's legislative agenda. >> america does not stand still and neither will i. i can taked whenever steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more american families, that is what i am going to do. ♪ host: president obama pledging a year of action in his state of the union address. he will take his pledges on the road at a costco in maryland and a steel plant in pennsylvania today. peter baker writes about last night's state of the union. promises come as he tries to rejuvenate a presidency.

he uses annual stain you the union -- the annual state of the his owndress to rely on authority. what is your take on the president's fifth state of the union address. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. send us a tweet, @cspanwj or post your comments on facebook.com/cspan. here's with the president had to say last night about the state of our union. [video clip] market,ounding housing a manufacturing sector that is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990's, more oil

produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world, the first time that is happened in nearly 20 years. [applause] our deficits, cut by more than half. for the first time, in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that china is no longer the world's number one place to invest, america is. host: his fifth annual state of the union address, talking about where our economy is. what did you make of the speech? on facebook, we had these comments about president obama saying he will act alone on several fronts. he is setting a very dangerous precedents. thee does he think he gets authority to rule echo king? it isn't in the constitution.

the obstructionist republicans are brought this on themselves. it is about time. that is code for dictator. tony, democratic caller, what are your thoughts? caller: i think the american people don't realize that the republicans are holding a grudge against the president because mitt romney did not get in as their choice. if the people of this united states do not realize that they to hurt theamacare president and the american people, it comes down to racist. they are mad because the president is black. no one can change my mind. you can look at the facial and the way that john boehner looks.

if the republicans had guts, they would stand up and think about the american people. they are using obamacare as an excuse. they knew there candidate, mitt romney, was not strong enough to defeat the president. whatwill do anything with -- they will do anything with -- this goes way back. i remember my grandfather telling me in the early -- withion days that the people of this country don't know is that the republicans are against the poor people. banksve big raises to the , to the car dealer. million people that have welfare, unemployment benefits. shame on the republicans. that yesterday

was his fourth week without getting unemployment. i brought him over to my house because he was cold. he didn't have anything to eat. that is a slap in the face to thican people. i am an american and i am proud to be. i don't agree with a lot of the things the president has done, but they are holding the american people up with this obamacare. host: the president did call on congress to renew and extend those long-term unemployment benefits for the 1.3 million americans i lost them recently. we will go to j, don't, illinois. lton, illinois. caller: he had outstanding accomplishments during his presidency. we were losing 700,000 jobs a month when he came into office. now, we are growing jobs. improvement in terms of the military, we have

pulled out of iraq. always have troops over there, at least for the foreseeable future. that is an accomplishment. you look at the issue as it relates to the rights of women. that is an accomplishment. those are some monumental things that he hasn't topless -- that he has accomplished. hard for the rights of the average person to make the standard of living better. improving minimum wage. he hammered that. so obvious what his agenda is. he had a rebuttal from the congressman, it was less about substance, more about ideology, no specifics.

how can a party 54 the rights of the average -- fight for the rights of average -- of the rage person, but they won't agree on minimum wage? they don't get it. host: would you do for a living? caller: i am an educator, junior high. again, the republican party do not get it. this is one of the reasons they are not going to win a general election. ive party is not inclus enough. host: i'm going to leave it there. liberty, texas, what do you think? caller: it is more of the same rhetoric. he is good at an early stick

programming. programming.c the people i know are fed up with this guy. not changing,e is they are working more hours and having less of a comfort zone. i am a roughneck. i am having a hard time finding work in texas in the oilfield, even though it is booming. it is sad. if he were to talk about bringing back glass-steagall, i would be the first one to champion him. i voted for him the first time, because i was sick of bush. i think at this stage in the game, he is george bush on steroids. everything he said he is going to do, he has doubled down. returningng the veterans are domestic terrorists? that is scary. host: gary, high point, north

carolina, what are your thoughts? we are at the highest unemployment we have ever been in north carolina. stay off the golf course and stay in the white house for a while and see what is going on. work with the people. work with the house, work with the senators. don't try to be a king. that. not under we put him in there. hopefully everyone gets them out. host: did you vote for him? caller: i did. host: did you over and twice? caller: the first time. host: when did you decide you did not agree with him anymore? caller: i gave the man four years to do the job. if you don't have something done in 48 hours and construction, you get fired.

host: is that what you do for a living? caller: yes, ma'am. i am an electrician. you cannot buy a job in north carolina. host: are you collecting unemployment? caller: i cannot collect. every time we get a job, three months later, they lay us off. then, you cannot draw anything. i fought in vietnam. i fought for our rights. we have no rights anymore. they give the jobs to the mexican people because they were cheaper. i cannot work for $7.50 an hour and pay house payments. host: can you work for $10.10? caller: i doubt it. is $3.28 ars -- gas gallon.

i drive a pickup truck. you cannot drive a car to a construction site with all your tools in a. -- in it. the washington times, obama pledges a year of action. the president has downsized from his big speeches. -- shifting for towards micro-policies and more specific targeted ideas. the washington post front page this morning, obama calls for a year of action is their headline. shey say that obama'd tricky task is to convince a nation that he is able to break through the partisan gridlock to make meaningful improvement in people's lives. more americans rated his performance negatively than positively. 50% disapproved.

an analysis piece says that a frustrated president takes on a risky strategy of going alone. thet wilson reports that strategy could help democrats who are a long shot to take the house and in jeopardy of losing the senate in november. --e conservatives say that some conservative states where democrats need to do well in the election, the perception of a presidential end run around congress could do more harm than good to the parties candidates. fearing an instruction is -- an up structure and -- ann obstructionist label, republicans may decide it is better to act inoncert with the president on some issues. onlytive order may be the option, but it comes with limits. he cannot raise the minimum wage for most workers.

do itounced that he would for federal contractors. he cannot overhaul the social security system, ran legal status to undocumented yellow -- undocumented immigrants. the same time, anyone who succeeds him can also use this -- use the stroke of a pen to undo mr. obama's actions, just as mr. obama did to some bush-era policies. obama seeks to jumpstart stalled plans. "usa today's front page says -- make this the year of action. speech wise, what a difference a year makes. there is the difference between and downsizedons

dreams. it reflects a political journey from aspirational to achievable. patricia, st. paul, minnesota. what did you think of last night's speech? sad, but i amery going to get my determination up again. i am tired of the perpetration of lies that he continues and the democrats continue to do about saying the republicans are --. president obama was the one that started this from day one when he would not talk to the republicans. he would not go over to congress. he started that. i wish i had a president that was the president for the entire country, not just the democrats. describe he uses to

e republicans, the rhetoric, it is incendiary. it is arrogant. it is condescending. it is divisive. talk about putting a new meaning on the word bully pulpit. cecelia, illinois, what do you think? caller: good morning. that i thought the speech was boring. year, there was hope. this year, i knew what he was going to say before he said them. the republican response basically picked out his big paws lines and used it for their -- pause lines and used it for their response. far as him saying john boehner, the son of a barkeep is yeah, the leader of the

house. the one who gave the republican kedponse, she said she wor at mcdonald's, that she never dreamed she would be sworn in as a representative of the government. i want to make a quick point about mike huckabee in the comment he made last week. he ran to be the president. our national symbol, uncle sam, who is like a stern, strong, uncle who tells it is your duty to be of service. uncle sugar.e sam the republican who gave

the gop response was cathy mcmorris rodgers. we can show you a little bit of what she had to say. the speaker of the house responded to the president's with a tweet and a vine come asking the president -- he tweeted out this vine, saying, where are the jobs? the leaders of the republicans in the senate put out this. if the president once a year of action, there are good ideas that the parties can agree on. revenue neutral tax reform, trade promotion legislation, and the keystone xl pipeline. that is what mitch mcconnell had to say about that. here is cathy mcmorris rodgers with the official gop response, where she talked about this issue of income inequality,

responding to what the president had to say on that. [video clip] >> last month, more americans stopped looking for a job than found one. too many people are falling further and further behind because right now, the president's policies are making people's lives harder. republicans have plans to close the gap, focusing on jobs first, without more spending, government bailouts, and red tape. every day we are working to expand our economy, one manufacturing job, nursing degree, and small business at a time. we have plans to improve our education and training systems so you have the choice to determine where your kids go to school. so college is affordable and skills training is modernized. host: that is her gop response to the state of the union. many reporters were there.

they were looking up facts and addressing what the president mcmorris rodgers had to say. truth-o-meter on more people stop looking for a job than found one. they say this is half true. there are several problems with the comparison. a large portion of those people who left the workforce simply retired. demographic reality that an ever-growing growing number of americans are getting older. they call that a half-truth. also, senator mike lee, republican of utah, gave the response for the tea party movement. this is what he had to say in a tweet. an inequality godzilla that has robbed working families of their insurance, their doctors, their wages and their jobs.

that is senator mike lee. senator rand paul, republican of kentucky, he gave a response to the president's state of the union address. a potential contender for 2016. bruce, jacksonville, florida, democratic caller. caller: i am an independent color. -- caller. where are we going to get the money from? president obama came into office and we have had 17 -- host: we are listening. trillion. spent $17 $1 trillion on the economic recovery act when he first came into office. how are everyone's roads doing?

the unemployment benefits -- where does that money come from? that comes from the federal government. it is tax money. someone else's tax money. obamacare was a debacle. the website did not work out right. it is not secure. they have not developed the payment part of the health care. don't insurance companies make money, the taxpayers are going to be on the hook to make up for the shortfall. where is that money coming from? we are spending money that we do not have and i don't understand. people think government money -- it is actually taxpayer money. would you do for a living? caller: i am retired. host: what did you do? caller: i worked for the post office for 23 years. host: mike, oklahoma, republican

caller. caller: my common is this. this is not about race. i do not believe a president should have the stroke of a pen to offset congress. i think that is a dangerous road to go down. you are superseding the sena and the house. you are superseding where people can get together, could get together, and work together to bring better bills on both sides of the issue. himself, tois by me, he is alienating both sides of this. it is creating a fourth branch of government, which our constitution did not set up. this power.of i do not want to see any president have that much power. host: the president talked about raising the minimum wage. here's what he had to say. it [vide[video clip] >> you don't have to wait for

congress to act. americans will support you if you take this on. as a chief executive, i intend to lead by example. profitable corporations like costco, see higher wages as a smart way or to bruce -- to boost productivity. we should, too. i will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour tom a because if you cook our troop's meals or wash their dishes, you should not have to work and poverty. [applause] to reach millions more, congress does need to get on board.

today, the federal minimum wage is worth about 20% less than when ronald reagan first and here. we have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. this will help families. businesses more customers with more money to spend. it does not require any new bureaucratic programs. -- join the rest of the country. say yes. give america a raise. what a list fact ct has to say about federal wage being worth about 20% less. they say that is mostly true. on raisingoughts minimum wage in the country. -- women in the country.

