there to respond to. is an le issue of -- it emotionally and politically charged discussion. we need to get away from that and figure out how we respond to post as complex environments? what can we do with it arab spring? and how can we protect our diplomats in the future? host: ethan chorin, writes in "the new york times" recently. confined his peace, "the deeper blame for benghazi." author of "exit the colonel: the hidden history of the libyan revolution." thank you for your time this morning. and now live coverage of the hoe the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. e clerk: the speaker's room, washeds, may 21, 2013. i hereby appoint the honorable daniel webster to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2013, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip each, to five minutes but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. bass, for five minutes. mr. ss: thank you, speaker. first and foremost, my heart goes out to all those in oklahoma who experienced the terrible tragedy yesterday, and i know i will look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that they get everything that they need to recover. on another note, i rise today to celebrate the second annual congressional foster youth shadow day. today we are joined in the

halls of the u.s. capitol by over 50 foster youth and alumni from across the country. they've been paired with members of congress as job shadows to get a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings at the house of representatives. they will attend hearings, and participate in media interviews. as we welcome these young leaders and recognize national foster care month throughout the month of may, we are reminded that foster youth far too often experience traumatic incidents of abuse and neglect and are separated from their homes and siblings. yet, even in the face of these challenges, the resiliencey of foster youth remains strong. the young foster youth here today are no different. they were selected to participate in congressional foster youth shadow day based on their leadership and commitment to improving the lives of foster youth and families across the nation. today i'm honored to recognize and celebrate an incredible young woman with whom i have the privilege of serving this morning.

she is 24 years old and grew up in los angeles. she spent seven years in the california foster care system. she entered foster care at birth due to drug addiction of her mother. she left foster care at age 4 only to return at age 18 because of ongoing neglect and abuse. she struggled with her education, sibling separation and mental health because of the constant moving and upheaval while in foster care. yet, she was able to overcome these obstacles. now, she actively works with organizations such as foster club, the national foster youth action network, and foster care alumni of america, to improve and reform the foster care system so younger generations may not have to repeat the struggles and challenges that she faced. today, she has custody of her two younger sisters, age 14 and 16. she is only 24. her ultimate goal is to finish school and then build a career around improving the foster

care system. in fact, she hopes to open up her own nonprofit that focuses on helping youth coming out of the juvenile justice system. in honor of her courage and tenacity, let us commit to doing what we can to ensure that 400,000-plus foster youth across the country have the opportunities, love and families they deserve. as a first step, i invite my colleagues to join the congressional caucus on foster youth and to co-sponsor the bipartisan resolution in recognition of may as national foster care month. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, for five minute. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. i'm back on the floor again to talk about the failed policy in afghanistan. this poster beside me, mr. speaker, is a cartoon that i got from the paper, and it says that -- it says, c.i.a., a.t.m. two weeks ago "the new york

times" broke an article, a story that the c.i.a. for over the last 10 years have been giving of -- giving hundreds of millions of dollars to karzai. karzai said in that article, he was assured that the c.i.a. would continue delivering bags of cash -- bags of cash going to karzai, the corrupt leader in afghanistan. mr. speaker, what really makes this cartoon sad is in the back is an american soldier, and what he is thinking as karzai's taking his cash money away from the c.i.a. at the machine, the soldier's thinking, i'd like to make a quick withdrawal from here. i hope that during the debate in july on the appropriations bill dealing with the defense department that we will start passing amendments that say we need to stop this

out-of-control spending in afghanistan with very little accountability. mr. speaker, i am one that agrees with my party and some of the democrats that we need ho hold hearings on benghazi -- we need to hold hearings on benghazi and the internal revenue service. but i have written to the leadership of the armed services committee and the subcommittee chairman asking for a hearing on this out-of-control waste in afghanistan. not only did the c.i.a. acknowledge that they've been giving tens of millions of dollars in cash for karzai for 10 years, but, mr. speaker, we are also authorizing $8 billion a month to impto afghanistan. -- to go to afghanistan. we are holding no hearings on waste, fraud and abuse in afghanistan. i hope after we get through the appropriations pro-- eggs -- excuse me -- that we will start holding hearings. it's not fair to the american people that we were borrowing money from china to send to

karzai in afghanistan and, mr. speaker, we all know that karzai's not going to survive. the taliban, who we're fighting, who are killing americans today, will be the future leaders of afghanistan. every expert that i've spoken to, military and nonmilitary, has said that the taliban, which primarily are made up of tunes, that they'll be the leaders in afghanistan. it's time to wake up and join the american people. 75% of the american people say they want out of afghanistan, we want to bring our troops home and we want to stop wasting money. mr. speaker, before i close, i'd like to reiterate this cartoon. ciatm. tanding at a

e lile guy will put his card into a machine, like we do in america to get from the account. he's getting it not from his account but from the c.i.a. account. then i see this poor soldier behind him saying, i'd like to make a quick withdrawal from here. i ask god to hold in his arms those families who've given a child dying for freedom in afghanistan and iraq. i ask god to please bless the house and senate that we will do what is right in the eyes of god. i ask god to please bless the president that he'll do what is right in the eyes of god. three times i will ask, god, please, god, please, god, please continue to bless america. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. takano, for five minutes. mr. takano: thank you, mr. speaker. i, too, along with my colleague

from california, congresswoman bass, express my sorrow for the victims of the terrible tragedy in oklahoma, and i stand ready to work with my friends across the aisle to do all we can to alleviate the tragedy. mr. speaker, somewhere in des moines or san antonio there is a young gay person who all of a sudden realizes that he or she is gay and knows that if their parents find out they will be tossed out of the house. the classmates will taunt the child and they are doing their part on tv and that child has several options. staying in the closet or suicide. and then one day that child might open a paper that says, homosexual elected in san francisco. and there are two new options. the option to go to california or stay in san antonio and fight. two days after i was elected, i got a phone call and a voice was quite young. it was from altoona,

pennsylvania. and the person said thanks. and you got to elect gay people so that thousands upon thousands, like that child, know there is a hope for a better world. there is hope for a better tomorrow. without hope, not only gays but those who are blacks, asians, the seniors, disabled, without uses you give up. i know you can't live on hope alone but without it life is not worth living. and you, and you, and you and you have got to give them hope. those words, mr. speaker, were spoken by harvey milk. it is with tremendous honor and gratitude that i enter them in the congressional record on his behalf and all of the uses in our nation. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman

from illinois, mr. shimkus, for five minutes. mr. shimkus: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. there is good news in our pursuit for repository to hold our nation's spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, although it went largely unreported. an official from both the department of energy and nuclear regulatory commission have publicly admitted that neither agency had identified any technical issues that would prevent us from being able to develop a safe repository at yucca mountain in nevada. this admission came during a recent hearing before the energy and water appropriations subcommittee in response to a question from my friend and colleague, mr. frelinghuysen, the subcommittee chairman. to stakeholders in the nuclear waste debate, this fact should come as no surprise. why would greg, senator reid's former staffer, abuse his authority as r.c. chairman and scuttle publications of the

safety review. if yucca mountain were flawed as senator reid said it is, then he would have benefited by agency the agency's report be released. instead he got president obama to shut down the program. -- dent obama owe blinald obliged. they made sure the n.r.c. technical conclusions saw no light of day. the state attorney's general for both washington and south carolina together with the national association of regulatory utility commissioners, akin county, south carolina, and a county in nevada, said they violated the nuclear waste policy act by ceasing its review of the yucca mountain license application which is mandated under the law. it is before the district of columbia circuit court of

aps. took office, he said they would restore scientific finding in government -- he made a memorandum, political officials should not suppress or alter scientific or technological findings or conclusions. if information is developed and used by the federal government, it should ordinarily be made available to the public. except for information that is properly restricted from disclosure. each agency should make available to the public the scientific and technical findings and conclusions considered or relied upon in policy decisions. the public must be confident that public officials will not conceal or distort the scientific findings that are relevant to policy choices. he reaffirmed these statements recently when addressing the national academy of science, and i quote again, in all the sciences we've got to make sure we are supporting the idea that they're not subject to politics, that they're not

skewed by an agenda, that, as i said before, we make sure that we go where the evidence leads us. mr. speaker, i find it very difficult to reconcile these pronouncements with yucca mountain situation as it stands today. electricity consumers and taxpayers have invested $15 billion to find a safe disposal site for our nation's civilian spent fuel and the nuclear waste left over from the cold war. after investing 30 years and $15 billion in yucca mountain, they deserve at a minimum for the nuclear safety regulatory, the n.r.c., to release conclusions on whether the site is safe or not. given admissions from these officials, it appears we have found a safe solution to our nation's nuclear situation, yucca mountain. transparency and scientific integrity should not be put into political buzz words for political favors. mr. speaker, the american

people deserve the truth about yucca mountain. it is sad they have to go to court to find out. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut, mr. larson, for five minutes. mr. larson: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker. . mr. larson: our hearts go out to the people of oklahoma and our colleague, representative tom cole, whose district has been devastated by the latest befalling that has our country. i recall the great courage of tom cole on this floor and in his conference putting aside politics and ideology and voting for relief after hurricane sandy.

as the death toll rises and the search and rescue valiantly continues, let us not just offer our prayers, as much as they are needed and welcomed, but let us act as united citizens and send with all due speed relief for he people of oklahoma. disasters, tragedies, should never be about ideology or , itics or geographic locale when americans are in need of to this congress needs respond. hat is who we are as a people.

that's what leads us to become a more perfect union. any americans befallen by tragedy or national disaster needs the assistance of its nation and its fellow americans. let us act in this congress before we leave, before we go, on an extended break, let us take action on behalf of the citizens of oklahoma. let us put aside and let us damn politics and ideology and act on behalf of the american people and the people of oklahoma who are enduring so much through this natural disaster. god bless, god bless america. the speaker pro tempore: the

chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. without objection. mr. rigell: i thank the speaker. i consider it a joy and special privilege to rise today to honor he 200-plus anniversary of the setac community, the oldest african-american community in the united states. the community named for the sea attack of the coast by the british navy is a stalwart in hampton roads, steadfastly protecting civil rights and promoting the african-american community. throughout its proud history the seatac community has stood for what doing what is right in the face of adversity. going back to the earl-i 1800's, the fishermen braved the rough waters of the atlantic to save the passengers of a ship that wrecked off the coast. the men have fought in every

major american war, including air raid war rens in world war ii, to protect the citizens of virginia beach from potential air strikes. when the seatac community needed a fire department, the veterans from world war ii came together to build the first fire department owned and operated by african-americans. even in its early days, mr. speaker, seatac has shown a commitment to educating its youth. in 1908, the parents swore in their first school of mount olive bantiffs church, and a few years later the school league. later the community provided the land for the seatac elementary school. and today they continue its commitment to education by providing funding for college students. mr. speaker, i am truly honored to represent this amazing community within my district. their continuous hard work to promote education, bill of

rights, and to save the hampton roads community are nothing short of admirable. in october of 2011 and october of 2012, the community celebrated 200-plus years of being a vibrant, active, and historical community and thanks to the community historian that i have gotten to know and greatly respect, sadie shaw, she's really just a pre-eminent holder of all the history of the wonderful community, because of her and so many others, the legacy of the historical community of seatac will continue to be perpetuated for generations to come. so i congratulate them as the legacy continues. and we just ask that god would continue to bless that wonderful community and wonderful country we are privileged to live in. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady .rom california, ms. pelosi recognized. ms. pelosi: thank you very much,

mr. speaker. mr. speaker, it's with great sadness that i rise today to extend sympathy to the people of oklahoma, to our colleague, congressman cole, for his -- and his constituents who have been affected by the tornado. we just heard our president talk and our our prayers deeds are with the people of the community. we just heard mr. larson talk about our acting immediately to provide the assistance to the people there, to the extent that congress can act quickly upon that. we should. we have seen natural disasters come and go, and they are all terrible and the loss of life is tragic, and the loss of belongings and the rest is saddening, and it's very hard to see how people can be made hole. but we are always hopeful that they will be.

