we all know that congress has inn the most obstructionist the entire creation of this country. we know that. a given. every poll has said that for the last three and half months. i don't understand how anybody who assumes they have the intelligence to get on a caller program and defile the president of the united states for something he is not responsible for -- host: we will go no further -- now to the house of representatives, gaveling in for the morning our. h -- he speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., october 23, 2013. i hereby appoint the honorable chris stewart to act as speaker pro tempore on this day.

signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2013, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip imited to five minutes each, but in no event shall debate 11:50 a.m.yond the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, for five minutes. mr. jones: mr. speaker, i am on the floor today in remembrance of the bombing of the united states marine corps barracks in beirut, lebanon, 30 years ago. october 23, 1983, at approximately 6:20 a.m. in the morning, a truck packed with

explosives detonated outside of the barracks killing 241 americans and wounding 128 more. mr. speaker, i believe it is appropriate that on the 30th anniversary of this act of terrorism we recognize the sacrifice of the individuals who lost life and limb and join with their families and friends of the victims in mourning for their loss. furthermore, i believe we should learn from the example of america's leader at the time of the bombing, president ronald reagan. president reagan appreciated the sacrifice made by our service members and was deeply pained by the loss of life. while many other presidents would have continued sacrificing young men and women for the sake of the mission in lebanon, president reagan acknowledged his mistake. i would like to take a moment to read a statement he made regarding the bombing. quote, perhaps we didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the middle east such a

jungle. perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines' safety that it should have. in the weeks immediately after the bombing, i bleeb the last thing we should do was turn tail and leave. yet, the rationale to middle east politics forced us to rethink our policy. if there would be some rethinking of policy before our men died we would be a lot better off. if our policy changed to more of neutral position and neutrality, those 241 marines would be alive today. i have read these quotes from president reagan to honor the sacrifice of the 241 marines and their families. they did not die in vain but gave their lives to bring peace to a troubled area. the leaders of our country must learn from tragedies like beirut that our men and women in uniform are very precious. our foreign policy must have a

better understanding of the commitment and purpose in a mission before we risk the life of one single american. i believe sincerely this was the point president reagan was making as he remarked with remorse on the bombing of the marine barracks in beirut, lebanon, on october 23, 1983. mr. speaker, i have the privilege to represent camp june -- lejeune marine base and i visited the beirut memorial many times to look at names, some i did not know. our foreign policy continues today in afghanistan. we have had six americans killed in the last week. in the bill that passed recently to raise the debt ceiling, there was $30 billion for karzai, who is a crook, and i do not understand this congress. i do not ubs this congress why we continue to sacrifice our young men and women in uniform and why we continue to send money we do not have to a foreign dictator and we cut programs for children and

seniors who want to have a meal. with that, mr. speaker, i honor the 241 who died by closing i ask god to please bless our men and women in uniform. to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform. and dear god, i ask you to continue to bless america. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. gutierrez, for five minutes. mr. gutierrez: thank you, mr. speaker. i don't think it is news to my friends on the republican side of the aisle that you don't win every battle around here. the place is tough and occasionally you get knocked down. the measure of a man or woman in congress is what you do after. we all witnessed a political showdown over the past several weeks and now it is time to put it behind us. the challenge, my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle to step up and show the country what you're maid of and let us actually legislate on behalf of the american people. i heard a lot of my colleagues

on the other side of the aisle say things like we don't trust that president, we can't work with that president. so mr. speaker, does this apply to everything? will there be no legislation until there's a different president in 2017? well, that doesn't sound very realistic. on my side of the aisle, they're already saying, oh, those republicans, they are hardliners, they won't compromise on anything. when someone reaches across the aisle to say, hey, let's work on an initiative together, i heard it when i stood with david valadao or paul ryan to say immigration reform is an objective we can reach in a bipartisan manner, i heard from the democrats, stop working with them. we're frying to defeat them. we want to take the house back. look, i get it. there are millions of dollars to be raised by partisan bickering. your side raised a ton of money off the past battle and my side has too. the fact is that if two of us

get into a shouting match, it is news, and if it gets bad it will be shown on every channel. but if two of us reach an agreement on something, it's not news. bipartisanship is something that is infrequently applauded and rarely rewarded. but here's the thing. the only thing we actually get anything done is put aside the shouting matches and work together. i want immigration reform to pass, and even though i think almost every single democrat agrees with me, there's not enough. we don't run the rules committee or set the agenda. republicans are the majority in the house. so i know i have to work with the other side. on your side you say, you don't like what the senate passed. let's not just respond with nothing. let's put our own proposal on the table. those on the other side of the aisle say they don't trust the president, can't work with him. well, ok, fine. then work with your colleagues on this side of the aisle. you know, there are 435 of us.

we need 218 votes to pass a bill, and the president doesn't get a vote. the truth is that even during the shutdown, many of your side of the aisle have been drafting proposals that many of us on this side of the aisle are willing to work with you on. the question is whether the work on a bipartisan basis will be allowed to flourish. i want to spend the rest of this congress working with whoever wants to join in either party to get immigration reform done. your side needs a little time to recover from the last fight. i get that. but with 1,100 deportations every day, we can't wait forever. the kids who are losing their moms are not going to wait for you or for me. the husbands and the fathers who die in the desert because their wives and kids live here don't have any more time to give. but you probably ask, luis, after battle of our health care and budget, how can two parties ever work together?

but you know, that's exactly what i thought in 1996, how can we work together? i was here 17 years ago. in 1996 it was speaker gingrich who shut down the government, but after that, let's remember what happened. we passed a series of major bipartisan bills on difficult policy issues. welfare reform was crafted in part by a very conservative house and signed by a very liberal president, clinton. he vetoed the bill twice before but after the shutdown passed it. legislation on health care and we passed it after the shutdown. we can do the same if politicians in both parties are committed to accomplishment over campaign talking points. we can pass immigration reform this year. we all know that immigration reform is immensely popular with voters in both parties who want a political solution to fixing our broken immigration system. diverse constituencies, immigration reform like labor unions and business owners and

evangelical leaders and catholic bishops and leaders across the political spectrum. don't think of it working with president obama if it makes it easier for you. think of it as doing your job. think of it as working on behalf of working for the american people, not for an obama solution, not for a tea party solution but for an american solution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. coble, for five minutes. mr. coble: i thank the speaker. mr. speaker, if you missed this past sunday morning tv talking head shows, you missed the political double standard at work. time and again, the host of the aforesaid programs refer to the recent, quote, republican government shutdown. wait a minute. republican government shutdown? there were two advocacy groups to this affair. one, president obama and the

democratic administration and, two, the republicans. so it appears to me, mr. speaker, that a more accurate description would be the republicans, president obama and the democratic administration and the government shutdown. the republicans, in spite of the president's adamant refusal to negotiate, requesting a one-year delay for the controversial health care proposal. the president rejected that proposal but consider the reviews surrounding his health care proposal, which are at best dismal, it was an awful the president should have embraced. all of us in and out of the political arena should dismiss the application of the double standard that oftentimes is used in this town. we should encourage object tift over -- objectivity

subjectivity and have a good government and fair government and good government will finally be promoted in the end and we will all benefit there from. i thank the speaker and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. today, the house begins consideration of the water resources reform and development act which includes in the title the word reform but would represent a huge step backwards. this legislation would have significant impact on the way the army corps of engineers conducts projects that are critical to the nation's environmental and economic health. i've long worked to help the corps be a better partner in which times this has proved troublesome. it was my pleasure to work with the head of the corps previously, general robert flowers and his staff, to change the way the corps does

business. otherwise, we can waste a lot of money and inflict unnecessary environmental damage. one of the ways the corps meets its environmental responsibilities is by compliance with the national environmental policy act, nepa, signed into law on new year's day in 1970 by president richard nixon. an official with the georgia department of transportation shared with georgia legislators president nixon's observation that clean air, clean water, open space should be the birthright of every american. through our years of past carelessness, we incurred a debt to nature that is now being called. mr. bowman told the legislators that 43 years later the price tag is even higher, some problems remain and daunting challenges loom but that nepa's impact is unquestionable. it remains the nation's guiding

environmental star. he observes that environmental needs and protecting the environment are not mutually excluesively and it's important to work together to achieve those objectives. sadly for me, the most critical element in a bill that i would like to support is damage to the nepa process. placing an artificial time limit of 150 days, restricting the internal activities of the agencies, giving them limited time to move the process along, interfering with the chain of command, cutting out the public from the process and forcing shorter time for litigation is unnecessary. it's ill-advised and it's not going to solve the problem. project delays are not the result of the nepa process. there are billions of dollars of projects that are already approved and ready to go. $60 billion by some estimates. the problem is that congress has not adequately funded the

