expensive and it took a longer amount of time than was anticipated. there was a settlement with those banks, the major banks, to try to get money to people sooner. there is a water-down review taking place. it is a controversy. the frustration is that we were expecting to get more information from those news, but instead, homeowners will get checks in the mail subpoena.

one banking ceo said that the reviews were going to take well into 2014. checks were sent out. regulators were trying to find some middle ground to get help to home owners quarter. >> jon prior. that does it for today's ""washington journal". now, live coverage of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., february 26, 2013.

i hereby appoint the honorable kevin yoder to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 298, an act to prevent nuclear proliferation in north korea, and for other purposes, in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2013, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes each, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. schiff, for five minutes. mr. schiff: late last year the supreme court overturned a century old montana law that prohibited corporate spending in the state's elections. in the montana case, the supreme court had the chance to revisit its deeply flawed 2010 decision in citizens united. despite urging of the court itself and a shell shock by corporate expenditures, the court shows instead to double down and reaffirm the conclusion of citizens united, that corporations are people, at least as far as the first amendment is concerned. as a legal decision, the citizens united opinion was remarkable in many ways, in its willingness to overturn a century of injuries prudence, it's as possible as narrow the case as the constitution required and the views in prior

decisions rather than the prevailing decisions in prior cases. as justice stevens said in a striking descent, so much for story desigh cis. but what stood out was not the court's legal reasoning but as the court confidently declared, quote, we now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. unfortunately, the five justices who joined this opinion must be the last five americans to feel that way. certainly none of the evidence before the court in citizens united or the montana case compelled a conclusion so at odds with reality. to be fair to the present court, they did not have direct contributions which can be regulated and independent expenditures which may not. that flawed distinction goes

back more than 35 years to buckley vs. valeo, when the court attempted to place limits on both forms of campaign spending. in buckley, the court felt there was a compelling state interest in regulating contributions to candidates, but there was not yet sufficient evidence of a similarly compelling need to regulate independent expenditures. but the court acknowledged the need to revisit that conclusion in the future if events should prove otherwise. events have most certainly proved otherwise following citizens united. since that decision, corporate expenditures have reached in the billions of dollars, and the independence of those expenditures, the theoretical separation of the office holders it is intended to influence, does not buy any more. superpacs and on house, senate and presidential politics is beyond dispute by all except those five americans who happen to sit on the court. but if the montana case makes

anything clear, it is this, the court has dug in. no amount of unrestrained spending, no appearance of impropriety, no actual corruption of the system is likely to dislodge this newly entrenched precedent from the threat it poses to our democracy. regrettably, a constitutional amendment is required for that. unfortunately fauflt, one of the nation's constitutional scholars, harvard law professor, laurence tribe, has drafted one which i drafted as h.res. 31. it provides simply nothing in this constitution shall be construed to forbid the congress or the states from imposing content-neutral limitations on private campaign contributions or independent election expenditures. the amount also allows but does not require public financing of campaigns when states schooze to enact such laws -- choose to enact such laws nor shall the constitution prevent the congress or states of public campaign financing, including those designed by offsetting

campaign spending or expenditures with increased public funding. the expenditures creates an unmistakable appearance of impropriety but in time it can't help but corrupt. the court, having failed to bear witness since buckley, the people have the power to act. independent expenditures, like direct contributions, should be subject to reasonable limitations and should be transparent and corporations are not people. for if they were, as justice stevens points out, how could we deprive them the right to vote? i thank the speaker and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, for five minutes. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. like most of my colleagues last week, we were home. i took as many opportunities as possible to speak at civic clubs, meet with groups of people, talk about a range of issues. but i also always brought up the fact that we continue to

fund a failed policy in afghanistan. i was pleased and also humbled by the response from these groups as they agree with me totally. and many of these groups, mr. speaker, were actually veterans. i represent the third district of north carolina, the home of camp lejeune, cherry point. and those in the military, who are now retired, said you're absolutely right. why doesn't congress wake up? there's nothing we are going to change in afghanistan. stop wasting lives and spending money. and mr. speaker, that brings me to this. on monday, in an a.p. article, the afghan president karzai on sunday ordered all u.s. special forces to leave within two weeks and requested their operations are ceased

immediately which neighbors in kabul is viewed as a gateway to the capital, is used as counterinsurgency efforts in recent years. why do we fund a man that doesn't like us? i don't understand that at all. how in the world account congress in its wisdom not speak out and say, listen, you're talking about a 10-year agreement after 2014? how can a country that's financially broke commit to 10 more years after 2014? i do not understand that. in fact, i have introduced with rosa delauro h.r. 125, the congressional oversight of afghanistan agreement act of 2013, which is a bipartisan bill introduced by us and we are reaching out to our other colleagues to say, congress, let's get on the floor, let's debate whether we should stay there 10 years after 2014 or not. mr. speaker, i sincerely believe that the american people would back this

legislation because the american people have seen the total chaos right here this week, last week and the next couple weeks to come talking about sequestration. but i don't think the leader of afghanistan is worried about sequestration because we're going to send him all the money that he wants while we tell the american people we're going to cut your jobs, we're going to cut your programs. that to me is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable. mr. speaker, it is time for the american people to say to congress, let's start rebuilding america and stop rebuilding the rest of the world. mr. speaker, beside me is a poster of young army officer who lost both legs and an arm. we fail to realize as here in congress, maybe not all of us but some of us, that we're still at war. young men and women are still getting their legs blown off. they ever' losing their life many times. not as often as past. but let's wake up, congress. let's start debating what we're

going to do to start rebuilding our country and stop trying to rebuild the rest of the world. in closing, mr. speaker, i will ask god to please not let the american people and not let congress forget that we have young men and women in afghanistan, and i will close by asking god to please bless the united states of america and let us never, never forget the sacrifice of war. and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: thank you very much, mr. speaker. today, mr. speaker, we continue an unfortunate and unnecessary countdown to the irrational and reckless automatic cuts the republican policies will impose. the countdown stands at three days. unless congress acts by friday, the cuts will take effect with

dangerous results across the country and in the fifth district of maryland, my district. approximately 46,000 civilian defense personnel will be at risk of being furloughed at installations in maryland, including webster field, indian head and joint base andrews. this will undermine their ability to serve our nation and keep americans safe. federal defense contracts could be canceled or reduced, which will translate into lost jobs and economic hurt for the communities they affect. there will be cuts to the f.d.a., which is a center of maryland's fifth district. f.d.a. cuts could result in fewer food safety inspectors and children will be kicked out of head start. there will be longer wait times for those seeking to access job training and placement services . our first responders will lose

much-needed personnel. this year alone in maryland, the sequester could mean up to 500 fewer victims of domestic violence receiving critical services, and around 2,050 children unable to receive vaccines for communicable diseases like measles, mumps, whooping cough and the flu. this is not a rational way forward. law enforcement could lose about 317,000 dollars in my own state for this year in grants that support crime prevention and drug treatment and enforcement. mr. speaker, the people of my district are hardworking folks who just want the chance to pursue the american dream. many of them are federal employee who have already been forced to cut back on -- as a result of some of the actions we've taken. others are defense contractors who support our men and women in uniform.

who rely on these defense contractors to keep them well equipped and well trained. and they cannot afford the arbitrary, irrational cuts that are set to take effect in just four days. even if some here believe congress does not have a responsibility to create opportunities, at least i think we can agree that congress has a responsibility not to prevent them. and i believe congress has an important role in playing in making sure our businesses could compete for committees -- communities can thrive and our people can make it in america. that's what's at stake in the policies we're confronting today. they remain extremely disappointed that some in this chamber are actively supporting the sequester's painful and indiscriminant cuts as a viable path forward. in fact, many members on the republican side have said, bring it on. this is what we want to do.

to do so, in my opinion, is grateful irresponsible. marylanders and all americans deserve a congress that takes our challenges seriously and none of our commals are more serious or more immediate this week than the dangers of allowing the cuts to take effect. that's why i've co-sponsored a bill with mr. van hollen and many others on the democratic side of the aisle to replace the cuts for the remainder of the year with a balanced approach to reduction. a balanced approach which will bring down our deficit, bring down our debt but will do so in a responsible way. . mr. speaker and mr. majority leader, you have the power to bring that bill to the floor today, and if you don't agree with it, don't vote for it, but allow the american people to see their representatives have the opportunity to vote for a rational policy so that we do

not pursue an irrational policy that will undermine jobs in america and the growth of our economy. only a balanced solution can achieve the savings we need and still afford our investments in attracting middle class jobs. as we count down to friday, what are we doing on this house floor? yesterday we did a suspension bill. today we will do a suspension bill. i dare say, mr. speaker, nobody outside of the particular interested groups, will know what those suspension bills are. and then we'll consider a bill on wednesday and thursday, an important bill, should have passed it in the last congress. but we ought to be dealing with these cuts that are confronting our country starting on friday and saturday. as we count down to friday, i will continue to work torts an agreement -- towards an agreement that will avert these arbitrary and hurtful cuts and protect maryland families and businesses from congressional

partisanship gone awry. i am encouraging those who live in my district and anyone else to visit my page on facebook and share how the proposed cuts will impact you, your loved ones, and your community. for the sake of our families, mr. speaker, our small businesses, our children, our teachers, our defense contractors, our public servants, our first responders, and others. i urge my republican colleagues to embrace the spirit of compromise that has been so absent of late in this chamber. i call on them to work with democrats to find a balanced, sensible, smart, rational, and responsible solution to our deficits. mr. speaker, we have three days left to go. let's bring something to the floor that's a solution. let's do it now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland yields back. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, is recognized for five minutes.

mr. murphy: today we honor the memory of private first class wayne alederson of cannonsburg, pennsylvania. a world war ii hero, awarded the combat n fantry badge, silver star, bronze star, and purple heart for his courageous actions during the rhineland campaign of 1945. he died on february 22, 2013. at 86, wayne was a member of our greatest generation and a great american. this son of southwestern pennsylvania lived a life of purpose and sacrifice and remains an inspiration to those who knew him. born on june 7, 1926, wayne entered the united states army as an 18-year-old on august 31, 1944. his service would help bring nazism to its knees and p.f.c. alederson would become the first american soldier to advance into germ across the significant

freed line on march 14, 1945. in the course of this assault, serving as a scout for b company seventh infantry regiment, would single-handedly destroy machine gun placements, and fight house to house at night for capturing and taking three german prisoners. it's considerable personal risk he led the prisoners back to headquarters where vital information was obtained by the allies about the line defenses. on march 18, the 18-year-old private would lead a new assault against enemy forces. his company pierced the german line but cut off by enemy soldiers. fearing the germans were about to launch a counterattack that would wipe out his men, he volunteered to lead a surprise assault and disappeared down a long zig-zag spider trench behind a dense warn fortification t would ult natalie help melt german defenses and leaf him

permanently scarred. the patrol engaged a larger german force in combat at point-blank range. the p.f.c. fully exposed and vastly outnumbered charged with his men, inflicting 12 casualties on the advancing enemy. with the germans in retreat, he was injured when a grenade exploded at his feet. he crashed face first into the mud from the blow and one of his fellow soldiers attempted to flip him over to he prevent him from suffocating to death, a cybertook that soldier's life. -- a sniper took that soldiers' life. suffering from a head wound he crawled back to the trenches to brief his company commander on the events that transpired. the company commander later surveyed the battle scene and determined the three men had killed at least 35 german soldiers. wayne was discharged from the service on october 6, 1945, with the rank of private first class. his leadership continued after the war. he helped to resolve a conflict between labor and management,

