legislature appear in congress, i am looking forward to working on a copperheads of immigration bill. that means that more americans will have jobs. host: and the house is now in session. chaplain conroy: let us pray. dear lord, we give you thanks for giving us another day. we come to you as a nation in the midst of great uncertainty and worry as people look for causes and solutions. the temptation is great to seek ideological position. we ask that you might send your spirit of peace and and all elected to represent our nation might work together humbly, recognizing the best in each other's hopes to bring stability and direction toward a strong future. this chamber will soon be silent. members gone for the august

recess. the weather continues to damage crops. the economy continues to struggle. sequestration threatens interest of all americans from a myriad points of view. during the coming weeks, may all americans find respite from all their struggles, and may all members of this people's house find rest and resolve, to return to the service of these united states as citizens empowered by their constituents to address the needs of the nation. ay all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings hizzhis. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentleman from illinois, mr. shimkus. mr. shimkus: would our guests join us in the pledge? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under

god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? mr. shimkus: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker: without objection. mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to remember and recall the life of carla anderson. carla passed away on july 23, after a month-long fight against an infection. she was 52, a loving mother, devoted wife and deputy executive director of the next generation 911 institute. it was in this capacity that i had the privilege of working with her. technology continued to move forward, congresswoman anna eshoo and i worked closely as part of the congressional e-911

congress. she was part of legislation passed by congress to advance 911 services. in so doing, many lives have been saved. as first responders throughout the country could not only receive calls but identify the location of the call. in the first responder community, time saves lives. aztec nothing improved, carla ensured that the legislation and the education of members improved with it. carla was laid to rest in her beloved north dakota. she will be missed by us and the first responder community throughout this country. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman from florida seek unanimous consent? the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to pay tribute to captain lafare who recently retired after 27 years of service in the united states navy.

mr. garcia: he fought for freedom and democracy throughout the world. his 27 years of service, he completed four different deployments and will be remembered in service for his strong character, work ethic and love of country. it is with pleasure that we can say that captain lafare will continue his career in public service as director of operations and planning in the monroe county school board. mr. speaker, i'd like to extend my best wishes to him on his retirement and in particular to his family and his wife, wendy. our thanks to his continuing contribution to our country and to our community. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota 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. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to bring attention to the sad truth about sex trafficking in the united states. mr. paulsen: the department of justice reports between 2008

and 2010, 83% of sex trafficking victims found in this country were u.s. citizens and 40% of cases involve the exploiltation of children. just this week, the f.b.i. rescued 105 children from exploitation and 76 -- in 76 u.s. cities including one from my home state of minnesota. sadly this is an all too common occurrence. the f.b.i. identified the twin cities as one of the 13 largest centers of child prostitution. that's why i introduced a bill with my colleague, congressman slaughter. we need to have proper designation to ensure that the victims receive the care and help they need. to increase awareness and a better understanding of this issue as well as compassion for the victims of sex trafficking, we can take real steps to make sure we stop the abuse of our most vulnerable and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota 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 from minnesota is ecognized. >> all across southern minnesota and across this country, farmers and ranchers have been up for hours quietly going about their business of feeding, clothing and empowering the world. mr. walz: now, we disagreed on how the farm bill was done here, but this house passed one. the senate passed one, and just like that saturday morning cartoon, i'm just a bill sitting on capitol hill, we got to get together to finish that. that's called a conference. the senate appointed their conferees. all you have to do, mr. speaker, very seldom you get this simple choice, appoint conferees and finish our business for america or go on vacation. that's the choice you get today. now, i taught sixth grade for many years. the rule in our class was, you don't go to recess until you finish your work. i often hear from my friends, we need to run government more like a business. what business owner shuts the door and goes home before finishing critical work?

appoint conferees, finish the farm bill, give certainty, do your work that we're being paid for and finish the farm bill. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: mr. speaker, 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 from south carolina is recognized. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, overreaching regulations are stifling economic growth and destroying jobs. last year the administration enacted 1,172 new regulations, which is 16% more than 2011. at the current rate, the administration operates, increasing regulations have become the new normal. house republicans have a plan to stop the record breaking volume of red tape on small businesses. this week house republicans passed legislation to address this government abuse. america's job creators should be more concerned about creating jobs whether than worrying about complying with confusing mandates. american taxpayers should keep their hard-earned money rather

than facing the burden of higher taxes. it's time to put our economy back on track to job creation. it's my hope that the president and senate will join with us to make full-time job creation the new normal. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, 48 years ago this week, president lyndon johnson signed into law legislation that formally established medicare and medicaid, promises to seniors following a lifetime of hard work they'd be able to retire with economic security and peace of mind and always have access to the guarantee of quality, affordable health care. for nearly half a century, medicare has provided critical benefits and health care services for seniors in my home state of rhode island and all across this country. rhode y nearly 200,000 islanders receive medicare

benefits. despite its remarkable success, the promise made flew medicare has come under attack -- through medicare has come under attack. and this week instead of working with democrats to address many challenges addressing our country, house republicans are holding their 40th vote to undermine the affordable care act, historic health care romple that strengthens medicare and continues to serve seniors today and for generations to come. our constituents deserve better. let's set aside partisan politics and commit to preserving medicare so it will continue to provide critical benefits for hardworking seniors in my home state of rhode island and all across this great nation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: 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 from illinois is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. it is with great privilege i rise today to announce the very first recipient of my citizen hero reward. mr. hultgren: i'm blessed to represent the 14th district of illinois. i created this award to honor exemplary constituents in my district who help others

through their actions. ngree groves' adam castellanos, for over six years he served as a t.s.a. transportation security officer at chicago o'hare international airport. while on duty last month, adam, along with his transportation security administration colleagues, jay cob and marvin, helped save a passenger's life. upon discovering the passenger passed out and was unconscious, he grabbed the closest a.e.d. unit and brought it to his side while his colleagues called 911 nd provided c.p.r. thank you for your service. it is my pleasure to represent you and i extent tend my heart felt gratitude with this -- and i extend my heart felt gratitude with this award. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the the

gentlelady is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the historic march on washington, where many rallied for jobs and freedom. it advanced civil rights in america and helped in passing the civil rights act in 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965. ms. kelly: it's important we remember that this congress has yet to bring a jobs bill to the floor. as we recall what the march did to advance freedom, we should remember that the recent supreme court ruling on voting rights left it up to democrats and republicans in congress to work out a bipartisan path to protect voters from discrimination and from being disenfranchised. the need for folks to come together on behalf of jobs and justice is as important now as it was 50 years ago. our nation is made better when we march together, to overcome the challenges of our times. i urge my colleagues to unite and pass a jobs bill that's good for american workers and to take the steps necessary to

protect every americans' right to vote. the march continues. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: 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 from texas is recognized. >> mr. speaker, in the president's pivot back to jobs last week, he told a crowd that america has fought its way back after the start of the great recession. mr. wilson: five years ago unemployment was at 6%. now it's at 5.5%. five years ago 30 million americans received food stamps. today 47.8 million are enrolled. we are no way back to where we were before the 2008 collapse. as the president's -- it's the president's economic agenda that's pushing further us into danger. as a business owner of 42 years, i've been on the receiving end of these job-killing policies and i know what we need to get the economy back on track. we need to reform the tax code.

we need to ensure our military remains fully funded and well-equipped and the best in the world. we should never accept 7.6% as the normal level for unemployment or 15% poverty rate and we should never accept an economy that creates more food stamps than jobs. in god we trust. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition? ms. schakowsky: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. schakowsky: i met with a fourth grade constituent named lily. she was concerned about the impact of oil and gas drilling on sources of drinking water. and she was determined to do something about it. she urged me to introduce a law that would protect consumers from contamination associated with drilling operations. so today i will introduce the safe hydration is an american right and energy development, or shared act. the bill would require testing

of water sources near hydraulic fracking operations and the public disclosure of the results of that testing. the shared act would improve the lives of people all over this country, making sure lily and future generations of kids have access to safe, clean water. i'm inspired by lily's dedication to this issue and i urge my colleagues to join as co-sponsors of the shared act. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 322 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h.r. 367. will the gentleman from arkansas, mr. womack, kindly ake the chair? the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r.

367 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to amend chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unls a joint resolution of approval is nacted into law. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose on thursday, august 1, 2013, a request for recorded vote on amendment 12 printed in part b of house report 113-187 offered by the gentlewoman from wisconsin, ms. moore, had been postponed. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will resume on those amendments printed in part b of house report 113-187 in the following order, amendment number one by mr. scalise of louisiana, amendment number three by mr. smith ofs missouri, amendment number four by mr. latham of iowa,

amendment number six by mr. nadler of new york, amendment of r eight by mr. johnson georgia, amendment by ms. jackson lee of texas, and amendment by ms. moore of wisconsin. the unfinished request is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number one printed in house report 113-187 offered by mr. scalise of louisiana on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number one printed in house report 113-18 , offered by mr. scalise of louisiana. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by

the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 237. the nays are 176. the amendment is adopted.

the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 3 printed in part b of house report 113-187 by the gentleman from missouri, mr. smith, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 3 printed in part b of house report 113-187 offered by mr. smith of missouri. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. recognizing the long-term partnership and friendship between the united states and the hashemite kingdom of jordan, working together towards peace and security in the middle east. a vorded vote has been requested. -- a recorded vote has been requested. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 227, the nays are 185. the amendment is adopted. the unfinished business is the

request for a recorded vote on amendment number 4 printed in house report 113-18 by mr. latham, on which proceedings were postponed on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number three offered by mr. latham of iowa. the chair: those in support of a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. once again, this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 263 -- the chair: on this vote the yeas are 263, the nays are 152. the amendment is adopted.

the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 6 printed in part b of house report 113-187 by the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, on which further proceed wrgs postponed, on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. chelerk will redesignate the amendment. six lerk: amendment number offered by mr. nadler of new york. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 186, the nays are 29, the amendment is not adopt. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 7 printed in part b of house report 113-187 by the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, on which further proceedings were postponed on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. che clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 7 printed in house report 113-187 offered by mr. johnson of georgia. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 182, the nays are 235, the amendment is not adopted. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 8 printed in part b of house report 113-187 by the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, on which further proceed wrgs postponed, on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will rebezzig -- redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 8 offered by ms. jackson lee of texas. the chair: a recorded vote is requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. again, a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 185. the nays is 231. the unthe unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 12 printed in part b of house report 113-187 by ms. moo of wisconsin. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the chair: amendment number 12 printed in part b of house report 113-187 offered by ms. moore of wisconsin. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is

ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote the yeas are 190. the nays are 226. he amendment is not adopted. the question is on the amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is adopted. accordingly, under the rule, the committee rises.

the speaker pro tempore: mr. hairman. the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 367 and pursuant to house resolution 322 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule the previous question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded on the amendment to the amendment reported from the committee of the whole? if not, the question is on the adoption of the amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. to. mendment is agreed

the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to amend chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law. the speaker pro tempore: the ouse will be in order. he house will be in order. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed h.r. 2642, cited as the federal

agriculture reform and risk managements act of 2013 in which the concurrence of the ouse is requested. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new hampshire eek recognition? is the gentlewoman opposed to the bill? ms. kuster: i am opposed in the current form. the clerk: ms. kuster of new hampshire moves to recommit the bill to the committee on the judiciary with instructions to report the same back to the house forthwith with the following amendment -- add at the end of the billing the following, section 6, protecting jobs, economic growth, the exemptions for certain classes of major rules, specific rules created under ction 8043 of title 5 --

the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to suspense of the reading? without objection, the reading is dispensed. ms. kuster: thank you, mr. speaker. this is the final amendment to the bill which will not kill the bill or send it back to the committee. if adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. mr. speaker, we can all agree on the need for targeted regulatory relief. too often well-intentioned rules lead to harmful unintended consequences for our constituents. we need congress and the federal agencies to work ogether to thoughtfully tailer -- taylor -- tailor new rules. with today's divided government, this collaborative approach is the only way to move forward. not by scoring political points

or passing bills that will go nowhere, but by working together. that's what the american people expect, and that's what the american people deserve. that's exactly what we did in new hampshire when my constituents raised concerns with the impact that new regulations would have on our small state's family and/or beganic farm. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady will suspend. ms. kuster: thank you. as we speak the food and drug administration is trying to improve the safety of our food supply, a goal that we can all support. but the f.d.a. needs to work with congress to ensure that these rules do not burden farmers with the one-size-fits-all mandate that does not make sense for new england farms. that's why i led 20 senators and representatives, both

republicans and democrats, in pushing the f.d.a. to work with farmers and find common ground. because of our efforts, the agency will soon be holding a forum in new hampshire to hear from local farmers about the way to improve these rules. that is the right approach. bring people together from both parties to thoughtfully solve problems, not thoughtlessly obstructing reforms across the board. the bill we will soon vote on would hold progress hostage by requiring additional acts of congress for new major rules. even though this congress has seen more gridlock than almost any other. after partisanship led to the doubling of student loan rates on the first of july, it took a full month for this congress to provide students and middle-class families with the relief that they deserve. do we want to subject economic opportunity for the middle

class to that same partisan gridlock? what about medicare protection for our seniors? what about the health and safety of our veterans? what about the safety and well-being of our children? no. we certainly do not. we don't need more gridlock. we need bipartisan solutions, and that's why i am offering my amendment, which would exempt rules from this bill if they would advance the priorities that we can all support, creating jobs and economic growth, reducing the deficit and long-term debt, protecting the health and safety of america's children, our seniors and our veterans. surely we can all agree that reforms to advance these priorities should not face additional hurdles in congress. i urge support for my amendment to improve this bill and ensure that it does not harm job

creation, economic growth, the health and well-being of our constituents or other bipartisan policies that we can all agree upon. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. goodlatte: i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for ive minutes. he house will be in order. the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, on the floor of this house in 2011, the president of the united states promised the american people that to reduce barriers to growth and investment. when we find rules that put an unnecessary burden on businesses, we will fix them. that very month the president issued an executive order that

said our regulatory system must promote economic growth, innovation, competitiveness and job creation. he said our regulatory system must identify and use the least burdensome tools for achieving regulatory ends. he said our regulatory system must take into account benefits and costs. he was right. when our regulatory system doesn't do these things it kills jobs, suppresses growth and locks us ever further into economic stagnation. but mr. speaker, those were just the president's words. his actions have been starkly different. since 2011, indeed throughout the president's administration, a flood of major new regulations have been burying america's job creators and households at record levels. as a result, economic growth is down. america's competitiveness is down. job creation is down. regulatory costs are up.