corps. i'll be offering an amendment by congressman defazio that simply suspended this ill-advised amendment to nepa, simply compromising it in the public process until the project backlog disappears. move forward with already approved projects. ironically, this bill would add to the backlog while it truncates the nepa process. nepa protects community values. it can often result in alternatives in a are even less costly as well as less damaging to the environment. before we rush to implement ill-advised changes under the guise of reform, let's get rid of the backlog first already approved projects and be able to work through the consequences, forcing more projects that will be ill-considered will make them less worthy of funding for agencies that are chronically underfunded and facing further budget cuts, imposing artificial time limits on an

already-overwhelming backlog is not a prescription for more development projects being completed, better performance, it's a prescription for sloppy work, ill-advised approvals, more litigation when we should be concentrating on getting the job done. it will make it harder to serve the public and get the financial support to build vital projects. . i urm my colleagues to support the amendment to reduce the backlog of projects ready to go before complicating and weakening environmental protections and the public's right to participate. i request unanimous consent to enter into the record comments of mr. glen bowman from the georgia tent of transportation -- department of transportation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding, for five minutes. mr. holding: mr. speaker, in

just a few short months we will again find ourselves debating how to not shut down the federal government. our nation's fiscal woes are not temporary. in fact they have plagued us for many years. and we have got to stop trying to solve these problems with temporary solutions. the fact is, mr. speaker, we are now $17 trillion in debt and our government continues to spend and spend and spend. last thursday our nation's debt jumped $328 billion in just one day. this surpassed the previous high set two years ago by over $100 billion. it's time congress breaks this pattern. we do not want to be a nation drowning in debt, but rather one of economic leadership throughout the world with pro-growth policies. mr. speaker, he we simply cannot borrow 40 cents of every dollar we spend. it's simply not a way to run a government, a business, or family budget.

yet the government tsh-federal government continues to borrow without addressing what got us here in the first place, which is out-of-control spending. mr. speaker, the deal agreed to last week didn't do a single thing to cut spending or tackle the real drivers of our debt. if we do not change this, we will never get ourselves out of the fiscal rut, but instead find ourselves repeating history over and over and over again, governing and spending by continuing resolutions rather than passing temporary spending bills and short-term extensions to the debt ceiling, we should be working to pass all 12 appropriation bills and a real budget. this doesn't need to be a deal at the 11th hour. if we go through regular budgetary process, we will most certainly find areas to eliminate wasteful spending, shore up entitlement spending, and achieve comprehensive tax reform. mr. speaker, the federal government is already spending too much. and obamacare will only make things worse.

it is estimated obamacare will increase taxes over $61 trillion and add $6 trillion to the deficit. putting aside the countsless policy issues associated with obamacare law from a purely numerical economic standpoint is a prime example of out-of-control spending. overall, obamacare's expected to uncrease health care spending by $621 billion over the next 10 years. we cannot afford this. our children cannot afford this, and the economy will crumble underneath it. mr. speaker, the american people are frustrated with seeing their elected officials in washington sit on the other side of the wall and refuse to make a real spending cut. it's time to sit down and have a conversation about how we get our fiscal house in order. and get our spending addiction under control. we cannot continue to jeopardize our economy and our nation's future with spending more than we take in. mr. speaker, i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. killed hee, for five minutes. -- kildee, for five minutes. mr. kildee: thank you, mr. speaker. while typically i would address the house on much more serious subjects, today it's a slightly lighter you subject -- lighter subject that i'm here to address. much to my regret i am here, mr. speaker, and standing before you to congratulate my dear friend and classmate from massachusetts, mr. kennedy, and his boss -- boston red sox and their win over my beloved detroit tigers. in accord with our gentleman's agreement, today i am wearing the gentleman's rather unsightly boston red sox tie, pay is painful to say the least. although the tigers did not make it to the world series this year, do i want to say how proud i am of our players, team, state. seriously and specifically of

jim leyland who after two world series, four american league championship series, eight years as our manager announced his retirement this week. jim, i am sure i speak for all michiganders and all baseball fans in saying we are proud to have you retire as a detroit tiger. to michigan specifically to detroit, the tigers have always spent more than just baseball. year after year their perseverance and grit through really tough times for both team and for the city, that perseverance has been emblematic of the determination and resilience of detroiters and michiganders. tiger baseball has provided hope and instilled a sense of pride in the city and the state that has surely seen its share of difficulties. their performance and their wins have not certainly erased the challenges that we face, but it's given the community and our state a lift.

like the team, detroit and michigan has always had hope for the next season. i love my detroit tigers and appreciate all they mean to the great state of michigan and to jim leyland and our amazing team, bless you, boys. today regrettably but sincerely i salute my colleague from massachusetts and his winning team, the boston red sox. i had hoped for a different outcome, but nonetheless a win is a win. joe, congratulations to you and to the red sox. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. members are reminded to direct their comments towards the chair and not to a perceived viewing audience. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. mcclintock, for five minutes. mr. mcclintock: mr. speaker, this nation has gone through 18 government shutdowns in the last 37 years. 15 of those 18 shutdowns

occurred when democrats controlled the house. in those 15 shutdowns the democrats demanded increased abortion services and labor and environmental policy concessions. perhaps the reason we don't remember those shutdowns as vividly because in those days presidents negotiated around the clock to resolve the disputes that caused them and did everything that they could to minimize the public's inconvenience and suffering. this time was different. this time the president refused to negotiate and he took unprecedented steps to amplify the pain and suffering that the public endured. a senior administration official told the "wall street journal," quote, we are winning. it doesn't really matter to us how long the shutdown lasts because what matters is the end result. the park ranger said, we have been told to make life as difficult as we can for people. it's disgusting.

this administration barricaded open air venues like the world war ii very many morial for honor flights by world war ii veterans. yet it opened the national mall for an amnesty rally by illegal immigrants. it closed simple parking lots and roadside turnouts that merely offered passers bye distant views of mount rushmore and yosemite. it ordered businesses to close just because they leased land from the federal government. it even tried to close the ocean to florida fishermen. these measures had never been taken in prior shutdowns, and they often cost more than simply leaving these venues open. a constituent of mine in hume, california, wrote, quote, to get to my place of residence and work i have to travel through the big stump entrance station of kings canyon national park on highway 180. currently the entire roadway is barricaded and appears as though the park service is attempting to prevent anyone from traveling to or through the national park. i was in the area 17 years ago

as a young adult during the last government shutdown, and this type of thing didn't happen. sure, the facilities at the visitors centers were closed, but the land was still accessible. now, why would the administration do this? why would it deliberately order our public servants to, quote, make life as difficult as possible for people? they told us why. because they were winning politically. on october 2 house republicans joined by 23 democrats passed h.j.res. 70, to open the national parks, but the bill was killed in the senate. why? well, they told us why, they were winning politically. when republican governor jan brewer stepped forward to use state funds to staff the grand canyon national park as done previously, she was stonewalled by the administration for 10 days. why? they told us why. they were winning politically. now, what was the outrageous

republican demand the democrats refused to even discuss during the 16-day shutdown while they ordered our public certificate vase to -- servants to make life as difficult as possible for people? on september 30 with the deadline just hours away, house republicans had dropped all conditions to fund the entire government with one substantive exception, delay the individual mandate that forces people to buy policies against their will. democrats summarily rejected this proposal and for 16 days refused to negotiate on this single point while literally accusing republicans of sedition. this past monday, the president's press secretary made this stunning admission, the administration may itself seek to delay the individual mandate by dropping the penalty for noncompliance. they've got to be kidding. for the 16 days of the shutdown the only substantive dispute was the republican plea to delay the

individual mandate for the millions of americans who couldn't find or afford obamacare policies. doing so would have ended the impasse instantly. during those 16 days it was clear to everyone that the exchanges weren't working. yet for 16 days the president and congressional democrats refused even to discuss the matter, while he they turned their formidable propaganda machine to the task of winning politically. then just four days after republicans capitulated on all points, including dropping our single substantive request to delay the individual mandate, the administration is now itself considering delaying the individual mandate. mr. speaker, these facts speak for themselves, and need no embellishment from mee. john adams once observed that facts are stubborn things. as passions cool and reason resumes its rightful place in the nation's discourse, these facts will speak eloquently and stubbornly of what happens when politics trumps policy and

propaganda trumps reality. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur, for five minutes. ms. kaptur: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. kaptur: the greatest power a banker has is to create money. banks can also abuse that awesome power. and it seems like the bigger the banks are, the more they abuse that power. an example, it was over five years ago that america was hit with the great wall street induced recession. five years later those banks are still paying our people almost nothing if they have deposits, or certificates of deposits with those institutions. that's harming seniors across this country. that's harming people who are trying to make a go of it. it's harming investors. meanwhile, banks continue to post huge profits, especially

