republicans, 202-748-8001. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 you can also send us a tweet http://twitter.com/cspanwj or on .acebook "the washington post" front page this morning. writes "obama has been making the case for months that a strategy to defeat islamic state and protect americans at home is slowly working." president obama in cuba yesterday in his address to the people of that country began his remarks talking about brussels. [video clip] president obama: the thoughts and prayers of the american people are with the people of belgium. we stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people. we will do whatever is necessary to support our friend and ally, belgium come in bringing to justice those who are responsible and this is yet another reminder that the world must unite. we must be together, regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism. we can and we will defeat those who prey upon the insecurity of those around the world. there topivoted from his address to the people and, as you know, president obama went on to argentina as he continues his travels to south america. how should the u.s. respond? rick in florida. a democrat. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i think we should respond by giving brussels all the support we can and not overreacting on our end. bitoes not surprise me one that it did not take any time at all for the republicans to start blaming our president and start talking about torture and closing of our borders. we should leave our politics out of it and let them handle their problem on their and and still be diligent on hours. host: rick mentions the republican presidential candidates. let's listen to donald trump. he was on fox news yesterday. abouts what he had to say the attacks in brussels and how the u.s. should respond. [video clip] donald trump: this is just the beginning. it will get worse and worse because we are lax and we are foolish. we cannot allow these people at this point -- we cannot allow these people to come into the country. we are allowing thousands and thousands of people to come into our country and we don't even know where they come from or who they are. wehave to be very careful to are not babies. we cannot do this anymore. we cannot have these attacks anymore. we cannot have world trade centers anymore. and planes flying into the pentagon. it is time to be smart and time to look carefully. host: homeland security department tweeting this out yesterday -- that coming from the homeland security secretary. front page of "usa today." could it happen here? major cities scramble to harden their security nets. transit stations are easy and attractive targets. like many nationwide, and york's transit system is vulnerable. the five boroughs of boy system which in 2014 carried more than 1.7 5 billion writers or 5.6 million each day features more than 1000 entrances and exits. from peter king, republican of new york. should the united states put more security around our airports and commuter trains? amtrak is just steps from where we are in washington. a couple blocks from the u.s. capital. bill in alabama. republican. good morning. caller: yes. i agree with trump. over in europe, they have let billions of people from the middle east over there into their country. rather than make america a police state where you are running around trying to shore up the airports and everything else, we should know who is coming into the country. host: what do you make of this usa today editorial view of this? enlist muslims, do not smear them. this is what they write about the neighborhood where they found that alleged terrorist who was responsible for the terrorist attacks. the neighborhood in brussels looks like a simple but --blematic what do you think, bill? caner: over there in london mother is 88 areas where you've london,ia law -- in there is 88 areas where you've got sharia law. islam is a wacky religion. don't think they are out to assimilate as well as many others from other areas. we ought to watch is coming in the country. in orchard park, new york. a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. we spend roughly $70 billion a year for our intelligence programs and we do things like we try to intercept all electronic transmissions around the world to give us intelligence. we did not have a clue about the paris terrorism. that did not generate a clue about what happened in brussels, did not generate a clue about what happened in san bernardino. in my opinion, what our intelligence people should be doing here and in other countries is come up with a good infiltrateactually all these organizations, all of these neighborhoods with reliable people that can get word back to us, what the mood to me,t the plans are -- that would be the best way to attack this, rather than spend additional billions now to staff airports, train stations, subway stations, blah, blah, blah. in full tray, infiltrate come infiltrate. host: have a more bust -- more robust spying apparatus? -- infiltrate, infiltrate come , infiltrate. caller: we should almost start our topatch, change intelligence officials and their way of thinking and advise new means because what we have now is not working. with our sharper people out there, we can come up with arab people that can identify and speak the language and paid them whatever they are worth to work their way into the organization and getthey be trusted the word back out, what kind of plans they have. host: you might be interested in the column this morning in "the washington post." the failure of the us-led to contain the jihadists has left a fragile europe exposed to terrorism and social upheaval. this is what david calls for now. tommy and tennessee. -- in tennessee. independent caller. caller: good morning to you and good morning to america. use -- weed to do is know where the capital of isis is. power of the the americanepublic stationed in ahrain to-- bu knock out rocca and turn it into nuclear sand. we will see if sand glows in the dark or not. we have to down these governments who fund terrorism. that is the main source of evil in the world. fund terrorism. you take these governments down and i guarantee you the other governments will round them up and hand them to us on a silver platter. all right,,. let's take a look at the reaction on twitter from the presidential candidates. ommy.l right, tim statement, ted cruz said the u.s. should be securing muslim neighborhoods. go beyond what he has said in the past. john kasich sing the president must return home immediately to get to work with our allies to respond with strength against .he enemies of the west you heard what donald trump had to say on fox. hillary clinton tweeting out -- bernie sanders saying -- hillary clinton will be going to stanford university today where she will be giving a national security speech. that is live at 2:15 p.m. eastern time on c-span2. we will have coverage ever national security speech. you can go to www.c-span.org for more details on that. tommy in new york. republican. what do you think the u.s. response should be here? caller: we have to get a republican president. -- merkel, socialist cameron, those leaders are too weak. people like hillary and bernie sanders are trying to push us toward socialism. it is ridiculous. you heard bernie sanders's response. it's like he doesn't even care. hillary clinton doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings p people's lives are at stake. we have to get a republican way. host: that was tommy, a republican. we are taking your calls this morning about how the west should respond domestically and in the fight against isis overseas. what should be the response from the united states? democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. back to new york. bob, a democrat. caller: i am a democrat. i don't want you do not think that is true, but i think it may be time for boots on the ground. the work advance that am bush taking us into iraq was a huge mistake, blunder, the worst decision of all time. i think bush was right about taking the fight to them over so that we don't have to fight them over here. i think it is time to send in the troops. it is time for boots on the ground. -- we are late to the game because they are already here come already in europe. we will have to fight them here as well now. to be aggressive and put them on -- tofensive over there take the fight to them over there. i do also want to say that i think trump beats hillary in the election, but i think hillary will be ted cruz -- beats ted cruz. democrats in idaho voted and there were contests for both parties in utah and arizona yesterday. we will get those results coming up shortly. bob waso get to what saying about radical islamists in the u.s. versus those in europe. to get look at "the washington times" this morning. belgium's 11 million citizens have become islamic state -- more than 450 f belgium's 11 million citizens have become islamic state fighters. so, that is in europe. specifically in belgium. this is from "the washington post" this morning. not impervious, but a similar attack is less likely here. american muslims, like some communities in europe, are well integrated and in many cases to offthe authorities -- tip the authorities. lisa in massachusetts. a republican. welcome to the conversation. go ahead. caller: good morning. there are so many places to start. i want to say one thing. i know they keep coming down on donald trump. the thing i resent is the president, no matter where he goes and troubles in the world, he's always apologizing. in the world, he's always apologizing. i don't know what american people he is speaking about. people -- i'm an immigrant, myself. you assimilate. i understand this is america. i learned to speak english. there were no special privileges for myself. i learned on my own. i went to public school. my dad did not get help, my dad worked. -- whereent people hillary is saying, we have to give them legal this and free that. he did not get anything for free. it's not right. we have paid our dues. grateful.nkful and how grateful are these people when she is giving everything away? outpresident is on his way -- i could go into the supreme court thing. i can remember the filibuster with obama -- host: washington, d.c. independent caller. what should the response be to the attacks in brussels? caller: i think the response is exactly what president obama is doing. i want to refer back to a couple of colors ago when he says the middle east needs a republican president. a republican president got us into this situation in the first place. we took to over -- we took over iraq. the more you bomb, the more you kill, the more people will become terrorists. and then you have to kill a whole religion for this to stop happening? we have to get a coalition of the middle eastern countries to get together and make sure they can take care of this. we go back in and kill all these people, we have to stay there, spend more money to make sure they are safe and there is no vacuum. called --that just president obama is not perfect, but he is doing something right. the country is a lot better now he for were when started. bernie sanders. i don't think you will get the nomination. if john kasich gets the nomination, i will look for john -- a vote for john kasich. i listen to everyone, including donald trump. the media does not need to twist and turn his words. he says it on live television. i don't know how these people are ignoring what comes out of his mouth. host: hillary clinton respond to the brussel terrorist -- brussels terrorist attacks saying she would continue what president obama is doing. who do you think would do a better job when it comes to the two democrats on handling isis? caller: i think hillary clinton and bernie sanders -- hillary clinton has the better foreign policy. thing same time, the only i don't like about her is that she has ties to wall street. i think she would do a better job than bernie sanders. presidents have advisors and people helping them. if bernie gets the right advisor s, things will happen. bernie sanders talking about domestic more issues more important to him. look at "the wall street journal" poll recently. the attacks in belgium could reverberate in the u.s. presidential campaigns, but priorities diverge sharply by party. 55% of republicans and said national security and terrorism is top. 32% of democrats said job creation and economic growth. that tops their list. the results from yesterday's primary and caucus is in arizona. at the with the democrats. hillary clinton winning that state. sanders.