and retold in the book "stronger than steel" a dispute that threatened the company be shuttered instead saved jobs. fittingly after this episode wayne went on to found a consulting firm called value of the person which he ran for the last 40 years. it grew out of his unique theory of management, stressing the importance of respect and responsibility between management and its workers. commonsense ideas that too often can become lost in the hum of modern life. these ideas became the basis of a book co-written with his daughter, "theory are management." on may 20, 2007, i had the privilege the presenting him with the silver star when he was inducted into the veterans memorial hall of valor. he's survived by his wife of 60 years, sisters lily and shannon, daughter, and a grandson. wayne alederson, always put his

first and now at the time it's time to recognize his bravery and place him among the first rank who helped liberate europe. it is in this spirit we recognize him today. the way wayne lived his life with continued selfless courage and determination gave american the true hero to mentor the next generation. indeed, wayne's influence will have a lasting impact on that next generation and to that he lives on. on behalf of a grateful nation, we thank wayne alederson for his service and his life for this country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentlelady from illinois, ms. schakowsky, for five minutes. ms. schakowsky: thank you, mr. speaker. we know from polling that most americans have no idea what sequester means at all. in fact, one of our colleagues

that she was talking to a constituent who said, oh, yes, i am all for sequester. let sequester, all the members of congress, in a room and make sure they come up with a plan. that's not exactly the idea. the sequester which most americans are really not -- they don't he know the definition, actually means that for the -- for domestic discretionary spending, the things that help ordinary people in communities and law enforcement, about a % across-the-board cut. -- 9% crod cut. just a meat ax approach. you can't even decide if you can cut something from going to conferences but leave in the national institutes in health research into cancer. no, everything is going to be across the board. a real meat ax approach. and about 13% across-the-board cut in military spending. that's what we are talking

about. and as people aren't following exactly what the definition is, they are going to soon find out what it means in their ordinary life. in education we are going to see cuts that are going to require the firing of teachers. about 70,000 little children are not going to be able to have their head start program. small businesses are going to find that almost $1 billion, $900 million will be unavailable to them in loans for their small businesses. we are going to lose about 2,100 food safety inspectors. how does that feel that we won't know for sure if we are going to have the same kind of safe food that's available. and we have all been talking about the need for more mental health services around this whole issue of gun violence, and it's predicted that about 373,000 adults and children who need mental health services won't find them available.

military readiness will be affected. we got some data on every state. my state is illinois. approximately 14,000 civil department of defense employees are going to be furloughed under the sequester. and that means reducing the gross pay that comes to them, citizens of illinois, by $83.5 million. that's money that they won't be able to spend in our economy. base operation funding, army bases, will be cut about $19 million in illinois, and funding for air force operations about $7 million. these aren't real cuts in military readiness. vaccines for children. really? does anybody really think that the way to save on our budget is to cut the availability of

vaccines for little children? does anybody really think that the burden of cutting the deficits should be on the backs of senior citizens? you know what the median income for people over 65 years old is? $22,000 a year. and the average social security benefit is $15,000 a year, and provides most of the income for most of the seniors in this country. really? does anybody think there isn't one tax loophole that can be closed? not one more penny that huge and profitable corporations that often pay no taxes, we have some of those huge corporations paying no taxes outsourcing jobs, setting up their corporate headquarters in post office boxes in the cayman islands. some are getting actually tax breaks refunds from the government that they can't pay

something? that multimillionaires and billionaires can't pay a penny more but that we can cut the national institutes of health and research for finding cancer cures, that new drug approvals ought to be cut? that we ought to cut veteran services? that people just ought to wait longer at airplanes. we should even shut down airports because we are going to have to furlough the air traffic controllers. that we should cut meals on wheels for senior citizens. that that's really the preferable way to go? i have to tell you this is just a crazy way to do business in the united states congress, particularly since we have sensible alternatives. we have not seen one bill from the republican side of the aisle that says, here's our idea instead of these meat ax cuts

that are going to hurt people and the democrats have several bills. we should be hearing on this floor, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee, mr. duncan, for five minutes. mr. duncan: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. duncan: before i speak about the sequester, waints to salute my colleague, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, for his earlier remarks about afghanistan. i agree with him and we need to stop trying to rebuild the world and start putting our own country and our own people first once again. we have spent several trillion dollars over the past decade on very unnecessary wars in iraq and afghanistan, and we should have brought our troops home many years ago. now, mr. speaker, i would like to speak about the sequester. wmal radio reported this morning that the administration had put out a list of cuts which the sequestration would require that

the national drug intelligence center in pennsylvania would be cut by $2 million. the only problem is that this center no longer even exists. it was closed in june of last year. the scare tactics about the sequester seem to grow more ridiculous, more exaggerated every day. the washington examiner wrote in its lead editorial yesterday, that quote, it is known as the washington monument strategy, turf protecting government executives and bureaucrats go out of their way to make spending cuts as prafle as possible for as many people as possible by applying any cuts to the very things the public benefits from most, bureaucratic end finders believe they can convince the public that every penny that goes into government is necessary, unquote. in other words, the administration has apparently told all the departments and agencies to say that their most popular programs will be drastically cut instead of reducing spending on their least popular, least necessary, most wasteful programs. and the sequester has already

been reduced from $109 billion to $85 billion. this sequester is a cut of slightly over 2% from our almost $4 trillion budget. many people seem to have already forgotten that the fiscal cliff deal raised taxes by $620 billion over the next 10 years on upper income people. then there is also the $93 billion in higher payroll taxes on all workers this year. that hike is already in effect. then there are the taxes already coming in to pay for obamacare. columnist mark tab scott wrote yesterday, quote, the sequestration scares are the ultimate example of washington wink-wink. politicos from both parties aren't of imminent disaster if the federal budget is, quote, cut even though they know government spending will be higher in 2013 even if the sequestration, quote, cuts are implemented. put another way, the sequestration scares are lies, he wrote, pure and simple, not

just distortions or misstatements, but lies and every professional politician in town, democrat, republican, libertarian, socialist, independent knows it, unquote. . our national debt is at a mind-boggling $16 trillion and it will go over $25 trillion in the next 10 years under optimistic scenarios. our interest on the national debt, just the interest was going to go from $224 billion this year -- this fiscal year to an astounding $857 billion in 10 years. if we allow that to happen, mr. speaker, we will then not be able to pay for anything other than social security, medicare, medicaid and interest on the debt. the sequester we are talking about now is minuscule when compared to our present debt and our future pension liabilities. our choice is simple. we can cut now or crash in the

very near future. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. butterfield, for five minutes. mr. butterfield: thank you, mr. speaker, for yielding time. the gentleman from tennessee who just spoke said that sequestration is a game of scare tactics. apparently he hasn't looked at the statistics from his district in tennessee. let me tell you. sequestration is not only going to affect the people of my district but it's going to affect the people of his district and his state as well. sequestration is very troubling, mr. speaker. sensible people all across america are beginning to see the impact that sequestration will have on their families. we are hearing from governors every day, both democrat and republican. we cannot wait any longer. we have delayed this for far too long. the consequences of an unbalanced budget are very, very clear. my home state of north carolina

already has one of the highest rates of unemployment at 9%. and these cuts, mr. speaker, to education and health care and low-income families and military readiness around my state and country will be disastrous to so many. our children are our most valuable asset and ensuring they enjoy a quality education is the best investment we can make in our future. unfortunately, the sequester threatens many children's chances of obtaining a quality education. the impacts of sequester in my state of north carolina are huge. teachers and schools in north carolina will lose more than $25 million in funding for primary and secondary education. putting 350 teachers and teacher aide jobs at risk, receiving less services they need to help them do well in school. programs like head start and early head start, services in a

residents in my district so desperately need will be eliminated, eliminated for 1,500 children, reducing access to critical early education programs that teach the skills necessary to enter kindergarten on an equal footing. if america, mr. speaker, is supposed to be a global leader, we need to outcompete others in the classroom by improving the caliber of teachers, promoting school grants, increasing standards and utilizing up-to-date technology to prepare students for the higher education and jobs of the future. however, educational advances will only result if our schools are properly funded. don't cut education. the american people must know that the sequester stretches to health care research and innovation. hospitals around the country and those in my district like duke university medical center, serve an invaluable role in the community to not only care for those who are safe but to

research and find cures for critical diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. curable diseases that kill people every day. don't let this happen. the across-the-board cuts will sever funding for research from organizations like the national institutes of health, scientists at universities across my district, like duke university and north carolina university, would not have the chance to discover groundbreaking medical advancements which gave one the nobel prize in chemistry in my district. many citizens in my district are low-income families who are currently surviving from assistance from critical anti-poverty programs like unemployment benefits, snap and w.i.c. low income families will bear the brunt of the sequester. however, if congress does not work together to prevent sequestration this week, these

programs will lose very significant portions of their budget. north carolina has an enormous military presence. the sequester will be felt especially hard by our men and women in uniform and the civilians that support military operations. seymour johnson air force base, cherry point, u.s. coast guard air station, elizabeth city, and others will not be ready to defend and serve our country at a moment's notice if we allow this to happen. in my state alone, cuts to the department of defense budget will result in 22,000 civilian d.o.d. staff being furloughed, reducing the gross pay by $117 million. base operation funding would be cut by $136 million, severely reducing military readiness, putting our country at peril. in closing, mr. speaker, i implore my colleagues to work together to prevent the impending sequestration so that we may prevent devastating cuts to our vital infrastructure. we are slowly but surely

building our economic recovery and our nation can literally, literally not afford to be knocked down again by an inability to compromise. please, let's get it done. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from arkansas, mr. cotton, for five minutes. mr. cotton: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cotton: mr. speaker, i rise today with good news from south arkansas. according to recent news reports, anthony timberland, cornerstone of the forest industry is adding a second shift to its saw mill in arkansas. this second shift will result in the hiring of 65 new employees. in addition to creating numerous other support positions within the company and within the surrounding area in arkansas. i want to thank them for their announcement and the longstanding commitment to the people of south arkansas.

but as i reflect on their announcement, i can't help but think how many more jobs could have been added throughout arkansas and the united states if it weren't for the excessive regulation of the obama administration. for example, states have worked in conjunction with the federal government for 40 years to manage forest roads and prevent pollution with state-managed best practices. this partnership has proven effective and provided regulatory certainty for many decades. unfortunately, president obama's e.p.a. wants to impose a nationwide standard, giving them the complete regulatory authority over an industry that supports nearly three million workers and contributes $115 billion to our economy each year. under this standard, the e.p.a. will be able to shut down businesses that don't comply with their arbitrary and misguided rules. states that have a 40-year track record of effectively regulating these roads and we should let them continue for at least another 40. to take another example, the

e.p.a.'s new boiler rule demonstrates this administration's preference for ideology over sound economics and business sense. with compliance costs in excess of $3 billion and 105,000 jobs threatened, this rule inflicts unnecessary costs on our economy at a time when we can least afford it. the timber industry is not sure if the e.p.a. will reopen regulations like they have in the past. they want is certainty, not more regulation. they need to know that investment in a new factory or new equipment today means they can keep using it once it's built instead of living in fear of the government closing their doors tomorrow. these companies aren't asking for special preferences or another $800 billion in failed stimulus funds. they're simply asking for predictable and fair rule of law, not arbitrary regulation. mr. speaker, companies like anthony timberlands provide quality jobs and lasting economic growth for places like

south arkansas and the rest of america despite the obstacles the obama administration has put in their place. i look forward to working with my colleagues to eliminate burdensome regulations that slow growth, hurt communities and diminish opportunity. we should celebrate companies like that empower hardworking americans that do what they do best -- create high-quality products that lead the world. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. as we lurch into another series of artificial crises surrounding sequestration, there is a bright spot this week as we will witness an amazing series of visit ons capitol hill by members of the garden club of america. celebrating their 100th year as a national organization, established in 1913, there is no more awesome group of citizen lobbyists than these women from all across america.