the very biggest ones that are market controllers. j.p. morgan chase just in the last year, $21 billion in profit. wells fargo, $19 billion. goldman sachs, $7.5 billion in profit. citigroup, $7.5 billion. bank of america, $4 billion. while americans continue to struggle to make ends meet and recuperate from that great recession. now, it's been reported this week that j.p. morgan chase will agree to a $13 billion settlement of the civil suit filed by the united states department of justice and the federal housing finance agency in order to resolve several investigations into their fraudulent mortgage securities business. one question i have with that $13 billion, are they actually going to pay it? or are they going to use it as a deduction on their taxes, as a business expense, or some other tax dodge that their accountants and lawyers figure out? from september 7, 2005 through

september 19, 2007 j.p. morgan and its affiliates knowingly misrepresented the value and quality of their mortgage bonds that it sold to the federal housing finance agency. the result of their actions are reverberating still throughout our economy as foreclosure rates in places like ohio continue to go up. they are still above the national average. in august, foreclosure starts in ohio were up 44% from the previous month for a total of just that month, 9,542 foreclosure filings. . tens of thousands of people affected from coast to coast. minority neighborhoods were particularly harmed by the financial crisis. a report from the urban institute says the loss of home equity in african-american households is the result of the foirk crisis at $194 billion.

all the wealth that was accumulated since world war ii vaporized. hit very hard. hispanic communities, they lost $177 billion in home equity during the same time period. awesome. although a settlement has been reached in this particular case, this should not be the end of the investigation into wall street banks because pmorgan and their brethren are criminals. this settlement is just one of many recent penalties that jp has had to pay. they had to pay $153 million in penalties to the securities and exchange commission for misleading investors about a collateralized debt obligation. in august, 2012, that bank had to pay $1.2 billion for what it had done to conspire with visa and master card to set the price of credit card and debit interchange fees.

july of this year, jpmorgan had to pay to the federal energy regulatory commission for revealing the bank had been manipulating the electricity markets from september, 2010, to november, 2012. and jpmorgan chase had to pay $100 million fine for market manipulation in connection with the 2012 london trading scandal. the question i have is, can they deduct any of these penalties from the taxes they pay or are they really paying those penalties to the government of the united states , free and clear? in the past three years, jpmorgan has posted record profits. driven by their stock prices. they made $21.3 billion. therefore, with the recent settlement would be about only half of their most recent profit. for a frame of reference, there are are seven dow jones

industrial companies that made more in profits last year. we can say to ourselves, would these -- would it do any harm to jpmorgan? their total assets are valid by their own accounts over $2.25 trillion doctors. that's a wow by any account. the result of all of this misbehavior is many americans have lost all of their accumulated equity. mr. speaker, it's time to restore prudent banking. i ask my colleagues to sign on h.r. 129, the return to prudent banking act of 2013. let's restore the glass-steagall act and the value of our money. i yield back my remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from west virginia, r. mckinley, for five minutes. mr. mckinley: for months

president obama promised he would initiate long overdue negotiations, on issues from health care to tax and regulatory reform, all factors holding back economic growth. but he linked this pledge to congress reopening the government and raising the debt limit. his promise to address the critical drivers of our economy is why last week i voted to end e budget impasse and tentatively agreed to cooperate with the president. with the government reopen, it's time the promises he made to be upheld for negotiations to begin. our economy is still way too weak. let's look at the facts. 97% of all the jobs created in america this past year have been part time. millions of our workers are seeing their hours cut. participation at the work force

is at an all-time low of the last 35 years with 90 million adults sitting on the sidelines. our neighbors and our friends are struggling and are uncomfortable about our future. our latest college graduates can't find jobs and millions more of our country's youth have quit searching for employment. it's time to reduce the uncertainty and help these families. the house has already passed dozens of bills to help grow the scomme, including tax reform, eliminating excessive regulations, debt reduction and, yes, reforming obamacare. the president has repeatedly said he's willing to negotiate on all of these economic issues. as recently as october 2 -- 3, he stated, quote, i'm happy to negotiate with you on anything. i don't think any one party has a monopoly on wisdom.

then on october 8, the president said, serious negotiations could precede around every eye tim in the budget. he went on to say negotiations would not be limited to just to the budget. he said, i will sit down and work with anyone of any party, not only to talk about the budget, about ways to improve the health care system and about ways we can shrink our long-term deficits. congress has now upheld its end of the bargain. the american people can now judge whether the president will uphold his. in the next 90 days, let's demonstrate that congress can indeed work in a bipartisan fashion and tackle our most serious problems now. a weak economy, a growing national debt and the health care law that isn't ready for implementation. it's important to note the president -- excuse me -- the house took the steps necessary

to initiate negotiations. therefore, in fairness, the president and the senate need to come to the table. history will record whether the president fulfills his repeated pledges and addresses these rriers to america's economic exceptionalism. last week, many of us in the chamber extended a hand of bipartisan cooperation to the president, but as president reagan once said, trust but verify. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois, mrs. bustos, for five minutes. mrs. bustos: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to talk about an important provision that i worked hard on with the bipartisan group of illinois senators and house members to have included in the new water resources reform and development act. this bill, also known as wrda,

is a vital piece of legislation that congress will consider later today. our provision would help improve the nation's water infrastructure, including the aging locks and dams along the mississippi and illinois rivers. through public-private partnerships that would expedite projects and save taxpayer money. it comes from a house and senate, democrat and republican bill called the water infrastructure now public-private partnership act. i was proud to introduce this bill earlier this year with senators durbin and kirk and representative rodney davis, all proudly of illinois. our provision would help clear a $60 billion backlog in the u.s. army corps of engineers' projects that would take decades to complete without outside investment. it does this by creating a pilot program to explore agreements between the army corps of engineers and private entities as alternatives to

traditional financing, planning, design and construction models. the mississippi and illinois rivers are absolutely critical to the economic well-being of my region in illinois, the entire midwest and the united states and the world. these locks and dams were built during an administration of franklin roosevelt and are now close to 80 years old. this is why action must be taken to expand and modernize the locks and dams that help transport our goods and products worldwide. by encouraging public-private partnerships, our bipartisan effort will help make the movement of the high-quality goods of our region, whether they be from any of the numerous farmers and manufacturers that call illinois home, more swift, efficient and safe. to put this in perspective, the mississippi river is the world's largest inland navigable waterway. on the mississippi river just on this river alone, 60%, well

over half of the nation's agricultural goods are transported. it is absolutely critical to american commerce and the smooth movement of goods that this is made as efficient as possible. our bill fits perfectly into that equation. and it's good for the taxpayer, the farmer and industry. i'm very proud of that. in addition to our efforts to improve our nation's locks and dams, the water resources reform and development act also contains many provisions that will boost many economies across the country. the wrda bill will lead to upgraded water transportation systems and offer vulnerable communities better protection against flooding. it is very important to my region that i represent. it will promote america's competitiveness, prosperity and economic growth for years to come. mr. speaker, i came to congress to work with those i don't always agree with and who don't always agree with me, but as a way to find commonsense,

reasonable solutions to create jobs and lay the foundation for a stronger middle class. i was proud that the wrda bill passed out of the house transportation committee on a bipartisan unanimous basis. i give credit, a great deal of credit to transportation committee chairman bill shuster, ranking member nick rahall, subcommittee chairman bob gibbs and subcommittee ranking member tim bishop and all of my colleagues on the committee for their hard work over the last year. it is truly an example of congressional republicans and democrats working together, and i hope it's something that we will see a lot more of. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important job-creating bill when it comes to the floor later today. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. brooks, for five minutes. mr. speaker,

benjamin franklin once advised, when you run in debt, you give another power over your liberty. washington is in an epic political battle that controls america's destiny for decades to come. the fight is between those who are financially responsible and have the understanding and backbone needed to prevent an american bankruptcy and those who do not. last week, mainstream news media pundits declared a great win for democrats and president obama when the federal government reopened and the debt ceiling was raised. to the contrary, and for reasons i will explain, last week was a major loss for the american people. america's economy suffers from a $17 trillion debt, the worst in history, and five years of deficits averaging more than $1 trillion per year, again, the worst in history. during the past five years, the federal government borrowed 30%

of its spending. how many families and businesses can avoid bankruptcy if year after year 30% of their spending is borrowed money? not many and not for long. yet, in a is exactly what our country, america, is doing. economic principles don't care if you are a family, a business or a country. if you borrow more money than you can pay back, you go bankrupt. mr. speaker, america has been warned. president obama's comptroller warns america's finances are on an unsustainable path, end quote. former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mullen, warns that our nation's greatest national security threat is our debt burden that undermines our ability to pay for america's national defense and thus risk our national security. detroit and stockton bankruptcies means retirees

