psychosis skets friendia translates into a specific set of disturbing behaviors. This is not a condemnation of the mentally ill nor criticism of those who have issues. Hallucinations lead to those to a bad choice. For those that dont have a brain disorder its hard to think about. When we hear that behaviors is symptom attic that is occurring in the brain we can address those like other medical diseases and other lifesaving treatments. The reason why a individual acts out in a violent matter on a mass scale are complex and not as simple to a response to a mothers nagging. Sadly, in all cases the families knew there was something wrong but they were ignored and frustrated or turned away by a broken system of state and federal laws that create walls and barriers instead of access to care. Parents know theres a problem and on when they have the resources to get a child help the family efforts are thwarted by this broken system and not in getting effective evidencebased treatment and communities rarely have the programs, doctors to deal with the most severe cases. In the face of this growing crisis, we must approach serious Mental Illness<\/a> as a medical emergency that engages the community and medical response to help people and families trapped in the system that is misguided, in denial or disconnected. We can change this tragic pattern and thats will ill reintroduce the helping families in Mental Health<\/a> crisis act which makes sure that mentally ill gets treatment. It clarifies and simplifies hipaa privacy laws. It reforms federal programs to folks on programs that reach or shows work, not feel good fads. It helps patients who are unable to understand their treatment get care. People with schizophrenia are not even aware they have problems and this leads to noncompliance with treatment. And helps explain why 40 of americans with serious Mental Illness<\/a> do not get any treatment. It occurs most frequently with schizophrenia because of frontal lobe problems and we need to understand it. There is accountability of how Public Health<\/a> dollars are being spent. We owe it to the 10 million americans with a serious Mental Illness<\/a> and the five million who are not with treatment to take meaningful action. To fix the chaotic patchwork of problems and laws that make it impossible to get meaningful medical care until it is too late to do anything beyond mourning. Each day i receive countless letters and telephone calls from parents across the country who most courageously battle a broken system who is trying to help a loved one in a Mental Health<\/a> crisis. Let their struggles be our motivation to take action of our own now. As i said ill soon be reintroducing helping families of Mental Health<\/a> crisis act and i welcome all members interested in joining me in this quest to Work Together<\/a> as we reintroduce this to make sure we get treatment before tragedy. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico mr. Pierluisi, for five minutes. Mr. Pierluisi as the new Congress Begins<\/a> the work on behalf of the American People<\/a> i rise to address my colleagues about an issue of national importance, namely puerto ricos quest to discard its status as a u. S. Territory and to become a u. S. State. Puerto rico has been a territory since 1898. Puerto rico does not desire to remain a territory, it can follow one of two paths, the territory can become a state or it can become a sovereign nation, either fully independent from the u. S. Or with the compact of Free Association<\/a> with the u. S. That either nation can terminate. If puerto rico becomes a nation, future generations of island residents would not be american citizens. My constituents have made countless contributions to the United States<\/a> in times of peace and war. Serving in every military conflict since world war 1. They fight today in afghanistan and other dangerous locations. In the same units as young men and women from states such as florida, texas, and new mexico. Many of them have made the ultimate sacrifice in battle. When they, too, their casket is flown back to this country draped in the american flag. It takes a special kind of patriotism to fight for a nation that you love but one that does not treat you equally. Although puerto ricos home to more american citizens than 21 states my constituents cannot vote for president , are not represented in the senate, and have one nonvoting delegate in the house. Moreover, territory status gives congress license to puerto rico worse than the states and congress often uses that license. Everyone other than apologists for the status quo comprehends that territory status is the root cause of the economic crisis in puerto rico. As a result of the structural problems this status has created, residents of puerto rico are relocating to the states in staggering numbers. I know it breaks their hearts to leave behind the island they love, but most see no other option. Yet through the clouds a bright sun is emerging. The people of puerto rico have finally said no more. They have come to the conclusion that they deserve a status that is both democratic and dignified. They will no longer tolerate being second class citizens. They do not want special treatment. Rather, they demand equal treatment, nothing more, but nothing less. The puerto rico people was expressed in a 2012 referendum sponsored by the puerto rico government. There a majority of my constituents expressed their opposition to territory status. Statehood received more votes than territory status. And statehood received far more votes than independence or Free Association<\/a>. Proving that puerto rico has no desire to weaken the bonds forged with the United States<\/a> over nearly 12 decades. In short, statehood is now the predominant force in puerto rico. At my urging and in response to this landmark referendum, the Obama Administration<\/a> proposed and Congress Approved<\/a> an appropriation of 2. 5 million to fund the first federally sponsored vote in puerto ricos history with the stated goal of resolving the status issue. I have proposed that the funding be used to hold a simple federally sponsored yes or no vote on whether puerto rico should be admitted as a state just as alaska and hawaii did. This approach would yield a definitive result that nobody could reasonably question. And it has broad congressional support. Since the bill i introduced last congress that embodies this approach had 131 cosponsors and led to the filing of an Identical Senate<\/a> companion bill. All that remains is for the governor of puerto rico to schedule the vote. Yet a year has passed and we have seen only inertia and indecision. All talk and no action. For my part, i will continue to press for action both in san juan and in washington, d. C. , using any strategy and technique that will advance the statehood cause. Since none of my colleagues in this chamber representing states would accept territory status for their constituents, i know they will understand that i will not accept it for my constituents, either. Thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson, for five minutes. Mr. Thompson thank you, madam speaker. Madam speaker, i rise today to recognize one individual and one organization from pennsylvanias fifth Congressional District<\/a> that during the past year made substantial contributions to rural health in support of the communities or hospitals and caregivers served each and every day. The Pennsylvania Office<\/a> of rural health, which is funded by the federal office of rural health policy, the Pennsylvania Department<\/a> of health, and the Pennsylvania State<\/a> university is a Public Partnership<\/a> designed to expand Data Driven Health<\/a> care outcomes for rural communities. Each year the Pennsylvania Office<\/a> of rural healths rural Health Awards<\/a> recognize individuals and organizations in the commonwealth that have gone above and beyond in their respective field or program and made significant improvements toward improving health outcomes. Mr. Daniel blow, chief executive officer of the punxsutawney hospital in pennsylvania received the Rural Health Leader<\/a> of the year award. He was recognized for 28 years of dedicated service to the health and wellbeing of the residents in and around punxsutawney located in jefferson county, pennsylvania. As a Founding Member<\/a> and president of the health care alliance, a collaboration of 18 rural hospitals, his leadership served to strengthen clinical outcomes for residents throughout the region. Additionally, the total Health Program<\/a> at the Dickinson Center<\/a> incorporated in st. Marys pennsylvania, also located in the fifth district, received the 2014 rural Health Program<\/a> of the year award. The total Health Program<\/a> a regional collaboration of Health Service<\/a> providers encompassing penn highlands elk, Dickinson Center<\/a> incorporated and independent physician in elk county aims to provide primary and Behavioral Health<\/a> Care Services<\/a> to individual with physical, mental and Behavioral Health<\/a> needs. Total health received the recognition for innovative programming that resulted in both improved patient coordination and clinical outcomes. Madam speaker, i offer my thanks, my congratulations and my praise to mr. Daniel blaou of the punxsutawney hospital and staff represented to the total Health Program<\/a> for their commitment to strengthening and improving the quality of care in the community of our region. Thank you, madam speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Green, for five minutes. Mr. Green thank you, madam speaker. Thank you, madam speaker. Madam speaker, im honored to stand here today as a member of the congress of the United States<\/a> of america and im grateful to my constituents for allowing me to serve in this capacity. My district is a very diverse one. It contains the greatens Medical Center<\/a> in the world, the houston Medical Center<\/a>. It contains the first domed stadium the astrodome. We speak more than 80 different languages. And the ballot in the ninth Congressional District<\/a> in the state of texas is printed in english, spanish, vietnamese, and chinese. We are, indeed, a very diverse district. And my constituents are constituents not unlike those across the length and breadth of this contry. There are issues of concern to them and i want to assure my constituents that as we move into this the 114th congress, i will be pushing legislation that will be important. The law act, the living american wage act, we have filed this bill before. We will file it again this congress. The law act indexes the minimum wage to poverty. It is our belief that anyone who works fulltime should not live below the poverty line. People should be able to work their way out of poverty. The law act indexes the minimum wage to poverty such that when the Poverty Level<\/a> rises the minimum wage will also elevate such that people who are working for minimum wage will continue to live above the poverty line. And as an aside, i spoke to a person who is working at the wage that is paid to the persons who wait tables, the wait staff. 2. 13 an hour. And one of the things that was called to my attention was that these persons, good people, hardworking people, dont always make a lot with these tips that are supposed to supplement their income. I have been told as little as 8 in one day in tips were being made by one of my constituents. So im concerned not only about the 7. 25 an hour, the minimum wage, but also about the 2. 13 an hour. I also supported h. R. 1010 which was filed in the last congress and it also indexed the minimum wage not to poverty but it did index the minimum wage. I will also be concerned about comprehensive Immigration Reform<\/a> because in my district i have a good many persons who are the sons and daughters of immigrants who came here not of their own volition. Many of them came and discovered that they were not american citizens after graduating from high school. I support what the president has done with his executive order. I have to support what he has done with his executive order given that im the beneficiary of the greatest executive order ever written, the emancipation proclamation. Did not free the slaves but it did pave the way for the passage of the 13th amendment. Im honored to say i support what the president has done but we still must have comprehensive Immigration Reform<\/a> because there is much more to be done with millions of People Living<\/a> in the shadows. We need to know who is in the country and we also need to make sure those who are in the country pay their fair share of taxes, that they are a part of the infrastructure that elevates the country, the economic infrastructure, and to do this we need comprehensive Immigration Reform<\/a>. Im also concerned very much about our veterans. This is why the last congress we passed the language that was in the haven act in the Defense Authorization<\/a> bill. Senator jack reed thank you so much. Senator jack reed helped to get that through the senate and that language got through the senate because senator reed was there and senator reed, we are eternally grateful and i think a good many veterans are. 20 million made available to veterans to help those who are lowincome veterans who are injured in some way such that they cannot use their facilities in their homes as they would without that disability. Bathrooms are made accessible, ramps are installed. Senator reed, thank you for helping us get those 20 million which will be matched by n. G. O. s who will perform this certificate vains help our veterans. Finally, we are concerned about Law Enforcement<\/a>. I respect Law Enforcement<\/a>. I support Law Enforcement<\/a>. What happened to those peace officers in new york was dastardly done. The cast tard that did it is a person tard that did it is a person we can never in any way glorify. The people who commit crimes ought to be funnished. And i support punishment for people who commit crimes. I also support having a system that prevents our Law Enforcement<\/a> officers from being falsely accused. I believe that a camera on an officer can make a difference and im honored to say my colleague, the honorable emanuel cleaver, and i are working together on bills that we have filed to bring them together so that we can help our Law Enforcement<\/a> avoid the specious accusations, make sure they have the evidence of what actually occurred. I thank you for the time. I yield back the balance of my time. God bless my constituents and the United States<\/a> of america. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from texas, ms. Jackson lee, for five minutes. Ms. Jackson lee thank you very much mr. Speaker. As we come to begin this new opportunity of service to the American People<\/a>, clearly we want to emphasize to them that we take this responsibility seriously and as well that we know that we represent our constituents. These are districts that are between thousands of people that are in our Congressional District<\/a>s, but we realize that the broader sense of what we do is to represent our nation and the values and needs of the American People<\/a>. Over the last two days as we begin this legislative process, i have been concerned about two issues in particular that i believe do not, if you will, provide for the overall sensitivity to the American People<\/a>. We were discussing a major Financial Services<\/a> bill that will be coming up. Many things will be in this bill. I want my constituents but more importantly our colleagues to realize that youll have a bill that will diminish the voca rule. It is protection if banks want to dibble and dabble in risky ventures or risky investments that they do so with the money that is private and separate from money that is protected by the federal the fdic. Thats your savings accounts and thats the money you stocked away. In the instance of this legislation, they want to take that protection away so that banks can dibble and dabble in accounts that are protected by the fdic. Meaning that you pay for mistakes, you pay for collapse, you pay for the wrong decisions that are made and you lose. I dont want the American People<\/a> to lose. Something that touched my heart because i represent a vast amount of constituents those who are quite well endowed, if you will, quite wealthy, major corporations and neighbors and others who are doing quite well and then, of course, i represent those children and widows and others who are dependent upon something called s. S. I. Or those who are disabled, who are dependent on s. S. I. And i cannot for the life of me understand why we would pass legislation that would in essence indicate that we were not going to continue supporting s. S. I. In fact, that we may call for the either elimination or decreasing of benefits under s. S. I. Do we realize does this Republican Leadership<\/a> realize that those who receive s. S. I. Are the most vulnerable, the poorest, the children in great need the sick that are in great need people who are whove worked and have fallen upon times which they need that kind of support . Why would we in the thinking of representing the core of American Values<\/a> lifting all people, believing in the quality of all, why would we do this . And so my voice is going to be heard loudly and clearly. I call upon, as my democratic colleagues have so aptly noted, that we raise our voices and that we get in the way and that we stop this kind of intrusion on those who cannot in some instances speak for themselves. I want to rise to acknowledge my deepest sympathy to the people of france in this heinous and tragic incident that has occurred with as i left it was 12 dead. I dont know if there are more. Two Police Officers<\/a>, of course in the line of duty. And we pray for their families and we stand up against this vial act of franchised terrorism. As a member of the Homeland Security<\/a> committee, im grateful to serve on a committee. Ranking member, mr. Thompson mr. Mccaul, i hope we can work in a bipartisan manner to be able to confront this kind of dangerous terrorism, recognizing that we do not label people by their faith but we label them by their actions. Might i also say that i express, again, on the floor a sympathy for the tragic execution of the Law Enforcement<\/a> officers nypd. We do not stand for that. That individual now determined to be disturbed, crazed, did not represent any value of america and we offer our deepest sympathy as well as those who were shot just recently in the line of duty. And we continue, hopefully, working with the judiciary committee, to look at the question of the criminal Justice System<\/a> that really involves a whole number of elements such as the grand jury system, the special prosecutor system, the constant traffic stops in many instances that are done on a racially profiled scenario and the uplifting of training and Community Oriented<\/a> policing. Mr. Speaker, we can do all of these things if we Work Together<\/a>, but i did not come to this congress to undermine the criminal Justice System<\/a> or to undermine people who are in need. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in reces bloomberg news, our Congressional Correspondent<\/a>. Mr. House, talk a little bit about what happened on the house side starting with speaker getting another term or another term as speaker and what it means as far as his relationship with republicans Going Forward<\/a>. Guest get morning. Thank you for having me. The bottom line is that this speaker, this term this session, well have to find a way to lead, though he yesterday, did not get even a majority of votes from all 434 members. He got 216 votes, but 241 of his fellow republicans supported someone else and a 25th didnt vote for anybody. And because the number of democrats were as many attending former new york governor cuomos funeral, none of the democrats showed up voted for boehner, he ended up with just 216 votes. We have a speaker with 216 votes out of the 434 Member Chamber<\/a> with prims seat vacant. He begins to lead with not exactly a mandate from a majority of the entire house. And yesterdays vote also showed some obviously continued discord, if not even more so from within his own conference the republican conference which is more musk lar with more members, still seems to have some of the same old turmoil broiling within. Host as we talk, there are stories in the paper one of the people challenging was Daniel Webster<\/a> of florida. He and rich nugent though have new positions but they are outside of the rules committee as it is this morning. Guest thats exactly correct. Representative Louie Gommert<\/a> called the move from Republican Leadership<\/a>, i. E. Boehner to remove them from the House Rules Committee<\/a> after they voted for webster. Boehner being a sore winner. So thats the sort of thing we are launching the new session with that sort of back and forth within the accurate conference. Host as far as moving forward, mr. House, and this g. O. P. Led Congress Working<\/a> with the white house, we already see scheduled votes on keystone and discussions about the Affordable Care<\/a> act. Are there other areas where Common Ground<\/a> could be found between the two bodies, the white house and the congress . Guest well, when you talk about Common Ground<\/a> and between the two parties there is some lowhanging fruit, and i suspect the keystone bill will pass both chambers and other things like repeal of the medical device tax under the obamacare act will pass both houses. The rubber hits the road when it gets to the white house and you face potential president ial veto. And thats where we are going to see how the new Republicancontrolled Congress<\/a> really maneuvers, how they or if they do at all work with the president to the somehow smooth over whatever differences those have, and we are going to get an early shot at seeing how this happens in the next few weeks. Host is it specifically with those bills . Or are there other things coming up that will kind of show what happens . Guest as we know there are spending bills coming up. The Homeland Security<\/a> spending bill, the funding comes to an end at the end of february. There will be some battles not only within the House Republican<\/a> conference, but, also the senate over where to go with that and whether to attach any Border Security<\/a> funding. And where that goes from there, to the white house, there is also we have a debt ceiling issue, whether to raise the nations ability to borrow will come up at least by midyear. And there is a transportation funding issue thats going to come up right away too. Host the washington exam ner reporting the president will host congressional leaders to talk about issues moving forward. Billly house, what do we watch for in the next few days, particularly with these votes on keystone and the Affordable Care<\/a> act moving forward . Guest a lot of ret strict about this in fact i talked to the number 2 House Republican<\/a> yesterday, kevin mccarth, the leader majority leader. And from his view and at least rhetoric, what president obama does with keystone veto or not will kind of set the tone show whether or not he, according to mccarthy is going to play politics these next two years or Work Together<\/a> with the leaders. And there is another tissue this week thats also going to reemerge right after last months situation where the senate blocked a terrorism insurance bill. The house is going to put that back on the floor this week as early as today, and its suspected that the senate will take that up soon too. We will see how that plays out host billy house, a Congressional Correspondent<\/a> talking to go us about not only what tom expect this week but relations between th the house gaveling back in for legislative work at noon eastern. Well have live coverage here on cspan. Heres this morning from france a gunmen have attacked attacked the paris office of the french magazine, charlie e hebdo, killing 12 and injuring seven. Thee masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police. The gunmen shouted, quote, we have avenged the prophet muhammad. Witnesses say. Thats from the bbc. President obama before departing for detroit saying a statement, i strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo<\/a> magazine in paris. That has reportedly killed 12 people. Also saying we are in touching with french officials and i have directed my administration to provide any assistance needed help to bring these terrorists to justice. We may hear more from the Administration Response<\/a> in just a few minutes. Secretary of state john kerry will be joined by the polish foreign minister at the state department as we wait for comments here momentarily at the state department. From secretary kerry and also from the foreign minister. Some comments from the capitol hill lindsey graham, South Carolina<\/a> senator tweeting, i fear we can expect and must prepare for more attacks like this in the future. And from richard blumenthal, senator from connecticut saying the senseless attack in france was an assault on free speech across the world. My heart is with the victims and their families of the more at twitter. Com cspan. As we wait for secretary kerry, well bring you part of this mornings washington journal. Washington journal continues. Host we welcome representative Donald Norcross<\/a> of new jersey. Good morning to you. Guest good morning. Host for those who dont know you, give them a little bit of history. Guest well, i started working as an electrician and became involved with the labor unions and was a representative out of the ibw for close to 20 years. Then i had an opportunity to run for the assembly, which i did so. Quickly moved into the senate, where i served for the last 5 1 2 years. Until the announcement in congress that he was retiring and i jumped in. Host it comes to spending money and spending taxpayers money. I feel that i am more conservative on the conservative side, but certainly im concerned about jobs. As my original capacity, i was invested in workers. Host 2027488002 or line for independents. Send your thoughts on twitter as well as cspan wj. Brenda from South Carolina<\/a>, republican line. Hello, go ahead. Caller im calling i worked my whole life started out when i was 15 on coop and went to school half a day and work half a day. Then worked up until i was 48 years old and ended up on Social Security<\/a> disability. And they have a 24month waiting period before you qualify for medicare. Or insurance. And then when you go to the obamacare, you dont qualify for that at all because you dont pay taxes. So youre already in a position where you need health care and theres nowhere or anything available to get it. Well, your plight is one we all feel for you. Finding out as we work here in washington, d. C. Is that regulation by itself didnt happen accidentally. It seems that time after time that people who are trying to game the system, which clearly you arent, they have to set up these set of rules to go through to try to block out those who are trying to take advantage of the system. The system is designed to help people like your selves get through it. In order to make sure that taxpayers money is well spent they have to set up these steps to make sure that nobodys gaming the system, but certainly i would encourage you to reach out to your local representatives to see if he can help ease some of the burden in trying to get the paperwork in. Host houston, texas, robert. Democrats line hello. Caller good morning. Good morning to both of you. The reason i called in was that the representative talk about being in favor of the keystone x. L. Pipeline and what i would like to say is that being a former plant manager of the Chemical Plant<\/a> i am well aware of the importance of pipelines, but in this particular case we are we are going to construct the wrong pipeline in the wrong place to carry the wrong crude oil. What we should be doing is building a pipeline to carry crude oil from the dakotas to the same point in the midwest that the x. L. Pipeline is set up to carry canadian oil and both of these both of these oils are actually in abundance and would be available for sale worldwide. It guest its certainly a Free Enterprise<\/a> and the root which has been under route which has been under debate for so many years will never change peoples minds who are against this, but when we look at the tanker cars i live in a major metropolitan area where we have the old tracks that run right through the middle of the city carrying this oil. Certainly if we can put this oil in pipelines by most measurements, most people believe that it is a safe way of doing it. When it comes to which oil, obviously theres pipelines running throughout the entire country. Most people dont even know which lines are running there. This is just an additional line that will help bring that commerce to the United States<\/a> and bring more energy to the world. Host cherry hill, new jersey, republican line. Charles, hello. Welcome, cherry hill. Caller good morning, don. I used to be in the district three and was moved over with redistricting, now in district one, in your district. And i used to enjoy johns town Hall Meetings<\/a> and i wonder what your position is on that. Guest its great thaur asking that. We are actively putting together the greater town hall meeting. We are going to do it differently. We are going to have the federal government, obviously myself being there, but we are going to bring in our state representatives, the county, and the locals so we can make sure that theres a seamless message coming across. So when you ask a question we cant say thats a state issue and not address it. That is a great question and we hope to start those before the end of the month. Host the governor has just been elected the freshman representative for the democrats. Tell us about this job. Guest which job . Host freshman for representative policy issues. Guest im sorry i didnt understand the question. Policy and staring which is helping to direct the issues most person steer which is helping to direct the issues most of concern to us on the hill. I can bring reality to this, up until six weeks ago my job was to find jobs for electricians in south jersey. I know first hand the pain the men and women are going through in our district when they dont have a job. You give somebody a job who can provide for her family, it literally changes her life. And when that opportunity isnt there, it is a very sad day. Host what are the details . How often do you meet with other policy members . What do you do . Guest weekly. Much more during the last six weeks of the last congress we were going through a number of issues. There was a Ranking Committee<\/a> campaign that was going for energy and commerce that we were meeting literally daily basis, but at the end of the day we all came together behind congressman Frank Pallone<\/a> of new jersey, and as we are moving into the new congress its about Committee Assignments<\/a> and making sure that we are listening to our colleagues on where they want to serve. Host have you been assigned a committee or committees. Guest we are waiting to hear that. Its a threedimensional chess board with lots of pieces. Host where would you like to serve if you had your choice . Guest i made it clear that i think i can be very fortunate in helping the military bases in new jersey. I know families from the fort dix area. So Armed Services<\/a> and certainly would like to spend some time on work force and education. Host our guest, representative Donald Norcross<\/a> of new jersey. Katherine, north conway, New Hampshire<\/a>, independent line. Hi. Let me push the button. Katherine, go ahead. Sorry. Caller i have very, very short three comments. The first is should be on the democratic agenda, no Keystone Pipeline<\/a>, no tracking fracking. Thats first. Secondly democrats should be asking more questions. Could it be that the Oil Companies<\/a> are, in fact, in favor and gleeful of Global Warming<\/a> and thwarting efforts to stop it. With the arctic ice melting and opening up the area to drilling means money in their pockets. Thirdly, we have to get more creative the democrats. If poppies grow in afghanistan soil better than wheat and bring in more cash, and they can grow two crops of poppies during the growing season, how come other uses for poppies than heroin arent in the works . We should be figuring out how perhaps grind up the stalks to make paper products, cement, or pave something. We have to ask questions, being more creative, and not do things to harm our environment. Guest thank you for the call. Certainly we all care very much for the environment. Its always a balance. It im very pleased to welcome today coming here especially to meet with us to talk about the important relationship between poland and the United States<\/a>. And we are working on many, many issues in very, very close way. Before i do talk however, about our relationship, both of us were just talking about the horrific attack in paris today, the murderous attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo<\/a> in paris. Le it i would like to say directly to the people of paris that each and every american stands with you today. Not just in horror with anger or outrage for this vicious act of violence, but we stand with you in commitment and solidarity to the cause of confronting extremism which the extremist feel so much and which has always united our two countries. Freedom. No country knows better than france that freedom has a price because france gave birth to dimcy democracy itself. France sparked so many revolutions, Free Expression<\/a> and that is what the extremists fear the most. We in france and the United States<\/a> share a commitment to those who wield something far more powerful, not just a pen, but a pen that represents an instrument of freedom, not fear. Free expression and a free press are core values. They are universal values. Principles that can be attacked that never because brave and decent people around the world will never give in to the intim daysle it of those seeking to destroy those values. I agree with the french iman who today called the slain journalists martyrs for liberty. Todays murders are part of a larger confrontation, not between civilizations, no. But between civilization itself and those who are opposed to a civilized world. The murderers dared proclaim, charlie had been dough is dead. Make no mistake. They are wrong had been dough habdo is dead. Make no mistake. In paris and across the world, the freedom of express that this magazine, no matter what your feelings were about it, the freedom of expression that it represented is not able to be killed by this kind of act of terror. On the contrary, it will never be eradicated by any act of terror. What they dont understand, what these people who do these things dont understand, is they will only strengthen the commitment to that freedom and our commitment to a civilized world. Id like to just say a quick word, if i may directly, to the people of france. [speaking in a foreign language] [speaking in a foreign language] [speaking in french] we wish our friends in france well and we stand in strong solidarity with them. I know our friends in poland understand these acts of terror and this challenge as well as any people not just in europe, but on the planet, and so im pleased to be standing here with the foreign minister today. Poland is a strong stalwart, advocate for and supporter of freedom and of democracy, and theyve stood on the front lines for a long time in that effort. They understand the price for freedom and they understand the cost. We are delighted to have their support and to work with them in their commitment to ukraine, to freedom and sovereignty of that nation, to the rule of law that has stood up so well in all of our Global Affairs<\/a> that was defined by world war ii in which poland paid such a price for freedom. And we value enormously the very robust economic relationship that we share, the investment in defense modernization, a commitment to nato and we restate once again our commitment to article 5 and to our nato obligations and to the important relationship between poland and the United States<\/a> with respect to the rule of law. And finally, we appreciate polands strong commitment to the ptib, Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership<\/a> which is a key component to our future in terms of jobs and our economies. So poland is a very important pal lie and an important important ally and an important guest today. I think symbolically as we have poland standing by after the events that took place in france should not be missed. Thank you, mr. Foreign minister. We appreciate you being here. Thank you. Thank you. First of all, let me express my condolences to france and to its people. We are deeply touched by terrorist act in paris a few hours ago. We stand together with france today. But we will talk we arranged our meeting a couple weeks ago and we established that we would talk about our fight against terrorists and terrorism. Last year it was really fruitful with our relations between poland and the United States<\/a>. And im convinced that it will continue for the next months and years we will be talking about. Warsaw and washington is cooperating together and for us very important. We will be talking about decisions made in new port, about implementation decisions about [inaudible] which will help through 2016 and about this issue about support for International Support<\/a> in all regions all over the world like ukraine, middle east, afghanistan, all the places theres a problem with terrorists and terrorism. For sure we can say today that washington can count on warsaw and im confident that warsaw can count on washington. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you. [captions Copyright National<\/a> cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] president obama criticized the attack on paris and did Speaker Boehner<\/a> who spoke with reporters a short while ago as well as the Republican Leadership<\/a> of the 114th congress. Good morning, everyone. Today marks the beginning, an important beginning, the beginning of a new year, beginning of a new congress and it is a renewed opportunity and a commitment that we make to work hard every day to improve the lives of people all across this country no matter where they come from, no matter their background, their walk of life. This is the first week of americas new congress, and we are already putting Forward Solutions<\/a> that are going to get people back to work, expand energy protect our veterans and give them more opportunities, help middleclass, hardworking americans bring more of their pay back. This is the beginning of this congress that we are excited about as we put forward these Bold Solutions<\/a> and the commitment to the American People<\/a> to make their lives better. You know last night i had the opportunity to have my husband and three kids with me as i took the oath and was sworn in for the sixth my sixth term in congress. And as i as i do that i am honored but im also renewed in my own commitment to the people that have elected me to advance solutions that are going to make their lives better. This is our vision as far as americas new congress. Good morning, everyone. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of paris this morning. This vicious terrorist attack is a reminder that we must always be vigilant against the enemies of freedom. Our priorities as cathy said, are the peoples priorities starting with better paying jobs and a stronger economy for middleclass American Families<\/a>. Its why we started this congress with a bipartisan bill to approve the Keystone Pipeline<\/a>, restore the 40hour workweek and to help Small Businesses<\/a> hire more of our veterans. Too Many Americans<\/a> are out of work, too many are working harder just to keep pace in the face of rising costs and frankly we have an awful lot of work to do. Unfortunately, by threatening two of these bipartisan jobs bills, the president essentially is telling the American People<\/a> he really doesnt care what they think. Our commitment is to stand up for the American People<\/a> and their priorities and its a commitment we will not break. Well, welcome back. Very excited about the new opportunities in the new American Congress<\/a>. Very diverse. From the youngest woman ever elected, from the size and scope of our conference and of the opportunities before us. When you look over the next two years and you look to legislation, those that will be going through three main issues. Going to increase freedom, expand the opportunity for the American People<\/a>, were going to hold washington accountable. First day started off fast. You look at a very strong bipartisan bill, hiring more heroes. This week well take up the 40hour workweek dealing with those americans whove been cut back because of obamacare on the number of hours that they can work. Keystone pipeline, helping make America Energy<\/a> independent and creating more jobs, giving those number of pipes that have been sitting out there in arkansas actually to work. You know, they say history can repeat itself. I looked back to a situation in america, has been in this cloiment before. Republicans holding the house and senate with Newt Gingrich<\/a> and bob dole and bill clinton in the white house. But i watched them come together reform welfare. I think this is a unique opportunity with the new American Congress<\/a> that this president can work with us, and i think looking at the bipartisan bills we have put on the floor that are passing ipe hopeful he puts people before politics. Good morning. Were here to work for the American People<\/a> in this new congress, and we started last night. You saw a very strong vote on the hire more heroes act. My colleague congressman davis brought a bill forward thats going to help our veterans have more opportunities in the work force and were going to move forward this week with the 40hour workweek bill. Weve seen a shift in our nations economy from fulltime jobs to parttime jobs in large part because of the effects of obamacare for those people to get fulltime employment. Well have a bill for that. And later this week a Keystone Pipeline<\/a> bill, a bill that Obama Administration<\/a> said will create 40,000 american jobs. I would encourage the president to look at signing that bill to create those good jobs to get our economy moving forward. The American People<\/a> were loud and clear and gave americas new congress the responsibility to get our country back on track. We heard this call and were ready to get off to a quick start. By weeks end we plan to pass three bipartisan bills to grow this economy and create jobs. The hire more heroes act, the save American Workers<\/a> act and approval of the keystone x. L. Pipeline. Unfortunately, the president has not acknowledged the call of the people and has already threatened to veto the approval of the keystone x. L. Pipeline and the save American Workers<\/a> act. Americans cant afford another two years deterred by politics. They cant afford threats and posturing instead of legitimate legislating. The American People<\/a> deserve results. The American People<\/a> deserve a congress and a president focused on them, not the next election. I dont know what direction president obama will choose for the last two years of his presidency but i can guarantee you that your priorities will be our priorities for americas new congress. You know, prior coming to congress i served as an Energy Regulator<\/a> in north dakota and i carried the pipeline portfolio for the north Dakota Public Service<\/a> commission. When we sited the original Keystone Pipeline<\/a>, 217 miles across north dakota, 600 landowners, i saw firsthand the real jobs, the real jobs, the entrepreneurial opportunities that flourished as a result of building that pipeline. I believe Americas National<\/a> security and americas Economic Security<\/a> are tied directly to Americas Energy<\/a> security. Its been over 2,300 days since transcanada filed its permit application. We passed congress far before i got here passed a bill that anonymously, i might add, that the president said he has 60 days to approve the Keystone Pipeline<\/a> unless he can state and demonstrate that its not in the nations best interest. I believe its in the nations best interest. There are real jobs. The time is now. Its now more than ever to get the Keystone Pipeline<\/a> bill done and were going to pass it, i hope the president will reconsider his position and sign it into law. Yesterday as i raised my right hand to go to my second term i thaad the citizens of western illinois the privilege they have given me to serve in this great institution. And then yesterday we had the opportunity, because of this Republican Leadership<\/a> team putting bipartisan bills first in this new congress, to show the American People<\/a> that we were here to govern. We dont always have the best ideas, but the ideas dont come from us. They come from our constituents, and the hire more mere oast act that passed unanimously yesterday, that will incentivize our Small Businesses<\/a> to hire more veterans, hire more of our heroes, it wasnt my idea, it wasnt one idea, it was brad who is standing in the back of this room who came to me and said wouldnt it be great if we can make sure Small Businesses<\/a> have a chance to help post9 11 veterans and all veterans get jobs . And the leadership believed in us today yesterday to make sure that that idea hopefully is going to become law. I would urge the president from my home state to sign it and the other bipartisan bills that this new American Congress<\/a> intends to put forth. Thank you. Well, its simply unfair to try and finance health care for some hardworking American People<\/a> on the backs of other hardworking americans through a reduction in hours and wages. Thats essentially what the Affordable Care<\/a> act has done and thats why last congress we introduced the save American Workers<\/a> act. Its why it passed out of the house with bipartisan support. 18 democrats supporting last congress. And why were reintroducing it this congress. Currently, the definition of fulltime unemployment as everyone here knows, under obamacare is 30 hours. Yet, the average workweek in this country is 34. 4 hours. So by moving the threshold back up to 40 hours restoring the 40hour workweek, we remove this perverse incentive to reduce hours and wages when theyre most needed by our hourly workers. Now, people are experiencing cuts that can least afford it. Were talking about cafeteria workers around the country. Were talking about substitute teachers at our Public School<\/a> corporations. Were talking about employees at our youngest firms that are still fledgling and trying to stay alive. According to the hoover institution, 2. 6 million workers who make less than 30,000 a year are most at risk of losing hours and wages on account of the 30hour provision. So all we propose to do once again is to repeal the new definition of fulltime employment in obamacare of 30 hours, replace it with the 40hour standard. Im most hopeful that well get bipartisan support for this once again, pass it to the senate and the president of the United States<\/a> will have to make a decision. So thank you very much for being here today and for your attention. All right. Take a couple of questions. [inaudible] i reject bigotry of all forms. I think when you see the people that know me best both here and especially back home, people i started with including people that have been on opposite ends politically with know the truth and know whats in my heart. Those are the ones i think speak the best. With that i think thats what really says it all. Mr. Scalise, why did you decide to speak knowing what they said its been reported that youre like david duke without the baggage . No. Fact i said, i reject any form of bigotry, bigotry of all kinds. Ill refer you back to my statement. I think thats where the story ends. Can you please tell us representative nugent is or is not [inaudible] we are in a situation yesterday where we had to constitute the rules committee but because of some of the activities on the floor, two of our members werent put back on the committee immediately. I had not had a chance to talk to them. I had not a chance to talk to our members. But this morning i told the members the same thing im saying here. Were going to have a family conversation which we had this morning about bringing our team together. And i expect that those conversations over the next couple days will continue and well come to a decision about how we go forward. Mr. Scalise showed an error in judgment. As you know democrats have already used this issue and used it against it politically. The white house has spoken out against it. What do you say to them and why keep mr. Scalise in your leadership if he shows that error in judgment . I like mr. Scalise, served in the state legislature. I remember my freshman term in the state legislature when i had a half of a staffer. You are going to ask to speak to a lot of groups. I think mr. Scalise made it clear he made an error in judgment, spoke to a group not clear who they actually were. Now, i know this man. I work with him. I know whats in his heart. Hes a decent, honest person who made a mistake. Weve all made mistakes. Mr. Speaker the Republican National<\/a> Committee Website<\/a> urges donors that republicans stand with the g. O. P. And abolish the i. R. S. Is that House Republican<\/a> policy and will you guys vote on a talk to the r. N. C. About whatever they got to say. You mentioned the paris terrorist attacks. One said it was a wakeup call and not wait on the [inaudible] are you concerned with increased terror attacks . Listen, i said what happened over there reminds us that we should be vigilant. There are terrorists around the world who are intent on killing americans and other freedomloving individuals around the country. I believe that president s executive actions with regard to immigration are outside of the constitution and outside of his powers. And i believe that we can deal with that issue in the department of Homeland Security<\/a> bill without jeopardizing the security of our country. Last question. I know youre going to have a family conversation about what happened on the floor yesterday. There wont be any realigning of the committees . Were going to continue to have a family conversation. Well have something to report, youll be the first one to know. Thanks. Speaker boehner was asked in that News Conference<\/a> about the rules committee and representatives webster and nugent, christina of the hill saying the name plates for webster and nugent have been removed from the House Committee<\/a> desks. Both kicked off after the speakers vote. The rules Committee Meeting<\/a> is under way. Were covering that live now over on our companion network cspan3. The u. S. House will gavel back in in 40 minutes taking up five bills today, including one that renews the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> program. That expired at the end of 2014 and would extend that program through 2020. Well have live coverage of the house, obviously, mere on cspan when they come back in. Later this week theyll take up the keystone x. L. Pipeline bill, authorizing that. The white house just in the last 15 minutes or so issuing a statement of Administration Policy<\/a> saying that because h. R. 3 conflicts with longstanding executive branch procedures, if presented to the president , his senior advisors would recommend he veto this bill. Thats just from the white house. Get more about whats ahead this week in congress from todays washington journal. With speaker getting another term or another term as speaker and what it means as far as his relationship with republicans Going Forward<\/a>. Guest get morning. Thank you for having me. The bottom line is that this speaker, this term this session, well have to find a way to lead, though he yesterday, did not get even a majority of votes from all 434 members. He got 216 votes, but 241 of his fellow republicans supported someone else and a 25th didnt vote for anybody. And because the number of democrats were as many attending former new york governor cuomos funeral, none of the democrats showed up voted for boehner, he ended up with just 216 votes. We have a speaker with 216 votes out of the 434 Member Chamber<\/a> with prims seat vacant. He begins to lead with not exactly a mandate from a majority of the entire house. And yesterdays vote also showed some obviously continued discord, if not even more so from within his own conference the republican conference which is more musk lar with more members, still seems to have some of the same old turmoil broiling within. Host as we talk, there are stories in the paper one of the people challenging was Daniel Webster<\/a> of florida. He and rich nugent though have new positions but they are outside of the rules committee as it is this morning. Guest thats exactly correct. Representative Louie Gommert<\/a> called the move from Republican Leadership<\/a>, i. E. Boehner to remove them from the House Rules Committee<\/a> after they voted for webster. Boehner being a sore winner. So thats the sort of thing we are launching the new session with that sort of back and forth within the accurate conference. Host as far as moving forward, mr. House, and this g. O. P. Led Congress Working<\/a> with the white house, we already see scheduled votes on keystone and discussions about the Affordable Care<\/a> act. Are there other areas where Common Ground<\/a> could be found between the two bodies, the white house and the congress . Guest well, when you talk about Common Ground<\/a> and between the two parties there is some lowhanging fruit, and i suspect the keystone bill will pass both chambers and other things like repeal of the medical device tax under the obamacare act will pass both houses. The rubber hits the road when it gets to the white house and you face potential president ial veto. And thats where we are going to see how the new Republicancontrolled Congress<\/a> really maneuvers, how they or if they do at all work with the president to the somehow smooth over whatever differences those have, and we are going to get an early shot at seeing how this happens in the next few weeks. Host is it specifically with those bills . Or are there other things coming up that will kind of show what happens . Guest as we know there are spending bills coming up. The Homeland Security<\/a> spending bill, the funding comes to an end at the end of february. There will be some battles not only within the House Republican<\/a> conference, but, also the senate over where to go with that and whether to attach any Border Security<\/a> funding. And where that goes from there, to the white house, there is also we have a debt ceiling issue, whether to raise the nations ability to borrow will come up at least by midyear. And there is a transportation funding issue thats going to come up right away too. Host the washington exam ner reporting the president will host congressional leaders to talk about issues moving forward. Billly house, what do we watch for in the next few days, particularly with these votes on keystone and the Affordable Care<\/a> act moving forward . Guest a lot of ret strict about this in fact i talked to the number 2 House Republican<\/a> yesterday, kevin mccarth, the leader majority leader. And from his view and at least rhetoric, what president obama does with keystone veto or not will kind of set the tone show whether or not he, according to mccarthy is going to play politics these next two years or Work Together<\/a> with the leaders. And there is another tissue this week thats also going to reemerge right after last months situation where the senate blocked a terrorism insurance bill. The house is going to put that back on the floor this week as early as today, and its suspected that the senate will take that up soon too. We will see how that plays out host billy house, a Congressional Correspondent<\/a> talking to go us about not only what tom expect this week but and look for the house to begin legislative work in just over half an hour today, noon eastern. That would include extending the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> program through 2020 and doddfrank financial regulars law. We can expect regs laws. We expect speeches on the house and senate floor across capitol hill as they talk about the attack this morning in paris where mass gunmen killed those from Charlie Hebdo<\/a>. They are calling it frances deadly attack in at least two decades. Just a short while ago in new york at the united nations, secretary general ban kimoon spoke about the attack. Good morning. Thank you very much, secretary general for coming today. Thank you very much, secretary general, for coming today. Again, thank you very much, secretary general, to be coming to the unca room today. Thank you for being here even though its a very sad day for journalists after the massacre in paris. Also pleased for this reason you are here to talk about that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Its a great pleasure to see you and happy new year to you all, your families and your companies. In fact, i had planned to Exchange Greetings<\/a> to you at the beginning of the new year. But as you all understand, today is a very terrible terrorist attack happened, so id like to say a few words first before i begin to Say Something<\/a>. I want to express my outrage at the despicable attack today against the french magazine, Charlie Hebdo<\/a>. It was a horrendous, unjustifiable and coldblooded crime. It was also a direct assault on the cornerstone of democracy on freedom of expression. I extend my deepest condolences to the families and my best wishes to all those injured. We stand with the government and people of france. I trusted that the french authorities will do all in their power to bring the perpetrators to justice quickly. This horrific attack is meant to divide. We must not fall into that trap. This is a moment for solidarity. Around the world we must stand strong for freedom of expression and tolerance and stand against the forces of division and hate. Ladies and gentlemen [speaking foreign language] [speaking foreign language] ladies and gentlemen, i will speak to you tomorrow afternoon after i brief the Member States<\/a> of the General Assembly<\/a> on the way forward for this year 2015. And i will have an opportunity for engaging questions and answers tomorrow afternoon. As the year begins, i do want to make a plea for you to keep focusing on all those in need around the world so that those are not forgotten. Whether they are migrants or stranded on ships in the mediterranean or young girls kidnapped by boko haram, extremists in nigeria, families struggling through in syria and the wider region, they are people who deserve the worlds attention and support. Thank you for all you have done to bring their stories to light. Ill be counting on you to do even more to give voice to the voiceless. Again, its a great pleasure to see you. For the second mandate and conversations on your very important responsibility. And i would like to pay my tribute and thanks to [inaudible] and for what she has been doing for unca these past years. And to all of you, members of unca, thank you for your strong and productive relationship and strong support for the united nations. And i count on your engagement all the time. This is going to be very important year for humanity. We have to meet the target of Development Goals<\/a> and shape the 2015 Development Agenda<\/a> and adopt universal meaningful Climate Change<\/a> agreement in december in paris. Again, with all these priorities i look forward to seeing you again and working very closely with you and ill be very happy to make myself available. Thank you very much. We are also going to hear today from the u. N. , the president of the u. N. Security council. Look for coverage of that at cspan. Org. Hear from within the hour the state department, john kerry, and the polish foreign minister. Very pleased to welcome polish Prime Minister<\/a> schtyna here to washington today. Hes come here especially to meet with us and talk about the important relationship between poland and the United States<\/a>, very important and were working on many, many issues and very close bilateral way. Before i do talk about our relationship both of us were just talking about the horrific attack in paris today, the murderous attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo<\/a>. Id like to say directly to the people of paris and all of france that each and every american stands with you today, not just in anger or in outrage for this vicious act of violence, but we stand with you in solidarity and commitment both to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause which the extremists fear so much and which freedom. No country knows more than france that freedom has a price because freedom gave birth to democracy itself. France sparked so many revolutions of the human spirit, borne of freedom and Free Expression<\/a> and that is what the extremists fear the most. We in france and in the United States<\/a> share our commitment to those who wield something that is far more powerful, not just a pen but a pen that represents an instrument of freedom, not fear. Free expression and a free press are core values. They are universal values. Principles that can be attacked but never eradicated because brave and decent people around the world will never give in to the intimidation and the terror that those seeking to destroy those values employ. I agree with the french iman who today called the slained journalists martyrs for liberty. Todays murders are part of a larger confrontation not between civilizations. No. But between civilization itself and those who are opposed to a civilized world. The murderers dare proclaim Charlie Hebdo<\/a> is dead, but make no mistake, they are wrong. Today, tomorrow in paris, in france across the world, the freedom of expression that this magazine, no matter what your feelings were about it, the freedom of expression that it represented is not able to be killed by this kind of act of terror. On the contrary, it will never be eradicated by any act of terror. What they dont understand, what these people who do these things dont understand is they will only strengthen the commitment to that freedom and our commitment to civilized world. Id like to just say a quick word, if i may, directly to the people of france. [speaking french] [speaking french] [speaking french] we wish our friends in france well, and we stand in strong solidarity with them. I know our friends in poland understand these secretary of state john kerry, his comments in english and french on the islamic terrorist attack in paris that killed 12. All of our comments, all of the comments from the secretary and others available at cspan. Org. Were going to leave this now and take you live to Energy Secretary<\/a> earnest moniz who is speaking this morning at the Wilson Center<\/a> laying out the Energy Agenda<\/a> for 2015. Well show you as much as we can until the house returns at noon eastern. We are making tremendous progress actually, across the board and see as a broader issue, and this is, again getting to the issues of 2015, as we continue a very, very strong focus on Technology Development<\/a> and specifically on the Cost Reduction<\/a> of the technologies that we need to meet our environmental our climate and our Energy Security<\/a> challenges. So my first point is that i think you all know we have obviously, very Robust Technology<\/a> programs at the department. What i want to emphasize is i believe they are central to having the policy developments that we are looking for, because when the costs come down of those technologies janes former colleagues can have a much easier job in terms of addressing the policy issues, be they on the climate or on the Energy Security<\/a> side. Ill just mention without going into detail now that the other three overarching security challenges that we used in this chapter where Climate Change<\/a> as a security issue in addition to being an environmental issue. Third, the potential challenges around Nuclear Power<\/a> development, nuclear fuel Cell Development<\/a> and nonproliferation. And finally, issues around Energy Infrastructure<\/a> and supply chains and the remainder of my remarks today, i will not go into unless there are questions the Nuclear Power<\/a> and infrastructure nonproliferation issues. But i will address climate. I will say more about our Energy Security<\/a> agenda for 2015, and then on the Energy Infrastructure<\/a> side, ill tell you where we stand in the Energy Review<\/a> and where we are heading in terms of recommendations for Energy Infrastructure<\/a>, resilience and other challenges that we face. So let me first turn in my limited remarks to climate and give you an update and look forward to 2015 in terms of addressing and implementing the president s Climate Action<\/a> plan, the plan that was issued in june of threen 2013. That plan has three pillars. The one is mitigation. Second ised a aptation. And third is adaptation and third is the International Dimension<\/a> that we need, particularly on the road to paris. Mitigation, well again, that goes back to a theme weve ive already touched upon. A big part of that, at least, is in fact the technology agenda. The one of our programs, arpa e, was created in 2009, and we think its been very successful. We will be strongly moving forward, again, with arpae, and today im pleased to say we will be announcing the third 2009, 2012, and now 2015 theres a pattern, this will be our third socalled open solicitation. We will put out 125 million for new not for nofble ideas across the entire spectrum as long as the technology is quote clean, that is, advances a low emissions agenda. These open solicitations you might ask, why arent they done all the time . For one thing, they generate a lot of applications. The first round in 2009 had well over 3,000 initial submissions for what ended up to be 35 awards. So you can understand these are a challenge. However, we believe they are crucial in really opening up the appature to all the good ideas that may come in. If you the 2009 open solicitation for example, there was some very innovative work on Wind Turbines<\/a> using jet engineinspired designs. But just a few days ago one of the initial awards perhaps the largest of the initial awards, happens to be at m. I. T. Where i was at the time, to a nofble technology called Novel Technology<\/a> called liquid metal batteries. The announcement a few days ago was the commercialization of these batteries as utility scale storage devices. And so thats an example of a Brand New Technology<\/a> that came out in this open solicitation. In 2012, similarly, an example was sensing and computer hardware that could be in a backpacksized device that you could walk in and rapidly generate indoor physical and thermal, etc. , maps of a built structure. So again a very interesting idea that probably would not have been brought out in more targeted solicitations that we do. So we think this is exciting in terms of really generating new Technology Ideas<\/a> Going Forward<\/a>. But let me also say that this will be a big year for our loan program. I hope some of you have noticed the change in tone of the of whats been written on the loan program. For a while it was solyndra, solyndra solyndra. It turns out there was 30 billion in play in the loan program. The overall default rate has been 2 . Solyndra represents almost 2 3 of the default rate in that one in that one project. But it is paid off in may but it has paid off in major ways. Utility scale photovoltaic, cdfp we could go on and on. What i want to emphasize now is that we have just recently completed our full sweep of call for proposals for an additional 40 billion of Loan Guarantee<\/a>. Thats 4 billion roughly, in renewables and efficiency. These are set by statute. 