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tv   House Session  CSPAN  October 30, 2013 12:00pm-2:01pm EDT

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-- >> we'll leave this hearing at this point as the u.s. house is about to gavel back in for legislative business this afternoon. the health care hearing will continue on our companion network c-span3 and online at c-span.org. live now the house is set to consider a bill dealing with bank regulations and a final passage vote on a resolution disapproving the debt limit increase passed by congress on october 16. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. eternal god we give you thanks for giving us another day. once again we come to ask wisdom, patience, and peace and understanding from the members of this people's house. on this day, we ask your blessing on the men and women,
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citizens all, whose votes have populated this people's house. each member of this house has been given the sacred duty of representing them. today we mourn the loss of former congressman ike skeleton a true public servant and staunch supporter of our military. may he and his family find solace and peace at this time. bring each of us, at last, to that place where our hearts will rest in you. bless us this day and every day and may all that is done within the people's house this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lankford.
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mr. lankford: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the and to tates of america the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. in 2009 president obama made a promise his administration had no intention of keeping. if you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. if you like your health plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. no one will take it away, no matter what, end quote. today's "washington post" bestows upon this moment of
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rhetorical splendor and others like it four by folk owes for the -- four pi folk yows -- pinocchios. it turns out the affordable care act is cutting health insurance plans. apparently the president's promise came with a large caveat. if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan if we deem it to be adequate. for millions, washington has deemed their personal health care plans deficient and come january, they won't have access to the plans they had before. americans deserve better. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from arizona seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. october is domestic violence awareness month. my first real job back in 1993
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was at a domestic violence shelter. i was in college, studying to become a social worker and during my time at the shelter i helped women and children at our shelter escape the cycle of abuse. some women came through our doors again and again before finally getting free. that's why i worked hard to pass the violence against women act, for these very families. yet too often, women in our country escaper that abusers for only a short time. some abusers track down women and children in order to keep the cycle of abuse going. but vawa helps these families stay safe from their abusers. like jane who lives in phoenix from their -- with her three kids. they fled their home state and moved to arizona to escape their abuser. he'd been chasing jane and the kids for years, following them from home to shelter to their next home. jane couldn't get away from him. but when she came to arizona, arizona's address
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confidentiality program provided her with an alternative address to use legally instead of her real address. it prevented her abuser from finding her. thanks to vawa, jane is safe. mr. speaker, i hope we'll all double down to end domestic violence in this country. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? the gentleman from virginia is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the memory and spirit of a true community leader, ruth herring. she served as editor and pub learner of the "king george journal" in king george county, virginia. she passed away after decades of service to her community. she was indomitable, in the words of her daughter jessica, and wanted to promote things that were positive for the community. mr. wittman: the community
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communities in king george county and around our part of virginia have lost a spirit that energized those around her. her daughter jessica will assume her duties at the "king george journal" has a difficult but wonderful challenge to continue in the spirit of ruth's intentions for the community. my condolences extend to ruth's family and the entire community of king george county. to truly honor ruth, we can learn from her passion to truly improve her community and the lives of those around her. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition? the gentlelady from illinois is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as we prepare for the district work period, i urge my colleagues to dial down the partisan rhetoric that shut down our government and take the time to listen to the folks you came to washington to represent. americans have been saying they want us to do all we can to protect the economy and support
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american jobs, not threaten them. this week i introduced h.r. 33 this yvette rans work veteransty -- 3327 the work opportunity act that aim to get more veterans and unemployed americans back to work by offering tax credits to businesses who will here them. ms. kelly: next week i'll be meeting with small business owners and manufacturers as part of my second congressional district economic development tour. here we'll discuss what congress can do to support our communities and grow american jobs. the family businesses i represent in kankakee and the manufacturers i represent in chicago both say the same thing. business as usual in washington doesn't help business back home. i couldn't agree more. i urge my colleagues to co-sponsor h.r. 3327 and h.r. 3328 and work civilly to get our economy back on track.
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thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lankford: mr. speaker, the obamacare website has been a nuisance. people spend hours of wasted time trying to get on it and try to get information. but this has moved far beyond a nuisance. now people are discovering the real cost increases that are happening and over a million people have received a cancellation notice for their insurance. let me give you a couple of those from my district they feel evans law firm has 17 people involved in their small law firm. that firm received a cancellation notice not because their insurance was not up to the standards that the president has set but because it grouped together with other policies and that's no longer going to be available to them so they have to go out on the market. the cheapest they have found so far is a 25% increase to them.
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another business own notified they'll pay a 13.5% increase next year because their insurance doesn't have pediatric care in it. none of the employees have children, so of course they coverage. pediatric this would be like going to sleep with your car in the driveway and weaking up to find the government switched out your car with a better one that doesn't suit your needs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady seek recognition? the gentlelady from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i am very pleased to have heard some of the testimony of secretary sebelius and to understand that we should be in this business, all of us, in serving the american peculiar, to fix problems and make in essence, things work. put the wheels on. so we are going to ensure that this website is fixed by the end
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of november, the beginning of december. same kind of problems that happened with medicare part d. but in actuality, rather than using anecdotal stories, let me tell you the president was in fact right that you can grandfather and keep your same insurance. but if your same medical insurance was similar to a subprime mortgage loan that had no value whatsoever, as most americans know, and you are getting an improved medical coverage insurance, then you get new insurance. and as in california and other places, that states have their own insurance exchange, we've seen a 29% decrease in insurance premiums. but the real issue is what we're doing in sequester and budgeting and the loss of the researchers at the n.i.h. it's a disgrace. we need to get to work on serious issues to put this country back to work. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to
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address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> mr. speaker, october is domestic violence awareness month. as a former prosecutor, i believe we should do everything in our power to raise the awareness of domestic violence and protect and empower the victims of these crimes. in the seven counties i represent in northeast ohio, over 1,500 people sought shelter last year to escape domestic violence. sadly, some of them are children. for these women and chern it's crucial we in congress pass laws to protect them. mr. joyce: that was why i was one of the first supporters of the violence against women act earlier this year. it provides critical services for victims of violence and provides law enforcement officials the resources to better protect and assist them. together we must stand up against domestic violence and enforce a zero tolerance policy both here in washington and at home in our communities.
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i thank my colleagues for joining me in this borne effort to raise the awareness of this important issue. i yield back the rest of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise in recognition of october as domestic violence awareness month. while we've made great strides in fighting demest exviolence, we have a long way to go. over one third of women have experienced rape, violence, or stalking by an intimate part for the this their lifetime. as a former prosecutor who has worked with hundreds of women, victims of domestic violence, i know that holding their batterer responsible is important to them but almost more important is making sure we have victim services necessary after the batterer is held responsible. i was proud to support the violence against women act re-authorization and in east way
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we're fortunate to have places for women to vow for services. mr. swalwell: for example, ruby's place is a shelter. i visited there in april and showed the care and compassion the workers there provide to women. shelters like ruby's place provide a lifeline to women across the country and those shelters count on the federal government to help them. hopefully recognizing october as domestic violence awareness month will help. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> today the secretary of health and human services said to americans that we deserve better than what we have gotten with obamacare. america's -- america sure does deserve better. this is the first time in the history of our country that american citizens have been forced to purchase a product that they do not want and which
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they cannot afford on a website that does not work. but let me say, it's not just obamacare. mr. smith: not just the obamacare website that's broken. president obama repeatedly told families that if you like your health insurance you can keep your coverage. just this week it was revealed that president obama and his staff have known for over three years that millions of americans will lose their current health insurance because of obamacare. furthermore, families in my district and across the country are feeling the sticker shock from soaring premiums. they're see regular deuced benefits and being forced to make difficult financial decisions. mr. speaker, my constituents and families across america do indeed deserve better. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? the from new york is recognized. >> later today the house of representatives will vote on legislation that would reject the debt ceiling increase that
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was passed by congress earlier this month. mr. higgins: this vote makes no sense. make no mistake, vote to reject the debt ceiling increase is a vote to default. these are the same members who a few weeks ago decried the notion of america defaulting on its obligations and voted for a resolution that spends $700 billion more than it takes in in revenues. the logical consequence is to raise the debt ceiling. mr. speaker, to achieve growth the american economy needs stability and certainty, not fake votes that put politics ahead of the american people. let's end this nonsense and get back to the work of creating jobs in nation bileding here in america. -- in addition building here in america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? . the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, folks
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back home are frustrated, confused, and quite frankly scared about this disastrous health care law. last week stephen from plano sent me an email sharing his firsthand experience with the marketplace exchange. in short, operators on the 1-800 line had no answers to his questions. they simply reiterated he should wait until later that evening or the next day to apply since the systems were having technical issues. unfortunately the problems go far beyond an unworkable website. even with three years of preparation and spending more than $1 billion taxpayer dollars, obamacare has failed to give the american people what they were promised. mr. speaker, the american people were promised affordable health care, not for a select few but for all. now more than ever we must work together to delay this law. americans want, need, and deserve better.