that hope springs -- people say where do you find hope in a situation like that? well, it sits there comfortably between saying we believe and therefore we have hope and the charity of others that we can work together to come through this. referencing other earthquakes in california, or storms in the northeast, whatever it happens to be, hurricanes in the south and katrina, etc., it's always, always, always tragic. but something especially deeply saddening about what happened in oklahoma city. and it reminded me immediately of something i carry in my heart, a long time ago i went to italy, representative of president carter in 1980, with a congressional delegation, to deliver u.s. assistance following earthquake in southern italy. in one small town in the mountains that we visited, the

roof of the church collapsed. what was tragic about it that resembles what happened in oklahoma is, that in that church that day was the first grade and they were practicing for first holy communeon. so every 7-year-old child in casualty.ge was a everyone died. and so there's loss of life, of course it's always tragic. everyone is a valuable life. but when the entire -- every 7-year-old in the buildage -- in the village dies it does something to your psyche. it's so sad. you grieve so deeply. it's so hard to console people. and to see what happened to the school in oklahoma city and to see that 20 little children lost their lives, each one of them precious.

all of them future of the community. how deep the grief must be there. how you must in a very particular way try to help wipe the tears away from that community. so many little children. beautiful site to see the first responders trying and successfully, picture today, beautiful little boy pulled out from the rubble. the teachers making a valiant effort to cover children so that falling debris did not harm those who were still alive. and so whether it was first responders or teachers or families, the community, community coming together. this community has suffered a great loss. loss of lives. horrible. loss of homes.

the homes became degree in a matter of seconds, matter of minutes. so i hope that we all know what our responsibility is to these -- because these children are america's children and the number of them who died have .uch an impact on the community d that we all appreciate the depth of the grief, the depth of the tragedy that has befallen. i'll never, ever forget the look in the eyes of the people of that village in the mountains of italy. just desperate. just desperate. i say we are always hopeful that through prayer, which gives us strength, faith which gives us hope, the charity of others which helps us to go forward. i hope it is a comfort to the

people of the region that their loss is one that is shared and mourned by people across the world. certainly in our country. and definitely in this congress of the united states. whatever is in our power to be helpful to them we will do and do quickly. and that most importantly they will always always and ever be in our prayers. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. mcclintock, for five minutes. onemcclintock: mr. speaker, of the most disturbing aspects of the unfolding scandal involving the misuse of the i.r.s. is what can only be described as an insatiable appetite for names, names, and more names. conservative groups and only conservative groups seeking to organize under section 501 were

subjected to pages of intrusive and irrelevant questions, but with a common theme. give us the names. give us the names of your volunteers. give us the names of your donors and family members and business associates. give us the names of speakers and audience participants at your meetings. one man applying to educate teenagers in constitutional principles, was told to turn over the names of his students. and he told a reporter, can you imagine my responsibility to parents if i disclose the names of their children to the i.r.s.? nor was this tactic limited to new applications. the venerable leadership institute, which has been schooling young people and constitutional principles for 40 years, was put through a year-long audit. the i.r.s. wasn't only interested in financial

information, they wanted the names of the students and their college interns and the names of anyone who had subsequently hired these young people. when the i.r.s. wasn't demanding the names of ordinary americans or asking what they were reading or thinking or seeing, in some cases applicants were given names and told to reveal what they knew about these people. mr. speaker, these are facts that are undisputed by the administration and its apologists. for a period of more than two years these questions were put to americans whose political opinions had been singled out by one of the most powerful and feared agencies of the federal government. what i would like to know is why? why did the i.r.s. demand lists of names of thousands of americans whose only common characteristic is that they disagreed with this administration. where are these lists now?

with whom were they shared? who wanted to know these names? what possible use would the i.r.s. have to track the names of high school students who simply wanted to learn about their constitution? most importantly what were these names used for and what are they being used for? i don't have an answer to these questions. but i find their implications deeply disturbing, and they must be answered during the course of the investigations now under way, and they must be answered in full and with certainty. i cannot conceive of the reasons why the federal government would be so interested in compiling such lists. but we know for a fact that they were and that fact is undisputed. what we don't know is why? and knowing the answer to that question and the other questions raised by this undisputed fact is absolutely essential to a

society that values its freedom of speech, its freedom of assembly, its freedom of press, and its freedom of conscience. we know the ancillary effect of these illegal demands, they dried up donations to these conservative groups, they heavily suppressed volunteer activities, we know some lists were leaked to liberal publications like the huffington post, what we don't know is what was the direct purpose of gathering these names? the administration supposeman this weekend said the law is irrelevant, and called it a distraction. . the rule of the people to question their government without fear of retribution or intimidation. 75 years ago winston churchill warned of a state of society where men may not speak their minds, where children denounce

their parents to the police, where a businessman or small shopkeeper ruins his competitor by telling tales about his private opinions. if it is possible that we have taken even a single step that leads down to such places, that situation should occupy our full and undistracted attention until it is fully and completely rectified, new safeguards are erected against its recurrence and those responsible are held fully accountable. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlelady from california, ms. roybal-allard, for five minutes ms. roybal-allard: tragically, childbirth in the wealthiest of outcome ave a higher

of bad things than any other place in the nation. more than 1/3 of all women who give birth experience some type of complication with an adverse effect on their health. these tragedies are most often found in communities of color. regrettably, mothers aren't the only victims of our maternity care system. sadly, out of every 1,000 babies born in the united states, nearly seven babies die. particularly particularly disturbing, since 1991, premature birth, the reason because of low birth weight and infant mortality, has actually increased in our country by more than 30%. adding to this concern is that the u.s. spends more than double of any country in the world on maternity care and still ranks far behind most developed countries in maternity and infant outcomes. clearly, something must be done

to protect mothers and babies. while it is important to continue studying the causes, realready know many factors that contribute to poor birth utcomes and high cost. this includes the research of credible studies showing that multiple noninvasive maternity practices can produce considerable improvements in birth outcomes without detrimental side effects to mother or baby. two examples of these nonevasive relatively simple practices significantly underused during pregnancy are group models of prenatal care and smoking cessation programs. unfortunately, the u.s. also has a widespread overuse of

cesarean sections and scheduled inductions. the overuse of these practices, which are beneficial only in limited situations, have been associated with complications that jeopardize the health of mother and baby and with longer hospital stays and multiple costly procedures. these tragically poor childbirth outcomes and high costs must no longer be tolerated in our country. therefore, this week i am introducing the maximizing optimal maternity services for the 21st century act, better known as the moms act. this bill will create a coordinating committee to ensure that federal agencies are on the same page in promoting the best evidence-based maternity practices in their programs, and it will facilitate across maternity professions, collaboration and the education of a die verse maternity care work force. in -- diverse maternity care

work force. it has grant programs for professionals ex-organizations to recruit and maintain minority maternity care providers. the moms act establishes an online database to make available the best evidence-based maternity care information to women and families and it authorizes a consumer education campaign focused on how to achieve the healthiest maternity outcomes. the moms for the 21st century act further expands research on the best maternity practices and on the identification of the geographic areas that lack adequate maternity health care providers. mr. speaker, we can and must do better for our mothers and newborns. as a country we must reach beyond our self-imposed boundaries and embrace a cost-effective evidence-based model of maternity care that aves cts our values and

the lives of mothers and babies. i ask my colleagues to co-sponsor and helping to pass the moms for the 21st century act. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado, mr. tipton, tore five minutes. mr. tipton, for five minutes. mr. tipton: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, there are probably very few issues that touch americans, families, states, small businesses more personally than health care. this house has dealt numerous times with addressing the affordable care act. but when we talk about it on that very personal level, of a mom taking a sick child down to visit the doctor, to a senior citizen that's counting on that hospital being able to be

there, to be able to deliver the care that they need, we need to recognize that the overarching view that washington typically performs when passing a bill and delivering it to the american people that it has very real consequences and very real impacts. in my district, in rural colorado, and in fact throughout rural america, there is a looming health care crisis that is just on the horizon. that ability to be able to go to the doctor, to be to have a hospital that will be there to be able to provide the service that's necessary. they're feeling that real impact right now at home. we've had a lot of discussion about that big overarching goal, the ipab boards that will be making the medical choices or our senior citizens and

americans. about the state mandates that are coming through, the medicare payment cuts, higher health costs, the budget that s now going to be estimated at $1,760,000,000 and rising on a struggling american economy, on struggling families and small businesses. the 150 new boards that are being established. the better than 12,000 pages of new regulations that are hospitalizes, our doctors, our families are going to have to be dealing with. and the short form, to be able to fill out and apply for the affordable care act, 21 pages just to be able to get insurance. we need, mr. speaker, to be talking about those real impacts, not from the 30,000, but on the ground at home. i recently went to delta

memorial hospital in my district, a small community hospital that's proud of their service. in fact, they've had multiple surveys that went through and rated their service among the best. they're now being challenged by the affordable care act in terms of that health care delivery. we have a program called the recovery audit contracts, conducted by individual companies that don't even have to have health care background that are going back in and reassessing costs and they're having to pay back money now, money that they simply do not have. we're seeing reimbursements to doctors dropped at delta memorial hospital, making it harder for the physicians to be able to deliver that service. these are small hospitals. they don't have big h.r. departments. they're there for the health of the community, but they are seeing real challenges in being able to continue and in fact in many of our rural hospitals they're beginning to wonder if they're going to be able to

continue to deliver that service. i've talked to doctors in delta, montrose, grand junction, pueblo, throughout my entire district who are frussthrated they're seeing their -- frustrated, they're seeing their reimbursements being cut by the federal government, the federal government determining what the value of that service is going to be and saying you can simply afford it. that's not real life. and what we're seeing now are senior citizens who just became senior citizens by the virtue of a birthday over the last few months, they cannot find a doctor who's willing to take medicare simply because they can no longer afford it. we have a system, mr. speaker, that completely forgot the original premise that every american, i believe, can agree on. we need to have real reform, but we need to go back to that

initial primis of affordability -- premise of affordability and accessibility. the affordable care act fails on both levels. we're seeing right now in my home state of colorado estimates for individual insurance policies this year are going to go up an estimated 23% or more. for small businesses who are trying to provide group insurance are seeing their costs go up this year estimated better than 17%. have we achieved more affordability as was promised? we have not. when we are talking about that accessibility issue, when that senior citizen in delta, colorado, walks into a doctor's office and is told that they are not accepting any new patients, are we achieving that accessibility? we are not. mr. speaker, we need to go back to that original premise because so many small businesses right now that would

like to be able to deliver that service are feeling the impact. i have a friend who owns several small pizza huts throughout the west, and she is dealing with those additional costs that are hurting her business and her ability to be able to deliver that real service for her employees. we have a challenge in this country, mr. speaker, and it can and be addressed if we go back to that original premise of affordability and accessibility. the affordable care act rolls back. let's roll up our sleeves and get the job done for the american people and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess

in and in and .> and you can order online news from the associated press this morning. the state medical office in oklahoma city has revised the 24,h toll from a tornado to including seven children. resident obama wrapped up comments at the white house. here is what he had to say. good morning, everybody.