i first encountered the women's garden club from the late nancy russell who was a ferocious, tenacious advocate for the protection of the national treasure that is the river gorge. nancy's drive and passion made it possible for politicians in both parties to enact historic, unique legislation, protecting the magnificent columbia river gorge, and establishing a framework of protection for generations to come. nancy would marshal her evidence with facts, was an expert of generating positive publicity, could turn on the charm, and if that didn't work, she could play hardball politics with the best of them. imagine my surprise and delight in coming to congress when i found that there were other advocates, although there will never be another nancy russell,

there were other women across the country who had their own commitment, passion, zeal, focus and followthrough who were enriching their communities while they helped the national conservation discussion. the garden club has a broad and ambitious agenda, seeking to promote our open spaces. zealous in their support for our threatened national park system they're strong advocates of the land and water conservation act and the funds that have been so rarely budgeted in the program's 50 years. now, global warming inspired heated rhetoric here on capitol hill. and while garden club members are deeply concerned about weather instability caused by climate change, they do so with a calm, clear dispassionate view of the facts in a way that should inspire and encourage everybody here in congress. for years they have advocated

for a farm bill that was stronger in the areas of nutrition, conservation, environmental protection while saving money. they advocate harnessing the power of that farm bill to protect sustainable agriculture and the production of specialty crops, which most of america calls food. in the midst of some of the most bizarre accusations one will ever hear, theirs is a clairian call of rationality and wisdom for the ratification of the treaty of the sea that is languishing. languishing despite the support of the bush, clinton and obama administrations and an unprecedented coalition of business, industry and educational leaders, the united states continues to be an outlier to the detriment of our defense and commercial interests. these are just a few of the areas that they concentrate on. but most important, they connect with what is happening

at the local level with people who care about clean air, the beauty of the landscape and the treasures that enrich our souls as well as the things that protect the environment for future generations. i strongly urge my colleagues to find time to visit with the garden club representatives from their state, not just here in washington, d.c., this week, but reach out to them at home, hear what they have to say. there will be no more productive meeting you will have with the inspiration that will come from listening from clear-headed, clear-eyed wisdom and restraint. these meetings will stand out as an oasis in the war of words over our next round of manufactured crises. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf, for five minutes. . mr. wolf: mr. wolf: thank you, mr.

speaker. mr. speaker, i am concerned about the failure to discuss mental health issues and the impact of the violent media and the whole debate following the tragic shooting in newtown, account k there needs to be a three legged approach to this problem -- three-legged approach to this problem. it is disappointing that the president only addressed the issue of guns in the state of the union speech. in a number of these tragic shootings, there have been a pattern of the shooters playing violent video games, remember columbine? remember the movie theater shooting in aurora, colorado? now comes the report from "the hartford courant," quote, and i quote from "the hartford courant," it said during a search of the lanza home after the deadly school shootings, police found thousands of dollars' worth of graphically

violent video games. i continue, and detectives working the scene of the massacre are exploring whether adam lanza might have been emulating the shooting range or violent video game scenario as he moved from room to room at sandy hook spewing bullets, law enforcement forces have told the current. they go on to say, before he killed his mother and set off for sandy hook elementary, adam destroyed the hard drive on his computer, which probably kept some of the records of the games he played and who he played with. he also may have destroyed any chance to see if he he had any manifesto or had written down anything indicating that he planned the shootings or why he chose the elementary school, end of quote. soon after the newtown shooting, i asked the national science foundation, which is funded as a result of the subcommittee of

which i chair, to pull together experts, some of the best experts in the national science foundation picked them, from across the country to lk at the impact of all three contributors to mass violence. earlier this month the national science foundation released its report. this is the report. youth violence, what we need to know, what supports my belief that a rampage shooting are a result of multiple factors. including access to firearms. mental health issues. and exposure to violent media, including violent video games that can be found on my website. i would urge anyone who really wants to see what we need to do to go look at the national science foundation report. it is guns, it is mental health, and it is violent video games.

it is easy for the president of the united states to take on the n.r.a., why hasn't he asked the entertainment industry to play a greater role in this debate? common sense tells us that the level of violence on tv, in the movies, and many video games is a problem. one only has to read the piece from "the hartford courant" to understand this is a very serious problem. you have to look at guns, you have to look at the mental health, and quite frankly the administration is not looking at mental health, and this congress is not looking at mental health, and you have to look at violent video games and media and the administration's not looking at that, and quite frankly this congress is not looking at it. on that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, for five minutes.

without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, once again i rise to talk about the issue of hunger in america. there are over 50 million americans who go hungry each year. that's about one in every six americans who don't know where their meal coming from on any given day. mr. speaker, in the richest, most prosperous country in the world, that is unconscionable. unfortunately, too many people simply don't know that there's a hunger problem in the united states. but that is going to change with the new documentary called "a place at the table." mr. speaker, this powerful film shows how hunger actually affects everyday americans. specifically "a place at the table" documents people from all walks of life, from inner city philadelphia to rural colorado. and it shows how they struggle not just to put healthy food on

their kitchen tables but some cases to put any food on their tables at all. the film just doesn't he show how people struggle with food, it shows how the lack of food affects children and the capacity of kids to pay attention and learn in class. in all candor, mr. speaker, i play a small part in this film and i'm pleased they allowed me to give my thoughts on the problem and ways we can address it. this film is not about my opinions. it's about the challenge facing the people in this movie. it's about how our country guts the place where over 50 million people again, one in six americans, are food insecure or hungry. it's about how our legislative policies are not meeting the needs of the hungry, especially as low and middle income families continue to struggle during this economic recovery. it's about how parents and grandparents are trying to take care of their families but are falling short of doing so on their own. it's about how private organizations like churches and

synagoguings -- synagogues and food banks are trying to fill the gaps but struggling to do so because the need is so great. and ultimately it's about how we as a nation have a chance to rise up and end hunger now. it's about how we can and must develop a pln to end hunger now. mr. speaker, we have the means to end hunger now. we have the food to end hunger now. we have the knowledge to end hunger now. we just haven't mustard -- mustered the political will to end hunger now and members of congress should be ashamed, all of us should be ashamed that one person, let alone over 50 million, goes hungry in america. in 1968, cbs news broadcast an hour-long program called "hunger in america." it reshaped the view of hunger in this country. the day after that show aired, then senator george mcgovern formed the senate select committee on nutrition and worked with senator bob dole and president richard nixon to reduce hunger in america.

they almost eradicated it completely, but we have clearly regressed in the decade since. i hope "a place at the table" this critically important fill soft money the catalyst that jump starts a new effort to end hunger now. i believe we need white house leadership on this issue and i urge prom to watch -- president obama to watch this film and follow up on a white house conference on food and nutrition to tackle all the issues associated with hunger and nutrition and specifically to come up with a coordinated, unified plan to end hunger now. president obama's leadership is critical if we are going to end hunger now. directors kristi jacobson and laurie silverbush, along with the executive producer have made a film that tells a powerful story. it's a story of a struggle in america, but a struggle that we can overcome. it's a struggle to address a problem that we have the answer to.

it's my hope that this film will spark a new movement to address both hunger and obesity and nutritional issues so we no longer see people struggling to put food on their table. a place at the table is hard to watch because we all share the blame for the struggles faced by those in the film. i challenge anyone who watches it to walk away feeling unaffected. i have seen it many times already. i have been inspired by the individuals who are featured in the movie. people who struggle in poverty with great difficulty and who struggle with great dignity. i'm also frustrated and angered by this film. it shows our failures, our moral failures, to end the scourge of hunger. the title of the film is appropriate. we all have our place at the table. and we need to take that place in order to end hunger now. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. kildee, for five minutes.

mr. kildee: mr. speaker, there are just three days before $85 billion in harmful across-the-board spending cuts take effect. here we are again with an all too familiar manufactured crisis poised to strike our economy with another self-inflicted wound. month to month, crisis to crisis, this is no way to run the world's largest economy. letting sequestration happen is not responsible government. the sequester was designed last year to scare congress into responsibly reducing the deficit. it created a doomsday scenario. draconian damaging cuts, disliked by both parties, intended to force democrats and republicans to come up with a balanced alternative to reduce our deficit. sequestration cuts are not targeted to eliminate waste or

unnecessary programs, rather they slash programs across the board regardless of their effectiveness. this threatens our economic progress, jeopardizes our military readiness, and reduces funding for national priorities like education and medical research. mr. speaker, sequestration would be devastating for michigan and our nation's economy. the sequester eliminates jobs at a time when congress should be working to create them. our country has been moving in the right direction. 35 straight months of private sector job growth. 6.1 million private sector jobs created. there's no doubt we can do more to grow our economy and the middle class and letting sequestration happen is a giant step backward for our economy. economists across the political spectrum agree that letting sequestration happen will slow our economy. the nonpartisan congressional budget office estimates that sequester would reduce our

economic growth by a third this year alone. sequestration cuts affect the most vulnerable people. middle class families, seniors, students, people with disabilities. the unemployed and those who may become unemployed if these cuts go into place. we can't pretend that these cuts are just numbers in a budget. if sequester is allowed to happen, michigan alone stands to lose 31,000 jobs in just six months. 750,000 jobs will be lost nationally by october. michigan schools would lose $22 million in funding, eliminating 300 teachers and aides in the classroom. an additional $20 million cut for educational support for children with disabilities. head start would be eliminated for 2,300 michigan children. 2,500 low-income students in my state would no longer receive

aid to help them pay for college. these cuts are real, mr. speaker. just last week i co-sponsored legislation with my democratic colleagues to avoid the sequester, but republicans won't even bring the bill to the floor for a vote. the democrat plan of avoid sequester through responsible spending cuts, increased revenues, and promoting economic growth. our plan eliminates taxpayer funded subsidies for big oil companies. in a time of record oil profits and $4 a gallon gasoline, it baffles me that our country continues to subsidize companies like exxonmobil and b.p. yet republicans are willing to pink slip 750,000 american workers just to protect billions of dollars in handouts for these five big oil companies. it's time to end these subsidies. there's no question that we need to cut the deficit, but that we

need to do it in a balanced way that protects the middle class. the budget control act passed before i came to congress reduced the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion mainly through spending cuts. there are certainly other areas that can be cut, but we should be strategy in cutting spending to reduce our deficit. sequestration takes the exact opposite approach. it irrationally cuts programs that have proven to be effective in our worthwhile investments. congress needs to act immediately in order to avert the see quester. republican inaction threatens to leave these indiscriminate cuts in place, killing jobs, undermining public safety and first responders, and injecting more uncertainty into our markets, harming our economy. our nation cannot afford any more uncertainty. obstruction, and delay. democrats are interested in real solutions not see questionsers. -- sequesters. mr. speaker, now is the time to act. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentlelady from connecticut, his esty, for five minutes. -- ms. esty, for five minutes. wowed. ms. esty cloverpb -- ms. esty: thank you, mr. speaker. last week i organized leaders from across connecticut in small business, labor, government, health care, and social services to hear from them about the impact of sequestration. my constituents were pleased to also brief our house democratic whip, steny hoyer, at a round table in farmington. the consequences of across-the-board cuts are frightening to say the least. people are scared and people are extremely frustrated with congress. and justifiably so. in central and northwest connecticut, and i know the same holds true across the country, manufacturers, small businesses, and working and middle class families are doing things right.