8 billion for fossel technologies that lower fossil technologies that lower emissions. Roughly 16 billion for new vehicle technologies which will see more auto suppliers than manufacturers coming forward. So we already have proposals in for many of those renewables and fossil. We see strong portfolios so we want to make it clear that we plan to continue to be very forwardleaning, very aggressive in terms of now the deployment side through our Loan Guarantee<\/a> program. A different kind of mitigation push comes from setting standards, efficiency standards for example, and want to say once again with two hours to spare before new years, we met our goal of actually 10 efficiency standards in 2014, doubled the amount in half the time relevant to the previous two years. Were going to keep running through the tape in this administration with this because the cumulative impacts of these through 2030 are projected to be three gigatons of co2 reduction and nearly half a trillion dollars of energy of Consumer Energy<\/a> savings by the accumulation of these many efficiency standards. So thats another area where you can expect to see very, very strong focus in this coming year. On adaptation ill come back to a little bit when i discuss the Energy Review<\/a>. Let me say a word on International Cooperation<\/a> and, again, we can come back to more on this in the questions. Obviously the joint announcements by president obamas and chi in beijing, we think really changed a lot of the president s obamas and chi in beijing, we will be working hard with the chinese on moving forward with the joint commitments for the department of energy. It again goes back to technology and we agreed to expand in scope, for example adding a Strong Energy<\/a> water nexus focus and to expand in scale our direct Technology Cooperation<\/a> with the chinese including a commitment to move forward jointly and we will invite other International Partners<\/a> to really push the edge in terms of understanding Carbon Dioxide<\/a> sequestration in a with a new , a new and much expanded approach to instrumentation, to understanding all the issues one needs to know about deep co2 sequestration to allow, for example, the appropriate regulatory basis to be laid. So thats just an example of an important area of international collaboration. The other one ill mention, its quite fresh. Yesterday we had socalled high level economic dialogue with mexico, and that in turn followed a trilateral in december with mexico and canada in terms of energy. Its been a very, very, very positive discussion. One of the things Going Forward<\/a>, i see my colleague, adam out there from e. I. A. Adam is leading one of the agreed to thrusts in the trilateral context actually, which is data and Energy Infrastructure<\/a> mapping integration. Right now we dont have very good data that goes across the three countries, and sometimes we do have the data. It doesnt agree. So getting Data Integration<\/a> i think we think is a very important foundational step. Thats a focus. But well also have a strong focus on Infrastructure Development<\/a>, integrated Infrastructure Development<\/a> and with mexico, for example, that will probably will have not probably, but will have a particularly strong focus on electricity integration. Theres more than i think most of us might have realized already in terms of electricity going back and forth across the border with a seasonal a seasonal footprint, but its still rather much rather lower than as the case with canada for example, where we import so much hydro but thats an example Going Forward<\/a> and mexico will be hosting in march the energy and Climate Partnership<\/a> with the americas. A multilateral context for the western hemisphere, and we think this is very important both for, again, our relationships with mexico, the United States<\/a> but also looking at what is very clearly in latin america a lot of Progressive Movement<\/a> on the climate front on the way to paris. Of course, i should have said at the beginning that Mexican Energy<\/a> reform is really extremely ambitious and it is a lot of the focus ambition and it is a lot of the focus and the discussion is in the hydrocarbon sector but that reform is equally ambitious in the Electricity Sector<\/a> in mexico and the extent to which those market structures and regulatory structures become much more in sync in the United States<\/a> for example, collaboration and Energy Integration<\/a> will just be so much easier. So thats a few of the areas on the road to paris that we will be looking at in terms of climate. In terms of Energy Security<\/a>, and i think i probably dont have too much time left terms of Energy Security<\/a>, let me say a major focus for this year will be continuing a discussion, set of activities developed onto the g7 context umbrella. Its a g7 activity in partnership with the european commission, and its ill just focus on one piece of it, very important piece. The issues that were clearly put on the table with the ukraine situation, looking at european, in particular, european Energy Security<\/a>. But the first point i want to say is, when we say European Security<\/a> we really mean its the collective European Security<\/a> of allies and friends. So even if i if some of us may be tempted to have a complacent view of Energy Security<\/a> in the United States<\/a> because of our production, the fact is we have a serious interest in the broader Energy Security<\/a> issue with our allies and friends. It has yuge geopolitical implications huge geopolitical implications for us. So thats a situation were very deep into. Part of it was first of all presenting an updated view of Energy Security<\/a>. Its not just about diversity of oil supply or natural gas supply. It involves many issues including market structures and we can go on and on, substitution possibilities etc. But what we tackled so far were the difficult issues of things like helping ukraine face the winter, etc. But this year and that will continue, but this year frankly a harder issue. We are due to report on the g7 leader summit and that is a real intermediate to longterm plan for integrated collective Energy Security<\/a> and that gets into some very fundamental policy issues in different countries, but that will be a big agenda item for this year. Finally, let me just say a few words on the quadrennial Energy Review<\/a>. First i have to say a few words about the quadrennial Energy Review<\/a>. Some of you may be familiar and some may not. This is an administrationwide effort that is looking to weave together all of the equities and threads of an Energy Policy<\/a> across the government. This first year we have taken one the first of the quadrennial quadrennial to us is one plus one plus one plus one. And the first one we are focusing on Energy Infrastructure<\/a>. Transmission storage and distribution of energy. Thats already a pretty big bite, to be honest, but clearly at least somewhat restrictive. The department of energy through the Energy Policy<\/a> and systems analysis office, which i referred earlier to melanie, which she heads, is really the executive secretary yathe for this governmentwide secretariat for this governmentwide thing. Let me say a few things. We are looking to february for getting out this first installment. It will have a lot of information about the situation of Energy Infrastructure<\/a> in our country and also in the north american context. But it will also move on to make recommendations about what are some of the issues we have to address. I wont go into this in great detail but let me tell you about four areas that will be very much part of the agenda. In the q. B. R. And for implementing in the rest of 2015 and beyond. One is, first of all, you might say narrowly, but our Petroleum Reserve<\/a> really needs to really needs modernization. Certainly in a variety of physical elements and partly because of the changed Production Profile<\/a> in the United States<\/a> the different geography of producing oil and gas has led to a number of distribution issues that we partially uncovered by doing a test sale from the Petroleum Reserve<\/a> earlier this year. We will be laying out the program that it needs to address the Petroleum Reserve<\/a> and the distributional capabilities of the Petroleum Reserve<\/a>. Another big area will be the smart grid. By which i just mean in general the electricity Delivery System<\/a> and particularly its integration with information technology, etc. Obviously many reasons to drive that. For example, largescale remote Renewables Integration<\/a> into our system. But then again on the other side of the t. N. D. System, Distribution Capabilities<\/a> and how we manage all of these in a reliable resilient robust system is clearly a major focus. Well have some recommendations there. Another is related to the adaptation question that i skipped over on the Climate Action<\/a> plan. Again, resilience, recovery, safety of Energy Infrastructure<\/a>. A lot of that will involve states working governments, states and private sector and we will be again, moving that forward. It also includes addressing the infrastructure problems that were pointed out in the administrations methane strategy. You can see all of Energy Secretary<\/a> monizs comments. Well leave you here and take you shortly to the u. S. House as they gavel in for legislative work. Five bills including the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> program and also a bill rolling back some of the doddfrank financial regulations. The house will begin its day swearing in 19 members who missed yesterdays swearing in, some of those members attending the funeral of the late new york governor mario cuomo. Now live to the house floor here on cspan. The speaker the house will be in order. Our prayer will be offered today by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. Loving god, we give you thanks forgiving us another day. We thank you for the joy excitement and ceremony of yesterday, when the 114th congress convened. It was a celebration of the ongoing american experiment, of participatory democracy. Today begins not in full force the work of the congress when the difficulties facing our nation and some communities especially come into focus. We ask again an abundance of your wisdom for the members of the peoples house. May we be forever grateful for the and appropriately generous with what we have to help those among us who are in need. May all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. The speaker the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces his approval thereof. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. The pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentleman from South Carolina<\/a> mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson everyone, including our guests in the gallery, please join in. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States<\/a> 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 swear in new members. If the members would present themselves in the well. Mr. Members raise their right will members raise their right hand. Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the United States<\/a> against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the say, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god . Congratulations. You are now members of the 114th congress. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, under clause 2g of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, i herewith designate were robertries, deputy clerk, and curt boyle, to sign any and all papers and do all other acts for me under the name of the clerk of the house which they will be authorized to do by virtue of this designation except such as are provide bid statute in the case of my temporary absence or disability. This designation shall remain in effect for the 114th congress or until modified by me, signed sincerely, karen l. Haas, clerk of the house. The speaker pro tempore the chair will entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentleman from South Carolina<\/a> seek recognition . Mr. Wilson i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from South Carolina<\/a> is recognized. Mr. Wilson mr. Speaker, the president s takeover of our Nations Health<\/a> care system burdens Small Businesses<\/a> and veterans seeking jobs. Obamacares employer mandate hurts Small Business<\/a> ability to hire employees. While veterans already face a tough job market. Im grateful the house yesterday passed the hire more heroes act, a bipartisan bill to exempt veterans from who already receive Health Care Benefits<\/a> through the v. A. And tricare from being counted in the number that must receive employer coverage. This policy change encourages businesses to hire veterans and provides relief to employers to create jobs. I appreciate South Carolina<\/a> attorney general Bob Livingston<\/a> working with colonel Ronnie Taylor<\/a> on operation palmetto employment to reduce veteran unemployment from 16 to 3 . Potential for employment should not be restricted by the failures of obamacare and im grateful one of the first votes by the 114th Congress Supports<\/a> veterans and creates jobs. Also god bless our troops and the president by his actions must never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. Our sympathy to americas first ally france, on the terrorist attack today in paris. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Hahn thank you mr. Speaker. I rise today to express my hopes that the negotiations between the Pacific Maritime<\/a> association and our dockworkers will improve quickly with the help of a federal mediator. Resolving differences between the ilwu and the p. M. A. Is essential to the United States<\/a> economy because our west coast ports support five million jobs across the country and handle 2 3 of all americas trade. This represents 12. 5 of our g. D. P. Port workers have been without a contract for seven months under tense and uncertain conditions. Reaching a fair agreement is urgent for workers and their families, for communities, for our businesses that depend on goods moving through these ports and indeed for our nations prosperity. As cochair of the bipartisan port caucus along with my colleague, ted poe, i will do all i can to help our ports operate smoothly and keep americans working. Thank you. I yield my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina<\/a> seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, it doesnt take an accountant to figure out that our path of more spending and more debt must change. Our National Debt<\/a> has increased by more than 7 trillion over the past six years, now totaling more than 18 trillion. Thats why i am proud to cosponsor h. J. Res. 1 and h. J. Res. 2. Both of these bills would amend the constitution to require a balanced budget. Families across North Carolina<\/a> and america are required to live within their means and they expect washington to do the same. I came here with a clear mission, work to get a balanced budget and do my best to reduce the size and scope of government so that our Small Businesses<\/a> and farm families can grow and create jobs. On behalf of the fine citizens of the seventh Congressional District<\/a> of North Carolina<\/a>, i am proud to be a cosponsor of both of these resolutions and i encourage my colleagues in both the house and the senate to join me in this effort. Thank you mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition . Mr. Cicilline mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. Mr. Cicilline mr. Speaker, yesterday the 114th congress of the United States<\/a> convened for the first time. This new congress represents the new opportunity to get to work on the priorities of the American People<\/a>. We have a responsibility over the next two years to Work Together<\/a> in a bipartisan way to create jobs, grow the economy, expand access to affordable education and keep our communities safe. Last night democrats offered a new legislative package to grow the economy by creating better infrastructure and bigger paychecks for hardworking americans. Unfortunately, House Republican<\/a>s voted to block action on this important legislation. Im hopeful this year we can cast aside partisan differences and Work Together<\/a> to expand opportunities for hardworking americans and their families. This month ill be meeting with Rhode Islanders<\/a> all across my home state to hear about their priorities as i develop my legislative work plan for the 114th congress. By working together, i believe we can find Common Ground<\/a> to make this congress more productive than the last, accomplish the work that we were sent here to do and create a Brighter Future<\/a> for the people we serve. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from maine seek recognition . Mr. Poliquin i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Poliquin mr. Speaker, for generations, the hardworking families of maines Second District<\/a> have balanced their checkbooks at the kitchen table. Its time our federal government does the same. A balanced Budget Amendment<\/a> to our constitution will finally force washington to live within its means. This discipline will help end wasteful spending and enable our government to start paying down our 18 trillion National Debt<\/a>. That will give job creators the confidence to expand their companies and to start new ones, more jobs, more freedom, Less Government<\/a> dependency, thats what we all want for our kids. Amending our constitution will not be easy or quick, but we can start the process right now. With every member of Congress Supporting<\/a> this crucial jobs bill an institutional discipline to spend no more than we collect in taxes from American Families<\/a> is the common sense, right thing to do. It will help ensure the security of our kids and grandkids and it will create jobs. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Quigley thank you, mr. Speaker. One of my greatest privileges as a congressman has been spending time with our countrys wounded veterans through the u. S. A. Warriors ice hockey program. Encouragement for u. S. Military members who have been injured while serving. The same qualities that made them successful in the military teamwork, perseverance and determination, make them inspiring competitors on the ice. Recently i played with the warriors and the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> before the winter classic. Last week was particularly moving because the warriors paid tribute to clint rife chick blackhawks assistant equipment manager who passed away by wearing c. R. Stickers on their helmets. Clint was responsible for getting the warriors new equipment when they skated with the blackhawks last season at Soldier Field<\/a> and many of the warriors considered clint an extended member of their team. The simple gesture was a fitting tribute to clint and an extraordinary testament to these veterans who have given us so much. My thoughts and prayers are with the rife family and the entire Chicago Blackhawk<\/a> organization during these difficult times. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Today i rise to honor a remarkable young woman from indianas sixth Congressional District<\/a>, 19yearold lauren hill. Last year this lawrenceburg native was diagnosed with dipg a terminal form of brain cancer. Since then shes become a National Symbol<\/a> of courage and hope for those impacted by this terrible disease. This selfless young woman inspired the nation last november by fulfilling her dream of playing in an ncaa basketball game despite having an inoperable brain tumor. Mr. Messer she not only played but scored four points for the mount st. Joseph lions. She then set an ambitious goal for raising 1 million before the end of 2014. During a telethon on tuesday december 30, she surpassed that goal. I commend lauren for her continued courage and applaud the steps she has taken to find a cure for pediatric brain cancer. Lauren, you make your community, your state and your country pride. Thank you mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Speaker, yesterday florida became the 36th state to legalize marriage equality. Mr. Higgins now more than 70 of americans live in a state where Sexual Orientation<\/a> does not dictate who can be married. Our nation was founded on basic principles of freedom inequality and no law should discriminate individuals on the basis of who they are. We have come a long way since 2004 when massachusetts became a pioneering state in the fight for marriage equality. But the fight is not over. I am a proud original cosponsor of the respect for marriage act, introduced in the house yesterday. This legislation will allow samesex couples to receive equal and fair treatment under federal law regardless of their states marriage laws. As we begin the 114th congress, i look forward to working with my colleagues in the house to make sure that we have laws in place to end discrimination towards individuals regardless of their gender race, religious background, Sexual Orientation<\/a> or gender identity. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . The gentleman asks for unanimous consent to address the house . Does the gentleman ask for unanimous consent to address the house . The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Bilirakis thank you. Mr. Speaker, this week is floridas First Responder<\/a> appreciation week. Every day Law Enforcement<\/a> firefighters and e. M. T. s put their live on the line to keep our communities safe. Sadly in my district a police officer, charles was shot and killed right before commals. As he patrolled the streets on the midnight shift while the rest of us slept securely in our homes. There are no such thing theres no such thing as a typical day for First Responder<\/a>s. On average an officer dies in the line of duty every 58 hours. 150 deaths per year. This week and every day we should be thankful for the First Responder<\/a>s serving our communities. Let us never forget the sacrifices of officer charles and others who have fallen in the line of duty. These brave officers and their families are in our prayers. They are remembered. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from the District Of Columbia<\/a> seek recognition . Ms. Norton unanimous consent to dreals the house and to revise and extend my remarks to address the house and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from the District Of Columbia<\/a> is recognized. Ms. Norton mr. Speaker yesterday in their first vote of the 214th congress, the majority used their first vote to eliminate the vote in the committee of the whole of the residents of your nations capital. That vote on some but certainly not all matters had been approved by the federal courts. The district has used this vote in three congresses. But not when republicans controlled. With their large majority, republicans show themselves to be small in principle when they voted to eliminate the vote of d. C. Citizens who pay the highest federal taxes per capita in the nation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Den request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Denham thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge and honor the life of a beloved leader in the modesto community. Former Modesto City Council<\/a>member daveg gear, died at the age of 72 on sunday, december 28. He followed in his fathers footsteps and became a paratrooper in the United States<\/a> army and served for many years in the reserves after active duty. For 27 years, dave worked at lawrence liver more National Laboratory<\/a> for the u. S. Department of energy and the Nuclear Security<\/a> administration. He was a federal Security Police<\/a> officer with a q level security clearance. In 2009 dave decided to get more active in politics and ran for the Modesto City Council<\/a> district two. He won handily. He was a strong advocate for his largely latino district, which includes some of modestos poorest neighborhoods which he lived in for more than a quarter century. He understood politics without being political. He did his homework on the issues facing the city and while he treated people with respect, he did not shy away from asking very tough questions. In addition to serving on the city council, he was involved in many aspects of our community. But he was very involved with many of us in addressing all problems. Not just from a city perspective, but from a county, from a state and from a federal perspective. This is a man that was very involved in the community and wanted to strengthen his nation. Hell be missed, well miss his leadership and, mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring and recognizing dave gear for his unwavering loipped and many accomplishments and accomplishments and contributions. He had a long history of service to his nation and community and had a genuine love for the nation he so heartily worked for. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from New Hampshire<\/a> seek recognition . The gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Kuster thank you mr. Speaker. I rise to honor stephanie of the national guard. She was an occupational nurse for the army and her dedicated service to the national guard, steph touched so many lives with her energy and compassion. Steph leaves behind a wonderful husband, sean and two terrific kids, shane and sammy, as well as countless friends and admirers all across New Hampshire<\/a>. She was a tireless advocate for veterans, serving as secretary of our states veterans advisory council. She was devoted to the next generation of leaders. And when she was diagnosed with cancer she refused to be discouraged. She was open about her disease, fighting on behalf of cancer research. I had the honor of walking with her on her team, steph strong, in an event to raise cancer awareness. As always she was kind and vivacious, joking with friends and family. I consider myself very lucky to have been her friend. She was a wonderful, brave granite stater. Thank you mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition . The gentlelady from florida is recognized. Ms. Roslehtinen thank you mr. Speaker. President obamas statement that he will reestablish diplomatic relations with the communist regime in cuba takes away leverage that could have been used once that island nation one day begins to move toward democracy and freedom. But the castro brothers have taken no such steps, nor will they. Raul castro already stated that he will not change anything about his regime. That was castros official response to president obamas unilateral concessions. The u. S. Has given away the store and has not helped the cuban opposition at all. Is there freedom of expression in cuba now . No. Are there Political Parties<\/a> in cuba . No, Just One Party<\/a> the communist party. Is there freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, respect for human rights . No, no, no. Will president obamas sellout help bring about such freedoms . No. Quite the opposite, mr. Speaker. It will provide an Economic Life<\/a> line to the decrepit regime. The president has stated that he has asked for an official u. S. Embassy and a u. S. Ambassador to cuba. This would lend legitimacy to a dictatorship that continues to pose a threat to u. S. National security. Lets work to stop this wreckless and unwarranted action. Lets stand with the cuban opposition and not with the castro regime. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Request permission to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Houstonians and baseball fans across the country today are celebrating. The houston stroast have astros have our first person into the hall of fame, craig beggio. Hes called the greatest astrobecause for his 20year career, he spent the total time with the houstons a strows astros. We have a number of other players in the hall of fame. Mr. Green but they didnt spend their whole career. The Houston Astros<\/a> franchise started in 1962, 52 years ago, as the colt 45s. In 1965 they changed the name to the Houston Astros<\/a> and played in the astrodome for many years and now they play at minutemade park. The famed astrodome is still there although we need to refurbish it, but it is historic. But the astros and the organization and hue stone yans today are celebrating hue stoneans today are celebrating houstonans are celebrating today. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from North Carolina<\/a> seek recognition . Ms. Foxx i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from North Carolina<\/a> is recognized. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. Over the last few weeks, many people have expressed genuine concerns about the appropriations bill that passed congress in december. Unfortunately many washingtonbased special Interest Groups<\/a> are confusing the matter with an incomplete and sometimes false messages aimed more at fundraising for themselves than uniting behind our shared goal of stopping president obamas executive overreach on immigration. I am veemently opposed to the president s unilateral executive actions granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. It is the responsibility of congress to pursue reforms and ensure that a strong immigration policy is devised. By ending funding for the department of Homeland Security<\/a>, only through february 2015, the house and senate are prepared to confront the president s unparalleled power grab without the threat of a looming governmentwide shutdown and well do everything we can to stop his destructive actions. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek rexnition . Recognition . The gentlelady from it the gentlelady from texas is recognized. Ms. Johnson thank you mr. Speaker. I rise in support of a democratic legislative agenda that would improve our nations infrastructure and focus on job creation and support of the American People<\/a>. Instead of taking backward steps and undermining existing law that protects and helps our fellow americans, we must concentrate on fair wages, scientific advancement and allowing individuals to Access Health<\/a> security. We must begin to work on reauthorizing the Highway Trust Fund<\/a> immediately, moving beyond the all too familiar recurring nightmare of shortterm piecemeal highway reauthorizations. Instead of providing giveaways to special Interest Groups<\/a>, we must strengthen protections and Public Health<\/a> the environment, food safety and consumer safety for hardworking americans. We must support access to quality and Affordable Health<\/a> insurance to millions of americans instead of slowly chipping away provisions of the Affordable Care<\/a> act. Congress must think in the longterm by leading efforts to curb Climate Change<\/a> providing robust funding for thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Connolly mr. Speaker, i welcome you and all of our colleagues back for the start of the 114th congress. I was encouraged by Speaker Boehner<\/a>s remarks yesterday calling for all of us to begin the shared endeavor on Common Ground<\/a>. I couldnt agree more. As someone who comes from local government, i know firsthand the music that can be made when elected leaders allow their commitments to improving the quality of life for our neighbors guide their actions rather than partisan ideology. My predecessor in this chamber was also a veteran of local government and although we had our share of partisan differences, we both like to say we belong to the same party. The party of getting things done. A moniker to which this new congress should aspire. Without question, there will be rigorous battle of ideas and we should expect nothing less in the arena of elected leadership. But at the end of the day our constituents expect us to resolve those differences, to accomplish something on their behalf rather than on behalf of our respective parties. Mr. Speaker, when the final tally is taken of this congress, i hope we do prove the pessimists wrong and show we were a congress that got things done. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . The gentleman from texas is recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Yesterday there was more than one occasion where my colleagues would argue that somehow giving a bonus of 1 million to the Business Owner<\/a> or a chief executive officer of a company would somehow go untaxed. That because the company got a tax deduction, that that somehow spread the burden of that across all of america. What was left out of the conversation each and every time was the fact that the recipient that have bonus this individual, actually puts that on their tax return and pays it at a much higher rate. That 1 million would probably be taxed at the 43 rate that is invoked or 39. 6 plus the addons that are in place. Over and over again yesterday the American People<\/a> were misled as to the consequences of getting bonuses or paying chief executive officers. It does not go untaxed simply because the company gets a tax deduction. That employee has to put that on their tax return and pay the appropriate taxes on that. So i just want to set the record straight from yesterdays misguided comments with respect to how individuals who create businesses and grow those businesses are compensated and the misinformation that somehow is a negative impact on the rest of us. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition . The gentlelady from california is recognized. This week marks the beginning of a new congress and a new chance to move past the bickering that has characterized the last two years. Mrs. Davis sadly, the leadership of the house seemed poise to let that opportunity go to waste. Since the election, we heard that one potential area of agreement would be tax reform. That would be great. Id welcome the chance to improve our deeply flawed tax code, and yet the very first act of this congress will make it much harder for any reform bill to get bipartisan support. Thats because house leadership has quite literally changed the rules of the game, allowing them to pick and choose which tax bills the congressional budget will be given favorable treatment. Mr. Speaker, im optimistic that we can move past the dysfunction of the last few years, but changing the rules of the game isnt a signal that were heading in the right direction. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back her time. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. Recorded votes on postponed questions will be taken later. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 26. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 26, a bill to extend the termination date of the terrorism Insurance Program<\/a> established under the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act of 2002, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. Neugebauer, and the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. Maloney, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Neugebauer. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials for the record on h. R. 26, currently under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. Mr. Neugebauer thank you, mr. Speaker. For those of you watching at home today, this is not a cspan rerun. I stand before you today to discuss the terrorism risk reauthorization act, a bill that passed this house 4177 at the end of the previous congress. This bill is the result of a long and difficult bicameral and bipartisan negotiations, but for whatever reason the Previous Senate<\/a> decided it was more important to go home a couple days earlier rather than reauthorize the tria program, a program that expired at the end of the year. So today the house will act on this important piece of legislation once again. Doing so will provide certainty to the terrorism risk market and ensure that American Market<\/a> remains resilient against the threat of terrorism. Congress passed the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act of 2002 after the aftermath of 9 11. It was intended to provide a twoyear transition period in which the Market Participants<\/a> could develop resources that would enable them to offer private terrorism Insurance Coverage<\/a> once the program expired. For various reasons, that transition has not taken hold. Throughout the last two years, my subcommittee learned how evolved the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> marketplace has become since the last reauthorization. Since the advent of tria in 2002, markets have stabilized, Risk Management<\/a> practices have improved and terrorism risk modeling and underwriting has advanced and the price of terrorism risk coverage is actually tass actually declined by 70 has actually declined by 70 . What weve also learned is that this evolution of tria has not kept up with the pace of market reality. In fact the market has remained under changed within the last 12 years. This has resulted in a bad deal for the taxpayers. The bill before us today is an effort to recognize and to keep pace with the market developments of terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> marketplace over the past decade. The bill strengthens taxpayer protections without altering the programs fundamental functions, brings greater certainty and stability to the terrorism risk market and lays a foundation for a more robust Market Participation<\/a> and terrorism risk. With regard to the taxpayer protection, the programs trigger doubles from 100 million to 200 million. It decreases the federal share from the loss of 70 to 80 and enhance the Program Recovery<\/a> requirements and for the first time we will have meaningful data on the program to increase accountability and transparency. To provide certainty, the program is extended for six years but makes no changes for the first year so that the market will have time to adjust. It also clarifies and streamlines the terrorism certification process so that poll holders are better policyholders are better protected. It will allow for a more healthy Market Participation<\/a> in risk terrorism risk over time and slowly replaces taxpayer funded reinsurance with private skt ore capital. And finally the bill before us today includes bipartisan reforms that will help boost the economy and Job Opportunities<\/a> for all americans. These doddfrank fixes will help americas hardworking farmers, ranchers and Business Owner<\/a>s. They did not cause the financial crisis and they deserve immediate relief. Im also proud that the inclusion of the reestablishment of the National Association<\/a> of registered agents and brokers, or narab, which is an effective way to enable insurance and brokers on a multistate license. I thank chairman hensarling for trusting me to reform this Important Program<\/a>, and i encourage my colleagues to vote yes on h. R. 26 and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas reserves her time. The gentlewoman from new york, mrs. Maloney. Mrs. Maloney i thank the gentleman for yielding. I yield myself such time as i may consume. And mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of h. R. 26, the tria reauthorization bill of 2015. This bill passed in the last Congress Overwhelmingly<\/a> 217 votes to seven. I first want to thank Speaker Boehner<\/a> and leader pelosi for acting so quickly to reauthorize the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act, or tria. Unfortunately, this Critical Program<\/a> expired on january 1, and unless congress swiftly reauthorizes tria, our economy will be dangerously exposed if we have another terrorist attack. In fact, one of the financial rating agencies, fritz, said if congress doesnt reauthorize tria by the end of january, they are going to start downgrading companies and Major Construction<\/a> projects which would hurt the American Economy<\/a>. And the other rating agencies have made equally strong statements about the importance to reauthorize tria. Already companies are having trouble getting terrorism insurance, and Many Companies<\/a> that had terrorism insurance have now lost it because there were clauses written into their policies that said if tria is not there they do not have the Insurance Coverage<\/a>. I also want to thank very much chairman hensarling and chairman neugebauer as well as Ranking Member<\/a> waters and the democrats on the Financial Services<\/a> committee for their very hard work on this bill which represents a true bipartisan compromise. I especially want to thank my colleagues from new york, peter king and senator schumer who have worked very hard on this bill which is critical to the state of new york, and i would say every state in our union. I believe that this compromise will ensure that terrorism insurance remains available and at affordable prices. This has always been the purpose of tria, and i believe that this bill will accomplish that goal. After the last terrorist attack on our homeland, 9 11, insurers realized they couldnt accurately model for terrorism risk. It was simply too unpredictable, and the market for terrorism insurance completely shut down. Without terrorism insurance, all construction stopped in new york city. We couldnt build anything, and thousands and thousands of jobs were lost. In Response Congress<\/a> came together in a bipartisan way and passed tria, which provides a government backstop for terrorism insurance. The goal of tria was to make terrorism insurance both available and affordable and thats exactly what it has done. And this has come at no additional expense whatsoever or cost to the taxpayer. Initially, the house tria bill raised the trigger for the governments backstop by a whooping 500 . From 100 million to 500 million. This would have forced small and mediumsized insurers out of the market entirely and would have actually reduced the amount of terrorism insurance available to american businesses. I was strongly opposed to increasing the trigger to 500 million because it would make terrorism insurance unavailable and unaffordable to businesses all across this country. Fortunately this compromised bill will only raise the trigger for the government backstop from 100 million to 200 million. This modest increase will ensure that small and mediumsized insurers are not forced out of the market entirely while also protecting taxpayers, and i fully support this compromised approach. This bill also slightly increases the amount that the government recoups from the industry after tria is triggered, which will ensure that taxpayers are fully repaid for tria if it is needed. Importantly the compromise does not include the socalled bifurcation. This proposal which would have treated nuclear biological, chemical and radiological attacks differently from other socalled conventional attacks this made no sense whatsoever and this compromise senseably drops this proposal entirely. A terrorist attack is a terrorist attack. Finally, im pleased that the bill reauthorizes tria for a full six years. This will provide muchneeded certainty to businesses across the country as they expand and create more american jobs. And support for reauthorization of tria is deep and it is strong in the Business Community<\/a> across this country. I have a letter here from 28 different business stakeholders strongly supporting the reauthorization and the need for tria. The bill also includes the narab bill, the National Association<\/a> of registered agents and brokers which has passed this congress multiple times many, many times and this would merely recognize insurers and insurance, brokers and licensed agents across the nation increasing efficiency and saving and reducing costs for these businesses. I urge my colleagues to vote for tria because it is the right thing to do for america. And i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york reserves her time. The gentleman from texas, mr. Neugebauer. Mr. Neugebauer i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an exchange of letters between the Financial Services<\/a> committee and the agriculture house Agriculture Committee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Neugebauer now, mr. Speaker, id now like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas my neighbor to the south, mr. Conaway, our new Committee Chairman<\/a> for the house Agriculture Committee<\/a>. I yield him three minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Conaway, is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Conaway thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank you, mr. Neugebauer, for yielding. I rise today in support of h. R. 26, a bill to extend the Expiration Date<\/a> of the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act. I want to thank my good friend and vice chairman of the Agriculture Committee<\/a>, randy neugebauer, for shepherding this bill to the floor again. Id also like to thank him and chairman hensarling for fighting hard to include the Business Risk<\/a> mitigation and price stabilization act as title 3 of this bill. The House Committee<\/a> on agriculture, along with the Financial Services<\/a> committee, has made moving this legislation a priority. Despite the lengthy title the Business Risk<\/a> mitigation and price stabilization act, it is not a complicated bill. It fulfills the promise that this body made to our farmers, ranchers and Small Businesses<\/a> when doddfrank was drafted and signed into law that end users would not be treated as financial firms. Yet, regulators have narrowly interpreted the exemptions in the black letter of the law forcing some companies to leave capital and margin accounts rather than investing in new production and creating jobs, forcing companies to ties up margin, it makes it more exspepsive for firms to utilize the Risk Management<\/a> tools that they need to protect their businesses from uncertainty. Todays bill clarifies in statute that congress meant what it said when it exempted end users from margin and clearing requirements. Specifically, it ensures that those businesses which are exempt from clearing their hedges are also exempt from margining those hedges. This legislation has broad bipartisan support as a standalone bill, the house overwhelmingly supported it last year in june 41112. Since then we passed it four more times. If we pass it today, a fifth time, which means well keep getting it right well keep doing it until we get it right. I hope todays vote will be will finally offer farmers, ranchers and businesses the promise we made five years ago and i thank chairman hensarling, chairman neugebauer, for including this bill. I urge my colleagues to support h. R. 26, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from texas reserves. The gentlelady from new york. Mrs. Maloney i now yield to the gentleman from georgia congressman scott. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Scott thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I certainly want to recognize and appreciate the gentlelady from manhattan for the excellent leadership job that shes doing on this. Mr. Speaker, this bill is so important. Its very important to note that it doesnt hasnt cost the taxpayers anything. And its been very successful and needed. But, mr. Speaker, this bill contains another very important piece. We call it the National Association<\/a> of registered agents and brokers. This bill had it been in place in 1999, 1999 before we had the terrorism risk, before we had the terrorist strikes of 9 11 and other terrorist attacks, but in the middle of all of that even with the down turn of the economic calamity, standing in the middle of this storm were our Insurance Agents<\/a>. The life line of the American People<\/a>. What this is doing here is making sure we streamline the process. Making sure that our Insurance Agents<\/a> are able to operate across state lines. Mr. Speaker, we all realize that insurance is a state license statelicensed, stateauthorized operation. Narab does not interfere with that. As a matter of fact, all of 50 of the Insurance Agents<\/a> of our states have all agreed with narab. This is an important bill. Because our Insurance Agents<\/a> our Small Businesses<\/a>, they are the lifeline and the in the kinds of tragedy and distress. We live in a highly mobile society now. It is very important for our agents to be able to go across state lines with one licensing procedure that is held to the highest standard while at the same time being licensed in their own state. Weve had great cooperation from all of our Insurance Agents<\/a>, including the Insurance Agents<\/a> association, our Financial Advisors<\/a> and our brokers all agree. The other thing, mr. Speaker many of us in the Financial Services<\/a> committee have been working on this measure for 10 years. 10 years. Weve been toiling in the vineyards on this. And so have others in the senate. Now is the time to give our Insurance Agents<\/a> the respect of the nobility of purpose of their very fine profession. And at the same time reach our primary goalers goal, which is to give the american insurance consumers the choice, the competition and the benefits that they need. Were very appreciative of all of our support. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentlelady fw reserves. The gentleman from texas. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from georgia for his tireless efforts on narab. I think were going to get it done this time. I know hes worked on it a number of years and he and i have worked together to try to get this done. Its a commonsense piece of legislation. Mr. Neugebauer im hopeful that this will be the time to get it passed. Im now pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. King, who has been a tireless advocate for the tria program. And id yield the gentleman three minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. Mr. King i thank chairman neugebauer for yielding. I want to thank him for all his efforts on this. I also appreciate the fact that he said my efforts were tireless. Chairman hensarling at times they were tiresome. I want to thank the chairman for putting a good spin on. It i want to thank him on it. I want to thank him for his efforts. This is a bill where a number of us started off from different perspectives but in true legislative form we came together. This bill that we passed in december was a solid bill. Unfortunately it was not taken up by the senate. But its essentialal that we pass it today its essential that we pass it today. As mrs. Maloney said this could have a devastating affect on the construction industry, on the American Economy<\/a> if its not removed as quickly if its not renewed as quickly as possible. It has to be reauthorized. Its absolutely essential. I want to thank chairman hensarling again for his efforts throughout this. Its been a long process. But we stayed at it and he stayed at it and i thank him for that. Mrs. Maloney, the Ranking Member<\/a> ms. Waters mr. Capuano has been a fighter on this from the start. And again, we came together. And this is a bill which ive said nam of times was absolutely essential after september 11 when terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> could not be obtained. It even became more obvious as time went on how essential it was. How we desperately need it and we have to preserve it. Not one federal dollar has been expended on it you yet billions of dollars in revenues, Construction Projects<\/a>, jobs and expansion of the economy has resulted because of it. So we are voting today in a way and on a bill which is going as mrs. Maloney said go on for another six years. That gives permanence, stability, it gives the construction industry, it gives the real estate industry, it gives people on the ground, the people who want those construction jobs to know that they can go forward, it lets hue miss it pallets know construction will be municipalities know there will be construction going ahead. Its a plusplus all the way. The changes that have been made and reforms that have been made, i believe they had to be done, but the fact is they are done and they are not going to change the overall impact. Not going to have any meaningful deterrent affect whatsoever. Im proud to support this bill in all of its aspects. The gentleman from georgia, his great concern about insurance, i share that also. And i think its important that this be in this bill. I know that was an obstacle in the senate. That shouldnt be. It had overwhelming support in the house. I know the great majority of members in the Senate Support<\/a> it. So now we passed this on suspension today, sending a strong signal how we support this bill in its entirety. And hopefully, and i in my conversations i think mrs. Maloney has had the same conversations we feel confident that the senate is going to pass it and when they do it will be a victory to the American People<\/a>, a victory for american business, a victory for american labor, and a victory for the American People<\/a> to show that we have fought all the way back from the horrors of 9 11 and we are going to make sure that never again are we put in that position as far as the damage it can have on our economy. With that i just end on this, by saying we saw the attack in paris today, we realize what can happen with a terrorist attack how it could happen at any moment and why its essential this be reauthorized. I yield back the balance of my time and again i thank the chair hadman for his efforts and his chairman for his efforts and patience over the last several years. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas reserves. The gentlelady from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney thank you mr. Speaker. I do want to comment that its been reported in the press that the senate has announced theyll bring up this bill next week. Which is very, very important to move it forward. I would now like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from the great state of massachusetts who has been a fighter, an advocate and an effective spokesperson, mr. Capuano congressman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Capuano thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I too want to add my words to finally get hadding this done. But i want to be clear. I wish we could have done this a year ago so he so we could have been working on things that we have some differences where that need to be done. Where we are today on this bill could have easily been reached bipartisanly with 400plus members voting for it over a year ago. Yet a handful, im only aware of two outside groups that are both think tanks not in business, not in labor, that owe polesed this bill. And yet we let them run the agenda here because people couldnt get off the dime. For me, thats a huge mistake. Were here to make agreements, to make compromise, to get things done. For instance, were sitting here today with fannie and freddie not resolved after all these years. Because we cant get off the dime of a few ideological disagreements that clearly are not going to be settled the way theyre going. Theres plenty of room for compromise plenty of room to get together and talk about it and yet something done for the American People<\/a> and the American Economy<\/a>, thats just one example. We have to get beyond the outside ideological groups from telling us what we can and cannot do. Even if we agree with them we have to understand were elected to lead, to argue and then to compromise. We are here today finally thank you. Lets not get bogged down any further in this new congress. We will have our differences and we will have some differences that cannot be resolved. This was never one of them. I think theres plenty of room on fannie and fredy. I think there are issues on insurance. I think there are plenty of issues we can and should work on. We both have our outside groups to deal with, we both have to turn to them with loving attention and tell you we love you, we agree with you, but i was elected to move the ball forward. Thats what were doing today. I congratulate those people that have finally done it, including the two people leading this bill, the two both the chairman and the Ranking Member<\/a> of the committee, and other members of this committee that have worked on this for so long. And i cant honestly say that im looking forward to doing this again in six years. But i hope that when we get there we can do it a little bit more quickly than we did this time. Thank you mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts yields back. The gentlelady from new york reserves. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Neugebauer i thank the gentleman from massachusetts and want to tell him how much i enjoyed working with him. He was the Ranking Member<\/a> of the housing and Insurance Committee<\/a> and we had an opportunity to Work Together<\/a> and it was a pleasure to do that. Now mr. Speaker, its my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from indiana mr. Stutzman distinguished member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Stutzman thank you mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the terrorism risk Program Reauthorization<\/a> act of 2015. Mr. Speaker, as we have all recently seen, terrorism and violence continues to be a threat. Not only to our friends on the other side of the globe, but also to our homeland. The rise of isis has demonstrated that the American People<\/a> and our interests are constant targets. Because these dangers continue to grow it is our job to make sure we are taking the necessary steps to protect ourselves. The terror attacks on september 11, 2001, not only brought a devastating loss of innocent human life, but also wreaked havoc on our economy, costing insurers tens of billions of dollars, taking years to recover. We have to take the necessary steps to protect and prevent any physical harm to america. We must also make sure we are doing what we can to protect our economic interests. That is what todays legislation is all about. When first passed in 2002, tria provided much needed stability to ease any economic pain of another attack. Todays reauthorization will continue to provide a necessary back stop in the Financial Security<\/a> that will allow major commercial and real estate projects so vital to the economy to move forward. Reauthorizing this legislation is an opportunity for both parties to stand together in a bipartisan fashion and strengthen our national security. So id like to thank our chairman hen starling hensarling representative neugebauer and the rest of the members of the Financial Services<\/a> for their hard work on this issue. Its taken time to get to this point but i believe this is a good way for us to start this congress, working together, to pass a bill that is in the best interest of our nation security. With that national security. With that mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman fr tas reserve the gentlelady from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney thank you, mr. Speaker. I now recognize and yield for three minutes to the gentleman, the distinguished minority leader from the great state of maryland, congressman hoyer. Three minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from maryland is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Hoyer thank you, mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentlefyo for yielding. I appreciate her work, i appreciate the work of mr. Neugebauer for bringing this bill to the floor. This bill could have been, should have been as mr. Capuano said, passed a long time ago. Passed a long time ago with an overwhelming vote. I brought this up on regular conferences and colloquies that i had with mr. Cantor and more recently with mr. Mccarthy. But its always timely to do the right thing. And today were doing the right thing and i rise in strong support of the passage of this bill. Reauthorizing the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act will provide muchneeded certainty to businesses and insurers certainty that they will that will help our economy and prevent harm to job creation. I believe congress has the responsibility to reauthorize the tria program and i encourage all of my colleagues to join me in voting to do so today. This program expired at the end of 2014 and Congress Must<\/a> take action on tria without delay. I would reiterate that this program, as incorporated in this piece of legislation, has had well over 250 votes for at least the last year and a half. But its never too late to do the right thing. The longer congress waits the worse the affects will be on effects will be on our economy and job creation. I want to thank Ranking Member<\/a> waters i want to thank Ranking Member<\/a> velazquez for her work on this as well, and as i said the leadership on the majority side that finally got us to a point where we could make an agreement last year, we passed a bill last year, i regret that the senate didnt pass it, but i applaud the majority bringing it to the floor as one of the first pieces of business that we do. All sides deserve credit to restore certainty to businesss and protect against the slow down in job growth that would result in not reauthorizing tria. Today we do the right thing. We do it in a bipartisan fashion. Lets hope we could continue to do this. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from maryland yields back his time. The yeal from new york reserves. The gentleman from texas. Its now my pleasure to yield one minute to the gentleman from New Hampshire<\/a>, mr. Guinta distinguished member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from New Hampshire<\/a> is recognized for one minute. Mr. Guinta thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of h. R. 26, the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> Program Reauthorization<\/a> act of 2015. As the recent tragic events in boston have shown, terrorism is still alive and we must be ever vigilant in the fight against it. Its overwhelmingly bipartisan piece of legislation will ensure market stability for main street businesses, Construction Projects<\/a> public events, and more. By maintaining their ability to access terrorism insurance to keep job creating businesses and protect and projects moving forward with certainty. Tria is an important piece of legislation for protecting taxpayers by requiring insurers to step up and manage more of their own trisk own risk. I urge my colleagues to vote yes and ask the senate to bring up this bill immediately. Thank you mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from texas reserves. The gentlelady from new york. Mrs. Maloney i now yield 2 1 2 minutes to my good friend from the great state of new york who is the Ranking Member<\/a> on the Small Business<\/a> committee, the distinguished congresswoman, nydia velazquez. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york is recognized for 2 1 2 minutes. Ms. Velazquez i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. And i want to take this opportunity to thank the gentlelady from new york for yielding. Today i call on my colleagues to reauthorize the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> program, a Publicprivate Partnership<\/a> that is vital to continued Economic Development<\/a> across the country. Following the tragic events of 9 11 terrorism became uninsurable. The marketplace evaporated and rates scrokted skyrocketed. Many businesses were impacted causing job losses and hindering the recovery effort. To address the growing problem, congress rightly passed the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act creating a federal backstop and restoring coverage. Today i can say without a doubt our efforts were successful. I have witnessed first hand how this program has substantially helped new york city recover and prosper over the past 12 years. The program has also tripled the number of Small Businesses<\/a> nationwide that have terrorism protection. As a direct result of tria, with 60 of small firms carry some form of coverage. Some stakeholders have already reported disruptions since tria lapsed last week, especially in highrisk cities such as new york. It should be noted that the lapse is not only affecting Insurance Coverage<\/a> but also the financing of many job creating Construction Projects<\/a>. Is this bill perfect . No but it will restore a certainty to the marketplace and prevent a great spike that could force 2 3 of Small Businesses<\/a> out of the market. Mr. Speaker, acts of terrorism remain too risky to cover for the vast majority of carriers especially for the small and mediumsized firms that dominate the insurance industry. As a result, the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> program which has not cost taxpayers one dollar continues to be a vital component of our economy growth and national security. With that i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentlelady from new york reserves. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker, i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york mrs. Maloney. Mrs. Maloney mr. Speaker, we had other speakers scheduled from new york, but they are not on the floor now. So i would just like to say in closing that this is a critically important legislation. I can speak from personal experience having represented new york during and after 9 11 that after 9 11 you could not even build a hot dog stand. All construction stopped. No one could get any insurance. The only insurance available was from lloyds of london, and it was incredibly expensive and people could not afford it. We lost thousands and thousands of jobs. It happened also but when we came together and started to rebuild not only new york but the pentagon and pennsylvania, i would say of all the programs that this body put forward, and there were many, and i thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support, i truly believe that this particular one was certainly the most important in helping new york rebuild and rebound. And i want to add that it did not cost our taxpayers one single dime. It was an innovative way to get building and construction happening across this country. So its tremendously important to the economy. Its an important bill. And im so pleased that it has been a bipartisan effort. This body passed the bill. It stalled in the senate, but we do need to reauthorize it as swiftly and quickly as possible. I hope it is an example of how this body can Work Together<\/a> on legislation that is critical to this country to rebuild and expand the jobs and our economy and to help strengthen our country in other ways. Again i thank the leadership on both sides of the aisle for moving so swiftly to bring it to the floor. And really to mr. Neugebauer who was the point person in many ways in the compromise legislation that moved forward. Seeing no other speakers, i yield back the balance of my time. And i urge my colleagues to vote no or for it. Its the right thing to do for america. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york yields back her time. The gentleman from texas mr. Neugebauer. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker, in closing i think what you can see by the comments today that we have a bipartisan piece of legislation. Piece of legislation that passed overwhelmingly in the house in the 113th congress unfortunately was not taken up by the senate. But this is a winwin bill. It does a number of really good things for the country and more importantly for the taxpayers. It begins to bring reform in a program that originally was meant to be a temporary program but somehow has become a permanent program, beginning to stair step up the market, private Market Participation<\/a> and stair step down the taxpayers participation. It increases the trigger, it increases the recovery, amount of recovery that the taxpayers would be able to recover in the case of an event. The other thing is you heard many people talk about is that this end user provision will help farmers and ranchers and Small Businesses<\/a> not have to put up Additional Capital<\/a> that they can use that capital to create jobs for america. Another provision in this bill is nay raabe 2, a Small Business<\/a> provision in allowing your local insurance agent, maybe he or she can sell insurance in multiple states by by being a member of narab and being to not have to get a license in each individual state. But if they are licensed and meet qualifications in that state, thats recognized by other states. This is a great bipartisan effort. Its been a long as mentioned a long process. So i urge my colleagues to support h. R. 26 with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas yields back his time. All time has been yielded. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 26. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative the gentleman from texas. Mr. Neugebauer i ask for a recorded vote. The speaker pro tempore does the gentleman from texas ask for the yeas and nays . Mr. Neugebauer yes i do. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking a vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 37. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 37, a bill to make technical corrections to the dodd frank wall street reform and Consumer Protection<\/a> act, to enhance the aint of small and emerging Growth Companies<\/a> to Access Capital<\/a> through public and private markets to reduce regulatory burdens, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule the gentleman from pennsylvania mr. Fitzpatrick, and the gentleman from minnesota mr. Ellison will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials for the record on h. R. 37 currently under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an exchange of letters between the Financial Services<\/a> committee and the agricultural committee. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Fitzpatrick thank you, mr. Speaker. For the time and opportunity to again bring this bill before the house as a piece of a larger strategy that will bring greater jobs and more opportunity to the American People<\/a> and to American Families<\/a>. Im proud to once again sponsor the promoting job creation and reducing Small Business<\/a> burdens act. A bill which includes the language of progrowth measures debated and passed last congress in the Financial Services<\/a> committee and in the Agriculture Committee<\/a>. While these proposals arent flashy, they represent bipartisan efforts to remove the burdensome weight of one size fits all regulation that has sadly become the norm for washington. While often wellintentioned, many of these topdown regulations hurts Small Businesses<\/a> and emerging businesses in critical sectors like biotechnology. As a representative of one of the nations fastestgrowing biotech regions just outside philadelphia, i have experienced firsthand the impact of this vibrant industry in southeast rn pennsylvania. Employing thousands of hardworking men and women, this sector harnesses the best of our stem community and what it has to offer in our efforts to create treatments and cures for devastating diseases and from diabetes and alzheimers to cancer hivaids. For these businesses government overregulation often streets the little guy the same as treats the little guy the same as big multinational corporations, tying them in costly red tape at the expense of their ability to research very much, innovate and hire. This bill takes a meaningful step toward ensuring smarter regulations which unleash businesses like Biotech Companies<\/a> in my district to invest in themselves and in think workers. But biotech workers wouldnt be the only ones to benefit. So would employees of retailers like grocery chain wegmans. Employing 44,000 people, including 8,200 in the commonwealth of pennsylvania wegmans is constantly ranked among the nations best places to work by fortune magazine. A great tribute to their Employee Ownership<\/a> opportunities, which allow their workers to have a stake of the business that they work for. However, a little known piece of Regulatory Overreach<\/a> is hamstringing these opportunities. An overreach recognized and adjusted by this slaveplgts by creating a more realistsic regulatory environment, this bill provides relief to businesses looking to retain their best employees while allowing workers to invest in the company and in their own futures. In lieu of the failed washington efforts of the past which tried to simply legislate more jobs into existing, the promoting job creation and reducing Small Business<\/a> burdens act is very much a jobs bill. Because it addresses these job creating needs by reigning in reining in governments heavyhanded approach we can provide a bipartisan path toward getting people back to work, helping businesses grow, and ensuring hardworking americans to keep more of their hard earned money. Mr. Speaker, the challenges facing our economy are steep, however they are no more daunting than the challenges we have overcome in the past the way that americans have always approached adversity. Head on. With american ingenuity, prack at this cality, and a commitment of leader practicality, and commitment of loords on both sides of the aisle to address the interests of the men and women we represent. The ushering in of this new Congress Give<\/a>s us the perfect opportunity for members of both parties to unite around efforts to put the American Work<\/a> back in the drivers seat and establish a bipartisan playbook for advancing common goals. Now is the time and this is an important part of that process. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves his time. The gentleman from minnesota is recognized minnesota is recognized. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker, whats before us today is a many omnibus bill that contains actually 11 separate pieces of legislation some of which may not be controversial but some of which is incredibly controversial and does not belong in this legislation. This is not an emergency, we have a new congress this bill should go through the regular order congress, this bill should go through the regular order. Unlike the tria bill we just talked about, this bill is a bill which should and must go through the regular order and is absolutely inappropriate for the suspension calendar. Now, our republican friends would have us believe that this is just some benign piece of legislation and yet this bill contains not only procedural problems but substantive problems which have never seen the light of day in any committee. Some of the legislation has only been public for about 24 hours. And thats whats particularly frightening, that the text of the bill has changed at least three times since tuesday. We just got started yesterday talking about the importance of regular order and were already violating those claims and promises. Mr. Speaker, the house of representatives should return to regular order with this piece of legislation and i urge colleagues to reject it. Regular order, whereby legislation is debated at a hearing, marked up by a committee and then finally considered by the whole house, is the process by which we vet legislation. That is not going on right here and right now and theres no good reason for it. We do this to ensure that we fully understand the changing law. Nevertheless, republicans have come here to suspend the rules and consider a package of 11 bills easing oversight of wall street firms, large banks, multinational corporations and certain brokers. It should be pointed out right now that the Ranking Member<\/a> of the house Financial Services<\/a> committee, maxine waters, who is unable to be in washington due to personal matters that she has to address, has issued a call to reject this piece of legislation for many of the reasons im articulating now. But i think its also important to point out that there are 52 members of congress who represent more than 30 million americans who were sworn in yesterday and will have to vote on the bills affecting clatral firm collateral firms pledge when they collect money and Financial Statements<\/a> of firms without the opportunity to offer changes. This is the absolute an thigget sis of regular order and this bills not appropriate and we urge a no. But id like to talk a little bit about specific reasons why this bill is bad. First of all, members should note that this is not the identical bill that came through in the fall. It has very important changes and if you voted for it last fall, that is no reason to vote for this bill now. First, the volcker rule. This bill undercuts an important part of the doddfrank wall street reform and protection act, the volcker rule was intended to protect deposittaking banks banks that use money the peoples money, from making bets and using taxpayerinsured funds. The Federal Reserve<\/a> went out of its way to try to ease the transition to a safer system, but this bill would give megabanks an additional two years, totaling five years, to sell off certain securities in which they retain ownership rights. Five more years of risk five more years of massive profit taking. This provision, which almost certainly juices the profits of big megabanks like citigroup and j. P. Morgan, has never been vetted. The public has not even had a day to review the text and whats wrong and its wrong that bills that help wall street and multinational corporations get fast tracked on day two of this congress while bills that help working families get slowed up for years. Literally. Just last month republicans successfully handed citigroup and other megabanks a multibilliondollar gift by repealing another reform measure known as the swaps pushout. Which was intended to prevent another great recession. The repeal of that provision allowed the megabanks to continue to borrow money from the Federal Reserve<\/a> lending window, currently at about 0 interest. To financial their risky derivatives to finance their risky derivatives. Experts have weighed in. Let me submit for the record the statement by the c. E. O. Of better markets markets. Heres a quote. Its all about the bonus tool said the president of c. E. O. Better markets, a financial reform nonprofit. The attack on the volcker rule has been nonstop because proprietary trade something about bigtime bets that result in bigtime bonuses wall street has been fighting it from day one and theyre not going to stop. If you believe that there are things in this many omnibus or megabill that might be worth your support, understand that this particular provision has not been vetted anywhere and for that reason alone theyre literally trying to sneak it in and you should vote against it. Also, this particular bill includes three other provisions that weaken doddfrank wall rereform and Consumer Protection<\/a> act. These provisions take away the authority of regulators charged with ensuring that everybody plays by the same rules. So if at some point in the future we find out that a Financial System<\/a> is threatened, our regulators will be unable to take Decisive Action<\/a> to fix the problems that they can fix today. After witnessing the affect that one type of drisktive, the credit default swap, had in spreading losses from the subprime Mortgage Market<\/a> around the world, id like to know why our first order of business in this congress is to roll back financial reforms that this congress deliberated on and passed over an 18month period following the 2008 financial crisis. It undermines this investor protections. It includes three provisions that have the potential to leave investors worse off than they are today. As we proclaim small investors and workers and all these things why are we undermining investor protections . In one instance, the bill exempts individuals that would broker a merger of a privately owned company to be exempt from s. E. C. Regulation. Since this legislation passed in the previous congress, the s. E. C. Has taken action to make this unnecessary. However, if we pass this bill today, we will undermine a few basic investor protections the s. E. C. Has retained. For example, the s. E. C. Determined that bad actors such as convicted security its fraudsters should not be able to take advantage of a carveout. However, by voting yes youre saying that its ok for people convicted of fraud to sell other things like franchises or the restaurant down street. Another provision would allow 75 of our Public Companies<\/a> to no longer report on their Financial Statements<\/a> in computer readable formats. When everything is online today and investors rely on computers to crunch the financials of various companies, this bill comes across as a huge step backwards. Let me say that my colleagues want to address this bill and i think its important that they do. So at this point i am going to urge a no vote and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota reserves his time. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Chairman, mr. Speaker i now yield four minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. Conaway, who is the chairman of the Agriculture Committee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Conaway, is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Conaway thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from pennsylvania for allowing me to speak on his bill. Mr. Speaker, today i rise in support of h. R. 37, the promoting job creation and reducing Small Business<\/a> burdens act. Im especially proud of and would like to highlight the past work of the Agriculture Committee<\/a> on three titles of this bill under its jurisdiction. The Business Risk<\/a> mitigation and private stability act, a provision on the treatment of affiliate transaction as, and a provision regarding the swap Data Repository<\/a> and clearing indemnification creations corrections. As i noted earlier today, the Business Risk<\/a> mitigation and price stabilization act is legislation to clarify Congress Intent<\/a> is to exempt nonfinancial businesses from a misguided regulatory requirement to post margin requirements on their hedging activities. While appropriate for some transactions theyre not appropriate for end users hedging real world commercial risks. Their hedging activities are not large enough to present a Systemic Risk<\/a> and margin requirement represents a significant and needless expense with little value to the overall Financial System<\/a>. Title one puts in statute protections for american businesses. To grow our economy, businesses should use their scarce capital to buy new equipment, hire more workers build new facilities and invest in the future. They cannot do that if theyre required to hold money and margins accounts in a margin account to fulfill a misguided regulation. Similarly title two regarding the treatment of interfitat transactions was also passed by the house multiple times in the 113th congress and will provide additional certainty to american businesses. It will do so by preventing the redundant regulation of harmless interaffiliate transactions that would unnecessarily tie up working capital of companies with no added protections for the market or benefits to our consumers. Today businesses across the nation rely on the ability to centralize their hedging activities. This consolidation of a hedging portfolio across a Corporate Group<\/a> allows businesses to reduce costs and simplify their financial dealings and reduce their counterpart credit risks. Title 2 of this bill will allow american businesses to continue utilizing this model. Finally title 5. Of h. R. 37, provides a muchneeded corrections to the swap Data Repository<\/a> and clearing indemnification requirements of doddfrank. Currently doddfrank requires a foreign regulator requesting information from a u. S. Swap depository or Derivatives Clearing Organization<\/a> to provide a written agreement stating it will abide by certain confidentiality requirements and will indemnify the u. S. Commissions for any expenses arising from litigation relating to relating to that request for information. The concept of indemnification requiring a party to agree to pay another partys possible litigation expenses, is well established in u. S. Tort law as does not exist in many foreign jurisdictions. Thus it is not possible for some foreign regulators to agree to these requirements. This requirement threatens to make data sharing arrangements with foreign regulators unworkable. H. R. 37 mitigates this problem by removing the indemnification provisions of doddfrank while maintaining the written requirement and agreement that certain confidentiality obligations will be met. So rather than stripping down doddfrank as we are so often accused of doing, this change would actually serve to enhance market transparency and Risk Mitigation<\/a> by ensuring that regulators and Market Participants<\/a> have access to a global set of swap data information. Swap market data. As chairman of the House Committee<\/a> on agriculture and cosponsor of each of these three bills in the 113th congress, i appreciate mr. Fitzpatricks work in bringing these provisions together in a package that reduces regulatory burdens and promotes Economic Growth<\/a>. I strongly urge my colleagues to support the legislation and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. And the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker at this time i yield to mr. Kildee who is a member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee and an active participant on that committee. The speaker pro tempore how much time . Mr. Ellison 2 1 2 minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 2 1 2 minutes. Mr. Kildee thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank my friend for yielding. Here we are the second day of the 114th congress. It has not yet been 24 hours since members of this congress were sworn in. And what we have before us is a package of 11 complex bills with significant implications for our Financial System<\/a>, some of which, and i want to make this very clear as my friend pointed out some of which has not gone through the process of scrutiny through the Financial Services<\/a> committee or the regular legislative process. Some of it has, some of it has not. But it has not at all by this congress. This is not an emergency. Unlike tria, which expired before we left, there is not a timesensitive nature of this question. It is really important to me and especially as now a secondterm member, to remember what it was like to show up here and have things put in front of us that we have not really had a chance to fully and thoroughly vet. Regular order was spoken about yesterday, it is critical for the minority to have access to the process and its only done through the regular legislative process. This legislation just continues to give and give and give to wall street. Despite the fact that my principle objection is with the lack of adherence to regular order and the process of legislating, substantively there are problems with this legislation. Wall street banks, banks and traders recklessly drove this country into a financial crisis theyre being rewarded yet again and i cant accept it, i cant support it. Whats really interesting to me is that here we are, less than 24 hours since weve been in congress yet in the last congress when main street had its needs, when Unemployed People<\/a> couldnt get federal unemployment benefits, we couldnt get a hearing we couldnt get a vote on the floor of the house for legislation that was bipartisan, that had equal number of democrats and republicans supporting it. When wall street asks, we suspend the rules with less than a day, without taking a breath, and move to fit their needs into our schedule, but when main street needs help congress didnt even answer. This is not right. We got to get back to regular order. We talk about it all the time. We hear it on both sides. This is not a good start for the 114th congress, to suspend the rules and deal with new language that many of us have just seen this morning and pass legislation that is a gift wrapped present to wall street. I cant support it. I urge my colleagues to reject this legislation and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan yields back his time. The gentleman from minnesota reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Million fitzpatrick mr. Speaker, i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. Hurt a member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Hurt thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of the promoting job creation reducing Small Business<\/a> burdens act. I would like to thank mr. Fitzpatrick and chairman hensarling and garrett for their leadership on increasing access to capital for Small Businesses<\/a>. As we begin a new congress im glad to see the house will continue its laser focus on enacting policies to help spur job creation throughout the country. Even though we have seen modest Economic Growth<\/a>, i continue to hear from my constituents about the impacts of unnecessary and Overly Burdensome Regulations<\/a> on job creation. Especially regulations that disproportionately affect smaller Public Companies<\/a> and those considering accessing capital in the Public Markets<\/a>. One such requirement is related to the use of extenseable business reporting language which was mandated by the s. E. C. In 2009. While the s. E. C. s rule is well intended, this requirement has become another example of a regulation where the costs outweigh the potential benefits. These Small Companies<\/a> expend tens of thousands of dollars or more complying with the regulation, yet there is evidence that less than 10 of investors actually use it further diminishing its potential benefits. Thats why last Congress Representative<\/a> sule and i representative suewell and i offered a bill incorporated in title 7 of h. R. 37. Id like to thank representative suewell for her work. This provision will provide and optional exemption for emerging Growth Companies<\/a> and Smaller Companies<\/a> from the requirement to file their information with the s. E. C. In addition to the information that they already file. Additionally, this title requires the s. E. C. To perform a cost benefit analysis on the rules impact on smaller Public Companies<\/a>, something it failed to adequately address in the original rule and also to provide Additional Information<\/a> to congress on how the s. E. C. And market are using sbrl. Whether a supporter or septic these provision also help provide a pathway for the s. E. C. To foe can on developing a system of disclosure on Smaller Companies<\/a> that eliminate unnecessary costs while achieving greater ben fets. I believe h. R. 37 offers a practical step forward on these regulatory requirements in line with the intent of the original jobs act ensuring that regulatory structure is not disproportionately burdening Smaller Companies<\/a> and disincentivizing innovative startups from accessing the Public Markets<\/a>. I ask my colleagues to join me in voting yes on h. R. 37 so we can continue to vote Capital Access<\/a> in the Public Markets<\/a> and spurp job growth in communities across this great contry. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentleman from minnesota. Mr. Speaker i now yield 2 1 2 minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Lynch, a former subcommittee Ranking Member<\/a> on the Oversight Committee<\/a> and active member on the Financial Services<\/a> committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for 2 1 2 minutes. Mr. Lynch thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding. If i may i would like to just amplify some of the concerns raised by mr. Kildee in his remarks about the fact that here we are just the second day of this congress and we have a group of 11 bills that have been rolled up. There are many new provisions here that have never seen a hearing. Unfortunately. This is not the open process that we had hoped for and spoken about just yesterday. We have had very limited opportunity to review some these new sections. Again, they have not had a hearing. They have not gone through regular order. And h. R. 37 contains 11 separate bills, some of which i support, but some of which i suppose i oppose strongly. Portions of h. R. 37 have entirely new provisions that most members have not had the opportunity to thoroughly analyze. For example title 11 of this bill modifies the s. E. C. Rule 701 on stock sharing. It allows private companies to compensate their employees up to 10 million in Company Stock<\/a> without having to provide the employees with certain basic Financial Disclosures<\/a> about the company. I vote against a similar bill, h. R. 4571 in the last congress when it was marked up, but i also want to point out in this case the firms in which they work, those benefits should be tangible and real. We all remember enron and worldcom where the company as compensation to those employees gave them actually pressured them into buying Company Stock<\/a>. Did not provide full information to them and eventually those shares were worthless. You had thousands of workers being partly compensated in Company Stock<\/a> and the stock was worth zero. Now we are going to expand this opportunity from five million to 10 million a year, each company will be able to pay their employees with Company Stock<\/a> and they dont have any obligation because of this bill, part of this bill, does not require them to make any type of a disclosure mr. Speaker. And theres no opportunity for those employees to get accurate Financial Information<\/a> that the stock that they are being paid with is worth anything. Its just a bad road to go down. In closing, this bill uses the veneer of job creation to provide special treatment for the well connected corporations and merger and acquisition advisors and Financial Institutions<\/a> while doing very little to address the needs of those workers. With that i urge my colleagues to vote no on the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Speaker, i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. Crawford, a member of the Agriculture Committee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Crawford thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick, for his leadership on this. Id like to rise in strong support of h. R. 37, in particular id like to comment on title 5. In order to provide market transparency, the doddfrank law requires post trade reporting to swap debt s. D. R. s so regulators and Market Participants<\/a> have access to real time data. So far we have made Great Strides<\/a> in reaching this goal but unfortunately a provision in the law threatens to undermine our progress unless we fix it. Currently doddfrank includes a Provision Requiring<\/a> a foreign regulator to indemnify a u. S. Based s. G. R. For any expenses arising from litigation relating to request for market data. Unlike the rest of the world, though, the concept of indemnification is only established within u. S. Tort law. As a result foreign regulators have been reluctant to provide with this provision and International Coordination<\/a> is being thwarted. While it was to protect if without effective coordination between International Regulators<\/a> and s. G. R. s moderating global Systemic Risk<\/a> is limited. H. R. 37 fixes this problem by removing the indemnification provisions in doddfrank. This has broad bipartisan support and the separate bill to do this was numberly approved last year by the House Ag Committee<\/a> and house Financial Services<\/a> committee. Additionally last year the s. E. C. Testified at the Financial Services<\/a> committee a legislative solution was needed saying, quote, in removing the indemnification requirement, congress would assist the s. E. C. As well as other regulators in securing the access it needs to data held in global trade reposs tories, end quote. If left unresolved the indemnification provision doddfrank has the potential to effectively reduce transparency and undo the great progress thats being made. In passing this legislation, we will ensure that regulators will have access to a global set of swap market data which is essential to maintaining the highest degree of market transparency and Risk Mitigation<\/a>. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote yes on this bill. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. The gentleman from minnesota is recognized. Mr. Ellison may i inquire how much time does the democratic side have remaining . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota has seven minutes remaining. Mr. Ellison thank you. At this time, mr. Speaker, id like to yield to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Capuano, was the Ranking Member<\/a> on the Financial Services<\/a> committee for the subcommittee on housing and insurance. I yield to the gentleman. The speaker pro tempore how much time . Mr. Ellison two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Ellison i thank the gentleman for yielding. In the last bill the tria bill, when we were still arguing about it, some people on the other side called people like me who supported the tria bill as being in favor of corporate welfare. Now, as a liberal on most issues i dont think many people would confuse me with someone who is generally in favor of corporate welfare, ail take it. On this bill because im going to oppose it on one basic provision im going to be called against jobs. Rhetoric is cheap. Titles of bills dont mean anything. In this bill, particularly the provision we have just spoken about, title 5 theres plenty of things in this bill i would like to vote for, bring them up separately and i will. Theres a couple things dont like too much but we can find Common Ground<\/a>. But all of that pails when you look at one provision in here that guts the volcker rule. Simple, 2006 collateralized debt obligations, pretty much brought the World Economy<\/a> to its knees. And hurt not just wall street, hurt me, hurt my neighbors hurt my family, hurt a lot of average americans. Because we allowed our financial Certificate Service<\/a> industry to gamble with somebody elses money. Of course they gambled. They won a lot of money, when they lost they didnt lose their money, they lost our money. And we got to come in with a bailout. This is a corporate bailout. Not with taxpayer money, but with depositor money. Depositors who are not interested in giving their money to an institution so they can gamble it on risky items that they will see no benefit from. Thats what the volcker rule says. You want to gamble, use your money. Good luck. You dont want to gamble with my money unless i say so. Thats all the volcker rule says. Its worked pretty well. The economys recovering. Everybody knows that. Everybody agrees with it. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Capuano may i ask for 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Capuano this bill will allow three, only three of our wall street institutions that control 70 of the collateralized loan obligation business, three of them control 70 of the business, will be able to gamble with depositors money again without those depositors having a say in it. When they collapse and depositors lose their money, those of you who vote for this bill will have to explain it to them. This is unnecessary its inappropriate, and we should not be voting for this bill mostly because of that single provision. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from minnesota reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Speaker, the provision that mr. Capuanos referring to was heard in committee. Title of the bill passed in the committee with well over 50 votes. Passed unanimously on the floor of the house without a voice vote. Not a single democrat rose to object to the bill. That was last year. Right now, mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. Womack. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from arkansas mr. Womack is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Womack thank you, mr. Speaker. My thanks to mr. Fitzpatrick for bringing this collection of bills to the house floor. Id also like to express my gratitude to representatives himes, delaney, and wagner for working with me on one of the underlying bills, the bipartisan h. R. 801, in the last congress. Mr. Speaker, in this new congress adding jobs to our economy is a top priority. Passing the promoting job creation and reducing Small Business<\/a> burdens act is an opportunity for us to create a better environment for private sector growth and job creation. Title 3 also known as h. R. 801 is no exception and im proud to rise in support of its passage. A year ago this month i came to this floor to speak on the underlying bill which passed overwhelmingly in this chamber 4174. While its unfortunate the bill was never considered by the senate its clear today that the 114th congress its prospects are bert. Small Financial Institutions<\/a> are essential to the communities they serve. They have a deep and abiding love for the towns they serve because these towns are their towns and our constituents, Small Business<\/a> owners, farmers, hardworking americans, rely on these institutions to be pay roll to purchase equipment, or buy a car or home. Unfortunately, mr. Speaker, these Financial Institutions<\/a> have come under fire from washington because of its Regulatory Overreach<\/a>, forcing them to spend increasing shares of their resources to comply with onerous regulations, requirements intended for larger banks. Instead of having the flexibility they need to serve their communities. Lets be clear Small Community<\/a> banks and savings and Loan Holding Companies<\/a> were not the cause of the financial crisis, and i dont believe they should be treated as though they were the cause. And im not alone. The house and Senate Passed<\/a> the jobs act. Among other things the bill raised the registration threshold for bank Holding Companies<\/a> from 500 to 2,000 shareholders and decreased the deregistration threshold from 300 to 1,200 shareholders. Better positioning these banks to increase Small Business<\/a> lending and in turn promote Economic Growth<\/a> in our communities. But due to an oversight in the jobs act, it did not explicitly intend or extend these thresholds to savings and Loan Holding Companies<\/a> as well. As a cosponsor of the jobs act, i can say with absolute certainty that wasnt our intent. And i subsequently supported support legislation in the appropriates bill of Financial Services<\/a> to clarify and ensure that savings and Loan Holding Companies<\/a> should be treated in the same manner as bank and bank Holding Companies<\/a>. Additionally, representative himes and i have written to the s. E. C. To ask that they use their authority to carry out our original intent. In spite of these actions and the house passage of h. R. 801 last congress, we are still without successful resolution to the problem. Todays vote can change that, mr. Speaker. And i urge my colleagues to support this bill and the overall legislation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. And the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker, last congress h. R. 4167 passed, i voted against it, but its not the same as the language in title which is in this bill today 8 which is in this bill today which extends by two years the delay requested totaling five years. Its not the same legislation. This bill title 8 has not passed before. Its new. Mr. Speaker, i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. Green, two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Green thank you, mr. Speaker. My colleague, the honorable ted poe, will recognize this name the honorable lee dugen, a District Court<\/a> judge in houston, texas reminded Young Lawyers<\/a> that we live in a world where its not enough for things to be right, they must also look right. And this bill doesnt look right. It doesnt look right when you combine 11 bills into one overnight and then present that to the floor without any amendments being available to the bill. We should not alou a poison pill process to develop at the genesis of this congress. If we do it now, we will continue to do it. I think we have c ourselvot oyith these 11 bills, but with t many other bills that are are are to follow. We can never allow this to start the new congress we should prevent it. I would also add. This im all for doing a lot of things with a hurryup process. Id like to see us do something about minimum wage. Were not doing anything about minimum wage at all thus far. Id like to see us do something about combre hencive Immigration Reform<\/a> comprehensive Immigration Reform<\/a>. That will be a piecemeal deal if it ever becomes a bill. I stand with those who believe that the process ought to be fair, it ought to favor the openness that allows for amendments, and i say to you, this is not right and it doesnt even look right. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from minnesota reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Fitzpatrick i reserve. The speaker pro tempore reserves. The gentleman from minnesota. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker, i would recognize at this time the gentlelady from illinois, jan shan cowsky for two minutes shan cowsky, for two minutes schakowsky, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Schakowsky i thank the gentleman for yielding. At the end of last year over my objections we wrapped up a big present for a wall street. We put taxpayers back on the hook for losses that are connected to certain drisktives trading. Among the riss derivatives trading. Among the riskiest bets that banks make. Christmas is over and hand can is over, but the gift and hand can is over but the gifts hanukkah is over but the gifts keep coming for wall street. This cuts at the doddfrank reform legislation. It delays a portion of the volcker rule which bans federally ensured banks from making those insured banks from making those risky bets or investing in risky funds, including packages known as collateralized Loan Obligations<\/a> or c. L. O. s. Mortgagebacked securities brought our economy almost crumbling to the ground in 2008. And were still recovering. Taxpayers bailed out the big banks. And yet for millions of homeowners who are were forced from their homes and millions of others who are still under water, there hasnt been any assistance. People are right to be angry about this. And they are right to object to this new giveaway to wall street interests. C. L. O. s are similar to toxic mortgagebacked securities. The only difference is that instead of bad mortgages, these packages involve corporate loans and a mix of other risky assets. The office of the controller of the currency said last nt thherate debt market is overheating and becoming increasingly dangerous and c. L. O. s are the big reason why. This has all the markings of another economic economycrushing disaster. And who gets the upside if wall street is able to continue packaging and selling c. L. O. s with taxpayer backing . Wall street. Who loses if and when those bets go wrong . The rest of us. Its wall street wins has wall street wins, tails, everybody else loses. The attack on the volcker rule has been nonstop. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from minnesota has 30 seconds remaining in total. Mr. Ellison 15 more seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for 15 more seconds. Ms. Schakowsky the truth is that the American People<\/a> do better and were tired of really bad wall street giveaways being tacked on to other legislation. This looks like a republican strategy to put wall street over main street. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from minnesota has 15 seconds remaining. The gentleman from pennsylvania continues to reserve . Mr. Fitzpatrick i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota. Mr. Ellison mr. Speaker, this big bill may have some things that are not bad. But it also contains a bill that delays protection of our economy and families from wall street gambling and it should be voted down. We urge a very strong no on this bill. Go back, do it right, follow the process, regular order and maybe we can make some progress here. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from pennsylvania has 4 1 2 minutes remaining. And is recognized. Mr. Fitzpatrick thank you, mr. Speaker. The bill before us today is here under the same procedure as the terrorism rk sunc aeizionas here. We just debated that bill on the floor. Theyre both coming under a suspension of rules and tria reauthorization last term, like these bills were debated either in committee or on the floor of the full house. And the distinguished minority whip and speaking about the tria bill he said, its always the right time to do the right thing. And in addition he said he cried the process that laid the reauthorization of tria. I agreed with him on that. He said there were well over 250 votes for the last year and a half nor the reauthorization of tria for the reauthorization of tria. I would ask the record to reflect, mr. Speaker, that the provisions of this bill, wave heard about the 11 provisions weve heard about the 11 provisions, all of which went through committee or the full house, title 1 amends doddfrank, passed the house 41112. It was introduced as a bipartisan bill, went through the committee, had a committee hearing, both sides had witnesses, all the questions were asked, it was a markup at the markup markup, at the markup there were amendments. The bill passed the committee, came to the floor of the house and passed 411126789 title 2 passed the committee 5010. Title 3 passed in the full house 4174. Title 4 passed the house 4220. Each one of these provisions were bipartisan and they passed in a strong fashion on a vote either in the committee or the house. Mr. Speaker, just yesterday we were sent back here, we took the oath of office, sent by our constituents toot right thing. To Work Together<\/a> to do the right thing. To Work Together<\/a> where we can, to identify problems, to address those problems and to get stuff done. Especially when it regards the American Economy<\/a>, Small Businesses<\/a> and the ability to get people to work to create jobs. Each one of these titles in this bill identifies a problem in the economy, addresses it in a bipartisan way and the time is now to pass this bill. So i urge my colleagues to vote yes on h. R. 37, pass the bill and send it to the senate. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore all time has been yielded back. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h. R. 37. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative the gentleman from minnesota. Mr. Ellison wed 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 motion are postponed. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the bills and move the bill h. R. 35. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 35 a bill to increase the understanding of the Health Effects<\/a> of low doses of eye niesing radiation. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. Smith, and the gentlewoman from oregon ms. Bonamici, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h. R. 35, the bill now under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Smith i yield myself for as much time as i wish to consume. Thank you, mr. Speaker. H. R. 35, the lowdose Radiation Research<\/a> act of 2015, will increase our understanding of lowdose radiation. This research is critical for physicians and decisionmakers to more accurately assess potential health risks in this area. And i want to thank my friend, mr. Hultgren, for introducing this legislation, along with mr. Lipinski from illinois. A virtually identical bill passed the house by a voice vote this past november in the previous congress. Many americans are exposed to a broad range of low doses of ionizing radiation. These range from cosmic Background Radiation<\/a> to medically based procedures which include xrays and c. T. Scans. However, our current approach to radiation safety relies on an outmoded assumption that because high doses of radiation are harmful it necessarily follows that much lower radiation doses are also harmful. This assumption is not based on a reliable scientific foundation, prevents patients from making informed decisions about dying not tick exams and can lead to overly restrictive regulations. The department of energys lowdose Radiation Research<\/a> Program Within<\/a> the office of science focuses on the Health Effects<\/a> of ionizing radiation and helps to resolve the uncertainties in this area that currently exist. Unfortunately this program has not been a priority at d. O. E. Over recent years and has seen systemic deemphasis. H. R. 35 ensures that the continuance and enhancement of this important Research Program<\/a>. This legislation also directs the National Academies<\/a> to formulate a longterm strategy to resolve uncertainties surrounding whether and to what extent lowdose radiation may pose health risks to humans. The bill stipulates that the academies must consider the most up to date studies in this field of research. Finally the bill requires the department of energy to develop a fiveyear Research Plan<\/a> that responds to the academys recommendations. I again thank the gentleman from illinois, representatives hultgren and i will pinsky, for their leadership on this issue. I also lipinski, for their leadership on this issue. I also want to commend sensenbrenner. I urge my colleagues to to support the bill and ill reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas reserves his time. The gentlewoman from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you mr. Speaker. I rise in support of h. R. 35, the lowdose Radiation Research<\/a> act of 2015. Id like to begin by thanking my colleagues from illinois mr. Hultgren and mr. Lipinski, for introducing this Bipartisan Legislation<\/a> and i urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. H. R. 35 authorizes an important Research Program<\/a> carried out by the department of energys office of science to examine the Health Impacts<\/a> of exposure to low doses of radiation, such as doses resulting from certain medical tests, Nuclear Waste<\/a> cleanup activities or even terrorism events like dirty bombs. This program bills on the department of energys expertise and capability which led to the establishment of this successful human genome project that paved the way for this important breakthrough in modern medicine. This bill authorizes the National Academies<\/a> study to identify current scientific chal lection in this area challenges in this area and help guide the programs longterm Research Agenda<\/a> well into the next decade. A similar bill passed the house late last congress with overwhelming support and it is my hope that this will again pass and move to the senate for their consideration. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. Hultgren the lead sponsor of this bill, and also a distinguished member of the Science Committee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Hultgren mr. Speaker i rise today to urge support for h. R. 35 the low dose Radiation Research<\/a> act. I want to thank the distinguished chairman of the Science Committee<\/a>, chairman smith, for helping me to bring this legislation to the floor. While it may sound scary, we come in contact with small amounts of radiation every day from the cosmic background which Many Americans<\/a> are probably unaware of. Of course radiation has been a useful tool which has led to innovation for medical imaging like xrays and treatments. Numerous prosesses used by manufacturers in my home state of illinois, for instance include lowdose radiation to carry out precise and accurate measurements. But it is time that the regulatory structures surrounding exposure to lowdose radiation rely on sound science. Currently the assumption is because high doses of radiation are harmful to human health, lower doses must be, too. This is similar to saying jumping down one step in a flight of stairs is harmful to your health because we already know its harmful to jump down an entire flight of stairs at one time. While there is little doubt there is a threshold above which humans should avoid exposure to radiation, this legislation len sure that the department of energys office of science prioritizes the research necessary to understand what that level actually is. My bill directs the agency to work with the National Academies<\/a> to formulate a longterm Research Plan<\/a> to do this work. As i continue to represent my constituents at the 14th Congressional District<\/a> of illinois i will always champion the things we are doing right in illinois. Our state has a long history of innovation in this space. For many years we have led the nation in Nuclear Power<\/a> generation and the work we continue to do in our National Labs<\/a> is pushing the boundaries in our frontiers of knowledge. A lab in my district helped establish neutron therapy as a viable radiation treatment for many difficult to treat cancers. Harnessing the continued benefits of radiation requires that we clarify what the potential harms are. That is why i urge my colleagues to support this bill. I thank the chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlelady from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Smith we have no other individuals who wish to comment on this bill. We are prepared to close when my friend is prepared to close as well. Ms. Bonamici thank you mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. Prepared to close. The speaker pro tempore does the gentlelady yields back . Ms. Bonamici thank you. Im prepared to close. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you to the chairman of the committee, mr. Smith, and the Ranking Member<\/a>, miss johnson, and the responsible ms. Johnson, and the sponsors of this bill, mr. Hultgren and mr. Lipinski. The bill before us today is a true bipartisan effort and helps protect the health 6 our constituents. Passage of this bill is a positive way to start this new congress i urge its adoption. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith i thank the gentlewoman for her comments and i yield back as well. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass bill h. R. 35, so many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 23, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> act reauthorization of 2015. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 23, a bill to reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> program and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. Smith, and the gentlelady from oregon ms. Bonamici, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Smith 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 h. R. 23, the bill now under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, h. R. 23 the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> act reauthorization of 2015 reauthorizes the activities of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> program through 2017. Representative randy neugebauer, my texas colleague, has championed this program for over a decade. In the last congress, he and representative Frederica Wilsons<\/a> bipartisan efforts helped move this legislation through the Science Committee<\/a> and successfully pass the house. It is because of their past work that we are able to bring this bill to the house floor so early in this congress. The National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> Program Supports<\/a> federal research and Development Efforts<\/a> to help mitigate the loss of life and property due to wind related hazards. Millions of americans live in areas vulnerable to hurricanes tornadoes, and other windstorms. The National Weather<\/a> service reported 91 deaths and 892 injuries in 2013 due to tornadoes, thunderstorm, wind and high wind. We all remember that in 2011 that was a year marched by loss due to windstorms. According to the National Science<\/a> and Technology Councils<\/a> report to congress in 2011 only windstorms in the United States<\/a> took nearly 700 lives injured nearly 7,000 people, and caused an estimated 11 billion in total direct property losses. In texas, we are all too familiar with the harm that excess wind can cause. According to the National Oceanic<\/a> and spheric administrations storm prediction center, 128 tornadoes and 131,366 windstorms were reported in texas the last few years. The effects of these can be felt for a long time. Initially established in 2004, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> Program Supports<\/a> activities to improve our understanding of windstorms and their impacts and helps to develop and encourage the implementation of costeffective mitigation measures. H. R. 23 establishes the National Institute<\/a> of standards and technology as the lead agency for the program, improves coordination and planning of Agency Activities<\/a> in a fiscally responsible manner, and improves transparency for how much money is being spent on windstorm research. I want to thank representative neugebauer for his continued efforts to support this program. I encourage my colleagues to support the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of h. R. 23, legislation to reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> program. First, i want to thank representatives neugebauer and wilson for their hard work on this important legislation that will benefit our constituents. Americans face significant exposure to windstorms. According to the National Weather<\/a> service between the years of 2003 and 2013, thousands of americans lost their lives from the impact of windstorms. Along with the loss of life, windstorms during that time caused billions of dollars of damage to property. Including a severely neglect timivel impact on agricultural crops. Although we cannot stop a windstorm from happening, there is much we can do to save both lives and property when windstorms and other natural disasters do happen. In addition to responding quickly and with sufficient resources in the aftermath of a natural disaster, we must also invest in preparedness and resilience. Studies of femas Predisaster Mitigation Program<\/a> have shown that for every dollar invested in mitigation activities, 3 to 4 in recovery costs can be saved. The National Wind<\/a>storm Reduction Program<\/a> act is primarily a Mitigation Program<\/a>. It has the potential to lessen the loss of life and economic damage by supporting research and development on windstorms and their impacts. And helping to ensure that this research is translated into improving building codes and emergency planning. But this Program Needs<\/a> robust investment to achieve that result. The bill today includes a lower total authorization level than was authorized for this program in fiscal year 2008. We can and we should do better than that. One of our responsibilities as a government should be to assist our constituents with Disaster Mitigation<\/a> and response and preparedness, and that means investing in programs we already have in place to carry out these responsibilities. Nevertheless, i understand the need to reauthorization this Important Program<\/a> reauthorize this Important Program<\/a> and i thank my colleagues for agreeing to maintain the levels negotiateated last congress. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important bill. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Smith i yield five minutes to the gentleman from texas mr. Neugebauer, who is the lead sponsor of this legislation and also a member of the Science Committee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of my bill, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> act h. R. 23. Also want to thank chairman smith for his leadership on this issue, and i appreciate him agreeing to bring this back up early in the 114th congress. I think we have already heard a number of people quote a lot of statistics about the amount of damage that occurs from windstorms in this country, and the loss of lives. Particularly 2011 was a very bad year. It was pointed out we had a number of people that were killed that year, and over 28 billion in damage to property alone. Whats happening is the risk is growing because our Population Centers<\/a> are growing. A tornado that goes through a town center does a lot more damage than one that goes through an empty prairie. As these storms are getting costlyier over time, its at a time we are 18 trillion in debt, its important we utilize the taxpayers resources in an effective way. And this particular program, as was mentioned, is reauthorized at a fixed level. The level from previous reauthorization, but also its designed to make the program more efficient and effective in the future. When a family loses a home, they dont have to just rebuild a house, they have to rebuild their lives. We know a lot of people have either experienced losses of property or life loved ones or they know people that v i particularly its a personal thing for me because in may 11, 1970, i had just taken my last final for that semester at Texas Tech University<\/a>, and three hours or four hours later a major tornado ripped through lubbock, texas and killed 26 people including destroying the apartment complex that i lived n i was fortunately unharmed in that event, but what i did get to witness is the tremendous amount of damage that can happen from these storms and the loss of life. You saw things that you didnt think were possible. Cars in parking lots that were rolled up and swirled up like an ice cream donne. So one ice cream cone. One of the things later on to be in the building business, one of the things we begin to learn is that from Important Research<\/a> that was done that we were able to use certain Building Techniques<\/a> that made houses more wind resistant. Made buildings more wind resistant. Thats what this bill and work does. It takes these four agencies that currently have jurisdiction over that and makes them those include noaa, the National Science<\/a> foundation, fema, and nist and make sure they are using those funds appropriately and that theres not a lot of duplication in the Research Going<\/a> on. Each one of them has an area of expertise. We want to do a better job of predicting these storms. We want to do a better job of learning how we can mitigate the damage from those. One of the things that happened right after the may 11 tornado in lubbock is that Texas Tech University<\/a> began being doing research on windstorms and the effects of different materials. Later on they founded the National Wind<\/a> institute which is doing Important Research<\/a> on different simulating cyclones and different kinds of wind events and the impact it has on materials and certain Building Techniques<\/a>. Certainly that will be important to our country as we move forward. What does that do for the taxpayers . Well obviously if we can learn more about predicting these outcomes, we can make our building stronger, but more importantly save lives. One of the things i know from a lot of the research thats been going on right now that designs are being incorporated in lot of buildings. I know recently i was at a New Elementary School<\/a> in my district and one of the things that we learned is that they incorporated certain Building Techniques<\/a> within the cafeteria of that new elementary. So that basically the cafeteria became a storm shelter for the students going to that elementary. Those are the things that will be beneficial to us. I ask my colleagues to help me reauthorize h. R. 23 and with that i reserve. Ms. Bonamici mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield five minutes to the gentlelady from florida, ms. Wilson, who is a cosponsor of the bill and also a member of the committee on science, space and technology. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from florida is recognized for five minutes. Ms. Wilson mr. Speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 23. This legislation that would reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction<\/a> program, or nwir. The federal government has an Important Role<\/a> in helping americans prepare for and recover from natural hazards. H. R. 23 directs four federal agencies nist, n. S. F. Nwir and fema to conduct coordinated research and development on the nature of wind storms, their effects and on ways to mitigate their impact. The legislation also ensures that this research is translated into practice through improved building codes and motherinlaw planning. I was born and raised in south florida, and i am a survivor of hurricane andrew. Ive seen my share of Severe Weather<\/a> and i know first hand that this is a leading threat to american lives and americas economy. While we cannot stop a hurricane or tornado from happening, this congress can act to make sure our communities have the tools they need to respond and recover from these disasters. We must begin by investing in preparedness and resilience. Studies of femas Predisaster Mitigation Program<\/a> have shown that for every dollar we invest in mitigation ack difficulties we save 3 to 4 in recovery costs. I was pleased this was included in the Science Committee<\/a> last congress and we worked in a bipartisan manner to make several improvements to the bill. I want to thank my colleagues, chairman smith and mr. Neugebauer, for working across the aisle in a smooth and productive process. We worked together to increase the authorization for fema the nwir, agency tasked for conducting the research at other agencies and developing mitigation techniques. Mr. Neugebauer was the lead, and i appreciate his inclusion. Additionally, we added several social sciencerelated provisions to the bill. We cannot define active disaster strategies without knowing how people make decisions and respond to disaster warnings. Often in a compromise like this one, you did not get everything you would like. I would have liked to see increases in the authorization levels across the board. Unfortunately this bill includes a total a lower total authorization level than what was authorized for this program in fiscal year 2008. When the last few years have been devastating years for windstorms, including Superstorm Sandy<\/a> and the tornado outbreak last may it is difficult to understand why we would cut the total authorization level for this Important Program<\/a>. I do hope that if this bill moves forward we will continue our bipartisan efforts and work with the senate to perfect this bill. Nevertheless, i understand the need to reauthorize this Important Program<\/a> that can help minimize the number of americans who are harmed or killed by windstorm disasters and reduce the costs associated with disaster recovery. I support h. R. 23 and urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the bill. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Neugebauer mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i have no other members who wish to be heard on this bill and am prepared to yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. I have no further requests for time. Im prepared to close. Mr. Smith and ill yield back as well. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. We must help our constituents prepare for and mitigate the impacts of Severe Weather<\/a> events such as windstorms, that threaten their lives and property. This bill takes an important step in that direction, and i urge its adoption and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The gentleman from texas yields back. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 23. 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, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Ms. Bonamici mr. Speaker, i request a recorded vote. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady ask for the yeas and nays . Ms. Bonamici thank you mr. Speaker, yes. Yes, thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Smith i move to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 34, the tsunami warning, education and research act of 2015. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 34, a bill to authorize and strengthen the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research and Mitigation Program<\/a> of the National Oceanic<\/a> and Atmospheric Administration<\/a> and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. Smith and the gentlelady from oregon, ms. Bonamici will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on h. R. 34, the bill now under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, h. R. 34, the tsunami warning, education and research act of 2015 amends and strengthens the tsunami warning and education act of 2006. It reauthorizes important work at the National Oceanic<\/a> and Atmospheric Administration<\/a> and refocuses the program on tsunami detection, forecast and research. And i want to thank the gentlewoman from oregon, ms. Bonamici, and the gentleman from california, mr. Rohrabacher, for their bipartisan work on this bill. A virtually identical bill passed the house by voice vote this past september in the previous congress. I now join the Ranking Member<\/a> of the Science Committee<\/a>, ms. Johnson, in cosponsoring the bill before us today. Despite the recent absence of tsunami disasters here in the u. S. , the threat is still very real. The massive destruction from the tsunami caused by the 2011 earthquake in japan is a vivid reminder the need for enhanced Early Warning<\/a> capabilities. We face a similar threat here at home. Tsunamis have the ability to injure americans, damage property and harm the economy. This bill updates the tsunami forecasting and Warning Program<\/a> operated by noaa. It will enhance the accuracy of forecasts modernize and improve the standards and guidelines for mapping and modeling tsunamis and support enhanced Research Efforts<\/a> related to tsunami science. H. R. 34 also requires the noaa administrator to coordinate with state and local Emergency Managers<\/a> to improve tsunami education and awareness in our coastal communities. This will help develop Effective Response<\/a> and resilience in the face of tsunamis and other coastal hazards. This bill prioritizes fundamental Scientific Research<\/a> on these phenomena, strengthens outreach programs and advances technological forecast to better understand and predict disasters. I again thank the gentleman from california mr. Rohrabacher, and ms. Bonamici for their work on this Bipartisan Legislation<\/a>. Before, before i conclude, id like to mr. Speaker, before i include, id like to recognize general counsel, katie flynn, for her Great Service<\/a> to the Science Committee<\/a>. She will be taking her talents to the Homeland Security<\/a> committee next week to provide counsel for my friend and texas colleague, chairman michael mccaul. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and ill reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of h. R. 34, the tsunami warning, education and research act of 2015. I want to thank mr. Rohrabacher for working with me to advance this Bipartisan Legislation<\/a>, and i also thank the chairman and Ranking Member<\/a> of the Science Committee<\/a>, mr. Smith and ms. Johnson, for their support in making this bill an early priority in the 114th congress. I would also like to thank the state and local Emergency Management<\/a> officials coastal zone managers and the many scientists and other experts who lent their expertise and experience to the development of this bill. Coastal Community Groups<\/a> and emergency planners in my district are working hard to prepare their communities for earthquake and tsunami events, and im grateful they took some time to provide their input on this legislation. Last month marked the 10th anniversary of the sumatra earthquake in asia. That earthquake triggered a tsunami event that took the lives of 200,000 people from indonesia to madagascar. We began preparing our communities for the considerable threat posed by such an event. We were again reminded of the severe dangers that a tsunami represents for our coastal communities. Almost four years ago when the earthquake near japan created a devastating tsunami that resulted in the tragic loss of human life and billions of dollars in economic damage, damage that reached as far as the west coast of the United States<\/a>. The events in indonesia and japan underscore the importance of this legislation, which reauthorizes and extends u. S. Efforts to prepare and protect our coastal communities from similar events. Our ability to prepare, respond to and recover from a tsunami depends in large part on the hard work done at the local level. The tsunami warning education and research act will support local efforts and its an important step toward making sure our constituents are ready to face the dangers posed by tsunami threats. Maritime commerce, vibrant tourism and more than 120 million americans are part of the rich coastal u. S. Economy, an economy that contributes significantly to the u. S. G. D. P. The commercial fishing industry alone supports about a million jobs, and the International Trade<\/a> associated with coastal and Marine Fisheries<\/a> contributes close to 70 billion annually to the u. S. Economy. Ensuring that coastal communities, big and small, have the resources and knowledge necessary to protect these critical assets from the threat of tsunamis and be prepared, should it occur, is simply good and prudent policy. My coastal constituents are keenly aware of the threat that a tsunami poses to their communities and cities up and down coasts have responded by installing warning sirens and developing evacuation routes. But as we learn more about which areas will be hardest hit and which technologies can provide the most accurate warnings a coordinated effort is required to update preparation and response. In one county in oregon just outside my district they recently decided they will be using social media and phones to warn residents. Seaside has been identified as the most Vulnerable Community<\/a> to tsunami on the oregon coast and theyre proactively educating residents and visitors about tsunami evacuation routes storage supply locations and emergency communication systems. At the federal level, we must do our part to help communities understand the risks and seriousness of the threats they face and work with them to be prepared, which is why i sponsored this bill, along with my colleague from california, mr. Rohrabacher. In oregon we know that a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami will occur someday in the cascadia zone. The question is not a matter of if but when, and although no one can predict when the can cadia fault will rupture, we can and must prepare. This legislation will help ensure that local and regional decisionmakers have the tools and information they need to develop mitigation and response plans to this everpresent threat and to communicate these plans to the public in an effective and efficient manner. For distant tsunami events, this bill will advance Research Efforts<\/a> related to improving forecasting, detection and note if hecation. It has ports and harbor entities to be safeguarded by tsunami warning capabilities. This bill will also support Research Needed<\/a> to improve our understanding of local tsunami events. A local tsunami, one thats generated just off the coast has a travel time of less than 30 minutes. This is the kind of tsunami most likely to have widespread devastating impacts on the u. S. Coast and the caribbean. In the 10 years since tragedies struck in the indian ocean region, weve made significant strides in our understanding of how to prepare for, mitigate and respond to a tsunami. I have no doubt that the progress we have made, in large part through noaas efforts under the tsunami warning and education act, has enhanced the safety of our communities and has the potential to save lives. This good work must be continued and our bipartisan bill will provide ongoing assistance to protect our coastal communities from the impacts of tsunamis. With that mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this Bipartisan Legislation<\/a>, and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. Rohrabacher, an original cosponsor of this legislation and a Senior Member<\/a> of the Science Committee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Rohrabacher i rise in strong support of the tsunami warning and education and research act of 2015. I would like to thank my fellow partner in this endeavor representative Suzanne Bonamici<\/a> for her tireless work on this. She has done a great job. Shes done her constituents and our committee proud of the hard work that you put into this. In the end if indeed we succeed and this bill becomes law, and the things that we are trying to do are accomplished, and hundreds of lives are saved, we can sit back and say it was a job welldone we saved some americans lives overseas, and thats what god wanted us to do with our time here in washington, d. C. Thank you for letting me be part of your effort to accomplish this. Also like to thank chairman lamar smith and Ranking Member<\/a> Eddie Bernice<\/a> johnson chairman lamar smith has been a wonderful leader who has demonstrated the type of bipartisan effort that can really get things accomplished. Im proud to be on thinks team as well. We have seen to be on his team as well. We have seen time and time again what this tsunami can do. We need to learn more about them and more accurate in frrter forecasting and reduce the impact on our communities. This legislation will help us make sure that all of our coastal communities, especially those in my district in california, which are some of the best coastal beaches in all of the United States<\/a> of america, are adequately prepared and properly warned about this danger. H. R. 34 will strengthen our tsunami Warning Systems<\/a> ability to forecast a tsunamis arrival, thus bring damages down. It will establish a working group to provide advice for tsunami science and technology. This legislation does all of this in a fiscally responsible manner. Im proud to ask my colleagues to join me in support of it. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentlelady from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. Im happy to yield four minutes to my colleague from oregon, mr. Defazio, who also represents some coastline in our great state. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Defazio i thank the gentlelady. I also congratulate the chair, Ranking Member<\/a>, and others who support this needed legislation. This will bring new focus to noaas ongoing efforts on deploying earl will i detection systems research, and working with potentially affected communities better educating the public, and designating evacuation routes and taking other measures of putting other measures in place that can mitigate damage or loss of life in case of a tsunami. There is the cascadea subducks fault not as wellknown by americans as the san andreas in california, but the cascadea abduction fault which starts south of my district off Northern California<\/a> has the potential for an even more devastating earthquake and much more probability of a devastating tsunami than anything caused by the san andreas and other major faults. The United States<\/a> of america this bill is good in the focus it brings. The the gentleman who spoke before me from california, in a fiscally responsible way. Well, i would only disagree with that in that it is not fiscally responsible to underfund these efforts at noaa. We should be moving forward with all dispatch to use existing technology which is on the shelf and being deployed by japan in southeast asia, off of south america, and being used on land in mexico and places like romania for Early Detection<\/a> systems. We are going to we are researching and thinking about what we want to do. There are offtheshelf technologies that will work for remote sensing. What will that mean . Remote sensors off the Southern Oregon<\/a> coast close to this fault, that means in the case of a major earthquake which could be category nine, that you would have a warning further and further up the coast, longer warning. For people immediately adjacent or in the midoregon coast, it could definitely save lives, give people more time to get to high ground, use known evacuation routes. The further you move north, to the city of portland with major quake, they will have a major impact. But the shock waves would take eight minutes or more, 10 minutes to travel there. You could get people off the bridges, you could shut down the light rail system, people with critical manufacturing undertakings could shut down their lines so they would have less economic loss. In my district, schools could be evacuated. We have many schools that dont meet earthquake damage that will collapse. You could save the lives of hundreds and hundreds of kids. We are in the United States<\/a> of america, we cant afford it. Under the Budget Priorities<\/a> of the republican bipartisan, we scant afford to deploy an Early Warning<\/a> system in the United States<\/a> of america. Mexico can afford it. Chile can afford it, japan romania, mexico can afford it, we cant. Its time to stop dragging our feet. This bring brings a focus to noaa, but also to the fact that we arent giving them the money they need. It brings the focus to noaa that hopefully urge them to move more quickly, not mess around trying to develop new technology and start thinking about it like some of our federal agencies do. Use known offtheshelf technology that works and is being deployed elsewhere in the world. Its up to congress to give them a budget adequate to do this. I hope we act soon. This bill today is a first step. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Smith i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. Im prepared to close. In closing, i want to again thank and acknowledge my cosponsor mr. Rohrabacher from california, the chairman and Ranking Member<\/a> of the science, space, and Technology Committee<\/a> for bringing this bill forward. I want to again recognize that 10 years have passed since the tragedy that was in the indian ocean region and take a moment to remember the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in japan, a tsunami where the effects were felt on the western coast of the United States<\/a>. We must be mindful of those Lessons Learned<\/a> from past disasters and give our constituents the necessary tools to prepare for future tsunami events. In seaside oregon, the schools are in the smee inundation zone. We must do what we can to support the Vital Research<\/a> and advancements in forecasting, will give local communities the resources they need to prepare and be more resilient. I urge adoption of this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Smith i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas yields back. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 34. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 proceedings resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. Votes will be taken in the following order. H. R. 26 by the yeas and nays. H. R. 37 by the yeas and nays. And h. R. 23 by the yeas and nays. First electronic vote will be conducted as a 15minute vote. Remaining electronic votes will be conducted as fiveminute votes. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States<\/a> house of representiv. Any usofhelodcaiod coverage of the house proceedings for political or commerci purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the eaker pro tempore this is a vote on the motion of the gentleman from texas, mr. Neugebauer to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 26 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 26, a bill to extend the termination date of the terrorism Insurance Program<\/a> established under the terrorism Risk Insurance<\/a> act of 2002, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States<\/a> house of represtave any usef e osedptned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commerci purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 416, the nays are five, one recorded as present. 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bil psean who objection, the motn to reconsider is laid on the table. The Unfinished Business<\/a> is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 37 which the yeas and nays were ordered. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 37 a bill to make technical corrections to the doddfrank wall street reform and Consumer Protection<\/a> act to enhance the ability of small and emerging Growth Companies<\/a> to Access Capital<\/a> through public and private markets, to reduce regulatory burdens and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States<\/a> house of represtave any use of the ccad covera of the house proceedings for political or commercialurposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 276 and the nays are 146. Twirtstwirtstwirts, the rules are not suspended 2 3 of those not responding in the affirmative, the rules are not suspended, the bill is not passed. The Unfinished Business<\/a> is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from tk, mr. Smith, to suspend the rules and pass texas, were smith, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 23. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 23, a bill to reauthorize the National Wind<\/a>storm research act and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This will be a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States<\/a> house of represtave any usef e osecaiod coverage of the house proceedings for political or commerci purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 381, the nays are 39. 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is pass and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, i send to the desk a privileged report for filing under the rule. The clerk report to accompany House Resolution<\/a> 19. Resolution providing for consideration of the bill h. R. 3 to approve the keystone x. L. Pipeline, and providing for consideration of the bill h. R. 30, to amend the Internal Revenue<\/a> code of 1986, to repeal the 30hour threshold for classification as a fulltime employee for purposes of the employer mandate and the Patient Protection<\/a> and Affordable Care<\/a> act, and replace it with 40 hours. The speaker pro tempore referred to the house calendar and ordered printed the. Printed. The chair announces the order of the house of january 6 2015, the following member on the part of the house to the house joint economic committee. The clerk mr. Brady of texas. The speaker pro tempore under clause 5d of rule 20rk the chair announces the house in light of the administration toward the oath of the members elect, the whole number of the house is 428. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, on a prior roll call vote, on h. R. 37, i inadvertently voted aye and i would like to be recorded as voting no. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlemans statement will appear in the record. The gentleman from new york. Thank you mr. Speaker. During yesterdays roll call votes i was absent because of my attendance at the funeral of governor mario cuomo. Mr. Tonko in new york. Had i been present, however, on roll call number one, i would have voted present. On roll call number two i would have proudly voted for representative pelosi for speaker. On rollcal number three i would have voted nay. On roll call number four i would have voted nay. On roll call number five i would have voted yea. On roll call number six i would have voted nay. On roll call number seven i would have voted yea. So i thank you for the opportunity to share this and put it in the record and i yield back, mr. Speaker, the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlemans statement will appear in the record. The chair will now entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Connolly mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is with Great Sadness<\/a> that i rise with members of the virginia delegation to inform the house the passing of a former member of this chamber herbert harris. Herb died at the age of 88 on Christmas Eve<\/a> at his home in the mount vernon neighborhood of Fairfax County<\/a>. He served three terms in this body. The speaker pro tempore the house will suspend. The house will come to order. Please take all conversations out of the aisles, off the back aisle, on both sides. Please come to order so the proceedings may continue. Mr. Connolly mr. Speaker id ask unanimous consent that i start over so the family can see this. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Connolly i thank the speaker. Mr. Speaker, its with Great Sadness<\/a> that i rise with the members of the virginia delegation to inform our colleagues of the passing of one of our colleagues, former member of the chamber, herbert harris. Herb died at the age of 88 on Christmas Eve<\/a> at his home in the Mount Vernon District<\/a> of Fairfax County<\/a>. He served three terms in this body from 1974 to 1980, representing what was then virginias eighth Congressional District<\/a>. Like his predecessor, stan paris, my predecessor, tom davis, and myself herb served on the Fairfax County<\/a> board of supervisors prior to his election to congress. And that experience served him well here in the house. He was a champion for the region helping secure the necessary federal funds to complete construction of the metro system here in the nations capital. And to expand the National Battlefield<\/a> park with civil war preservation. He returned to private law practice after leaving the house. Our former colleagues, representatives moran, davis and wolf, collaborated in 2001 on a bipartisan basis to honor herb by naming a new post office in the Mount Vernon District<\/a> in his honor. Many of us attended the Funeral Services<\/a> for herb earlier this week. Flags were flown at half mass throughout Fairfax County<\/a> and at the capitol in richmond. Mr. Speaker, i now ask my colleagues to join all of us in extending our gratitude for his public service, our sympathy to his family, and friends, and by standing with us at this moment to observe a moment of silence in herb harris memory. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlelady from North Carolina<\/a> seek recognition . Ms. Foxx mr. Speaker, i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the resolution. The clerk House Resolution<\/a> 20 resolved whereas Alan Nunnelee<\/a> representativeelect from the First District<\/a> of the state of mississippi, has been unable from illness to appear in person to be sworn as a member of the house and there being no contest or question as to his election, now therefore be it resolved that the speaker or deputy named by him is hereby authorized to administer the oath of office to the honorable Alan Nunnelee<\/a> in mississippi and that such oath be accepted and received by the house as the oath of office of the honorable Alan Nunnelee<\/a>. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the motion is agreed to the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Pursuant to the provision of the 114th congress the chair appoints the honorable judge michael mills, United States<\/a> District Court<\/a>, to administer the oath of office to the honorable Alan Nunnelee<\/a>. At this time the speaker will the chair will entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Thompson request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson mr. Speaker, over the past three terms, the house has acted to grow our economy, control spending and limit the abuse of federal regulations that are harmeling Small Businesses<\/a> and making it harder for American Families<\/a> to make ends meet. A large portion of this agenda was denied consideration in the senate. As we begin this new congress we face new opportunities and challenges. But what is certain, mr. Speaker, is the American People<\/a> sent a clear message, theyve called on washington to put Forward Solutions<\/a> and solve the problems that they face. This week we begin on that path with consideration of several legislative measures designed to grow the economy and create jobs. Including the hire more heroes act, the save American Workers<\/a> act and the approval of the keystone x. L. Pipeline. These are several of the many jobs bills that have received broad bipartisan support yet for one reason or another have been denied consideration under the Previous Senate<\/a> majority. The American People<\/a> deserve better, mr. Speaker, and more gridlock is not the option. Thank you, mr. Speaker i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Poe mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Poe mr. Speaker, the United States<\/a> congress has been sworn into office. We all took an oath to support and defend the United States<\/a> constitution. The constitution however, is under attack by the policies of the administration. The administration has unconstitutionally illegally, and unwisely issued a decree that in essence grants amnesty to about five million people. The real issue is not an immigration issue, because we need Immigration Reform<\/a>. But its a constitutional issue. The constitution has been bruised by the improper act of the president. All members who support the constitution and Constitutional Government<\/a> rather than a government run by one person should oppose the illegal action memo of the administration. Along with representative black of tennessee, i have introduced the separation of powers act. This bill will prohibit taxpayer funds to be used or appropriated for the recent illegal actions of the Administration Granting<\/a> amnesty. The president also has been sworn to support the constitution and it is Congress Duty<\/a> to make the laws , whether the administration likes it or not. The constitution is not a mere suggestion. Its the law of the land. And thats just the way it is. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition . Ms. Jackson lee address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the speaker very much. The last couple of days we have seen tragic incidents occurring against innocent people. Today in particular the tragic killing of journalists and Police Officers<\/a> in paris, france. A terrorist act against, again, innocent persons and persons who we know in the United States<\/a> have the right to the First Amendment<\/a> and freedom of expression that is the very undercore of the principles of this nation of which we value and which our soldiers have gone to faraway wars to fight for. At the same time boko haram, a terrorist group that has plagued the african continent, mainly in nigeria and chad and cameroon and around the areas of nye jeer have taken a city near lake chad. They have seized that city. They have taken over the military base and theyre continuing to kill thousands and causing 1. 5 million to be displaced. Again, we have to fight terrorism in a universal manner. Both in terms of our attitudes and values, but more importantly in the organizing of african nations to stand up against these heinous terrorists who have stolen children, 300 girls and boys and taken them and taken them from their families and lives, boko haram cannot be in control. We must in a united way stand against them and provide for the peace and tranquility mr. Speaker, of the people of the i yield back. The speaker pro tempore are there further requests for oneminute speeches . Under the speakers announced policy of january 6 2015 the gentlewoman from missouri, North Carolina<\/a>, ms. Foxx, is recognized for 60 minutes as designee of the majority leader. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. Since i was first elected to congress in 2004, i heard from thousands of 20s across North Carolina<\/a>s constituents across North Carolina<\/a> there is concern over the direction our country is headed. These folks know all too well the struggle to find a job and pay the bills. Theyre angry it takes an average of 111 days just to make enough money to pay the government before starting to keep what they earned for the earn for the year. They raveped watched an oppressive government intrusion in the health care making it far more difficult and expensive for many to do business. Theyre discouraged by a environment thats wreaking havoc on employers and employees. The president s attempt to grant amnesty of millions of illegal aliens when theres so many individuals whove waited years for the opportunity to come to this country the right way. Over the last four years, the u. S. House of representatives has done everything in our power to put this nation on a better path. We passed numerous pieces of legislation to encourage job growth and strengthen americas standing in the global economy. We also passed bills that would decrease energy costs, allow workers to have more flexibility to spend time with their families and increase transparency in how tax dollars are spent. However, we were stymied again and again by democrats in the senate. Despite the short time we have had, the obstacles we have faced and the enormity of our task, House Republican<\/a>s have still managed a number of conservative victories. For example, this summer this summer, legislation i authored was signed into law, the streamline the federal Work Force Development<\/a> system, including the elimination of 15 duplicative programs. Last month we passed legislation that has since been signed into law to allow families of a severely disabled child to save for their childs longterm disability expensives in the same way that many families currently save for college through popular 529 investment plans. Encouraging personal responsibility instead of increasing dependency on the government. We all wish we could have done more, much more. However, well have greater opportunities over the next two years with a Republican House<\/a> and senate. The 114th congress offers new chances to pass legislation that will take the country down a road of economic recovery that results in lower unemployment, a fair tax code and opportunity for all. Well work to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, protect against executive overreach reform federal spending and keep america strong. My priorities for this year include continuing efforts to increase transparency and accountability in government. Thats why h. R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates<\/a> information and Transparency Act<\/a> which we call umita, is the first bill i introduced in the 114th congress. This legislation would improve transparency and Public Disclosure<\/a> of the true cost in dollars and in jobs that federal dictates pose to the economy. Ive offered this legislation in the past four congresses, and it has successfully passed the house with bipartisan support on three separate occasions only to be ignored by the senate. My hope is that this year will be different. Congress will also face off against the white house this year against president obamas attempt to shortcircuit the American Immigration<\/a> process, by extending funding for the department of Homeland Security<\/a> only through february 2015, the house and senate are prepared to confront the president s unparallel power grab without the threat of a looming governmentwide shutdown and well do everything we can to stop his destructive actions. Congress will be addressing the American People<\/a>s greatest priorities in the 114th congress and well work hard to build a Better Future<\/a> for American Families<\/a>. I yield back, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy of january 6 2015 the gentlewoman from california, ms. Lee, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Ms. Lee thank you very much, mr. Speaker. First, i ask unanimous consent that members be given five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Lee thank you. Thank you mr. Speaker. This evening i stand with my colleagues to discuss an issue thats very important to this country and thats our countrys relations with cuba. Its been 50 years, five decades of a failed policy. A towards cuba, born of cold war tensions, have failed. Our policies have been in dire need of updating ever since. This island nation, which lies just 90 miles from our shores, one of our closest neighbors, should be a partner in our hemisphere not an estranged country or enemy. Along with so many of my Congressional Colleagues<\/a> many of whom are gathered here tonight, we have been fighting to make that reality for decades. I would now like to move forward and just talk a little bit about some of the issues that many of us have been involved in and then yield to my colleagues. In the past, addressing our failed policies towards cuba really had the strong and clear bipartisan support in congress, and recent polling shows that it has bipartisan support amongst the American People<\/a>. According to a 2014 survey commissioned by the atlantic council, more than 60 of americans support lifting the travel and economic restrictions on cuba. 56 of americans support changing overall United States<\/a> policies towards cuba. That includes 63 of floridians, 62 of latinos and 52 of republicans. Thanks to recent very bold actions by president obama, we have finally made some headway in this fight. We have started down the long and hard road to ending our failed policies and establishing policies that promote the freedoms of americans and cubans also that encourage trade and job creation here in the United States<\/a> and supports the open exchange of critical medical developments, research to treat excuse me to treat diseases that afflict Many Americans<\/a>. In december, the president announced that the United States<\/a> will reestablish diplomatic ties, facilitate travel, improve commercial exchanges in telecommunications and a variety of other policies. This is a welcomed and long overdue response to our calls and the calls of many advocates both in this body and outside from cuba, the United States<\/a> and around the world. Today we come to the floor first to thank president obama for his leadership and to discuss the important changes that hes brought about through his actions. At the same time were here to call on this congress to act to end the outdated embargo while maintaining our nations unwavering commitment to human rights and democracy. I personally began my efforts to end the embargo when i was a congressional staffer for my predecessor and mentor in 1977. Since then i traveled to cuba more than 20 times and led several congressional delegations to that island and quite frankly each time that i was there, im struck by how much both of our nations would benefit from improved relations. Over the years many members have been proud of their young people who have received their medical education at the latin america medical school, or elam, which allows students from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds to study medicine in cuba for free, returning to the United States<\/a> to practice in underserved areas. And when i was chair of the Congressional Black Caucus<\/a> in the 112th congress, i was honored to lead a delegation to talk with cuban officials, including president raul castro, to determine their willingness to engage in dialogue with no preconditions in an effort to move toward normalization of relations. And recently, we led a bipartisan delegation to examine a new treatment for diabetic foot users that afflict millions of americans every year ulcers that afflict millions of americans every year. Sometimes it leads to amputation and sometimes death to the patient. This treatment has been developed, its highly effective. Hopefully americans can benefit from this treatment if we ended the embargo. So i will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that this development and other areas of common interests to the american and cuban people are pursued and developed, which ill include in my closing statement. Now ill like to yield to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. Eddie bernice johnson, who has been to cuba and understands the job aspects of why we need to move forward on this to end this failed policy. Ms. Johnson thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of president base realignment and closures recent announcement that president Barack Obamas<\/a> recent announcement to the outdated approach to u. S. Cuban relations and well begin to normalize our relations with cuba. Not only does the Obama Administration<\/a>s announcement reestablish positive diplomatic ties with cuba, it also helps to empower the cuban people by updating travel restrictions, remittance policies and a quality of life. One of the most positive outcomes of the updated policy announcement is the lifting of many trade restrictions between the United States<\/a> and cuba. In my home state of texas, the Texas Farm Bureau<\/a> has long supported improved trade policies with cuba because of the potential to export texas farm products. This provision not only serves the u. S. Economy positively but it is also very meaningful to the cuban economy which has struggled tremendously in the past. While trade provisions and helping to improve the likelihood of cuban people by allowing the cuban economy to build our construct are constructive measures, we must focus on viable resources that cuba could provide to the United States<\/a>. For instance, the opening of the diplomatic ties, i sincerely hope that our state medical boards in the United States<\/a> will consider the Educational Value<\/a> that cuban medical schools provide to future Health Professionals<\/a> who wish to Practice Medicine<\/a> in the United States<\/a>. Ive had had students from my district to attend medical school in cuba. Im aware that cuba has offered nurses and physicians around the world in needy countries where needed. The aforementioned examples are only a few of the many ways that opening our diplomatic relations with cuba will be positive for our country and i urge my colleagues to support the Obama Administration<\/a>s decision to update our relationship with our neighbor and future ally. Thank you and i yield back. Ms. Lee thank you. Now let me ask congresswoman kathy castor from florida who represents tampa and has certainly been a bold leader and understands clear the economic benefits to our district as it relates to ending the embargo. Ms. Castor i thank the gentlelady and i thank the gentlelady from california, mr. Speaker, for her longstanding leadership, her commitment to human rights and change in a positive way for the relationship between the United States<\/a> of america and cuba. I also would be remiss if i did not recognize some of my other colleagues who have been in this, have encouraged the change in policy for many, many years, if not decades congressman farr, congressman congresswoman delauro, congressman mcgovern, congressman van hollen congressman polis congressman meeks and many others who have taken upon themselves to visit the island of cuba like the average american is not allowed to do, and learn about the real situation on the ground there. I also commend the Obama Administration<\/a> and the president for his bold move in finally moving this outdated policy towards cuba into a positive direction. Because just think about this. Since the embargo has been in place and our policy of isolation has been in place we had a war with vietnam. But we have chem to reconcile with reconcile with the veet we have come to reconcile with the vietnamese and now the vietnamese people have seen great Economic Reforms<\/a> because america was engaged. Even after world war ii when we had a world war against germany, you have to turn the page and move on in human history. And we were able to do that with one of our closest allies now germany. So why not cuba . In the tampa bay area i represent a lot of cuban American Families<\/a>. In fact, the bulk of my constituent work often involves family unification. It is not uncommon every week to have a situation where there is a dying grandmother in the United States<\/a> and her grandchildren in cuba would like to come and visit. And yet over the past years theyve been subjected to the worst kind of bureaucratic red tape that has not allowed them to travel freely to america. And the same for american citizens. Did you know that americans are not allowed to travel freely to cuba . Many people dont know that cubas really one of the only nations in the entire world where our Constitutional Rights<\/a> to travel are restricted. And we thank now with the Obama Administration<\/a>s move think now with the Obama Administration<\/a>s move we will be able to open the door to greater travel in recognition of our own human rights and Constitutional Rights<\/a>. But i think the main thing is for our families to be able to unify. Its only a onehour flight from tampa to havana. Its less than that. And its a beautiful flight. And yet its been off limits for so long, so thank you to the Obama Administration<\/a> for beginning to take the steps to open this up. Because i want folks to know, cuba is changing. Just like the congresswoman whos travel there had multiple times, ive traveled on a Factfinding Mission<\/a> not too long ago. There are meaningful Economic Reforms<\/a> under way. And America Needs<\/a> to be there to encourage it to move it along faster and farther. People now in cuba can own some private property. There are new Small Businesses<\/a> and entrepreneurs that have the ability to step away from government control and take control of their own lives. Theres decentralization of power, but unless america is engaged, were not going to be able to continue those Economic Reforms<\/a> and press for improvements in human rights. This is also an important time for america to capitalize on the changes in the World Economy<\/a>. Remember for a long time it was the soviet union that supported cuba or it was venezuela. Well now with the Energy Revolution<\/a> in america, theres never been a better time for america to use its influence in the world, its economic power, its pressing for human rights, as venezuela doesnt carry the day anymore. Their economy is in turmoil. Same for russia. The Economic Conditions<\/a> now play to our advantage and we need to use it to improve human rights on the island, to improve family unification and begin to establish diplomatic ties. In my hometown of tampa theyve led the way. My Greater Tampa Chamber<\/a> of commerce has traveled a number of times, they would like to reestablish trade ties. There have been enormous numbers of cultural exchanges. The florida orchestra had a multiyear exchange with the orchestra of cuba. Businessmen have instituted art celebrations with the cuban people right in the heart of tampa. The university of tampa Baseball Team<\/a> went and played the Cuban National<\/a> team, yes, and the university of tampa did prevail much to the chagrin of the cubans. But these are the ways that you build a relationship, a Greater Foundation<\/a> for economic reform and human rights reform. In fact, its the st. Lawrence Catholic Church<\/a> in tampa that is going to fund the first catholic parish on the island of cuba in the coming years. And if we cannot stand as leaders in the western hemisphere for religious freedom, for human rights, for Economic Engagement<\/a> and improvement, who will . It is our time and i thank the leaders in this congress that have pressed for this change, i commend president obama for taking this bold move, and i encourage all members of congress to travel there and listen to the people, listen to their cries for positive change. We have it within our power to lift the embargo and begin to press on these issues. And i hope that we will. I thank the gentlelady again for yielding the time. Thank you. I thank the gentlelady for talking about the glimpse of the possibilities. Thank you for your leadership. Ms. Lee now id like to yield to congresswoman Sheila Jackson<\/a> lee from texas who has been a long time supporter and advocate for ending the embargo, who also, and i was reminded earlier, as her role on the immigration subcommittee, Ranking Member<\/a> she was very instrumental in the gonzalez case and was able to forge a path forward to return gonzalez to cuba. Thank you very much again, congresswoman jackson lee. Ms. Jackson lee mr. Speaker, as you notice, members who are on the floor today have come from a variety of states, a variety of political philosophies and positions. But i think it is appropriate to acknowledge congresswoman barbara lee for galvanizing members of both sides of the aisle on an important and enormous leap of change that we have made over the years by her determination and persistence and knowledge. And so i thank her very much for that kind of leadership allowing many of us to travel to cuba on any number of occasions meeting with both fidel castro, speaking about issues of government and the needs of the cuban beam and the needs of people and the needs of the American People<\/a>. To my colleagues, as everyone who has visited they have found the cuban peoples who pitble and friendly hospitable and friendly, desiring peace and respecting america. If theres ever one impression that you have when you leave cuba it is the desire for strong relationships and the connectedness between cubans, cuban americans and americans. As a representative from texas, i can assure you that over the years ive heard often from members of my Agricultural Community<\/a> about their desire to begin engaging with trade in cuba. And they do so as proud americans. As americans who have sent young men and now young women to faraway shores in military uniforms to defend this nation. They see in cuba, as has been indicated, a friend of which we had disagreements, but a friend of which we now can find a pathway forward. As was mentioned, we had an engaged we had engaged in a war in vietnam. Week of engaged in a war in iraq and afghanistan weve engaged in a war in iraq and afghanistan. Soldiers coming home now, with few Soldiers Left<\/a> behind. Mr. Speaker, we are engaging in diplomatic relations with iraq afghanistan and certainly vietnam. How in the world can an island 90 miles away be held in such contempt that we cannot find a pathway forward . So i strongly support the executive order of this president and i will tell you why in just a few minutes. Of the time that i have remaining. I serve on the Homeland Security<\/a> committee and previously on judiciary, which i continue. My colleague is correct. At the time of the young boy by the name of gonzalez who was found on the shores of or near the shores of our great nation, his mother deceased, trying to escape, of course, from cuba with a number of others. There was this cust depi fight, if will you, custody fight, if you will, about whether or not his relatives here or his father should have custody over him, his father being in cuba. What a sensitive question for a very young boy who cannot make a decision on his own. What a traumatic experience in those difficult waters, watching his mother not survive. And so as a member of that committee working with my fellow colleagues, and working with the Clinton Administration<\/a> and then the attorney general, janet reno, though it was not, if i might say a clear and pretty scene we knew that in the best interests of the child the parent was the best custodian, whether or not or guardian, whether or not that child was in fact having to go to cuba. But as i said earlier, the cuban people are peaceful people. Every country has had a revolutionary past. And cuba has as well. But it was the right decision for mr. Gonzalez who is now a young man, and to all accounts is performing his duties as a responsible adult. But that was a very tough incident in our political life, if you will, to see a child snatched by officials of this government to take them home to cuba. Maybe that was in fact the first statement of an altered policy. So let me close by saying why i believe the president s executive order is legitimate in the context of his legal authority, and im excited about the beginning of the change in relationships and diplomatic relationships between cuba and the United States<\/a>. Mr. Speaker, would you not want to know who is 90 miles away from you . In this time of franchise terrorism wouldnt we want to know who our allies are in the caribbean, who our allies are in fighting horrific Drug Trafficking<\/a> . While i think we can find that in the entity of the cuban government we know that we have not seen a terrorist incident in that particular country. Thats why we need to normalize relations. Im grateful for mr. Grossmans return who was brought out by many members of congress including my colleagues here, including congresswoman lee, and as well some of the other Political Prisoners<\/a> that have been released, including some in the recent days. And then lastly let me say, let us celebrate the cuban people for the magnificent exports that they have. Medicine and medical research and physicians. And everyone knows that in the ebola fight the largest contingent, or one of the largest contingents of medical professionals, really doctors, fighting against ebola on the continent of africa is and has been cuban doctors. Alongside of the International Work<\/a> force of medical professionals, Good Samaritans<\/a> who sang ficed their lives to sacrificed their lives to fight this deadly disease. But every single medical crisis in the world, you can count on cuban doctors being there. As well as conflicts and wars such as over in the middle east. Cuban doctor goes to save lives. So i want to thank the gentlelady for the special order and i look forward to joining her in further could he dells to visit and coddells to visit and be a part of the continued normalization. I say this not out of disrespect of the feelings of others who have experienced a crisis in their relationship with cuba, but only to say that now may be the time for peaceful reconciliation for families to be reconciled and for us to begin this peaceful journey with the nation of cuba. Let me thank you and thank president obama and thank those who are very much a part of this. I yield back. Ms. Lee thank you. Let me thank you, congresswoman jackson lee, for being with us here tonight and reminding us of much of the history that cannot be forgotten as we move toward normal relations with cuba. Also with regard to allen gross. Yesterday allenas and his wife, judy, they were allen and his wife, judy, they were with us. We were pleased to see allen gross. We were pleased that the president s action resulted in the long overdue return of our friend mr. Gross. And every time that many of us went to cuba, we wanted to meet with allen. It was important to learn more about his case, but more importantly to do what we could do to help with the humanitarian relief and to encourage and lift his spirits. One of those individuals who has been so key in this is congresswoman congressman Gregory Meeks<\/a> from new york who has consistently talked about the importance of normalized relations with cuba in the context of latin american policies, our policy in the western and role in the western hemisphere. Mr. Meeks thank you. I want to thank barbara lee for her steadfastness, for her tenacity, for her consistency in trying to bring a change in a policy that has been faulty. For it has been the policy that weve been doing over and over and over again. Weve had over and over again, getting the same results. Zero. And so i want to thank barbara for her hard work on this and i look forward to continuing to working with her as the president has opened up the opportunity for diplomatic relations with cuba again. But we know that we still have a lot of work to do and i look forward to working side by side with you until we have the kind of relationship and we have the kind of movement in this congress, where we really end the embargo, so we can come together and make sure that change has happened within our relationships. I want to thank president obama for his bold move for intcheerked camera of history is rolling. And has brought us to this historic point which will take the United States<\/a> of america and cuba in a new and more positive direction after over five decades of severed diplomatic relations. American policy toward cuba since 1961 has left our nation out of sync with our neighbors in the americas. For that matter, out of sync with our friends and allies all over the world. Our outdated policy, highlighted by our trade embargo, which has lasted for over half a century, has not only been ineffective but has blocked investment and trade opportunities for u. S. Businessmen and farmers and has kept families apart and has done virtually nothing to change cubas policies. In fact just 90 miles away, if we had these trade agreements, we were able to trade and bring markets and food to the shores of cuba, it would be the humanitarian thing to do because people are starving because they dont have that opportunity. On the island of cuba. And clearly when you think about the world which is smaller now and one of the things we should have learned by now is that unilateral sanctions dont work. If anything, they have further isolated us from the global community. We have got to work collectively with others, not just doing i think not just doing something out on our own. It has not worked. It does not work. As mentioned denying american citizens the freedom to travel to cuba, to visit its many historic and cultural attractions, to meet its people and to has been a stain on our democracy. I think the gentlelady from florida talked about what we as members of congress have opportunities to go and we have travel, i can recall traveling for example, not only to havana but Santiago Decuba<\/a> and feeling the Rich Heritage<\/a> and culture and looking at the people in santiago who were poor but i saw something when i looked in their faces, they were poor but they were not hopeless. They were not december pute. Destitute. They welcomed us into their homes to see how they were living. They had music playing and they had hope for a better tomorrow and a better relationship with the United States<\/a> of america. In fact, they scratched their heads, did not understand why they didnt have this better relationship with the United States<\/a> of america. So i say that they want us to come, others are going, we should permit our citizens to do the same. Now the question is, whats happening here in america . Well, a december 17 through 21 abc news and Washington Post<\/a> poll of adults nationwide showed that 64 of americans supported establishing diplomatic relations with cuba, with 31 opposed. 6 supported ending the trade embargo. While 74 supported ending restrictions on travel to cuba. American the americans support the president s actions to normalize relations with cuba. The United States<\/a> International Trade<\/a> commission has concluded that if u. S. Restrictions on financing and travel to cuba were lifted in 2008, u. S. Agriculture agricultural export to cuba would increase between 216 million and 478 million and the u. S. Share of cubas agricultural import would have increased from 38 to 49 and 64 , which would also prevent some of the hunger taking place in cuba. Us weekly u. S. Week reports that their they will benefit from trade with cuba. Now that restrictions are to be alleviated pothba mas plan to establish relations and facilitate trade and commerce is a major market opportunity. Good for cubans but also good for americans because when you do that, youre also creating jobs for americans right here in the United States<\/a>. So it is a winwin because we are all about creating jobs in the United States<\/a>. Were all about that commerce. Were all about making sure that trade facilitation helps us in america but it also can help people who have a great need on that island call cudeba. Pothba mas actions to open the relationship and reestablish diplomatic relations with cuba will bring us closer as barbara lee indicated, to our allies in the region who have pursued more open relationships with cuba while we have not. I serve on the Foreign Affairs<\/a> committee. I sit on the western hemisphere subcommittee. Ive had the opportunity to have dialogue and conversations with heads of state from throughout the hemisphere. For example, one of our closest allies, colombia, one of our strongest partners, theyre negotiating with the island of cuba and when i talk to many individuals, they say the one thing that they think could help the entire hemisphere is for the United States<\/a> to change its relationship with cuba. Now colombia is one of our strongest one of our most reliable allies. But they, too, have engaged with cuba and are asking and looking and saying that our engagement with cuba will change and help the hemisphere. Panama has invited president castro to the summit of americas. And the rest of our hemisphere wants this change. Our antiquated policy has been holding us back and hampering our ability to cooperate with countries and the region on a wide range of issues. Let me begin to conclude by saying this. The president s historic announcement has been universally wellreceived by the region, which is heralding it as a mange step forward in regional integration. The president of bra president s of bra zale argentina, clomyarks and mexico have praised president obamas announcement. Its also been applauded by regional organizations including the union of south american nations and the organization of american states. I conclude by saying i have visited cue be many times. I have worked tirelessly throughout my years in congress to force improved to foster improved relationships between the United States<\/a> and cuba. I believe the president s actions are good for both our countries and our hemisphere. American businesses will benefit. U. S. Citizens will be able to travel to cuba on a more regular basis, and send remitances to their relatives by reopening our embassy in havana. We will be a safer place and the world finally, the world often looks to the United States<\/a> to be a leader militarily. We should be proud that the world can also look at us as champions of diplomacy. Through our president s new cuba policy, we have shown our neighbors in the western hemisphere and indeed the rest of the world that we are committed to building new partnerships and that we will not be beholden antiquated policies and that we are optimistic about the what is possible through dialogue and diplomacy. I thank the chair. Ms. Lee i thank the gentleman from new york for his comprehensive statement and overview but also his tremendous leadership and key policy initiatives on the subcommittee on western hemisphere and as a member of the Foreign Affairs<\/a> committee, you are so critical in this overall movement for us. Thank you for being here tonight. I want to yield a second to congresswoman jackson lee who wants to Say Something<\/a> before i yield to congressman polis. Ms. Jackson lee thank you. Having written a letter to join with other colleagues for the release of alan gross, i want to make sure the record reflects that i said alan gross, not alan grossman. Thank you very much. Ms. Lee how much time do we have remaining . The speaker pro tempore four minutes. Ms. Lee let me yield to someone who has been interested in and a tremendous leader on the issue of trade and ending the embargo, the gentleman from colorado congressman jared polis. Mr. Polis thank you congresswoman lee for your leadership on this issue. When i was born in 1975, the embargo with cuba was already more than a decade old. I never knew a time when americans could go to cuba or legally import goods and products from cuba. Growing up, i remember the end of the cold war, when the soviet union fell. The last real excuse for the treatment of cuba was that they were alied with the soviet union in the allied with the soviet union in the cold war. The soviet union fell, soviet subsidies and support for cuba ended and i began to wonder why we continued this failed cold war policy of an embargo, a travel embargo trade embargo against cuba. Presumably it was designed to bring Fidel Castros<\/a> regime down. Now again, this policy predates my birth by 10 years. It actually means that hes the longest serving head of state in the entire world. Obviously it didnt work. It didnt work. Are we going to keep doing the same thing . Maybe a different path would have worked, thats what the president has proposed. For more than 50 years weve isolated our southern neighbor. Restricting trade, travel commerce, as well as the flow of ideas. Discussion. Cultural exchange. The very things that can lead to a change and more support for human rights within cuba. It defies logic to expect that a status quo that led to fidel castro being the longest regime and head of state in the world will somehow lead to the end of the very regime that it has actually helped preserve. Unfortunately, the sanctions have hurt everyday cubans, without mobilizing political change or expanding their freedoms. Our policy of isolation was counter was counterproductive and only prolonged the suffering and lack of freedom of the cuban people. Our present landscape is particularly promising for restoring the u. S. Cuba relationshipful let me be clear. Just as there are many countries we have normal relations with and we continue to make sure were outspoken about any human rights violations, of course if there are political dissidents or others improperly jailed in cuba youll hear members of this body including myself, speaking out, just as we do for the oppression ofity bet tans in china will of tibetans in china as we continue to support on going trade negotiations with china just as we do in countries where we want stronger labor laws or antichild labor laws but continue to have basic trade and travel relationship. Cuba can do better. Frankly, mr. Speaker, america can do bet we are regard to human rights. We can discuss that in a different context ability expanding Civil Liberties<\/a> for all americans but yes cuba should do better. But the way to help show and lead cuba to the promised lands of democracy is by engaging the cuban people and engaging the regime. And showing them the many benefits that dealing with their neighbor to the north can bring. Now let us make sure were not mistaken here. The president s actions dont end the embargo. That requires con gregal action. What president obama did is exercise his legal right to establish diplomatic relations and expand travel, facile tit remitances and pr mote commerce. Congress does need to act. The president s step alone is a great step in the right direction but to fully normalize our relationship with cuba, congress will need to act and i continue to sponsor legislation that will help that occur. And of course we should continue to call for transparency with regard to cubas rights to speak out for political dissidents, just as we do in dozens and hundreds of countries that we have normal trade and diplomatic relations with. I was proud to sign a letter authored by our great leader, barbara lee, on this issue, encouraging president obama to use the 2015 summit as a platform for stimulating this type of productive regional dialogue. Now decades of adversity between the United States<\/a> and cuba cannot be wipe aid way with the stroke of a pen, it will take time, but together we can build bonds of trust between the cuban people and ourselves and we can overcome the decades of mistrust and propaganda on both sides to lead to the betterment of the relationship between the cuban people and the American People<\/a> and the greater prosperity to both peoples through trade and commerce. I strongly support continuing to move forward to ep gauge with cuba to engage with cuba and will continue to support the president s actions and similar legislative action here. Ms. Lee thank you very much. Let me thank the gentleman from colorado for that very succinct and clear statement and for your continuing leadership for a policy that really is in the United States<\/a> best interests, so thank you again. Let me now ask and yield to my friend from california, congressman sam farr, who has really forged a path toward where we are today for many, many years","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801603.us.archive.org\/32\/items\/CSPAN_20150107_150000_House_Session\/CSPAN_20150107_150000_House_Session.thumbs\/CSPAN_20150107_150000_House_Session_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240621T12:35:10+00:00"}