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yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. >> thank you. mr. lowenthal: the healthcare.gov website glitches are truly unacceptable and they must be fixed as quickly as possible. however, the majority party is not talking about fixing the website. they are fixated on criticizing the affordable care act instead of helping the american public understand the act and receive the benefits of true affordable care. countless hours in committees, over 40 votes to repeal and delay, millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on delaying, defunding, and undermining this law. throwing sticks into the spokes of the law will not help to make it better.
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i urge my colleagues to stop the obstruction and be part of the solution. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? >> address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. >> last week egyptian gun men attacked a wedding at the coptic christian church of the virgin mary, killing four and wounding many others. mr. ribble: among those killed were two young girls, a 12-year-old and 8-year-old. and as a father of six i can't imagine the horror and pain of those families having to bury their two young children. we have to ask, what was their offense? mr. duffy: what was their crime this 12-year-old and 8-year-old? their crime was, their offense was, that they were practicing their faith. they were christians.
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mr. speaker, in the coming weeks secretary john kerry will be visiting egypt. i call on secretary kerry to highlight during his visit through the freedom of abuse that is have been occurring throughout egypt. the u.s. commission on international religious freedom has already named egypt as a country of particular concern for the violations. i call on every member of this house to stand up on those who are attacking christians around the world. it's our duty to stand with those who are being abused for practicing their faith. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to offer my congratulations to the minnesota lings basketball team. mr. ellison: we are so proud that they for the second time in three years won the 2013 women's national basketball association championship. they swept the playoffs winning
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every game decisively. and i was glad that espn broadcast the finals so that everyone could see olympian maya moore sink some beautiful three-point shots. she was joined by out-- with her outstanding play by two other gold medal winning olympians, a mona and lindsay. former gopher took a no-look hyped the back pass between the legs, backwards bounce pass, assist, and were two of the most existing plays of the season. i'm proud of the minnesota lynx, but more proud of title 9, 1973, this country came to make sure of equality for women in education and that includes sports. and the result is women in athletics that are amazing and entertaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. ellison: i congratulate them. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek wreck his? -- seek recognition?
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the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to say thank you to a friend of mine, mayor james r. bobbing, who has dedicated 45 years of service to the city of granville in the second district. in the last 29 he he served as mayor. mayor bobbing has been recognized countless times for his leadership and commitment to west michigan. most recently he received the michigan municipal league michael a. guideo leadership and public leadership service award. in addition he serves as the chairman of the grandville council which plays a leading role in fostering public and private cooperation to enhance quality of life in west michigan. under the steady leadership of the mayor, he's grown and thrives. granville would not be the city it is today without jim an his impact will be felt forever and recognized by all. mr. huizenga: i want to personally thank him for his
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dedication and service to the community. you put granville on the map as a destination to do business, visit, and most importantly live. mayor buck, thank you for what you have done not only for granville, west michigan, but all of michigan and our country. enjoy the time off. thanks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my strong support for the patient protection and affordable care act. in the past no group has been affected more negatively than the rising health costs of seniors. because of the affordable care act, some of the financial burdens have been alleviated. the affordable care act has already helped to close the medicare part d doughnut hole by
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saving $6.6 million seniors more than $7 billion on prescription drugs. it also provides a free annual wellness visit and coverage for key preventive services that many seniors avoid because of the high cost. as for waste and fraud in medicare, affordable care act strengthens the system and gives more effective tools to identify and remove the unnecessary cost. the care act not only provides essential quality care, it does so while lowering costs for our aging population. i'm proud to stand with my colleagues and the president to support the affordable care act. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. -- the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. harris: mr. speaker, the train wreck of the president's health care plan continues.
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the president promised that, quote, if you like your plan you can keep it, period. but millions of americans are getting cancellation letters this month. mial from carroll county wrote my office saying, quote, i recently became aware that my insurance will terminate the plan i currently participate in. i was told to find another insurance plan that fits my budget and needs. the problem is, none of the insurance carriers can compare to the quality and cost of my current insurance. however, i'm being told that i am being forced by law to pick a new plan or else i will be penalized by the u.s. government. i've never been more disgusted with my government than i am now. my husband and i work very hard for the money we have. we have a daughter who is eight months old. but my premium cost to cover myself and her will almost triple. how is this affordable? it's hard enough to pay a mortgage, gas, and day-to-day living. mr. speaker, the president misled the american people. mia lost her plan and her
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insurance costs tripled. americans deserve better. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. butterfield: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise to celebrate the passage of h.r. 2189, a bipartisan bill that will finally recognize the valiant service of merchant mariers that operated domestically during world war ii. it has been my honor for the past three congresses to introduce legislation that would recognize these brave americans and correct an injustice that has remained for over 70 years. i would like to congratulate a wonderful north carolinian who has been the driving force behind my legislative effort for the past three congresses. tragically don's commitment to this legislation was due to the loss of his brother, william lee house reporton jr., on 31 march 1942 as the result of a german uboat attack on his tugboat off
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the coast of virginia. many of the house reporton family served on these tugboats and barges during world war ii in support of the war. don has become the foremost expert on this forgotten segment of world war ii and has worked tirelessly to see mariners like his brother gain the recognition as vest rant these rightly deserve and earn through they arecies with their contry. finally, mr. speaker, after 70 long years, these mariners have a chance to receive the recognition they deserve for their service to our country. i implore my colleagues in the senate to consider this legislation as quickly as possible and support passage. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kansas is recognized. >> mr. speaker, the american people are looking for results from washington, d.c. even though we have a divided government, i still believe we can and must work together to solve the many challenges 235eusing our great nation.
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mr. yoder: more than anything we must work together in the coming months to help put more americans back to work and kick start our sluggish economy. we can work together to reform our tax code and make it simpler and easier to understand and comply with. we can work together to build a national energy policy to put people to work and keeping energy costs down. we can work together to support education, research, infrastructure, immigration reform, yes, even pass the farm bill. we can work together to reform important programs like medicare or social security so that we can preserve and protect them for future generations while balancing our budget and controlling spending. mr. speaker, today our economy may be stagnant but our optimism and determination have never been greater. let's work together to renew the prosperity and opportunity for all americans in our great nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is
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recognized. or a mr. speaker, october's domestic violence awareness month. unconscionably domestic violence has reached pandemic proportions affecting one out of every three women in the united states. as an emergency medicine doctor, i have witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of domestic violence. i have treated the beaten and bruised bodies of countless women who are victim of domestic violence and i have been inspired by their unbroken spirits. i am proud of the work many are doing to prevent domestic violence and to keep women safe throughout my district and a country like shelter from the storm. domestic violence as a leading threat for women. on average four women are murdered by their intimate partner every day in the united states. it woman is battered in the u.s. every 15 seconds. that equals 240 domestic violence episodes in one hour. mr. rue i: -- mr. ruiz: no woman should suffer domestic violence and they
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should have access to care and services this he need to seek justice. we must continue to work together and stand up for those who are victims and hold perpetrators accountable to the full extent of the laws. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. ruiz: please, never give up. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition. >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. or a thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today having come from a hearing in which we heard about some of the issues with veterans' affairs. $762,000 spent on a conference while our veterans had to wait for their disability claims to be processed. in my home state of north carolina the delay is unacceptable, mr. speaker. we are having families that are having to wait.