[video clip] >> women deserve equal pay for equal work. [applause] she deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. a mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or a sick parent, without running into hardship. a father does, too. it is time to do away with work laced policies that the long and "mad hat's a belong in a men" episode.

has checked itt saying that when women earn only $.77 for every dollar aim man earns, -- a man earns, this is mostly true. in 2010, women working full-time had median weekly earnings of 669 dollars versus 801 a four dollars for males, according to the bls. women earned $.81 on the which has been typical since about 2004. what are your thoughts on the state of the union? caller: the thing about the minimum wage is what upsets me. it was never meant to be a living wage. i tell the guys that i work with. a dollarst making $.25.

you're making -- you are not making eight dollars 25 cents. you're making $2.90. women will tell me they cannot unload trucks, they cannot pick up the bales of potatoes, they cannot lift the skid. they get paid what i get paid, i can't call and say they aren't doing the job. is, i blame congress. what they have done is they have made -- they have not done their job. they let all of the jobs go out of the country. some of the people in their made choices. had -- i did not go to college. that was a stupid thing on my part. there are people out there -- those were the guys that slept through class, did not show up, and now there are minimum wage

jobs and they're wondering why. timeshere's the financial this morning on the whole issue of minimum wage. they say full-time workers on the minimum wage of $7.25 an ,our will earn $14,500 a year assuming a 40 hour week. to $10.10 would boost the income to $20,200. what will happen then -- let's say you're making $16 an hour. jobgot promoted, got the progression for staying on the job, now you just made that guy's pay, he is not making $16 hour. he is only making $14 because you cut his pay by two dollars an hour. andress let the jobs go out a lot of these people don't want to go to college, they don't want to finish high school and

then they want someone to go by the way, since you made all of these been the stake, we will help you. mistakes, wese bad will help you. i am independent. i voted for barack obama twice. most of the people, when they come on, they say it is the democrats or republicans. i consider that person an uninformed voter. , read ito the research different sources, they will learn that the political system you are looking at, we do not have too. we have one thing. we do not even have a government. we have an organization that does not care about us. person an independent running that cares about the guy that is making between $40,000 and $150,000. host: what is the best way to

spur growth? start terror pending that stuff that comes from china. if you look at france and germany, they don't allow them withoutour products tariffs. the president talked about the different proposals that he would like to work with congress on. igration andis imm tax reform. [video clip] >> both democrats and republicans have argued that our policies are riddled with loopholes.

let's flip that equation. let's work together to close and theopholes incentives to ship jobs overseas and lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs at home. [applause] we can take the money that we say from this transition to create jobs, rebuilding our roads, upgrading our ports, unclogging our commutes. economy, first-class jobs gravitate to first-class infrastructure. he congress to protect more than 3 million jobs by finishing waterwayation and hills the summer. that can happen. -- waterway bills this summer. that can happen.

we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible. on tax reform, the senator that has the financial services leaving if heis gets confirmed to be the president's ambassador to china. he said that he will be fair, but firm with beijing. go to ourhat, website, c-span.org. the senatehill, intelligence committee is going to be hearing from the top national security officials about worldwide threats and we will have coverage of that and you can join the conversation with the #cspanchat. committee judiciary will hear from eric holder. that will be -- we will have coverage of that as well.

c-span.orgebsite, and find out what is happening on capitol hill, we are covering. the houses slated to take up the five-year farm bill that has been in negotiation for weeks and months, if not a year. they have a deal slated to come before the house today. tune into c-span for our coverage of that. on the state of the union address last night, here is what was tweeted out in response to what the president had to say about raising wages. theective bargaining is best way to raise wages. we are getting your thoughts on the president saying that he will act with or without congress when it comes to helping the middle class. there are the phone numbers on your screen. we will take your calls, e-mails, tweets, and you can post your comments on facebook.com/c-span. times" has this piece.

they say that the power of twitter to state -- shape the debates was on this place shortly before mr. obama began. randy weber posted an error riddled message that called the president a socialistic to cater dictator-- socialistic and it went viral. -- on the this out floor of the house, waiting on the commander -- kommanda nt-in-chef, the socialistic dictator who's been feeding the u.s.. lawmakers, candidates, operatives and even the president are increasingly

turning to twitter and other social media. same asle is the before, but they are hoping to prevail, 140 characters at a time. congressional republicans rallied around me hash -- around g like #closethegap to push their message of reducing income inequality. republican a recording station on vine, allowing caucus-goers to record short responses. the energy secretary did not attend last night. he will act as the designated survivor at the state of the union address. the white house used -- chooses

one member to sit out the speech in case of a catastrophe. denise, greensboro, north carolina. good morning. i thought it was a good speech. i have been sitting here forening to the callers and some callers to call the president eric and and another caller -- resident air against for some callers to call the president arrogant, and the complaints about obamacare, there are going to be glitches we have a program this big. the bottom line is, since was elected, the

game plan for the republicans opposed to president obama is to ruin his legacy. the caller who said the president started all of this, no he did not. he came in, trying to bridge and unite the country, he was met with opposition. forced to useeen ,xecutive religious and i say go, obama. it is about time. i hope his legacy gets the fairness it deserves. jim, spartanburg, south carolina. you just showed to clips of the president. one saying women are underpaid and something should be done about it and what is the only thing you can do about it is to write write regulation -- to

new regulation. you should another clip of him saying that the tax code should be simpler. it is vitriol. it makes you not want to watch the speech. the should have shown national debt going up during a speech. since he has been in power, it has gone up $7 trillion. he has been in power for five years and he acts like he has not been. a lady that called earlier that blasted what huckabee said. -- he was saying that saying that liberals viewed it as uncle sugar. mentioned the unemployment

benefits and how they split the economy. if you take money out of the taxpayer's pocket to give them unemployment, they could've spent that money and stimulated the economy themselves. if you don't take it out of the worker's pocket and you borrow money to do it, you run it that much higher. we have not seen a reason for doing that. there is the debt clock. the new york times reports that one of the most emotional points of the evening came with the introduction of sergeant first class cory remsburg. he is blind in one eye and still learning how to walk again. he made it to his feet in the first lady's box. ovationved an extended

, who has endured a long recovery from a stroke, applauded by stamping his cane on the floor. -- the soldiers and marines many soldiers and marines have tovived, but the challenge rehabilitate their bodies and minds are daunting. we are getting your thoughts on the fifth annual state of the union address. it will take it on the road today as he goes to costco in maryland. he will go to a steeled lance in pennsylvania to talk about new retirement benefits he wants to put in place.

we will have coverage, go to our website, c-span.org. 40,he issue of executive of christian science monitor has this graphic you can see how it compares over the years.

used thence that have executive orders to get around congress. independent caller, go ahead. i'm going to put you on hold. you have to turn down the television. jack, fort wayne, indiana. caller: good morning. the president's speech was good, he missed the boat. the republicans totally missed the boat in their 10 minute rebuttal. obama missing the vote -- the goingthe biggest issue is to be obamacare. they didbelieve that not have someone putting together some kind of a plan to address the issue of everytime you hear the republicans or

opponents of obama care, the sale of these people lost their insurance. someone should have -- they say all of these people lost their insurance. someone should have come up with a concrete plan. the president had plenty of time to detailed plan of what they will do to solve the problems. there are problems. there republican side, was no specifics in that 10 minute speech. i learned more about her personality and her family. that was ridiculous. i read the libertarian response online, at least they had some specifics. is going think issue to be the affordable care act heading into 2014? what about immigration? caller: i don't think that is going to be an issue. in the sense that i do not think far as be an issue as the non-hispanic community is concerned. i think it will be for the

hispanic community. host: about getting them out to vote and having them vote with the democrats against republicans? caller: i think the democrats will have more success at getting the hispanics to the polls. the president talked about immigration reform. here's what he had to say. clip]dio] -- [video we need to fix our broken immigration system. [applause] republicans and democrats in the senate have acted. members of both parties of the house want to do the same. immigration reform will grow our

economy and strengthen our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. when people come here to for full there -- to fulfill their dreams, to contribute to our culture, they make our country a more attractive place. let's get immigration reform done this year. [applause] let's get it done. it is time. act. pushing congress to in the gop response by cathy mcmorris rodgers, here's what she had to say about the issue. clip] >> yes, it is time to honor our history of legal immigration. we are working on a step-by-step solution to immigration reform by first securing our borders and making sure america will always attract the best, brightest, and hardest working from around the world.

wayne, indiana, what do you think? in the i tend to lean libertarian direction. if anyone is serious about this, the first thing they should do is end of the war on drugs, decriminalize the position -- the possession of drugs and take the profit out of it, you will stop it. host: that is the way to tackle immigration reform? if your first priority is to secure the border, the best way to start that is to end the war on drugs. the traffickers who are coming across, threatening the people along the southern part of the country. host: david, flint, michigan. i listened to all of the

speeches. i enjoy this. some of the things i like, i like the $10.10 for the poorest workers. women. his opinion on the women do need more money. there are a lot of single moms out there and i think they do need money. companies can afford it. i enjoyed what he said about getting out of afghanistan. i saw the soldier that was injured in my heart went out to him. i think we have done what we can over there and it is time to leave. i think he was conciliatory towards the republicans. he did not come out to fight with them. he came out to give a speech to bring us together. amy klobuchar tweeted this out.

he reminded us that american democracy has never been easy. about warent did talk and sending troops into harm's way. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> i've had to use force when needed to protect the american people. i will never hesitate to do so as long as i hold the office. i will not send our troops into harm's way unless it is necessary. nor, will i allow our sons and daughters to be mired in open-ended conflict. we must fight the battles that need to be fought. host: pat, florida, republican caller. the one thing that really bothered me was the aarp united healthcare. my husband and i are both retired. we still pay taxes. we pay taxes on everything, including our taxes. we both worked since we were

children, part-time at 16 and full-time for 40 and 42 years. one of the things i do not appreciate was when i was told that i could keep my health care and then found out that we were losing our very important doctors. from thet find out aarp united healthcare. we found out by being notified by the doctors. a month fight for over to finally be able to change our health care to care that will take the doctors that we have had for 15 years. i thought that was perfectly disgusting. from talking to other people, people who had the aarp united with unions or if

they belonged to large organizations, they were able to keep their health care. people like my husband and i, and probably millions out there, who were just independent people paying out of their social security check to these medical companies, they were the ones that were dropped and deceived. i was lied to. there is the story about the affordable care act and it's next legal challenge. lawmakers weigh in on obama care in court. -- contraceptive in .ontraceptive mandate

the papers yesterday had the story about gop senators offering an alternative to obamacare. they offer a blueprint to fix it. if you're interested in that, you should probably go to their website and find what they want to do there. in other news, the headline christie, new jersey governor, saying the politics on twoept a focus races.