will lose their pension. greece has a 28% unemployment rate. there are good and bad ways to fund the federal government and raise the debt ceiling. last week, washington chose the worst way by not fixing the underlying problem, deficits and debt. instead, washington again kicks kicked the can down the road, forcing america to revisit government funding issues in january and debt ceiling issues in february with one major difference. america will be financially weaker and less able to face the problem because we will be burdened by another half trillion dollars in debt. mr. speaker, another half trillion dollars in debt. i wonder why you didn't hear that from the media pundits. why did america get for another half trillion dollars in debt? not one penny in spending cuts, not a single economic policy that creates jobs and grows our

economy, nothing that fixes our deficit and debt problem. what washington did last week is akin to a sick patient going to the emergency room and getting pain-killing drugs that help the patient feel good yet do nothing to cure the disease that ultimately kills the patient. and the -- in the real world that's medical malpractice. similarly, washington's refusal last week to cure our deficit and debt disease was governing malpractice. mr. speaker, america enjoys prosperity today because past generations sacrificed to make us who we are. we have the same obligation to our descendents. president george washington once advised congress that, quote, no consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt. none can delay be more ininjurious. end quote. he gave prudent advice in 1793.

it is prudent advice now. washington must cut out-of-control spending and balance the budget before america's debt burden spirals out of control and is so great that we cannot recover. failt your risks a bankruptcy that took former generations centuries to build. the fight for america he resumes in january of properly funding the government, and in february on properly raising the debt ceiling. ours is a fight america must win. congress and the white house must rise to the challenge and be financially responsible when funding the government and raising the debt ceiling. america's future as a great nation and world power depends on it. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico, mr. pierluisi, for five minutes. mr. pierluisi: mr. speaker,

monday marked the 10th anniversary of the passing of luis. i rise this morning to pay tribute to this giant of a man whom "the new york times" called, the dominant force in the politics, economy, and culture of puerto rico, for much of the 20th century. in a real sense luis personafide his beloved puerto rico, embodying both its progress and struggles. he was born in ponsai in 1904, a few years after puerto rico became a u.s. territory. was a teenager when island residents were granted american citizenship in 1917. served as a delegate to the convention that drafted puerto rico's local constitution in the early 1950's. was elected as the island's governor in 1968. served as a member of the puerto rico senate, including that as president, in the late 1970's

and early 1980's, and remain engaged in public life as a revered elderly statesman, well beyond his formal retirement from politics. though luis lived to age 99, but it was the fullness of his life not its length that is so remarkable. trained as an engineer at m.i. t., and classical pianist at the new england curve torrey of music, he was a true renaissance man. he loved ideas, intellectual debate and culture, founding the renowned museum of art. he was also at home in the practical world of business. taking his small company and transforming it into one of puerto rico's most successful conglomerates. he published a newspaper which is run by his grandchildren and has the largest circulation of any period cal on the island. luis was also a committed

philanthropist who took too hard the biblical axiom that to whom much is given much is expected. in 1991, he was awarded his presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor by president george h.w. bush, who called him a public servant of the first order and an extraordinary leader in the life of puerto rico. on a personal level, he refuted the notion that great men are seldom good men. like any effective leader, he was tough when he needed to be. but he was also kind, warm, and generous. inspiring affection and loyalty as well as respect. luis was a gentleman through and through. he was old school in the best sense of the term. few, if any, puerto ricans have accomplished as much in their lives as luis or left behind such a lasting legacy.

a proud republican and founder of the local new progressive party, he did not live to see his goal of statehood for puerto rico realized, but he encouraged and mentored a new generation of leaders who understand that puerto rico's colonial status as he called it deprived silent residents of political and civil rights, hinders their economic progress, and harms their quality of life. as other efforts perfected the union with the u.s. were guided by luis. he was a revolutionary in his idea, liberal in his objectives, and conservative in his methods. thanks to luis and others, statehood is no longer a revolutionary idea. it has become the predominant force in puerto rico politics, while support for the status quo continues to decline and support

for separate nationhood remains slight. last november, a clear majority of voters in puerto rico rejected territory status, and more voters expressed their preference for statehood than any other status option. i wish he would have been alive to witness this historic event. when puerto rico does become a state, as i know it will, we will look back upon luis' life and say that this man, as much as any other man, was responsible for this crowning achievement. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from west virginia, mrs. capito, for five minutes. mrs. capito: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. capito: thank you, mr. speaker. october is national breast cancer awareness month. it is estimated that almost 40,000 women in the united

states will die of breast cancer this year. those are mothers, sisters, grandmothers, wives, daughters. we'll miss them and it shouldn't be. thousands of men will be diagnosed with breast cancer as well. breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the united states. globally breast cancer accounts for one quarter of all cancers suffered by women. every family probably in this chamber today and across america has been touched in their lives by somebody who has had breast cancer. i'm certainly no exception. my mother-in-law, ruth capito, died tragically at age 51, diagnosed with breast cancer. i never knew her as a mother-in-law. my children never got to enjoy the pleasures of having her as their grandmother. the emptiness and hurt never goes away. with the efforts of many dedicated to fighting breast cancer, we are making some progress but limited progress in

stopping premature deaths caused by this terrible disease. in 1991, an average of 119 women in the united states died of breast cancer each day. today more than 20 years later, an average of 108 women will die of the disease each day. so between the years of 2000 and 2009 the cancer mortality rate for women has declined by 1.9% annually. we must accelerate the progress we are making in finding new lifesaving treatments for breast cancer. that is why i introduced h.r. 1830, the accelerating the end of breast cancer act, along with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors. the accelerating the end of breast cancer act sets a national goal of ending death from the disease by 2020. this bill would establish a commission that would direct federal and private sector resources towards the promising treatments aimed at stopping the spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body.

the legislation is not designed to spend more taxpayers dollars. in fact, the bill does not authorize any new federal spending. instead, it is designed to direct our existing research dollars in the most efficient way possible. the accelerating the end of breast cancer act will not duplicate the efforts of existing government agencies and programs, but will instead perform a vital check and balance and help ensure our limited resource doll sars are funding the most promising science -- dollars are funding the most promising science of breast cancer research. working in this way and working on investment and achievement in breast cancer research, we can move forward to end breast cancer and learn how to prevent the disease within the next decade. so far there are 172 house members from both parties and all ideologies have co-sponsored this legislation. i invite my colleagues today in this month of breast cancer awareness month of october, who have not note yet co-sponsored

to join us in a co-sponsorship. i look forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle to fur the development of new life -- spur the development of new lifesaving treatments for those with breast cancer. the hope to end breast cancer can become a reality. let's join together to make that happen. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. honda, for five minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to voice my concerns about provisions in the water resources reform and development act that put communities, taxpayers, and the environment at risk by undermining the national environmental policy act. nepa reviews have been useful for identifying potentially costly problems with water projects, allowing changes to save taxpayer dollars and avoid delays.

this bill contains so-called treatmentlining provisions based on the flawed notion that nepa is causing project delays. studies have shown that other factors like insufficient funding for the quorom are the cause of delays. the bill limits public participation in the decisionmaking process, which will deny the corps the benefit of public and expert input. i asked the chairman to work as this bill moves forward to ensure that the bill does not degrade the nepa process, and i also hope that the chairman will work with me to provide the authority to perform ecosystem restoration, that kind of work, on man's own but other federal agencies needed to finish other projects such as the south pond restoration project. i tried to offer a simple amendment to the water resources act today, but the rules

committee did not make any amendment in that order. currently the army corps of engineers has the authority to use construction funds to perform flood protection work on the land owned by other federal agencies, but the corps does not have the legal authority to use construction funds to perform ecosystem restoration work on the lands owned by other federal agencies. in 2013 we all believed that good flood protection projects must incorporate ecosystem restoration, and the corps has the ability to do the integrated projects like this everywhere else except on lands owned by another federal agency. this poses a significant hurdle in the case of the south bay, south pond restoration project which seeks to return the san francisco bay to its natural state and provide flood

protection and wetlands restoration. in this case, the state of california, united states government, through the u.s. fish and wildlife service own the land on which the project will be performed even though most of the funding to buy the land came from the state and by nonfederal interests. the corps has told the local partners it does not have the legal authority to perform the ecosystem restoration aspects of this work on lands owned by the fish and wildlife service. and it needs congress to provide that authority. my amendment simply sought to fix the situation by granting the corps that authority so it could pursue this joint flood protection and ecosystem restoration project. i ask chairman shuster and gibbs and ranking members rahall and bishop, to work with me as this bill goes to conference with the senate to provide the work the corps needs with the authority it needs to carry out this