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almost two years to have their claims processed. this is unacceptable. and if it were just an extravagant conference, we could overlook it, but yet a senior officialer in an email says, bottom line, you don't have to worry about a thing. mr. speaker, it has come to the time where we can tell our veterans when they don't have to worry about a single thing, where their claims are processed and where we truly keep our commitment to our veterans. mr. meadows: with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? the gentlelady from california is recognized. >> plrn two and a half million americans have served our country in iraq and afghanistan. they place themselves in harm's way so we can live safely at
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home. the benefits they receive for their service hardly repays them for the sacrifices they have made. nonetheless, they need the help. this is why we must ensure veterans can access every benefit they've earned. benefits like educational counseling. while the v.a. does a great job providing vocational rehabmark veterans aren't aware of the educational counseling they're entitled to as part of their g.i. benefits. that's why i'm introducing the veterans education counseling act that directs the v.a. to differentiate teen these two benefits and puts the application process online. ms. chu: this helps all veterans make better choices for their future. i urge all my colleagues to vote for this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the
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gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized. >> much attention has been focused on the flawed rollout of obamacare. sadly, a new problem has emerged. once consumers make their way through the glitchy website, ch of the information is wrong. -- is site is claiming sending garbled data to insurers. for example, saying they have three spouses. mr. pittinger: in short, you could make your way through the website and fill out everything correctly and it could still be wrong. the implementation must be delayed by a year and we must sit down and discuss real
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reforms in what is quickly becoming a national disaster. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady rom ohio seek recognition? the gentlelady from ohio is ecognized. mrs. beatty: i stand here to for health care issues. i have navigated the online marketplace system. let me note some facts. yes, there have been problems. the website was not prepared to hand they will huge volume of interest. but president obama made it clear that the delays on the website are unacceptable and they will be fixed. since the marketplace has opened, healthcare.gov has had other 20 million unique visitors. yes, 20 million. and while the site is being
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improved, consumers should keep in mind what we haven't heard from my colleagues, that there are four ways they can apply for coverage -- by phone, online, by mail, and with a paper application or with the help of an in-person assister. so i say to you, let us not forget the point that millions of americans are now able to choose an insurance plan that will make the most sense for them and for their families. i yield back. sproy the gentlelady's time has ex--- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from new mexico seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for ne minute. ms. lujan grisham: i rise to honor and thank the brave men and women of law enforcement who
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work every day to keep us safe. seven law enforcement officials in new mexico have been shot and wounded. it's a pattern of senseless violence that's become all too familiar in this nation. on saturday in albuquerque, a man armed with an assault rifle and bulletproof vest ambushed officers, stole a police cruiser and led them on a dangerous chase. three albuquerque police officers and a sheriff's deputy were shot. thankfully, they're all expected to make a full recovery but from that terrifying situation, stories of immense heroism and courage emerge. officers sprang into action to help, fire fighters from a nearby station ran into danger to help the injured. new ew mexico cans have -- mentionians have stepped up to help the -- new mexicans have tepped up to help the wounded.
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from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. we have a couple of things going on, today -- going on today, mr. speaker. number one, the house will be discharged at the end of the day to go back to a district work period. and we know what we're going to hear at home. what we're going to hear is why can't you people do your jobs? why can't you get together and come together and come up with a budget so that american business people can plan, so that americans can decide what to do with their futures? instead of doing what's been happening for years on end, these continuing resolutions, things like the sequester, the
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sequester alone is going to cost a million jobs next year in this country if we don't replace it. mr. cartwright: the other thing that's going on today is the opening of the work of the conference committee on the budget. 29 senators and representatives from this house getting together and trying to do just that, come up with a budget, come up with something sensible, force the compromises that americans expect us to reach and i say let us speed them on their work. good look to them. let's hope they come up with something americans can appreciate. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from new york seek recognition? the gentlelady from new york is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to strongly urge my colleagues' support for the early childhood education professional improvement act, h.r. 33 2 -- 3357 which i introduced earlier this week
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with congressman jared polis. it would establish standards for the education and development of pre-k teachers. equality of opportunity cannot be achieved without ensuring that all american children have access to high-quality pre-k. ms. meng: by the age of two, affluent children know 30% more words than low-income children. these disparities are exacerbated when affluent children attend high quality pre-cambings', versus poorer onces who don't attend pre-k at all. professionals agree that pre-kmbing is necessary for a strong and prosperous america. furthermore, it's the most cost effective investment in education we can make. let's do this now and do it right. let's work together for high-quality pre-k for our
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children. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to section 4b of house resolution 5, 113th congress, and the order of the house on january 3, 2013, the following members to the house democracy partnership. the clerk: mr. roskam of illinois, chairman. south carolina, mrs. brooks of indiana, mr. latham of iowa, mrs. black of tennessee, mr. ribble of wisconsin. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to 22 u.s.c. 3003 and the order of the house on january 3, 013 of the following members on the part of the house to be commissioned on che the security and cooperation in europe. the clerk: pitts of alabama,
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-- ey of georgia, gingrey the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> i -- mr. hensarling: i call up the swaps regulatory improvement act and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: union calendar number 169, h.r. 99 , to improve sections of the dodd-frank wall street reform act relating to swaps entities. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 391, the bill is considered read. the bill shall be debatable for one hour equally guyed and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the committee oning aicalture and the chair nd ranking member of the committee. the gentleman from texas mr.
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conaway, the gentleman from texas mr. hensarling, and the gentlewoman, ms. waters each will control 15 minutes. mr. hensarling: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the record on h.r. 992 currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hensarling: i yield myself four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hensarling: america's economy remains stuck in the slowest, weakest, nonrecovery recovery of all time. millions remain unemployed or underemployed. many, because of obamacare, have hadder that hours cut. millions lie awake at night wondering how they're going to make ends meet. those who create jobs for america are drowning in a sea of red tape preventing them from hiring new workers. i still vividly remember the day when one of my constituents in east texas came to me as he shut
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down his small business cue to -- due to red tape and said, congressman, it got to the point where i just thought my government didn't want me to succeed. mr. speaker, today we have an opportunity to ensure that businesses succeed in america, succeed in hiring new workers. today, just like yesterday, mr. speaker, republicans and democrats can again pass bipartisan legislation that will help grow our economy. this legislation is h.r. 992. i commend the bipartisan group of members who introduced the bill. mr. hultgren, mr. himes, mr. hudson, mr. maloney. as chairman of the financial services committee, i want to thank the members of the committee who joined together in a-- and approved this bill on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 53-6. again, mr. speaker, the vote was 53-6. this bipartisan bill will relieve manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, and main street
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businesses of unintended consequences of one section of the dodd-frank act. now many americans may not realize it but farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and other employees use a financial product called a derivative to manage risk and protect themselves from extreme fruckchations in the price of things like fuel, fertilizers, and commodities. for example, a company like john deere will do an interest rate swap as they finance a tractor for a farmer in east texas in my district. and that derivative is directly linked to the cost of that tractor for my constituent. companies like southwest airlines who operate in my hometown of dallas, texas, will use derivatives to lock in cheaper fuel prices when the price of crude oil is on the rise. this costs the cost of flying more affordable for customers, like the grandmother in mesquite, texas who travels to visit her grandchildren in kansas city. in aps a farmers co-oop
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nebraska will use derivatives to fixed price diesel transport livestock. though not one single hospital patient, not one single farmer, not one single grandmother, not one single trucker caused the financial crisis, they were all swept in to section 716 of dodd-frank. section 716 requires financial institutions to push out almost all of their derivatives business into separate entities. this not only increases transaction costs, which are ultimately paid by consumers, it make ours financial system less secure by forcing swap trading out of regulated institutions. in fact, mr. speaker, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said section 716, quote, would make the u.s. financial system
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less resilient. weaken our financial stability, and make our economy more susceptible to systemic risk. those who are loath to ever amend dodd-frank know less -- no less of an authority than barney frank himself, former chairman of the committee, said it addresses the valid criticism of section 716 without weakening the important derivative safeguards or prohibitions on bank propry tir trading. so again new york law is perfect. we would be derelict in our duty if we didn't put the american people back to work and pass this law. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. waters: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i yield to the gentleman from minnesota, representative collin peterson, the ranking member of the committee on agriculture, four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for four minutes. mr. peterson: i thank the gentlelady. i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 992, commonly known as the
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swap pushout bill. this bill would effectively gut important financial reforms and put taxpayers potentially on the hook for big banks' risky behavior. 2008 i voted against the tarp because i didn't think the federal government should be bailing out regular banks, so-called investment banks like goldman sachs got themselves into with derivatives trading. section 1716 of the dodd-frank law ensures that hopefully we won't find ourselves in that situation again. the provision is a modest measure designed to prevent the federal government from bailing out or subsidizing bank activity that is not related to the business of banking. originally section 716, a senate provision, would have forced banks to spend all of their swap activity into a separate affiliate. the house version of dodd-frank had no such requirement.