overseas, the wall street journal this morning, reports on a trial for the former deposed president mohamed morsi. foe judges put former morsi on trial. he was kept inside a soundproof glass cage at this trial. on the syrian talks, the new york times reports that new fireworks erupted in talks between the syrian government and the opposition. the government criticized a recent decision by the united states congress to approve continued support for the syrian the rebels and the united nations top mediator decided not to continue talks in the afternoon. talks will continue in geneva with all of the players trying to broker some sort of

peace deal. getting your take on last night costs state of the union -- last night's state of the union address. caller: thank you for taking my call. i tried to get through last night. presidencyhis 44th has been so essential to the union and its future that one day, when i was a kid, i had a -- 800 thousand dollar treasury note. i glued it back to back so it would be like a fake bill. will bee barack obama on a treasury note in the future. would you try legalization of agricultural medical, and we needonal cannabis, to take it off in 1951 narcotics

international ban treaty and also the 72 nixon kissinger dangerous drugs act. over $1 million has been added to the colorado economy and jobs. they are going to study the medicinal effects and what the quality of medicine is, which is absurd. it was the ama who campaigned in 1937.he illegality host: one issue we have not policyabout was energy and the issue of climate change. there was this tweet -- president obama laid out clear effective vision to create jobs, grow economy, and to protect our

people and planet. [video clip] >> united states has reduced our than carbon pollution more any other [applause] nation on earth. [applause] we have to act with more urgency. the change in climate is harming other communities. i instructed my administration to work with people to set standards on the amount of pollution in our power plants are allowed to dump into the air. the shift to a cleaner energy economy will not happen overnight. it will require some tough places -- tough choices along the way. climate change is a fact. when our children's children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a

more safer, stable world, i want us to be able to say, yes, we did. host: climate change is a fact in his fifth state of the union address. he will be going to maryland and pennsylvania to talk about his proposals that he outlined in last night's state of the union address. the media gatherings in statuary hall. we had our camera -- the media gathers in statuary hall. we had our cameras there. this is the story on the daily news website. new york republican, michael graham, stop to talk to reporter. he was asked about fund-raising allegations and the republican group angry and made a violent new york onet a reporter.

was -- lookske it like it took place and one of the rotunda is up on capitol hill. on a lighter note, here's what the president had to say about making it in america. [video clip] >> our success should depend on the strength of our work sa -- work ethic and the scope of our dreams. that is have a daughter he of a factory -- the daughter -- that is why the daughter of a factory worker is the ceo of a company. how the son of a barkeeper is speaker of the house. [applause]

how the son of a single mom can be president of the greatest nation on earth. host: president obama talking about how to make it in america. noting that john boehner is the son of a barkeep. i thought it was terrible. ignore the racial problems we have in this country. black sewall was a good, writer that said we have a race were going on. black onn epidemic on white crime. knockout gangs are going around hating white people on the head

-- hitting white people on the head. it is about time we start speaking out. allen west said that obama hates white people. i agree with him on that. he said eric holder is a racist. host: john, spring lake, north carolina. i was going to comment on the president and the use of executive order. ,rom a historical perspective when one looks at the constitution, you will find that the constitution does not give him the ability to sign executive orders. president may get in trouble if

he continues to do this. host: this is what was said about the president about pledging to use executive order. >> i thought the tone could have been used differently. i was the executive and governor of the state and i knew the powers of the office. i knew the constitution of the state of west virginia. i knew i was responsible for day-to-day operations to run it as effectively and efficiently as i could and i would use all the powers the office had and the constitution gave me but i would not make it sound as if i was going to go beyond the powers or do it my way without you. that could have been a little -- that tone could have been a little conciliatory. host: the senator mentioned last night after the state of the union, critical of the president for saying he wanted to use executive power on several fronts. we're going to continue our conversation here over the last hour of today's "washington journal" and we'll end a little

early. the house is coming in for legislative session. we'll continue to get your thoughts on the state of the union but will go to capitol hill where john price is joining us from the rotunda were -- where he is vice president of the budget committee and sits on the ways and means committee, the tax writing committee. mr. price, what did you think of the speech? >> i was really disappointed. seems that the president, instead of understanding we have divided government, we've got to work together and got to come together to solve the remarkable challenges we have as a country, and decided no, he's going to double down on his policies and he's going to use his pen, as he says. that's not the way our system works, so it's troubling to me that we have a executive, chief executive officer of the land who refuses to utilize the appropriate processes of governance. i think it's disappointing. i'm not sure where it will lead.

hopefully what he'll do is wake up and have his advisors say look, you've got to work with congress. it's an important thing to do and there's common ground we can find. host: what can republicans do to a response to a president that uses executive orders. >> there's multiple areas of checks and balances in our system. the first check is the attorney general, he should say to the president when he is doing things that are a, unconstitutional, or out of the norm, mr. president, that's not an appropriate thing to do. that's the executive check. and we haven't had attorney general holder do that. he hasn't fulfilled his responsibility. on the legislative side, our responsibility here in congress is to provide oversight. we do that through committees but also to put forth positive pieces of legislation that are contrasting and demonstrate to the president, look, there are other ways to solve this and we can find a solution. and the third way in our system is through the courts. and there are many, many cases that the american people are going to hear about over the next year or two that are challenging the president's authority in what he has done

already. and if he continues down this road of it's my way or the highway and i'm just going to use my pen and my phone and get out of the way, there will be huge challenges in the courts and the courts, i believe, as they've already done at lower courts, decided, mr. president, that's a step too far. you can't do that. you've got to work within the system and the constitution. host: "the new york times" editorial board agrees with the president on this strategy saying that the diminished state of the union, the congress a dead end for good policy, mr. obama is forced to govern by executive order. >> it doesn't surprise me coming from "the new york times" because they haven't been the objective arbiter. many in the press have not been objective about their assessment of this administration. it's not a prerogative. there's nothing in the constitution that says if the president and congress, if the legislative branch and executive branch don't get along then the executive branch can do what it wants. it's not a part of our testimony. it never has been a part of our

system of governance. there's wonderful ways to solve the challenges if we sit down and work together and find the common sense solution. the problem is the president refuses to do that. >> one of the issues -- host: one of the issues coming up for the congress to work with the president on is this issue of raising the debt ceiling. what will the republicans want from the president in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. >> it's important to step back and realize where we are now, e're $17 trillion in debt. our gross domestic product is held as debt. that's a problem the nations get into they have to solve that problem in order to make it economic vitality and opportunity for their citizens. we believe in the process of recognizing that debts need to be paid, there's no doubt about it, but if we're going to move forward with the policies we have, we need positive reform. we need to save and strengthen and secure medicare, not let it go broke which is under current law. we need to save and strengthen

medicaid and not let it go broke which will happen under current law. we need to save and strengthen social security which is what is going to go broke and will occur under current law. so again, there are solutions we ought to be working together on. the president refuses to negotiate. again, he says it's my way or the highway. that's not our system of governance. host: congressman, the president addressed this last night saying the differences between the two sides shouldn't be used to not govern this country. here's what he had to say. [video clip] host: we'll get that ready in a second and get your response to it. in the meantime, let me go to a phone call. howard has been waiting to talk to you in los angeles, independent caller. hi, howard. caller: how is it going? i listen to your show and never seen your show until just recently. there's a caller that said something about college, people

not going to school. i have four degrees and i had the worst time finding a job or even getting a job, and i got a degree from a state university and i have to leave my country now to get even decent pay because i heard somebody talk about minimum wage. that's garbage. obviously you don't live in california and gas here is expensive, rent is out of control. you're never going to get people to come back here and build any businesses when you have to pay people $15 to $16 when i can go to china, buy a factory and get something made for $2 or $1 and not even care about health benefits. that's a joke. host: congressman? >> howard, listen to the concern in his voice and angst in his voice. this is really troubling because the kinds of issues howard raises there are exactly the kind of things we ought to be correcting. we ought to be working together. there's no reason we can't work together and figure out how to make certain we create jobs in

this country, that we have economic vitality, that we decrease the regulatory oppression going on. instead, the president says economic instability is increasing and he's been in charge for over five years and wonders why the american people at the rate of 63% don't trust him to do the right thing. it's because he refuses to make the right diagnosis and that's because governmental policies have been put in place that make it virtually impossible for the howards of this country to be able to find a job that fits with their expertise and their area of study. host: let's go back to what we were talking about, congressman, about the issue of raising the debt ceiling, the next debate for congress. here's what the president had to say. [video clip] >> for several years now this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the size of the federal government. it's an important debate, one that dates back to our very founding. when that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most

basic functions of our democracy, when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the united states, then we are not doing right by the american people. host: congressman tom price, your reaction? guest: i couldn't agree more. so often this president says exactly the right thing but does exactly the wrong thing. the house has passed a bill and would provide and make certain we always fulfilled the full faith and credit of the united states, make certain we always pay our debts. the president refused to sign. in fact, i think he issued a veto threat on that piece of legislation. so instead of doing the right thing, he says the right thing. and that's why this is so very, very troubling for the american people. the challenge that happened last october with the shutdown of the government, the president actually wanted that. he wanted it because he thought benefit and re his it did and i'll tell you why i believe it so strongly is

because what was ultimately agreed to was essentially what was offered to him two days before the government shutdown. so this president needs to listen to his own message and needs to make certain he follows his own message and does the right thing as opposed to just talk about the right thing. host: congressman price, are you saying the republicans did not want the shutdown? guest: absolutely not. we went over and over and over on the policies we thought needed to be addressed and make certain the government didn't shut down. in fact, we passed bill after bill after bill to make certain the government didn't shut down. with the kinds of changes this president is now already put in place on obamacare, the things he's pushed to the side but done with his pen instead of the appropriate way through the legislative process. so that's where we ought to be able to come together. if we'd just talk together and find that common ground and that commonsense solution, we'd be able to get much more done. host: here's a tweet from one of our viewers who wants to know what did you agree with from last night's speech? guest: i think what i agreed

with, again, the president says many, many right things but the problem is that his policies don't follow-up. so income equality, is it a challenge? you bet. is economic mobility being threatened in this country? you bet it is. but the solution isn't to have the president double down on the policies that put those things in place. what we need to do is decrease taxes. the president talked about decreasing taxes at the business level so we are competitive in the international environment and global economy. he's absolutely right. but we also need to make certain the american people can keep more of their hard earned money so we can get this economy rolling, so there are common ground sense solutions to come forward with. in order for that to happen you have to have communication and sit down and talk and the president refuses to do that. host: hank tweets in about tax reform and ties it debt saying we can't reduce the debt without tax reform. g.o.p. and dems claim they want to do that. why not start there?