having struggled through a tough economy, manufacturers like ward leonard in thomasson, and mary manufacturing in my hometown have been innovating and making strides. mr. speaker, people are hopeful that we are finally on the verge of better days, but somehow congress has missed every opportunity to avoid this very avoidable sequester that would not only squander opportunities but outright devastate our economy and hurt small businesses and families across the country. . at our roundtable, the president of the connecticut chamber of commerce, said that local small business owners see pockets of opportunity, but they have, quote, no confidence whatsoever because of the inability of government to cooperate. my friend, john hair tee, president of the state council of machinists said, after all

the progress manufacturers have made, quote, to lose all that momentum justifies common sense. that's not to mention what i heard from folks across the district about devastating and reckless impact sequestration would have on social services, our seniors and our children's education at every level. and let's not forget that folks in connecticut and across the northeast are still recovering from hurricane sandy and the recent winter storms. our constituents have had to wait far too long for emergency recovery funds and are still recovering and trying to rebuild their lives, rebuild their homes and their businesses. mr. speaker, according to george mason university center for regional analysis, sequestration will directly and indirectly cost connecticut almost 42,000 jobs.

42,000 jobs. we need to remember that isn't just a number. it's people's livelihoods and their lives. letting the sequester happen will hurt small business students and their teachers in danbury and new briton. seniors in meridan who rely on meals on wheels for their nutrition. manufacturers like asonya copper and brass and throughout the northeast corner and employees and owners who are working hard to achieve the american dream for themselves and to bring back the american economy. what's maybe most troubling is that there is no reason businesses and families in connecticut or in any state should be facing this catastrophe. it is totally self-inflicted and avoidable if our colleagues will allow us to vote on our alternative. it's the result of a reckless

game of chicken. avoiding is actually very simple. and the lack of urgency the house g.o.p. leadership has shown to addressing this impending deadline is astounding. mr. speaker, we can and should vote to remove this self-inflicted threat. we can and should remove the sequester. we already have a balanced replacement. representative van hollen's stop the sequester job loss now act would replace the sequester with commonsense, cost-cutting policies, repealing subsidies for big oil and big gas, refocusing subsidies for big agriculture and enacting a buffett rule so that the wealthiest are paying their fair share. we should be allowed to vote on this bill. folks in connecticut and across the country can't afford this gamesmanship. they need us to act. they need us to do our jobs so

that they can keep doing theirs. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, for five minutes. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. johnson: thank you. mr. speaker, sequestration is a self-inflicted wound that really does not have to happen. i hate to make my tea party friends uncomfortable by using a dirty word, but with a little compromise we can get this thing passed. if tea party republicans choose not to compromise, sequestration will arbitrarily take $85 billion out of our economy, lowering our g.d.p. and harming our economic recovery. we shouldn't sacrifice our economic well-being because

republicans are unwilling to vote for one penny in new contributions from their billionaire friends. republicans continue to stand up for the billionaires, they continue to stand up for the oil companies and all of the other powerful interests out there that are making money hand over foot while the middle-class americans are asked to shoulder the burden of the tea party obsession with cutting government. now, there's a big difference, ladies and gentlemen, between cutting government and cutting services that people need and depend on. there's a big difference between having a less costly government versus not having a government to do the things that people need to be done.

let's take for instance the defense budget. last week at a constituents' meeting, senator john mccain said that these sequester cuts could significantly undermine military programs. quote, we're facing a situation where our national security is at risk. senator mccain said, adding that furloughs could affect as many as 49,000 military and defense jobs in arizona. well, i tell you in georgia what's going to happen is that 37,000 civilian department of defense employees will be furloughed, reducing gross pay by $190 million and army base funding would be cut by $233

million. and funding for air force operations would be cut by $5 million. this is in the state of georgia. this is for this fiscal year, this current fiscal year. can you imagine that much money coming out of the economy and not having an impact on the overall economy? it certainly will. let's take all of those who travel. you go to the airport. you rely on the air traffic controllers to make sure that the planes are situated and flying safely so that nobody is going to bump into each other up there in the sky. you're dependent on your t.s.a. personnel to check to make sure that nobody is armed when they get on the plane. all of those services that you

take for granted will be cut if we continue to embark upon this self-inflicted wound of sequestration. a balanced approach to deficit reduction will help support the american people through job creation, economic growth and a strong middle class while responsibly reducing our nation's debt. our democrats -- house democrats have proposed balanced solutions that reflect what the american people voted for in november. instead of considering these or any other proposals, the tea party republicans continue their strategy to obstruct the president so that they can blame him and the democrats when the economy goes bad. they continue to play politics with this nation's economy, and

it's also so they can be well-positioned in the upcoming mid term elections in 2014. this is very reckless behavior. this is the last -- we have three more days before sequestration takes effect, and this house of representatives today instead of dealing with the sequestration, instead of dealing with gun control, instead of dealing with immigration, instead of dealing with a budget resolution for next year, we're dealing today with a resolution. so this do-nothing congress continues and the american people will suffer. thank you, mr. chairman, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today.

veling outse is gambl for now. both expected around 2:30 eastern today. tomorrow the house will take up violence against women legislation. live coverage of the house when members return today at noon eastern here run c-span. the senate finance committee has a hearing with the congressional budget office. they provide a budgetary outlook for the country. the committee approved the nomination of jack lew to be the next treasury secretary. that nomination now going to the

full senate for nomination. speaking right now is douglas holtz-eakin. >> moving the focus, integrated care is very important. i started an organization to guide the reforms that are sustainable for medicare. we have put out some guardrails. we need more options that provide the integrated care. we are concerned about the cuts. it is an integrated platform. you need patient buy-in. you cannot expect the world to change.

>> can i and dropped you on that point? we have introduced the first bill that would reward those who stop smoking, lower their cholesterol. it is based on the work that was done at the cleveland clinic. i gather you feel that would be part of the program. >> i would be happy to look at it. >> mr. greenstein, are you ok with that? we start to integrate the incentives. there was good work on that for those under 65. it has not been built in in terms of those over 65. i think it is time for those kind of changes.

my time is up. >> i have a question at the end of a statement and some charts. america faces no greater threat to our growth and prosperity then out of control national debt. $16 trillion today. as we move forward, we have to discuss spending. attention to the chart. the chart details spending as a percentage of gdp. we know the role that health care plays in the budget. over $7 trillion will be spent on medicare.

these programs account for 1/4 of the federal spending over the next 10 years. look at the longer-term projections. the middle graph -- social security will remain relatively stable over the next 25 years. the same for non-interest spending. it will remain relatively stable. take a look at the top graph. spending will basically double as a percentage of gdp. unless we take a look it -- must we take a serious look, we're not acting to reduce our country's debt.

25 years may seem like a long time. it is not a long time. we need to be talking about health care spending right now. do you think we must take steps now to reduce the growth of our health care entitlements as a percentage of gdp over the next 25 years? >> absolutely. the long-term budget health look -- you are not going to grow or tax your way out of it. this is about controlling spending. >> over time we're not going to

be able to sustain a rate of growth in medicare and medicaid that is lower than the rate of growth of health care coast's systemwide and in the private sector. they all linked. medicare is such a big player. it could help play a leading role as we learn ways to bring down costs. and not of the private insurers -- a lot of the private insurers pick it up. we have a lack of knowledge of some of the systemwide issues that we are learning about. medicare is not a generous benefit package. look at seniors now spend 23% of

the budget on out-of-pocket health care even though they have medicare. i think medicaid is a different issue. they paid providers low rates. these are poor people. we cannot ask them to pay large amounts. savings depends on slowing the rate of growth systemwide. we should do those things that makes sense now in medicare and pursue all these private sector reforms and be prepared as we learn more to come back and to make a series of growing changes in medicare.

>> thank you. >> i compliment you on your good staff. you have a great staff helping you out. >> thank you, mr. chair. next time you need a stick you can do a more accurate job. >> maybe not a stick. >> welcome and thank you for your inputs. this is a challenge for us as we look at health reform. we have begun to see the health- care costs slow. there is some much more that needs to be done. we have seen premiums go down 7% last year based on overpayments.

there is much more to do. the challenge is that it is not optional. people are going to get sick. how do we get care? how do we not use emergency rooms in a properly? i would ask -- there have been proposals that would cap that would shift costs from the government to the states and ultimately to families. we're beginning to provide expanded help under medicaid. that gets people into a doctor's office. our government has furthered

expanding medicaid by getting people out of emergency rooms. then all of us will not be paying for it through higher rates. talk about the impact to block grant or cap medicaid and what it would do to hospitals and families. >> in medicaid, the study show costs about 20% less per beneficiary relative to private insurance for adults and about 27% less for children because medicare pays providers lower rates. their choice is cut the provider rates even more, limit eligibility, or have a benefit package that does not provide --

makes people underinsured. it should be noted all but a handful of states already contract with companies to run their medicaid programs for people other than the elderly and disabled. we hope over the next number of years that -- these are projects to try to find ways to improve the quality of care while saving money. if those pilots find successful ways to do that, that would be an avenue for savings. we have to do the hypocrite oath and do no harm.

when the super committee asked about various proposals, the response was we did not know how to save money. >> that is the kind of thing we should be doing. >> if there is a new disease or a flu epidemic or a breakthrough on alzheimer's and there is a new set of drugs that have higher costs that save lives, you do not want to deny those for poor people but higher income people get them. you did not want health care based on your income. >> $2.5 trillion has already been put into place.

how much of the deficit reduction will be in cut to service to middle class families as opposed to asking those at the top to do more? >> on a spending versus tax bases, over the period from 2013 -2020, we have about $1.5 trillion in cuts in discretionary programs. trillion about $2.5 in spending cuts if sequestration goes through. the impacts on many people. on the spending side, benefiting lote a middle class people.

the data show heavily benefit people in the upper part of the income scale. >> thank you very much. >> that is one. this committee feels strongly about. we're focused very much to help with the pilots. >> thank you. i would like to get mr. holtz- eakin's reaction. mr. greenstein talked about gross debt forces partially held debt. debt to gdp is the standard chosen. that correlation is based upon a great deal of information.