the president isn't reducing barriers to growth and investment. he isn't fixing unnecessary burdens on business. he's piling them on, and to make matters worse, when congress now declines to legislate the president's misguided policies for him, he increasingly is resorting to unilateral regulatory actions to legislate by executive fiat. mr. speaker, the time is right to pass the raines act. the -- reins act. the reins act in one swoop ensures the congress, the body to which the constitution assigns the power to legislate, will at last stand accountable for the most significant legislative decisions imposed on the american people through regulation. and in that same fell swoop, the reins act puts an end to president end runs around congress through legislation cloaked as regulation. instead of helping reins act supporters to seize this moment for the benefit of main street

families and small businesses, opponents of the bill offer this motion to recommit, but the motion seeks only to disstract from the need to re-- distract from the need to reduce unnecessary burdens on the public. worse, it seeks to distract the need from members of congress to stand accountable for the regulatory actions committed in its name. i ask my colleagues, why should any member of congress be afraid to stand accountable for the most costly legislative decisions that the government imposes on the american people? this motion to recommit represents the politics of diversion and division. virtually every major legislative area off the table from the reins act. it weakens the country.

i commend the gentleman for offering this legislation, i urge my colleagues to support this bill, reject the motion to recommit and show america that congress can act. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. noes have it. the gentlelady from new hampshire. >> i ask for a recorded vote. hank you, mr. speaker. the chair: a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote ised offered. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, this five-minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by a five-minute vote on passage of the bill if ordered. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the

u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this -- the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 18245erk nays are 229, the motion is not adopt. the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the gentleman from michigan. >> i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: a recorded vote is requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 232, the nays are 183.

table. for what purpose does the gentlelady from hawaii seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that i may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of h.r. 666, a measure originally introduced by representative markey of massachusetts, for the purpose of adding co-sponsors and requests reprinting pursuant to clause 7 of rule 12. the chair: without objection, so ordered. ms. hanabusa: thank you, hanabusa: thank you, mr. speaker. for what purpose does the gentlelady from indiana seek recognition?

mrs. walorski: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to have the name of mr. duncan of south carolina removed as a co-sponsor of h.r. 2134. -- mrs. brooks: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to have the name of mr. duncan of south carolina removed as a co-sponsor of h.r. 2134. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on northern affairs be discharged from further consideration of house resolution 222 and ask for an immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 222, resolution recognizing the long-term partnership and friendship between the united states and the hashemite kingdom of jordan working together towards piece and security in the middle east. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the esolution?

for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. royce: mr. speaker, i have an amendment to the text of the resolution at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. royce of california, strike the preamble and insert the strike all after the -- mr. royce: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from california. mr. royce: i have an amendment to the preamble at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the amendment is agreed to and without objection, the resolution is agreed to. the gentleman from california. mr. royce: i have an amendment to the preamble at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the amendment to the preamble. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. royce of california. strike the preamble and insert kingdom of jordan have the

maintained official diplomatic relations since 1949 and during this partnership -- mr. royce: mr. speaker, i would ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. without objection, the amendment to the preamble is agreed to sand the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 322, i call up the bill h.r. 2009, the keep the i.r.s. off your health care act of 2013 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2009, a bill to prohibit the secretary of the treasury from enhors forcing the patient protection and affordable care act and the health care and education

reconciliation act of 2010. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 322, the bill is considered as read. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and to heir remarks include extraneous material on h.r. 2009. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. camp: and mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: mr. speaker, i come to the floor today in support of h.r. 2009, legislation that will prevent the i.r.s. from getting involved in americans' health care. the i.r.s. is already out of control, abusing its power to tax and audit the activities of honest, hardworking americans. the i.r.s. has betrayed the trust of the american people. yet, obamacare granted the including ew powers, giving confidential taxpayer

information to other departments and applying new tax penalties. well before the i.r.s. started getting involved in your health care, getting in your information and forcing people to pay more tax, let's look at the job that the i.r.s. is already doing. back in 2011, i investigated claims that the i.r.s. was threatening donors to conservative causes with higher taxes. it turned out to be true. the i.r.s. whereas abusing its authority and it was harassing conservatives. but that was just the tip of the iceberg. we soon learned of more accusations about how the i.r.s. was targeting americans for nair political beliefs. -- their political beliefs. what we have found so far, and we just have 3% from the documents of the i.r.s. that we requested, and what we found is that the i.r.s. did leak confidential taxpayer information. they did delay applications of groups supporting conservative causes, and they did threaten

conservatives with higher taxes. and democrats want to give this agency more power and authority? they want this agency involved in americans' health care? no way. even the agency's own watchdog says the i.r.s. cannot handle the job. less than two weeks ago, the independent treasury inspector general stated that they're not confident about the i.r.s.'s ability to protect confidential taxpayer information or to prevent fraud. well, neither am i, and by every indication, neither are the american people. it's been three years since the health care law was passed, and less than two months, the administration claims it will be fully ready to implement the law. in the face of all these failures, all these breaches of the public trust, more americans than ever want this law to be repealed. why? it's simple. obamacare has brought increased

health care costs to individuals and families, has stifled businesses from expanding and forced american job creators to cut jobs, wages and hours. just yesterday at a hearing in the ways and means committee, a key official from health and human services could not confirm that the health care law would lower the health care costs for hardworking families in my home state of michigan. but wasn't this the signature promise of this administration that premiums be $2,500 lower? and now the administration cannot make good on that promise. with so little time before the exchanges are set to open and families plan their health care spending for the next year, it's extremely concerning that the administration cannot tell the american people what their health insurance will look like or what it will cost. simply put, this law is a failure and ought to be

repealed, but it didn't have to be this way. the house republican alternative to the democrats' health care law, which i authored, was the only legislation. scored by the nonpartisan congressional budget office as meeting the top health priority of american families because it was the only bill that actually lowered the cost of health insurance premiums and it didn't give the i.r.s. a single new power. it kept the i.r.s. out of your health care, which is exactly what this bill will do, keep the i.r.s. off and out of your health care. we should be cutting the i.r.s., not expanding it. we should reduce its power and authority and its ability to harass and abuse americans. that's exactly what this bill does. i urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes on this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: we're now seven months into this house republican session. it has been nothing more than a bridge to nowhere. nowhere on jobs, nowhere on immigration reform, nowhere on a budget agreement and nowhere on most appropriation bills. instead, house republicans today continue their obsession so vividly embraced by the chairman of our committee in his words. with trying to destroy the bridge, built by the president and the democratic congress to somewhere vital, putting all americans in charge of their own health care, this bill before us is nothing more than a continuation of republicans' blind obsession with repealing the affordable care act. this is how republicans have chosen to spend the last day

ere before recess for five weeks. well, it's so clear. the republican mission is to destroy. to destroy, not implement, health care reform. and rather than help leading on the issue, house republicans have spent the last two-plus years trying to mislead americans about health care rights under a.c.a. and now we can expect more misinformation and the statement of our chairman is loaded with it. 13 states, for example, have published preliminary premiums for marketplace coverage. within those states, americans will be able to purchase insurance at a price that is on average 20% belowhe c. and in michigan there will be

insurance carriers in the marketplace, and someone comes up here and says health care reform is failing. so to the american people, be prepared for more scare tactics and other misguided efforts from republicans to convince constituents that applying for health care coverage will be cumbersome, and and be prepared for all kinds of misstatements about the powers and the role of the i.r.s. this should be said categorically. neither the i.r.s. nor the department of health and human services will have access to medical records or other personal history. no access whatsoever. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp. mr. camp: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from georgia, dr. price, and i also ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from georgia control the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. price: thank you so much. i want to commend the chairman for his work on this and so many vital areas of the issue of health care in our committee, and i want to thank him for the time and the opportunity to bring this bill forward. mr. speaker, republicans' goal in health care is to make certain we have the highest quality health care in the world. that's our desire. we simply want it to be patient-centered health care, not government-centered health care. we believe that patients and families and doctors ought to be making medical decisions, not washington, d.c. so this bill, h.r. 2009, grows out of the i.r.s. activities that have come to light in this country over the past number of months. as the chairman mentioned,

we've been doing a lot of oversight hearings in our committee. the american people, mr. speaker, have drawn a conclusion about the i.r.s. at this point. and that conclusion is that it cannot be trusted now. the chairman mentioned the i.r.s. has targeted groups that came to the i.r.s. asking for a tax-exempt status, taxing groups for their political ideology. the i.r.s. has leaked donor information to those groups. many of us believe, and i think it will come out, that the i.r.s. has in fact targeted donors to those groups for audits to those individual americans. mr. speaker, this is chilling activity from the internal revenue service. so the american people have lost their faith and trust in the internal revenue service. that's why in bill is so important. this is a very simple piece of legislation. two pages in fact. in all it says simplywh the american people that is that the i.r.s. should not be charged and have the

authority to either implement or enforce the affordable care act. over 140 co-sponsors from this house of representatives. i want to commend them from being co-sponsors. we have hundreds of citizen co-sponsors from across the country. some say that this isn't necessary, that it's not going to accomplish anything, that there's no reason why the i.r.s. would want that information anyway. the fact of the matter is, mr. speaker, that's exactly what they said about what they did for the tax-exempt groups. they said, well, it wasn't necessary for them to get that information about political eology or belief or prayers, that prayer groups were offering. that wasn't necessary either. so if that wasn't necessary, mr. speaker, how can the american people have faith and confidence that the i.r.s. won't do something that also is unnecessary and that is to engage in implementing themselves into that trusted relationship between patients

and physicians? and then another piece of evidence, mr. speaker, i would suggest is the individual who's running the i.r.s. division that is charged with the enforcement of the affordable care act. that individual, mr. speaker, sarah hall ingram. don't have to look too far back in her biography, she was in charge of the tax-exempt group in the i.r.s. at the time when the challenges to the i.r.s. have been focused. so, mr. speaker, the overwhelming percent of the american people understand and appreciate that the i.r.s. should not be involved, not be involved in the health care of this nation. we believe patients and families and doctors ought to be making medical decisions, not washington, d.c., and certainly not the internal revenue service. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to another member of our committee, mr. mcdermott of washington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two

minutes. without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i would remind my distinguished colleague from georgia of a story in the bible about a king who was very famous and one day noticed on the wall some writing. he had someone come and interpret for him and the writing said, your days are numbered upon the earth. now, your days are numbered on this issue. you have 59 more days, i'm sure you can bring up a bill every repeal y to try and it. the speaker's announced there will be two more. but it will not work. this is fwoning to be the law on 1 october and it's going to go into effect. the supreme court has spoken, the speaker has said, it's the law of the land. and yet we see this hope pless -- hopeless strategy, it's worse than hopeless, it's weak and it's mean, because what you're saying is you want to take away from people what they

already have. guaranteed issue, coverage for their kids to age 26, and lifetime limits are gone. all of that you want to take away. now, have a great break because you're going to go back to your districts and explain for 30 or 38 days why you will not provide health care coverage for the people of america. i hear there's a bill, a mythical bill, with 141 signatures. the republicans have been running the ways and means committee for 16 out of the last 18 years and we have never had a bill put in front of us. for a vote. it's never been through the rules committee. it's never been out to the floor. you have no plan. off piece of paper that you wave around but you won't go out and defend it. the president came and put a bill out here and we passed it and we're defending it and it's

going to go into effect and provide what all americans want -- security if they get sick. they want to know they'll be covered. they want to know they won't be bankrupted. vote no again today and we'll be back after the break for a few more no votes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. members are advised to direct their comments to the chair. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i ask that a letter from the senior member of the commission be enserted into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. price: i recognize the gentleman from texas, mr. carter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman for yielding and thank him for bringing forward this bill i'd be willing to bet if you took a poll in any household in america and say -- and said, who do you trust, the i.r.s. or your doctor, doctors would overwhelmingly be

trusted, the i.r.s. would overwhelmingly be distrusted. i don't understand, when we pass laws in this congress restricting the access to health care information and putting severe penalties on our health care providers for releasing health care information, and these laws, they have been around for a while now, i'd say, but then we write a bill that turn this, the entire health care system administration over to the one agency that the american people hate more than any other agency. now some of the democrats like it because they like to get other people's money and spend it. but the reality is, the i.r.s. that is not trusted, wasn't trusted before the events that have been described here today. today they are totally distrusted. in fact, they are tote he feared of what they can do to the private lives of american

citizens. this bill speaks for the american people and they say, don't let the i.r.s. get their hands on our health care. they will destroy us. remember, they're the one agency that doesn't have to meet a burden of proof. they require the public to meet the burden of proof. don't let the i.r.s. get their hands on our health care. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 15 seconds. mr. levin: saying that the entire administration of heather is turned to the i.r.s. is a big lie. it's a big lie. the i.r.s. will not have access to the medical records or personal health history of a single american. now yield two minutes to the distinguished colleague of mine from oregon, mr. blumenauer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognize for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr.

speaker. this is a fitting conclusion to a week that has shown the collapse of the republican legislative agenda. remember, this is the time we were supposed to be voting on budgets. but the republicans cannot even bring themselves to allow a vote on the budget that they themselves have mandated. so we're not voting on the transportation and h.u.d., we're not voting on interior. they refuse to allow a conference committee to be appointed so that we can reconcile differences on the budget. setting up a showdown over a shutdown of the government next month. and now, we're dealing with health care for arguably the 40th time that they are going to, quote, repeal it. the bill is not going anywhere. they have repeatedly demonstrated at our hearing yesterday in ways and means

that my republican colleagues don't even understand how the bill that they are so adamantly opposed to, doesn't even understand how it works. e have not seen any attempt to improve, refine, but we have -- what we have seen is an unprecedented effort to sabotage legislation, to make it not work for the american people, to confuse, to undercut, something that is unprecedented to the best of my knowledge in what we had in the congress in the past. but what more fitting illustration of a group that's bankrupt of ideas and bent on simply attempting to force their way for an agenda that is so extreme that they cannot agree to bring it to the floor

to vote on it. i urge rejection of this charade. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that a letter from the group let freedom ring endorsing this bill be inserted into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. price: i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman, mr. benishek. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 90 seconds. mr. benishek: i rise in support of h.r. 2009, the keep the i.r.s. off your health care act. i urge my colleagues to support this necessary legislation. the bill will keep the internal revenue service from implementing any aspect of the health care law. with findings that the i.r.s. targeted citizens based on political views, it's imperative that we keep the i.r.s. from being further involved than it already is in the lives of the american

people this would repeal both the individual mandate and the employer mandate while at the same time helping to shrink the i.r.s. as a doctor, i've been taking care of patients for the last 30 years. i know putting the federal government between patients and doctors will be disastrous. many families in northern michigan agree. they want to see this law repealed. this legislation is a good step toward rolling back this massive expansion of federal government power. i'm proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's a special pleasure to me to yield to the gentleman who presided over the passage of medicare 48 years and ago and has worked on health care issues his entire historic career, mr. dingell from the state of michigan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized.

mr. dingell: -- mr. levin: for a minute and a half. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. dingell: i thank my beloved friend for yielding me this time, mr. speaker. i rise to ask, aren't you embarrassed to go a 40th time in a fruitless, hopeless act? this is the 40th time we've tried to kill the legislation. cost us a million and a half dollars every time. none of which has been successful. my republican colleagues have never come forward with a proposal which they have presented to this house, but they sit over there railing and complaining about what is going on. they take the rights of the american people for prosection against pre-existing condition bans in their insurance, they're going to take away from the american people all kinds of protections which we have in the affordable care act. the president -- the speaker the other day said the

republicans were the party of repeal. i think he's right. i suspect we don't want to call them the republicans anymore but i think we ought to call them the repeal-icans. ' ts. haps the repeal-ican because they can't repeal anything and can't enact legislation. 12 bills this congress has sent to the white house and there's small prospect -- prospect today of more coming from here. it's interesting to note, they can't move a budget,n't to legislation on jobs, they're in incapable of seing to it that we do the other things that are necessary to help the middle class. and yet, we keep coming over here with nonsense like this. the republican party is like the bourbons of france they forget nothing because they never learned anything. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i ask unanimous consent to a letter from the

group americans for prosperity endorsing h.r. 2009 be inserted into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. price: i yield a minute and a half to a fellow who has led on this issue for his entire career, mr. culberson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. culberson: i appreciate very much the gentleman from georgia filing this important legislation. we were sent here by our constituents to protect the treasury and do everything we can to keep the government out of their lives and out of their pockets yet obamacare contains more than 20 tax increases and gives the i.r.s. unprecedented authority to collect personal health information from more than 300 million americans. obamacare requires all insurance companies to report to the i.r.s. the name, address, identification number and type of insurance policy purchased for every individual, along with the information whether the insurance was government approved.