guest: she's absolutely right. on the ways and means we're working on fundamental tax reform to make certain we are competitive from a business standpoint that allow individuals to keep more of their hard-earned money and that allows american companies that are domiciled here but do business overseas and make a profit overseas, right now we punish them if they bring their profits back home from a tax standpoint. what do they do? they leave their profits over there so they can't be used back here for research and development and creating new jobs and expanding businesses. she's absolutely right. tax reform is vital. s words pe and pray that the and then engages, not just picks up his pen, but engages and talks to republicans and democrats in congress to come forward with that positive solution. host: congressman tom price, do you think any sort of legislation on taxes could include an expansion of the child tax credit, could both sides agree to that? guest: it's absolutely what's

on the table. in fact, everything is on the table from a tax reform standpoint. the important thing about tax reform is when you begin tinkering in one place, you have to make certain in other places it's not having an adverse effect. so it's an overall discussion that has to be had and we'd love to have that conversation with the president but haven't been able to because the president won't engage and that's, again, why the american people by 63% at this point don't trust the president to do the right thing because he's down in the house on pennsylvania avenue just doing his own thing, not participating in the process, the normal process of governance in this country which means to engage with the legislative branch. host: joe in fort worth, texas, democratic caller. you're on the air with republican tom price, republican of georgia. caller: good morning to you, get w a and tom. guest: hi, joe. caller: i agree with everything tom is saying about the president. he made a good speech. he always makes good speeches. and following up on what he needs to do, and that is to

connect with the business in this country. business run this is country. anything you do to affect them, and obamacare will affect them in a very disadvantaged way because when the business men that run this country and have to pay their people and insurance, and you're coming at them with something that's crippling them, really, if you look at it, it's crippling the business in this country and you won't communicate with them. and our president has this. he just doesn't communicate with the people that he needs to communicate with. he's surrounded by the people that give him the wrong advice. guest: you're spot on. my job before coming to congress was as a physician and i spent time taking care of patients on the north side of atlanta and i know as my former colleagues do, that this law in place right now is harmful to health care for the american

people and the president got up there last night and doubled down on a bill that the majority of the american people do not support and don't support because it's increasing price for the american people and decreasing access and quality. and instead of saying -- have a throw-away line to work with others but instead of saying, look, we've got to fix the things that are wrong in this, the fact of the matter is he's increasing the challenge for the american people, especially in the area of health care. we've asked now for over four years, four years, multiple times, multiple times, hundreds of times to sit down with the president and talk about a positive solution we put forward on health care, the empowering patients first act that puts families and patients and doctors in charge of health care, not washington, d.c. and been rebutted at every single turn. host: how does that legislation differ from what we heard on the senate side from three senate republicans, senator co-burns, senator but and senator hatch have their own

proposal. guest: i think it is a step in the right direction, h.r. 2300, we have support in the house and the third piece of legislation we put forward and addresses all the challenges in health care and gets folks covered with insurance they want, not that the government forces them to buy. every american is able to have the financial feasibility to purchase coverage, solves the insurance challenges of portability and pre-existing insurance, and not to lose it if you change or lose your job. you ought not ever lose your insurance if you have an awful diagnosis and be priced out of the market. we have a plan to save hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars through appropriate lawsuit abuse reform so we're able to finance the rest of the bill and end the practice of defensive medicine. so we've got a lot of ideas. in fact, there are over 160 pieces of legislation in the house of representatives on health care, on the republican side, over 160. you'd think listening to the president that there wasn't one. that's the kind of deceit he puts forward to the american people. host: back to taxes.

woody on twitter says this, why did g.e. pay no taxes and get $40 million in a refund? what about corporate tax -- what some people call subsidies? guest: she's absolutely right. g.e. ought to be paying taxes. what they did is follow the law right now and clearly get credits for certain things and deductions for certain things. what we believe ought to be done is remove the vast majority of those credits and deductions, lower the rates that utilize those resources to lower the rates and again we become competitive in the world from a business standpoint for taxes. you and your listeners likely know we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, the highest, not second, third or fourth, the highest. what that means is that when businesses look to either begin or expand in this country and go to the line that says taxes in their business plan and says the united states, the next word is no, go somewhere else. that's what howard talked about earlier from california. this is a challenging time in

the global economy and what we're doing as public policy in washington now are the wrong things. and the president oftentimes says the right things but never follows through on the right things to do so that we become more competitive. host: gregory says create a true tear tore tall taxation system instead of encouraging this behavior, tax havens are worth than north korea or cuba. go ahead, congressman. guest: in fact creating that territorial, a modern tax system is part of what we've been working on in the ways and means in the house. there are wonderful ways to solve all of this without making it more difficult for individuals to either get a job or create jobs out there. we've got to get our economy back on track and that's what i think maybe was most distressing last night is i didn't hear the kinds of thought from the president that recognizes and makes the right diagnosis so we can get our economy back on track with important policy. host: rehoboth beach, delaware.

charlotte is on the air with the congressman. caller: hello, representative price. i'm so over the top with listening to that man in the white house and the stuff that he has to say. i have yet to hear truth come out of them when they're in front of the cameras, any of the democrats. people need to be listening to c-span and see and actually watching the house and the senate when they are in session. only then do you hear any truth coming out in the public. they just lie to us because they're steering us down the road to socialism. guest: charlotte, i'm really concerned about this deceit that's kind of become the norm from the executive branch from washington in so many ways now, and it creates a cynicism on the part of the american people. and cynicism in a free society,

in a democratic society is the enemy of democracy. so this is really troubling. and i agree, that what we need to do is to, again, sit down. we've got to have the communication. and where we have differences, you bet we'll have differences but we ought to have honest differences and ought not be deceitful about what messages we're putting before the american people. again, the president of the united states, this is troubling, greta. the president of the united states has a 63% disapproval rating on the individuals who believe he will do the right thing, that they can trust him to do the right thing. this is a remarkable time in our nation's history. so what the american people need to do is to demand the democrats in the senate and the president work with all of government right now. but also to be honest with the american people. to quit the spinning. this is a very troubling time in our nation's history. and what's happening from an executive standpoint is that we're not addressing the issues that need to be addressed in a responsible way. host: congressman, is it appropriate to go as far as

calling this president a socialistic dictator like your colleague did, randy webber, last night in a tweet? guest: i don't think those kind of labels are helpful to the discussion. regardless of that, if you look at the policies, what the policies are the president put in place and continues to recommend to be put in place is that the government knows best and that the size of government isn't big enough, that we haven't taxed people enough and we don't have enough regulation. if you believe that, then you believe the president's policies are the appropriate things but i would suggest and as the american people are saying over and over again, that they believe no government is too large, that it's too ex- pansive and too oppressive and too many regulations, that we're clamping down on the job creators and therefore not able to expand the economy in positive ways. i think throwing names back and forth is not helpful on either side. again, what we need to do is to do what we were elected to do, sit down with each other, be

responsible, communicate, advocate for our position as aggressively as we know how but come together on the common ground, commonsense solutions and we urge and call on the president to come that. he has yet to do that in his administration. we're now over five years in his administration and he refuses to do the kinds of things you and i and everybody learned in our civics class in middle school and high school what the normal process of government ought to be. host: congressman, if it's not helpful to call each other names, should congressman weber apologize for this tweet? guest: again, those kinds of questions -- that's inside baseball. that gets folks pitted against each other. i'm here to try to solve problems. i'm looking forward and try to make certain that what we do is specifically and appropriately and honest define the challenges we have and agree to that definition and move forward with positive solutions. host: tonya is next in carlton, texas, democratic caller. caller: good morning, i'm a first-time caller. good morning, congressman.

guest: how are you this morning? caller: i'm doing great. i observed the speech, both of them, and looking at the point of view, i'm just thinking that as far as providing opportunities for people, you know, we see every day that there are so much inequality in everything. and looking at the arguments and stuff back and forth and everything, it just seems like nothing is getting done and every time you turn on the tv, all you see is arguments about things that's really not helping the situation at all. i would like to see more of our artisanship instead of he-said, she-said reporting. guest: so would i, i tell you. that's precisely what we're trying to do as republicans in the house of representatives. we had a hearing yesterday in our budget committee about inequality and about the economy and about how to have people be able to be lifted up to be able to have the opportunity that was just referred to by that caller. and sadly, what the president

does is says the right thing, says that there is less opportunity and less equality and less economic mobility, but then makes absolutely the wrong diagnosis and that is that the government isn't big enough and isn't dictating enough to people. what we believe ought to be done is sit down, have that conversation, hammer it out. i believe if we did that in an honest way, in a forthright way, in a way that virtually all of us did in the endeavors we were involved in before we came to washington. each one of your representatives and united states senators by and large was successful in whatever they did in their community but they didn't get there by the kind of activities we have here in washington, d.c. with battling with each other in a way that's absolutely nonconstructive and productive. so harken back to what we -- the kinds of things we were doing before we got to washington, use those talents to solve the challenges that we have. again, i'll urge and call on the president to sit down with republicans, sit down with democrats and work through these challenges because they're huge and the american

people deserve our best. host: congressman, tell us one or a few of the items that the president talked about last night that you think can happen this year, that congress and the president can work on and get it done this year? >> well -- guest: the president mentioned the importance of tax policy, being right, getting the economy growing and again he says the right things but we want to go to the next step and have that conversation so we pullly -- actually put in place policies that bring about tax reform so we allow businesses to compete in the global economy, that we allow the hard-working american taxpayers to keep more of their money to get the economy running there and the tear tore tall tax system the individual that tweeted in talked about. and then he talked about expanding trade. again, this is a global economy. it's important that americans and american businesses be able to compete globally on a level playing field and what that means is trade policy to

expand. this administration, the president has refused to engage on expanding trade promotion authority and expanding trade policy as a nation. and again, he says the right things but doesn't engage politically, he doesn't engage with his colleagues on the democratic side. he has to engage for these things to be solved. we urge and call on him to do so. host: so trade, tax reform, what about immigration? this year in 2014? guest: our immigration system is broken, no doubt about it. but i'll tell you the one thing that's absolutely broken and that's what i mentioned earlier and that's the trust of the american people in this administration to do the right thing or to follow the law. again, 63% don't believe the president is capable of doing the right thing right now or trust him to follow the law. one of the principles we have in the area of immigration and solving immigration is make certain we have a president, that the american people and that we can trust and who will enforce and follow the law. the president refuses to do that. until he does, i'm not certain there's any way we can move forward on this and it's not because we don't want to move

forward, it's because the president refuses to enforce the law of the land. host: debbie is up next in virginia, independent caller. hi, debbie. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: good morning. caller: first of all, i'd like to say i'm no longer recognize this country. it has turned so liberal to the point we're allowing gay marriages, we're allowing pot to be smoked openly in the street. and cocaine and other drugs will be next. and that just blows my mind. and i'd like to say our president should be called king obama instead of president obama. he is doing things, he's trampled all over the constitution. just trampled on it. he has lied to us. he said he was not going to

raise our taxes. did when he raised what you can claim medical on your insurance on the taxes. you have to now have 10 -- more than 10% and it was 7.5% before. host: debbie, i'll have the congressman respond. guest: greta, it's important to hear what debbie is saying. i hear it when i go to my district and around this country to visit other districts and that's a huge concern about the honesty of this president and this administration and we never heard this kind of vitriol before and it's passionate belief, it's patriotism that is rising up and saying why is the executive branch, why is this administration ignoring the law of the land and not seeming to follow the normal processes. it's what gives me huge concern about the ability to solve the challenges that we have, of what we need to do and we call on the president.