mr. greenstein drew a distinction between those. the european example is different. either way we have a big debt problem which i think is having an effect on economic growth. >> we have a lot of debt. the outlook says we will have $7 trillion over the next seven years. it is not rocket science that this harms the economy. we could do nothing. that can be a pro-growth policy. we could just raise taxes, as i

did in the example for senator hatch. they will not expand or higher or locate in that economy. that leaves you with the reality that you have to control spending. that has been hard for people to come to terms with. we have never cut spending. it is visible how hard it is to cut $85 billion in budget. this is trivial stuff in terms of the problems we have. when i talk about the research and how i should think about it, the weight to do the comparison is to use the gross

debt measure, which says we're over the danger line. that is where we are. i think it is a disservice to all the people that these programs serve -- the poor, the elderly, those with health problems to put them in an economy that is growing too slowly. we need to be better on that front. >> coming back to the correlation between debt and growth. this is the weakest economic recovery since world war ii. we're growing roughly 2%. there is research that suggests if you had economic growth equal

to the average economic growth of the past 60 years, you would have cut last year's deficit in half. i would like to get your reaction to the idea that long- term economic growth rather than short-term stimulus measures should be our focus if we're interested in improving our fiscal condition. if we lower rates across the board, would be a way for long- term growth? tax reform as a way to get long- term growth. >> there is a place for policy. we were falling like a rock and i understand what it was necessary to step in.

fourthlosing in on the year of poor economic growth. that should be the focus. tax reform is essential to that so that we do not waste scarce resources on uncompetitive tax codes that harm our most efficient global companies. there is a great place for that. do not try to use a broken tax code. that should be central. >> i think the key finding is that financial crises are deeper and have much slower recoveries. this is the only recession in decades from a big financial

crisis. that is why the growth is so slow. reducing growth right now does not compute. competing for capital and pushing up interest rates but interest rates are close to zero. i think the policy should be doing more to stimulate the economy right now. enacting deficit reduction that grows the economy and has the biggest impact. >> thank you very much. >> i will follow-up on the point you were talking about. we have to do this plan in a sensitive way for economic growth.

i was talking to our work force at the national institutes for health. there's an impact on the economy. it is the related impact on those companies at nih and the impact of these cuts to our economy is very clear. we need more people working. we're just adding to the difficulty of our economic recovery. i met with small business leaders yesterday. they said the same thing your constituents in montana told t you. we rather have a policy than no policy at all. we need to do with a game plan

that we all agree on and implement for the future of our economy. we need to look at the mandatory side. yes, the mandatory side includes the health care issues and that has been a dominant but it also includes the tax code. i think you raise a good point. we could use so many different energy areas. there are programs that people are entitled to without any cap that we have not evaluated. there was an effort to try to evaluate the efficiencies of cortex code. -- of our tax code.

the efficiency is questioned. a policy tove evaluate the efficiencies of the tax expenditures. help reduce the deficit through reducing the amount of tax expenditures. do you have any advice how we can evaluate the programs in our tax expenditures forces the factors we may have in other parts of the spending code? is there some material that could help us? >> this is compounded by the difficulty that some of the spending programs in the same area are under different committees.

something this committee could try to look at. i have to leave in a few minutes. the panel is a series of papers from republican and democratic backgrounds looking at some specific tax expenditures and their inefficiencies and better ways to save money and increase efficiency and make the tax incentives more effective at the same time. how we deliver better quality for less cost? i think these areas of health expenditures all warrant looking at. there are a number of provisions that usually go below the radar. there's been a lot of attention

to carried interest. look at the exchange rules, valuation discounts. there are all these things that arguably reduce efficiency, lose a lot of money. there would not be affected by global limitations. they are different but the warrant looking at. silver years ago the economic impact of things like the tax cuts were looked at. the rate cuts would improve growth was their assessment. they were more likely to reduce growth because of the negative impact of the deficit. a broader base and a lower rate is positive for the economy.

the single biggest threat or the deficit and debt. the single best thing we could do for the economy is find ways to make changes that contribute to deficit reduction. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your testimony. there is a column which says the future has no lobby. i hear these numbers on the discretionary side -- $600 billion on the revenue side. all these done in the short-term deals and not addressing the main issue.

it makes me think he is right about that. if we don't do something about this, we will fail to invest in the future of this country. i do not know the answer to that. i would suggest -- the longer we delay this, the harder it will be to solve. we have to find a way to come together. we have to send a message that we're serious about this. this congress has not done this. i would encourage you to think about how we can work together on this with a sense of urgency.

i wonder if you have a reaction to that. >> i am beside myself with urgency. i think this is a big problem. we can fight about the fairness of raising one person's taxes. that pales in comparison with what we're doing to the next generation. we are letting the legacy programs of the past crowd out our ability to do discretionary spending. we are building a trap to do a disservice to the next generation. nothing has been done yet. those are basically the caps in the out years.

it has not happened. nothing has happened on the spending side. right now this town is in a frenzy. >> we have been engaged in the lowest common to another -- denominator paulson parted 6 -- denominator policy politics. >> sometimes people think urgency means we to put the cuts in effect right now. urgent in terms of reaching a deal so the cuts phase in as the economy recovers. an argument for sooner is neither party wanted to talk a

lot about changes that would affect current beneficiaries. the greenspan commission was enacted and raise the social security retired age. anything we enact in some programs is probably not: to start for a while and phase in slowly. i think it is counterproductive when people say the financial markets will implode within two years. when they do not, people say, "see?" we only have two years. i think it was a mistake to say that. >> that is my point. if we were able to say we reached a an agreement that is

balanced on the revenue and spending side, we would be shocked at how fast $2 trillion would be invested in this country's future. acting now is going to be much easier than acting later and easier than acting on the back end of an economic crisis. >> in total reform is so important. think about social security -- entitlement reform is so important. we would send a signal that we can take on an important part of our spending problem. why not do that? >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

i would add that if current law is not changed. the president asked for 43 new programs in his state of the union address. that does not include the doc fix and likely other offending. we could have another sandy -- i hope that's not the case. >> mr. greenstein has to leave now. >> i have not asked a question yet. >> you have food stamps and i do not see where the $845 billion is an accurate number.

this assumes we will have the sequester. we had some good remarks by our distinguished predecessor. i hope we could get that done. we are talking about $85 billion . you indicate the first step was to take is $1.8 trillion. this is based on the prediction for economic growth. if you have the affordable care act and small-business figure out how they can work out of that, changing employees from business to business and a lot of people have given up in regards to looking for work. you're looking at 12%, 13%, 14%

in regards to real unemployment. i do not know. that is a glassful. i make glass half-empty guy -- i am a glass half empty guy. >> you talk about all these numbers. $85 billion is a small percentage of the total. the estimate is sequestration by the fourth quarter of this year will take .6 of a point off gdp. >> i know that. i served on a lot of committees.

the people who understand that on the committee -- they, then everybody has pressed the hot- button. the commandant in the marine corps. "look what is happened to the marine corps." i think that was done on purpose. this loss would not occur -- or least it would be less devastating. everybody is talking about that. the secretary of agriculture said we would shut down the bagging plants. they have already been devastated by a drought. i know the hot buttons have been pushed.

i said in regards to the nomination of mr. lew. bolton's and postings on the websites -- bulletin's and postings on the websites -- everything is in regard to the sub regulatory guidance. we have people leaving and not paying attention. can you estimate regulatory cost? there has to be some cost to all the regulations. over 50% of the doctors are not serving patients. our hospitals are hanging on by a thread. every provider i know out there

is hanging by a thread. there has to be a cost to the regulatory process. that affects every segment in our economy. how would we measure that? >> we have a section devoted to read this story issues and we the regulatory costs. we keep track agency by agency. i would be happy to sit down and bring those numbers to your attention. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you for having this hearing. i have so many questions and so

little time. doug, it's great to have you here. we heard about the $2 trillion on the balance sheets. i don't think that is part of the study. i spoke to the ceo of a major company. they are not taking the cap off the sideline and investing. a lot of it does relate to the uncertainty of the debt and deficits. $1.8 trillion lockup overseas alone. i have a question for you.

a lot of it is because of the low economic growth because of the debt and deficits. in thomas cost accounts for 100% of the rising long-term deficit . tax revenue goes up about 18% to 19%. so you could say 100% of rising debt is because of intel's net programs. -- entitlement programs. let me ask you something else. discretionary spending is about 27% of the budget and goes up about 10% in nominal dollars.

the entitlements goes up about 100%. instead of 10%, it goes up 100%. it becomes almost 50% of the budget. interest goes up 280%. if you take into account the interest payments -- it is 100% of the problem. >> we have looked pretty carefully at strategies like $ 1.5 trillion. waiting is dangerous. that kind of estimates -- if we do not get the growth, we fall short.

if we get an above normalization of borrowing costs, it falls apart quickly. the prudent thing to do is to be more aggressive. >> let me ask you about medicare advantage. the administration has some new rule making. talk to us about that. will this push more folks into medicare fee-for-service? richard foster has talked about this. >> an 8% cut is a sharp cut. it will reduce plan offerings. people will have to leave their provider network.

that often episode -- interrupts episodes of care. it is typical of what has been a strategy of imposed provider cuts as a strategy for controlling the budget costs that does nothing to improve the quality and backfires in terms of getting the spending problem under control. fee-for-service is worse than almost any other plan. >> about the health care, it is a critical issue. if it is not solved, we can solve the bigger problem. the estimates were in the $600

billion range. >> 395, roughly. >> we have an opportunity to look at a competitive model. do you think that is something we should look to to the future? >> wish to try to make all the entitlements look more like part d and not the reverse. >> thank you, doug. >> thank you. how are you doing? the think your parents would have-it is your name and made it so difficult for me to pronounced? >> they will never forgive me because i did.

>> we're glad you're here. i've been urging the ranking doner to do what they've so many times in the past and that is to provide real leadership to figure out how we get better health care results. one thing i said on the floor -- we spend more money on defense than the next five or six or seven nations combined. we also spend more money on health care than any advanced nation in the world. norway spends 52% less than we do and they cover everybody.

where do you think the sweet spot lies for medicare reform? think of a number of concentric circles and where they overlap. you have spoken to some of that but given some highlights. >> one thing that is poorly appreciated is the health-care problem. it is smaller. it is just as important as medicare and often gets forgotten. the problem with medicare is it has part a, d pays drug

companies. there is no beneficiary and t to not coordinated. it rewards volume. there are some sensible for on integrating part a and b. edigaps.of many ga these are not rocket science. these are sensible for steps. practice patterns should be taken off the system and driven by medical decisions and a sensible tort reform would be a good thing. not everything has to be radical and new. there are some sensible steps that should be taken.

republicans and democrats agree on the diagnosis and lack of prevention, too much acute care. go through the list. the road to health care is paved with demos. we need to be more aggressive and not going to do more demos. we have given up our question and we have to move more quickly. >> among the drivers in health care, obesity. we're eating ourselves to death. number two, care for folks who have dementia.

i used to think we spent most of our money in medicare for poor families, women with children. that is not true. we spend most of that money for the elderly and many have dementia. number one is obesity and number two is dementia. it is time to look in a humane and caring way about end of life care. if we ignore that, i think we do that at our own peril. do you want to respond to any of those three?