% over bernie the vermont senator when on to win others. to win others. donald trump winning with 47% over 25% for ted cruz. democratic caucus results in idaho. bernie sanders winning convincingly in idaho. he also gets the delegates from utah, which had caucuses, but those two states combined are still less than the delegates hillary clinton picked up in arizona. senator ted cruz gets 69% of the vote in utah. that means ted cruz gets off 40 delegates from the state of utah. you take a look at the delegate count for republicans, this is where it stands right now. donald trump with 739. ted cruz with 465. john kasich with 143. for the democrats, hillary delegates. has 1681 bernie sanders needs -- as 927. superdelegates and 901 pledged. stand aftere things the primary contests yesterday. this morning, we are expecting later today that the former florida governor jeb bush will be endorsing ted cruz for the presidency. really -- roy in california. a democrat. how the u.s. should react to the brussels attacks. caller: i think the president is doing the right thing right now. the young man that just called a few seconds ago stated he is on the right track. i'm really concerned about these people who've been calling in -- everybody has a suggestion. that's why you're not president. they are not smart enough and they are reacting from anger. iraq or iraner to thaterever and bomb people are going to slither back into the population. i'm a veteran, 20 years in the military. i know, i have friends that have been killed -- they got blown up by people trying to help. all these people commenting on what people should do and go in and do, they've never even served. they have no idea. that is my statement. host: thomas in atlanta, georgia. publican. what do you have to say on this? -- republican. caller: i don't think america -- americato police -- stop blaming obama first thing that happens. i heard a guy call a while ago saying something about boots on the ground. we don't need boots on the ground. if people knew the terrorism ideology, it's not a place where you can attack them on the ground, it is not that type of war. you cannot fight them with boots on the ground. it is a religious ideology. they are all over the world. you cannot fight a conventional war. i don't know why people take -- keep saying boots on the ground. host: what should we do in the u.s.? should we be left security on metro stations and subways and security onbeef up metro stations and subways and airports? caller: that's ok. it's not carpet bombing these people -- you will cause more bloodshed and lose american lives with boots on the ground. host: maryland. erwin is an independent. america has a very short-term memory. up sending1, we end troops all over the middle east. over here, what should we do? continue living our lives. i understand you want to beef up security -- these policies have been going on for ages. the started way back in the 1960's and we are trying to change ideology of an entire a cultright now -- an entire right now. we need to help the middle eastern people in their fight. the muslim religion is trying to fight this cult as well. they have a poll because of the internet. it should be a concerted effort between multiple nations. fight,to be a physical unfortunately. walls andt building adding this extra security, it doesn't really change anything. people already live here. if they are going to be radicalized, it is going to happen a matter what. -- no matter what. , "theon your point washington times" says the --port system is compromised complicated by the division of response abilities. responsibilities. avivsrael's airport in tel , all cars are stopped on the way in. let's go to john in district heights, maryland. democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning to you. there is so much going on, so many ways to start with this issue. i'm listening to all the other people. the young man who called before, he was on the money. you look at the presidential candidates, i would not trust none of them to do anything. really one who seems like he had concern about the american people truly was bernie sanders. donald trump, i don't understand this man willnk turn on his billionaire class to help them. it's not going to happen. hillary, i would not trust her. when she was secretary of state, nothing changed under. -- under her. i don't understand how is it that a palestinian baby does not have the same value as an israeli baby. i don't understand how a black child in america does not have the same value as a white child in america. this is where we have to start. this nation needs jobs. people need to go to work. just howmazing to me ignorant the american people are about our own foreign policy. the foreign policy of europe and that whole part of the world over there. . watched fox yesterday a bunch of lies. i turn to cnn, a bunch of lies. the only place i can get some information is this show and another show called "democracy now." host: let me move on to some news coming out of brussels. one person has been arrested after the bloody terrorist attack in belgium. tbf -- rtbf.our this waslear whether the person they had been looking for. the screen seeing capture of the two brothers who blew themselves up. they were looking for, they believe this man planted a bomb at the airport. joe in florida. republican. good morning to you. what should the response be from the united states? caller: good morning. the fellow said we have the enlistities to israelis, to be spies. we can pay them what they are worth. i'm throwing a couple of countries in there. the kurds are sick and tired of isis. the jordanians, king abdulla is sick and tired of isis. is sick and tired. we ought to pursue that. the intelligence committee, our program in the u.s. does not seem to be worth spit. it is not producing anything. host: we read earlier that the ci director last year warned europe about what is happening, the amount of radical muslims that had gone to syria and come back to europe. -- the cia director last year warned europe. caller: a stern talking to, that is not what we need. we need to enlist some folks that are -- i don't know if you've ever seen "lone survivor." the entire village stood up. we ought to rescue those people and bring them over to our side. when iraq was destabilized, all these tribes came out of the woodwork. , probably theraq same way with afghanistan. another thing and then i will let you go. this one neighbor, he never joined the armed services and he's coming up to me talking about boots on the ground. i says, what the heck are you talking about? you've never served. boots on the ground are dads, cousins -- they are not boots on the ground. like the gop establishment when john mccain says we need boots on the ground. host: larry in west virginia. independent. you are next. caller: good morning. thank you for having me again. the thing of it is, what donald trump has said, we need to stop everything until we can get a hold on all this. the wall does need to go up. furthermore now -- there is a black guy there from maryland talking, he was hollering black kids ought to have what the white kids got in america -- my son is graduating this year. nowhere on the list where it says caucasian or white to fill out the form. host: we will keep taking your calls this morning. what should the response be to the terrorist attacks in brussels, belgium yesterday? your recommendations to lawmakers on capitol hill, to the president, to the presidential candidates talking about it. folks are starting to line up outside the supreme court this morning. .ou can see the line there the issue of contraceptive coverage returns this money. justices will hear a case involving a group with religious affiliations. involved religiously affiliated organization such as universities, hospitals and charities. the obama administration says it has provided organizations with an easy way out. object must make their religious objections clear by signing a form or signing a letter and letting insurance companies take over from there. the groups say that would implicate them and send. -- in sin. exemptionshe same extended to churches and other religious groups. the little sisters of the poor runs homes for the elderly. all but one of the nations courts of appeals have ruled against the government. we will hear from the lawyers who will be arguing for and against after they make their case to the justices. tune in to c-span, go to www.c-span.org for more details on that. janine in germantown, maryland. democrat. u.s.do you think about the and the terrorist attacks in belgium? caller: thank you for taking my call. the question is, what should the response be of the u.s. to change the foreign policy. that way, you would not have isis, which is not considered muslim. muslims do not consider isis as muslims. what they do has nothing to do with islam. be goingshould not into other countries and taking their resources and creating wars. this is how people like isis come about. change or foreign policy and you will not have all the terrorism going on. host: change it how? caller: there's a lot of grievances, it is all geopolitical. there's a lot of things going on in the middle east. israel has a lot to do with it. there is oil over there. what do you think we've been doing with decades and decades of war in the middle east? what is it out there that we want? go back decades and do your homework. -- 30% of muslims muslims are african-americans in the united states. you don't be a bigot and put them aside. you need muslims to help you. host: take a look at some reaction from lawmakers. --e mccall weeding out tweeting out -- adam schiff, ranking democrat on the intelligence committee -- judy in bloomington, illinois. republican. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i don't know there is a black and white issue to this. i hear the candidates coming out and saying we should do this and do that. it takes a lot of people to get together and discuss and make some decisions about exactly what to do. i don't think it comes from one person. one of the solutions at somebody out, this is threw a cyber war. they've got good communication. if we can disrupt their communication, what they are saying and how they are getting that message out, that would help. this that goes right to case of the fbi trying to get access to the san bernardino shooter's phone. the fbi testifying on capitol hill, that encryption poses a big problem for the intelligence agencies, the domestic police forces here to try to track and keep track of terrorist communications. caller: right. i understand. i heard all the programs on that. there has to be a way we can disrupt their communication. if they have a way of communicating, there is a way of disrupting them. host: do you think lawmakers should focus their attention on that? caller: it is a major thing they should focus their attention on. they cannot focus solely on it. host: we will talk about how capitol hill may respond here, coming up on "washington journal ." early to gaveling in get some things done before they leave for recess. the senate has been in pro forma session all week. aming up, we will talk with republican from new jersey and we will talk to eleanor holmes norton about what is happening with public transportation, safety issues here in the nation's capital with metro and amtrak just a couple blocks from the u.s. capital there on your screen. you have reagan national airport just over the river. close to the pentagon and other federal agencies. how should the u.s. respond? "the washington post" editorial board. donald trump sat down with them earlier this week. and allied response to the brussels for. horror.sels the tragic events of brussels illuminates the folly of mr. trump's position. in the absence of that american commitment, chaos like the scene in brussels will soon cross even our most fortified borders. massachusetts. independent. richard, good morning to you. caller: good morning. the problem over there was caused by us and that was in 1991 when we went over there and build bases in kuwait and saudi arabia. 1993, they try to take the towers down. we've opened up a can of worms over there. this blood is on our hands. call in and say make the sand glow and all that, we went after them. they never bothered us before 1991. this is what the people of america are missing. we opened the can of worms and this blood is on our hands. host: david is a democrat in madison heights, michigan. you are on the air. thank you for taking my call. i've seen a number of photographs and i can see a donald trump playing in the background. also, the men they arrested is ataring a donald trump h made in china. i think donald trump did this to to get theirle vote. host: tom in rockland, maine. republican the good morning. that's republican. good morning. what do you think the u.s. should do? whenr: what did england do in ireland?bombing in the late 1960's and 1970's, , the sudanese liberation organization, everything just stopped. the reason it will keep going, there's too many people -- the world has gotten bigger. these different countries and everything, they have different ideas. i was just wondering -- host: we will leave that question out there. we have 10 minutes left in our conversation with all of you about what the u.s. response should be and then we will talk with policymakers in washington about what congress might do here. first, want to tell you a bit more about student cam. it is our annual video contest for middle school and high school students. recently, we announce this year's winners. the bus continuing its travel throughout the country to visit them. on monday, the bus made a stop in jenks, oklahoma to recognize their student cam winners, including the grand prize winner on her video about the national debt and deficit. local elected officials attended the school ceremony. the bus also visited the dallas, texas area this week. tomorrow, it will visit winners in new mexico and el paso, texas. we work with our cable partners at cox, charter, time warner cable to coordinate these community visits for the winners. studentcam.org to learn more about this contest and the winners. -- melvin in mount pleasant, south carolina. democrat. good morning you are next. up on: we need to follow these leads like what happened in paris to mothers say connection with what happened yesterday. , there is a connection with what happened yesterday. when these things happen, we partshave to go into our suggesting what might happen. that's giving them ideas. bill in pennsylvania. republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you? i'm proud of you. i'm going to europe next month on the 25th. it has me scared right now with the situation. my country here. i don't care what they do in greece, you understand? we have take into consideration what my good friend donald trump says. they should take care of their own problem. we have our own problems at home. i've lived in america 50 years. this is my home. have family