we know by now, a series of storms swept across the plains in one of the most destructive tornadoes in history, sliced two moore,f newcastle and oklahoma. in an instant, neighborhoods were destroyed, dozens of people lost their lives, many more were injured, and among the victims were young children trying to take shelter in the safest ways they knew, their school. our prayers are with the people of oklahoma today. our gratitude is with teachers who gave their all to shield their children, with the neighbors, first responders, and emergency personnel, and with all of those who searched for survivors through the night.

focus now is on the work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding lives ahead. yesterday i spoke with governor fallin to make clear they would have all the resources they need at their disposal. last night i issued a disaster declaration to expedite those resources to support the governor cost team in the immediate response and offer direct assistance to folks who have suffered loss. i also just spoke with mayor lewis of moore, oklahoma, to ensure that he gets everything he needs. i met with secretary napolitano this ordering, and i homeland security and counterterrorism adviser lisa monaco to underscore that point, that oklahoma needs to get everything it needs right away. the fema administrator craig to

speak. on his way as we fema staff was first appointed to the operations center on sunday as the state already was facing down the first wave of deadly tornadoes. yesterday fema activated teams from texas, nebraska, and tennessee to assist in the ongoing searching and rescue efforts, and a unit to boost communications and logistical support. the people of moore, oklahoma, should know their country will forin on the ground there them beside them as long as it takes. tore are homes and schools rebuild. businesses and hospitals to reopen, parents to console, first responders and comforts, and frightened children who will need our continued love and attention. there are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms

and bedrooms and classrooms, and in time we are going to need withbuild those spaces love and laughter and community. we do not know the extent of the damage from this week's store. we do not know the human and may havelosses that occurred. we know severe rumbling of whether, bad weather, too much of the country still continues and we are also preparing for hurricane season which begins next week. but if there is hope to hold on to him a not just in oklahoma, but around the country, it is the knowledge that the good people there and in oklahoma are better prepared for this type of storm than most, and what they can be certain of is that americans from every corner of this country will be right there with them, opening our

homes, our hearts, to those in need, because we are a nation that stands with our fellow citizens as long as it takes. we have seen that spirit in joplin and tuscaloosa, we saw that spirit in boston, and that is what the people of oklahoma are going to need from us right now. for those of you who want to help, you can go online to the american red cross, which is already on the ground there. we have seen the university of oklahoma announced they will provide housing for displaced families. we have seen local churches and companies open their doors and wallets, and last night the people of joplin dispatched a team to help their people of moore, oklahoma. for those who have been affected, we recognize you face a long road ahead, in some cases there will be enormous ,rief that has to be absorbed

but you will not travel that path alone. our country will travel with you, fueled by our faith in the oneghty and our faith in another. our prayers are with the people of oklahoma today, and we will back up our those prayers with deeds for as long as it takes. thank you very much. from withint obama the hour on capitol hill. reaction on the floor of the house and senate, also the leaders of the senate and house, the speaker and the leaders in the senate have asked for the flag at the capitaol to be lowered to half staff. one more note, the associated says reporting tom coburn any additional federal aid to help victims and rebuild devastated areas should be financed with cuts to other programs in the budget. that is from the associated press. hearings underway on capitol

hill. we will take you to one next where tim cook will testify before a senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, about his tax presses. investigators found apple paid no income tax to any national government on at least $74 billion in income over the past four years. they are hearing from tax academics now. live coverage here on c-span. >> would you be please with that arrangement. , itking about it that way does not seem credible to me. apple correctly says in their originsy this had its many years ago, and it did. and that raises the question of should that ever have been when you look at numbers that were up on the

chart, $4 billion in exchange for $74 billion of earnings before tax, or $72 billion, whatever it was, in that context you would question whether at arms length that you would not have been amended sometime between 1980 and now. >> it was amended in the last few years? was, for technical reasons. i do not advise them. it appears clear they amended it to stay within a grandfather clause under prior, much more relaxed rules that have allowed them to perpetuate the arrangement. >> in that arrangement, you are saying that arrangement would never be entered into in the last few years at an arms length with an independent party. it is strange credulity.

>> there are bad deals out there. this would be a whopper, and i -- against apple. that is a simple way of acts skiing the question. >> if apple can create a company couldte tax residents not all u.s. multinationals in effect to the same, eliminate the corporate tax for our multinationals and allow them not only to become free tax -- or tax freeloaders, or offload their taxes on domestic competitors, small business, and working people? if they can do it, why can't every multinational do the same? >> i will put out apple points out in their testimony rectally that they only did this for their international sales.

their international sales are very large. writes could any multi-national do that? , yes, but there's nothing preventing them being done. what we saw with microsoft, for domestic sales. -- bashing an apple exercise. this is the exercise in saying where are we, how can we possibly be in a situation today where the law permits income allocated to it company resident know where and not be taxed anywhere, and the united states say forget it, do not worry about it, that is fine? >> you said you almost fell off your chair when you read that apple says that they do not use gimmicks. why did you almost fall off your chair? ,> the regulations, the effect is a gimmick to make transactions -- >> how about making corporations

that do not exist anywhere? >> that is a goal of many tax planners. it is a utopian goal that planners try to obtain that you create an entity that is taxed nowhere. apple, through the structure, was able to substantially a commerce that. what have you heard of that being done in other cases? questions there are situations where that situation arises, yes. >> thank you. senator johnson came in next. >> i got here first. thank you, mr. chairman. professor harvey, you stated according to your calculations % of's incomes was 64 income. it would strike me that seems to be a fair allocation of income to sales. what do you think would be a

more fair allocation between recognition of income? ,> to clarify the statistics the 64% is the amount of income recorded in ireland. there is another six percent recorded in other foreign countries. in the aggregate, there is 70% of income located overseas, so the statistics i looked at is there is 30% of the global income in the u.s., and there are roughly 39% of global sales in the u.s.. % globalgure is 39 sales, u.s. sales, 32%. there is a greater allocation of income. how should income be allocated? rocks that is a question, and the key question is for technology that is developed in the united states, how should that be taxed? is economists will tell you if you develop a technology in the u.s. then the u.s. would expect

to get the lions share or substantially all the income with respect to that technology. >> how is it handled between the states and the u.s.? if you developed a technology in new york, but the plant is in texas, where is the state income tax allocated on that basis questio? >> it depends. ,> if you manifest in texas even though you produced a product in new york, texas may be wrong. let's say wisconsin. in wisconsin you would be taxed because you are manufacturing and selling outside. particulards on the state roles, where the technology and located. what i wanted to finish up, because it is important because it may support where you are heading, a legitimate question for congress to ask how should technology income be allocated.

the congress decides it wants to provide some sort of incentive to have technology income not taxed in the u.s., that is perfectly within congress right to do so and they should affirmatively do it as opposed to leaving a regime that is in essence a self tha-hp regime. but you are talking about what income.alk >> -- tax you have to figure out where is the incident's of tax lie >> how -- that is a difficult question. youren you have 64% of income in ireland with no employees, that seems to be a serious issue. you have to decide or should that income be taxed. >> how long have we been trying to sell this to the code? >> this has existed continuously

for decades. christ do you think there is a fixed it? because what has happened in the last 17 years the past of income have been so significant late relaxed that it is open season for taxpayers to do what they want. businessmane a whose responsibility is to your shareholders, the u.s. passed a law and said he will cling all .our income and tax it at 35% what would a business manager do with his overseas operations? >> i do not recommend that we tax worldwide income, at least at the full u.s. tax rate. i recommend we only taxed if we will have a minimum tax on foreign earnings that only be was like to tax haven earnings and something less than the full rate. >> with -- what would that be?

--the number third wound thrown around is 50% -- 15%. there is unintended consequences to try to do anything? >> if you have the competitive issue, and all-time nationals have free reign to move income offshore, and you can't if you want to to move all your income offshore. apple was not that aggressive. they were not that aggressive. you have to balance those issues and difficult issues, but congress should face up to the issue and make tough policy calls. as i understand the point that you might have the this advantage of a domestic competitor the that does not operate overseas and the multinational corporations, the effective tax rate is lower. in general, who benefits from a

lower tax rate on a corporate structure such as apple'a? >> >> the shareholders. >> who are the shareholders owns therk >> whoever shares of stock. >> the people that benefit are those owners and a lot of those are probably union pension funds and individual shareholders, correct? there is an assumption because apple made a good deal with overseas taxing authorities that that is bad for america. in fact would be the better off if apple were paying 12% to ireland or 25% germany? extent that you get a more fair allocation of income, ultimately in the long term,

yes americans would be better off. >> it would be better if they entitiesr profits to in ireland and germany? that would be better for --?ica question mark would be arence reduction in the corporate tax rate in total for domestic and foreign companies to 15% and replace that with some sort of alternative funds. i do not think that will happen soon. youhat is not possible, have to address a difficult issue about competition between domestic companies and foreign -- u.s. all-time nationals, and multinationals. there is an issue of competitiveness, but do not forget there is an issue between them petted of ms. of

u.s. domestics versus u.s. multinationals. >> if you are a global manufacturer that wants to manufacture for the u.s. market, and that is one of the things that is going for us, i would not dream of manufacturing for my domestic customers other than the u.s.. if you're a global manufacturer, did you be more likely to cite a ?lan in toronto in 15% what would be the rational thing to do? >> to locate the lowest tax jurisdiction. aree need to make sure we competitive globally, and when we compete against her stitches that are willing to cut deals, corporations -- shouldn't corporations take advantage of that? when apple is responsible for 600,000 jobs in america, just apple, but all the application developers come you multiply that by a $50,000 median

household income, that is $30 billion for the payroll and a 20% tax rate, that is a lot of taxes flowing into the government as well, isn't it? >>, it is, but why don't ?liminate taxes for apple > guest: >> my business was and llc. at not tax corporate income the shareholder level? we would eliminate these problems, wouldn't we? eliminating taxes for pension funds? -- exceptare a tax organization, you do not pay, but if you are a high -- tax repositioned, you can capture all income and corporations would eliminate the competitive advantage of different tax

jurisdictions. >> if that is what congress decides to do and wants to replace the $300 billion a year, it is your prerogative. >> that would eliminate the inability and that is what we have had. the ability to try to capture very shifts and reacts to byzantine tax structures. >> no question the u.s. tax law is complex. one thing you did say, the issue of whether the u.s. tax law but u.s. multinationals at a disadvantage, and there are pros and cons on both sides. in manys u.s. tax law cases favors u.s. multinationals come a that we can talk about that separately. mike's thank you. >> senator carper. >> we have another competing finance hearing, and i apologize

for missing your testimony, but thank you for joining us and welcome. i would like to put this hearing in context. at me thank the chairman and the ranking member for holding this hearing and for the witnesses coming. i want to put it in context, if i could. budget office says that deficit is coming toppedut years ago it out at 1.4 hours chilean. .1.4 trillion cbo said it would be closer to 600 $50 billion, only $650 billion, and that is way too much. one of our former colleagues from the chairman of the budget committee told his colleagues he added up all

the tax expenditures, elections, rakes, loopholes, that it added up for the next 10 years something like $15 trillion. erskine bowlesat and alan simpson tried to do in the deficit commission was to propose in order to bring down the business corporate tax rate only a% to about 25% to percent they proposed reducing significantly the tax expenditures. that itor them to do would be more in-line with the rest of of the world and called taxmoving to a territorial system. let me just ask either of you or both, just to share with us your views of the approach laid out by the deficit commission aich the recommendation --

lot of people said it was dead on arrival. i think it has a heartbeat, and my hope is it gives a roadmap we will follow as this carries on. let me ask you to react to their recommendations. you are referring to simpson- bowles. >> you got it. >> that was a very important .tart to the discussion there have been a variety of changes since, and i think the realism of eliminating all tax expenditures as are referred to is somewhat overstated. i do not think it is going to happen. >> i do not know of anyone that will suggest that we get rid of all of them. enough to get us down to a rate 28%.% to 20 a