'm proud to be a co-sponsor of dr. price's bill to limit this information. the i.r.s. has proved they can't be trusted. since the i.r.s. has admitted this, i've heard from so many constituents members of patriotic organizations, stepped up for the first time in their lives to get involved in politics and organizations like the texas tea party, the king street patriots and for their -- for standing up as patriots and tiing to to the right thing for the right reasons they were targeted by the i.r.s. and harassed. today the i.r.s. is spending 08% of its budget trying to implement obamacare and treasury -- and the treasury secretary testified i.r.s. has 700 full-time staff working on obamacare implementation and they want to hire an additional 2,000 bureaucrats to continue working on it. i urge my colleagues to support this important bill and yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to a gentleman from new jersey who has been a leader on this issue, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. andrews: somewhere in america today, a family will get the devastating news we all dread about their children. they'll hear that that lump in their daughter's stomach is cancer. and they'll go home and have all the agony and suffering that parents would have in that situation but they'll be faced with another problem because they have no health insurance. both a mom and dad work, they make about $40,000 a year between the two of them, they don't get coverage at work and they can't afford health insurance. so their agony is not just worried about the health of their child, they're worried

about the fact if they give -- if they give the child the care she needs they'll lose everything they have and wind up in bankruptcy court. the affordable care act says to that couple that starting january 1, for about $40 a week, they can have health insurance coverage as god as members of congress do. -- as god as members of congress do. that's -- as good as members of congress do. that's what the affordable care act says. this bill repeals that for that family. those prepared to vote for this bill should be prepared to answer the physical hing question -- if you want to say to that family that their concern isn't important enough, what's your plan? what's your answer to them? now we'll hear that people have introduced bills and sent around letters. here's the facts. it's been almost 1,000 days that the republican party has been back in control of the house of representatives, the number of bills they have voted on to replace this law is zero.

40 times to repeal it. zero times to replace it. it's about that family with that daughter who has no health insurance if you repeal the law and pass the bill. vote no. georgia. mr. price: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the majority leader of the house of representatives, the gentleman from virginia, mr. cantor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. cantor, is recognized for one minute. mr. cantor: mr. speaker, i thank you. i thank the gentleman from georgia. and mr. speaker, i rise to support the keep the i.r.s. off

your health care act, and i back want to congratulate the gentleman from georgia and his leadership for bringing this bill to the floor. i think not only a timely bill but the bill -- mr. speaker, in response to the gentleman's assertions, the prior gentleman that spoke from new jersey, i would simply say those scare tactics do not have a place in legitimate debate on this floor. scare tactics to say that somehow republicans on our side of the aisle don't care about people's health care is just not true. you know, we don't believe in omnibus washington engineered health care. that's what's going on here. washington bureaucrats deciding what kind of health care you can have, which doctors you can see, how much those doctors and hospitals are going to get paid, all of that is in the hands of washington bureaucrats under obamacare which is why this bill and this law is

suffering so much in terms of the minds of the public. this is not the right way to go. we believe in patient-centered care. republicans believe that it ought to be about the doctor-patient relationship, not between the bureaucrats and not be rs, it ought about the bureaucrats and the insurance companies. it ought to start with the patients and their families. so these scare tactics really, mr. speaker, are not relevant to this discussion, and they are just that, scare tactics. we care about the health and well-being of the american people, which is why this bill is coming to the floor. now, recently, mr. speaker, we've learned that the i.r.s. has been abusing its power by targeting and punishing american citizens for their political beliefs. and then recklessly spending taxpayer dollars on lavish conferences and bonus for its employees. this kind of government abuse

must stop. the last thing we should do now is to allow the i.r.s. to play such a central role in our health care. the i.r.s. has a role in nearly 50 differents a effects of obamacare. the agency's involvement is so extensive that there is a designated office within the i.r.s. just to implement obamacare. the i.r.s. will have access to the american people's protected health care information. given that this same agency has illegally disclosed protected taxpayer information, the privacy concerns raised by many are legitimate. this is nothing short of an unwelcome big government overreach into the most personal aspect of our lives. obamacare is bad for the

economy and for working middle-class families. it increases costs, impeds innovation and we know is now turning full-time jobs into part-time jobs which is why so many on both sides of the political spectrum are now beginning to realize in the words of three democratic union leaders that this law is creating nightmare scenarios in the health and well-being of millions of hardworking americans. the legislation before us today would at least prevent the unnecessary intrusion of the i.r.s. into our health care. members of both parties should be focused on removing the federal bureaucracy from the everyday lives of the american people, and this act will do just that. again, i'd like to thank the gentleman from georgia, dr. price, for his hard work on

urge sue and i strongly my colleagues to support this bill. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield two minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. doggett of texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggett: the majority leader is absolutely right about scare tactics. if you are an uninsured american and you get a diagnosis of cancer this morning, or you're hit in a head-on collision this afternoon or you have a child born with a disability, you ought to be very scared. he's also absolutely right about the need for patient-centered health care. we're concerned about that. we're concerned that patients without insurance today are centered -- they're centered price into bankruptcy court. more and more americans face with a health care crisis. this bill has nothing to do with the internal revenue service or the treasury

department or restricting their rights. it's about restricting your rights. now that we finally have a chance to protect americans from insurance monopoly price gouging, from fine print in the contract for those who do have insurance that denies rights at the very time that you need them the most, that kind of protection about to go into effect along with the right of so many americans who are uninsured to go to a competitive private insurance marketplace and pick the policy that is best for their family. and for many americans, to have a premium tax credit, a tax credit that they want to deny to you. and what alternative do they offer? well, the best source is the official republican website. i urge you, though you'll find plenty of misinformation there, to go to gop.gov, because you'll find one very revealing

fact. when you look there to see what the republicans have to offer as an alternative to obamacare, it says two words -- in progress. it's been in progress since 2 1/2 years ago when they voted the first time to repeal obamacare right up to today when they vote for the 40th time to do it. they have only one alternative to obamacare and it's called nothing care. it's called do nothing but allow these insurance monopolies to continue to deny rights to our people. the folks i represent from san antonio to austin -- can i have another 15 seconds? the people i represent, the working families from san antonio to austin, they deserve to have some assistance. we have provided it to them with guaranteed rights. some are in effect now. some are about to go into effect. don't let these republicans deny those rights to our families and replace it with

nothing care. i yield back. -time the gentleman's time has expired -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i ask that a letter from the group freedom works be inserted in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. price: i am pleased to yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulsen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. paulsen: thank you, mr. speaker. the health decisions of individual americans should be made between patients and their doctors. the internal revenue service should not be a part of that equation. we all know, all americans know now that the i.r.s. mass inappropriately used its authority to target and intimidate certain individuals and organizations based on their personal beliefs. 2,000 more i.r.s. agents, more washington bureaucrats are -- and opening the door -- will open the door now to more abuse under obamacare. more targeting, more harassment of americ cizens. ca for their patients, not

unelected bureaucrats in washington. we should be encouraging patients to take control of their own health care through consumer-directed health care plans, not ceding control to the government. i ask my colleagues to protect the doctor-patient relationship and do what is needed to make sure that government overreach is not involved in american health care. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now ply pleasure to yield three minutes -- my pleasure to yield three minutes to our whip, mr. hoyer of maryland, who's devoted so much time to health care in his career. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from -- mr. levin: three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland, the whip, is recognized for three minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. what a perfect bill this is. our republican friends don't like taxes. they don't like the collection of taxes and, of course, none

of us do. and they don't like affordable care for our citizens. quality care for our citizens, accessible care for our citizens. so with this stroke, they can attack both. the gentleman that just spoke something that the american people know. the american people made an internal of the revenue service to see if they are committing fraud when everybody knows they are solely political organizations. and the republicans never mention it was across the board, not targeted. and the affordable care act, they don't like that either. they would, as my friend from texas says, still like to have the insurance companies in charge, not the patient, not

the doctor, but the insurance companies. mr. speaker, less than two weeks ago republicans were on this floor for the 38th and 39th time to repeal the affordable care act. act, the ble care quality care act. now we have the 40th time we've been at this. the american people want to see us working on jobs. they want to see us working on investment and education. they want to see us being able to compete with the world. what do we do? we continue to beat this and contrary to my republican friends' assertions, americans say overwhelmingly when asked, do you want repeal or do you want a fix, make it better, do things better, make it more efficient, they opt for the latter overwhelmingly. but as the gentleman from texas just said, you go to the

website and that's not 2 1/2 minutes. it's been seven years, since 2006, when we started working on this. but there's no fix. no fix on the website. no fix on this floor. today their new found populism is nowhere to be seen as they reform tax subsidies to make health care more affordable for those same people, working families and small business who haven't been able to get insurance and are left at risk without the security of it. suddenly, the party that never met a tax break it didn't like is pursuing a tax increase of more than $1 trillion on small businesses and the middle class. as a result, they are making health care more expensive and millions of americans will no longer be able to access affordable health care. one more minute?

mr. levin: how about an additional 30 seconds? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: this makes all those to pawns and the request undo health care reform after every other challenge we face as a nation. it's shameful, mr. speaker, that this house continues to waste the american people's time on health care repeal votes that won't go anywhere, and they know it. the senate will not pass this bill and the president will not sign it. we have pressing business before us that needs immediate attention, finishing appropriation bills, completing our work on a budget, provide an alternative to the sequester, ensuring america pays its bills and taking action to create jobs, that's what we ought to be doing, not this continued foolishness. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: thank you, mr. speaker. may i inquire as to the time remaining on each side?

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia has 13 -- the gentleman from georgia has 16 minutes remaining. the gentleman from michigan has 13 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. price: thank you meerks. i'm pleased to yield a -- thank you, mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. brighten stein. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. bridenstine: thank you, pleerk. it's interesting that the minority mr. bridenstine: it's interesting that the minority about this lain bill when they pass odd because macare on a party line vote late at night. the a author of the bill promised it would bring down the cost of health care but premiums have gone up substantially. they promise if you like your health care plan and the doctor you have you can keep it. now when you go to the president's health care.gov website it saysing depending on

plan you may be able to keep it. a small group of members in 2010 led by congressman bart stupak had the chance to prohibit any funds being used to pay for abortions or abortion-inducing drugs. unfortunately, they caved and now companies like hobby lobby are being forced into court to prevent obamacare from requiring that they provide health care services which directly violate their conscience and their religious principles. values and rights enshrined in the first amendment. the i.r.s., too, has irrefutably proven the tactics of the work it performs every day, an attitude that will, quond a shadow of a doubt,

carry over into its cag team partnership. let's start putting a stop to this madness before it gets even worse. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. he venn: i yield two minutes to mr. kind of wisconsin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kind: what turned out to be a silly exercise has suddenly turned into an insane exercise. we find ourselves for the 40th time in the house of representatives debate regular peel of the affordable care act. we understand they don't like it. but i beseech my colleagues on the other side to start working with us to improve a system that's in desperate need of reform and make changes and adjustments along the way as we learn what's working and what isn't. that's only way this can work. let me inject a few facts into this debate, especially for the benefit of the previous speaker. since the passage of the spending care act,

grew 4.3%, the lowest growth rate in three years. medicare beneficiary spending rose 4%, the lowest rate since it began in 1965. medicaid beneficiary spending dopped by 1.9% in -- 1.9% in 2012 and medicare and medicaid will now spend $1 trillion less over the next 10 years than previously projected. nearly $15 billion in fraudulent medicare payments have been recovered and recaptured under the affordable care act. hospital readmissions under medicare have fallen for the first time on record, resulting in 70,000 fewer readmissions in the second half of last year alone. and more than 250 new accountable care organizations under the affordable care act serving over four million medicare beneficiary enrollees are getting paid according to the quality of health care being delivered, no longer the quantity of services being

rendered. and finally the growth in private plan premiums is -- has also stall. annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health care increased by 4% the smallest encrease in 13 years. this debate and the effort to delay and defund and tess mantle and destroy the affordable care act is not where we need to go as a nation. i encourage my colleagues to once again vote no on this ill conceived legislation. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i appreciate the comments of my friend from wisconsin, chastising us for voting to repeal or change portions of the affordable care act is curious in light of the fact that the gentleman himself i believe supported one of our efforts just two weeks ago on delaying the employer mandate. so -- but hope springs eternal he'll be able to support our

efforts in this enkever on h.r. 2009 and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield a minute and a half to another dwisht member of the committee, mr. thompson of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. thompson: i thank the gentleman for yielding and rise in opposition to this misnamed piece of legislation. it should be called the 40th time we've wasted the taxpayers' time and money act. this is a bill that's not new to us. we've seen it before. we've seen this movie before. 39 times as a matter of fact. and we know how it ends. this is just another attempt to dismantle the affordable care act. we've wasted too much time and too much money on this already. what we should be doing is working to make the a.c.a. better or spending our time trying to help pass some jobs legislation. this bill is particularly cruel

because it hits the poorest among us the hardest and we've seen that movie before also. and we saw it play out, that's why we have this piece of legislation. this is in response to a national crisis. this didn't just come about by itself. hospitals and doctors and clinics in all of our districts, they provided $100 billion a year in uncompensated care. families were one layoff away from not having access to health care. people with pre-existing conditions that occurred through no fault of their own, maybe they had a bad luck with having cancer or gave birth through a c-section, a pre-existing condition and they could not get coverage. people in all of our districts were hitting the lifetime cap on their health care. this was no accident. it was in response to a crisis. let's get to work, let's get

this thing improved, let's put people back to work and stop messing around with this fool herbness. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i ask unanimous consent that a let for the support of h.r. 2009 from americans for tax reform be enserted into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, it will be part of the record. mr. price: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves, the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from new york, mr. crowley. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. crowley: i rise in support of the america's working families and against this bill. i'm just baffled as to why we would take away a tax credit, tax credit that helped working families for the first time in many instances, afford insurance. particularly as the majority seems to have never met a tax break they didn't like.