>> dementia is an example of a heart problem that has been left unaddressed. the problem is simple. there will be diminishing supplies. most is done by daughters and wives. this is not going to hang toget her. we do not have a good solution. it should be integrated probably in a home setting. there's no question about that. >> this hearing is expected to continue for another half hour or so. the u.s. house is about to gavel in. there will consider a bill for

academic situation in science and math. votes are expected around 2:30. now live to the house floor. the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. loving god, thank you for giving us another day. be with each of us that we might be our very best and prove ourselves worthy of your love and your grace. be with the members of this people's house in their work and deliberations this day, that they might merit the trust of the american people and manifest the strength of our democracy to the nations of the world. without you, o lord, we can do nothing. with you and in you we can

establish a world of peace, goodness and justice now and into the future. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama rise? >> mr. speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. the gentleman from alabama. >> i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. -- 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 proceed ongs this question are postponed -- proceedings on this question will be postponed. the pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentleman from new york, mr. higgins. mr. higgins: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? without objection. >> mr. speaker, we have just three days until the sequestration cuts take effect. and instead of being here in washington working to reach an agreement, the president is again off on the campaign trail. giving speeches in front of adoring crowds is not going to solve this problem. in divided government, we don't reach compromise by talking past each other, we come to solutions when we sit down and talk to one another. mr. pitts: obviously we can't do

that with the -- when the president isn't even here. we can find more sensible ways to save billions of dollars. in fact, tomorrow i'm chairing an energy and commerce house subcommittee hearing looking at innovative solutions to combat waste and fraud in medicare and medicaid. g.a.o. tells us these programs make $65 billion in improper payments. outside groups tell us it could be nearly $1 billion a year. we can also eliminate wasteful programs like the slush fund. we must get our spending problem under control but we'll never get a better plan than sequestration if we can't sit down and talk and work together. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island rise? without objection. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, there's no doubt that we need to reduce the size of our deficit. but we have to do it in a responsible way. and a way that protects american

families. we need to do it in a balanced, forward-thinking way, that protects our fragile recovery, continues growing jobs for middle class families and invests in our long-term economic future. sequestration isn't a solution, it's a penalty that will put our recovery in jeopardy and hurt working men and women in my home state of rhode island and all across this country. in the last few weeks we've seen members of this chamber ringing their hands and pointing fingers in order to avoid blame for sequestration. it's time to focus on solutions. our colleague, mr. van hollen, has offered a proposal that would replace the meat axe of sequestration with precise, carefully considered changes, by enacting responsible cuts in spending, repealing subsidies to big oil, implementing the buffett rule and preserving the medicare guarantee for our seniors. after so much conflict, let's work together to find an alternative that works for middle class families. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama rise?

without objection. >> mr. speaker, the dee foe is in my hometown, in -- depot is in my hometown, in my district. now with president obama's sequester just days away, the depot, along with other vital military installations acrour -- across our country, face devastating cuts, possibly hurting already hurting families. now i agree we need to cut spending and we need to reduce the size of our federal government. but i also believe for our national security and for our war fighters' readiness, we must cut spending in a smarter way. friday will mark the beginning of the $85 billion in federal cuts across the board this year. i stand here today to urge president obama to do the right thing. support the house, support what the house has done twice and replace these sequester cuts with smarter, more responsible

reforms. and let's do it without trying to raise taxes again on the american people in just two months' time. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. earlier this month we lost a true champion for women, for communities of color, for the entire country. elected in 1973, congresswoman collins soon became a forceful political voice in the house, rising quickly to become chair of the congressional black caucus in 1979. i came to know and to love her while working as a staffer to congressman ron. she opened so many doors for african-american women elected to congress, now serving for a time as one of the only african-american women from 1985 to 1991. ms. lee: she was the only black woman here in the house of representatives. she spoke -- excuse me, she broke so many glass ceilings,

offer -- oftentimes fighting many, many lonely battles with grace and distinction. knowing her power and her strength. she was a leader in the fight for low income women's access to reproductive health services and she fought tirelessly to ensure that women and minorities were treated equally to their counterparts, especially in college, athletics and the insurance industry and government hiring and the smithsonian. we send our condolences and our prayers. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> ask -- >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, president obama needs to be truthful with the american people. about his sequester. first and foremost, president obama proposed the sequester. now, there's no denying that president obama's sequester will have devastating effects on ohio, america's military and our national security.

that's why house republicans acted twice in 2012 to avoid this situation. but unfortunately president obama chose politics over results. mr. johnson: he chose to make campaign speeches rather than work with the republican-controlled house and democrat-controlled senate to find commonsense solutions that would end washington's spending addiction and bring america's debt under control. this is yet another prime example of president obama's failure to lead. and it needs to change. right now president obama's sequester is less than 60 hours away and he's looking to blame somebody else to distract from his failure to lead. house republicans stand ready to work with the president on commonsense solutions that work for the american people, president obama simply needs to come to the table. and 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 gentlelady from florida rise? for what purpose does the

gentlelady from florida rise? without objection. >> mr. speaker, it's been 786 days since i arrived in congress and the republican leadership in the house of representatives has not allowed a single vote on serious legislation to address our unemployment crisis. congress has instead been consumed by a single-minded focus on the federal budget deficit. well, i have news for my colleagues. our real deficit is unemployment. ms-- mrs. wilson: -- ms. wilson: massive job losses following the 2008 financial crisis left us with fewer tax

receipts and more people requiring benefits. there's ultimately only one responsible way to reduce the federal deficit -- get everyone trained, get everyone retrained, get everyone working and get everyone contributing to the tax base. jobs, jobs, jobs should be our monday that. -- mantra. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to see that president obama now recognized his proposed sequester is a meat axe approach to cugget defense. just a few months ago in the third presidential debate he told the american people these cuts were well thought out plans to modernize the military. he said these cuts were nothing more than the equivalent of no longer spending money on horses and bayonets. he was wrong. he was correct in the state of the union in saying some in congress, meaning house republicans, want to replace these cuts to our defense. but he wants to replace other

spending as well. my colleagues in the house have offered two replacement bills which the senate has yet to act on. let's not use our brave men and women in uniform and civilian workers who serve them as leverage for other spending. the constitution states that congress is to provide for our national defense and the president as commander in chief. i asked the president and president obama to join the house in -- the senate and president obama to join the house in doing this. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? without objection. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, sequestration is will have serious consequences for the niagara falls air reserve station which is tremendously important to the economy of western new york. if congress does not repeal the sequester, the air force will delay the construction of a $6.1 million flight simulator at the base, a project that is critical to securing the base's continued

operation. there would also be an impact on jobs. 2,300 air force civilians in new york will be furloughed, causing 17.7 million -- $17.7 million in lost wages across the state. mr. speaker, sequestration was the ransom the tea party demanded when it held the american economy hostage over the debt limit. but with 750,000 american jobs at stake, this process will inflict real and permanent damage on the american economy. congress created sequester, congress can and should repeal it. for the niagara falls air reserve base and for our economy, i urge the house to do just that. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i'd like to put this week's debate about scheduled budget cuts into some much needed context. the federal government spent $7.5 trillion last year.

and yet even with the $85 billion in cut it's scheduled to occur -- cuts scheduled to occur over the next seven months, the c.b.o. still projects that federal spending will be $15 billion higher this year than last year. only in washington can billions in cuts be made, total spending still increase and some claim that the problem is that taxes still aren't high enough. the president got his tax increase seven weeks ago. but the government spent every dime of this year's revenue from that tax increase in just seven days. mr. speaker, raising taxes is a lousy deficit reduction strategy. because in washington tax revenue is never dedicated to deficit reduction. instead new taxes are always used to finance more government and more spending. mr. barrow: rather than demand nor -- mr. barr: rather than demand for tax increases, i encourage

everyone replace the spending cuts. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to bring to your attention the devastating impacts of the sequester will have on my community, el paso, texas. the numbers speak for themselves. two weeks of furloughs for cuts -- customs and border patrol officers, that's the equivalent of losing 5,000 border patrol agents and almost 3,000 c.b.p. officers at our ports of entry. mind you, more than $450 billion of trade passes through our ports of entry every year, more than 100,000 jobs in my home community depend on the free, secure flow of goods, trade and people through our ports of entry. and jobs are at stake. in addition, 11,000 civilian employees at fort bliss in el paso will be furloughed for 22 days. these are the middle class americans who care for our wounded warriors when they

return from war and make our military base run efficiently. these individuals will be facing a 20% cut because congress cannot muster the courage to come up with a responsible solution. in addition to these job losses, el paso children will bear a large burden through the elimination of teachers and classroom aids and head start slots. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. . for what purpose does the gentlelady from district of columbia rise. ms. norton: to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. norton: mr. speaker, ms. collins was not the first black woman owe leekted to the house, when i was elected in 190, along with three other women, the numbers had dwindled to one. today there are 13. a third of the congressional

black caucus. but ms. collins was more than prepared to hold the fort by herself. although she got the seat when her husband died in a plane crash, she managed to transform herself from a greefing widow to -- grieving widow to a highly effective illinois congresswoman, chair of the congressional black caucus, democratic whip, and champion of women and minorities. she retired in 1997 as the longest serving black female in congress, having gotten 79% of the vote in her last he election. she left congress at the top of her game with a record that will long survive her. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yield back. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? without objection. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, i

rise today in opposition to the harmful spending cuts that will threaten our economy and vital services for children, seniors, small business, and men and women in uniform. i have just come from a hearing in the coast guard subcommittee where we learned that in tweer 2011 our already underfunded coast guard failed to meet 1/4 of its nonhomeland security missions, mission targets and more than half of its homeland security mission targets. the coast guard's ability to protect our homeland and ensure the safety of life at sea will not um prove with millions of dollars cut from the budget. sequestration will also reduce our mobility in disguise. if we do not act by friday, the vast majority of the f.a.a.'s 47,000 employees will face extensive furloughs. this will result in longer delays and disruptions at airports, canceled flights, and impeded commerce. with only three days left, our house republicans must act now to allow a vote on the

democrats' balanced proposal to avert these damaging and indiscriminate spending cuts. we cannot afford to wait a moment longer w that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? without objection. here we are just days away from a catastrophe that was known about for months, just days away from a self-inflicted wound to our economy, our considered as read inter, and the american people. the sequester, these automatic budget cuts, will literally take the food out of the mouths of hungry mothers and children, 600,000 of them. mrs. chu , myrrh traffic controllers will take a huge hit. security lines at l.a.x. could take four hours during peak traffic times as if waits around bad enough. it will eliminate more than 2,000 food inspector jobs. i don't know about you, but i like knowing that i won't get

salmonella when i open a can of tuna. the american people will suffer. and for what? it's not like we couldn't see this coming from a mile away. he we did see this coming from a mile away. enough is enough. it's time for republicans to join democrats in a solution, the balanced approach, that can avert this freight train. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise the speaker: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. mr. speaker, i hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle complaining about the president's sequester. the president that insisted that this sequester be part of a budget control act a year and a half ago. a president known for 16 months that the sequester was going to happen. this is why the house acted twice, twice over the last 300 days to replace the sequester. there are better and smarter

ways to cut spending, but the president is out doing his campaign event nonstop when he could be sitting down with senate leaders to actually act. the house has acted twice. it's time for the president to put his plan on the table. it's time for senate democrats to put their plan on the table to avert the sequester that's due to go into effect on friday. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise. >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. hahn: mr. speaker, 5 years ago a woman named rosa parks took a seat on a bus in montgomery. and refused to give it up. tomorrow rosa parks will take her place in the halls of the united states capitol when her statue joins other great american women, like helen keller and sojourner truth, who stand sentinal over average citizens and members of congress alike in this hallowed place,

reminding us of the quality of courage and the humble face of justice. i'm proud to welcome eugene todd, the talented artist and cup ture who he created this magnificent statue to the nation's capital. san pedro is a community of artists in los angeles and it means a lot that a member of our own community was chosen to show a woman whose quiet indignity stood up against the daily injustice of jim crow. what an honor for them. rosa parks would have been 100 years old this year, but i know this is overwhelm the first century we will be inspired by her example and this statue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise. >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise in support of the