and recognize the duties of the president of this land and make sure you enforce the law of the land, be honest with the american people about the problems and challenges we have and let's get together and solve those challenges. host: congressman, a few callers brought up the executive authority issue. "the christian science monitor" put this graphic together i want to show our vwers that show that so far president obama has used the executive authority 167 times. compare that to george w. bush at 291. so is he doing anything different than previous presidents? >> i think he is and i can't see that graphic but i think he is, both in the number and the volume of them in his first five years, and in the magnitude of them. these aren't small little changes. what he's doing with executive orders oftentimes is actually attempting to -- or changing law. the obamacare is a classic example. the law of the land is his health care bill. but when he doesn't think that

it's doing what needs to be done or it's reached too far, he simply says we're not going to enforce that, we're not going to do that. that's not the way our system works and why you get the debbies of the country being concerned about this imperial presidency. what the president needs to do when there are problems with this law and problems with the health care law or anything else is to come to okay and say look, we've got a problem here and let's solve it together with congress. that's not occurring now and why you hear the kind of disgust and anger and fear out of the american people we heard on our calls this morning. host: on the issue of trade, independence day tweets in, if by "trade" you mean the t.p.p., we'll fight you at every opportunity on that one. what is the t.p.p. and do you support it? >> trade promotion authority is what we're talking about and what we need to do is make certain from a trade standpoint we have a fair and level playing field. we ought not punish our

businesses for exporting to other countries. by the same token if other countries are punishing our businesses when they export to other countries -- to that -- then we ought to make certain they are not treated in a equal manner here.equal this is a global economy. is mrs. don't have to stay here. they can go anywhere they want. what we are doing as a matter of public policy is preventing businesses to expand and preventing the growth of businesses that want to do trade in the world because of our public lse. --t's night -- not the right because of our public policy. that's not the right to head. caller: greetings from the snow-covered hills of georgia. guest: thank you so much. good to hear from you. was disappointed when

you did not elect to run for the senate position that was vacated by saxby chambliss. i think you would have taken that position. i'm glad that it is removing three of your less than stellar colleagues from the ranks of congress. i think we are getting rid of some people that really needed to be replaced. that kind of stole my thunder. it sounds awful hypocritical to be talking about barack obama when george w. bush had so many -- practiced the same type of imperial presidency. i'm realwn standpoint, concerned. you talk about the death of -- if you are a saver who saved all the republicans and democrats of their are making war on us. they have used us to recapitalize the banks. it is all about the banks.

will come toou your senses before you completely destroy the party with this nonsense about the highest tax rates in the world. everybody knows these corporations are not paying any taxes. it makes you look idiotic. guest: i appreciate that, but the fact of the matter is we do have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world. there are loopholes where businesses are not paying. that is wrong. that's why we need to do away with those kinds of things. that's why we support positive tax reform, to make sure that everybody -- everybody is paying their fair share. there are wonderful ways to do it. the tax code is so complex and internally contradictory. it doesn't work for anybody. the only person it works for, i guess, is the irs, and we've seen what happens with the irs. which reminds me the president didn't even mention the challenges with the irs, under his watch, under his

administration, having used the irs in a political manner unseen ever before. those are the kinds of things i think the american people want to see addressed. william in connecticut, democratic caller, you are next for congressman tom price. thank you. many people are demanding a new investigation into why the building fell in september when it wasn't hit by a plane. data thata limited invalidates the fire-only collapse explanation. despite misconceptions by some public officials, the scientific evidence says there is more to the 9-11 crime -- the 9/11 crime than we thought. studies that were done afterwards and the investigation that was done and the real-life -- the real-life

experience of individuals who were there and saw what happened , tragically, the events that occurred, i think it corroborates what the general witness is about this. this is a very dangerous world. the fact of the matter is that individuals who sought the distraction of the united states flew planes into the world trade center towers on september 11, 2001, and into the pentagon, and had another plane aimed at either the white house or the united states capital. that is not a myth or that israel. if we are not honest about making the diagnosis that this is a dangerous world and there are people who seek to do us home -- harm, then we will abrogate our responsibility in a reckless manner for keeping the nation safe. host: thank you so much for talking to our viewers this morning. coming up next, we will go across the aisle and talk with a democrat, congressman john larson from connecticut to get his thoughts on the state of the union address. right after this news update

from c-span radio. thisme international news hour. german chancellor angela merkel is commenting on spying by other countries. in her inaugural address to parliament, she directed her remarks to the u.s. and britain on electronic espionage activities that were exposed by former nsa analyst edward snowden last year. chancellor merkel says countries who spy on their allies risked undermining trust, leading to less rather than more security. meanwhile, two norwegian lawmakers say they have jointly nominated former nsa contractor edward snowden for the 2014 nobel peace prize. the socialist lawmakers said earlier today that the public debate on policy changes, in their words, in the wake of snowden's whistleblowing am a has contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order. and this from politico. he writes that senate intelligence chairman --

committee chairman dianne feinstein says she is not aware that there is any evidence nsa leaker edward snowden was acting on behalf of russian intelligence. we will hear more from senator feinstein this morning when she gavels in the hearing on worldwide threats. one of the witnesses scheduled to testify is the director of national intelligence, james clapper. you can watch the hearing live on c-span3 or listen to it on c-span radio. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> so many people are of the opinion that if the members of the supreme court don't like something that's happening in the country, that it just reaches out and brings that into writingt and starts opinions on it, which is, of course, contractor and -- of

course, contrary. >> friday, c-span begins a series of oral history interviews with former supreme court justices. this week, former chief justice earl warren. radio.at c-span >> c-span -- we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you. putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences, and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. we are c-span, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. hd.h us in >> "washington journal" continues. host: our coverage of the state

of the union continues this morning. we are back up on capitol hill to talk to congressman john larson, democrat from connecticut. he sits on the ways and means committee. let's begin with a speech last night and where you think the two sides could come together from what the president put forth and actually address this year in 2014. guest: i thought the president was not only elegant in his speech, passionate, but he was also practical and pragmatic. and clearly, in the area of raising the minimum wage, closing the inequality gap that exists, addressing number of the issues around in equity, especially as it relates to women in our workforce, immigration, which the senate has already passed, which the house indicates that it wants to do, and certainly the creation of infrastructure with both the

warner bill and also the transportation and infrastructure bill that hasn't been taken up, which very much need to. i thought it was a very pragmatic call to work together with the firm resolve that if congress continues to obstruct or will not work, then the president will. i think that is what the american people wanted to hear. i thought it was optimistic. i'm optimistic. and because of the close of the session and the ability to see members working together, first with getting a budget, and then with getting appropriation bills, yesterday a "farmville", there is hope -- yesterday a farm bill, there is hope. there is still an awful lot of tension up here on the hill. it seems that it is only a very small group within the republican party that is holding the larger body from getting a lot of work done on behalf of

the american people. host: a washington post editorial calls for collective action. they write -- "cooperation across party lines is the only sensible course." guest: that is correct. there should be cooperation. i think there can be. proposals have already been bipartisan we passed in the senate. they ought to continue to bring that forward. i don't know of anyone in the congress that is opposed to putting america back to work. but when the tea party objects to any kind of infrastructure proposal, it just doesn't make sense. i think the speaker, if he brings in infrastructure bill to the floor, it will pass. if he brings an immigration bill to the floor, it will pass.

if we were allowed to have a gun control bill brought to the floor, it will pass. because that's where the sentiment of the people are and that's where the compromises have already been made. people have demonstrated that they can work together. now there just has to be the will to put aside one element up here that persists in blocking legislation and doing nothing and put forward an agenda that the american people want. many good republicans on the other side want to see this happen and want to see the country move forward. i applaud the speaker forgetting the budget done, with more democratic votes than republican votes. host: the editorial weighs in on that. his proposal to increase the hourum wage to $10.10 an is an anti-gesture because most americans make more than the minimum wage.

many of those who don't will end up with a wage of zero dollars if their employer reduces the number of employees. guest: i'm not surprised that the washington street would editorialize like that. what i think americans understand implicitly, there is no person who is working full-time should still live in poverty. the reason $10.10 has been put forward by both tom harkin and george miller, two members who want to makeacy, sure they are not leaving here without giving the very poor washst us, the ones who the troops dishes -- troops' thees, clean their rooms, janitorial class of this country, so to speak, they deserve a minimum wage they can live on. frankly, i've introduced a

minimum wage of $11. states are leading the way. the president is encouraging them. if congress will not act, then the states could act on their own. obviously, we hope they do. host: congressman, was there anything you disagreed with? guest: i have to say i thought the president did well. i would hope that we are out of afghanistan early and i do think that the drawdown will take place this year. agreements have been signed. especially with the recent action of karzai, the sooner the better. i thought the president, again, metaphoricant in his use of real people and, in this case, the ranger who had to talked so much,

about his struggle and compare that to the struggle that we have gone through after the recession. humang compares to the sacrifice that has been made by our men and women. nothing makes us more prouder, but i think the country as a whole can understand that sometimes when you go through a struggle like this in a recovery , it takes time. but if we all pull together, prevailing upon citizenship once again, calling upon people to rise above all the partisanship and become americans again -- i thought the speech was very patriotic, very much appealed to the aspirations of the common man, the citizen, and his responsibility. i think that is what you will see the president do as congress continues to be in this quagmire of protests and quagmire of just obstruction. the what you will see is president acting to where he can act executive lee, he will.

where he can act in collaboration with the business group, elected officials, he will. really and from the outset, he is eager and wants to work with congress -- clearly and from the outset, he is eager and wants to work with congress. i firmly hope and pray that that will become a reality. i think there are good signs that is going to happen. congressman, how will he act on gun control? this is a tweet from one of our viewers who said, "universal background checks as proposed after sandy hook." were you able to hear that? guest: i can't hear anything. host: looks like we're having some technical issues. we will get the congressman hooked back up and hope that he can hear our conversation. we will keep taking your thoughts on the state of the union last night here congressman, can you hear me? guest: i thought it was

something i said. host: we heard everything you had to say. but this tweet from one of our viewers, wants to know about universal background checks, as proposed after sandy hook. how will the president act on gun control using executive power? well, it is not clear to me exactly how he will react, but i know from a regulatory standpoint, he can move to continue to strengthen regulations. of course, he can continue to use his pulpit and i think continue to go to the states and municipalities. timest know how many more this has to happen. as recently as this past weekend in maryland. the president has to lead. if you will recall the proposal made by the most conservative

democrat, joe manchin, and one of the most conservative , thelicans, pat toomey vote was 57-43. as my son said, dad, how did you lose? you had the majority of the votes. sun, only in the senate, on the closure vote would that happen. he said, is that constitutional? i said, no, it's not in the constitution. it is the rule of the senate. it's a procedural rule where the majority can block the majority. i think that is emblematic of what is happening -- has happened down here. the minority blocking the will of the majority. in the house, it is an absolute even to that refuses commonsenseup,

proposals that make sense. there are other proposals that relate to mental health that need to be addressed and put forward as well. clearly those issues -- because they don't involve the government -- and when we ought to be able to move forward. is immoral in the face of what our citizens are going through. host: roll call reports that senator mansion -- manchin told reporters that president obama is waiting until after elections to do anything on gun control, specifically background checks. let's go to carl next in kansas city. democratic caller. caller: can you hear me? host: we can. go ahead. caller: i don't think it's clear.