at least not until today. time after time the republican majority defends special interest breaks. tax breaks provided to owners of corporate jets, subsidies for big oil, tax writeoffs for big corporations. even as they're laying off american workers and moving more of their operations overseas. but where is that same zeal today in defending middle class tax outs, tax cuts for middle class americans? maybe i shouldn't be surprised. after all this majority has repeatedly tried to undermine this tax credit since its enseppings. they've sought to require hardworking americans to pay the entire credit back if they get a slight increase in pay or bonus for good work. my colleagues, the majority has caused -- crossed a bizarre threshold today, going from presence pled opposition to dangerous obsession. i know some republicans will say they're doing this because they have issues with the i.r.s.

should we expect a bill on the floor after we come back to stop the i.r.s. from sending people their i.r.s. repounds? -- refunds? no, because this is just an excuse they're using. this bill is 100% about the denying americans' access to affordable health care. in new york, 1.5 million people will be denied tax credits if this bill is enacted. my colleagues, i am tired of this dog and pony show. yes, members return to their districts for a few weeks but political red meat is not what this country needs. we need a congress with a vision for tomorrow. a vision focused on creating jobs and strengthening our economy. not a 40th vote on a new, even more dangerous way to repeal the affordable care act. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the teem of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i ask unanimous consent to include in the

record a letter endorsing h.r. 2009 from a group of six taxpayer advocate organizations. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, it will be part of the record. mr. price: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman -- mr. levin: can i ask for the time on both sides. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has eight minutes remain, the gentleman from georgia has 14 minutes remaining. mr. price: will the gentleman yield? mr. levin: i have -- yes. mr. price: i have other speakers who may be coming. mr. price: i am prepared to close at any point. mr. levin: we have other speakers. thank you. now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from new york, ms. velazquez, which is the ranking member on the small business committee. two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. velazquez: i thank the gentleman for yielding. . speaker, i rise in

opposition to the bill before us today. sadly, we find ourselveses in another redundant and unproductive debate over the affordable care act. the estimated cost of today's vote is over $1 million. paid by hardworking taxpayers. but instead of focusing on jobs and economic growth, we're wasting time and money on denying health coverage to small businesses and their employees. not even half of the bills have been passed and yet republicans continuer that attempt to undermine health reform. this obsession must end. it is time to move on and start targeting the challenges the american people care about. jobs, jobs, jobs, the economy. blocking the i.r.s. from implementing provisions of the affordable care act does nothing to help our nation's

small businesses. rather, today's bill will keep small employers from taking advantage of the small business health care tax credit which has already helped over 360,000 small employersed on two million workers. this bill prevents these businesses from utilizing the 50% tax credit in the new exchanges next year. that is why today's vote is irresponsible and out of touch with americans' experience. we must continue to ensure quality health coverage is available and utilized by the businesses that are the cornerstone of the american economy. i urge members to vote no. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i continue toe. the speaker pro tempore: the to gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan.

mr. he venn: it is now my special privilege to yield one minute to the person who led our efforts in the health care reform as a testimony to her career, the gentlelady from california, our leader. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california, the minority lead e, is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: i thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership and importance to the american people, the creation of jobs, growing our economy and in the case of what is on the floor today, the 40th attempt, the 40th attempt to harm the health and financial well being of the american people. 40 is a number that is fraught with meaning in the bible. 40 hours. 40 days. 40 years. in the desert. but it's fraught with nothing when it comes to overturning the affordable care act as they're trying to do for the 40th time today. when our republican colleagues

vote for this bill, they will vote to put insurance companies back in charge of people's health. when they vote for this bill, they will be voting for an initiative that deprives patients of their rights. of ending -- making pre-existing conditions a reason for discrimination. that's what a vote for this does. that's the joy of the affordable care act. no longer will being a woman be a pre-existing con. people with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage. annual or lifetime limits are eliminated. insurance companies must spend their money on insurance. that's what people bought. and they must do it in a way that focuses on health care, not on c.e.o. pay, advertising, and the rest. so 80-20 ratio, many people in our country have received

billions of dollars already. because the insurance companies have had to refund policy money because they were spending too much on themselves and not enough on employees -- on policyholders. so here we are, for the 40th time. the 40th time. not only the violence it does to the american people and the policy that enables them to have prevention and well innocence, not the health care. for 40 times we had the abuse bill to nging a jobs the floor. a jobs bill that says make it in america, manufacture it in america, build the infrastructure of america, strengthens our communities with education and public safety and the rest. instead of that, instead of

even passing appropriations bills, the republicans are in this aimless path taking us into chaos as we go into august because in september the moment of truth will be here. the fiscal year will end on september 30 instead of preparing for that, the republicans are once again on this fool's errand of making matters worse for the american people, putting insurance companies in charge of people's health, depriving patients of their rights. this budget challenge that we have is a serious one. we shouldn't be leaving here today because we haven't done the work necessary to prepare us for the end of the fiscal year. instead, we are wasting the taxpayers' time and money. i urge our colleagues to vote no on this legislation.

i urge the american people to insist that we get down to the people's business of job creation and to find a budget that will not destroy and question the full faith and credit of the united states of america, to find a budget that will create jobs, grow the economy and reduce the deficit. if we don't and we shut down government as some on the publican side have said, unless we repeal the affordable care act, we'll shut down the government, what does that mean to you? it means that their 401-k success ises in jeopardy. it means if you have mortgage interest payments you probably pay more. your credit card bills will go up because of the increase in interest. it's just not right for what it does. it does not understand the economic challenges faced by america's families who want jobs, want to educate their children, want to maintain their homes, want to have secure pensions for the future.

it's just sillyness and it -- silliness and it does not deserve the time we're taking on the floor much less rise to the dignity of deserving a vote of members of congress. i urge a no vote and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. mr. price: continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: mr. speaker, it's now my special pleasure, as i think everybody knows, the two committees, energy and commerce and ways and means, work closely together. waxman and i mr. were able to with others work so closely. so i now yield, as i said with special privilege and pleasure, two minutes to the gentleman from california, the ranking member on energy and commerce, mr. waxman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. waxman: mr. speaker, in is a do-nothing congress. it is absolutely pathetic.

there are millions of people unemployed. are we working to create jobs for them? no. if they don't have jobs, we're not trying to help them, but what we're doing today for the 40th time is to make sure they can't get health insurance. this is an obsession on the part of the republicans. i have was commenting on it the other day in committee and said it's such in opposition that e law's become the republicans' great white whale. they stop nothing to kill it. here they are their 40th attempt to repeal the affordable care act. i think it's a disgrace. is this all we have to do, spend 40 separate times trying to repeal a law that is going to bring health care to millions of americans who've een denied health care

opportunities because of pre-existing conditions, because their employer doesn't provide it to them, because they otherwise couldn't afford it? it will give people in the middle class choices and with competition between choices of health insurance, the prices will job, the quality will improve. his whole health care bill was based on republican ideas, cluding a requirement that everybody get health insurance. that was endorsed by the mayor taj foundation. so i'm astounded that we're back here today, the last thing we're going to do before we go take our recess, our vacation and go home and tell people, sorry, we can't help you, we're trying again in the house of representatives to repeal one passed that been so many. much for

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield a minute to the gentleman from washington who's the ranking member on the house subcommittee of our committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for one minute. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, as i listen to mr. waxman, it's clear he was talking about obsession. you might ask, why is this happening here and what's going on? this has happened before. this is the worst nightmare for the republican party. in 1964 the american medical association was flat out against the institution of medicare. when i was in medical school, came up to medical school, the president said, boys, there isn't going to be any medicine in this country.

we're having that socialized medicine come in. it's a terrible thing. you know what happened? they made the people so afraid that when they went out to enroll, people in medicare, people said, well, i don't want any of that government medicine in my house. look at medicare today. nobody on that side would dare take out medicare because the american people found out that what they were told in the advertising campaign leading up to it was not true. and that's what you're getting here today. untruths. vote no on this. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that a letter from 15 or 16 organizations from around the country endorsing 2009 be inserted in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, it will be part of the record. the gentleman from michigan. the gentleman from michigan has two minutes remaining, and the

gentleman from georgia has 14 minutes remaining. mr. levin: mr. price, are you ready to close? mr. price: i'm ready. mr. levin: i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. andrews: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. andrews: thank you, mr. speaker. i sat and listened to the debate this morning and heard a lot of the slogans that we hear on this repeated again and again and again. i would simply return to the point i made earlier. for a family that makes $40,000 a year, has two adults working, two children, that doesn't get coverage at work, which is true for many, many americans. maybe 35 million americans have a situation something like that, the affordable care act says that starting january 1 for about $40 a week they can buy health insurance from a private insurance compan as good as the members of congress

have. what is the plan from the other side since they're repealing this? this bill takes that away. what is the plan from the other side to provide for that family? now, they'll talk about bills they've introduced and letters they've written. there's not been one bill, one vote, one day that will answer that question. we eagerly await after 1,000 days of the republican majority, the american people eagerly await that answer. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. levin: from the outset, i made clear my reaction to the i.r.s. mismanagement called for releaving of duties of two people. but with the republicans today are doing is using the i.r.s. as a boot strap to express their hatred, their hatred of

health care reform. i want to read this and challenge anybody to refute it. assertions that the i.r.s. will have access to personal health information is wrong, is deliberately misleading. the i.r.s. will only receive routine information. name, address, family size, incomes, coverage status needed to provide tax credits. that's it. the rest are falsehoods. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: thank you, mr. speaker. again, it's important for folks to appreciate that the republican goal in health care is to make certain that every single american has the highest quality health care. we simply believe it ought to be fashte-centered health care and my friends on the --

patient-centered health care and my friends on the other side want washington making decisions. we believe patients and families and doctors ought to be making medical decisions. now, what have we heard in opposition to this piece of legislation today? we heard that republicans have no plan. well, on the contrary, mr. speaker, we have multiple pieces of legislation. i in fact have h.r. 2300 that is a patient-centered bill that makes certain that everybody has affordable coverage, that they are able to have the financial fiesibility to purchase the coverage -- feasibility to prsm the coverage they want, -- purchase the coverage they want, that you don't lose your insurance if you change your job or lose your job, in a we solve the whole challenge of pre-existing condition illnesses or injuries. but not in a way that the government forces you to purchase what they want to purchase and would provide insurance for every single american. second, we heard in isn't a responsible piece of legislation. mr. speaker, let me suggest that the american people think this is a responsible piece of

legislation. where over 80% don't think the i.r.s. ought to have a thing to do with their health care. we've heard that there bill isn't going anywhere at all, that why do it? it's a futile attempt. well, i remind my colleagues on seven pieces of legislation, seven pieces of legislation, bills passed in this house, bills passed by the united states senate and signed into law by president obama that either repealed or defunded portions of his own health care law. h.r. 4 repealed the small business paperwork mandate. h.r. 1473 cut $2.2 billion from the self-public plan and froze the i.r.s. budget. h.r. 674 saved taxpayers $13 billion by adjusting eligibility for obamacare programs. h.r. 2055 made more reductions to the independent payment advisory aboard and the i.r.s. h.r. 3630 slashed billions of dollars from obamacare slush funds. h.r. 4348 saved another $670 million from the boondoggle, the louisiana purchase that was included in the original bill.