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in a compromise, a final version allows the banks to hold on to swaps for hedging purposes and swaps related to the business of banking. primarily interest rate swaps and foreign exchange swaps. under dodd-frank, banks are required to move commodity swaps, including energy and agriculture swaps, noninvestment grade credit default swaps, credit default swaps on asset backed securities, and equity swaps to a separate affiliate. this represents 10% of the world swap market. so banks can keep 90% in the bank. apparently this isn't good enough for some of these big banks, which is why we are here today with h.r. 992, trying to gut the dodd-frank provisions and keep playing in 99% of the swap market, which is pretty much a status quo. h.r. 992 also makes it easier for banks to hide commodity
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manipulation from regulators. in recent months we have seen j.p. morgan charged with settling cases of alleged energy market manipulation, and the start of an investigation of goldman sachs for aluminum manipulation. the federal reserve is even reconsidering its decision letting banks get involved with owning commodities. until the big banks are held accountable for the activities of the commodity swaps market, i am reluck tant to repeal limits congress already has put in place. since the passage of dodd frank it's clear that wall street has not learned its lesson. the loss experienced by j.p. morgan through derivative tradings is proof of that. at some point another bank is going to find itself in similar trouble and run to the government with its hands out for assistance. frankly i think the american people are sick and tired of the banks asking for taxpayer help when they get in trouble from rescued trading activities.
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in the past i have joined our democratic agriculture committee members in support of legislation to change dodd-frank, and i supported those efforts because those bills reaffirmed what congress intended with the original law. like protecting derivative end users. these end users also share my concerns. the modded commoit markets, representing commodity dependent industries, businesses, and end users that rely on functional, transparent, competitive commodity derivative markets as price discovery tool, they also oppose h.r. 992. h.r. 992 repeals a key if modest reform component of dodd-frank. my opponents are certainly free to vote as he they wish but i urge them to be careful because people remember this vote and i urge my colleagues if they are smart to oppose h.r. 992 so we don't put our taxpayer dollars at risk for bank swap activity
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not related to their banking business. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from california reserves. the gentleman from texas, mr. hensarling. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased now to yield four minutes to the chief republican sponsor of the swaps regulatory improvement act, which again passed our committee on a strong bipartisan basis of 53-6, i would like to yield four minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. hultgren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for four minutes. mr. hultgren: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, i come to the floor today with tremendous pride not because the bill we are debating is my own but because we have the chance to help main street businesses and roll back one of the unintended consequences of dodd-frank. from its first addition, the lincoln amendment also called the swaps pushout or spinoff provision, has been hotly debated. section 716 of dodd-frank initially printed all swaps activities. however the conference process yielded some measure of
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compromise by exempting foreign exchange and interest rate swaps back in. by doing this the conferees acknowledged that swaps are not inherently destructive. in fact, swaps are a prudent and necessary activity for many businesses. when oil prices spike farmers and manufacturers rely on financial products like swaps to weather the uncertainty. many of these businesses use banks as counter parties where they have long-standing relationships with trusted institutions. limiting banks' ability to serve their customers will cost these customers more as they are forced to find new less stable partners. section 716 as it stands now would force certain swaps out of federal prudential regulators supervision and push them into affiliated entities that are not subject to the same oversight and regulation. this is why some of the loudest critics of the pushout provision have been federal regulators like the federal reserve chairman bernanke and paul volcker. i know ranking member waters and many members of the house from
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both sides of the aisle share these concerns. moving swaps out of banks while intended to he reduce risk may actually increase it. this is one of the reasons i introduced h.r. 992, the swaps regulatory improvement act leaves the most opaque swaps spun off to affiliates, the kind of swaps that exacerbated the 2008 crisis. those are still forced out. however, banks will be allowed to provide other types of swap contracts to their customers, such as equity, credit, and commodity swaps. which are very important to my home state, illinois. all of these activities are subject to the new swaps regime created by title 7. including reporting and registration requirements, clearing, margin, and business conduct standards. these activities would also be subject to a finalized volcker rule, meaning they would generally be for legitimate hedging purposes or client facing not propry taret. in the committee report from last congress, former chairman barney franc, ranking member waters, and other minority
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members of the committee noted that this bill, and i quote, addresses the valid criticisms of section 716 without weakening the financial reform laws' important derivative saved guards or prohibitions on bank proprietary trading, end quote. this is every bit as true of the bill we are considering today as it was in the last congress. h.r. 992 addresses the valid criticisms of section 716, and i quote, concerns about whether pushing swaps out of banks is the best way to mitigate against future systemic risk, to quote ranking member waters. this bill strengthsens regulatory oversight of these products. h.r. 992 does not weaken title 7's der riff safeguards or the prohibition on bank proprietary trading. h.r. 992 will keep costs lower for main street business that is use swaps to hedge risks. and 992 will help prevent derivatives market displacement and help promote u.s. competitiveness. this bill addresses nonpartisan concerns with a bipartisan
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solution. i thank my democratic colleagues for being willing to consider targeted fixes to dodd-frank. we can find common ground on financial regulation. we can work together for the american people. and we can fix dodd frank without dismantling its important accomplishments. so i ask my colleagues to support this bill. talk to your hospitals, bankers, and farmers, they will tell that you swaps are an important, common business tool. and forcing higher costs on these transactions will only stifle job creation and economic growth. h.r. 992 is a sound bill and strikes in the words of ranking member waters, the right balance. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. waters: thank you, mr. chair. i yield to myself as much time as i may need. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. waters: the financial crisis of 2008 wreaked untold havoc on the u.s. economy. this disaster which was intensified by the use of
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derivatives set back hardworking americans for generations. at the same time it bailed out many of the nation's largest banks, the dodd-frank act sought to put our financial markets back together by, for example, creating comprehensive oversight and reforms for derivatives markets, as well as prohibitions on banks betting with taxpayers resources. h.r. 992 would undo some of these reforms before our regulators, wall street cops have a chance to finish them, especially the volcker rule. congress passed the rule to stop banks from using customer deposits backed by the taxpayer for trades intended to only benefit the bank and not its customers. the rule when finalized will define legitimate bank activities like hedging and market making, but prevent other behavior that would leave the
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taxpayer and the economy hurting. in the same vain, congress passed the lincoln amendment. the provision that h.r. 992 would gut to insulate the taxpayer by pushing out certain derivatives from the insured bank, while also making broad exceptions for swaps that bank customers overwhelmingly use. the bipartisan policy center also recognized the connection between the volcker rule and the lincoln amendment noting that a well executed volcker rule would simultaneously accomplish the intended goal of the lincoln amendment. in case america forgot, j.p. morgan reminded all of us of the importance of setting limits on bank activity. in 2012, four years after the crisis, j.p. morgan chase london well caused the bank to lose more than $6 billion in a few months. what were purportedly ledges using complicated derivatives
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transactions were later transformed by the bank's focus on profit into what would likely be banned under volcker. the sense of urgency of separating the taxpayer supported bank from the investor bank is shared across the aisle. let me tell you in march of this year representative zeb hensarling said that, and i quote, certainly we have to do a better job fire walling, whatever metaphor you want to use between an insured depository institution and a noninsured investment bank, quote-unquote. and yet three years after the passage of dodd-frank and five years after the financial crisis, we still do not have a ban on the very behavior that hurt our economy and sent h.r. 992 and eliminates one taxpayer protection, the lincoln amendment, but now allowing banks to engage in 99% of the
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swaps market without the taxpayer knowing how robust the monitoring and oversight of such activities will be. mr. speaker, h.r. 992 is a step backwards. repairing -- backwards toward repairing our economy. this view is shared by the commodity markets oversight coalition, a nonpartisan ally avens american industries, businesses, consumers, and derivative users, similarly the white house, the afl-cio, the teamsters, public citizen, and americans for financial reform all strongly oppose h.r. 992. former republican chairman of the fdic, sheila baer, who strongly defended the taxpayers during the crisis, noted after the financial services committee past, h.r. 992, she said, i quote, repeal of section 716 moves in the wrong direction. in an area as complex as this, i