project for which it's already been authorized to perform feasibility studies. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. olson, or five minutes. mr. oldson: -- the speaker. hank my hometown of houston, texas, lost an icon last week. bum phillips. bum coached the houston oilers in their hay day -- heydey, 1975 through 1980. twice during that tenure they came within one game of going to the super bowl. bud was loved because he was

more than a football coach. he was a true texan who happened to be a football coach. a houston, texas football coach. bum understood the riflery between dallas, texas, and houston, texas. it is only half of it. aving fun is the other half. and he had fun. earl campbell, heisman

trophy winner, university of texas graduate, a longhorn from tyler, texas. in their first practice, earl finished dead last in the mile run of the whole team. a reporter asked bum if he was worried about earl, could he perform in the nfl? first in the mile, i won't give it to him. he loved his players. nobody more so than earl campbell. and he showed love for earl saying, i don't know if earl is a class by himself but i do know that when that class gets together, it sure doesn't take

long to call the roll. love you, blue, love you, bum. thanks for the memories. god has a small class waiting for you in heaven, and, yes, it won't take long to take the roll. god bless bum philips. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. schiff, for five minutes. mr. speaker, when a tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire nearly three years ago to protest his lack of economic opportunity and maltreatment at the hands of local police, his desperate act touched off a political revolution that has convulsed the arab world. first in tunisia and then in egypt, popular protests toppled

ng-serving autocratdts while gaddafi was ousted. regimes have proven resilient and in several cases willing to use extreme levels of violence to maintain their survival. and so in the waning months of the third year what has been dubbed the arab spring, the future of a large swath of the global community remains uncertain. with egypt under military control and syria ablaze, it is not surprising that many here in the united states and elsewhere in the west view each new development with concern that an already volatile region could spiral completely out of control. the situation in syria is undoubtedly grim, and egypt faces a prolonged period of instability, but the news is not uniformerly bad. in tunisia, the government, headed by the hinada party, demands it hand over power to a caretaker government and scheduled new elections.

tiny tunisia could again show its larger neighbors that a democratic transition, even an extended one of several intermediate steps, is possible in a region bufted by the cross-currents of religion, tribalism and fueled by huge democratic bulge by young people who are better educated and more connected to the world than their parents but who lack jobs and hope. but even if tunisia's next government is more reflective of the desires of the tunisian people and is able to attack the problems that have retarded the country's progress, the pace of change will be slower than many tunisians will desire and entrenched interests and institutions connected to the regime, what egyptians have dubbed the deep state, will conspire to stand in the way of a brighter future for tunisia's future and slow the pace of change throughout the region. around the world, but especially here in washington, the regional developments have fostered unease as events on

the ground have proven less than ameanable to external management. the power of entrenched interests was more an offset by the early strength of parties in tunisia and egypt, giving rise to the fear of secular autocracies bug is up planted by governments that would embrace the principle of one man, one vote, one time. this fear of a takeover has two main effects. the first is that it served to inhibit the american response for fear of strengthening the hold or provoking a popular backlash. the other has been to drive a wedge between the united states and the gulf arab monarchs who have been the most resistant to change and accommodation and understand fully the implications for their rule. but changes will be hard to resist, the same forces that swept aside egypt's mubarak and tunisia's ali are at work throughout the region and the united states needs to craft policies that acknowledge the sin tralt of that fact as well

as -- centrality of the fact as well as the process that will play itself out over a generation and perhaps longer. we need to build mechanisms capable of supporting a transition in the arab europe in three dimensions, political, economic and civil society. next week i'll discuss how the u.s. can help foster these three pillars of democratic development in a way that can be sustained without requiring an outsized share of our limited resources. and in the weeks to come, i'll be sharing a few more detailed thoughts on the struggles going n in egypt, ue nearbya, syria, -- tunisia, syria, iran and freedom. the yearning for freedom is a universal one but not an easy one. they have taken the first steps towards taking their societies back. we must stand ready to help and we must be prepared for a long and uneven journey. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the

gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. miller, for five minutes. mr. speaker, i come from the great state of michigan, also known as the great lakes state, and i've lived my entire life along the shores of this national treasure and for those of us in and the other great lakes, the great lakes, the other great lake states, the great lakes are not just the source of our drinking water or a place to enjoy their natural beauty or recreational opportunities where so many work and make a living, they're central to our very identity. that's why i made the protection of the great lakes a principle advocacy during all of the years that i've been in public service. the great lakes represent 1/ 5 or 20% of the entire drinking supplier of the entire planet. they apply to tens of millions in our nation and millions more in canada as well. they're vital to our economy. over 160 million tons of

commercial cargo is shipped on the great lakes. this commerce supports over 227,000 jobs and contributes over $33 billion to the economy. the recreational aspect of the great lakes also builds our economy. recreational boating on the great lakes supports over 100,000 jobs, $16 billion in economic activity and then the secondary affect of all of that means an additional 244,000 jobs, $19 billion in additional economic activity. of course, that includes boat manufacturers and marinas and charter operators, other businesses as well. so a healthy great lakes system is not only important to our economy in michigan or the great lakes states, it's important to -- for the entire nation. and today, unfortunately, the use of those waters is threatened by our inability to maintain our ports and our channels and our harbors. a decade we've had actually a decade of below normal water levels and we've had very limited or uncoordinated federal funding for harbored dredging and infrastructure repair and so that has really

dramatically curtailed shipping and has made some of our recreational harbors almost inaccessible. this year many of our recreational harbors were really in crises as low water levels made the need for dredging vital of the economic survival of so many communities. we as a nation, mr. speaker, must region the importance of the great lakes and give this national wonder the properly coordinated support that it needs. that's why i've joined with several of my michigan colleagues, bill huizenga and fwil benishek to introduce the sustainibility act. our legislation is supported by the great lakes maritime tax -- task force, the great lakes metro chambers of commerce, the lakes carriers association, the american great lakes port association, the great lakes small harbors coalition, the united states great lakes shipping association and the great lakes commission as well as the great lakes governors association. and so i was very pleased that the chairman of the house

transportation and infrastructure committee, bill shuster, worked with us to include important provisions of that legislation in the water resources reform and development act, also known as the wrda act, which we will be voting on in this house later on today. the most important of these provisions will establish the great lakes navigational system and require the army corps of engineers to look at the great lakes system in its entirety rather than looking at port by for the when they are thinking about dredging and maintenance. this would really end the practice of pitting one port in the great lakes against another. and instead it focuses on the interdependence of all of them. the wrda bill also helps recognize our recreational harbors by providing 10% of all the funds authorized by the harbor maintenance trust fund to be directed toward recreational harbors. this type of funding will allow recreational hashors across the great lakes for -- harbors across the great lakes for dredging.

mr. speaker, if you travel to the state of michigan and visit the shores of the great lakes, you'll find the mag anyway sense of what we call -- magnificent of what we call pure michigan. but as possessive of those of us from michigan are of the great lakes, we also recognize that they are pure american. and so this incredible natural wonder deserves the protection from our entire nation and today we can take a very important step forward in the protection of the great lakes, our magnificent great lakes by passing the wrda bill and i certainly urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. murphy, for five minutes. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you.

mr. speaker, i come to the floor today to submit for the record the transcript of the bipartisan briefing i recently hosted, along with my good friend from the great state of florida, trey radel, on the crucial wateras in florida. during the time of partisan gridlock, we were able to come together with many people on both sides of the aisle to work towards solutions on the ongoing crisis in our waterways. there is no denying than environmental crisis is taking place up and down the indian river lagoon. record breaking rainfall, out-of-date engineering and urban and agriculture runoff are all damaging our waterways. to bring attention to this important matter, we invited community members who have been directly impacted by the water so polluted with bacteria and toxic algae that health officials told people to avoid contact with the water. in an area where the economy depends on water for our local livelihood, this pollution is

having devastating effects. members of our community took great lengths to make their voices heard in congress. many flew up here. others fundraised to take a bus using money out of their own pocket to make sure that washington heard how they had been directly impacted by polluted and toxic waters. despite the government shutdown and the inability of any ferble agencies to attend, we were pleased to see so many engaged constituents in the room with us as we spoke to many members who have important leadership roles in the house itself, the appropriations committee, the transportation and infrastructure committee and many among the florida delegation. at the briefing, we not only discussed the problems but the solutions, both short term and long term, that can only come from a mutual understanding of the problem and cooperation of local, state and federal entities. solutions such as completing everglades restoration projects like the indian river lagoon