and h.r. 8, which repealed the sustainable class program. all of those repealed or changed portions of the affordable care act signed into law by the president of the united states. we've heard heartwrenching friends on the other side about health challenges and illnesses and, yes, mr. speaker, there are real challenges out there. as a physician i can attest to that having spent over 20 years taking care of patients. but the american people don't want washington deciding what kind of health care they must have or can't have. we need patients and families and doctors making those medical decisions. and then the preposterous assertion from the other side that republicans don't like affordable care, quality care, accessible care. nonsense, mr. speaker. nonsense. what we want is the highest quality of care that respects the principles of affordability and accessibility and quality and choices and responsiveness and innovation. we simply want patients and families and doctors to be in charge of health care, not washington, d.c., and not the

i.r.s. i urge support of h.r. 2009 and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 322, the previous question is ordered. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to prohibit the secretary of the treasury from enforcing the patient protection and affordable care act and the health care and education reconciliation act of 2010. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> mr. speaker, i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the bill? >> i am opposed. mr. price: i have a point of order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the clerk: mr. nolan of minnesota moves to recommit the bill h.r. 2009 to the committee on ways and means with

instructions to report the same back to the house with the following amendment, section 4, protecting middle-class families from tax increases. nothing in this act shall be construed to alter, impact, delay or weaken. one, section 1401 of the patient protection and affordable care act that provides tax credits for middle-class families earning up to $94,200 for a family of four for the purchase of health insurance coverage in exchanges and, two, section 1421 of the patient protection and affordable care act that provides tax credits to small businesses up to 50% of the cost of coverage for two years beginning in 2014, up to 35% for prior years, for the purchase of health insurance coverage for employees. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for phi minutes on his motion -- for five minutes

on his motion to recommit. >> thank you, mr. speaker. my motion would protect tax credits and tax breaks for middle income families. it will not kill or send this bill back to committee, will allow taos proceed with final passage, should it pass. and now to the heart of what this is really all about. i thought our colleague mike thompson, a few minutes ago, from california, characterized it quite well when he said this should be called the 40th waste of taxpayers' time and money to the an alternative affordable care act. nolan: the fact is, the republican opposition here is engaged in their 40th political attempt to undo the affordable

care act. in offering us no alternatives, no alternatives to the time when 46 million americans have no insurance, when health care and insurance rates were rising at a rate of 20% per year, mr. speaker, my colleagues, no is not a plan. no is not an answer. president harry truman was fond of saying, and forgive me for quoting him directly, but he used to like to say, any jackass can tear down a barn but it takes a carpenter to build one. i'm challenging my colleagues, are you hear to -- here to tear down the barn or are you here to build one? mr. speaker, i feel compelled to ask, are you really serious when you come before us here and you say you really, truly

want to increase taxes on families and small businesses as this bill would do? are you really serious when you say you want to take away from students the right to stay on their parents' insurance policy? while they're trying and struggling with the difficulties of increased cost of education? the american people don't want that. what is your plan. mr. speaker, are you really serious when you say you want to deny people with pre-existing conditions the right to have health insurance? the american public don't want that. what is your plan? re you really serious when you want to continue this de facto notion that women somehow, by definition are living with pre-existing conditions? and charge more for the exact

same policies as men would pay for? the american people are not. what is your plan? mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues, are you really serious when you want to vote to eliminate free prevention care which saves lives? which helps save costs in our medical system? the american people are not. you know, what is your plan? mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues, are you really serious when you say you want to remove the cap on insurance companies' liabilities? the very cap that forces people with serious accidents and illnesses into bankruptcy? the american don't want that. what is your plan? and last but not least, mr. speaker, are you prepared to vote to deny senior citizens the relief from the increased cost in pharmaceuticals as a

result of that doughnut hole? the seniors in this country are not. again, i ask you, what is your plan? mr. speaker, that's what's at heart here. we have had 40 attempts to repeal this bill and we haven't seen one single plan offered forward here. this is a waste of time. let us get serious. let us start to show some bipartisanship and let's start with it here today. by passing my amendment. mr. speaker, it's no secret, the public has weighed in on this. this congress is acknowledged by all parties and all spectrums as the moist unproduct i congress in the history of this country. that's shameful. polls show us 25 points behind cockroaches in popularity. 23 percentage points behind --

what was the last one? oh, root canals. we're just slightly ahead of again dis-- genghis kahn and the communist party in popularity. it's time we put an to end this nonsense, put this congress to work, postpone, cancel this recess, let's put an end to this nonsense and get america working again and get this country moving again. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i withdraw my-pound of order and seek time in opposition to the -- my-pound of -- point ofed offer and seek time in opposition. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman rise in opposition to the motion to recommit? mr. camp: i do. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: i would say that there's nothing in this bill that prevents middle class families or individuals from receiving subsidies to which they're entitled to.

i think it's just important to understand what the facts are. but what we want to do is keep the i.r.s. out of control of your health care. talk about unpopular items. look, businesses have gotten a waiver from the mandate. 1,300 organizations, businesses, unions, have gotten waivers from this law. what about individuals? what about american families? if you want to keep the i.r.s. out of control of your health care, vote no on this motion to recommit. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. without objection, the previous question is offered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion to recommit. as many as are in favor will signify by saying no. pose opposed will say no. in the opinion of they have chair, the ayes have it -- in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. nolan: i ask for a recorded

vote. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of passage. s that 15-minute vote. -- this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 186. the nays are 230 and the motion to recommit is not agreed to. the question is on passage of the bill. as many as are in favor will signify by saying ayes. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. a recorded vote is requested. those in favor of a recorded vote will rise. and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 232. the nays are 185. the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. thompson: mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and

extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. thompson: thank you. mr. speaker, this week i have shared multiple accounts of testimony delivered before the bipartisan natural gas caucus during a field hearing last week in wanse port, pennsylvania. while i discussed job growth for the commonwealth, today i rise to share benefits to property owners who have leased above the vast marcellus natural gas -- >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. mr. faleomavaega: the house ill be in order. -- the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the gentleman may proceed. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, between 2008 and 2010, landowners in two rural counties in pennsylvania earned over $550 million. as of july, 2013, the lifetime royalties already drilled in these counties are projected to

exceed $7 billion. property values in these counties have increased to a level greater than 47% of the national average increase tween 2006 and 2012 during the height of the recession. perhaps most importantly, there are now more than ever greater prospects for future generations of pennsylvanians. natural gas development has allowed pennsylvania's young workers to find high-paying, family-sustained jobs in the keystone state where they can continue to live and build stronger communities. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise on behalf of the safe climate caucus to once again direction our attention to the serious threat of climate change. republicans continue to ignore this issue and instead waste our valuable time once again attempting to repeal the affordable care act.

yesterday, our interior appropriations markup, we ended with no real timetable for when we can finish this bill. worse yet -- and i have to say -- the funding levels in the interior bill were absolutely irresponsible. the republican bill would abandon our commitment to the environment, to our national parks, to the public health and safety and most important to climate change mitigation programs. it is sad and shameful that we are about to adjourn for a five-week district work period leaving critical business to create jobs, pass comprehensive immigration reform and fight climate change. the time to act is now, and so i encourage my colleagues to begin to address this issue right away. thank you. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. for what purpose does the entleman from new york rise? without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, during my time in

the military i had the privilege of serving as an assistant professor of american government at the united states military academy at west point. and the opportunity to educate young minds about our democracy, our constitution, our exceptional way of life was one of the greatest privileges i ever had. the continuance of our nation relies upon the engagement of an informed citizenry. but in a time when education funding is being stretched thin at the federal, state, and local vels, civics and history are often among the first subjects to be parred down or eliminated. i'm proud of my colleagues, such as representatives honda and cole, what they are doing to help promote civic case. mr. gibson: one of my own constituents from columbia county has been helping them. i'm proud of him as well. though it is the role of the state and local governments to establish curriculums, i support federal efforts to assist states and localities who wish to empower their students.

i look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure future generations come to learn about our nation's history and remain engaged as citizens. with that i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts ise? without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, reportedly the republican leadership has draft add bill that doubles the level of -- drafted a bill that doubles the level of food stamps over what was included in the farm bill that passed the house in june. that's right, doubles the cuts. more than 50 million people are hungry in america. 17 million are kids, and the republicans think cutting $40 billion from the most important program that prevents mass hunger in america is somehow a good thing? give me a break. they have already tried to cut $20 billion from food stamps, they failed. any rational person would say, they went too far. we need to compromise. instead the republican

leadership decided to double down on the crazy. if house republicans insist on moving forward with this awful proposal, i will fight it with every ounce of energy i can muster. we should not, we must not, we cannot allow this mean-spirited cold-hearted proposal to pass. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from montana rise? mr. daines: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. speaker, earlier this week i held a teletown hall meeting and held the opportunity -- had the opportunity to talk with several thousand montanans about the houses' efforts to bring needed accountability to washington and the regulatory burdens hurting families and job creators. montanans are tired and frustrated by the e.p.a.'s ever-changing rules and unreasonable compliance costs. the status quo is not acceptable.

that's why i'm proud to vote in support of the reins act which will bring much needed accountability to the regulatory process. this isn't a republican issue or democrat issue, this is about doing the right thing for the american people even the future of our country -- and the future of our country. it's time to rein in washington's overbearing, costly regulations and provide montana families, business owners, and hardworking taxpayers with the relief they deserve. thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. waxman: mr. speaker, my colleagues, there is an op-ed in the "new york times" this morning, four former e.p.a. administrators appeal for action on climate change stating, and i quote, the united states must

move now on substantive steps to curb climate change, end quote. i think this house could learn a thing or two from the authors of this article. these former e.p.a. administrators work for four republican presidents -- nixon, reagan, george bush, and george w. bush. they say that, quote, there is no longer any credible scientific debate, end quote, about climate change. and they also point out that our window for action is shrinking. they say they support the actions that the president is now taking under the clean air act to reduce carbon pollution, and they call on congress to start the overdue debate about what bigger steps are needed domestically and internationally. and they conclude with this very powerful statement. quote, the only uncertainty about our world is how bad these

changes will get and how soon what is most clear is that there is no time to waste, end quote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to address attorney general holder's misinterpretation of federalism and his disregard for our system of checks and balances. the supreme court was clear in shelby vs. holder that states have the ability to run fair elections. did anybody tell attorney general holder? i can't say it better than texas governor rick perry whose efforts to implement commonsense election standards are under attack. once again the obama administration is demonstrating other contempt for our country's system of checks and balances, not to mention the u.s. constitution. if holder continues to go unchecked and not held accountable, what sort of precedent does that send?

as supreme court justice brandeis said, in the government of laws, the exist of government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the lieu scrupulously. it invites every man to become a law unto himself, it invites anarchy. i ask you, has the attorney general invited anarchy? i'll continue to make my case here in the people's house, at the people's pulpit. i will be back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i come to the house floor today to introduce my first bill as a member of congress, it's let the people draw the lines act, or h.r. 2978. my bill does exactlat that title says. it lets people not politicians

draw the district lines for the united states house of representatives. mr. lowenthal: my bill empowers the states to create independent redistricting commissions much like we have in my home state of california. the let the people draw the lines act will remove redistricting from the political process. it will provide clear and uniform redisfricting -- redistricting criteria that gives all communities a fair and equal voice in the political process. this entire process will be transparent and open to the public. the way it should be. if my bill becomes law, mr. speaker, political gerrymandering will finally become a closed chapter in our nation's journey towards a more perfect democracy. let the people draw the lines, mr. speaker. america deserves true representation. thank you, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi rise?

>> mr. speaker, unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i'm not a fan of government mandates, and neither are my constituents in mississippi. but there is one mandate that the people of mississippi sent me to washington with, to repeal, replace, dismantle, delay, and defund obamacare. i have heard from families, small businesses, and hardworking americans across my district who all have the same message -- this law is a train wreck. mr. palazzo: that is why one of my very first votes in congress was to repeal obamacare. that's why i voted to repeal it nearly 40 times over the last three years. that is why i introduce add constitutional amendment to restore the right of the american people to refuse this bad law. that is also why i firmly believe we must defund obamacare in a continuing resolution this body will take up later this year. i believe this is a fight worth fighting for mississippi. and i believe it's a fight worth fighting for the american

people. i'm calling on my colleagues to join me in this fight to stand strong, to stand together, and let's defund obamacare. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentlelady from new hampshire rise? without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. ms. shea-porter: here we are, friday afternoon, we have a lot of people around the country who are going home for the weekend but expecting to go back to their workplace on monday. congress is not coming back until september. did we get everything done? no, we did not. we did manage a vote against obamacare 40 times. basically that means we have voted against the people of this country and their right to health insurance 40 times. we did not cancel the sequester, which is hurting people. i delfered meals last week to 101-year-old man who has had his meals cut because of sequester. and we didn't pass any jobs

bills. not one. not a single jobs bill. all we have managed to do in this body is try to take health care away from american citizens. i urge congress to stay here. i urge the speaker to call us back and make us do the job the american public sent us here to do. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: mr. speaker, every year millions of americans across the fruited plains send their tax returns to the i.r.s. some claim exemses so they can keep -- exemptions so they can keep more money. now the i.r.s. wants an exemption of their own. i.r.s. employees want an exemption from parg in, guess what? obamacare. that's right, the i.r.s. workers have asked for an exemption from obamacare. they like their current health plan and they want to keep it. these are the same people in

charge of enforcing obamacare. and penalizing americans that are forced to be under obamacare. this is the same abuse -- abusive i.r.s. that punishes political opponents. the i.r.s. taxi contracts don't want the law to apply to them. more arrogance of power. their policy is, laws for thee but not for me. ironic, don't you think? the real truth to be clear, mr. speaker, is the i.r.s. wants to be exempted from obamacare and so do americans. it is.t's just the way the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to address the delegate -- delicate yet much needed balance between our national security and actually protected liberties of our citizens. in order to maintain those liberties, i call for the

immediate terminations of director of national intelligence james clapper and attorney general eric holder. to that extent i'm send allege letter to president obama asking he immediately call for their terminations and/or rest ig nominations. mr. flores: i do believe our nation's surveillance programs have helped thwart terrorist attacks because of the n.s.a. and f.b.i. personnel who work on these activities every day and working hard to comply with the law to protect our constitutional liberties and keep america safe. and contrast to the efforts of those hardworking, law-abidinging personnel, americans have serious reservations about attorney general holder and clapper who have -- who are ultimately responsible for the management of these programs. we remain gravely concerned about their lack to follow the law, be forthright with the american people and congress, and commitment to protect our actually guaranteed liberties. continued congressional oversight coupled with the terminations of clapper and holder will help restore these fight terrorism without compromising our liberties or

creating gaps in our intelligence structure. in addition the removal may start the healing process to restore america's trust in our federal government. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the life of a grave young ohio soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this great country. army staff sergeant sonny c. zimmerman. he graduated from gauchen high school in 2005. served his first tour in afghanistan in 2006. his fellow soldiers knew him as a leader, spoke freely of the times he helped them, stood up for them, and sacrificed for them. brian dan: captain mentioned how he said i have to bring my guys home, and noting he always put himself last. he was a decorated hero who served with courage and honor. he died on tuesday, july 16, 2013 in afghanistan.