>> the reason i think this hearing is important is part of the recommendations included moving to a fairly unspecified exemption system. i think that is a source of great concern for the reasons we have been discussing his morning. under the exemption system, there would be even fewer totrictions, more beneficial try to shift income abroad unless significant protections are put in place or there is some form of a minimum tax, something that is of that nature. , do ing more broadly think the direction of tax reform should be to broaden a base? i own view is we can use more revenue, so i would not put it

all into lowering rates, but some makes, that is a very sensible way forward. we need to bring the discussion from the letter a broad generalities down to specifics. one of the reasons i testified is i think that will take time. i actually served in the treasury department from 1982 seven.0 i served throughout tax reform. we started before the election in 1984 to prepare the proposals. we spent 1985 going through the house. before they went to the house, they were first reviewed and became the president's for postals, and that was a significant review, a political screen, pretty light. they went to the house and then the senate. that process is looked back to on today with great affection and seems to be viewed as a

great process. it still came out with a product that was far from perfect, even though it took three years. in order to do a tax reform that will be responsible, we need full involvement of the treasury department, we need it to be with the assistance of the office of tax analysis, as well as the joint bidding on taxation. this is difficult, located stuff, and do it it -- and doing it in broad brush strokes it will not get us where we want to be. while i admire what simpson- bowles folks did and i high level, and they contributed to the debate, we have a tremendous amount of work in front of us if we are going to effective tax reform. we should allow income shifting and a suresh and to continue. there are things we can do that would help restore revenue that should be in the budget and should be contributed to purposes that on a bipartisan

senators would agree on. >> i will add quickly, i would concur with all of what the professor says. the key is if we go to a territorial system, we need to have very clear base erosion principles to prevent that. i think chairman camp from the ways and means committee understands that in the proposals he is floated. there are base erosion proposals. the senate finance committee is going through a series of at corporatelook tax reform and looking at broadly at the exemptions that exist and trying to decide what might make sense to make changes. sometimes folks in our jobs -- we talk about creating jobs --

we create a nurturing environment for job creation, and that includes the workforce, access to capital, reasonably good infrastructure, some certainty on the tax code. a tax code that incentivizes investment that will lead to products and goods and services that we can commercialize and sell around the world. we need to provide certainty which is pegged to the tax code we need more revenue. the idf taking the corporate rate down to 15% and supplement the lost revenue with the carbon tax that is actually -- that is not going to happen on my watch -- and having said that, we need to provide that certainty. we need the revenues. for years in the clinton administration, we had balanced budgets.

we have four years of balanced budgets. we need something close to a long those lines. thank you. thank you, senator carper. we appreciate you being able to get here despite these commitments that you have. senator mccain? , mr. chairman. mr. harvey and mr. shea, thank you for being here and thank you for your very important and valuable knowledge and expertise. isn't it just a fact that these apple hasages that either taken advantage of or in some cases in my view invented, if you take a tax reduction in a country that you have no employees, doesn't this put domestic companies and

corporations at a distinct disadvantage? >> yes. >> yes. the objective of our tax rules should be to try to achieve a balance, and in this particular case i referred to in my testimony, tried to create particularly in relation to cross-border activity, to neutrality, because what would happen when you are dealing with a third party and an affiliate? favor usingday affiliates. that does not mean you always use affiliates, and coming back to something senator johnson referred to, if i understand it correctly, most of apple's manufacturing is not done by apple, and that is true of many countries today. foxconn,e by

third parties. -- a viewtoday use themselves, and i do not believe there is a problem, they are allocators of capital, trying to allocate the capital to the use a minder-tax that is fine. our job and your job is to try to find a way that while allowing business to do its business, we are still taxing reference or taxing income in a way that least disturbs the pre--tax economic decision- making. and it seems to be very clear today that we are off-balance here. we have very substantial countries income in where little is done. it is not in the u.s. where most of it belongs, but not in the market countries where the customers are.

. we need to come up with rules that achieved the outcome of , ourg it taxed fairly fair share in the u.s., or where else, their fair share, that is fine, but right now it seems clear we are not getting our fair share. the r and d is done here. it is supported with our educational system. it is supported with an r and d tax credit, and that applies just as much to the r and d that is cross-shared to the foreign location as it is here, as a long as it was performed in the u.s. it is not in balance. -- 95% of our% energy conducted in the united states, hank god -- thank god. apple has divided the world into two sections, north and south america and the rest of the world. for a customer in são paulo

israel, purchases and iphone, apple incorporated receives the prophet in the united states to tax. if a similar customer or just that same iphone from copenhagen, denmark, that profit goes to apple ireland annual corporate tax cruise to any country. taxis it possible that note goes to any country? >> i believe some text goes to the country that the prussian -- that the customers are located in. it is very small. the commission -- i forget the commission, but it might have been five percent of sales, maybe eight percent. >> the moral of the story of at least in my view is that apple has violated

the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the law. and i agree that a great deal of responsibility lies with congress. did anylast time we meaningful reform was way back in 1886, and it is long overdue. perhaps this testimony today will motivate congress of the united states to enact comprehensive reform and to bring home this trillion or trillion and a half amount of money that rest overseas, which is not brought back because of the 35% tax rate that would be imposed on it. and i guess my question to you is, to both of you, is, should there be a permanent incentive to bring that money home, or should we just have a one-shot deal to say we can have -- if

you bring it home within the next year or two, you can have a five percent or tank percent tax rate imposed on it? >> i will respond. i do not think another temporary deal makes sense. there was a temporary deal in 2004, 2005. studies suggest the vast majority of those funds were used to pay off debt or make dividend distributions. i think this really calls for a comprehensive tax reform to address this issue, but there are issues that could be addressed in the short term. if congress decides it wants to thi increased transparency, it n do so. , think one time tax holiday the type existed before, would not be the right policy answer. i am not a fan of tax holidays. the fact is quite a substantial

portion of the income that is held offshore should have been in the united states in the first place if we were fully enforcing or if we had transfer pricing rules that made sense. whether we are talking about today is there is a proportion of the offshore reference that should not have been offshore. in a well designed system, they offshore.be i when the decision was made, it was done under a law that was crystal clear. aere are proposals to use holiday or a low rate as an inducement to bring back money which essentially is a windfall for the companies who earned it overseas. under law that said it was deferral. mr. cook hasthat

indicated to the subcommittee that there would be no intention to bring back money at the current rates. it is true that one contributes to pushing more income over there and keeping it there as long as you hold out the prospect of exemptions, lower tax rates, and so on. that from a policy point of view does not make a lot of sense to me. there is a sound economic argument that i am not really arguing for today, but that says it is already there if you tax it they will bring it home. their decision to bring it home is analytically should be independent of whether you tax it. if you tax it, they will bring it home. if you bring it in at a lower rate, they will bring it home. under the exemption system, there is no incentive to bring it home, if you are going to earn a higher after-tax return on those funds abroad.

the notion that exemption is the key having money come home, it produces the transactional it at thehaving time of repatriation. that was equally an answer of repatriation as giving exemption. drasticnent how much reduction of the corporate tax rate would be, following your argument, the answer. >> that would certainly be a windfall for the earnings center offshore, and that would corporate- a lower tax rate would be beneficial. mr. chairman. i think the witnesses. ask we need to restate and be clear that neither this panel or on the committee has said that apple broke any law. they are brought before this committee because they try to

minimize their tax burden legally. i would argue that it would probably be malpractice for them not to do so. if you have a publicly --held company that says maximize our taxes, that would be something that shareholders would not accept. i do not know of any taxpayers who do that. i do not know of anybody on this panel who tries to maximize their tax burden. my question for mr. harvey, do you take deductions on your taxes? >> obviously i do. >> do you choose to maximize your tax burden warm in a mize >> -- or minimize it question mark >> minimize it. >> if you were advising a corporation and your mandate was to do what is best for their shareholders, would you advise

them to count all their profit here at home at 35% or to try to do as much as they can legally to their taxes at a lower rate elsewhere? >> as i said, what apple did does not appear in any way to be illegal. i think the question is a policy question to whether they should be allowed to do it in the future. >>, and that is a policy question. talking about taxes is an appropriate thing for congress. bring in an individual company and vilifying them that is in their mandate is objectionable, and that is why object to these areas, because talking about policy is one thing. or example, trillion dollars overseas, you want to bring it home gecko we do it one year at five percent. we limited how much could come in. i say make it permanent. make it permanent, make it low enough that people do it. if you do this at five percent, the money will come home, but money goes where it is welcome. if we want to have high taxes,

we will continue. but he talks tax reform. just do it. other countries just do it. income tax.orporate we are chasing people away. if the outcome of this hearing is evil apple, let's go get them, let's raise their taxes, their headquarters may be in dublin with all their employees. they are the type of company that can relocate around the world. they are dependent on large manufacturing. if you want to chase them out, vilified them. that is exactly the wrong thing to do. we should be giving them on a more today. we should congratulate them on being a great american company and hiring people and not vilifying them for obeying the law. no one is accusing them of raking the law. we have created the byzantine tax code and chased them overseas. it has been going on.