south project, and funding the completion of c-44, components of this project as soon as possible. to grant relief to the already battered st. lucie estuary is critical. we must fight for quick and effective repairs to the herbert hoover dike that will allow more water in lake okeechobee. there is also broad agreement on the importance of passing wrda so we can move forward with everglades restoration efforts that will benefit all of our communities. additionally, wrda will streamline processes so ongoing and future projects can advance more efficiently and expeditiously. it has been almost seven years since the last water resource bill was authorized, stalling progress on local environmental projects. so i am beyond pleased to see the house take up this important bill today. after passing wrda, we need to continue to help the process planning projects so these

projects can move forward as well. and the current no spending climate in congress, it is difficult to fight for funding for these pro >> jekts to address the pollution problems. but there is a difference between smart investments and wasteful spending which is something i have been working hard to tackle these past 10 months. infrastructure, environmental projects, such as these are not only crucial to improve the health of our waterways, but to provide a 3-1 return on investment. furthermore, funding for everglades projects is equally matched by the state so that they, too, have skin in the game and highlighting the importance of cooperation across all levels of government to work toward real solutions to address the challenges facing our waterways. mr. speaker, these issues are simply too important to ignore. in a is why i am here today with this bottle of polluted water behind me to show the severity of this ongoing crisis. i remain focused on this issue of great concern to our

community, our environment, our economy and our entire way of life. no one person can make all these things happen. it takes advocacy and action at all levels of government. to that end, i ask unanimous consent that the transcript of this briefing be entered into the congressional record following my remarks to educate all members of congress on this important issue and the role we all play in addressing it. i yield the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the jeement north carolina, mrs. ellmers, for five minutes. mrs. ellmers: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to speak about the failures taking place with the launch of the obamacare exchange through the healthcare.gov. since october 1, this website has been plagued with delays, errors, and fundamental flaws in the website design. this prompted "usa today" to

call it an inexcusable mess and nightmare. in addition to the technological failure, the website leaves americans opened to exposure of privacy information. buried in the source code of healthcare.gov a paragraph reads, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any data stored on this information system. at any time the government ramon tore, intercept, search, and seize any data stored on this information system. any data stored on this information system may be disclosed or used for any lawful government purpose. consumer reports states, it's not worth of hassle. at least not for now. stay away from healthcare.gov for at least another month, if you can. this is not reassuring for americans entering personal

medical and financial information on the government website, especially when congress is still reviewing the i.r.s. for gross mismanagement on collecting private individual information. the founder of mckathy anti-virus, emphasized last wednesday millions of americans could have their identity stolen as a result of signing up for obamacare. despite this major malfunction and structural defect, the administration still has penalties in place for bids that don't obtain coverage. mr. speaker, this is not acceptable. prior to october 1, my colleagues and i emphasized the inability of the department of health and human services to implement these exchanges. therefore, if an individual does not wish to subject himself to the risk of identity theft, he they should be allowed to make that decision without the consequence of fines forced by

the federal government. that is why i'm working on legislation right now to ensure that americans are not being punished for failing to buy a health care plan from a dysfunctional system. additionally, mr. speaker, the associated press reported that to date only 476,000 people have enrolled. mind you, that's 476,000 americans that are less open to identity theft. i'd like to point out -- left open to identity theft. i would like to point out this is about the 36 states enrolled in the federal marketplace. 36 states. at one point healthcare.gov posted error messages in at least 24 of those 36 states. further, according to usaspending.gov, over $600 million of taxpayer dollars have been spent setting up these

failed exchanges. mr. speaker, this is an insult to the american taxpayers. c.g.i. group, one of the main contractors for healthcare.gov, reported that the site's design was changed about a month before debut to prevent users from comparing prices without registering for their account. why would the administration agree to remove the price comparison option when the president has promised the country affordable health care? it's because for some health care rates may become simply unaffordable. the administration announced that they would provide a new shot and browse feature to the website. however, mr. speaker, this new feature is not giving consumers the real price. in some cases people could end up by paying double what they see on the website. for example, cbs news ran the number for a 48-year-old woman

in charlotte, north carolina who is ineligible for subsidies. according to healthcare.gov, she would pay $231 a month. but the actual plan on the blue cross and blue shield north carolina website costs $360 a month. this is more than 50% increase. the difference, blue cross and blue shield requests the birth date before providing more accurate estimates. further, providing the point that monopolies are problematic as well, especially in north carolina. hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on a system that does not work. therefore, there is one question we must all ask ourselves, is the affordable care act really affordable? mr. speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison, for five minutes. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, i think it's important before we move into the weeks ahead that we take a minute and ask ourselves, what happened last week during the shutdown? what were the consequences of the shutdown? what did the shutdown mean to americans? it's important to pause and say, you know, what really happened because as the days roll by people are going to just move on to the next thing. but let's be clear, this irresponsible shutdown cost the economy $24 billion in lost economic output, or about.6% of annualized growth, according to standard & poor's. $24 billion of people not making purchases that they had planned to because they thought they better hold on to their money because they don't know what's going to happen. $24 billion of people, businesses that did business

with people who are federal employees who didn't have their check or didn't know they were going to have it. the untold damage that the republican majority in the house did to this economy is a shameful thing and they did it for one reason and one reason only, to deny millions of americans affordable health care. now, i think that it's important to mark this moment and to be very clear about what happened in the losses that we incurred. according to others, this economy lost 120,000 jobs, according to the council of economic advisors. 120,000 jobs because of lower demand, because of a number of things, but a number of people were losing their livelihood because of the shutdown. again, because the majority in the house sees fit to deny millions of americans affordable

health care. now, in the days to come now that the shutdown is over there is no question they will try to amp up and build up the bugs in the computer system, but make sure -- thousands of people are getting health care and signing up right now. the news is actually good and there has never been a system that's new that didn't have problems. in fact, my friends on the republican side of the aisle, i invite them to go back to medicare part d. you know the prescription drug benefit in which they said that will big phrma didn't have to compete for prizes, they could demand the prices we had to pay, the one that created the doughnut hole? in the beginning there were all kinds of glitches associated with that system. so, yes, we are working out bugs, but they are being worked out. and there are thousands of people every day who are getting the health care access that they never would have had and insurance reform that they never would have had if the republicans would have had their way. also just want to make clear

that people should know that there were individual stories that occurred that people should never forget. hundreds of people were furloughed and thousands more didn't know if they were going to get paid in the month of october. consider the anxiety that the republican majority needlessly inflicted on american families. and inflicted it on public employees who serve our country every single day to the best of their ability. people seeking new social security cards in minneapolis found the office closed. that's my district. people saying, wait a minute, i need a new social security card. can't get one because of the republican shutdown. that was wrong. the veterans administration offices were understaffed, and school trips were canceled because national parks were closed. and it was going to meet as the republicans shutdown the national monuments, the audacity, the gall to go to the world war ii memorial and act like somebody shut that memorial

down other than them. it's amazing. i could tell you that this moment, these last two weeks that we saw, shouldn't be forgotten. they should be remembered. i want to thank the 87 sensible republicans who voted with the democrats in order to reopen the government, and i just want to let everyone know that we can debate things here. we can try to improve the affordable care act. we can talk about parts of it could be better, we can make it better, and i encourage us to do that, but can we not shut down the government and destroy and do damage to the american economy just so we can score political point and deny health care to thousands of people? perhaps millions of people? can we work out our differences in the normal course of legislating? the republicans know how to try to change the affordable care act, they even know how to legitimately try to get rid of it through the 45 way that is they offered legislation to defund our destroy or delay

obamacare. they have done it before, but this time they didn't go through the normal course. they shut down the government and threatened default, and that was wrong. i just want people to remember what happened, maybe we can avoid it in the months ahead. i certainly hope we will. i yield back the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. wagner, for five minutes. mrs. wagner: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to actually agree with president obama that his signature health care law is indeed much more than a website riddled with technical glitches. just ask any hardworking family in the second district of missouri who has seen their premiums skyrocket, wages decreased, insurance coverage canceled of late, and hours cut back at work. the simple truth is the president's website is just a sign of what's to come. obamacare is disastrous.