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wish, i just wish congress would at least wait for the regulators. i do, too. vote no on h.r. 992. mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california reserves. the gentleman from texas, mr. hensarling. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, at this time i'm happy to yield one minute to the gentleman from florida, mr. crenshaw. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized, one minute. mr. crenshaw: i thank the gentleman for yielding. let me simply say as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on financial services and general government, my subcommittee has oversight over the s.e.c. and charged with funding the s.e.c. and their budget's increased about 200% over the last 10 years. that's more than most agencies. that's a lot of money. and a lot of that is caused by all the rules and regulations that they are asked to pass over and over again. d.o.d. franc -- dodd-frank is part of that problem. i think this bill seeks to alleviate that problem. we can protect investors, we can
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have orderly and fair capital markets, but we don't need to go overboard on regulation. certainly derivatives are complicated financial instruments. they need regulation. but that's what this bill provides. and i would say that the great majority of derivatives, the great overwhelming majority are not responsible for the financial crisis. so we passed this legislation, we can help save those people that use these instruments. we can also help the s.e.c. not have to draft so many unnecessary rules and regulations that will save taxpayers as well. yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlelady from california. ms. waters: i yield to the -- i'm sorry. i yield to the ranking member of the subcommittee on tissue the committee on oversight and fwoth reforl, the gentleman from massachusetts, representative lynch. mr. lynch: i thank the
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gentlelady for yielding. i want to associate myself with her earlier remarks on this bill as well as the remarks of mr. peterson of minnesota. i rise in strong sop sigs to h.r. 99 , the misleadingly named swaps regulatory improvement act. if you need to know one thing about this bill, it's that a vote for this bill is a vote to provide taxpayer funding and backing for the kind of reckless derivative trading that brought our economy to the brink of catastrophic collapse. the bill before us today would repeal the provision in the dodd-frank reform law that requires too big to fail banks to push their risky derivative dealing out of banks that receive taxpayer support and into separately capitalized subsidiaries. this bill is not a regulatory improvement, it's a giveaway to wall street. it is an abrogation of they have -- of the duty of this body to
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protect consumers from wall street speculators. i want to point out a couple of things that have been misleading. dodd-frank allows banks to keep derivatives they use for bona fide hedging purposes or for traditional banking activities in the bank. interest rate and foreign exchange swaps, which make up 90% of swaps volume are most likely to be used by end users to manage their risk and those are already exempt from the pushout under section 716. so end users can already benefit from 90% of the swaps out there. moving risky derivative activities outside of insured banks will ensure the risk to the banks, those that are traditional and measurable and the speck la dive rerivetive risks which are totally unmeasured an unexpected, those are not co-mingled which makes
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bank risks easier to understand for regulator and lead to better regulations. finally i want to call my colleague's attention to an article about this bill that appeared in the "new york times." the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. lynch: i appreciate that. go read yesterday's "new york times." it says in the front page of the business section, to wall street, washington, d.c. might seem like enemy territory but even as federal regulators and prosecutors extract multibillion penalties from the nation's biggest bank, wall street can always rely on at least one ally here in washington, and that ally is the house of representatives. we ought to change our position, stand with the taxpayers, stand with the investors, stand with the people we were elected here to represent and tell wall street where to go on this. they get enough breaks as it is, we ought to stand up for the american people and protect them
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for a change. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from california reserves. the gentleman from texas, mr. hensarling. mr. hensarling: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the chairman of the financial services subcommittee on capital markets and g.s.e.'s, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. garrett: i thank the chame. mr. chairman, i thank the -- i think the compromise language we are considering today strikes the right balance and i urge my colleagues to support that eaproach. i thank the members for working together to get taos this point. those are not my words, those are the words of the ranking member last year when the -- when similar language and similar legislation was coming down when she supported this legislation. so i want to associate myself with her support of this legislation. why did she do so? well because she also said the provisions we were talking about, something in the bill with section 716 said house members were not able to carefully consider during the
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dodd-frank process and it did not come through regular order. in other words she recognized the fact that this provision in the bill was added in the dead of night and never came through committee for consideration. she also realized and i quote again, that there are legitimate concerns raised about whether pushing a significant portion of swaps out of banks is the best way to mitigate against future systemic risk. so again, i wish to associate my words with those words of the ranking member who in the past has supported the very same legislation that we have here before us today. why does she and i both support this legislation? because it's good for main street, it's good for the farmers, it's good for small ranchers, it's good for small businesses. she recognizes then, as i do now that what we need to do is to try to spur on our economy, make sure, make sure that there are not impediments that we don't
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overly complicate things in the banking sector and financial sector and what have you that would do what, that would make our country at a competitive disadvantage with other countries around the world. and by so doing make it harder, yes, harder, for our farmers, ranchers, main street businesses and the like being able to get the credit they need and pay their bills and what have you. i concur that we need to pass this legislation today and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. waters: i yeeled myself 0 seconds. mr. speaker and member the gentleman talked about being in step with me and what i supposedly said when we first dealt with this issue in the financial services committee and he's correct. but when do you learn, after j.p. morgan? am i to understand that nobody has learned a lesson?
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when do they learn that volcker is still not in place yet? so all i say is that, i have an opinion that must be recognized. i yield to the gentleman from minnesota who happens to be the co-chair of the progressive committee of congress and deputy whip. serving on the financial services committee. the speaker pro tempore: how many minutes? the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. mr. ellison: you know, mr. speaker, i think we're a day in front of halloween and here we are handing out treats to the likes of j.p. morgan chase, citi, and bank of america. it's fitting on this day that we should be doing the people's business and yet here we are, handing out treats and goodies to huge banks so that they can be allowed large financial
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institutions that never were held accountable, these institutions be allowed to use cheap, federally supported guaranteed backed deposits to invest in derivatives, very similar to what got our economy in this mess in the first place. wasn't it the great recession, wasn't et scary enough? weren't we in enough trouble? didn't we learn anything from the london fiasco? this bill, this bill called the swaps pushout bill, it undermines key sections of the wall street reform bell, the so-called dodd-frank bill, under section 716. now, this bill which is supposed to protect investors and cop sumers, in fact, right now, before the -- it seems like the ink is barely dry on it and they're trying to weaken it already. congress passed and the president signed this law to ensure that investment banks use
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their own money, not the people's money, to buy derivatives, invest in hedge funds or other risky activities. why did we make that requirement? it wasn't to pun herb anyone. it was to safeguard the public trust. we made this change because we wanted to protect americans from what i would call a zombie market, given the halloween theme here. from destructive economic rampages like the global financial crisis, which lost us 12 million jobs and over $16 trillion in wealth, we are still experiencing anemic economic growth following the great recession and we do not need more trouble like this swap bill , vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i yield myself 15 seconds to help my colleagues who haven't found time to read
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the underlying bill which says, no taxpayer funds shall be used to fund any swap entity resulting from swap based entity, i would encourage my colleagues to actually read the bill. now i am pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman of the mr. teer state, tennessee, fincher. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. fincher: i rise in support of h. reform 992, the swaps regulatory improvement act. simply put, we don't want to make the consumer pay more. that's what will happen if we force banks to push out certain swap intoss separate, non-bank affiliates. chairman bernanke was right about section 716. it increases costs. section 716 will also drive businesses overseas where foreign regulators have not passed similar rules for derivatives, taking with them american jobs and revenue. we must weigh the cost and benefits of every rule or regulation and ensure we do not
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destabilize markets or place american consumers and users in financial institutions at a competitive disadvantage. with that, i encourage my colleagues to support h.r. 992. thank you and i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlelady from california. ms. waters: how much time do i have left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady has a minute and a half. the gentleman from texas has two minutes. ms. waters: i'm prepared to close, is the gentleman from texas -- does he have more speakers? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: we do have one more speaker. ms. waters: i rill re-- i will reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. mulvaney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mulvaney: i'm going to do something i don't ordinarily do, i'm going to read something.