we could fix it. there are 70 votes in the senate for having a five percent repatriation tax. those votes exists, but everybody says that is the sweetener for overall tax reform. why not just pass it tomorrow? we have made ourselves beholden to things like the cbo. the cbo will score that as a loss of revenue. what the cbo does not know a lot of times up from down in the sense that you could change the corporate tax, there is such a number that you could lower it to where you will get more revenue. that number exists. you have a couple trillion dollars overseas. there is some number you lower to where the less money goes overseas and less people set up their pennies for taxes overseas. repatriation would bring a lot home. if we take it this is a vendetta against american companies for maximizing profit, we have missed the boat, and i say once again should be a

giant mirror sitting there. we should talk about what we do. overall tax reform, everybody wants to do it, but it has to be revenue neutral. that is absurd. we will punish or people and punish some people less. why don't we try to report the economy, shareholders, reduce taxes as a stimulus to the economy? leave it with the people who earn it. i am frustrated by the whole proceeding, particularly because of all these accusations. they are doing what every company does. if they are not, why don't have the next hearing of companies who come in and their chief goal .s to maximize their tax burden i want to see one company combo for here and tell us that their goal is different than apples, their goal is to maximize their burden. taxes are a cost and they try to minimize them legally. i do, too. i take my kid deductions, all

the deductions i can legally take. is kind of the litigation has gone on before. fdr did it, the president did it in his campaign. this is not good for the company. senator johnson put it well when he said who are these people? is there a missile upper -- apple -- is there a mr. apple out there? they are us. if you are firm and, you probably own apple. i do not know if they will no the breakdown, the vast majority of the stock may be owned by americans. who are week that when we want to punish mr. apple? we are pushing ourselves. if we want to grow america, want work committees to succeed, the money welcome. money goes where it is welcome, and as much as you want to stuff the genie back in the box and say you must do this america am a companies will go everywhere. let's not vilifying american

companies, so i would say let's keep in mind what we are talking about today is not breaking of law. we are talking about company doing what every company does and that is trying to minimize their burden. thank you. can i make one comment to make sure the record is correct? in my testimony, and i want to be crystal clear, i said i take no position on the legal correctness or strengths of any tax position taken by apple. i do not want that construed as saying what they have done is also fine. i have no idea. that was not the point of the hearing. thesummit candy -- subcommittee only requested financial data. what we are trying to do is understand what happens under current u.s. law and ask ourselves, is this the place where we want to be? we can come with difference

answers, but nobody is trying to vilify apple, but frankly i am not saying there is no adjustment to be made to their income. i sadly do not know. i was not given the facts to reach that conclusion, and i do not reach that conclusion. >> >> thank you. we are trying to shine a spotlight on the practices of a big company. there is no other way to illustrate the way the system works. we don't do enough analysis of how the current system works. when we do not do enough oversight. to characterize that in a way that has been characterized as vilification misses the target of the function of the subcommittee is and what congress is responsible to do. could the current practices of

the government and how they fall short and how they misfire and how they reached to absurd results in the case of apple paying a zero tax. tax?at the goal, a zero course no one wants to maximize the tax. >> i make an unnecessary comment? i have served with you for more than a quarter of a century. i don't know anyone who was accused you of bullying or harassing a witness. it is offensive to hear you accused of that behavior, which has never characterized your conduct.

thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. senator mccaskill. >> i have two things to say. --i love apple. i love apple. on harassed my husband until the converted to a mac book. i use it. .t is a huge part of my life i am very proud of apple as an american company. i will say i have the the factty to witness that we're capable of classic bipartisanship in the united states send.

i don't think senator mccain gets enough credit to say things that we establish that we're capable class seat moments. i wanted to publicly and knowledge senator john mccain for that moment. notve questions about this, because i think apple is the villain. code is utilizing the tax that we've given them. make sure that we are receiving enough taxes to fix our roads and bridges, to help educate our kids, to remain a country that is seen as the bright and shining light on the hill. we have to make sure we have a tax structure that supports

those goals. i think we can do both and i appreciate you for holding this hearing. i look forward to the next panel. >> thank you a very much, senator mccaskill. professor shay, you referred to the irish company. what we have a three-minute second round as having an ocean income. what do you mean by that? >> we have not seen tax returns. it would appear that asi, which has quite substantial sales but a low tax rate in

reland, may well be allocating tax rates not to its irish businesses. if that were the case, i mentioned that some think tax planners referred to as ocean income. i have seen it occur in at least one other case but it did not -- the other country was viewed and at that point there were two countries that could have resolved the issue and the income would have been located somewhere. iss structure is different the most polite way i will put it. >> thank you.

there is an additional question for this panel, we will excuse you with our thanks and we move to the second panel. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> thank you. call. now call our next timothy cook, ceo of apple.

senior viceheimer, president and chief financial officer. head of taxlock, operations. please stand and raise your right hand. do you swear the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. changewill see a light from green to yellow, giving you an opportunity to conclude your remarks. we asked you limit your oral testimony to more than 10 minutes. andthanks to you, mr. cook,

to your colleagues and you may proceed. it is 15 minutes instead of 10 minutes. >> i appreciate that. good morning. i am proud to represent apple before you today. apple has been enjoyed unprecedented success over the last 10 years. the world wide popularity of our products has soared. asked if apple still considers itself an american company. my answer has always been an emphatic yes. we are proud to be an american company and equally proud to our contributions to the american economy. apple is larger than the company created 40 years ago.

that same spirit drives everything that when we do. you can tell the story of apple's success in just one word, innovation. it is what we're known for. products like iphone and ipad which created newmarket's -- new markets. much of the innovation takes place in a single u.s. zip code, 95014. that is cupertino, california, where we've built an amazing team. they come to work each day with just one mission, to make the best products on earth. their job is to dream up things that capture the world's imagination. when of those conventions -- one

the app inventions is store. apps that makes software development one of the fastest growing job segments in the u.s. today. we estimate the at store -- app store has generated three under thousand jobs in the u.s. -- 300,000 jobs. none of the economic activity was there five years ago. apple took a bold step in developing the app store. theave chosen to keep design of those revolutionary products right here in the united states.

job growth stagnated across the country over the last decade, apple's u.s. workforce grew by fivefold. employees.ve 50,000 apple has created hundreds of thousands of jobs at small and large businesses that support us, from people involved in manufacturing and delivering the product to our customers. components for iphone and ipad are made in texas. the glass comes from kentucky. apple is responsible for creating or supporting 600,000 new jobs. of dollars toions create even more american jobs. we are investing $100 million to build a line later this year.

this product will be assembled in texas and rely on equipment produced in kentucky and michigan. we constructed one of the largest data centers in north carolina, reflecting our commitment to the informant. it is powered by the largest fuel cell of its kind in the u.s. neww campus in texas and a headquarters in cupertino. largests become the corporate income tax payer in america. last year our u.s. federal cash andective tax rate was 30.5% we paid nearly $6 billion in cash to the u.s. treasury. that is more than $16 million

each day and we expect to pay even more each year. a place to explain very clearly how we feel our responsibility with respect to taxes. apple has real operations in real places with apple employees selling real products to real customers. owe,id of all the taxes we every single dollar. depend on tax gimmicks. we do not move intellectual property offshore. we do not stash money on some caribbean island. we do not move our money from our foreign subsidiaries in north to skirt the repatriation tax.

growth of ourapid international business. we use these earnings to fund our foreign operations such as spending billions of dollars to make apple products. u.s. tax current system, it would be very expensive to bring that cash back to the united states. not kept up has with the digital age. the tax system handicaps american corporations in relation to our foreign competitors who do not have such restraints on the free movement of capital. apple is a company of strong values. we believe our extraordinary success brings increased responsibilities to the

communities where we live, work, and sell our products. to whomce the belief much is given, much is required. in addition to creating hundreds of thousands of american jobs and developing products that deeply enrich the lives of millions, apple is the champion of human rights, education, and the environment. our belief that innovation should serve humanities deepest values and highest aspirations is not going to change. apple is also a company of strong opinions. we have never had a large presence in this town. we are committed to our country's welfare. we believe the great public

policy can be a catalyst for a better society and a stronger america. apple has always believed in the simple, not the complex. you can see this in our products and in the way we conduct ourselves. it is in the spirit that we recommend a dramatic simplification of the corporate tax code. this reform should be revenue neutral, eliminate all corporate tax expenditures and implement a reasonable tax on foreign earnings that allows the free flow of capital back to the united states. he make this recommendation with our eyes wide open, recognizing that this would likely result in an increase in apple's u.s. taxes. we strongly believe that such reform would be fair to all

taxpayers, would keep america globally competitive, and would promote u.s. economic growth. my colleague will now make a few opening remarks and then we'll be happy to answer your questions. thank you very much. >> good morning. andame is peter oppenheimer i'm apple's chief financial officer. u.s., our structure is simple. andell to our customers provide our support to our customers through the genius bar and apple care. u.s., we seek to provide the same products an u.s

have come to expect. we sell the iphone and ipad in over 100 countries. apple to establish a physical presence in the region and in the particular country where we wished to sell our products and services. apple's presence in these countries often takes the form of apple-owned subsidiaries. sell inuire products to their markets. region, ourean primary subsidiaries are incorporated in ireland. employsbsidiaries now nearly 4000 people in ireland. we broke ground on an expansion to our campus in cork.

agreement withn our irish subsidiaries. the agreement was put in place when abel was about five years old. the invention- of the iphone was decades away. the substance of the agreement is largely unchanged except for our expansion into more countries h. our agreement is audited by the i.r.s.. we are in full compliance. we can share the cost of developing new products with our irish subsidiaries. virtually all of the r and d takes place in the u.s.

subsidiaries -- we have used this method to distribute our countries for more than 30 years. more than half of our ongoing r and d costs are funded by apple ireland. when times are good, our irish subsidiaries do well. in theoned losing money 1990 bus because it serves as a reminder of how close out all came to going out of business. we were on the brink of bankruptcy and about out of cash. in just two years, we lost $2 billion. a big part of the turnaround was an effort to simplify so apple could survive.

we restructured our finances to make everything as efficient as possible. we consolidated are in come into subsidiaries. oi and an operating company, apple sales international. it improved our ability to manage currency risks. they're both incorporated in ireland. that lobby contemplates companies may be incorporated in ireland without being a tax president there. there have been thousands of employees in ireland. the payroll for these employees was run through another apple

subsidiary, aoe. they are not taxed resident in ireland does not reduce our u.s. taxes at all. been taxed held have by foreign governments according to the local laws where it the money is earned. .he money is taxed at 35% this can choose to manage without moving the cash. that would have no effect on the taxes we pay in the u.s. cashnating essential management function would be inefficient. us earn higher returns through the economy of scale.

apple is in the position of having more cash then we need to run our companies and pursuit strategic opportunities. some observers have questioned outpulls dishes in by issuing $70 million in debt rather than repatriating foreign repatriating-- $17 billion in debt. if apple had used foreign earnings, the funds would have been diminished by the high %.rporate tax rate of 35 the cost of issuing debt was less than 2%. we would be happy to answer your questions. >> thank you very much. mr. bullock? >> good morning.

our statement has been concluded. .> we thank apple mr.ink you made reference, cook, in quoting president kennedy. deferral is served as a shelter for taxes through the use of tax havens such as switzerland. organizedprises abroad have arranged their corporate structures created by artificial raises between parents and subsidiaries shifting pricing, the of management fees and similar practices." do you agree with that?

>> the president and his brother have been long term heroes of mine. view, irom our point of do not consider deferral to be abusive in any kind of way. aoi, aoe ande own asi? owns aoi, aoeinc. and asi. inall those companies ireland are owned by apple? >> they are all legally owned by apple, inc. from chilly aoi managed and controlled? functionally managed and

controlled? >> in our view, in the united states. >> in a letter to the subcommittee, the couple wrote it is not made a determination in terms of the central management control. why did you tell us that? inthe reason we responded that matter is that under irish law, the requirement for evaluating our concluding on the tax residency of arlen looks to whether or not central management control takes place in ireland or not. formally record indicate determination that it takes place someplace else. >> you said he believes the location is in the

states. >> in a previous meeting with your staff, they ask the same question and i believe if i provided the same response. ofdo you agree the location the center management control is in the united states? >> i do not know what the legal definition is. but from a practical definition, yes. relative to asi, is asi managed and controlled in the united states? >> as a practical matter, applying the irish legal standard of central management and control, i believe that it is centrally managed and

controlled from the united states. andnd is ample agree -- does a couple agrpple agree? do you believe it is functionally managed and controlled in the united states? >> yes. agree?. cook, do you thatere is in negotiations go on an island. -- in ireland.st - i do not know the legal definition. >> you would agree it is managed and controlled in the united states? >> yes, senator.