-- t of americans the presidential executive order has to be within the confines of the law in his capacity to carry out his job. he can't go against congress. if congress doesn't like what he does, they can countermand her -- countermand it. they are giving the impression that president obama is taking on some sort of exceptional power, and that is just plain wrong. the viewer is absolutely right. certainly, the executive branch has powers that are enumerated in the constitution. it also has great regulatory powers that the administration is capable of utilizing. it also has powers and congress -- it is not in session

also has powers when congress is not in session. i thought the president was right last night to save his preference is to work with them. why not work together? 49 votes against the affordable care act when 9 million have signed up already, 3 million kids under the age of 26. sure, the law could be fixed and needs to be addressed. to thisx it together was a heritage foundation idea that was posited successfully by a republican governor. together -- this is a further irony -- it drives down the national debt. couldfordable care act take 18% growth of our gdp in

health care delivery alone. the rest of the world is at eight percent or nine percent on an annual basis. our national debt is up about 4% on an annual basis. if we were to drive down the cost under 14%, we would flatline the national debt, be able to not talk about cutting medicare but expanding medicare so that we are able to serve the populations that need it, all without having to raise taxes with just weaning out the inefficiencies that exist in the system. more than 10 studies show that there is anywhere from 700 billion to$700 $800 billion annually in waste and duplication of effort. the law provides the tools to do it. let's work together to make that happen. it creates a paradigm change for

the patient, where the focus on health care is on patient outcomes and patient well-being. that's the way it should be. i hope they can embrace this. host: congressman richard butler on twitter wants to know if you supported george w. bush when he --d his executive power and and his executive pen ignore congress. guest: it would depend on what he was doing at the time, if he had a specific example. i will say this, we supported president bush. even though i was approached -- opposed to the war, we supported the president and we supported our troops during that whole process. during the collapse of this economy, the president had to turn to democrats to help. more democrats voted for the administration's

proposal to help the nation out of its worst economic crisis since the great depression, than republicans did. we traditionally worked with the president even though we may not have agreed with him, even though we might have our ideological differences on the war and certainly what led to the -- of thef economy in 2008. and also, even on something like medicare advantage. once it was passed, once ,edicare part d was passed members went out -- i went out in my district and worked to make sure that the elderly were aware of it and brought them onto it and passed it. even though we thought it was inefficient, which it has proven to be, and that it was a disadvantage to the vast majority of elderly. we were able to preserve the parts of the program that worked

and strengthen it so that we have strengthened the medicare. we have worked with president bush throughout. it was and that we were loyal opposition -- it was not that we were in loyal opposition to him, but we worked with him to get the job done. host: use it on the ways and means committee -- you sit on the ways and means committee. [video clip] >> over the past five years, my administration has made more loans to small business owners than any other. and when 98% of our exporters are small businesses am a new trade partnerships for europe and the asia-pacific will help create more jobs. we need to work together on tools like bipartisan trade promotion authority stripper about our workers, protect our environment, and open new markets to new goods stamped made in the usa.

[applause] listen, china and europe aren't standing on the sidelines and neither should we. [end video clip] host: do you support the transpacific partnership? form, i dots current not. the president went on to say we have to make sure we are addressing the environmental and worker conditions that exist there as well. and currently, in that form, what we have seen is that the trade agreement -- and we are working currently on this in committee -- does not meet the standards that the president has laid out. ustr is working as hard as it possibly can to do that.

i believe they have a lot of work to go, especially in the fast-track the proposal. but listen, the president is right here. we cannot sit on the sidelines with respect to china and europe and other countries, brazil, that are all out there aggressively trading. but by the same token, there is a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of americans that still lingers about the loss of jobs. to be better coordination. that is why reforming the tax code is so important for muscle the jobs that were shipped and incentivized to go off-season -- so important, so the jobs that were shipped and incentivized to -- ff-seas if we are putting the country back to work and address the standards required within the trade bills --

he said last night in his speech that the whole world looks to continue to invest here because of our great institutions of higher education, our training capability, and because the work ethic of the american people. in its current state, the trade bill will need a lot of work. every president has the relationship between congress that congress wants to make sure specifically,n, depending upon what industry you represent -- i come from an area of the world where aerospace is a big industry for us. we are advantaged in many cases by a lot of the trade initiatives that will be put .orward, especially with europe the transpacific still has a ways to go. especially with the addition of japan in there and a number of the currency issues that we still have, a number of the

patent issues that still exist ,ut there in terms of fairness and certainly a number of the labor standards. host: we have just a couple minutes left. the house is coming in an hour early today to address the five-year farm bill. on twitter -- "import tariffs protect americans and -- american workers and businesses. every other country has them. when will we get real?" guest: i will not be voting for the farm bill. billontinued cuts in this billionpound the $8 cuts that have been made already , especially when you take that conjointly with those that are currently unemployed and without any benefits -- and now to further hurt our nutritional programs, whether it

is meals on wheels for the elderly or whether it is our educational moneys that go to our schools to feed our children or the food stamp program that feeds the poorest among us, to further cut them at a time when we are continuing to laden companies who don't need subsidies -- the bill could have been much better. i applaud the efforts that were made to get it to this point, which some would say, look, this is better than the bill that would have come out of appropriations, where there would have where there would have been 40 billion in cuts. to me that is like saying that we are going to amputate your leg, but we decided to take three of your toes. i am not satisfied with that, i thought we should have had a stronger bill.

the whole purpose of the "farmville" is to make sure that our farmers and the nation can feed the country, feed the world, and to do so in a manner where we are not footing the small farmer out of business. the key component here is feed the country. so, why would you not want to make sure that the poorest amongst us get the nutrition that they need? >> all right, we will be that they're as the doors open on the house floor. thank you very much for joining us this morning. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., january 29, 2014. i hereby appoint the honorable randy hultgren to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy.

chaplain conroy: let us pray. we give you thanks, o god, for giving us another day. as you make available to your people the grace and knowledge to meet the needs of the day, we pray that your spirit will be upon the members of the people's house, giving them the richness of your wisdom. bless the members of the majority party as they gather these next days. may they, with those who accompany them, travel safely and meet in peace. bless, also, the minority party as they prepare their own gathering. may these days be filled with hopeful anticipation. may the power of your truth and our faith in your providence given -- give them all the confidence they must have to do the good work required for service to our nation. give all members the strength of purpose and clarity of mind

to do those things that bring justice and mercy to people and maintain freedom and liberty for our land. may all that is done 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. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. >> mr. womack mr. speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this request are postponed. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. barletta.

mr. barletta: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized. i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. barletta: i rise to honor someone from my district, a life-long resident of pennsylvania, buck graduated in 1968 and attended the devry institute of technology in chicago, illinois. he entered the united states army, serving as an instructor and radar coordinator from 1970 to 1973. after leaving the army, buck

dedicated his career in the telephone industry. he worked for congressman todd plats in 2003 before coming to work in my carlisle office in january, 2013. throughout more than 10 years of federal service, he's assisted countless residents from cumberland county. outside the office, buck is an active member of the community. he's a devoted husband to his wife, diane, and a proud father to four daughters and three grandchildren. mr. speaker, for over 10 years, buck has shown outstanding dedication to cumberland county. i wish him the best on his retirement. he will be greatly missed. 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 vermont seek recognition? mr. welch: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. speaker, i

understand our republican colleagues are about to head off for their annual retreat in cambridge, maryland, to discuss their priorities for the year, including whether to raise the debt ceiling or not. well, my hope is that the majority party listens to speaker boehner on the debt ceiling. earlier this month he said, "all i know is we should not default on our debt. we shouldn't even get close to it." the speaker understands that america pays its bills. good for him. the speaker understands that even the threat of default will harm the american economy, and he's right. and the speaker understands that holding hostage america's full faith and credit is a dead end plan for his party and for america. speaker boehner, i surely hope that you prevail on the majority party. south america is not a deadbeat nation. america pays its bills and i

yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? mrs. walorski: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. walorski: subzero temperatures have forced school closures and travel bans. the demand for propane and heating fuels is at an all-time high. as a result, federal officials declared a state of emergency for the mideast, lifting hours of limitations to ensure consumers can steadily receive home heating fuel. this waiver remains until effect until february 11. i led a letter requesting the emergency exemption be extended. winter weather is unpredictable, but if we're ready to act, we can alleviate this stress for our families. this simple extension is a commonsense way to provide some much-needed relief for hoosiers as during this winter.

thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from oregon is recognized for one minute. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. this is a sad moment as we consider a farm bill that has the least amount of reform possible to secure package. i'm thankful that some of the most hateful and egregious, like the king amendment, have been stripped out, but the savings from direct payments will be swallowed up by enriched crop insurance. my friend, paul ryan, is concerned that the safety net for the poor has become too comfortable a hammock. but this farm bill is now a lounge chair for rich agribusiness interests who need it the most. it should be a scandal that there are more cuts to food stamp benefits while further enriching crop insurance for wealthy agribusiness. the time is to start now to avoid another congressional grab bag that cheats the american farmers. and thank you, trudy, for years of dedicated service to congress and the american

people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask for unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i come to the floor in strong opposition to the farm bill conference report. the farm bill is just more business as usual here in washington. last summer, the american people won an important victory for common sense and transparency when we ended this unholy alliance between farm bill and food stamps. we passed the first farm-only farm bill in nearly 40 years. but business as usual fought back and here we are today. mr. stutzman: not only does this farm bill recombine food stamps and farm programs, it actually spends even more than the first bill the senate passed this is exactly the kind of log rolling we fought to prevent this summer. mr. speaker, congress works best when we do our work in the full light of day. unfortunately, this farm bill

was written behind closed doors, it has stripped long-term reforms, it spends money we simply don't have and it stripped out important policy that negatively affect our livestock industry. as a farmer and as a conservative i will not vote to take a step backwards. thank you, mr. speaker, 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 california seek recognition? >> i seek permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the public service of ron green, a u.s. navy veteran. mr. mcnerney: he's the director of the san joaquin veterans service office advocating for veterans and helping them navigate the department of veterans affairs. after nearly 14 years of service as the county's v.s.o. director, ron green will retire on february 1. before his career with the county, mr. green worked at the sharp defense depot and the defense distribution center and as the v.a. claims examiner. in total, mr. green has more