he's survived by his wife, daughter, parents, stepfather, two sisters and other loving family. i was touched to see how many of his friends, family, and neighbors came together in his hometown to honor his life and sacrifice. he volunteered to serve, he loved the army, loved his contry, and fought to promote freedom. for this each and every american owes him and his family a debt of gratitude. sonny zimmerman will be deeply missed but the strength of his character and courage he demonstrated through his service will live on. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, the american people want us to work together. you can poll every one of theme that are coming through these halls as tourists, as in essence, americans, and i know they want us to work together. so i think it is important that we announce to the american people that we will immediately

get rid of sequester, the stop laying off of valuable department of defense workers and health and human services workers, people who help generate the economy in places beyond the beltway, government workers who are servants of the people. i think we need to get rid of sequester and begin to fund those childcare seats that have been lost, those meals on wheels, the medicare resources for our seniors. we need to stop playing around with the budget. we need to insist that the bills of the american people be paid through raising the debt ceiling and not in an angry manner but recognizing our responsibilities. we know that the flmplet s.a. has been looked -- that the n.s.a. has been looked at. i stand on behalf of the civil liberties and rights of americans. i asked to review the enormous number of contractors that are being used to give top-secret credibility and as well to do our outsourcing of our work. i've introduced a bill dealing with the fisa court to release

the fisa court opinions because i believe it is important for the american people to know and to be protected in their civil liberties. finally, the obamacare is one that i am proud to be supporting because it helps small businesses, it helps those -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: it provides for young people to have health coverage. obamacare serves the american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i recently heard a story about one of our wounded soldiers being forced to participate in a lengthy and uncomfort security screen at the airport. i immediately contacted the head of the t.s.a. to express my disappointment. i believe one of the most solemn responsibilities of our government is to care for our veterans and those who have been i we must remember

that even little things can be cu plmbings bersome and difficult. the last thing they need is to be asked about their conditions when all they want to do is board a plane and fly home to their loved ones. i have had an active role of working with the t.s.a. administrator and my colleague, ms. gabbard, the author of this legislation, to adopt protocols increase accessibility for those who have had disabilities. i am proud of this legislation because it shows the example of republicans and democrats working together to find solutions for the american people. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, we are at a point where an unannounced,

unplanned and largely unconstitutional fourth branch of government has taken root. dominated by unelected bureaucrats, these federal departments and agencies are turning out rules and regulations at an unprecedented pace. according to one study, federal agencies finalize nearly 3,000 rules and over 60 major regulations in 2007. that same year, congress enacted 138 public laws. to this end, one of the first bills i co-sponsored upon being sworn in as a member of congress was the reins act, i'm pleased to have voted for it today. mr. wenstrup: the bill increases accountability and creates france parentsy in the federal regulatory process by requiring congress to approve all new major regulations. with the reins act, no longer will bureaucrats in the fourth branch go unchecked and the constitutional balance of our founders deliberately draft -- that they deliberately drafted

would be restored. i'll continue to fight for government that is smaller, more efficient, more streamlined and more responsive to hardworking taxpayers. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table h.r. 1344 with the senate amendment thereto and to concur in the senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill and the senate amendment. the clerk: h.r. 1344, an act to amend title 469, united states code, to direct the assistant secretary of homeland security, transportation security administration to provide expedited air passenger screening to severely injured or disabled members of the armed forces and severely injured or disabled veterans and for other purposes. senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore:

without objection, the senate amendment is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid pon the table. the chair lays before the house a privileged concurrent resolution. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 22, resolved, that when the senate recesses or adjourns on any day from thursday, august 1, 2013, through sunday, august 11, 2013, on a motion offered pursuant to this concurrent resolution by its majority leader or his designee, it stand recessed or adjourned until 12:00 noon on monday, august 12, 2013, or such other time on that day as may be specified by its majority leader or his designee and the motion to recess or adjourn and that when the senate recesses or adjourns on monday, august 12, 2013, it stand adjourned until 12:00 on monday, september 9, 2013, or such other time on that day as may be specified by its majority leader or his designee or until

the time of any reassembly pursuant to section 2 of this concurrent resolution, whichever occurs first, and that when the house adjourns on any legislative day from friday, august 2, 2013, through friday, september 6, 2013, on a motion offered pursuant to this concurrent resolution by its majority leader or his designee, it stand adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday, september 9, 2013, or until the time of any reassembly pursuant to section 2 of this concurrent resolution, whichever occurs first. section 2, the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the house or their respective designees acting jointly after consultation with the minority leader of the senate and the minority leader of the house shall notify the members of the senate and house respectively to reassemble at such place and time as they may designate, if, in their opinion, the public interest shall warrant it. kepro tempore without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed

to and a motion to reconsider s laid on the table. the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to section 803-a of the congressional recognition for excellence in arts, education act, 2, u.s.c. 803-a and the order of the house of january 3, 2013, of the following member on the part of the house to the congressional award board. the clerk: mr. hudson of north arolina. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from iowa, mr. king, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. king: thank you, mr. speaker. it's my privilege and honor to be recognized to address you

here on the floor of the united states house of representatives and to be able to cover some of the subject matter that sets the stage and the tone and some of the things that i think we should be taking about as we take this traditional august work period and go back to our individual districts and hear from our constituents. there are a number of us that have constituents that have guided this country in the right direction, that have given a considerable contribution to this nation. i think it's an appropriate time for us to commemorate some of those individuals as well as agenda t some important moving into the other side of labor day. so to begin that process, mr. speaker, i'd be pleased to yield to the gentleman from texas, mr. flores, as much time as he may consume to address this topic matter. the gentleman from florida -- from texas -- excuse me. mr. flores: mr. speaker, on july 30, our nation lost ronnie

jackson, a community tresher of bryant, texas. mr. jackson was a longtime public servant and the role of neighborhood and youth services director for our city. mr. jackson passed away at the age of 63 after fighting lung cancer for 17 months. mr. jackson spent his life as an educator and worked tirelessly for many organizations, including the mhmr authority of brazos valley, big brothers and big sisters of the brazos valley. he spent time volunteering for youth, seniors. mr. jackson was recognized for his service when he was a 2010 national finalist for the jefferson award which is the nobel prize for community and public service. he was well-known in bryan and impacted the lives of many throughout the community. ever selfless, even while battling cancer, mr. jackson still made time to work and serve in his community.

he was described by many as hard working, devoted and a kind man. in fact, bryan city secretary, berry lynn stratus, said in a newspaper that mr. jackson was the heartbeat of the programs that he led. my thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of mr. ronnie jackson. he will forever be remembered as an outstanding husband and a community servant. bryan, texas, and all of the brazos valley are a better community because of him. god bless his family and our community as we mourn his passing. mr. speaker, before we close, i ask that all americans pray for our country during these difficult time and for our military and first responders who protect us here at home, who protect us abroad and here at home. thank you. great american. mr. george p. mitchell. mr. mitchell was a

revolutionary energy pioneer, philanthropist and graduate of class of 1940. he was 94 years old and passed away on july 26, 2013. mr. mitchell was a native of texas, born in galveston, and later attended texas a&m university where he worked his way through school, studied petroleum engineering and geology and graduated top of his class. throughout his life, mr. mitchell upheld the agee core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service. after attending texas a&m university, mr. mitchell served as a captain in the u.s. army engineers during world war ii. he later built his own company, mitchell energy and development, which was responsible for over 550 significant oil and gas discoveries. mr. mitchell led the way in the energy business with his groundbreaking innovations, which contributed to the expanded application of

hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling. he's behind the significant improvements for these technologies for over three decades. he's the man behind this energy revolution we have today that is putting us on the path to energy security in america. in addition to his pioneering influence in the energy sector, mr. mitchell provided leadership in the -- in community development and service. he developed the woodlands, a 27,000 acre community north of houston. he used $50 million of his personal money to renovate landmarks in galveston and founded the houston advanced research center, which is a nonprofit, scientific and research facility. he's also benefited higher education through his family gifts of tens of millions of dollars to our alma mater, texas a&m university. my knotts and prayers are with the family and friends of mr. george mitchell. he will -- my thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of mr. george mimple. he will be forevered as an outstanding husband, father,

servant.munity thank you and i yield back to mr. king. mr. king: reclaiming my time. i thank the gentleman from texas for bringing these two fine individuals before this congress and commemorating their contributions and their lives to this country. one individual that has -- is making a contribution in each of his days and years in congress is the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf, mr. speaker, has taken the lead on the benghazi issue, and he's consistently, persistently and relentlessly illuminated the reasons for us to dig into the bottom of benghazi. i'd be happy to yield as much time as the gentleman from virginia may consume to address that topic. mr. wolf: i want to thank the gentleman from iowa, mr. king, for the time. i'm very grateful. thank you. mr. speaker, last evening, cnn reported startling nvelations a the c.i.a. to prevent agency ployees and contractors from

speaking to the press and congress about the terrorist attacks in benghazi last september. according to cnn, quote, since january, some c.i.a. operatives involved in the agency's missions in libya have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings. the goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone has taken to the media or talking to congress, end of quote. this report confirms what i've been saying for months, survivors of the attack are being silenced. by failing to have public hearings over the last year, the congress has empowered the government to silence the eyewitnesses from the attack. in is unacceptable. the c.i.a. says the agency employees are always free to speak to congress if they want.

however the reported monthly polygraphs clearly contradict these assertions. just listen to the following comments reported by cnn. quote, you don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well, one c.i.a. source told cnn. quote, you have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation. another said, end of quote. according to separate report by fox news this morning, quote, at least five c.i.a. employees were forced to sign additional nondisclosure agreements this past spring in the wake of the benghazi attack. the confirming what i said on the house floor on july 18. four americans were killed in a terrorist attack on two u.s. facilities. seven americans were wounded. some severely. another two dozen could have been killed that night but for the sacrifices made by ty woods,

glen daugherty, and untold others who deserve to be recognized for their heroic acts. why are these heroes being told not to talk? what is the administration afraid of? what is it protecting? nearly six months ago i wrote secretary kerry asking for the names and contact information of the department employees who were in benghazi last september. the department refused to provide this information or even confirm the number of those wounded and the nature of their injuries. i again made this request to secretary kerry earlier this month, and once again the kept refused. the during july 24 state department press briefing, the department spokesman again made excuses for not providing this information to congress. and once again used the f.b.i. as an excuse not to cooperate,

stating, quote, we have serious concerns about the survivors' welfare and want to be careful not to interfere with the f.b.i.'s investigation of the attack, end of quote. quote, thererting, are no department employees who want to tell their story that are being obstructed from doing so by the leadership of the state department, end of quote. how can the congress know the survivors don't want to speak with congress if they can't learn who they are and ask them? are we willing to take the administration's word for it? nearly every day for the past three weeks i have come to the floor to ask questions that should be answered by now. these have ranged from whether there was an intelligence failure that night to who was responsible for the u.s. response. defense department or c.i.a., to just why we had such a large c.i.a. presence operating in

benghazi in the first place. the failure to provide answers to the american people despite nearly a year of investigations makes clear the need for a new approach. i believe the best path forward is dedicated, bipartisan house select committee with full subpoena authority to hold public hearings and issue a public final report. 162 of our colleagues, nearly 3/4 of the majority agree, and that is why they have co-sponsored h.res. 36 to create a bipartisan select committee this effort has been supported by the family members of the benghazi victims, the special operations community, the federal law enforcement offices association which represents the diplomatic security officers that were in benghazi, as well the editorial page of the "wall street journal." with such a broad range of support, it begs the question,

why not? what are we afraid of from a full investigation and public hearings? the house interim progress report on benghazi was released on april 23, when will the final report be released? h.res. 36 would mandate a final report within 90 days. force subpoena authority to compel sworn testimony from all witnesses. it would bring together the best investigators from all the committees in the house, and it would use existing resources. it would not duplicate effort. it would build on the work that's already been done over the past year. iron sharpens iron. when we return from august recess, there will only be two days, two days until the one-year anniversary of the benghazi attack. can any member here confidently say they know what happened that night? can any member honestly say it with reports like the one cnn

did yesterday that this congress has done everything it can to llow the survivors to come forward to tell their story? witnesses need to be subpoenaed. i'm talking about friendly subpoenas to the survivors and those career federal employees in theater and in washington who witnessed the response or lk thereof that night. some have argued we shouldn't issue subpoenas until we know what a witness will say. that won't work. especially given the nondisclosure agreements and polygraphs being employed to silence them. they need to -- deployed to silence them. they need to speak publicly because speaking behind closed doors offers them no protection. my district includes the c.i.a. and other intelligence agencies. throughout my career i have talked to and worked with career federal employees and contractors working for intelligence agencies. i know the pressure they are

under to stay silent. even if they have information that the congress and the american people need to hear. they need to pro-- the protection of a subpoena. there is no other way. until we hear in public from these witnesses what happened that night, we'll never be able to answer the many unanswered questions i have raised daily on the house floor over the past three weeks. which i'm submitting together today for the record. september 11 is fast approaching. will we continue on our current path and learn from forthcoming books written by survivors and sanitized by the c.i.a., or will we create a select committee to subpoena witnesses to testify under oath at public hearings? i thank the gentleman for yielding the time.

mr. king: mr. speaker, reclaiming my time, this time here today i switched to a topic, but first i want to address i have been very, very supportive of congressman wolf's initiative for select committee and bringing these witnesses in under subpoena so that we can get to the bottom of this because america's legacy and america's history is at stake. and when i think about america's legacy and america's history, this day, i come to the floor th my eyes and my memory and my heart full of the last two days of saying goodbye to america's greatest living hero up until the time of his death, colonel bud day. colonel bud day -- this is one

image i would point out, mr. speaker, of the bud day that i knew, the man that i had the privilege to call a friend. the man that i admired. a living at our time, a living american hero, colonel bud day was, up until the time of his death, the most decorated living american hero. i believe we had to go back to general macarthur to find someone who was more decorated than bud day. to put this in a short capsule, mr. speaker, colonel bud day served in three wars. he volunteered as a high school senior when he heard that there was going to be a draft. important thought of having to draft people to serve our country in time of war, and he immediately went down to the courthouse to see the recruiter. he served in the world war ii, korean war, vietnam war, became a prisoner of war and was

repatriated and brought back to the united states with his family in 1973. bud day received -- he received the medal of honor, he received 70-some other medals, every available combat medal that was available to him in the theaters that he fought in in world war ii, korea, and vietnam had been awarded to bud day. bud day was the one who in the hanoi hilton, he and one other p.o.w. is where they brought john mccain when he was in a body cast, as been expressed, was rattling around inside a body cast weighing about 75 pounds. they brought him in and threw him on bud day's bunk. the two individuals began to heal john mccain back to health. this life of this man is full of service, service in three wars, and he served our country through, as i add them up, through the decade of the 40's in world war ii, the decade of

the 50's and in the korean war, the decade of the 60's and early 70's, and vietnam war, he came back and continued to serve his country up until the -- nearly the 1980's, and the service, and then went back, went into service in practicing law in florida. so that would be through the 1990's, and as recently as just a few days ago he won another case shortly before he died. bud day was a fighter. he was a scrapper. he was an american patriot. mr. speaker, i come here to the floor today to tell a more thorough narrative of colonel bud day. i want to point out first that much of that narrative is in one of two books that about bud. this one is by him. and when you read it it's "duty, honor, country, colonel george "bud" day, lawyer, warrior."