>> aoi is incorporated in ireland, is that correct? >> yes, mr. chairman. >> where is it a tax president? tax resident? >> this hearing will continue. expected to go until 1:00 p.m. eastern. we're going to the u.s. house next. all the flags have been ordered at half staff by leadership in the house and senate. we expect moments of silence for the victims of the ball, tornadoes.

president obama spoke earlier. you can see his comments in our video library. the house is coming in next. live coverage here on c-span.

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered today by our guest chaplain, pastor mark turner, south valley community church, california. the chaplain: let's pray. heavenly father, what an incredible honor it must be for the men and women gathered in this chamber today to represent the entire population of this country. i pray that they would not only feel the magnitude of this responsibility but that you would give them the strength of character to carry out that responsibility in honorable and christ-like way. i pray for the men and women of our armed forces. may you sustain them and keep them safe, may we as a nation

never forget the tremendous sacrifice they have made on our behalf to ensure our freedom and democracy. may it be upon these members of this house that the atlanta earn of hope and the light of liberty continue to burn bright in this land we call america. and finally, lord, it's with heavy heart that we stand here today, each one of us assembled in this chamber, pray for the families in oklahoma who have been affected by the devastating tornado that struck yesterday. comfort those who have lost loved ones, strengthen rescue workers and emergency personnel and may neighbor reach out to neighbor to assist in the heal and rebuilding process. as the eyes of the world are upon the residents of oklahoma, let them demonstrate the penance upon you and hope them display your resilience, the resolve and the american spirit that made their state and this nation so great. we pray these things in jesus' name. 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. the pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. cartwright. mr. cartwright: 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: without objection, the gentlelady from california, ms. lofgren, is recognized for one minute. ms. love -- ms. lofgren: it is my privilege to introduce pastor mark turner from gilroy, california, who delivered this morning's opening prayer. after a decade ago he left his career to answer a higher calling to serve his fellow persons in the ministry and serving others, pastor turner has become a respected leader in our community, making a difference in people's everyday

lives. working with local partners and businesses, pastor turner and hundreds of volunteers serve our community through outreach projects that feed children, seniors and underprivileged residents. they help local children through programs that encourage them to be active and strive in success. they bring compassionate and caring services for people in need. answering the call to serve something larger than one's self is a treat we deeply admire as americans. so it's a pleasure to welcome pastor turner to our nation's capitol today and thank him to our country. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain 15 further requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. the speaker: mr. speaker, my colleagues, our hearts go out who to those in oklahoma

are suffering as a result of this storm. i've asked that the flags here in the capitol complex be lowered to half staff in honor of the victims of this terrible tragedy. mr. speaker, my colleagues, this house is going to continue to be focused on the issue of jobs. it's the number one issue of concern to our fellow citizens and we're going to continue to be focused on the things that get in the way of job creation in our country. most notably this week, we'll work on trying to get the keystone pipeline approved that will create some 20,000 direct jobs and over 100,000 indirect jobs. and trying to make sure that those who have student loans won't see their interest rates double. that will be the work of the house of this week. but in addition to that, we have a responsibility to the

american people to provide oversight of the executive branch. i think americans understand and my colleagues understand that the american people deserve the truth and whether it's benghazi, whether it's the i.r.s., whether it's the justice department investigating journalists, the congress of the united states and the american people need to know what the truth is, to hold this administration accountable. those of us in public office understand that our job is to serve the american people, not the other way around. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cartwright: mr. speaker, over the past few weeks, newspapers in my district in pennsylvania have reported that local housing authorities are

facing a quote-unquote nightmare due to sequestration cuts in h.u.d., the department of housing and urban development. mr. speaker, fewer people are going to be able to access housing as a result of this congress' nightmare policies. in north hampton county, pennsylvania, alone, 85 people are going to have to leave the section 8 voucher program through turnover or there will be evictions. in another county in pennsylvania, 900 people will be removed from the program's waiting list. our social safety net is disappearing, and what happens if these people fall into homelessness? according to h.u.d., the annual cost of a shelter bed funded by the emergency shelter grants program is approximately $8,067 more than the average annual cost of a section 8 voucher. this congress is being penny-wise and pound foolish. with that i yield back, mr.

speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. last week the e.o.d. community lost one of its best and brightest. sergeant first class jeffrey baker was killed a week ago today in an i.e.d. explosion that killed fellow soldiers and injured others. he was assigned to the 766 e.o.d. company out of georgia and was serving in afghanistan at the time of his death. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are our experts in our armed forces. our joint e.o.d. forces protect our fellow service members and our interests both at home and abroad. too often the lives of these brave men and women are claimed by the very devices they're trained to neutralize. sergeant first class baker gave his life along with four of his fellow soldiers in defense of our freedoms. it's important we honor their sacrifice and the sacrifices of those that came before him.

next week as the nation who honors the veterans who have given their lives to our country, it's important that we take the time to recognize the risk our troops take every day. jeffrey baker was from california, was just 29 years old. he is survived by his wife and young daughter. my thoughts and prayers are with jeffrey and his entire family, the soldiers who were killed and soldiers recovering from the blast. god bless our armed forces and god bless america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, as a member of the house democrats make it in america working group, i was pleased to attend ceremony yesterday welcoming one company. in 2005, longerberger moved its production line to china. its return will create 22

american jobs. under vow tammy, this fifth business, family this story is further evidence that we're approaching what one calls the insourcing bomb. american companies are reconsidering their decisions to move operations overseas. the issues of rising transportation costs, quality control and the productivity of american workers is driving this trend. congress should be working to ensure the new trend becomes a sustainable, large-scale movement and austerity is exactly the wrong response. we should be investing in our infrastructure and education and science. we should adopt the house democrats' make it in america agenda, including legislation that replaces tax breaks for moving jobs overseas with incentives for bringing jobs home. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to

address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, i rise today to announce legislation i introduced that will designate the post office in marietta, ohio, as the lance corporal joshua c. taylor memorial post office building. lance corporal joshua taylor is a true american hero who lost his life on march 18 during a training exercise at the hawthorne army depot in nevada. from the early age, josh had dreamed of serving his country and becoming a marine. he entered the marine corps upon graduating from marietta high school in 2010. after basic training, joshua was stationed in camp lejeune, north carolina, and specialized in mortar weaponry. he honorably served tours of duty in afghanistan and kuwait. in addition to being a dedicated marine, josh was an exceptional individual. he will be remembered for his gentle spirit, unfailing love and his love for his family.

dedicating the marietta post office for josh taylor serves as a small tribute to honor and remember the life of a remarkable young man and the sacrifices he made for america. and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. >> mr. speaker, our economy is improving, the national debt is going down faster than expected and yet sequestration is still in effect and causing real and long-reaching harm in our communities. ms. fudge: republicans are prepared to sacrifice our country's economic growth, sacrifice job creation in favor of sequester cuts. what happened to the members on the other side all the last term asking where are the jobs?

now i'm asking, where are the jobs? mr. speaker, the sequester is slashing jobs, cutting education and starving research. all this happens while my counterparts feel comfortable standing idly by and instead of appointing conferees to work out the differences between the house and senate budget proposals and coming up with a plan that responsibly reduces the deficit. the american people need congress to act in a big way and we need to act now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. to my colleague who just spoke, i say she's going to have an opportunity voting on the keystone x.l. bill to address the jobs issue this week. but let me talk about this most recent i.r.s. scandal. i have a local attorney, well respected, named ted armstrong,

who founded the constitution study group called earn it, learn it or lose it. he applied for a tax-exempt status in august of 2010. in october, 2010, cincinnati headquarters called with a lot of questions, and it wasn't until october, 2011, that he received an 11-page rejection letter. he told -- he hired an accountant to try to appeal, and he told the accountant that his appeal was probably denied because he was teaching about the constitution. she laughed at that, but after this most recent i.r.s. story broke, she called back and in quotations said, my goodness, you are right. i quote tad in saying, here you have jay carney, a staunch deferned of the constitution, i can't help be reminded the president saying the constitution is outdated and gets in his way. i yield back my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, in 1962 president kennedy established peace officers memorial day to honor the sacrifices made by officers who died in the line of duty. mr. o'rourke: last week during peace officers memorial day, he met one who lost their first born son, angel david garcia. it was officer garcia's life-long dream to serve our nation and the city of el paso, a dream he perceived with enthusiasm and dedication. tragically, only nine months after he joined the force, officer garcia was killed while on patrol this past december. officer garcia dedicated his life to making el paso and our nation a better and a safer place. he was both a marine reservist and a patrol officer with the

el paso police department and was a loving older brother to his sister and brother. his selfless service serves as an example to all of us. on behalf of all el pasoans, i thank officer garcia and those who serve in law enforcement. our community is proud to remember him as one of our finest. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from kansas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. . ms. jenkins: the president seems to be getting a lot of information from the news instead of his administration. he said wear of the i.r.s. targeting conservatives. unaware the department of justice seizing reporters' phone reports. and unaffair the h.h.s. secretary fundraising for obamacare until he saw it on the news. the next story the president should read is billion our

bipartisan solution to create jobs and greater energy security for america. the keystone x.l. pipeline. it really is incomprehensible that the president after 1,700 days would continue to stand in the way of the largest shovel ready project in this country. it's really this simple. more american energy means more american jobs. with millions of hardworking americans out of work, gas prices skyrocketing, and china outcompeting the united states for access to canada's oil supply, we need the keystone pipeline. it's time to put hardworking american families ahead of politics and focus on real solutions. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from hawaii seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. gabbard: thank you, mr. speaker.

i rise today to say on behalf of my constituents in the state of hawaii, we express our condolences to those hit by the tornado in oklahoma yesterday. the destruction has been heartbreaking, and there really are no words that can adequately provide comfort during a time like this. however it's important for all of us to send a message of solidarity to those who have lost their loved ones, who have lost their children, lost their homes, and those who are still searching for their children, family, and friends in the rubble. know that your country stands with you. your country grieves with you and we are committed doing what it takes to make sure that you have the support to rebuild. the strength of our nation lies in our unity, especially in these times of great need. now is the time as we go about our business here in the people's house where we must stand as one united to help our brothers and sisters in oklahoma, provide with them assistance, prayers, and support

in their recovery and rebuilding process. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from washington seek recognition? miss mcmorris rogers: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlewoman seeked unanimous consent? mrs. mcmorris rodgers: unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today because i want to get americans back to work. when i was a little girl on the me, my parents used to tell kathy, life isn't always fair. but you see the difference was the things that weren't fair were outside of my control. years later we have a president who likes to talk a lot about fairness. but what he fails to mention is what isn't fair. it isn't fair that this administration continues to make life harder for americans all across this country. whether it's paying the bills at the end of the month, hire

health care costs, higher gas prices, an economy struggling with the smallest work force participation rate since 1979. it is unfair for washington to continue down a path that isn't working. this week we are voting to clear the way for the keystone pipeline. it will create at least 20,000 new jobs from construction alone. it's just one piece of a true all of the above energy plan. keystone will put people back to work immediately while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and adding billions of dollars to our economy. it's time for the president to stop talking about fairness and actually start supporting it. and he can start by signing the keystone project into law and get americans to work all across this country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute.