everywhere. that's their problem, they should take care of it. talking about donald trump should go back to college. we have to protect ourselves, even if we have to kill them. that is the name of the game. or else, they will kill us. wake up, america. smell the american coffee. host: "washington times" front page. court rebukes irs for two party targeting -- tea party targeting. also, on capitol hill, judge merrick garland made his way up to capitol hill again yesterday. he met with senator chuck toumer from new york, posed be the next leader for democrats in the senate. the headline "garland has usually sided with law enforcement." judge garland voted differently 10 times.ellow judge senator schumer saying the gop should back garland for the high court. findingstory is a poll 69% of americans and said the senate should hold hearings on the garland nomination. another story from capitol hill in "the washington times." ryan forced to skip a budget. republican leaders have written a budget and earned enough votes to get it through the budget committee on a 20-15 vote. conservatives have bowed to sync it if it comes to the house floor, sing they want to see an additional $30 billion in cuts to reverse the spending deal that republican leaders and president obama reached in the fall. the next contest is wisconsin. "the wall street journal" says it will test ted cruz and bernie sanders. giving the candidates a lot of time to get some infrastructure in place and campaign in that state. ted cruz is scheduled to appear waukesham wednesday in . he announced four additional stops thursday and friday in madison and fox valley. the former florida governor jeb bush plans to endorse ted cruz today. this from the campaign trail. donald trump weeding out -- tweeting out -- ted cruz responded by saying -- we have five minutes here. that's continue our conversation. anthony in washington, d.c. independent. in morning to you. -- good morning to you. one of the things people to't understand is we need stay on course. isis is losing. they have been losing. they lose battles every day. you see the recruits coming back home. what they have to do in europe is doing better vetting job. there is nothing we need to change. host: they needed to do a better job of what? closing down their borders? .aller: vetting know who left. we have passports we know who left. we know exactly who they are and where they are going. host: beverly in california. democrat. what the you think? caller: good morning. take you for having me on and thanks for the great job. , is action going on now think we need to have the middle east get involved. host: ok. caller: saudi arabia and these other countries in the middle east, jordan, nobody's coming in to voice that they disagree with this or to come in and do something to help. i understand that we created the vacuum. i agree with the earlier caller that this is like an ideology. it is not something that we are able to stop by just sending more people in to get killed. donald trump is the tea party candidate. no one is saying that. i think he would be the worst case scenario because all of this that he just stirs up discourse, i don't think he will do anything he is promising these people. he is a businessman. he was in the business to make money. he did not pay the taxes like you should have. candidate. party up andalls will be set we will be set up for more and more violence. host: john in pennsylvania. republican. caller: thank you for having me on. as far as america is concerned, we need to get rid of the groups preaching hatred here. us supporting to israel, which we should. the majority of arabs teach their children from day one that the only good jew is a dead jew. remember the german olympics, -- they pushed the jewish passenger in the wheelchair overboard. the trade center, the first bombing which did not succeed and the second one that did. we have a short memory span. that is long before iraq. host: how'd you know that every arab teaches their children that? caller: the majority do in the middle east. host: how do you know that? caller: it is pretty evident when you see the majority it isu see the majority out protesting against israel. we should support israel. they are the only democracy there. benjamin netanyahu addressed the aipac conference here in washington. we covered that speech. toyou missed it, go www.c-span.org and you can catch it there. we are going to take a short break. when we come back, we are going .o talk to leonard lance we will be right back. ♪ american history tv on c-span3, this weekend on saturday afternoon. jeffrey rosen talks about john marshall. said my gift of john marshall to the people of the united states was the proudest act of my life. marshall has been praised for transforming the supreme court into what is called a dominant force in american life. >> at 10:00 on real america. role will put the shuttle on its precise heading towards an imaginary target in space. >> be today day maiden voyage of the spaceship columbia. the 1968 campaign for richard nixon. >> i have decided -- my ability to win and to cope with the issues. and not just in the smoke-filled room of miami. at 1:00, a panel of authors chronicling mexicans civil rights from the 1930's to the 1970's. >> they came together to protest the exploitation and accelerated congress' decision to terminate it the next year. this was a moment of blossoming chicano movement. >> for the complete schedule, go to c-span.org. "washington journal continues. lance,ongressman leonard republican of new jersey. what do you think the u.s. response should be to what ?appened in brussels the fight against isis, and domestically, what do we do? tost: we need to return regular order within the house and senate. in this area, we passed 12 appropriation bills. we haven't done this in several times in the senate because of the filibuster. we need to go through this line by line. need an overall strategy coming from the white house. i do not think we have had that to the extent we have should. hope whoever is elected president to be stronger in that area. we need greater allied participation, particularly in the middle east, including turkey. spendingn it comes to on the nation's infrastructure and security, are you talking about increasing the amount we spend? >> not necessarily increasing, but line by line, there is an appropriate level of bending. should airport security be beefed up? should they check cars before they get close to the airport? not only for airports, but other public facilities as well. this should be done across the board. >> that would cost a lot of money. if you added that to the security, to commuter trains, , what does that mean? here in washington, at union station, we should have greater security. theant to make sure american people are as safe as is humanly possible. union station, that is where a lot of commuters are coming in. amtrak is raised out of there. it is just steps from the u.s. capitol. or from bostont to richmond is very heavily traveled. i think we have to be on guard, particularly based on what happened in brussels. if cities moved to screen even a portion of rail passengers, the cost could be high. we need prevention to make sure this type of tragedy does not have been in this country. it is within our budget. we have to look at it line by line. cuttingeas, we could be back. we have to examine this closely. trump said we need to ban muslims coming into this country until lawmakers figure out what is going on. i do not agree with that. most muslims are good citizens. we need them to be on guard. we have to work with countries in the middle east. you should have been a pause in the refugee program. i don't favor an absolute ban on all of that. the country's traditions are that we do not believe in matters based by faith. i do think we need a much better system of security and we passed a screening bill in the house , and passed unanimously. i hope it passes in the senate. have a check, year by year, into how other countries are doing, regarding screening. other countries have to do a better job and the so-called 9/11, as well as the shoe bomber came here under a visa waiver program. to be ever vigilant in that regard. >> this legislation you are talking about deals with those countries that have visa waivers. analysis deals with an country by country. host: senator ted cruz says we -- before they become radicalized. do you think law enforcement should be patrolling muslim communities? guest: they should examine any community where there is a potential. this in ado fact-based situation. we need greater surveillance given what has happened. host: go ahead. support hillary's idea ,f intensive cyber security tracking the people in the country, including those who might be a potential threat. i would volunteer because i was a military officer. basically we just listen and vote. host: repeat your question. will he support cyber security rather than boots on the ground? lastly, i think he ought to open up a line for muslim americans to come in and tell you what is going on and how they can facilitate. host: we have done that in the past. on cyber security, we need greater analysis. there are bad apples across the world regarding cyber security. the russians, the chinese, the iranians. i'm talking about the governments, not the great people of china. i favor cyber security. whoever the two nominees are, our nominee will discuss this and we need greater cyber security in this country. host: who are you planning to vote for? guest: i will vote for the republican candidate for president. i had endorsed governor christie. beenentally, he would have the best on these issues of national security. was the united states attorney for the district of new jersey and dealt with these matters after 9/11. inen that he is no longer the race, i have not yet chosen to endorse one of the three remaining candidates, but whoever our candidate is, i will support. , like abraham lincoln did , i think we have a deep bench. there are lots of talented candidates for president. >> i think of ben carson would be excellent. of the three candidates in the host: what you make of the governors asking him to resign because of him campaigning for donald trump and asking him to jerseyk to the new taxpayers, money for his security detail. guest: i think you should not resign. woodrow wilson did not resign the governorship when he ran for president. >> he had acurity security detail. this is almost a partisan criticism. caller: i have a question. think about the theory that we have always had a bad guy? the theory of isis is mercenaries from around the , they came together and basically it is about money and power. host: he was wondering about isis. he said they are mercenaries who , from around the world and that we have always had a bogey, that the united states has always had an enemy. i think isis has always had a bogeyman. we have to be part of the worldwide coalition to defeat and destroy isis. host: republican -- republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will go to patrick, oklahoma. caller: good morning. there are two things that stuck in my mind. going over to the center yesterday, everybody talked about the same thing. it made us feel sad, seeing our president sit there and not take thenne back here and hillary clinton thing we do not have to secure the borders. these people are out of touch. people in middle america get it. i cannot take this anymore. it is getting ridiculous what our leaders are doing. they are destroying this country. host: what is your reaction to president obama staying in cuba? some of your republican colleagues say he should have come home. guest: i don't think he should have gone to cuba. i think the cuban regime is awful. this has a new jersey component to it. joann, who killed a police officer in new jersey at generation ago as a fugitive from justice and she is in cuba. normalize to relations with cuba, we should have demanded she be brought back to this country. i think it is incumbent upon the president of the united states, whoever he or she is, to address a critical issue such as brussels. i hope the cuban government can reform and if that is not likely, congress should make sure the embargo continues. host: ohio, george, democrat. good morning. i have a question. how come republicans are racist? host: why do you say that? holler when president obama was elected, they dim like that too much. they didn't like seeing a black man become president. remember in the golf courses, when they did let black people in the golf courses? they are. i think he is listening through his phone and tv, which is causing confusion. i think the republican party is a party of abraham lincoln, the first republican president. he famously fought through to victory in the civil war and the great emancipation proclamation. regarding golf clubs, i have a golf clubed to and would never belong to a golf club who excluded people based on race, religion creed, or national origin. regarding president obama, i am a strong republican. i do not favor many of his policies. weis a very good thing ancted someone who is african-american president. i would have preferred it to be condoleezza rice or colin powell. thatt to assure the caller i believe strongly that the ofublican policy is individual merit and each of us should be judged based upon the content of our character, not the color of our skin. caller: i remember when george bush was first elected. he said loud and clear that the muslim religion was a religion of peace. since then, over 6000 americans have died on our soil by the hands of that peaceful religion. i think you're thinking and attitude towards things, more americans are going to die right here on our soil. look at all of them that died at 9/11. there have been at least 6000 americans died on