when you read it, you hear the flavor and thread of his conversation. this is -- you'll see and read books that are written by ghost writers and they interview the extraordinary person and mutt that into narrative form and you can read the book, when you read that you don't get the feel and flavor of the character. in this one i see the language that bud day used constantly coming up. it's flowery language. it's actually almost always very tasteful language, but he saw images that were, i'll say, captured in his mind's eye he kept in his memory for years and he expressed them in this book. going back to read it a second time, upon the occasion of his death, the personality of bud day emerges in this book, mr. speaker. and yet you'd like to go down through the history of the life of colonel bud day. and i was able to, i said call him a friend. we were hunting buddies. we spent a lot of time in the fields of iowa together with a

shotgun. stopping to rest, talking politics, talking history, talking the history of war, refighting some wars while we were at it. but the beginning of his life was in february 24, 1925, colonel day was then of course george "bud" day was born in sioux city, iowa. he went to riverside high school, and born in riverside, a suburb of sioux city, and he went to central high school in sioux city where he learned that there was a -- when he learned the japanese attacked pearl harbor and he saw that in 1942, remember that was december 7, 1941, in 1942 when he heard there was going to be a draft, bud day decided he would go down and sign up. he saw the marine recruiter and became a marine. and then from that point he served 2 1/2 years in the south pacific, and came back home in 1945, and went to college at

morningside college there in sioux city. and shortly after that went up to the university of south dakota and received his law degree up there. by 1945, marine bud day had an undergraduate degree at morningside college and juryis doctorate law degree from university of south dakota where he thought he would go and practice law. but he also served in the iowa national guard from 1950, and he attended flight school because he wanted to fly. therefore in 1951 the air force called bud day to active duty and he was a fighter pilot in the korean war. he served two tours as a fighter pilot in the korean war. that experience there, growing up in sioux city, anchored him s the 185ththat i based today in sioux city. he maintained his relationships with the people that served there, with the airmen that serve out of the 185th in sioux

city. sioux city was always his home. he kept his contacts there. he transferred his family down to pensacola, florida, in that area, because there is a lot of military down there and of course it's a great place to live. i came back from there last night having joined in the funeral and procession to the cemetery for colonel bud day. after his korean war experience, where he served two tours, he decided to make the air force a career. one of the things he did was he was deployed to the base at niagara in new york which he euphemistically called nigeria, but they loved it up there, and he built good bonds with people and strong bonds, and he took his flying hours up and with those flying hours he had he became one of the most experienced pilots to be deployed to vietnam. . so he anticipated he would retire in 1968, but then major

day was assigned to the 31st tactical fighter wing and that was in april of 1967. there he commanded the wing called the misty wing, and that was because bud day named them so misty was his favorite song. and so they flew missions over north and south vietnam. the most dangerous missions by far were over north vietnam. and on a mission over north vietnam in an f-100, they were spotting and locating surface air missiles that had freshly been placed there, russian surface air missiles who was capable of taking down b-52's. as they located the russian surface to air missile site they were hit by enemy fire. some say it was an enemy missile. in bud's book he thought he took a hit from a missile and

it hit the fuselage and he had to punch out. there he was imprisoned, immediately captured by the north vietnamese and was imprisoned for five years and seven months and became the highest ranking officer in that prison. so he commanded people like john mccain, during that period of time. but throughout that -- all that long ordeal that our american prisoners of war served in the ufe mystically called the hanoi hilton, he deified his capture in a way that amazed people that served them. when he was released on march 14,1973, he was reunited with his wife, dorriy, and their four children, steve, george and the two daughters. then he was presented with the medal of honor in march --

excuse me -- honored by president gerald ford in 1976. in all, as i said, over 70 medals. every medal available to him. a combat medal from each field he served in, each war, each theater. he was the only person ever to have been awarded both the medal of honor and the air force cross. and then bud day retired from active duty in 1977, resumed practicing law in florida. one of the issues that he took on was tricare, and in the 1990's he saw that the clinton administration was starting to back away from the commitment that if you served 20 years in the armed forces you would receive half your pay as your pension for life and midcal care for life. that was the deal. that was the agreement. and he was appalled that the federal government was starting to move away from that agreement. so bud day, ever the fighter, ever the scrapper, ever the lawyer, went to court and put together a class action lawsuit

to force the federal government to keep their word with our warriors. and most of that was designed to benefit america's greatest generation, world war ii veterans. we lost so many of them since that period of time. but as bud day drove that lawsuit and worked his way up through the courts, and he got all the way to the supreme court where the supreme court refused to hear the case, refused to grant cert, as the ruling was, and so the indom ble current bud -- indomniable colonel, bud day, ok, if we can't get what's right in the courts, i'll go to congress, so he took this argument to congress. if i have my dates right, it was in 2002 that congress passed tricare. we had a good number of debates on tricare since then. i don't believe we would have tricare at all if it weren't for colonel bud day. his esterday i parted with

family as doris, or dori called the viking. when i read in his book about the ice blue eyes, i saw them sad yesterday, but they're still bright and still ice blue and still a sparkle behind the tears. the family was strongly together with the four children and 14 grandchildren and it was a ceremony and a service like no other for a man that there never be another like colonel bud day. and of these experiences, i've looked through a number of articles and recognizing, mr. speaker, that i probably can't be the best author to commemorate the life of a great iconic man that has captured this country. so i'll take you down through a bit of a narrative fm a story. and here's one of the things that bud day did. the take you through

narrative of the way he -- the way he treated death multiple times. remember, this samantha signed up for the marine corps in 1942, mr. speaker, and was able to come back 2 1/2 years being deployed to the south pacific and get his college undergrad degree and law degree, went into the iowa guard because he wanted to fly, and he did fly and he volunteered to go to korea and there served two tours flying a fighter bomber or bomber over korea. and then was -- while he was flying training missions, he was deployed different places. georgia, for example, and then over to england -- a base in england. and here are the number of times that bud day cheated death. the first one that i recall was when he was flying out of a base in georgia and fighter aircraft had the fuel doors were open and he had a leak and there was a plane that was flying next to him that said you got a leak. it looked like it was a fatal mechanical error.

he didn't have enough altitude to bail out. and he didn't have enough power to land. so he wasn't going to be able to sustain his power to land. bud day, i'll give you an example of what he was going to be able to do for a lifetime, and that is in quick thinking, the kind of thing a more experienced pilot -- in fact, pilots would likely be trained on this after they found out what bud day had done, and that is he did the only thing key do that would save his life. he put the nose of that plane down knowing that if he could get to 170 knots that the sucker doors would close and if they closed it would shut off the risk of the fire. and so he put that nose down in a courageous way and right before he got to the treetops he was able to reach 170 knots and doing so the sucker doors closed and he was able to stabilize the aircraft and land it safely. that's eirst time recorded that colonel bud day cheated death. not very long after that he was flying out of a base in england

. the name of the base i think is a pretty important one. i know that i marked it here in my notes, mr. speaker, but it was -- i'm going to find that in a second. ok, mr. speaker. the name of the base was wethersfield, england. it's interesting the uniqueness of that. as bud day flew out of england and he had another situation where he had an engine fire at low altitude. there was no ability to set the plane down. he got it on a course where it would be away from population. as he was in lower altitude around 500 or so feet, the only choice was to eject. so he ejected and he looked up and he said, where's the chute, where was the chute, there was no orange blossom and he joked fighter pilots or plane pilots will often argue, if your chute

doesn't work, just take it back. and here is a man in a no-chute bailout of a jet aircraft trailing down through the skies with the chute not opening, not blossom. he went through the timber in england, the pine timber in england, and if any of us, mr. speaker, remember when rambo jumped out of the helicopter and went through the trees and survived that fall, i don't know where the inspiration came from that scene in "rambo," but when i think of this happening to colonel bud day that this man survived a no-chute bailout, as the schutte wouldn't open and it's -- chute wouldn't open, he went into the pine tree and bounced off the branches. as those branches began to break his fall, some of the chute, the threads on the chute, the chords slowed down a little bit on the branches and he hit the ground. he hit the ground hard. he broke his ankle. he was injured in other places but he was alive. the first person to survive a

no-chute bailout of a jet aircraft. he did so in england in 1957. was the second time he cheated death. the third time that he cheated death was in a 0-0 landing. it was only five months after he had gone through his no-chute bailout. remember, this samantha had the presence of mind to put the nose down in a fighter aircraft and head toward the ground knowing in a if he didn't reach that speed, that 170 knots, he was not going to be able to survive that flight. and to put it up above the trees, have the air speed that he needed to get the sucker doors closed, to stabilize the aircraft and to land it and then here we are not that long later, to be flying in england and have to bail out of a burning aircraft and go through and not have your chute open. what did he say? well, he expressed it was an old royal air force expression. he said that -- i thought out loud, i bought the farm. what a lousy way to go.

but he went through the trees and he looked up and he said, fliers have an old bad joke about parachutes. if it doesn't open, take it back. there are not many members of that take it back club. colonel day was one of the members. the ejection was from an f-84. it was the first in air force history that survived from it. and colonel bud day said, god must be saving me for something. in fact, his wife said to him, god must be saving you for something. it was less than six months later he was flying out of wethersfield royal air force station in england and they took off to go get some parts. they were cleared by the weather. the weather cleared. it was supposed to open up. and stay open across europe. and the landing forces that they had. instead the fog socked in. the visibility socked down to zero. the ceiling went to zero. and bud day said, the weather t birds flew in it. but they flew that f-80, that f-80-c and they were opening

the weather would reverse itself. his co-pilot was bill moore, known affectionately as billy moore. so they had a choice. with everything socked in they decided to turn back and go back to the -- and go back to the wethersfield airstrip because that's the one they knew the best, that's the one that didn't have a lot of urban areas around it or a lot of housing. they had pretty much clear approach to landing and if they didn't make it it was less likely they would kill other people other than themselves. so they turned and went back to wethersfield. and bud day is thinking, i don't want to bail out of this plane again. my ankle's just healing up from the last time my chute didn't open. i want to come in and land this. and billy moore agreed it was the best choice they could make. so they approached the landing sfrip and as they approached it this is a complete instrument landing with zero visibility and zero ceiling and as black as it could be.

the first approach bud said to his co-pilot, billy moore, you take the controls, i'll watch. if i can see -- if i can see the runway, i'll take the ontrols from you the instant right before we land and i'll land it, because bud, sitting in the front, was the only guy that could see the runway. and so as they made that first approach right before they would have made -- touched down on impact was an unknown which that would be at the time, right before they touchdown, bud day saw they were off the side of the runway, saw a light on the side of the runway. said pull it back up. so they pulled it back up and they went back around again. they adjusted the radar again and as they approached, a complete instrument landing, .ero ceiling, zero visibility right before impact, right before they touched, bud said to billy moore, pull it back up. but that instant he realized they were lined up and within just an instant of making contact with the runway bud day

took the controls and set that plane down. and it was the first zero-zero landing that they had survived. and he said that -- he said to billy moore, co-pilot, he said, good show, pal. that was about as scary as it's going to get. i think we owe the radar controllers a beer. that tells you something about the spirit of this man. he said, i didn't want to bail out again. my leg and back are still sore from the last bailout. and you know, bill, we may be the only pilots living today that have made a zero visibility, zero ceiling landing, and i think that turned out to be true. later on, bud day volunteered then for combat duty in vietnam where he went on to command the squadron there, and as they ere flying over that surface to air missile site, his captain was from iowa. two iowans together in that flight as they were hit and shot down on that day. they punched out, bud day was

taken prisoner immediately. that was the third time he cheated death. when they took a direct hit on the fuselage of that plane. asand as he bailed out, -- and as he bailed out, his chute did open but he was immediately taken captive. his co-pilot, kip, as he was known, was rescued right away. there was an american helicopter that was hovering off at a close distance. they were looking for him and he was in the trees and they couldn't see him but bud could see the helicopter and standing in the side of that helicopter door was his co-pilot with a rifle in his hand. they were looking to go get bud day. if they had seen him they would have been able to recover him, but of course that didn't happen and he was put into captivity. . three times he cheated death, and as he beat him, tortured

him, put him in a hole, he had's arm broken in three places from the bailout, he hit the side of the plane on the way out and suffered those injuries, but they drove him and marched him through the villages what they would have liked to have called a march of shame, but he was put under guard by a young vietnamese teen ager who bud day -- he was hurt badly. it was hard for him to walk. his knee was bad. his arm was broken in three places, but he feigned he was worse than he was, and he noticed his cap tore would go off and -- captor would go off and talk to another guard because he believed bud couldn't get out of the hole he was in and couldn't travel. bud recognized that, he exploited that and feigned his injuries to be really bad, but worse than they were, and as he did so, that guard got more and more relaxed. after several days, bud saw his opportunity. they were going to move him on up to north vietnam to the hanoi

hilton is what it sounded like. there was some expression the guard had drawn a picture into the dirt of a geep, and that said they were going to transport him. they went in and tied his legs together with a cord and left him there. bud day knew that within hours or a day or so they were going to come and get him and once he went to the next stage of his captivity, each day that goes by gets harder and harder to he scape. as the guard went over to talk to his friend and had his back turned, bud day was able to untie the cords that tied his legs together, even though he had only -- only had one arm to do it and the other broken in three places, when he did that he picked a time he thought the guard was as relaxed as possible he got out of the hole and headed out to the jungle to try to get down to the d.m.z. and try to get thencross the d.m.z., across the river, swim across the river, and try to get into american hands that looked

like it was going to be a long trip, and it was. bud day had a canteen, some water in it. he was able to refill that sometimes from water captured from rainwater and banana leaves he would stop and refill his canteen. he went for days without eating. days without thinking about eating. he was so focused on avoiding the v., as he called them, but also the viet kong. as he's traveling through north vietnam, traveling through enemy territory, he had to be ever alert to maintain hiding and travel at night, part of that time for the first couple three days of his trip, that was the only way it would be safe, but to try to navigate at night through the canopy of the jungle and try to follow trails that you don't know where they go, that's a very, very difficult task and to keep his mind on task as he got weaker and weaker was the struggle that is something that is so impressive to see he was able to hold it together. he wouldn't have said that he held it together, he went up and

down through delirium and he would discipline his mind back focusing on staying alive because he remembered his beloved wife. remembered his children. he remembered the people he flew with, the misty pilots and team out there. he prayed to god to come save him. the 23rd saum was his favorite -- psalm, and when he didn't know what else to pray he prayed the 234 $psalm. it happens to be my mother's and mine. as he worked his way down south and able to build himself the equivalent of a bamboo raft and go into that river, and the river he said was equivalent, bud day grew up on the missouri river and played out there on the missouri river where i spent a fair amount of time, he said the river was equivalent to the river, the missouri river, at st. louis. a lot of water. flowing fast when he put into it he thought it would be slower than it was. it was flowing more than seven or eight mile an hour. that's about what the river flows up in sioux city, iowa,