mrs. capps: mr. speaker, i rise today to call attention to the growing threats that climate change poses to public health. increasingly severe and frequent weather events and heat waves not only threaten people's health and safety, but jeopardize our food crop production and the availability of clean drinking water. food-borne illnesses, asthma, and others are expected to worsen in the changing climate. despite these impacts, most american health professionals do not have the tools they need to prepare for the changing needs of their patients. and climate change is a threat to human health only escalating with every day we fail to take action. that's why i reintroduced climate change health protection and promotion act which will help health professionals prepare for and respond to the public health impact of climate change. mr. speaker, we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the impacts of climate change, especially when it comes to the health of our friends, our neighbors, and our families.

i hope we can work together to pass this and other commonsense measures to address the critical issues of changes to our climate. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. duncan: to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, some people in countries are getting rich off of medicare. "washington post" columnist wrote that the wheelchair suppliers reimbursed as much as $5,000 for a basic chair that costs them $700 and sells at ordinary retail for $2,500. in addition hospitals are charging wildly varying price force the same procedures. george washington university hospital averages $115,000 for a patient on a ventilator, while providence hospital in the same city averages $53,000 for the same service. st. augustine, florida, one hospital typically build $40,000 toremove a galladder using

minimally invasive surgery. whereas one hospital in orange park, florida, charges $91,000. one hospital in dallas for free-throwing pneumonia was $14,110. while another charged $48,000. i do not want to see one poor person denied any necessary medical treatment, however we should not treat medicare, medicaid as holy and untouchable and allow many hospitals, medical providers, and suppliers get filthy rich off government medicine. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york recognition? -- seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to once again urge house leadership and the majority party in the house to refocus on what should be our top priority, jobs and the long-term economic stability of our nation. each day we report to our constituents that economic growth and putting americans

back to work is job one in congress. it very rarely that we request that priority in the house. the request is for confundraisees to complete the budget process to grow the economy doesn't get heeded over and over again. we are putting more and more people to work each month, but i have no doubt we could do better. as i talk to neighbors and friends back home, unemployment remains their top concern. instead, many in this chamber are plotting to take the debt ceiling hostage. we already know the dire consequence from that act. the bottom line is jobs and economic growth are all constituents' top concerns, and they should be ours as well. we can and must do better. let's put america to work. thank you, mr. speaker. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from minnesota seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute.

mrs. bachmann: it is with great joy today that i have shadowing with me today a girl named dezeree, and she is with me as a foster child. it was one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as a foster mother to 23 great kids. being a foster parent month there are 400,000 children in the united states who need a foster parent. we need more foster parents. she and i have been talking about the news of the day so far. we talked about the tragedy in oklahoma. and how our former colleague, now governor, is working so beautifully to gather a staff in oklahoma to meet the needs of the tragedy that's occurs. we talked about gas prices being $4.30 a gallon and how building the keystone pipeline will provide new jobs. foster children need love. they need stability. they need to be a part of the fabric of this nation. let's make them a priority in this country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the

gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. to me what has been more shocking than the sequester itself has been the responsible to it or lack thereoff on the part of house leadership. ms. meng: are they listening to our streets and neighbors or are they numbered by the repug gansz of this congress and the last. the sequester harms the american people, particularly the middle class and our children. my district in queens, new york, is decidedly and truly middle class, and everyday constituents tell me how the sequester is hurting their families and their future. it will cost america over 750,000 jobs this year including police, firefighters, public defenders, and border agents. we need to come to a compromise on a real spending plan that will increase revenue rather than slashing critical programs.

the american people need us to speak up for our priorities and values. the silence is disturbing. the sequester is not ok. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, the deliberate targeting of conservative groups by the i.r.s. is inexcusable. and raises serious red flags about the agency's misuse of power. mr. speaker, what we see here is an institutional arrogance within the i.r.s. the american people should be able to trust that an agency responsible for collecting their hard-earned tax dollars will not discriminate against them based on their values or political views. mr. holding: while the obama administration would have us believe the i.r.s. is targeting conservative groups was the result of an increase in the number of nonprofit applications, the data clearly reveals this to be simply

untrue. as if the targeting of conservative groups wasn't bad enough, the i.r.s. will soon also become the ennorser -- enforcer of obamacare, the american previously charged in the tax exempt provision at the i.r.s. now in charge of the obama administration enforcement division. mr. speaker, we need accountability from this agency and this administration. the american people demand it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. costa: mr. speaker, for the first time in recent history congress has a real opportunity to pass comprehensive legislation to fix our broken immigration system. legislation being backed by a bipartisan group of senators has done what many previous proposals have failed to do, and that is to gain broad support members on both sides of the and balance the needs of all of aisle in the house and the senate. agricultural organizations and the interests of our country. farm workers to make sure the

i have been working closely with concerns of california agriculture communities are met. the senate plan provides a legal and stable work force for agricultural and critical protections for those who work very hard every day to put safe, healthy foods on our nation's dinner table. without these provisions, it would have been a deal breaker for our valley. naysayers might say it's time to wait, but that's motivated simply by political interest not reality. it's time for immigration reform now. it's time for the house to act and come together. it's time to pass this bipartisan effort to fix america's broken immigration system. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. it's been almost five years since the application to build the keystone x.l. pipeline was filed. it's also been almost five years

that americans have been waiting for the jobs and energy security the keystone would provide. how much longer will president obama make us wait? american families expect our government to pursue the least expensive, most reliable necessaryic energy. . on both fronts, president obama's choice to see to environmental special interests and block the keystone x.l. in 2011 did the opposite. it denied thousands of jobless americans the chance at high-paying work and blocked the direct connection between refineries in texas and affordable energy in canada. but what's more audacious about the president's economically indefensible action is the fact that it is groundless. the president's own state department concluded, quote, no significant, end quote, environmental damage would be caused by keystone's completion. the keystone pipeline has jobs to offer.

why is the president turning those jobs away? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. wilson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. ms. wilson: mr. speaker, it's now been 870 days since i arrived in congress and the republican leadership has still not allowed a single vote on serious legislation to address our unemployment crisis. mr. speaker, this is not an exaggeration to say that unemployment is a matter of life and death. a new study and research at oxford and stanford,

approximately 4,050 sue sides between 2007 and 2010 were attributed to unemployment. now, here in america the sequester is slated to cut billions to nutrition subsidies, medical research, cancer clinics, low-income heating and other life-saving services. if we continue to cut jobs because of the sequester, mr. speaker, the facts are clear. the sequester kills. mr. speaker, it's time to bring h.r. 900, the cancel the sequester act, to the floor for a vote. it is time to turn our ttention back to jobs. our mantra, mr. speaker, should be jobs, jobs, jobs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and

extend. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman seek unanimous consent? >> yes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, our economy continues to struggle with nearly 1 million of our fellow americans remaining out of work. why then does the president still insist on standing in the way of creating new jobs by expanding america's energy sector by using all of our valuable resources, water, wind, solar, gas and oil? more american energy production would create jobs and grow our economy. mr. miller where are in addition to lowering energy costs for hardworking americans and strengthening our national security, these are the kind of goals that all americans, republican and democrat, should be able to get behind. but this president is clearly not serious about creating new jobs. e still has refused to agree to the keystone pipeline. it's been over 1,700 days. we've waited long enough. it's time to build the pipeline. t's time to create jobs.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on may 21, 2013, at 9:45 a.m., that the senate passed senate 309. with best wishes i am, signed sincerely, karen l.a. haas. he speaker pro tempore: -- the clerk: with best wishes i am, signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. any record vote on the postponed question will be taken later. for what purpose does the

gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1412, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 39, h.r. 1412, a bill to improve and increase the availability of on-job training and apprenticeship programs carried out by the secretary of veterans affairs, and for other urposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. miller, and the gentleman from maine, mr. michaud, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. miller: thank you, mr. speaker. h.r. 1412, as amended, is another product of the house committee on veterans' affairs work to improve the effectiveness of g.i. bill benefits for veterans. i want to express my appreciation to the subcommittee chairman, bill flores, the ranking member, mark takano, and our new full

committee ranking member, mike michaud, for working with us to bring this amended bill to the floor of the house. in general, h.r. 1412, as amended, responds to concerns about how to ensure that veterans make the best use of their hard-earned g.i. bill benefits. specifically, h.r. 1412 improves the g.i. bill's on-the-job training option that offers veterans the opportunity to gain work experience and at the same time offers employers a lower cost while the veteran undergos their training. the bill, as amended, has two major sections. section 2 would reduce the final required salary of a veteran engaged with an employer's on-the-job training apprenticeship program from the current 85% of the fully trained wage for the job to 75%. this new requirement would be put in place for a period of

four years following the effective date of this section. the temporary decrease in the wage requirement will provide more employers the flexibility to offer o.j.t. training programs when they otherwise would not have been able to do so. section 3 would direct the department of veterans affairs to conclude agreements with other federal agencies to have them further participate in the o.j.t. program. if we are going to ask private employers to offer more opportunities to our veterans, the federal government ought to lead by example. mr. speaker, this bill is another step in reducing the unemployment rate among our veterans and is fully paid for. i greatly appreciate the bipartisan manner in which our colleagues have worked to reach an accord on the final provisions of this bill, and i encourage all members to support the bill and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from maine.

mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. first of all, i want to thank the chairman for the -- of the full committee for his hard work and working in a bipartisan manner, not only on this piece of legislation but all the bills we have been working. i rise in support of h.r. 1412, as amended, the improving job opportunities for veterans act of 2013. i want to thank mr. coffman for introducing this legislation. i also want to thank committee chairman miller and subcommittee chairman, mr. flores, and ranking member, mr. takano, for their leadership in assisting and bringing this bill before us today. in these challenging employment markets, we need to use all available means our veterans in obtaining the training that they need to find a good-paying job. h.r. 1412 assists veterans by

improving and increasing the v.a.'s on-the-job training and apent isship programs. in these programs -- apprenticeship programs. in these programs, they're paid in part by the employer and by the v.a. with not less than 50% being paid by the program. as a veteran completes the program and becomes a fully qualified employee, the employer pays an increasing percentage of the salary, eventually assuming all of it. h.r. 1412 reduces slightly the percentage of the salary the employer pays near the end of the training program. this eases the burden on the employers and an incentive for employers to increase the number of veterans in the program. the veterans' committee will be closely monitoring this committee to ensure that more veterans are being offered training opportunities as a result. mr. speaker, we know that on-the-job training and apprenticeship is a highly

efficient and cost-effective means of connecting veterans with meaningful long-term employment. this is good for both veterans and employers. h.r. 1412 enhances the opportunity for both making it easier for companies to employ veterans and for veterans to find new jobs and careers. unfortunately, however, too many employers know about -- not too many employees know about this program and how to connect it. as we pass this legislation, i encourage the v.a. to do more to inform employers and veterans about the benefits of this program. thank you, mr. speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maine reserves. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. at this time i'm pleased to yield as much time as he may consume, the author of the bill and the stalwart supporter of america's veterans, the gentleman from colorado, mr. coffman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. coffman: thank you, mr. speaker.