a disastrous law for the american people. one of the most valuable lessons i have learned over the last nine months as a new member of congress is that more government is never the answer to the problems facing our nation. obamacare makes the real problem of health care costs worse. obamacare has made offering health care for small business worse. obamacare raises premiums, destroys the doctor-patient relationship, and makes the quality of our health care worse. and when president obama promised the american people in 2009, and i quote, if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. well, we now know that this claim was a blatant falsehood. time and time again the president has only offered broken promises to the american people. president obama recently spoke

in the rose garden about who is benefiting from government-run health care, yet he failed to talk about the millions of americans who are suffering from it. i would like to take a moment to talk about a small business owner from missouri's second district who is facing the harsh realities of obamacare. general is the -- general is the ownor of -- jen is the owner of cotton babies, making high quality diapers for consumers all over the worrell. as a result of obamacare, her premiums are projected to double, not only putting her livelihood in jeopardy, but her employees as well. and now jen is facing a difficult business he decision, regarding the employment opportunity -- regarding the employment opportunities and price going forward. she wrote to mean i quote, we can't afford the change in health care premiums, we manufacture in the u.s.a. we collectively cause the employment of thousands all over

the united states. hundreds of small retailers depend on my brand for revenue. we make american made cloth diaper brands that help families who literally choose between diapers and food. she later went on to say, and i quote, i believe in affordable health care. i believe in taking care of the needy. we provide great health care insurance to our staff. we pay for 70% of the premiums for the staff and their entire family. we operate on microscopic margins, and have valued taking care of our employees over taking a profit. i simply don't know how we as small business owners are going to be able to shoulder the load with these changes. . this ladies and gentlemen and madam speaker are one of the many examples of real people

being hurt by obamacare. it is time we realize that no matter how many tech experts president obama hires to fix his $600 million-plus taxpayer paid website, it will never stop obamacare from hurting the american people. as your representative, i will never stop fighting until obamacare is replaced with free market-based solutions that expand access without destroying our economy and lowering the quality of care. madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from new hampshire, ms. kuster, for five minutes. ms. kuster: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today as a member of the house sustainible energy and environment coalition to express my strong opposition to provisions in the bill before us today that will vastly limit public input and curtail

opportunities to save taxpayers money. the provisions i'm speaking about in the wrda bill aim to decrease delays and help move projects forward, which sounds great in theory. who doesn't want to remove bureaucratic red tape? but in reality what the bill does won't actually fix the problem that holds up so many army corps projects. this bill would strictly limit the environmental review process that has proven time and again to save taxpayer dollars. the assistant secretary for the army for civil works has even testified before this fact before the united states senate. the real reason for projects being delayed is simply that the congress authorizes around $20 billion worth of projects but then only appropriates the

funds to cover just $1 billion in projects. so let's not try to place all the blame on the environmental review process. a review process that has time and time again saved taxpayer dollars, preserved historic sites and protected endangered species, all while producing better projects with more public support. i appreciate the bipartisan work that's been done by chairman shuster and ranking member rahall have done in putting this bill together. this is an important piece of legislation that we consider in this house today. i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. as we go to conference with the senate once the bill passes the house that will limit public input, harm the environment. thank you, madam speaker, i

yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, for five minutes. . ros-lehtinen: thank you, madam speaker. october is a time to highlight the corrosive effects that domestic violence has on our country and to remind our fellow citizens of the work that still needs to be done to reduce and indeed eliminate violence against women and girls. earlier this year, i was proud to support the bipartisan efforts to pass the re-authorization of the violence against women act. one of the new provisions included in this bill will open up funding for organizations that provide employment placement and training programs for domestic violence victims. i would like to highlight the work of second chance employment services, the first and only nonprofit in the

united states that focuses exclusively on empowering women by helping them find stable jobs. dr. ludi green is the founder of second chance, and this organization and many others like it promote financial security for at-risk women. i believe employment is a key component needed to break the cycle of violence that plagues too many women in too many homes in too many neighborhoods. i acknowledge the work that ludi and so many do each and every day to make a positive difference in the lives of women, and i will continue to support their work. we must all do everything possible to reduce domestic violence in america as well as to end the human trafficking of vulnerable girls and young women. sexual trafficking is modern day slavery and this scourge,

along with domestic violence, must be eradicated before further harm is done in our communities, our nation and worldwide. madam speaker, young girls and women deserve better. we must do better. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from tennessee, mrs. blackburn, for five minutes. thank you, n: madam speaker. i appreciate the time. i want to visit with my colleagues for a few minutes about the impact of our federal government and what it is doing to our country's future and to future generations and that is something that has been foremost in my mind this week. this week our family has welcomed a new baby. georgia kay graham was born in new york city at 2:25 monday

morning. so as we have welcomed her, as we think about her future, one of the things that we are discussing is what kind of america will she have to grow up in? how solvent will we be? will we still be the country that celebrates the american dream? will we be the country that focuses on opportunity, that looks to entrepreneurs and innovators to create a better day? not only for america but for the entire world. this is also the time, madam chairman, as we look at what has happened with our nation's budget, with our nation's spending, that we look at the long-term effects of so many of the programs and entitlements that are placed before us. now, one of those is a program

that is commonly known as obamacare, and some of my colleagues say why is it that we talk about obamacare in conjunction with the budget. i would like to remind my colleagues, it's because it is a very expensive program, and i have a chart that shows what has happened with the cost of that program since the law was passed. and now as we are focused on implementation. you will see, we were told this was to be a program that would run about $900 billion over a 10-year period of time. it was to be access to health care insurance for those that did not have that access. but when we look at the chart that reflects the congressional budget office's findings, and this is a chart that was prepared over on the senate side, what we see is the cost

estimate over that same 10-year period of time from when the law was passed -- remember, we had to pass it in order to read it and find out what was in it. so from when it was passed there at $900 billion to today, as we look at the implementation of obamacare, it as become a $2.6 trillion over 10-year program. $2.6 trillion, a tripling of costs, and we don't even have it out of the starting gates yet. this is why we are looking at health care.t of in budget committee as we look at the long-term outlook for our nation and the implications that our budget will have on the private sector, on hardworking taxpayers, what we find is the cost of health care

, those programs are expected to double in their impact on the budget. and we have to remember that every single dollar, every single dollar the federal government has comes out of the pocket of taxpayers. men and women who go to work every day and earn that dollar and then have to send more and more and more of that dollar to the federal government. so as we look at the challenges that face this nation, we focus on what we will spend, how we will use that money and we think about the children, the grandchildren that we have and their future and the impacture spending habits today will have on their tomorrows. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. hall, for five minutes. i thank you, madam

speaker. n 1776, with only 1,458 words, our founding fathers declared our nation's independence from an overreaching government that had limited individual freedom. a year later in 1787, with 4,543 words, our founding fathers wrote the constitution that established our representative democracy, protecting individual rights and set in -- said in places states rights and roles based on enumerated power. from 1776 to 2010 and the president and democratic-controlled house and senate established obamacare without a single republican

vote. this government takeover of health care is so overreaching, the law contains 381,517 words. that's over 83 times as many words as the constitution had only 4,543 words. and in addition to the law, the administration has published 109 regulations to implement the law. regulations not voted on by the congress, containing a massive 11,588,500 words, according to ensnews.com. according to "forbes," the average adult reads about 300 words a minute. that means it would take the average person 38,628 minutes just to read the regulations. if someone read eight hours a day, it would take them 80 days to read all the regulations, let alone understand them. we're just beginning to see the negative consequences of this

federal outreach and all americans' health care decisions. my constituents remain adamantly opposed to obamacare. they continue to write and call my office asking me to do as much as this law as possible because -- destroy as much of it as possible because it's raising premiums, co-pays, deductibles. many small business owners also tell me they've stopped hiring workers and are in the difficult position of cutting hours or employees due to the uncertainty with the law and its regulations. in closing, let me just say this. we'll continue to see the negative impacts of obamacare. more of this law is implemented as it goes in the coming months. the president needs to recognize how harmful the health care law is and help us craft better, more responsible health care reform. with that i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from arizona, mr. gosar, for two minutes.