our soil. oppose radical islamic jihadists him. i think it is unfortunate the president does not use that term. we should call it for what it is. that is a small minority of those of the islamic faith. i am highly critical, completely critical of radical islamic jihad is him. we have to work as a society to you feed it, defeat it fully. i hope this is a discussion in the presidential race as well. i agree with the caller. to fight through to victory. regarding religions, i believe this is a country that favors the tolerance of all religions. i oppose and fight against radical islamic jihad is in. host: should leadership put a new authorization for military force on the floor, give authority to fight isis and should there be more of a military presence to do so? guest: we should put this on the floor. what the president suggested was the weakest in american history. that't think it should the and those on the armed services committee are strongly of the belief. they are united on the belief that it has to be a strong authorization. regarding boots on the ground, i do not favor that. i favor greater recognition of working with other nations, especially other arab nations. we should be involved with air power. i favor a strong military force. marlboro, maryland, james. what i don't get, all of this time, you want to give obama all of this stuff, saying he is a weak president, he is trying to make things right. you cannot just go into places muslims,beating up the radical muslims, i understand that. you have muslims that live in the united states that don't do anything. they work every day like we do. they are just trying to make a living for their families. i do not get you guys in the republican party. candidate tedial cruz said yesterday about making it more hard and putting more people aren't doing anything to anybody. they live in the united states. host: what is your response? guest: we agree rikard -- regarding radical islamic jihadists. unfortunately, there have been some who have been radicalized what we inntry and the house are trying to do is to tighten the visa waiver program to make sure that no one can come into this country who wishes us harm. it is the first responsibility of those serving in federal office to make sure the american nation remains safe. bernardino, that was a couple involved in that horrible act. that couple included the wife who came from abroad. host: where does it stand and the republican party want to tighten that program? no one can come into this country that wishes us harm. program, visa waiver that is how the so-called 20th hijacker was able to come into .his country that mean a visa will be required to come into the country? guest: i would not go that far. safety first. marry, independents. welcome to the conversation. say my i would like to husband and i were lifelong democrats. i saw the light a few years before my husband didn't switch to republican. i now feel that between the democrats who i feel left me and my husband because they turned socialist on us, we go to the , we feel like with , goingtablishment against us and calling us crazy , you demean us when you demean him. whole swath of the american public, the average american who is now disenfranchised by both parties. we aren't going to put up with it much longer. guest: i will support the republican candidate for president. if it is donald trump, i will support him. if it is ted cruz, i will support him. if it is john kasich, i will support him. doubt, donald trump is the leading candidate. thans far more delegates any other in the presidency. the history of the last few generations is that we have nominated our candidate for president on the first ballot. every republican candidate has been nominated on the first ballot. i think the caller is of the belief that this should be decided in the primaries by republican primary voters. there are lots of americans who used to be democrats and are now republicans. we need more of that on the republican side. on the republican side, we don't have quite the numbers as they democrats. favor having republican primary voters decide this. ifhink it is likely that donald trump is extremely close and has 1100 delegates, i imagine he would be the nominee. if it is a significant lower number, it could go to a separate ballot. that is not the history of conventions in this country. also true in the democratic party. when leonard lance says if donald trump has 1100 delegates, he is referring to the magic number a republican needs. that is 1237 for the nation. with 739.mp ted cruz with 465. john kasich, 143. you are also on the health care .ubcommittee tell our viewers about 21st century care. this is the major initiative of the company which i serve. it was established in 1795. we report to the floor, more legislation than any other committee. this initiative would make it easier to bring new medicines to market. chest of thedicine entire world. it is the signature issue of our chairman, who does a terrific job. chairman upton is negotiating with leading u.s. senators. we hope this legislation will reach the president's desk. it passed an overwhelming vote. host: explain how this would get new medicine to the market. guest: we want to make sure this will be done with the greatest speed possible. making sure, with the safety -- possible,st safety any medicines brought to market will be safe. reducing you regulations in place by the fda? guest: we are modernizing them, but not reducing safety. we always appreciate the conversation. we will take a break and we will be back. about homeland security and transportation in this country. ♪ ♪ >> the need for horses on the farm began to decline radically in the 1930's. it was not until the 1930's that they figured out how to make a rubber tire big enough to fit on a tractor. andting in the 19 30's 1940's, you had an almost complete replacement of forces as the work animals on farms. in one of my books on horses, i read that in the decade after world war ii, we had something like a horse holocaust that the horses were no longer needed. we did not get rid of them in a very pretty way. robert gordon,, professor of economics at northwestern university discusses his book. it looks of the growth of the american standard of living between 1870-1970 and questions its future. that ofteng interests people is the impact of superstorm sandy on the east coast. back in 2012. that wiped out the 20th century for many people. the elevators no longer worked in new york. electricity stopped. you could not charge your cell phone. you could not pump gas into your car because it required electricity to do that. the power of electricity and the internal combustion engine to make modern life possible is something that people take for granted. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern. " continues.journal host: we want to welcome back the d.c. delegate elinor holmes norton to our table, thank you for being here and let's begin with what you know about how d.c. officials in the federal government is responding to the brussels attack in d.c., what is security like? guest: first of all for your viewers may not understand i'm a member of congress and represent the district of columbia. the district of columbia only has one representative in the congress of this is something of immense interest to me and what we are hearing as members of congress is that there is no credible threat. credible there is no threat in brussels yesterday either. they have the same kind of security we have. we are most concerned about our metro underground system because it has been prone to accidents recently. we are pleased that they are now engaged in a major construction that0 miles of cable so there can be underground contact. we have not had that here. when it comes to these kind of attacks, we feel perhaps better prepared than europe has been. first of all, our muslim communities are formal welcome. -- are far more welcome. have 9/11, our airports very robust security. everyone is concerned now about the soft targets, the parts of that are completely unsecure because anybody can go there until they get in the lines for the secure part. columbia, here in washington, d.c., we are very much into if you see something say something. i have not seen that as much in other parts of the country. but particularly after this incident, this terrible tragedy in brussels, if you see something, say something was all over the social media and all over the television. mentioned, amtrak, ,nderground metro in this city the hind you's union station where amtrak and the metro come in. ridership in the united states has grown by more than 20% in the last decade reaching the highest level since 1957. u.s. travelers in 2014, 5 times more by rails and plaine. when usa today reports that in d.c., the police chief says that the nation was at a heightened state of alert and urged local residents to be vigilant and they would use more canine units to protect the metro and amtrak, is that enough? guest: of course it's enough for what we know. this is still a democracy, it's still an open society. we are not going to close it down. what happened here in washington is emblematic of what is happening all over the united states, what's happening in newark in particular. i signed a letter yesterday with other members of congress asking that the special funds that are given to metropolitan areas on the -- at the highest risk that those funds continue to flow. they have been flowing at about $600 million per year and they are available to areas like the national capital region and new york city. get two calls, let's go to john in greenwood, indiana, a democrat. go ahead. elinor towould like comment on what we need to do to as a new code of ifething like 311 so that you have suspected terrorist activities or you spot something like that, it would be reported line like the san bernadino case. the woman did not feel comfortable calling the police and she called 311. it can go to washington and they can make a cross reference and maybe that would help us in the future to do away with terrorist attacks. host: maybe a line to say something if you see something. i think what the caller is saying is very wise. i think people who feel uncomfortable and mistakes could be made. if there was a call that could be made and i have not heard this suggestion before of 311 where you wouldn't have to give a great deal of information, perhaps your name or where you are, would be helpful. our most vulnerable at soft targets. that would mean that see something, say something would have a way to communicate what you are seeing. host: what you consider a soft target? most of thesider nation's capital and most of america a soft target. airport, thento an area where you go to the counter and you have your ticket checked is a soft target. anybody can go there. when you go to union station or station, it is nothing like what we have at the airports. that is a soft target. if you pardon everything, it will not be america anymore so we have to be very careful. i represent this city and i must saw you that after 9/11, i overreaction of the worst kind. in front of the capital, it's a very busy street leading downtown and they stopped every car. if al qaeda was coming, you think they would go up the steps of the capitol? overreaction that was not science-based and we have to keep in mind that we have to balance security with openness. this is america. cars goingd we check to airports like they do in israel? guest: i don't think going into airports would do much good. bomber, is a suicide the real problem we face is that it's difficult to say check somebody coming in through the airport. yet we may be getting there. keith in savannah, tennessee, republican, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. can you answer question for me respect to lead? i would like to know why president obama stayed in cuba with what went on in belgium. any other president would have left immediately. as close as cuba is, he would not have stayed for a ballgame and get back home and address what happened in belgium with heightened security that knowing we could have had a terrorist attack here at the homeland. can you please answer that for me question mark guest: i can't answer that specifically but the president took questions on a lot of the questions were about just that tragedy. i don't know that coming home would've been any different than answering those questions in your book. it was such a terrible tragedy that the president should come home, i'm not sure particularly since he was going to come home come homehe would today anyway that that would've made a difference. it was important for the president to speak to it at that moment at that time. i think he did the right thing. leaving in the middle of the baseball game is what you might have expected if it was some place in the united states. host: minnesota, brian, independent. caller: good morning, i would like to ask, do you really think the majority of americans that should vote off of a fear such when we have bigger problems to deal with at home? host: what do you mean? that national security and terrorism be a top issue for voters? caller: correct. i feel for people who are affected by terrorism without a doubt. terrorism in the united states is not brought about from isis as much as it is from the christian right. more americans have lost their lives due to extremism from christians in this country than from muslims. for the caller, i want you to rest assured that the number one issue for americans interestingly is economics, their own economic security. it's not their safety. whenever there is an incident like this, safety becomes number one but i agree, you have to take a long view and react to every single incident if your sense of anxiety is that high, then it seems that you