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i want to assure people that passing this bill will not reduce sensible relationlation of derytives, will not increase exposure to financial risk from derivative the bill before us will restore this to what i think is the appropriate balance. not my words. not the words of the gentleman from texas. not even the words of mr. bernanke, mr. volcker or up with of my colleagues' favorite economists, mark zandy. it's the words of mr. frank, whose name is on the bill who supported this exact same initiative in the last congress. there's plenty to disagree about. why we continue to fight about things that pass out of committee 53-6, will pass on the floor today by an overwhelming margin, i have no idea but there are some things we an -- we can agree on and this is one of them. i urge support of the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. ms. waters: i'd like to read the statement from ms. sheila bayer
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who formerly chaired fdic. she said, derivatives have many legitimate functions but they can be high risk and poorly understood because of their complexity by bank managers and regulators as we saw with the london well debacle. so keeping them outside of banks is the way to go this will increase market discipline and protect the fdic. she said, i'm concerned that members of congress act on these issues without full understanding of the ramifications. if we are going to ve it -- revisit derivatives regulation, i'd go in the direction of more market discipline and disclosure, rather than letting dig derivatives use insured deposits to support their high-riving -- high-risk operations. again the executive office of the president sent over a statement that includes these words. wall street reform represents the most comprehensive set of reforms to the financial system since the great depression and
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its derivatives provisions constitute an important part of the reforms being put in place to strengthen the nation's financial system by improving transparency and reducing risk for the market. let me refer you to representative tissue to the representative who said, certainly we need to do a better job ring fencing, firewaller, whatever metaphor you want to e between an insured institution. i ask for a no vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expire. the gentleman has a minute and three quaferters remaining. mr. hensarling: again, i continue to be amazed at those who wish to decry the possibility of a federal bailout in debating this bill. i wonder where they -- where their voices were yesterday when all of them seemingly, the
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voices we hear today, defended the federal housing administration from actually receiving a taxpayer bailout. the first in history. so when taxpayers actually have to pay, we hear choruses of que sera sera but when a private institution loses their money that the taxpayers didn't have to pay for, all of a sudden the sky is falling. and i understand that and i understand that the ranking member obviously has the opportunity to change her mind but clearly she was before it before she was against it. i don't understand when i hear many of my colleagues to cry the lack of bipartisan legislation why a handful of members would try to oppose it ow passed overwhelmingly 53-6, 53-6. for those who say this is somehow gutting dodd-frank apparently they didn't consult
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with the former chairman of this committee, barney frank, who's on record saying this address is the valid criticisms of 716 without weakening the financial reform laws important derivative safeguards. it's time, mr. speaker, to get america back to work. it's time to make commonsense bipartisan reforms. i respect every right of every member to change their mind, but i hope something that passed 53-6 to put america back to work that soon, soon this full house will pass this legislation. i urge its adoption. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway, is recognized. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the
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gentleman is recognized. mr. conaway: h.r. 922 is a commonsense bipartisan bill that changes the application of dodd-frank but does not undermine the systemic protections the law was intended to create. h.r. 992 amends section 916 of the dodd-frank act to correct an unintended consequence of a poorly vetted provision that was dropped into the senate bill late in the process with no notice and no debate. section 716 prevents banks that write certain types of swaps from utilizing any type of banking assistance, including accessing the federal reserve discount window and obtaining fdic insurance. it would have the effect of banks pushing important swap activity into specially compapized entities. while in theory section 716 may seem like a reasonable response to the 2008 financial collapse, in practice these special things will be less well
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regulated and not dries risks by netting the -- across our nation, farmers, ranchers and other businesses rely on the risk mitigating tools of the financial industry. commodity price exposure, interest rate risks and other business uncertainties are routinely managed through swaps and other derivative products. requiring banks to separate some of these swaps into special purpose affiliates -- affiliated institutions would wind up costing the end users who rely on these tools more for more actual reduction in the systemwide risk. moreover, the swap pushout requirements adopted in 716 of the dodd-frank act have not been considered in any other jurisdiction putting our banks and end users who rely on them at a competitive advantage throughout the global economy. h.r. 992 restores an important balance to risk mitigation services allowed by banks. it continues to prohibit structured finance swaps like those that were made famous by
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a.i.g. from the books of banks, but it is the need for banks to push commodities and other swaps into other -- with significantly lower risk profiles into separate legal entities. as i said earlier, h.r. 992 has broad bipartisan support. i'd like to thank the two members of this subcommittee and two authors of this bill, congressman hudson and congressman sean patrick maloney for their work in finding a bipartisan solution to this significant problem. i wish that all of congress was hardworking, deliberate are a tiff and cordial as members of the ag committee. 'd close in saying a word, former financial services committee chairman barney frank in remarks made by earlier versions of this act. he said, quote, i want to reassure people passing this bill, particularly as amended, will not in way, shape or form
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reduce simple regulations and derivatives. it will not exin crease financial exposure from derivatives. if this made good sense to the author of dodd-frank, it ought to be a no-boehner for this house to pass. i ask my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation. it's a bipartisan piece of legislation and put an endless -- put an end to the needless uncertainty that section 716 is causing our farmers, ranchers and small businesses across this nation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. scott: mr. speaker, i now yield to representative carolyn maloney of new york, who is the ranking democratic member of the subcommittee on capital markets and is also the former chairman of the financial institutions subcommittee on the financial services committee. i yield her three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman from georgia claim the minority time? mr. scott: yes, i claim the minority time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized, and the gentleman yields to the gentlelady from new york, mrs. maloney, for three minutes.
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mrs. maloney: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in support of h.r. 992. this bill passed overwhelmingly out of the financial services committee earlier this year with broad bipartisan support with a vote of 53-6. the whole point of the dodd-frank reforms was to improve the safety and soundness of our financial system, and h.r. 992, the bill before us, will help us do just that. this bill does not expos the taxpayer to -- expose the taxpayer to any additional risk. in fact, it includes a ban on taxpayer bailout of any swaps or any use of taxpayer money. under h.r. 992, truly risky swaps will still be pushed out of commercial banks while at the same time bank regulators can see all of the bank swaps activities. as well intended as section 716 is, it turns out it will actually hinder the oversight
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of regulators of the derivatives market. and that is why barney frank, the former chairman of the financial services committee, and of course, the frank in dodd-frank, said during the debate in the last congress of this same bill that is before us now, h.r. 922, and he said and i quote, it will not in any way, shape or form reduce sensible regulation of derivatives. it will not increase any exposure to the financial system from derivatives. and i ask unanimous consent to place in the record his minority views. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. maloney: the economist of moody's, mark zandi, also supports this bill and has said that section 716, as written, actually increases systemic risk and creates major inefficiency in the markets. and i ask unanimous consent to place his letter in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered.
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mrs. maloney: even federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke, opposed section 716, as written, stating that the way it forces these activities out of insured depository institutions, and i quote, would weaken both the financial stability and strong regulation of the derivatives activities. so ben bernanke has said that our bill before us will protect safety and soundness, barney frank agrees, mark zandi of moody's agree, i agree and i urge my colleagues to agree with us and support safety and soundness of our financial institution by supporting 992. i reserve the balance of my time and yield it to mr. scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady cannot reserve. mr. scott: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. it's now my pleasure to yield to the colleague of the ag
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committee, the co-author of the bill, the gentleman from north carolina. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. hudson: mr. speaker, given the bicameral and bipartisan support of our bill and the overwhelming consensus of the systemic risk of the section we're working to reform, i'm genuinely surprised we're even here debating this today. nevertheless, i rise to speak in support of h.r. 992, the swaps regulatory improvement act, which my democrat friend from new york, sean patrick maloney, and i have worked together on in the house agriculture committee. as my colleagues are aware, our bipartisan bill amends the provision in the dodd-frank act which was included at the 11th hour to, quote, get 60 votes in the senate, end quote, as former house financial services chairman, barney frank, said during the markup of the bill during 2012. this was to prevent risky swaps activities in the banks. while we believe this was proposed in good faith, it
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simply does not prevent the risk that the authors intended. moreover, this provision of the bill will cause many american financial institutions to operate at a significant disadvantage to their foreign competitors. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke, and paul volcker have both publicly raised concerns about section 716. i'd like to submit to the record both of the letters to then senate banking chairman, chris dodd. chairman frank and current ranking member, maxine waters, endorsed our predecessor, agreeing that the measure, quote, had the valid measures of 716 without weakening the derivatives safeguards or bank proprietary trading. this bill is virtually identical 1838 in the last congress. i'd like to submit the minority views. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. hudson: tokeo what ben ber
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banky said at a -- to quote what ben bernanke said, it will likely increase cost of people who use derivatives and make it more difficult for the bank to compete with foreign competitors who can compete a -- who can compete with foreign competitors. i ask my colleagues to support his bill and i thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: yes, mr. speaker, and now i'd like to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from texas who is also the ranking member of the subcommittee on oversight and investigation on the financial services committee, representative al green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas, mr. green, is recognized for two minutes. mr. green: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, not everyone supports this legislation. the ranking member waters was mentioned but she spoke eloquently today why she
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opposes 992. mr. frank is not here to speak for himself so we cannot say that he food would support 992. d it may be that we have the afl-cio opposing 992, public citizen, the commodity markets ersight coalition, it may be we have them opposing it because we understand, as do many others, that this weekend marks the 84th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1929. it was that stock market crash that gave us glass-steagall in 1933. glass-steagall provided the firewall between commercial banking and investment banking. it didn't let you use tax dollars in the sense that they're insured by fdic to engage in investment banking. well, it seems ironic that it took us 66 years to repeal glass-steagall. 66 years to repeal that firewall that separated
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commercial banking from investment banking and it's taking us how a little more than three years to repeal by y of evis ration 716 of -- eviceration 716 of dodd-frank. this firewall is to protect investors, taxpayers, if you will, taxpayers from those investors who engage in derivatives. this derivatives market that we are talking about is $600 trillion to approximately $1.2 quadrillion dollars. no one really knows. only god knows how big it is. but what we're doing is exposing, we're exposing tax dollars to this derivatives market, and it's my hope we will not pass this legislation because it will set us back. let's give section 716 an opportunity to function. glass-steagall functioned 66 years. let's not repeal 716 in a little more than three.