i would also like to thank chairman miller and ranking member michaud for their leadership on the committee. their efforts to advance this important bill will help veterans who are returning from iraq and afghanistan find jobs. as a member of the house committee on veterans' affairs and as a marine combat veteran myself, it's important to me and our country that we take care of those who have served this nation after they come home from war. our veterans have great skills when it comes to working as a member of a team and getting the job done, but unfortunately, in many instances, their technical skills aren't readily transferable to civilian occupations. the bureau of labor statistics stated that the unemployment rate for iraq and afghanistan war veterans between the ages of 20 and 24 was 19% in april. this is why i'm happy to have my legislation, h.r. 1412, the

improving job opportunities for veterans act of 2013, i'm happy it is on the floor today for a vote. this legislation seeks to increase the availability of on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs to help veterans make the transition into the civilian work force. this legislation will build on an existing yet little known and underutilized on-the-job training program that allows veterans to use their educational benefits as they earn through their military service to learn a trade or a skill by participating in an approved apprenticeship or on-the-job training program. there are two pillars of this legislation. the first is that it will decrease the final percentage of the veteran's salary paid by the employer from 85% to 75% as a means to further incentivize employers to participate. secondly, the legislation will expand this training program by requiring the v.a. to enter

into agreements with other federal agencies to expand on-the-job training opportunities throughout the federal government. this legislation will be a great tool for both private sector and federal employees -- employers to hire our veterans who are struggling to make that transition from the military to the civilian work force. employers in colorado have already explained to me how beneficial this legislation can be for their operations because they know that hiring veterans is a proven bonus. they know that veterans are hard working, team oriented and quick learners who are capable of gaining highly technical skills which are prevalent in many industries today. for example, the c.e.o. of tristate generation in colorado, based in my home district, told me that the improving job opportunities for veterans act will add to his company's existing outreach to

our veterans. currently they employ 150 veterans. they want to do even more. i applaud their efforts and other companies who want to hire vets. i hope this bill helps veterans connect to a great pool -- i hope employers will connect to a great pool of talent from those returning from military service. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida reserves. mr. miller: mr. speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from california, mr. takano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: i thank the gentleman from maine for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today to support the increased job opportunities embodied in h.r. 1412 and the changes it makes to the on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs at the

department of veterans affairs. i want to thank mr. coffman, the gentleman from colorado, or introducing this bill and the veterans' committee leadership, chairman miller, ranking member michaud and subcommittee chairman flores for moving this bill through committee. this legislation will expand access to veterans to on-the-job training and apprenticeships and assist employers in hiring veterans who have shown time and again that their real-world experience, leadership and countless other skills are great resources for america's companies. by reducing the percentage of salary paid by an employer to a veteran participating in one of these programs, this bill would make it more attractive for companies to hire veterans doing on-the-job training and apprenticeships. . it is our hope that these opportunities will help bridge some the employment gaps veterans are currently experiencing. unfortunately it is also clear

from our subcommittee work that the department of veterans affairs could be doing a better job advertising this great benefit. the more veterans and employers know about this benefit, the more opportunities veterans can have in the job market. million coffman's bill also requires -- mr. coffman's bill also requires the v.a. to carry out a public relations campaign that would raise awareness of these valuable programs. i am proud to support this legislation and urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to support it as well. mr. speaker, i'm very proud of the bipartisan spirit of the veterans committee. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maine reserves. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: mr. speaker, we have no more speakers at this time. if mr. michaud is ready to close, we'll be prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maine is recognized. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. i, too, have no further members who wish to speak. i do want to, in closing,

emphasize again that the veterans are an asset to any organization whether it's in the private or public sector, they make the organization better and they improve the bottom line. this bill is very timely and is very important for our veterans. i also want to thank once again mr. takano for his leadership on this issue and right before he became a member of congress, he was in the community college system and he knows about training and how important apprenticeship programs are. i encourage my colleagues to support this legislation. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maine yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: thank you, mr. speaker. once again encourage all members to support h.r. 1412 as amended. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 1412, as amended. 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 -- mr. miller: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? mr. miller: mr. speaker, i now move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 570, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 570, a bill to amend title 38 united states code to provide for annual cost of living adjustments to be made automatically by law each year

in the rates of disability compensation for veterans with service connected disabilities, and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors of certain service connected disabled veterans. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. miller, and the gentleman from maine, mr. michaud, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and add any remarks extraneous material that they may have on h.r. 570, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. miller: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. miller: the author of the underlying bill, mr. runyan of new jersey, has put forward a bipartisan proposal to make permanent the veterans cost of living adjustment. currently congress must adopt annual cola bills to ensure that payments to disabled veterans and survivors do not erode due

to inflation. mr. runyan's bill, which my amendment incorporates, would make this annual and sometimes dangerously delayed practice a thing of the past. a coalition of veterans groups expressed strong concern with some other elements of the underlying bill which my amendment now seeks to address. first, the concern was expressed that the bill would permanently extend the 20-year practice of rounding veterans' cola increases down to the next lower whole dollar. the congressional budget office stimates that by extending the round-down authority saves relative to the baseline over $1.3 billion over a 10-year period. the veterans coalition was concerned about the cumulative effect that the permanent rounddown would have as well as the moral principle associated with logging savings on the backs of our disabled veterans.

to meet that concern, i worked with our ranking member to first sunset the round down authority after five years and second we agreed to the committee's mark up to find a way to reinvest savings associated with the round down by improving benefits for other disabled veterans. i'm pleased to announce that my amendment contains such an improvement that it is nonenthusiastically support -- that it is enthusiastically supported by veterans groups. our bipartisan work would significantly increase the special monthly compensation payments made to our most severely disabled veterans by 30% through the year 2018, then 50% thereafter. this is the payment that goes to support catastrophically disabled veterans who are in need of aid and attendance. these are veterans missing limbs, totally blind, deaf, or who are so disabled that they require the need of special care

in the home all as a result of their military service. clearly it's our duty to ensure that these most deserving service disabled veterans are well cared for, and my amendment to h.r. 570, will be a significant step in that direction. and finally, the service organizations were concerned about the potential application of the so-called chained c.p.i. at some point in the future that could potentially affect veterans' colas. to allay that concern, my amendment specifies that the only permanent veterans cola would be continued to the extent that the current inflationary index that is used now. the c.p.i., or urban wage earners and clerical workers, continues in force. i'm very pleased to say that with the changes in my amendment we now have a bill that can be supported by the veterans it is intended to benefit.

with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 570, as amended. the american heroes cola act. i wish to thank mr. runyan, the sponsor of h.r. 570, and the chairman of the disabilities assistance and memorial affairs subcommittee, as well as ms. titus, our subcommittee ranking member for their hard work on this measure. i'd also like toe thank chairman miller for working closely with me and with the veterans groups to make key improvements in this particular bill. h.r. 570 would permanently index the annual veterans cost of living adjustment, or cola, to increase -- to the increase provided to social security beneficiaries permanent, but only if the social security cola continues to be determined using

the current methodologies. this guards against automatically passing on any decrease to veterans that result from any future actions to implement a changed c.p.i. regime. second, h.r. 570 extends a cola round down provision set to expire this year for five years instead of making it permanent. this round down provision was implemented many years ago as a means by the savings and many veterans groups voiced opposition to making such increase permanent. third, the savings generated from the round down extension will be reinvested in veterans programs, namely increasing the monthly amount provided to some of our veterans, most in need of assistance and care. h.r. 570 would increase the amount of what is a special monthly compensation paid to catastrophically disabled veterans in need of aid and

attendance. this monthly amount would be ncreased from $2,002, to $3,163, and $2,983 for those most in need of care to $4,713. these final payments would be phased in to comply with pay-go requirements. h.r. 570, as amended, is a good bill and i urge my colleagues to support this measure. thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maine reserves. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: mr. speaker, at this time i'm happy to yield such time as he might consume to the chairman of the subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. runyan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. runyan: thank you, mr. speaker. chairman miller, thank you. ranking member, mr. michaud, for bringing this bill to the floor. h.r. 570 is american heroes cola act.

this bill, which i introduced beginning the 113th congress, seeks to make permanent the annual increase to veterans, disability compensation rates, and other benefits by timing these increases to the cost of living adjustments for social security benefits. with the passage of this act, veterans will no longer again have to depend on congressional action to receive an increase to the cost of living adjustment they have more than earned through their service. instead, these increases will become automatic from year to year. as chairman of the subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs, i'm honored again -- i'm honored again to sponsor this legislation, i'm proud to have our subcommittee ranking member, ms. titus, as the co-lead sponsor of the bill. mr. speaker, i also support the amendment offered by chairman miller of the committee of veterans affairs to use the savings generated by h.r. 570 to increase the rate of special

monthly compensation paid to our most tragically wounded veterans. and i earn courage all members to support h.r. 570. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield four minutes to the gentlewoman from nevada, ms. titus. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized for four minutes. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, ranking member michaud, for yielding and for your work and leadership on this critical issue that affects our nation's heroes. i support the american heroes cola act, h.r. 570, which i introduced along with my colleague and subcommittee chairman, john runyan. this is important legislation that will protect our disabled veterans and their families' financial security. unlike with social security cola increases, which are calculated automatically, congress must act each year to provide he veterans

with their cola increases they need and deserve. our nation's heroes should receive their full compensation payment each year as well in a timely fashion. removed from the occasional logjam here on capitol hill. their livelihood should not be held hostage by political forces. nevadaa's veterans have strugulled during this tough economic climate. their rates of unemployment and homelessness are disproportionately high, and as the cost of living has increased, so have their problems. and i know this is true of veterans around the country. my permanently adjusting benefits to include automatically cost of living increases, we are providing critical piece peace of mind to those who have bravely served our country. they will have the knowledge of knowing that assistance will be there. chairman runyan and i have worked closely to improve this legislation since we first introduced the bill in february, and i fully support the amended

version we are considering today. changes concerning the round down practice and the chained c.p.i. are changes that will strengthen the bill. i appreciate also the input we received from a number of veterans service organizations, and believe that this improved version of the legislation clearly addresses their concerns. in effect, h.r. 570 will direct the v.a. to increase rates of disability compensation for veterans with service connected disabilities. as well as the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of veterans with specific service connected claims. the bill will protect veterans benefits from deteriorating over time as the cost of housing, medicine, food, and clothing and utilities all increase. i want to echo ranking member michaud's sentiments regarding the pornts of having these adjustments occur annually, regularly, and dependably. it's essential that congress

provides for the needs of our heroes, the brave men and women who answer the call to serve in our armed services, and for their families as well. i thank chairman miller and chairman runyan for their work on this important issue, and i urge my colleagues to support the american heroes cola act. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from maine reserves. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: we'll reserve our time. i have no further speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. o'rourke: thank you, mr. speaker. i would also like to thank the chair of the subcommittee and the ranking member for sponsoring this legislation and chairman and ranking member of