are taking away from your own life in just the way the terrorists would want americans to do. i do not think that isis has been such a threat to the continental united states that it should be the issue, the number one issue in the presidential campaign. i don't think there's a dime worth of difference between what democrats and republicans would do in keeping our country safe. fore is a lot of talk example, about the people who should come in and not come in but when comes to the armed forces and how we protect our country, when it comes to and we arecurity building a new homeland security complex here in the nation's americans think that should feel himself very origin that they have a government that indeed does your tech them and are more fortunate than they would feel if they were in europe. speaking of presidential campaigns, who are you supporting? guest: i am supporting hillary clinton. host: what did you make of donald trump telling the editorial board when he had his meeting earlier this week ok for d.c. toe have a vote in the house. he said that's something that would be ok, having representation and he said statehood is tough for ec. -- for d.c.. when you say i am a delegate, not everybody knows what that means. in the congress, i can be called legate or congresswoman. i prefer to be called that'sswoman because what i do. i do everything everybody else does except one thing i guess that's what donald trump means. most people think everybody that pays federal income taxes in the united states, taxation without representation, that was the slogan which our country was , that all such people should have a vote in the congress of the united states. we have no senators either. should knowviewers something that may surprise them. the people i represent pay taxes at a rate, federal income taxes, of $12,000 per person. that is greater -- that is a greater amount of taxes than any resident anywhere in the united states. i appreciate the call. that clarifies what i do. i want you to know that i have .ust been among the big 4 these are the four leaders of the service transportation bill that was just past. i had the same say is the other leaders. that was very important. it has to do with metro and the subways and it has to do with your roads and bridges. long-term first such service transportation bill in a decade. for theat did it do security of the nations public infrastructure? guest: security comes out of a different appropriation. it's so important. host: we will go on to kathy in sacramento, california. caller: good morning. hi there, nice to meet you. i am wondering why everything that happens in another country has to reflect on us so harshly area more and more rights get taken away from us every time something happens. things happen all the time. homeland security is not my favorite people because they punish the good people. they don't go after the terrorists. they go after the citizens. caller, for you, indicating that we should not react to every incident in europe or the united states by losing our rights. that is what can happen. i'm not sure what the caller is talking about. it is true there is more of a check on you when you go to an airport. you go take a train in its different. we have to be very vigilant. officials butf many americans is to say i will give up everything to keep me safe. if we don't have that allen's, we are not america anymore. i don't know what we are but we are but we're not the america you and i have known. lawrenceville, georgia, honor line for republicans. caller: thank you, representative norton, i would like to cite notice you don't seem to be getting any older. guest: [laughter] caller: what my question is -- to make this country great again, what we need to do is the democrats and the republicans look,o get together and, there is to big problems we have not counting terrorist's. we have a transportation problem and we have to replace almost all the water pipes in the united states. if the republicans and the democrats could get together and quit using politics, there's a certain amount of money that can go towards transportation. we are going to have to replace those water pipes. host: let's talk about it because eleanor holmes norton has that as an issue she focuses on as well as the water problems in the district and you have been involved with the situation in flint, michigan as well. guest: i did visit went, michigan but the caller is focusing on infrastructure of the united states, transportation, water pipes and the rest. what we are seeing inner country is a decline of what made our country great. we invested in a great infrastructure in the united states. theident eisenhower started highway system. i'd brag almost about how we got the first transportation bill, service transportation bill out in a decade. but there was not one cent more than was in it 10 years ago. the fact is, the bridges and infrastructure of every kind is completely falling apart. flint, michigan is an example of that. those water pipes, you talk about water pipes -- most of the underground infrastructure is century -- if you leave something that long and you don't fix it and you don't keep it up, there will come a time when you have two for a humongous amount of money just to keep yourself going. penny wise andry pound foolish. i think the caller for understanding that. host: ted from richardson, texas, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. for the delegate, you said that what happens in washington is emblematic of the rest of the country. i think washington is the ivory tower. i think it's out of step with what goes on the rest of the country. we wouldn't be having these problems in washington if they were in step. i think washington is the ivory tower in the don't listen. they don't listen to the people and they are supposed to. host: we will get a response. guest: i thank you for that response but i think you miss heard me. security we are going through in washington is emblematic of what is happening in the rest of the country. i don't want callers to believe that what i said was happening here in washington, d.c. was happening in new york and san francisco and all the great cities of the united states. ofeant to say that the kind horrific polarization were nothing gets done very often that you see in washington is what is happening in the rest of the country. will notat americans ratify that. but will send washington a message that if republicans and emma kratz cannot sit down together even on something like water pipes, what do we need them therefore? host: let me get your reaction to another perception of washington, d.c. guest: first of all, that's a member of congress who said that? federal taxpayers have nothing to do with the boom in washington. we are having a boom in washington. you know why? because people are moving into washington. the millennials, people from the suburbs want the city light. it has nothing to do with the federal taxpayers. it's our own taxpayers. and don't have representation in the house and senate and we are treated as second-class citizens. whatever you see in washington comes out of my pocket and not your pocket. from theongressman poorest district of iowa is a republican. elizabeth, washington, d.c., democrat. caller: good morning. one of your constituents for the last 34 years and i've been a resident of ec longer than you have been a delegate. i remember your first campaign. a friend of mine sponsored a fundraiser for you. guest: thank you. caller: it was a long distant relative. i admire all the work you do. i am glad that in a polite way, you let the rest of the nation of the peopleers who live in the district of columbia do not have votes for actual voting representation in congress or the senate. mys in my lifetime and in tenure in the district of that through a constitutional amendment, we finally got the right to vote for president. for many years, we did not have that right. andk you for your loyal consistent service. you represented us well and you represent us well for the nation. host: i will jump then we will get a response. guest: that was such a wonderful thing to say. it educated people as to the aboutct of columbia and what it takes to represent the city that does not have the same rights as everybody else. we are trying to get statehood. we did have a court that ruled just this week that we have autonomy -- that we are entitled to autonomy over our own budget. dime has to federal come to the congress to be approved for all those cranes around ec. that tweet from that congressman, he serves on the oversight committee. let me speak to what you are talking about, that comes back to the metro. when the metro was closed down to examine the power lines that caused the fire recently, were you satisfied? what were you told about it? were you kept aware of what was happening? members of congress from this region were told in it than's that they will be shut down. we were disappointed but that was a safety call. that was from a new general manager who had seen a smoking , aident just the day before similar smoking incident had killed a woman last year and he wanted to avoid another safety problem and low and behold, he found other parts of the metro where that very same kind of tragedy could occur and they showed it to us on television. i don't think we should ever second-guess a safety call problem that the residents of this region have. unreliable.s been it has lost 5% of its riders within the last five years maybe because gas is cheaper but it also has to do with service we hope this new general manager rebuilds the metro. this is one of the oldest and has been one of the best underground metro's in the united states. nashville,t is in tennessee, republican, you're next. caller: one of the ways i think to solve the problem of the world is for the united states to deal fairly with israel and to backd and get them off on stealing the water and the apartheid and the settlements. i think it inflames the muslim world and it's not just muslims who are affected in palestine but there are christians who are oppressed. i am disappointed and hillary clinton speech at aipac. trump and bernie sanders seem to that have aones handle on the problem. guest: you will find democrats and republicans differ in their israel.nding on it's very tragic with happening there. appeared years ago that there could be a settlement between the palestinians and the israelis but now they are further apart than ever. is the nationsed of the world most involved are just standing back. nobody can make these parties get together. we've got to wait for an opening and then go in there and encourage some kind of sanity among the parties. host: we will go to minnesota, jennifer, independent. hi, ladies. it's been so long. and it inflames me when i heard the one man talk about christians being terrorists. i am ely jumped on the phone because it makes me sick to hear that kind of hate talk. i also wanted to agree with a gentle man who called saying with this article incident that happened in belgium, president obama should have been over here. he should not have been in cuba. it upsets me he is over there because i don't think he wants to see or talk about the people imprisoned for- speaking out on what they believe and they are being tortured for what we call our first amendment rights. host: the house is about to gavel in. do you have any closing thoughts? guest: i'm pleased to speak with the dissidents. what the president is doing in cuba, most americans believe he should be doing. has he has been doing isolated us from south america. if he had not spoken with the dissidents, that would have been a mistake. he spoke with them and everything he said in his speech made clear where we stand on greater democracy. there is none in cuba and the president is the first to say that. host: congresswoman eleanor holmes note norton, we appreciated. the house is about to gavel in. live coverage here on c-span. host[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c., march 23, j. i hereby appoint john duncan junior to be speaker pro tempore on this day. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray, merciful god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. send your spirit upon the members of this peoples house to encourage them in their official task. assure them in the fulfillment of their responsibilities, you provide the grace to enable them to be faithful in their duties and the wisdom to be conscious of their obligations and fulfill them with integrity. as the congress looks to the upcoming holy celebrations of millions of americans, may they and may we all be mindful of your love for us. may we be faithful stewards not only of your creation, but also your desire, that all people would be free from whatever inhibits them being fully alive. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from georgia, >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-pipt speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. poe: mr. speaker, nick castle was a bright energetic 23-year-old who decided to teach in china following his graduation from u.c. berkeley. tranlically he became a seriously sick after becoming a peace corps volunteer in china in 2012. he was the victim of an inefficient, underequipped, and unresponsive peace corps-led medical team in china. after being described with a broad antibiotic, he began to experience brassic weight loss but told he was fine. he was then confined to his bed and the doctor never recommended he go to the hospital. after experiencing dangerously low blood pressure, nick was finally sent to that hospital. as the ambulance made its way to nick, the ambulance got lost. then after picking up nick, he stopped breathing before the ambulance arrived at that hospital. nick died a few weeks later in early 2013. investigations reveal the peace corps medical team misdiagnosed his illness. this heartbreaking death of a young man serving our country and the world could have been avoided had the peace corps staff assisted him in having a properly trained, equipped, and responsive team. mr. speaker, peace corps volunteers are america's angels abroad. they are some of the best that we have. they are the spirit of humanitarian asirsance, and america must make sure and take care of these amazing people when they serve in lands far, far away so that there are no more deaths like nick castle. that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. kildee: thank you, mr. speaker. the ongoing crisis in my hometown of flint, michigan, is a real tragedy. the failure of government has affected 100,000 people, adults and children, who, after months and months still could not -- do not have clean drinking water. it's my view that the state of michigan bears the principle responsibility for this crisis and should step up and do more. it was the i michigan department of environmental quality that failed to a great extent. i know there are members who share my view that there's responsibility at every level of government. we could argue about how we apportion that responsibility, but in the meantime, beam in flint -- people in flint still can't drink the water and they need help. and they deserve help from the state and they deserve help from their federal government. they are citizens of michigan, but they are also citizens of the united states who are facing a disaster, who are facing a crisis, and have every right to expect that their government will step in to help them, especially when it's clear that it was the government that did this in the first place. that made the decisions that led to this crisis. so i ask that we not leave this place, that we not recess until we take up legislation to provide direct help to the city of flint. it's something that i think is our moral responsibility and it's unconscionable that we would leave this body without acting. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> mr. speaker, today the high court is considering the little sisters of the poor vs. burwell, a most important case regarding religious libtert and the first amount. mr. hice: they are a religious institution dead coited -- dedicated to assisting the poor. but an unfair dilemma has been forced upon them. they must choose whether to violate their religious believes-e beliefs tway complying with the h.h.s. mandate, or pay massive fines. the government cannot compel people to violate their conscious and their religious faith, but today we are watching the government force people to choose between their faith or government decree. to place citizens of this country in this inescapable position is not only reprehensible, but it is also a direct violation of the free exercise clause of the first amendment. mr. speaker, i pray that the court be granted the wisdom and discernment necessary to resolve this case in support of religious liberty and conscious rights. people must not be forced by the government to violate their faith. 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? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. gentleman from is recognized for one minute. mr. veasey: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor a legend since 1976 on the dallas-fort worth music scene. the 40th anniversary of the latin express band. the latin express band founded by carlos and leo sans have come a way from this humble roots of playing high school dances. over the past 40 years they have played in music venues throughout the dallas-fort worth metroplex anti-country. in 2001, they were one of the music venues that performed in the presidential inaugural ball. they were recently inducted into the at this hannah roots hall of fame in -- tejano roots hall of fame in 2008. they have inspired future generations of local musicians. on march 31, they will perform at fort worth's historic theater in honor of cesar chavez's birthday. they have come a long way from playing at sadie hawkins dances back in the day and they and -- and i'm honored to recognize their achievements. congratulations to latin express. 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 ohio rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to commend the decision by the u.s. supreme court earlier this week regarding the second amendment. by overturning the decision by the massachusetts supreme court, the courts reaffirmed not only that americans have the right to self-defense but also that stun guns are covered under the second amendment. the quace began when a woman named jamie was continually threatened by an abusive ex-boyfriend who put her in the hospital. at the urging of her friend she began carrying a stun gun for protection. after an incident that restraining against her ex-boyfriend failed to prevent, the threat of nonlethal device presented prevented any harm. they previously outlawed the stun guns and she was arrested. the highest court crithed which set clear standards for the sec amendment. the supreme court justices clearly saw the foolishness in the state court's decision and reversed it. reasserting the right to bear arms extends to all instruments that constitute bearable arms even though they weren't in existence when our nation was founded. mr. gibbs: the rights of all americans must be defended individually. i commend the supreme court for its decision and justice alita, giving states all necessary and nonlethal option in protection against violence. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman s recognized for one minute. mr. gutierrez: mr. speaker, i rise to pay tribute to a great woman of puerto rico, juanita, along with our wife and family, we are saddened by her loss. she was raised in barcelona but adopted puerto rico as her homeland. she loved puerto rico and important importantians like few people i ever met. from the beaches to the narrow beaches of old san juan. they raised a beautiful family, but what i remember most about her is her passion and compassion for adopted island home. especially how she donated her time and love to shelter abused and battered girls. she's in the thoughts and prayers of all puerto ricans and now just a line or two in spanishes -- [speaking in spanish] mr. gutierrez: thank you, and i have provided a translation, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. and the gentleman is required to provide a translation which he said he's already -- that he has done so. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as i travel throughout michigan's 7th district, i have had the privilege of getting to know some incredible women who have made a lasting mark on our communities. mary smith from coldwater is one of them. if you live in branch county, you know mary. she's family. over the last 40 years mary has spent countless hours volunteering at the community health center of branch county. mr. walberg: she also helped lead the effort to restore the beautiful tibits opera house and a passionate advocate for this iconic theater. on the e rode there back of my harley. she will turn 101 in june. continue to be inspired by her lifelong service to the community. this women's history month and every month we say thank you to women like mary smith who have made invaluable contributions to michigan, this country, and made our state a better place to live. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> mr. speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to acknowledge an outstanding pharmacist in my district, beverly. a resident of rochester hills, she has recently been named the 2016 pharmacist of the year by the michigan society of community pharmacists. this is a huge honor and beverly is actually the first pharmacist from my district to be awarded this prestigious distinction. this is not, however, beverly's first time being recognized for her work as a pharmacist. beverly was previously honored by the american pharmacy association with a one-on-one patient counseling recognition award in 2012, and two honorable mentions for the same award in 2008 and 2010. pharmacists play an important role in all our lives. our community is greatly enriched by beverly's dedication to customer service and patient safety. mr. speaker, i'm honored to have such an outstanding pharmacist working and living in my district. thank you, beverly, for your commitment to the people you serve and for our entire rochester community. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time for one-minute speeches having expired, pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on the motion 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. any record vote on the postponed question will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. poe: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.res. 658. the speaker pro tempore: the check will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 658, resolution condemning in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks on brussels on march 22, 2016, which murdered more than 30 innocent people and severely wounded many more. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, and the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. keating, each will control 20 minutes. the chair 2340u recognizes the gentleman from texas -- now recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: 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 the resolution. . i rise in support of h.res. 658 condemning the terrorist attacks carried out by islamic extremists yesterday and i will yield to mr. royce, from california, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of this resolution condemning the terrorist attacks in brussels carried out by islamic extremists yesterday. they struck in europe and this time in belgium. the murderers coldly chose crowded areas at the brussels airport and at the metro system in order to kill as many innocent men, women and children as possible and the latest numbers are 31 dead and 270 wounded, including a number of americans. isis has claimed responsibility for the attacks. the latest in a series that cludes an horrific attack in brussels, the attack in paris, a double suicide bombing in beirut, lebanon and downing a russian passenger jet in egypt. the list of atrocities is far longer including those by isis affiliates elsewhere such as the recent attack on the ivory coast. as these assaults show, isis is rapidly expanding its reach beyond syria and iraq. over 30,000 fighters from more than 100 countries have joined isis, including 250 americans. we had a young yazidi girl tell us she was taken by one of these americans who had been recruited four years ago on the internet by isis. 4,500 of this -- these terrorists hold western passports but are a plane right away from the united states and from europe. this resolution puts the house on record as condemning the attacks in brussels and extends our sympathies to those affected by this tragedy. and it reaffirms our support for the people of belgium, in their time of national anguish. but we must do more than than just express our sorrow. we must take decisive action to eliminate the threat including expanding information sharing with our friends and allies, putting stronger border checks in place, combatting the online propaganda and hate speech of isis extremists and sharpening coalition efforts to destroy isis itself. and i will remind the members that the foreign affairs committee has held a series of hearings on this. when isis came out and headed towards the border and headed towards fallujah, that was the time to hit this j.v. team, this group of guys in pickup trucks, as the president called them at the time, they were an open target on the open desert as they headed to fallujah and after that after they headed to city after city after city and they finally took most you will and the central bank of iraq. at this point, they have to be destroyed and going to take a strategic plan and the united and to bring to justice all those involved in the planning and execution of these deadly plans. belgium remains one of our strongest allies, a nation which we work closely on bilateral and multi lateral arenas. in um was on our side afghanistan as a leader in the european union mission and as an ally in the 2010, 2011 nato operations in libya. as host of the european union d nato headquarters, belgium there is cooperation between our countries. it's not by accident that the metro station and the airport were selected as the site of heinous violence. nearby, the metro headquarters of the european union, numerous government offices, including the u.s. embassy, which is less than a mile away. daily, hundreds if not thousands of public service workers cross through the station on their way to work. and brussels airport, dozens of innocent travelers and family members were drawn into a bloodshed that has spread from iraq and syria from the surrounding region and beyond. i visited last year on a security codel and i saw the strong police presence providing a sense of security for residents and visitors. due to the bravery and courage and preparedness of the emergency response teams, many families were spared the pain of losing a loved one and we honor today their quick action and their bravery. these terrorist attacks are misguided attempts to divide the coalition that has come together to degrade and defeat isis and their affiliates, we recognize the sentment identifies rhetoric remains an s this open investigation, the nature of yesterday's attacks, it hit close to home. whether it's new york city, san bernandino or whether it's boston where i saw firsthand the resilience and spirit come forward that any physical attack can never conquer. we see that same spirit and resolve in the people of russels and belgium today. the foreign fighters and the travel they do and the ex ten you ating threat they pose have been our top related security concerns. congress and the administration has taken actions to prevent the risk of such an attack here at home. we have tightened the security restrictions from visa waiver countries. we seal intelligence sharing gaps. and we are in the process of an unprecedented top to bottom review of airport security threats that will ensure our airports are safer than ever. the international community including governments and prominent organizations throughout the middle east and muslim majority nations have spoken out against these heinous attacks. with passage of this resolution, the u.s. congress joins these communities around the world in its condemnation of the terrorist attacks yesterday in brussels. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution. and with that, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. poe: i do want to thank the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. keating, for his comments, his support of this legislation and also the privilege to work with him on our terrorism subcommittee, where we have had numerous hearings on the issue of isis and other terrorist groups that are lurking throughout the united states and the world. mr. speaker, the attacks began shortly before 8:00 a.m., with an explosion at a departure terminal at the brussels airport. the area was between two american airlines, american airlines and delta airlines, believed to be a luggage bomb followed by another bomb shortly thereafter. then at 9:11 a.m., a bomb tore through the last car of a subway train as it was pulling out of a subway station. the bombings killed at least 10 at the airport and at least 20 at the subway station. more than 230 others were wounded. details are still surfacing, but we now know 10 americans were wounded in the attacks, one of them was a member of the united states air force. later in the afternoon, a news agency affiliated with isis issued a report bragging and claiming responsibility for the murders. reports said that the attacks were in retaliation for belgium's participation in a coalition against isis. mr. speaker, isis, this group that is relatively new in the terrorist industry, has already committed 70 terrorist attacks worldwide in 20 countries. as of january 1 of this year. and yet this is one more. these attacks in belgium occurred four days after the capture of europe's most wanted sole ist, abdeslam, the survivor of the attacks in paris that killed 130 people. the attacks made it clear that isis still maintains operational networks in europe carrying out attacks abroad while security is on highest alert. the bombing occurred from major institutions, as the ranking member, mr. keating, has pointed out. brussels is the capital of belgium and headquarters of the european union, headquarters of nato, this bombing attack occurred near the u.s. embassy that is there. this area of brussels, belgium stands and represents really the free world's endeavor to work together under democracy and liberty and those ideals that we value. it was no accident that brussels was picked for the attack. the fact that isis could operate sales in europe and strike at the heart of european society only a few months after the paris attacks should make us cognizant that our current strategy is really not successful. isis has been able to hold on to territory for two years. it trains its fighters, recruits foreigners and plans to attack countries like the united states. success in confronting isis and what occurred in paris and now in brussels. the united states must change its strategy against isis. we must allow them know safe haven anywhere in the world and must take away their capabilities to strike american cities. this resolution shows that the people of the united states stand along side our europeanian and in solidarity. we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected, but the people of belgium know that the people of the united states will support them through this time in every way possible and we must be more united in the face of this terrorist onslaught that threatens the very freedoms we hold dear. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. keating: i yield three minutes to my colleague on the foreign affairs committee, fellow new englander, the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: frarked for three minutes. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentleman from massachusetts and the gentleman from texas. yesterday the world saw the face of evil in a series of cowardly acts that claimed the lives of 34 innocent people in brussels. i extend my thoughts and prayers to all the families affected by this horrific violence. at the same time here in congress, we must renew our commitment to keep americans safe from terrorism and continue to support our intelligence services and law enforcement agencies in their critical work and do all that is necessary to defeat and destroy these terrorists wherever they are. but today, the united states and the entire world are standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of belgium. the isis terrorists who perpetrated these attacks did so in an amendment to strike fear in the heart of anyone who did not share their radical world views. we have seen the same tactics before in our own country in san bernandino, at the boston marathon, the pentagon, the world trade center and in a field in pennsylvania. but each time they tried, terrorists have failed to shake the resolve of those they targeted and we will not allow them to succeed this time. e motto of the country is -- unity makes strength. let there be no doubt we stand today united and strong with the people of belgium and do whatever it takes no matter how long it takes to help brussels rebuild and bring all those responsible to justice. i thank the gentleman and yield back. . the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. keating: i yield three minutes to the ranking member of the full committee, the gentleman from new york, mr. engel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. mr. engel: i thank the gentleman from massachusetts and the gentleman from texas. i am pleased to join with them on this matter. i'm pleased to support this measure. mr. speaker, with this resolution we are sending a clear message that we stand with the people of belgium, like my colleagues and like so many around the world, i'm angry, outraged, and deeply, deeply saddened by the terrorist attacks that ripped through brussels yesterday. my heart goes out to those whose loved ones were killed or injured and i'm mindful of their families here in the united states that have been directly touched by this violence and that we are still uncertain how many americans are themselves victims. for me as a new yorker, let me speak personally because september 11, 2001, is a scar, stain that will never go away as long as i live and as long as other new yorkers live. we know what it feels when hatred and violence take aim at our home. we know what it feels like when innocent people are killed by pure evil. so today we grieve with our brothers and sisters in belgium. but in the midst of grief, we cannot lose focus on our work to stop this kind of violence. we need to stand with our belgium friends not just in spirit bye action. to figure out who was responsible for these attacks, how they were able to carry them out, and what it will take to hold them accountable. we need to look for new areas for cooperation in terms of prevention, surveillance, and information sharing. along with our coalition partners, we need to press ahead in our effort to destroy isis, which has claimed responsibility for yesterday's attacks. how horrific that the thought and that human life is so worthless to these terrorists. it's just absolutely amazing they claim to be religious people, but instead they are pure evil. isis terrorists and other violent extremists target democratic societies because they want to shatter our spirit and force to us live in fear and we will not allow them to succeed. going forward, we'll work with our belgium partners and our other allies to move past this tragedy to fight terrorism, to enhance security, and to promote justice and democracy around the world. i support this resolution, i urge my colleagues to do the same. again, i commend my good colleagues from massachusetts and texas, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas continues to reserve. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. keating: thank you, mr. speaker. i have no more speakers and just will briefly close. again i want to thank my colleague from texas. in a congress that's often divided, we speak as one. in a country that's sometimes divided, today we speak as one. with the citizens of the world who value freedom and abhor violence and value human life, we speak as one. so i hope and i urge my colleagues to support this resolution. i thank, again, the ranking member of our committee, the full committee, as well as the chair of the full committee for joining with us. and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized to close debate on this resolution. mr. poe: i yield myself the remainder of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. poe: mr. speaker -- the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, our hearts do go out to the people of brussels and the people who were killed and the families that are throughout the world, including those that are injured from the united states. we cannot bring back those lives from yesterday, but we can do something about the murder that occurred yesterday in brussels. mr. speaker, it seems to me that the isis terror network is successful. isis exists for one reason -- to murder people. and because of that murder and violence that they incur, to scare, to bring fear and terror to countries that are attacked by isis. as i mentioned earlier, they have committed terror attacks in now 20 countries. and to some extent it seems to me that it's working because every time there is a terrorist ttack, people react in the sense we find more security. and i'm concerned that we are getting into the bunker mentality. people afraid to go any place. afraid to leave. why? because some terrorist attack may occur. it is obvious that we need to react to the crimes and these murders as a people that are affected by it. but we can't just be defensive against isis and other terrorist organizations. we can't just defend ourselves. we have to eliminate isis. they are at war with the world. and people who don't agree with them. they are at war. now, we probably need to understand their goal is to not only kill and maim but to cause fear, fear, individual fear. and they use every possible way they can do it from social media to bragging about the murders on youtube. so we as a people need to understand we have to eliminate isis. we are going to have to track them down, go get them, and eliminate them. you can't negotiate with these people. that's out of the question. so we either just react, try to defend ourselves when they commit crimes, or we go after them. i hope that the united states presents a better strategic -- strategy and let those folks know that just kill anybody that disagrees with them, isis, that their days are numbered because we are going to go eliminate them. we have to. because they have attacked us. our response must be more than defensive. we must be offensive and we must let them know you can't do this. you can't kill people because you don't like them. no matter where that occurs in the world. i would hope that the united states, with our partners and other countries, find an overall strategy that is successful that eliminates these people who kill because of perverted sense of their religion. but today we do mourn the loss and we show the support of our country with our neighbors across the seas for the crimes that have been committed against them. and as the ranking member has pointed out, this is an issue totally supported by both members -- both sides of the house, foreign affairs committee works together on almost all issues, and this is another example of that. with that, mr. speaker, that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. all time having expired on this resolution, the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 658. 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--- rules are suspended. mr. poe: mr. speaker. on that i ask -- request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing. until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. goodlatte: pursuant to house resolution 653, i call up h.r. 2745 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 344, h.r. 2745, a bill to amend the clayton act and the federal trade commission act to provide that the federal trade commission shall exercise authority with respect to mergers only under the clayton act and only in the same procedural manner as the attorney general exercises such authority. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 653, the bill is considered as read. the bill shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on the judiciary. the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, and the gentleman from michigan, -- the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, each will control 30 minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and include remarks extraneous material on h.r. 2745, currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time. mr. goodlatte: in 1914, congress passed the federal trade commission act marking the beginning of a dual antitrust enforcement regime in the united states. because both the department of justice and the federal trade commission enforce our nation's antitrust laws, companies may and often do have different experiences when interacting with one agency relative to the other. one area in which the disparate --dy parity can be the most striking and troubling is in the merger review process. when a company wishes to merge with or purchase another company, it must notify both antitrust enforcement agencies of the proposed trans,. the department of justice and the federal trade commission then determine which agency will be responsible for reviewing the transaction. as there are no fixed rules for making this determination, it can appear that the decision is made on the basis of a flip of the coin. there are two substantive differences that companies face based on the identity of the antitrust enforcement agency that reviews the company's proposed transaction. the first difference arises if the agency seeks to prevent the transaction by pursuing a preliminary injunction in federal court. a different legal standard is applied to a preliminary injunction request based solely on the identity of the requesting antitrust enforcement agentcy. the -- agentcy. the second difference lies in the process available to each antitrust enforcement agency to prevent a transaction from proceeding. the f.t.c. may pursue administrative litigation against a proposed transaction even after a court denies its preliminary injunction request. in contrast, the department of justice cannot pursue administrative litigation. there is no justification for these disparities in the merger review processes and standards. the bipartisan antitrust modernization commission recommended that congress remove these disparities and the bill before us today, the standard merger and acquisition rules through equal rules act, or smarter act, does that. i applaud mr. farenthold of texas for introducing this important legislation that will enhance the transparency, predictablibility, and credibility of the antitrust merger review process. by enacting the smarter act into law, congress will ensure that companies no longer will be subjected to fundamentally different processes and standards based on the flip of a coin. notably, the legislation has garnered the support of former and current f.t.c. commissioners, including former chairman david clanton, former commissioner, josh wright, and sitting commissioner, maureen old hawesen. the smarter act is an important step toward assuring that our nation's antitrust laws are enforced in a manner that is fair, consistent, and predictable. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this good government bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia virginia tech. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to the so-called smarter act. the standard merger and acquisition reviews through equal rules act, which really should -- it's a misnomer. we should rename this bill instead of that we should rename it, the sadly more acronyms for really terrible and esoteric requirements act. are wondering what is this all about, it must be important that they're doing this. and i'll tell you what's important about it, it's a piece of legislation that would impact the largest and most consequential of corporate mergers, of multinational corporate mergers. they have to go through a review process with our federal trade commission and the department of justice has a antitrust division. and so what this piece of legislation would do would be to gut one of the agencies, the f.t.c.'s ability to oversee and al with merger review issues that affect the largest and most consequential of their mergers -- of these big corporate mergers. so this is a piece of gislation -- does it benefit the people or the 1% of large multinational corporations that, i guess, need help avoiding regulatory authority by our government. well, it looks like that's what it is. it's something that's going to help out big business at a time when people in this country are very angry about the fact that the playing field is not level. the corporations and the wealthy have been doing pretty well over the last couple of generations, but people are seeing their wages stand right there where they were. they are working harder, they are more productive, but yet they can't even take a vacation or afford to take a day off to see about a sick child. and this is why people are so angry because they look at congress and see us doing this kind of work benefiting 1% of the largest multinational corporations when there are other things like passing a udget, dealing with the zika crisis, which is unfolding, dealing with the flint water crisis, dealing the opioid addiction crisis in this country. we can't pass a budget and here we are going to pass the so-called smarter act, and then we are going to go home for almost three weeks. they call it district work period, but it's actually a period where folks are out campaigning trying to retain their seats and the people are angry about that. congress first established the federal trade commission in 1914 to safeguard consumers against anticompetitive behavior by empowering the commission with the authority to enforce, clarify and develop antitrust law. president wilson described the creation of the commission as specifically providing for tribunals that would determine what was fair and what was unfair competition and to supply the business community not with merely lawyers in the department of justice who could cry stop but with men in the federal trade commission who could say go on, could warn when things are going wrong and could assist and check. today under the process of administrative litigation also known as part 3 litigation, the commission does just that. under this authority, it may seek permanent injunctions in its own administrative court and seeking preliminary injunctions. this takes advantage of the commission's long standing expertise to develop some of the most complex issues in antitrust law. but the smarter act would end this expertise by creating a uniform standard for preliminary injunctions in cases involving significant mergers and other transactions and alarmingly eliminating the commission's ability to administratively legitimate antitrust cases. proponents of the smarter act argue difficult veering ent standards may undermine the public's trust in the efficient and fair outcome of merger cases. they also state that the outcome of a transaction comes down to a coin flip between the agencies to determine which will review a transaction, but that claim is ridiculous and it's not borne out by the evidence. the consumer anti-ti trust organization conducted a study and statistics and found that the concerns of the bill's sponsors are without foundation. and jonathan jay could be son, an antitrust attorney who served on the commission testified the outcome of a merger has never turned on the differences that the smarter act seeks to address in antitrust law. indeed, of the 3% of transactions requiring second requests for information from the antitrust agencies, only about 1.5% of those cases are stopped or modified. and even smaller percentage of these cases go to trial or an administrative hearing. we would hesitate or we should hesitate before making wholesale changes to the law based on theoretical concerns based on 1% of mergers, which also happen to be some of the largest. and in the absence of evidence anti- enforcement of the trust laws and alone based on speculative harms. but assuming there are material differences in cases brought under these standards, we should strike a balance in favor of competition by lowering the burdenen of proof in cases brought by the justice department, not by raising the commission's burden for obtaining preliminary injunctions. courts require a lower burdenen of proof in cases brought by the department of justice, because it is an expert agency with large staff of economists who monitor mergers and may only bring cases that are in the public interest. to the extent that we should address perceived differences in the standard for preliminary injunctions in merger cases, legislation should favor increased competition, not the interests of merging parties. the smarter act would eliminate the authority to litigate mergers and other transactions under section 5-b. leading authorities and antitrust parties have expressed reservations with eliminating the litigation authority. for instance, a former republican chair of the commission has referred to this aspect of the bill as, quote, rubbish. noting that the commission has used administrative litigation to win a string of novel antitrust cases that courts have ultimately upheld where the commission has had to fight every way. the chairwoman of the f.t.c. wrote last congress that eliminating the f.t.c.'s administrative litigation authority would alter the nature nd function of the f.t.c., unquote. 2015 was the year of the merger, merger mania. there was over $3.8 trillion in merger spending, a record that far exceeded expectations. fewer of 20% raised competition concerns but a vote for 2745 is a vote for concentrated private economic power. at a time of increased consolidation in key industries, we can't afford more republican attacks on government which is what is h.r. 2745 is, plain and simple. i urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: i yield to mr. time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. farenthold: it's a privilege to be here today to be the sponsor of the smarter act. this is just good government. we've got a situation now that if you want to merge your company with another company, you could go before the federal trade commission or you could go before the department of justice. now you think the clayton act that governance antitrust law, all right, we are going to get treated the same, the law is the law. but that's not how it works. the big piece of this is the procedural aspect of it. if your merger is reviewed by the department of justice and they have a problem with it and need a preliminary injunction to stop it, they go before a judge, as the founding fathers intended. the executive branch agency and there's a dispute and it's litigated in front of a federal court. if you go before the federal trade commission, they can go to the federal court, but they can go to their own court. they have their own court, with the f.t.c. employee as the judge. we have administrative law courts that work, but they can also do both. so you've got a situation that the merger could be delayed. and in these business transactions, as in life, time is money. just the threat of going through this administrative process has the effect of giving the f.t.c. the ability to extract concessions that the d.o.j. wouldn't. look, we need to be treated fairly no matter what agency reviews it. let's make it the same if you go to the d.o.j. or the f.t.c. and this isn't just something that we republicans pulled out of our hats. this is a recommendation from the bipartisan antitrust modification commission. they've testified that this is part of what they think needs to be done to make a better, more efficient government. listen, nobody wants to be tied up in red tape. and as you go through a merger and you draw the short straw and end up in front of the f.t.c., you have another spool of red tape that you could possibly get rolled up in and i don't think that's fair. i don't think the american people think that's fair. now my colleague on the other side of the aisle, the gentleman from georgia says this guts the antitrust laws. it doesn't. it makes them fairer and makes the review the same no matter where you go, it's common sense and good government. and i don't have anything else to say. i don't see how you can be against fairness. i'm going to yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. chairman. before i recognize the honorable bill pascrell from new jersey, i would like to -- who serves on budget and ways and means committees here in congress, i would like to with unanimous consent submit for the record the statement of ranking member conyers in opposition to h.r. 2745. the speaker pro tempore: the request is covered by general leave. mr. johnson: and i would like to point out, we have a severe problem that we are confronting this morning, it's the big bad f.t.c., which is treating the big multinational corporations unfairly. it's abusing them and something needs to be done. the american people are demanding it. and bill pascrell, i yield him four minutes so he can explain further how important this bill is to the american people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for four minutes. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker, how are you this morning? this bill is terrible. the federal trade commission is tasked with protecting consumers from anticompetitive mergers. and what i just heard from the gentleman, we want -- this is all about getting rid of red tape. baloney. this is about money. this is about keeping money in your own pocket and protecting ourself against the consumers. concessions, we're talking about here. so the federal trade commission is tasked with protecting nsumers from anticompetitive mergers. hat's what the job is. corporate mergers can make industries more efficient and bring benefits to customers, but in some cases, they have the potential to increase costs and hurt competition. and mr. speaker, if you deny that, then you don't know the facts. and i'm going to lay them out right now. . government should not be in the business of setting health care services or anything else for that matter. airline tickets. cable internet services, or anything else. i hope we agree on that. that is why we need to rely on robust market competition to keep the prices of goods and services down and ensu t