academic -- let me start again, mr. speaker, academic competition resolution of 2013. mr. issa, the resolution which will establish a yearly academic competition in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics each year in each congressional district will be much like the long-standing art competition. one in which individuals in the stem areas, in these science and mathematics and engineering, will compete for their best accomplishments. art is important. english is important. but today our greatest shortfall are in the areas in which these young men and women need to go, need to be interested. nothing will more promote stem degrees, the type we need, for sciences, for our accomplishments in silicon valley and throughout america

than saying it's important enough by an annual competition. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise. without objection. >> mr. speaker, the american public is tired of the blame game. they want to see real solution, an irresponsible, across-the-board spending cuts are not a real slugs. mr. bera: if we don't act to avoid these spending cuts, we threaten the very safety of our community and our country. $50 million will be cut from firefighter funding. in my own district, that's $1.5 million in safer ground. let me translate that, my fire chief says that's equivalent of one engine company. slower response time. people will be unsafe. homes are going to burn. we have to act. mr. speaker, i urge you to lock us in a room, cut a deal, let's figure out how to avoid

sequestration. this is devastating to our economy and our country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise. without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to introduce myself to my new colleagues, some of whom i have not had the chance to meet since joining this distinguished body. i have served as a high school teacher for 23 years and i believe that the diverse community of the 41st district sent me here because they believe fervently that education is the key achieving the american dream. they see a teacher as an emblem of hope. as a community college trustee for 2 years i gained the understanding of a critical role our nation's community colleges play in work force training and providing a pathway to college degrees. we must prepare our young people to be the innovator, scientists, and engineers that will keep our economic future strong and secure. mr. takano: i am proud my people

of my district have made me the first openly gay person of color to serve in the house. as the grandson of a gardner and small farmer, i stand in the well of this house as the expression of three generations of striving and testament to the endurance of the american dream. our nation's best days are still ahead and there are many more dreams yet to be made. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? without objection. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i rise to pay tribute to my predecessor who came to the house basically as a auditor, accountant, not one who was greatly involved in public activity. but quickly learned the ways of the house, became chairman of the congressional black caucus, chairman of the congressional black caucus foundation, and a leading voice in equity for

women in sports. i lived in the same community that she and her husband lived in, and our community is especially proud of the accomplishments of the honorable cartis collins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from hawaii rise. wowed. ms. gabbard: the effects of the sequester are broad and far-reaching. of the 2,600 noaa employees expected to be furloughs and 2,700 positions not filled which will affect managing, our natural resource, and ability to address climate change. climate change is real. according to the fesk island regional climate assessment, across the pacific island region the frequency and intensity of extreatments are changing. hawaii is usually thought of as a lush green dare pies, but droughts have been more frequent and prolonged. earlier this month the big

island of hawaii was declared a natural disaster due to ongoing extreme drought conditions going back to july of 2008. this is causing havoc for our farmers and ranchers. by kiki, a well-known treasure around the world, would be wetlands with beaches gone by the end of the century. we must take action. we afford to ignore this problem that is currently and will continue to wreak havoc across the glob for generations. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise. i'm sorry. for what purpose does the gentlelady rise. >> america is facing some very serious problems and they are looking to congress for solutions. so what have we done this week since the sequester is coming on friday? ms. shea-porter: we had one vote questioned and that was to rename a flight center, and one

vote today, these are good votes but just two votes. and friday is looming, and america wants us to answer the sequester. we heard the speaker say that they have put two bills before the floor, but they have not been acceptable. we need to compromise. we also heard the speaker say recently to the senate to get going and get moving. and i would suggest that the house should do the same thing. we need to reach out and compromise. find a solution that can pass this house, pass the senate, and become law. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new hampshire yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise. without objection. >> mr. speaker, today i rise to speak in opposition to the inaction on the sequester. these across-the-board budget cuts are the direct result of hostage politics. another self-inflicted wound that sabotages our efforts to build out the infrastructure community in america.

for so many hardworking humble people. inaction should not be an option. in texas, this body's inaction will be felt almost immediately. nearly 100,000 texans could lose their jobs. texas schools stand to lose almost $70 million. putting nearly 1,000 educators out of work and countless children at risk of a disrupted education. more than 50,000 of the folks supporting our military, many of them veterans themselves, could lose 20% of their pay in the next year. the president and democrats have offered a balanced solution to stop the sequester and reduce our deficit below the historic average. mr. castro: mr. speaker, i urge you to allow these proposals to come before the full house. our community deserves good faith action from congress. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. 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 recorded vote on the postponed question will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? mrs. miller: i move that the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 77. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 77. resolution establishing an academic competition in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among students in congressional districts. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. miller, and the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. brady, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from michigan. mrs. miller: mr. speaker, thank you. i would ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the house -- resolution. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. miller: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, mrs. miller: i rise today to establish an academic

competition that promotes innovation among students from across the country in the science, technology, engineering and math or the stem fields as they are called. this program will be modeled, mr. speaker, after the congressional art competition. the academic congressional competent ligs will be a nationwide stem competition, for participating students in every congressional district. each year students will submit stem projects or programs to their representatives for consideration. representatives, members of congress, will then select a winning submission that will be recognized in washington, d.c., each year. the initial focus of this competition will be software application, submissions will include -- likely include smartphone apps, management software programs and social media technology. stem positions are among the fastest growing occupations. unfortunately organizations are having a difficult time filling these positions with qualified and diverse candidates. at least half the growth in the u.s. gross domestic product over the last 50 years has been due

to science and engineering. yet the united states, mr. speaker, unfortunately is losing its competitive edge in those fields. according to a 2010 national academies report, the united states ranked 27th among developed countries in the proportion of college students earning bachelors degrees in science or engineering. as i mentioned, it's our intent to model this program after the artistic discovery competition and i would say, mr. speaker, since my arrival here in congress, i've just marveled at the incredible abilities, talents, creativity of young artists from my district and i certainly have been honored to display the winning submission here in the capitol building. i truly believe that the artistic discovery has worked to inspire those artists to really hone their skills and advance their creativity. and this stem competition, this program today that we're talking about, could do so much more of the same and perhaps to help us discover the next steve jobs or bill gates. this would not only help our young people to thrive but also advance our entire economy.

a study by the president's council of advisors in science and technology found that over the next decade, quote, economic forecasts point to the need for producing approximately one million more college graduates in stem fields than expected, unquote. we are nowhere near, mr. speaker, meeting that goal and this competition would be a no-cost way to further interest in the field. additionally fewer than 1/3 of the agent graders in the united states -- eighth graders in the united states show proficiency in science and mathematics. only nine states allow computer science courses to count toward high school graduation requirements. i know we can do better than that. we can help america's schools to do more to prepare our children in the stem field. we can help stimulate the work force by helping america's young people, not only to be prepared, but to ably fill stem jobs in our economy as they are created. it's vital to our economy and to our future that america remain competitive in this growing field. we can encourage and embrace

stem innovation through this bipartisan academic competition. in an ever-competitive global economy, i know that america's young people can be the world's greatest source of innovation and creativity. we can improve our nation's economy and help provide countless of our children great opportunities in the future. by encouraging their imagination, by honoring their hard work. if there are stem jobs available, we make every effort to ensure that american young people fill these positions. this competition will help students see the value of stem fields and engage them with the topics throughout their life. we also need to help students who are interested in science and engineering maintain that interest so they can become scientists and engineers. encouraging greater innovation and participation in stem fields will help our students and again help our nation to succeed in the future. we know all too well how difficult our economy has been in recent years but even in this tough economy, a lot of these

tech industries have flourished. it's important to empower our young people with the necessary tools to succeed when it comes time for them to enter the labor force. the action that we take today could help empower the next generation because this competition will offer the opportunity for students to expand their horizons and potentially find interests or maintain their interests in one of our economy's fastest growing occupations. we can improve our students' academic achievement in education in proposes of preparing them for these opportunities in their future. as former u.s. secretary of education bill bennett has said, quote, as a nation we simply must get this message to schools, businesses, corporations, state departments of education, governors and beyond. stem education is an urgent need for our nation. we cannot continue to graduate students ill prepared for our nation's economic necessities on their own, unquote. mr. speaker, we believe that this proposed academic competition will inspire and encourage young innovators and

better equip our youth to compete in today's global economy. far too often i would note this house seems to be unable to come to agreement on ways to solve america's challenges and i know on this issue we all agree, this is a bipartisan effort, we all love our children, we all want them to succeed. we want them to reach their full potential and we certainly want to honor their hard work as they reach toward a brighter future so i would urge all of my colleagues, mr. speaker, to join me in supporting this small step toward that brighter future. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. brady: thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to thank chairman miller and her staff for working in a bipartisan fashion on this legislation. as the chairman mentioned, we created this competition so members help promote stem education in a way that has a direct impact on their constituents. it is the very type of learning that will be essential to

continue revitalizing our nation's economy. the time to invest in will only strength us in the future -- strengthen us in the future. this competition is one small way to do that. i look forward to continue working with the chairman as we develop regulations for this program and implement this competition and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentlelady from -- the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from michigan. mrs. miller: i'm proud to yield to the gentleman from virginia, mr. cantor, who has been a principal force and advocate for this piece of legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for -- the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cantor: i thank the gentlelady from michigan. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the house's effort to promote entrepreneurship and innovation for a new nationwide congressional competition focused on science, technology and engineering and math. from robert nois to serg aye, america's long been and the -- been at the forefront of the

digital revolution. yet the united states faces an increasing challenge in terms of competitiveness and the opportunities available to future generations. this competition will provide a unique opportunity for america's high school and college students in each congressional district to showcase their capabilities and creativity and build a framework for american success. each year this competition will bring communities together with their member of congress to recognize the importance of innovation and motivate students to pursue their ideas, take risks and put forward innovative solutions. by challenging students to explore the importance of computer science in their everyday lives, we hope that this competent ligs had help empower them to use -- competition will help empower them to use their creativity. this competent ligs will initially focus on -- competition will initially focus on computer platforms. reviewed by community leaders and entrepreneurs in these fields. however, given the technology

rapidly changes over time, the competition has been designed with the ability to evolve for the future. mr. speaker, i want to thank chairman miller, ranking member brady and their staffs for their hard work in making this program possible. it will be exciting to see the kinds of advancements and breakthroughs students will come up with across the country. i look forward to this success of the congressional academic competition for years to come and encourage my colleagues to support this effort, to inspeier the next generation of american -- to inspire the next generation of american entrepreneurs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. brady: i yield to the gentlelady from california, ms. eshoo. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for two minutes. ms. eshoo: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the ranking member for recognizing me. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the academic competition resolution of 2013. which is really the first step toward establishing a mobile

apps contest for students across america. which i find very, very exciting. building on the success of the congressional arts competition which for more than 30 years has recognized and encouraged artistic talent among our nation's youth, an apps competition will foster interest in stem education. science, technology, engineering and math. which is just what our country needs to prepare for our future. according to the president's council of advisors on science and technology, the next decade there will be approximately 8 1/2 million stem opportunities, job opportunities, but during the same time it's projected we'll face a shortage of one million stem graduates. we need to address this mismatch by encouraging our children's innate curiosity and creativity. and what better way to do this than through a mobile apps competition. from mobile medical apps that can revolutionize the way we

seek and receive health care to apps that enable video conferencing and the streaming of online video, our lives have been changed forever by the mobility and the economic impact that these apps have provided. studies show the app economy has already created approximately 150,000 jobs in my state of california alone. and over a half million jobs nationwide. so there's a huge economic benefit already. but we need to leverage this. so i thank chairwoman miller, i thank the ranking member of the committee and i want to acknowledge my wonderful colleague, chairman goodlatte, who heads up the house congressional internet caucus and i'm proud to be a co-chair with him and we look forward to working with the committee to ensure that the success of this

competition and the continued growth of the app marketplace takes place. i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from michigan. mill hill mill mr. speaker, i would yield -- mrs. miller: mr. speaker, i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. hanna, who is also co-chair of the stem education cawculls. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. hanna: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this resolution and commend chairman miller and ranking member brady for offering this thoughtful legislation. as co-chair of the stem education caucus, i am grateful the house has brought forth this issue which is critical to american economic competitiveness. in order to rebuild our middle class, increase our standard of living and ensure that the 21st century is another prosperous american century, one of the most important things congress can do is prioritize science, technology, engineering and math. i'm a member of the joint economic committee which has reported last year that stem fields spur economic growth

through innovation and value-added tradable goods. we also know that stem unemployment rates are half of the other -- of the normal unemployment rate. stem pay salaries are double what other salaries are. for nonstem work. putting people solidly in the middle class creates taxpayers which grows our economy and helps control our debt. ensuring that the increasingly illusive american dream is still attainable. mr. speaker, this resolution to establish academic stem competitions in each of our districts is a great way to highlight the importance of educating our youth in fields which are so necessary to the future competitiveness of our nation. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and i look forward to this house continuing to find bipartisan ways to prioritize science, technology, engineering and math education.