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the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield three minutes to the gentlelady from missouri, also member of the committee, mrs. hartzler. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized for three minutes. mrs. hartzler: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of this act. i understand the need for farm cooperatives and manufacturing companies to manage their risks. h.r. 992 reforms section 716 of dodd-frank to ensure businesses can manage their long-term commodity and equity risks. missouri's the show me state and i ask the opposition to show me how section 716 benefits my constituents and decreases overall risk in the u.s. financial markets. since the beginning, federal reserve chairman bernanke and tresh secretary geithner have opposed to section 716 edition of dodd-frank. show me how section 716
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decreases overall risks to the financial markets. chairman bernanke clearly stated, it's not evident why section 716 makes the company as a whole safer. and what we do see is that it will likely increase the cost of people who use the derivatives. since dodd-frank became law, no equivalent provisions have been adopted in any other foreign jurisdictions that are working through their own derivatives reforms. show me how placing u.s. firms at a competitive disadvantage with international banks will ultimately benefit manufacturers in my district managing their interest rate risks. h.r. 992, however, would prevent financial institutions from forcing much of the derivatives businesses outside the bank. show me why banks, which are more heavily regulated, more highly capitalized entity than a stand-alone affiliate, are not a better platform for regulators to monitor swap activity and protect u.s. financial markets. . farmers in missouri must contend
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with a variety of weather and other variables. they use derivatives to manage risk. show me why we should allow 716 section to increase cost to my farmers who want to manage risk so they can focus on their real job, feeding america. h.r. 992 is a much-needed change risk foroves financial many. i urge my colleagues to vote for this legislation and together let's show the american people we are for smart reforms to allow manufacturers, businesses and farmers to manage their risks in a commonsense way. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: i would like to yield to a leader on the financial services committee, and the chief democratic co-sponsor of
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his bill, the gentleman from connecticut, representative jim himes. the speaker pro tempore: how many minutes? mr. scott: three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. himes: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentleman for yielding me time. derivatives are probably one of the mor complicated things we deal with in this chamber. it's worth describing what 992 does. it abides by a principle i think we can all agree makes sense. those things which contributed to the meltdown of 2008, the terrible mortgages, derivatives based on those mortgage, those things that contributed to the meltdown of 2008 should be either made unlawful or much more closely regulated than they were in the past. but those things that were not related, in any way, shape, or form, that did not contribute to the meltdown of 2008, we should take a little lighter hand on. and what 992 is, it says that
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those derivative the currency derivative, equity swaps, all these things that weren't anywhere close to the meltdown of bear stearns and lehman brother, those will not be subject to a very aggressive measure saying banks cannot trade in those derivatives. now banks trade in derivatives because they support their clients. and trade -- i emphasize trade, buzz one of their clients will boar low $100 million to build in japan that exposes them to yen risk. maybe i don't want to take yen risk and make the guy who lent me money can help me offload the risk. 992 in no way allows for the risky derivatives, collateralized bond obligations, those real estate the rivities in no way allows them back into the banking environment and it in no way permits a bailout of banks because of derivatives. it makes sense to spend, even
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though we've spent a lot of time on this today, to spend time on the rest oy of this -- history of the bill. then-ranking member barney frank takes a suggestion from then-representative nan hayworth to repeal section 716. the then-ranking member says let's not repeal it. let's allow for the plain vanilla common derivatives to remain in the banks and push out the dangerous ones. the democratic staff helps draft this. i'm personally asked to offer this amendment to nan haworth's bill. she accepts it. a voice vote is passed, the bill is passed in the last congress. the minority supports it, well all forth it -- support it this year the same thing comes before us, we've beginned up the press, ginned up the press, ginned up the bloggers, what is different? what passed in bipartisan fashion last congress real toiv
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this congress. he london whale? j.p. morgan was hedging. that's allowed. what has changed is that we no longer do the hard work of finding finally -- finely balanced regulation like in water or air. in financial services, in dodd-frank today, we have a morality play. either you repeal dodd-frank in its entirety because it's awful or you may not touch a word in the law. folks, we are about finding that balance. and ins a much as we go in front of each -- and ins a mutches we go in front of in front of each other, that impugn ours motives as individuals and does not inform the debate. this is well balanced debate that passed overwhelmingly bipartisan. let's do our jobs of finding
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finely balanced regulation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. conaway: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois on committee the committee as well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to my colleagues for standing here on this floor today to talk about this very important piece of legislation. mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 992. it's been introduced by my friends, richard hudson from north carolina and randy hultgren from the great state of illinois. i can't respond to my colleagues who ask about what happened here last term because i wasn't here but i can tell you from my seat here in the u.s. house, this bill is a good bill and needs to be passed. it seeks to fix yet another unintended consequence of dodd frank while still protecting against risky derivatives activities. mr. davis: this bill amends section 716, known as the
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dodd-frank pushout provision. section 716 would force banks to push out certain derivatives like ag-based swaps and other swaps that are important to my district. it would drive up transaction costs. according to ben bernanke, this would actually make the u.s. financial system riskier. this legislation, this bipartisan legislation, passed the ag committee 31-14 and the financial services committee, 53-6. let me repeat that. bipartisan legislation passed 31-14 out of the house ag committee, 53-6 out of financial services. this is commonsense legislation that will help all americans. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. mr. scott: i now yield two minutes to representative brad schneider of illinois, a member of the small business committee who understands the value of
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this legislation to main street businesses. two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. schneider: thank you mr. speaker, thank you for yielding. h.r. 992 resolves a widely recognized unintended consequence of section 716 of dodd-frank. i join in asking my colleagues to support this bill in an effort to strengthen dodd-frank and actually improve transparency and oversight in our financial system. the overall goal of dodd-frank is to provide a sound, robust financial system following the upheaval of our financial markets in 2008. i support dodd-frank and i'm fully committed to realizing its goals. but no piece of legislation is perfect this body has recognized that and passed measures to correct adverse unintended consequences identified in dodd-frank when it was signed into law. that's what we're doing again here today this bill does not undermine the intent or overall implementation of dodd-frank. however, section 716 as it is
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currently written could impede those very efforts. by indiscriminately pushing out routine swap trades from heavily regulated banks to less regulated firms, it inserts more risk into our system. it could also make mitigating the risk with derivatives so expensive that firms could stop using them resulting in higher costs for consumers. former federal resembing change paul vecker and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke have said this measure as written is problematic. if the foremost experts have problems with it, why must we maintain it? this provides the soundness dodd-frank intended for our banking system. it ensures manufacturers and farmers can hedge against price
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fluctuations a process that's i -- that's indegree ral to the system. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. conaway: may i inquire how much time is left on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas has four and a half minutes, the gentleman from georgia has four nd three quarters. mr. conaway: thank you. i yield two and a half minutes to the gentleman from arkansas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two nd a half minutes. this increases risk and places undue burden on hedging activities. this would take an important step to ensure that dodd-frank is living up to its promise to
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limit systemic risk. even barney frank, the name sake of the bill in question, endorsed this bill last congress saying it, quote, will not in any way reduce sensible regulations and derivatives, end quote. i rarely agree with congressman frank but i share the goal of regulating the financial system in a sensible way and i think that's key. keep banks from forcing their derivatives to outside firms that are less regulated system of believe it would provide more regulation but it's the other way around. we're asking institutions to mitigate their risk to have a stronger banking system. a stronger banking system makes america more competitive economically, it creates jobs and provides stability for the consumer. i urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation and with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott is recognized.