today. it took him down stream fast but he was able to get across the other side. and with arm broken in three places and all. as he emerged from the river he had to struggle his way through the jungle, starving, hungry, weak from hunger. he found a cache of u.s. military, we would call them today m.r.e.'s. he thought i found the mother lode of food. now i can store it. re-energize myself, store up with food, get my energy back, and go on. each he had picked up had been bacon netted because it was like u.s. marines who couldn't carry all the food with him, they ate their fill, in that jungle if you poke a hole in a can it only takes a little while that food is spoiled. it was spoiled. he was glad to see the marines were following the due diligence in their combat training they had. throughout this you'll hear his voice go up in despair then he

would check himself and say what are you complaining about, bud, it's great day. the sun came up in a bright way this morning. you had good weather to travel with. and he found a way to find a blessing in thing after thing. if that meant -- he was shelled and escaped death then. u.s. bombs were dropping around him in a close area. he escaped death then. had he to go bare foot across the craters of a bomb field where some of the sand turns into glass it cut his feet. his feet were swollen. he was wounded from some of that. of course an arm broken in three places. 10 to 12 days he wandered across the desert, always renavigating, always resetting himself, as you disciplining himself to stay on task. god is saving you for something. and throughout those days, those days of courage, he was faced multiple times with north vietnamese regulars and

military, that at any slip up if he hid in the wrong place, if they looked in the wrong place, if he made a motion, he would have been captured. utside of caisson, which was a marine base about two kilometers or two miles from there, bud day's luck ran out and he's encountered by a couple of young north vietnamese who were either preparing to assault caisson or try to assault any supply chains coming to it. they discovered bud day, who then, when he realized he was discovered -- remember, he lost about 25 pounds. he went into this weighing about 150. maybe at this time it's less than 125 pounds. he's weak from hunger. he's eaten frogs and drank some water. and a little bit of pulp from a plant, banana tree he took apart. that's about it. you can imagine how weak he must have been, how wounded he was with a bad knee, and arm broken

in three places, but he got up to run, and as he ran, he made it away, as he got through the jungle a ways, as they shot at him he took a bullet through the thy and hand -- thigh and hand. he continued to run to evade his captors, who nearly didn't find him. they found themselves next to him not realizing it. they captured him and pressed him back again and sent him back to hanoi to the hanoi hilton where all of these days of disciplining his mind and himself and resolve that was there, went away. because he lost all of those days and went back into the hanoi hilton. this is the man whose spirit held together and when they began to torture him in a more sophisticated, more relentless fashion, they would hang him by his feet for hours. they would beat him with fan belts. and he said that -- here's an expression from the 15th chapter

of his autobiography. the chapter is tilted, truth or fiction? he vividly details the most violent and barbaric tortures he endured. there were, he cold them, rope tricks. gives you a sense of bud day's sense of humor. rope tricks that literally dislocated shoulders and tore muscles, flesh piercing leg irons, torture cuffs, and kneeling on sharp objects for days on end until the knees became raw bloody stanley cupps. beating with fan belts. he would pray. ye though i walkthrough the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil. this is something that i think needs to go into the record, verbatim, mr. speaker, bud day ever the warrior prayed, jesus, if i survive this nightmare, i will have divine understanding. ai deed. i am being crucified. i know satan. i have seen the deepest rings of

hell. i am in the pit, lord, and i am fading. my strength is waning. give me strength, dear god, strength, i cannot bear the thought of my wife and children hearing i am a traitor. can i not live in disgrace with my fellow prisoners. close quote. -- i cannot live in disgrace with my fellow prisoners, close quote. can you imagine, mr. speaker, the sin of a man who feared he would disgrace his fellow prisoners. he couldn't bear the thought of becoming a traitor. he couldn't bear the thought of not seeing his beloved wife and kids again. this was colonel bud day. his is the spirit of the man who gave courage and inspiration to all of those in the hanoi hilton. and i recall the day we commemorated the statue of bud day at the airport in sioux city, where we got together and named the airstrip after colonel

bud day, there is a statue there of bud day, and it's a bronze statue that-dirble' describe in a moment, mr. speaker. -- that i'll describe in a moment, mr. speaker. bud day, they would point a rifle to his head and threaten to execute him, and bud day would stand there and sing the national anthem. there was another prisoner of war who was first blamed for organizing a prayer session, and a number of them took the oath that essentially an oath that they would hold their ground and insist they were going to do prayer sessions. and as the vietnamese marched them off, the first one to be marched off was beaten and bloodied and being hauled off, and what does bud day do? stood up on his bunk and sang the national anthem at the top of his lungs. that voice of him singing the national anthem echoed across

the cell blocks. they couldn't see each other, mr. speaker, but they could hear. they echoed across the cell blocks. they all stood up and sang the national anthem at the top of their lungs, and they asked that prisoner what did it make you feel like? he said it made me feel like i was nine feet tall ready to hunt bear with a switch. the statue of bud day that commemorates the bud day airstrip in sioux city is a bronze statue, nine feet tall. i remember the day that his twin daughters unveiled that statue from the roof of the airport building where they pulled the tarp off and showed us the statue of colonel bud day. the man who cheated death time after time after time. the man who a lot of us wouldn't have believed that would end his life, even he could cheat nature, i thought he might have been able to do that. testimony i listened to the remarks made by john mccain on the floor of the senate this

monday. and i was impressed by that delivery. by the poignant moments that john mccain captured, and i would just hit some of those highlights because i think it's so important and i was so impressed with his presentation. i think it's very close to the delivery he gave yesterday at the service. he said that bud had supplied enough -- his lifetime supplied enough experiences, excite, satisfaction for 10 lifetimes. he knew terror and suffering, joy and deliverance. he knew solidarity, self-respect, and dignity. and this is john mccain still. the vietnamese left me to die in the prison cell bud shared with major norris overly, but he wouldn't let me die. they bathed me, fed me, nursed me, encouraged me, and ordered me back to life. norris did much of the work because bud had healing of his own to do, to paraphrase, but to quote, continue the quote, bud showed me how to save my

self-respect and my honor. and that is a debt i can never repay, close quote from john mccain. continuing to quote, bud was a fierce, and i mean really fierce resister. he could not be broken in spirit no matter how broken he was in body. he defied men who had the power of life and death over us. to witness him sing the national anthem in response to having a rifle pointed at his face, well, that was something to behold. le 1967 bud day, close quote, bud day commanded a squadron of f-100's that served as forward air controllers over vietnam. they were called the misties. because it was bud's favorite song. august 26 of 1967, bud day was one of the casualties over vietnam. and now i want to spend just a moment -- continuing the quote of senator mccain, bud was the bravest man i ever knew and i

have known more than a few. he was great company, too, and it made it possible to actually have fun in prison once in a while, close quote. . and extraordinary statement in that prisoner of war camp. and so, mr. speaker, i want to relate, though, -- i want to relate -- excuse me, the bud day that i knew. the bud day that -- this is -- we see him here, the bud day -- the bud day of his later here. the sparkle in his eye, the smile. everyone that knew bud day -- captured the real man that was there. this is the bud day that i knew. the bud day that he loved to hunt and fish, he loved the outdoors. as busy as he was and active in

his law practice up until the last days of his life, he still made time to go out to the field. he made time to come back to iowa, south dakota, that area that he grew up in that he knew so well and loved so much, he always kept his connections with his home territory. and as we went out in the field year after year, hunted pheasants torget primarily, south dakota and iowa, would tell a little narrative -- think this fighter pilot who could fly up through that valley of death and tell the aircraft that was being fired at them and the surface to air missiles being fired at them and of course small arms fire that would fire to them. and here's how he would explain it. it's really exciting. can you man expressing, it was really exciting? and so this samantha loved the outdoors. he loved to hunt. he loved to shoot. and we would put together hunts

today and we'll do another one this fall. it will be the bud day pheasant hunt. this is the sparkle in the eye he always wore the sunglasses out there. i knew the sparkle in his eye. the smile on the face anybody would know. the people that knew bud day would smile. if you hold your hand like this and stretch it out, you'll know that's the action of him stretching the tendons in his injured hand that he did constantly, would always be stretching those tendons back out. n that ceremony yesterday, there was eulogy after eulogy by other true american heroes, other medal of honor recipients, others that flew and fought with him, part of the misty squadron. and the families, the military wives that were there, the people in that room, the four stars on shoulders time after time, and as i looked around

that room and i saw that brass, i thought -- there are at least enough stars here for a constalation at this funeral, probably enough for a galaxy as you look at all the lives he touched. someone approached me and said, did you know bud day? are you on the way to the funeral? are you from the funeral? here's how he touched my life. and in the last leg of the journey a young man across the aisle from me asked me if i was on my way back from the funeral. i said, yes, and we talked a little bit. i don't know that he knew i'm a member of congress. i asked him what he did. he said, well, i'm an aviator. a little bit later he pulled up a picture of some of the pilots standing there together with colonel day in the middle, taken most recently, within the last couple years. a great big beaming smile on the face of bud day and those proud pilots all standing in a row. we exchanged cards as we stepped off the plane. and i put it in my pocket, my

front pocket so i would look at it later. without my glasses it's better to shake hands and smile and read it later. when i got home last night i pulled it out. this man is a blue angels pilot. proud and honored to have his picture taken with colonel bud day. and i'm proud and honored to have had the privilege of knowing him, admiring him, stepping up to work to do some, to honor him. and the honor that they gave im yesterday as we went on a 48.1 mile processional from the funeral service to the cemetery in pensacola and every mile had mourners standing out there. and for the first 15 or so miles it was almost shoulder to shoulder. i have never, mr. speaker, seen so many flags and umbrellas in the same place in my life. and you would see families, full families standing there holding flags, waving them, hands over their hearts. you might see someone in shorts

and a t-shirt standing at full salute as the processional went by. hundreds of cars on the way to the cemetery. and when we entered the cemetery, there stood airmen in full salute for the first leg down through the cemetery, perhaps half a mile of airmen stretched out. and that's something that grabs your heart. and when we turn the corner -- we turned the corner and then dress, arines in full full salute all the way down to the burial ceremony. it was something that put your heart up in your throat and moved people to tears and to emotions they had not seen all day by that great, great love, love and appreciation and respect for america up until the moment of his death, america's greatest living hero, colonel bud day. and now as i said, i had the privilege to walk the aisle in south dakota, but the aisle of

cornfields with bud day and to hunt and to shoot and to stop and rest and talk philosophy and history and politics and what we need to do. i want to put in the record, mr. speaker, the rallies that we did here to battle obamacare from bud day. call everybody in the capitol, surround the place, jam the place, don't let anybody in, don't let anybody out. you get so many people there that say, keep your hands off my health care, they'll have to give up. that was bud day. that brought tens of thousands of people here. ut in conclusion, mr. speaker, i want to -- i want to put bud -- butt john mccain's description of heaven into the record, because i see it the same way. i'm glad he said it and i'm glad he wrote it. he said, speaking of bud day, colonel bud day, but he's gone

now to a heaven i expect he imagined would look like an iowa cornfield in early winter. field with pheasant -- filled with pheasants. this, mr. speaker, is the shot i believe of the last hunt in iowa as colonel bud day walked off the field, taken by my youngest son, jeff, who did so because he wanted to commemorate that moment fearing it might be the last time. and so, as i look at this picture of colonel bud day, america's greatest hero, medal of honor recipient, 70 some other medals, every combat medal available to him in three wars, serving our country, giving us tricare, giving us inspiration to battle obamacare, with a smile on his face and a glint in his eye and a sense of humor and a way to express that extraordinary life that he lived, john mccain said as i do, i will hunt the field

with him again. god bless his life. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. as the speaker knows, i'm also the minority whip, and as the minority whip, at the close of he week we normally have a colloquy between the majority leader and myself. that colloquy is to discuss the schedule for the week to come. it is to discuss the priorities that each side believes ought to be considered by this house.

we do not have that colloquy when the year to come -- excuse me -- the week to come does not have a session. we have now adjourned or will soon adjourn for a period of five weeks, we will not be in session. we have adjourned without doing the people's business. we have adjourned without resolving some of the most vecksing challenges that confront -- vexing challenges that confront this congress and confront our country. we have adjourned without addressing some of the priorities that the senate has acted upon and sent to this house, or if they haven't sent them to this house have passed them and are ready to respond

o our initiatives. mr. speaker, that's unfortunate. mr. speaker, i will be talking about in this hour, and i probably won't fake th whole hour, but i will be -- take the whole hour, but i will be talking about some of the things that we have not done that we ought to be doing. some of the things that we ought to be doing rather than taking a five-week break, but let me quickly add, i'm one of the democratic leaders. i do not criticize the republicans for this five-week break. because we normally take a break in august. so that members and their families can take some time, to members can be home to talk to their constituents, seek their advice, seek their counsel, explain what is happening here

in washington to at this point in time a rightfully angry group of americans who see their bored ever directors that we call the congress of the united states -- their board of directors that we call the congress of the united states not working very well. not attendant to the significant issues that confront us. the house passed a budget, passed a budget about 125 days ago. the senate passed a budget about 123 days ago. the way the process is supposed to work is the way it works in your families, mr. speaker. and in my family. when we have a dispute we sit down and we talk about it and we try to come to a resolution. some call that resolution a

compromise. a recognition that you have a perspective, i have a perspective. if we're going to move forward, we need to harmonize those perspectives. that's what democracy is all about. bringing together views from various geographic locations with various interests at heart and try to resolve those differences and move our country forward. notwithstanding that, mr. speaker, notwithstanding the fact that the speaker says that and said during the campaign he wanted to make sure that, a, the house worked its will, b, that we pursued regular order and, c, that he wanted the senate to pass a budget. they did so. but the house has refused to go

to conference. that's unfortunate. but it is not unique in this house. the senate also passed an immigration bill. that immigration bill tries to deal with the most vexing challenges that confronts our country. t is an issue that has a large amount of agreement outside his institution. the united states chamber of commerce, representing much of business in america, and the afl-cio representing organized labor, have agreed that this immigration bill should be supported. the agriculture community from

california to florida to maine to arizona have essentially agreed this is a bill which ill move us forward. there is a broad -based agreement that the senate bill is something that ll create jobs, grow our economy and make our country more stable. there's a general agreement, i would say almost unanimous agreement, that we need to keep our borders secure, that people whom we do not authorize should not be allowed to come into the country. we all agree on that. so we're working to make sure that our borders are even more secure. there is unanimity on that issue. and in fact the senate

appropriated a large number of dollars to accomplish that objective. . we have not taken up an immigration bill in this house. and certainly because we have not, we haven't gone to conference. and then, mr. speaker, we took up a farm bill on the floor of his house, significantly after the senate had passed a bipartisan bill dealing with agriculture, and dealing with assistance to those in america, the richest country on the face of the earth, who are going hungry, a large number of whom are children who live in america.