i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. brady: mr. chairman, i'd like to now yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from new jersey, mr. -- the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. andrews: i congratulate the chairwoman and my friend, mr. brady, for bringing to the floor very good legislation that recognizes the value of the best and brightest young americans competing in the fields of math, science and innovation. but america's not going to compete very well if we don't solve the budget sequester that surrounds us here today. we're in a global economic competition where we will fall behind if we do not act by this friday. beginning this friday, according to economists, a conservative estimate of the number of jobs lost in our country will be 750,000 jobs. there are those who believe that the job loss may exceed two

million jobs. now, ladies and gentlemen of the house, there is a proposal in the well before the house that would postpone this job loss. mr. van hollen has offered a proposal that would postpone the sequester and save these jobs, still reduce our deficit, by cutting subsidies to huge oil companies who do not need those subsidies. by cutting subsidies to huge ag, r a -- agra businesses who do not need those subsidies, by saying that people who make more than $2 million a year should pay a rate of taxation that does not let them exploit loopholes and other deductions. . to date with the sequester looming, the majority in this house has done nothing to address this problem. not one bill, not one hour, not

one debate, not one vote. so we have an alternative, and with this looming problem facing the people of the country, i believe that should be the order of business of the house today. mr. van hollen's bill would end the sequester and reduce the deficit. so i, therefore, ask unanimous consent that the house bring up h.r. 699 at this time. the speaker pro tempore: under the guidelines consistently issued by the speaker as recorded on page 749 of the house rules manual, the chair is constrained not to entertain gentleman's request unless it is cleared by the bipartisan floor and committee leaderships. mr. andrews: parliamentary inquiry, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: state your inquiry. mr. andrews: is the result of the chair's ruling that the house will not be able to vote on a bill to end the see questionser at this time? the speaker pro tempore: the chair cannot entertain the gentleman's unanimous consent request at this time. mr. andrews: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from michigan.

mrs. miller: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. he's a distinguished chairman of the committee on the judiciary as well as the chair of the internet caucus, and co-sponsor of this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for three minutes. mr. goodlatte: i thank chairman miller for bringing this legislation forward and for the hard work of both herself and congressman brady or this issue. i rise on support of the economic competition of resolution 2013. this resolution establishes an academic competition in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, stem, which shall be held each year amongst students in each congressional district and allows the committee on house administration to prescribe the regulation that is will govern this competition. this resolution will allow the congressional internet caucus the ability to create the first congressional app challenge modeled after the congressional art competition, the congressional app college

promotes stem learning and innovation by recognizing and incentivizes america's young programming talent. in the 17 years since the formation of the congressional internet caucus, technology policy issues ranging from cybersecurity and intellectual property have gained more prominence with each passing congress. this challenge allows members to experience the technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship that take place on a daily basis in their own districts. this firsthand knowledge will be able to serve as a resource to members as they consider legislation dealing with technology issues. the competition will motivate our young people to further pursue programming and other technology related educational opportunities. it will also enable them to showcase their programming skills on a national stage while at the same time promoting the value of stem education and careers. i want to thank the chair of the committee on house administration, congresswoman miller, and ranking member, congressman brady, for bringing this resolution to the floor. i look forward to working with

them to craft regulation that will make the congressional app contest a huge success to both members and our constituents. i also look forward to working with my congressional internet caucus co-chair, the gentlewoman from california, ms. eshoo, in bringing this competition to fruition. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back. the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. miller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. miller: i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. i rise in support of house resolution 77 and i commend the chair of the committee and ranking member for bringing this to the floor. and i hope that all of our colleagues will participate in this competition for students in stem subjects to create these apps to further hopefully their careers in stem. i must tell you, mr. chairman, i'm also deeply worried our hopes to increase the number of students who will participate in stem education and become part of the stem careers that are

available to them that this nation so desperately needs could all be for naught and this resolution and all our efforts if on friday we are not able to set aside the see quester and make a balanced proposal to reduce the deficit and provide for the ongoing needs of this nation. right now if we do nothing between now and friday there will be a $740 million cut to title , impacting over one million students, low-income students, and 9,000 teachers and staff jobs. those are the people that we want to encourage to go into stem. those are the very same students that have a one in seven chance of having a qualified teacher teach them mathematics or sciences in their schools. so the very population you are trying to encourage will have less of a chance because of sequestration. over $600 million cut to students with disabilities. and eliminate some 7 kk00 teaches jobs and staff with respect to those students of the for those students trying to

acquire the english language so they can participate in stem careers and academics, nearly 210,000 children and 450 teachers would be eliminated by the sequestration. and the same goes true with community learning centers, an opportunity to expose these students after schools in additional time to these careers, to these opportunities, to the applications and websites available to them that they can't use during class time. but finally, there's even a more direct harm that will be done by sequestration. and that is that the national science foundation would issue nearly 1,000 fewer research grants and awards impacting an estimated 12,000 scientists and students and curtailing critical scientific research. that's the scientific research that builds this nation. for that reason i ask unanimous consent that the house now take up h.r. 699, a balanced approach introduced by mr. van hollen to replace the sequestration and save jobs and avoid these cuts in education that are so desperately needed. the speaker pro tempore: under the guidelines consistently

issued by successive speakers, the chair is not constrained by the gentleman's request unless it is cleared by the bipartisan floor and committee leadership. mr. miller: does that mean we will not take up sequestration a between now and friday so we can get rid of the sequestration with a balanced plan? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has not stated a proper parliamentary inquiry. mr. miller: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from michigan. mrs. miller: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers at this time, but i reserve the balance of my time. my ranking member would like to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> tomorrow we'll honor rosa parks with a statue. as or chairman miller can start to understand being the chairman of the committee, we won't get an opportunity to say anything, but it is our committee that had

this happen. mr. brady: i would like to thank mr. lungren, the former chairman and ranking member of our committee, because of that we will be honoring rosa parks in statuary hall tomorrow. and i would like to thank jesse jackson. without his efforts every single day, every week pushing to have that statue done, it would not be in that hall tomorrow honoring her. i need to give credit. appreciate the moment to say that. i look forward to working with her as we implement the programs' regulations. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from michigan. mrs. miller: mr. speaker, first of all i would like to associate myself with the remarks about rosa parks. my ranking member just made. think about one person with that act of courage literally changing the nation. it's a remarkable thing. we were very proud in michigan that she came to be a resident

of michigan in her final years where she served, as you can imagine, so extraordinarily well and inspired so many people. certainly entirely appropriate that her statue to her takes place in statuary hall monks presidents and other -- amongst presidents and other national leaders. we are looking forward tomorrow to that unveiling of her statue. getting back to house resolution that we have today, mr. speaker, i would just say in closing that certainly as america wants to remain competitive, we have to encourage and embrace innovation in the stem fields, and as all of the various speakers have mentioned today, this program, i'm very excited about it, we tried to -- i have to tell you full trp five years ago i didn't even know what an app was. now it's part of the nomenclature. you have an app store and apps for all kinds of things and these kids when you get a chance to go into these high schools and talk to them have ideas for apps doing all kinds of things.

i think that we are going to try to design this program to be technology neutral. whether it's a smart phone or website or lab top or any kind of software, then sort of leave it open because the technology is just changing so rapid fire as well. we thought about, for instance, in my district i talked to my staff about how we would have a panel of judges that are very savvy on all these things. could you use computer science teachers to be part of the judging panel, people from industry. academics, what have you. and then i think hopefully as some of the students come forward, whether they win or not, that we would have some sort of a mentoring program as well where folks from the industry, from the academics and the sciences, stem programs, could-tsh in the field could talk to these students about opportunities, job possibilities, etc. i do think that this resolution that we are passing today, again, in a bipartisan way, is a

very important and does have the ability to really impact in a very positive way. with that i have no further requests for time. i would urge my colleagues to support the legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 77. 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, -- mrs. miller: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from michigan. mrs. miller: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlelady ask for the yeas and nays? mrs. miller: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays have been requested. all those in favor 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 he question will be postponed. pursuant to sclause 12-a of rule 1, the house will stand in recess

>> the house bill would make several changes to the bill the senate passed earlier this month. live coverage of the house when members return today here on c-span. that will be at 3:00 p.m. eastern. the senate has been today debating the nomination of former senator chuck hagel to be defense secretary. a short time ago they voted 71-27 to move forward on the nomination. 60 votes are needed the --. confirmation vote is set at 4:30 eastern today. you can see that on c-span2. also the senate finance committee voted 19-5 approving the nomination of jack lew to be the next treasury secretary.

that nomination now goes to the full senate for consideration. can you see that committee hearing and vote in the c-span video library. here's a portion of testimony this morning with senator chuck grassley of iowa who voted against the nomination. >> finally, mr. lew, first i'm concerned about the attitude that this administration and supporters who criticize the senate usually anonymously for exercising basic due diligence regarding this nominee, they don't like anyone questioning them and they don't like answering questions. despite their tactics, we must continue to perform the advice and consent. what we have seen so far is that mr. lew is very good at getting paid by taxpayers, received a taxpayer funded bailout and gave mr. lew a piece of it on his way out the door. tax exempt new york university paid mr. lew over $900,000

salary, paid his mortgage, and paid him a substantial $685,000 severance payment. the reasons for the payment is still unclear. the amount was first reported in "new york times" article which called it, quote-unquote, usual. this must be further examined. it's a shame that mr. lew failed to understand these day tails as part of his confirmation process leaving us to rely on the press to dig out the details. mr. lew's eggerness and skill in obtaining bonuses, severance payments, raise questions about whether he appreciates who pays the bill. in fact, when asked basic questions like what interest did you receive -- did you pay on your million dollar mortgage, mr. lew could not remember. of course that answer doesn't pass a lab test. when asked about communications with citigroup regarding