than 30 years of service to veterans and the public. as someone who knows ron green personally, i can attest to his commitment and dedication to the veterans of san joaquin county. mr. green has been personally responsible for lowering the number of homeless veterans in san joaquin county. he's supported our local veterans history project efforts and has been a valuable partner on veterans issues over the years, including advocating for the v.a. to locate and expand regional outpatient clinic and new community living center in san joaquin county. he will be missed by the veterans of san joaquin county, and i wish him all the best in the years ahead. and i ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the public service contributions of ron green. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. ing a produce -- ag producers

have waited three long years for a farm bill and i want to thank my colleagues for their efforts thus far. policy certainty will help our country be competitive. -- it ar, conferees were included language on a fix to avoid trade retaliation from canada and mexico and bar individual states with unscientific laws were disrupting interstate commerce, something that will burden producers and increase costs for consumers. mr. smith: i tend to believe if we are going to call a piece of legislation the farm bill, the measure ought to recognize that farmers and ranchers are the primary stewards of our natural resources as well as the animals in their care. this farm bill does include important reforms, such as eliminating direct payments and it helps hardworking taxpayers in finding an estimated $23 billion in savings. and ultimately, mr. speaker, i support this return to regular order. for these reasons i will support the conference report

before us today, but it is my hope this body will act quickly to find solutions to the outstanding issues not addressed in this bill. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, please. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to mark the fifth anniversary of the lilly ledbetter fair pay act, a critical law that champions equal pay for equal work. ms. bust others: -- mrs. bustos: women still only earn 77 cents to the dollar that a man makes for the exact same work. this gap results in more than $11,000 less that a woman makes every year. that means women are essentially working 84 days for free while a man takes home a paycheck. in the district of illinois that i serve, women make even less than that. they make approximately 70 cents on the dollar.

keep in mind that number is figured for the same work that would just -- but with just less income. equal pay is not simply a women's issue. it's an issue from the filled class and it is -- middle class. when women bring home more they're able to provide better for their families. because equal pay for equal work would affect my region in the state of illinois and across the country, it's time that congress pass the paycheck fairness act. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. cicilline: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. speaker. last night the president addressed america and reminded us that america is a nation of opportunity where if you work hard, play by the rules, you take responsibility that you can succeed. but also recognize that many americans don't feel that in fact this is working for them right now.

and he made very specific proposals to invest in infrastructure or innovation economy, early childhood education, additional manufacturing hubs, raising the minimum wage, fixing our broken immigration system and extending unemployment benefits. the president expressed his willingness to work with congress to achieve these goals. and what i thought was particularly significant, these are specific goals that are achievable if we work together. so mr. speaker, let's get to work, let's enact these proposals, let's move our economy forward and put the american people back to work. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

without objection, so ordered. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sirment pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule it of the rules -- 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on january 28, 2014, at 6:07 p.m. that the senate passed, senate 1302. signed, sincerely, karen l. haas.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lucas, seek recognition? mr. lucas: mr. speaker, i call up the conference report on the bill h.r. 2642, the agricultural act of 2014, and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the

clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2642, an act to provide for the reform and continuation of agriculture and other programs of the department of agriculture through fiscal year 2018, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 465, the conference report is considered as read. the gentlewoman from oklahoma, mr. lucas, and the gentleman from minnesota, mr. peterson, each will control 30 minutes. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition? mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, is the gentleman from minnesota opposed to the conference report? the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman from minnesota opposed o the conference report? pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 -- pursuant to clause 8 of rule 22rk the gentleman from oklahoma, the gentleman from minnesota, and the gentleman from massachusetts will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oklahoma. mr. lucas: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, mr. speaker. my colleagues, this has been a long and seemingly epic journey that the house agriculture committee that is been upon. mr. peterson, myself, our colleagues literally three years -- actually four when you consider the beginning hearings under then chairman peterson, to start this process. we have all discussed the details. we'll discuss the details more in greater length in just a moment on this final conference report that reflects the net result of both the senate and house work. but i would say this, whatever your feelings might be about the policy issues involved within the bill, understand this formal conference that's now come to a conclusion, soon i hope to be tified by the body, reflects at the committee level, at the floor level in the house, and i

think in the conference level how legislation should be put together. many people criticize us and this body as dysfunctional. but if they look at all of the amendments we considered every time we took the farm bill up in the committee, all of the debate, all of the discussion, if they consider the amazing amount of amendments we considered on the floor of the united states house and all the debate and discussion and votes, if they take note of how long and how much effort the principals and the conferees put in to putting this conference report together, they would understand that this bill, while everyone may not agree with every line, every word, every policy in it, this bill reflects , unlike almost any that have been done for years, how it should be done. good men and women of different opinion working to get to a final product.

i hope this reflects a change in how we'll do our business here across the board. but i'm proud of what we have done and i'm proud of how we have done t i'm proud of the reforms and savings. i'm proud of my ranking member and all my colleagues who have been involved. reserve the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. peterson:thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. peterson:today as the chairman said after nearly four years of work the house is finally considering the 2014 farm bill conference report. it's been a challenging and frustrating process. i think everybody will agree. but through it the ag committee persevered and we do what we have always done, work together. the report before us today represents a compromise. i know this is rare in washington, but that's what

needed to actually get something done around this place. i didn't get everything i wanted. the chairman didn't get everything he wanted. that's how the compromise works. for example, there's been a lot of discussion about dairy, but we are moving away from the olet dairy program to a new program that -- from the old dairy program to a new program that is much more sensible, that has market signals in it to deal with overproduction. the only question i have is whether they are going to be strong enough. we'll find out as we go through the process. in the body title i'm still disappointed we didn't go to 500 acres t would have been the smart thing to dofment but wasn't to be. at the end of the day i believe my reservations are outweighed by the need to provide a long-term certainty for agriculture and nutrition programs and the many positive improvements and reforms included in the final bill. among other thention the conference report will protect and improve the crop insurance system, probable lith most

important safety net, continues sugar polcy, streamlines conservation programs so that we can continue to preserve our natural resources, provides disaster assistance for livestock producers, applies conservation protections to crop insurance, and recognizes the growing consumer demand for fresh fruits, vegetables, local foods, and organics. in closing i want to thank the chairman for his work and congrat him for -- congratulate him for getting to us work with us to get to final conclusion here. also for his members and our members for the -- their support in hanging in there to get to this point. i also want to thank the agriculture committee staff who have been working so hard over these last years night and day through all these different situations we have been in. and i would like to submit their names for the record, if that is ok. again, mr. speaker, this process has gone on too long. we need to conclude it today. i urge my colleagues to support

the conference report. yield back. reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minute. mr. mcgovern: i want to thank chairman lucas and ranking member peterson for all their hard work on this very difficult bill. i admire their tenacity and i admire their passion on issues dealing with agriculture. there are some good things in this bill, to be sure. but there are some things that i simply cannot accept. i think as we discuss this farm bill that we should remind ourselves of a few simple facts. facts like this, hunger exists in the united states of america. not a single congressional district in this country is hunger free. our food banks, our food pantries, the people on the frontlines in the fight against hunger simply cannot do any more. they are stretched to the limits. one final fact, this bill will make hunger worse in america not better. if this bill passes, thousands and thousands of low-income

americans will see their already meager food benefits shrink, for what? why? to meet some arbitrary deficit reduction goal? to pay the cost of the give aways and crop insurance program to pay for the sweetheart deals for the sushi rice growers and peanut farmers and god knows who else? i know many of my colleagues would just like this whole farm bill issue to go away. they want to pass a bill and forget about and move on to something else. but, mr. speaker, the people who will hurt by this bill aren't going away. they can't forget about it and move on to something else because they'll suffer. they will have to do -- they'll have to make do with less food tomorrow than they have today. i have heard all the arguments trying to justify this $8.6 billion cut in snap. well, it's just a loophole or it could have been a lot worse. or the states should pick up the slack, or local governments or churches or food banks or the tooth fairy. those arguments are easy to make from the comfort of our own warm homes and full bellies, but they

ring hollow to an elderly person who will have to take their medicine on an empty stomach, or child who will have to skip breakfast before going to scoo. i think it's wrong and cannot support it. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. r. lucas: mr. speaker, i yield to one of my outstanding subcommittee chairmen, the gentleman from arkansas, mr. crawford, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for one minute. mr. crawford: i want to thank chairman lucas and ranking member peterson for putting in so much hard work and dedication getting where we are today. and i echo ranking member's sentiments to the staff. thank you very much for everything that you have done. after more than three years of being involved in a farm bill process, i'm proud to support a final product that not only greatly benefits producers but deploys investments and jobs to rural america. despite our sharp regional differences we prevailed in crafting commodity programs that promote regional fairness by providing a strong safety net that protects all producers from

market risk. we can finally provide relief to our cattlemen t. rural development funding will be critical. while conservation and forestry programs will preserve our natural resources for years to come. although i'm pleased with the farm bill today i'm disappointed we left important issues on the table like fixing country of origin labeling for the meat industry. we could have gone further on relieving regulations on small farmers. even though i believe we could have done more, i'm proud of the conservative reforms we have made in stood stamp program by elimb -- food stamp program by eliminating waste. the agriculture committee accomplished tough goal by consolidating tozzes of programs. appreciate the patience of all our produces through this process. i strongly urge a yes vote on this report and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does -- the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from minnesota is

recognized. mr. peterson: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. costa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. costa: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise in support of this conference committee report. there are a lot of reasons why, first i'd like to commend the chairman and the ranking members of both the house and the senate ag committees and my fellow conferees and the staff for all the hard work that went into reaching this agreement. while this is not a perfect bill, there never is, this agreement is a result of more than four years' of bipartisan negotiations. two marathon committee meeting markups, multiple floor debates. this bill almost reminds me of the movie "groundhog day" because it seems to come back and back again. for my home state of california, the leading agriculture state in the nation, this farm bill is a dramatic investment in many of the specialty crops for research, market production, and the development programs which benefit our vegetable and fruit producers of which we produce over half the nation's supply.