mr. gosar: thank you, madam speaker. today, i stand to recognize the memory of u.s. army specialist pat tonell and say thank you to all those involved in creating the sports complex in arizona. the world-class skate and bike park, which is nearly the size of a football field, is dedicated to the 25-year-old american hero, pat, who loved his family, his community and b.m.x. bike riding. pat volunteered to serve our nation and gave his life in iraq in april of 2006, protecting the freedoms we hold dear. a special thank you to those who made this park a reality, through countless fundraising events. everyone in the community deserves a thank you, including havasu city council. national figures like skateboarding legend tony hawk, b.m.x. rider and yrdyk. hropist, rob d

finally, thank you to the family and loved ones of pat and another who both lost their lives all too soon. i hope this park serves as a reminder that your son's emories will not be forgotten. today's youth are our greatest asset as a nation. it is the youths who will continue to lead this nation in the coming years, serve in our armed forces, fight fires, be teachers, doctors and maybe be our next b.m.x. superstar, have a show on mtv. leadership comes in all forms. in fact, rob said in a his success was the american dream, the american dream looks a lot blike work and work results in success. it is my hope that the memories of pat and colin are honored by all those who visit the park. thank you and god bless and i yield the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon

employers scared to death in had terms of what they have to do and what they don't have to do, afraid to -- adds new employees. and, you know, when you look at the problems with obamacare, all the focus here lately has been on the website. clearly there's problems with the website, but i would argue that the problems go much further than that. how about the report over the last couple days of the hundreds of thousands of americans who are finding out that they're going to lose their coverage because the plans they have today don't qualify under obamacare? when you begin to look at these

hundreds of thousands of people, i think what you're going to see at the end of october are more americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges. this is a very serious problem. it's affecting our economy and it's affecting the ability of the american people to find the job that will help them take care of themselves and their families. >> good morning. the rollout of obamacare is nothing short of a debacle. and the american people are now fearful of their health care. i mean, downright scared about what's going to happen with their health care next year. and all we're hearing from the administration really is really unsatisfactory in terms of answers to the many, many unanswered questions. yes, we all know the website doesn't work and the administration keeps saying, well, just to the subscribers

who want to go on, go and try again. well, again, there's so many unanswered questions that that is adding to the fear of so many american people. and what's not helping is the lack of transparency on the part of this administration. this morning i know that h.h.s. officials will be up briefing the democratic caucus. no intention initially to say they were going to brief republicans on what's going on. last night we learned that federal officials ask insurers not to release numbers for the exchanges in terms of signups. we still don't know these enrollment numbers. and h.h.s. is blocking third-party verified traffic data. this is not transparency and this is adding to the confusion and fears surrounding the rollout of obamacare. now, in a couple of months, the obamacare mandate tax is going to kick in. and many americans are going to have to pay as much as 1% of their income to the federal

government if they don't sign up on obamacare. so how is that fair? i mean, with so many unanswered questions and the problems arising around this rollout, it doesn't make any sense to impose this 1% mandate tax on the american people. and that's why we republicans remain committed to delaying that mandate tax of obamacare so that finally we can get the answers that so many people are seeking and we can try and reassure the millions of americans who are growing in their fear about what this all means for their health care. >> you know, it's another day and a new glitch for the obamacare rollout. 12% of americans in the latest cbs poll say it's going well. more than half believe it's not. but as i listen to the president dot press conference, we will handle it, we will fix it, it rings back to the moment when he was proposing obamacare

and said if you had your health care and you liked it you could keep it. it's not a glitch when american citizen receives a letter says their current health care, they will no longer have it. many of the constituents that i have that i come out and see the frustration that it is not fair in the process, that they don't have the health care that they can keep it and if they go onto the website they cannot see what they can have now. so when you look back and you look at the arguments, the complaints, the transparency and the accountability that we asked for, none of that goes away. i think the focus will now be on, where is the accountability in the process and where are the answers? >> moms, dads, seniors, young people continue to struggle all across this country, whether it is those that are out of work trying to find a job and the economy that continues to struggle or those that are trying to get health insurance, losing their health insurance, having trouble getting their

health insurance, as leaders here in congress, our commitment is to continue to work on issues that are going to create jobs, that are going to create opportunities and also ensure that people do have access to quality and affordable health care. the concerns are coming in every day right now, and the concern that actually this health care law is going to make it harder for people is going to make it -- it's actually going to make it worse for more people than it's going to help. at's why we're launching the www.gop.gov your story for those to share their story dealing with the new health care law so we can go to work to ensure that moving forward we can take the action to help individuals, give them the protections that they need with this law, the delay of the individual mandate, the tax, the fee that they are facing that employers have been given a pass on. we need to provide that fairness to individuals and families all across this

country. >> conan said the other night, obama is now urging americans having trouble with the website we didn't think this through. or her it's fallon or conan jon stewart or "saturday night live," all the jokes keep going on and on and on, but nothing is funny about losing your health care plan when you already had what you liked and you wanted to keep it. nothing's funny about being forced on a website that doesn't work, to buy health insurance that you don't want and can't afford. and it's even less funny when a government tax is hanging over your head and you don't have hours on end to go through the whole circus. this obamacare exchange has been a complete and total failure and it's unacceptable.

the american people deserve etter. >> congressman tim murphy of pennsylvania,, subcommittee of oversight and investigation. tomorrow, we are going to have a hearing about the exchange website and it will be about the facts. we're approaching this investigation in a thoughtful and deliberate way. here's what we know so far. h.h.s. budgeted $55 million for just one company to build the website. less than a year in, the agency d spent $93 million and then $00 million. in addition, other companies were hired to work on this website and all told more than half a billion dollars was spent on a website that just doesn't work. the energy and commerce committees will continue our ongoing investigation into what went wrong and getting answers on the record. first with the contractors and next week with secretary

sebelius. repeatedly, over the last year our committee and subcommittee was told by numerous administrative officials, don't worry, everything is fine, we have in under control. we know that simply was not the case. either they didn't know what was going on in their own offices or they were deliberately misleading us and the american people with the hope of avoiding us from knowing what was really happening. given all these questions, we should press pause on this present tax surge where he wants to spend untold amounts of money to throw that after a bad website when we don't know if this one is even salvageable. this tech surge is comparable of trying to fix a car by overhauling it by trying to roll it down the highway. we have to see if it can be fixed or scrap and do a new one. if one cannot build, test in over three years with half a

billion of dollars, why -- how could the administration fix it in two weeks? did the breakdowns occur with the i.t. contractors or were they told to do it this way by h.h.s.? did the outside contractors notify h.h.s. when there were problems? how many people have been able to sign up using the website? are they even capable of knowing how well it's working? was the site designed poorly because the white house sought to hide it from the public and hide the massive premium increases families are seeing and why is the president trying to fix a technology problem without any technology problem experience? while we work to get the answers, we're deeply concerned of the number of americans who are being told they will no longer have insurance. they're looking to this as an answer and throughout the initial rollout of this when congress was voting on this and it was -- we were pushed away from being able to work on this, we were told repeatedly this website would be a wonder, that people would be able to look at it, compare policies and make thoughtful and

informative decisions about what's going on. we wonder why the american people cannot possibly make thoughtful informed decisions about their insurance and they're quite frightened. thank you. >> mr. speaker, you have done many, many efforts in the house to repeal obamacare. we know it happened with the efforts to defund obamacare. now that americans are waking up to the issues here, do you think you have a better environment to do something and what is the specific legislative strategy at this point? >> i think a big part of congress' job is to provide proper oversight of the executive branch of government and whether it's obamacare or issues over at the department of defense, it's our job to hold them accountable. when it comes to obamacare, clearly there's an awful lot that needs to be held accountable. >> speaker boehner, your friend, bill kristol, said on "morning joe" this morning that paul ryan unveiled the house

g.o.p. plan for health care reform sometime in january. is it your understanding that's going to happen, and can you give us an idea what it might look like? >> i'll let you talk to paul about that. >> but will that happen? >> last question. >> mcconnell said defund was a tactical error and not smart, do you agree with in a? >> listen, we went through a very tough period. as i told my colleagues the other day, we fought the fight. we didn't win. we live to fight another day. and the fact is is that we're going to have issues about funding the government come january 15. we're going to have the debt ceiling we are going to have to deal with again. the looming problems that are affecting our country are still there. we're spending more than what we bring in. to the tune of $700 billion this year alone, even though we've got record income. and so the problems are looming. it's time for washington to depeel with the series of problems affecting our country. >> mr. speaker, there's a couple legislative weeks left

in the year. do you plan to bring up immigration legislation? >> i still think immigration reform is an important subject that needs to be addressed, and i'm hopeful. >> mr. speaker -- >> speaker boehner, as you know, your party took quite a beating after the shutdown in the polls and did you personally. you just came with a -- from a meeting with your members. how concerned are they and how concerned are you potentially losing the house? >> i think as long as we stay focused on the priorities of the american people, i think we're going to be fine. what are they concerned about? they're concerned about their jobs. they're concerned about their income. er in' concerned about their own health insurance and -- they're concerned about their own health insurance and how they're going to afford it and navigate through the bizarre plan they have to deal with. our plan is to stay focused on the concerns of the american people and if we do that we'll be just fine. thanks, everybody. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

>> we also heard from house democratic leaders and minority leader nancy pelosi. we'll have those remarks for you later on the c-span networks or you can go online to c-span.org. and now back live to the u.s. house. members gaveling in for work on water resource projects. chaplain conroy: compassionate and merciful god, we give you thanks forgiving us another day. give the members of this house strength, fortitude and patience. fill their hearts with charity, their minds with understanding, their wills with courage, to do the right thing for all of america. and the work to be done in the weeks to come, may they rise together to accomplish what is best for our great nation.