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mr. scott: we are ready to close, i would ask my colleague, mr. conway, if he has more speakers -- mr. conaway, if he has more speakers? mr. conway: we don't. mr. scott: thank you. i yield myself the remainder of my time. we have before us the single most important bill facing the viability, the financial security and the stability of the financial system within the united states and throughout the world. $712 ealing here with a trillion piece of the world economy. now my friends who are in opposition to this certainly have some legitimate points. no question about that. we had a meltdown. banks and members on wall street did wrongdoing. but this isn't the bill to punish them for doing that
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wrong. we punish them for wrongdoing by working with the regulators and putting in motion not just civil penalties, not just financial penalties, but criminal action. but we do that in another place, another another time. we have already approached that with the cftc to use criminal actions if any of this kind of shenanigans happen again. but we are here, we are here to make sure that our banking system, that our economy, that has to work on the world's stage, has not a disadvantage. if you push out these commodity swaps, security swaps, we are doing a great disservice not just to the banks, but to our end users. you are going to take commodities and when you look at
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, mr. speaker, the commodities, these are things like aluminum. they are agribusiness products. 40 out of our 50 states, the largest part of their economy is agribusiness. let us take something like coca-cola. the coca-cola company who has to deal with aluminum for cans or pepsico la or any of those in our beverage industry, they have to mitigate their risk. if you push them out of where they have to do their business in the same bank, with interest rates swaps, and by the way, the interest rate swaps is the critical pivot swap to mitigate that risk. and you're going to push commodities out, you're going to push the farmers out, you're going to push all the manufacturers, the automobile industry, all of these people
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that use commodities will not be able to do business in that same bank where the interest rates are. where the currency fluctuation rates are. and when you have that, you are putting us at a great disadvantage. this is why chairman bernanke said that this is a problem. this adds to the systemic risk when you push out these individual commodities out into another area. it creates uncertainty. the other thing that it does, it puts our banking system at a huge disadvantage competitively because these foreign banks, they're not pushing their swaps out, and that means that the united states banking system could see a migration of swap activities out in the world. we are the leader of the world.
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we have got to act like that, and that's what h.r. 992 will do. it will be that pours that will help our banking system be the true leader in this world and not at a disadvantage. and so in great respect to those in opposition, no tax moneys is written in the law of section 716. no taxpayer money can be used for bailouts. ok. you talked about the fdic. you cannot use that because that's the bank's money. they put up to insure deposits. not of that goes into swaps. and you certainly -- we can't use proprietary trading. the volcker rule settles that where they cannot make any kind
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of money or make profit on the deposits of ordinary citizens. nowhere is there any taxpayer liability. this is a good bill. i urge everybody in this house of representatives to realize our economic security is at stake and let's pass h.r. 992. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my good friend, david scott, that is the ranking member on the committee we lead supporting this bill as well as the good work we've done with respect to our committee. i want to thank richard hudson and sean maloney for nair work in bringing this together. a couple points and then i'll close. the london wale has been mentioned as a reason why we shouldn't move forward to 992.
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that is a misassociation. those trades are uncleared -- on cleared exchanges and occurred within the bank and would have been unaffected by section 716 had it in fact be been implemented. one of the telling points is potential regulators on this particular section of the law have put off the actual implementation of this law until at least july of 2015. so if time is of the essence, if the disaster was around the corner, then i think the potential regulators would have recognized that and would have moved a little more hastily. there is no boogieman here, mr. speaker. this is good bipartisan, bicameral legislation that really protects the unintended consequence, poorly drafted bill in 2010 when dodd-frank was passed. it didn't have the -- it didn't intend to have these kind of consequences and this simply addresses that. with that, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the bill and let's pass this on
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and get it on over to the senate. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 391 the previous question is ordered on the bill. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to amend provisions in section 716 of the dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act relating to federal assistance for swaps entities. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the entlewoman opposed to the bill ? ms. brownley: i am. the clerk: ms. brownley moves to recommit the bill to the committee on financial services committee --
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ms. brownley: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the clerk: insert the following -- section 3, preventing oil and biofuel price manipulation. nothing in this act or the amendments made by this act shall limit the authority of the bank regulatory agencies and other regulators to examine a cover depository institution's compliance with laws prohibiting the manipulation of commodity markets, particularly the excessive speculation and manipulation of biofuel prices and to limit depository institutions in such markets. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from california, is recognized for five minutes in support of her motion. ms. brownley: thank you, mr. speaker. in is the final amendment to h.r. 992, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. if adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. my amendment is a simple, straightforward improvement that i believe both sides can
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agree is absolutely necessary, and i believe is also supported by the majority of the american people. if my amendment passes, it will ensure that the american people, consumer, families, businesses are protected from reckless speculation that's driving up the price of gas at the pump. specifically, my amendment ensures that nothing in this act would limit the ability of regulators to go after excessive speculation and manipulation of oil and biofuels. it simply clarifies that bank regulators have the authority to stop manipulation in the commodities markets. this amendment also protects the wallets and pocketbooks of all americans by ensuring that banks will not be given a free pass to destabilize commodity markets and drive up energy prices for all americans at the
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pump. mr. speaker, as you know, speculation in the energy sector is a very real, a very present and a very serious problem. volatility in oil markets since 2008 and more recently in biofuels leads to a dramatic price swing, causing pain for every american who depends on gasoline at the pump. in september, "the new york times" reported that prices for biofuel credits had recently surged 20-fold in just six months. because of these problems, many members of congress on both sides of the aisle have called for investigations in both oil and biofuel price manipulation. in fact, just last week, on october 22, 15 of our colleagues, democrats and republicans, asked the u.s. commodity futures trading commission to look into whether
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fraud and manipulation was playing a role in the biofuel credit price swings. but the concerns of many americans extend far beyond biofuels. earlier this year, both the e.u. and u.s. authorities began looking at oil price manipulation, which not only affects the price at the pump, but also artificially increases prices on everything from food to manufactured goods. according to the energy information agency, 71% of the price of a gallon of gas and 63% of the price of diesel is directly related to the price of crude oil. thus, there is no doubt that speculators who drive up the price of crude oil are impacting the price at the pump. and every time there's a gas hike, it hurts working families struggling to make ends meet. it hurts commuters driving to
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work and to school, including most of my constituents in ventura county. it hurts small, mid-sized and large businesses driving up the price of doing business and impacting their ability to invest in new equipment and hire new workers. it hurts our military, including those at naval base ventura county, costing more to move troops and supplies. it hurts seniors, many of whom live on fixed incomes and cannot afford an increase in retail grocery prices. it hurts the specialty crop growers in my district, including the strawberry, avocado, citrus and others whose bottom line is so closely tied to the price of energy. and it also hurts our overall national economy and threatens to throw job creation. important it is so
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that we prevent bad actors from taking excessive or even manipulative positions using swaps. i believe that many members of congress on both sides of the aisle are honestly concerned about speculation in our energy markets, so let's do something today to stop it. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on the motion to recommit. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. hensarling: i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. hensarling: thank you, mr. speaker. i don't really understand the motion to recommit because regulators already have the power that is described here. so therefore, mr. speaker, i find the matter to be irrelevant, not of particularly good use of the house's time and for those reasons alone it ought to be opposed. it's getting in the way of the most strongest, most bipartisan pieces of legislation that's
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come to the house, passed the financial services committee by an overwhelming vote of 53-6. it will help grow the economy. it will put people back to work. it will reduce systemic risk. i want to thank all of the sponsors, especially the gentleman from illinois, mr. hultgren, for his leadership on this very valuable piece of legislation. it is time to oppose the motion to recommit. it is time to pass the swaps regulatory improvement act. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the nays have it, rather. ms. brownley: mr. speaker, on that i demand the yeas and nays, please. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device.
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pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this is a 15-minute vote on the motion to recommit. it will be followed by five-minute votes on passage of the bill, if ordered, and passage on the house joint resolution 99. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]
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