these programs not only help my constituents produce the safest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables that we eat throughout the nation, but also throughout the world. just as important for my district are the disaster relief programs that help farmers, ranchers, and dairymen and producers through these difficult times. many may not be aware but california's facing the driest, driest year on record which jeopardizes both food production and jobs in my district. this bill contains programs to provide help when disaster strikes, from drilling wells to direct assistance to growers or katelemen who have been hurt by this devastating drought. while i support conference committee report, i am disappointed they did not take the opportunity to resolve the meat labeling issue that threatens our beef and poultry producers and our important trading partners, canada and mexico, or deemed critical and are dealing with us and the world trade organization. i'm currently drafted legislation on a bipartisan basis to try to fix this

labeling issue once and for all. this debate, though, has dragged on for way too long. let's give farmers and ranchers and dairy producers the certainty that they deserve through our five-year farm bill. now is the time to get this farm bill done by passing this conference committee report. i thank you, mr. speaker, and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i'm happy to yield three minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. kind. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for three minutes. mr. kind: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. kind: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i want to thank my good friend from massachusetts for yielding this time and for the leadership he's shown on the nutrition title and for the plight of hunger throughout our country. it's commendable. mr. speaker, i have been here for a few farm bills in the past. i used to be a member of the agriculture committee. i certainly appreciate how very difficult it is to put together a bipartisan farm bill with so many different moving parts.

i have all the respect and admiration for the leadership in the committee, but i also sense that we have reached a point of fatigue and exhaustion. people just want this farm bill to go away after years of being worked on. i appreciate that, too. but we are only given one opportunity every five or in this case seven years to reform farm policy to make it better, make it bert for our family farms, make it more responsible for the american taxpayer, to make production agriculture work for all americans, and i'm afraid this farm bill yet again pulls up short. i would beseech my colleagues to take additional time to work on some reform measures that do make sense. rather than looking at another $8.6 billion in cuts to the nutrition tight on top of previous cuts that have already been had, let's look at some of these subsidy programs. i am afraid the bill before us today maintains huge taxpayer subsidies that go to a few but very large agribusinesses at the expense of our family farmers around the country. it's going to lead to greater consolidation and production in agriculture, going to continue to drive up land values. going to make it harder for new

beginning farmers to enter the occupation. it's not responsible to thee family farmers and not responsible to the american taxpayer. we've got historically high commodity target prices in this bill, so any slight dip going to mean huge payments going out in the future. we have the multiple entity rule now that we worked on in the previous farm bill being rolled back in one. we have payment limitation caps being increased rather than brought down to where the will of this congress was last year when we had that debate on the floor. most of that money is being shifted now into the crop insurance program which what i feel is overly generous preemyuss -- crop insurance subsidies to producers which has the potential of taking risk out of production decisions, but we're telling the crop insurance companies, 're going to guarantee a 14% profit margin. we're going to pay your

entirely administrative and operating expenses and by the way, you're going to have little risk. the american taxpayer will not bear that risk. there is not a business in the world that will sign up for that offer so why are we doing that in this farm bill? representative petri and i had a reform of the crop insurance program asking these crop insurance companies, put a little more skin in the game. we understand it's a valuable risk management tool that needs to be there for producers but this goes overboard with it. and then finally, we got a domestic cotton program that's gotten us into trouble with brazil. in the average taxpayer knew that for the last four years we funneled out $150 million worth of taxpayer subsidies going to subsidize brazil cotton farmers, they'd be livid, and yet this bill does not fix that cotton problem and now it's up to brazil whether they want to level economic sanctions against us. more work needs to happen and unfortunately this bill pulls up short. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has

expired. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to recognize for one minute one of our hardest working subcommittee chairmen, the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of the farm bill, legislation that provided much-needed reform, it's fiscally responsible, providing market-based solutions and streamlining more than 100 programs. we eliminated direct payments that farmers received and replaced them with a safety net that provides help only when the farmers need it. the bill includes the most significant reform to food stamp programs since the welfare reform of 1996. while i personally am disappointed we didn't fix some issues, i do believe this bill provides a balanced opportunity and security and strengthens our agriculture safety net for years to come. i ask my colleagues to vote yes on the safety net, vote yes for these modest reforms to food stamp, pass this conference report, give our farmers and ranchers across this country

the five years of stability and security they need to execute their business plans, to allow them to continue to provide the american people with the most affordable and abundant food and fiber supply in the most developed world. vote yes on the conference report. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from minnesota is ecognized. mr. peterson: i yield two minutes to mr. schrader. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. schrader. yeah, i guess for some people, you know, you just can't do enough. i'd argue respectfully to a lot of my colleagues that the work that's gone on on both sides of the aisle in the last two years has been pretty exemplary. the farm bill is always a difficult bill to pass. i think the last couple of times it was vetoed and had to be overridden. it could be better. i have not yet seen legislation that's exactly what i perfectly like to be voting on at the end

of the day. we make huge strides in this bill that were draconian cuts to the snap and food stamp programs that are no longer in here. there were onerous incentives to get people off of food stamps that are in longer in here. for people saying people will be cut as a result of this, that's not up. if they put $20 towards the heating assistance for the low-income folks that need that, they don't get a reduced benefit. yes, it's a reduced benefit. they still qualify for their base benefit in this bill. moreover if they bring their heating and cooling bills in they can still get the expanded benefit. it just requires a little more diligence, puts faith in america that the food stamp goes to those who need it. as far as the subsidies go, hey, you know, maybe we should change that. we should work on that some more. there will be another farm bill in four, five years, but we made huge strides. we get rid of the direct

payments. we've been trying to do that for 20 years. the subsidies, the milk program are new. a margin insurance program. i think america understands that type of thing. we made huge strides here. there's so many good things. for so many friends on the democratic side of the aisle, at the end of the day, it's imperative we made huge strides, the or beganic provisions, we have done great with market access promotion programs. we made it so american farmers continue to produce the best food and fiber with the safety net that makes sure that the people on this country -- in this country get the food they need and deserve and can do the best economically on the global trade scene. i think this is a great opportunity. people here should be voting yes on this bill after the hard bipartisan work. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for two minutes. well, i deeply

respect my friend and colleague from oregon. i have a slightly different perspective on this because i think the bill before us today is the least that can be done and get the bill passed. it's got a number of items do i support like specialty crops. we've been working on for sometime. i'm pleased there will be or beganics have an opportunity -- organics have an opportunity to get crop insurance. this bill, as i say, takes allegedly the savings from rect payments that have been opposed for years but takes the savings and plows them back in to an enriched crop insurance program. it cuts $6 billion for conservation. yes, there are some improvements in terms of administration, but at the end of the day cuts $6 billion when land and water is under pressure and needs it the most. this is short sided. it's very likely going to

caught a lot more in the long run for reasons that my friend from wisconsin pointed out in terms of setting these targets higher. it is more generous in terms of rejecting a provision that was included in both the house and the senate version to limit payments to individual farms to $50,000. the conference committee increases the limit to $125,000 and reopens a loophole closed in both the house and senate bills, allowing the payments to be collected by multiple people. it's just one more example of where the conference committee that i think had one meeting and sort of massaged these things to put the pieces together to secure a majority on the floor but is not by any stretch of the imagination in the best interest of most farmers, certainly not for the environment and for the american taxpayers. i respectfully urge its rejection. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: mr. speaker, i yield the gentleman from arkansas, who's been very focused on these critical issues, especially those involving livestock, mr. womack, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for two minutes. mr. womack: thank you, mr. speaker. i, too, want to congratulate the chairman and to his ranking member and my colleague from arkansas, one of the committee members, mr. crawford, for their diligent work and coming up with this committee report. this was not easy, to say the least. that said, mr. speaker, because the senate's my way or the highway attitude, we're considering a conference report that does nothing to address an out-of-control agency, gipsa, from imposing on american companies regulations that go well beyond congressional intent. because of the senate's all or nothing approach, we're considering a conference report that will subject american industries and companies to

retaliatory tariffs. for me it would be easy to vote against this conference report, but unlike my senate counterparts, i recognize that in divided government each side has to find common ground. ultimately, this report, like many of the other bipartisan agreements that had been signed into law, move the ball forward by making much-needed reforms to federal programs and reducing spending. that's why in the end i will support it. i am hopeful, however, mr. speaker, that the house appropriations committee will do everything in its power to fix some of these mistakes. i, as a member of that committee, will fight to rein in gipsa, and i'll work to fix the country of origin labeling requirements. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arkansas yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. peterson: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. maryland fudge: let me thank by leader pelosi by appointing me to the farm bill committee. i thank representatives peterson and lucas and senators stabenow and cochran for their leadership in negotiating this conference report. throughout this process, it was my goal to ensure a fair and balanced farm bill. while i do not agree with some of the provisions of this conference bill, i firmly believe it is a good compromise. given how far apart we were when this conference began, i am pleased members on both sides of the aisle and across the chamber were able to reach a consensus and show the american people congress can work together. the agreement rejects categorycal eligibility, something we talk about for sometime. the $8.6 billion savings in snap over 10 years, over 10 years comes from a change in

liheap policy that would shrink benefits for approximately 850,000 households in 16 states. it does not eliminate a qualified household from access to snap, which was an important consideration on the difficult road to reach a compromise that prevents devastating cuts and changes to this critically needed program. this agreement also expands economic investment in low income, urban and rural communities. it provides certainty and sound agricultural policies for america's farmers and ranchers. passing the farm bill has always been a bipartisan endeavor. and this conference committee report proves it is still possible for congress to work through its differences and produce a balanced bill that meets the needs of the american people. we have negotiated the farm bill for the last two years. it is now time to move forward. i strongly encourage my colleagues to join me and vote

yes on this bipartisan, bicameral conference agreement. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio yields back. the gentleman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i'm delighted to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from wisconsin, ms. moore. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. thank you so very much. i rise to oppose this compromised bill, although i congratulate people for working very hard on it. but the change of the heat and eat option is not just a little technical change, it's a change that has the freezing, chilling impact on every single snap recipient in wisconsin. it not only increases bureaucracy, it decreases snap benefits to wisconsin families whose benefits were cut already in november.

i'm deeply concerned about the concrete, hurt, hunger and quite frankly the frigid cold that we impose today on thousands of low-income american households, including seniors, children and the disabled. as many as 255,000 snap cases in wisconsin will be affected by this change. how do i explain this to the women, children, seniors and disabled in households that this technical change is minor when they stand to lose $90 a month in benefits when you consider what they lost in november? $90 a month to a poor family is not a technical change. it's a lot of money. it's more than $1,000 a year. the price of food is not going to go down. nor is the price of fuel. nor is the purchasing power of the poor going to go up. snap benefits already do not

meet nutritional needs throughout the month. and this change will mean that real food will be off real tables and out of the stomaches of current recipients. it proposed cut on top of resulting in a drop to wisconsin is just too much. in the heat and eat states, that's as much as 11% of all beneficiaries. in one step, we impose new administrative costs on those states and make it harder to keep snap more responsive. kids were off school two days, two days this week because of the frigid, dangerous cold. following these families back the heat or eat is the wrong thing to do. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one minute to another

one of my outstanding subcommittee chairmen, the gentleman from georgia, mr. austin scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to first say thank you to chairman lucas and ranking member peterson. the ag committee has some of the most conservative members in the house and some of the most liberal members in the house, and i'll tell you we've got a lot of different opinions about what could and what should be done, but we had respectful discussion across the aisles and across the philosophical debates. i have said many times from this podium that the foundation of our economy in this country is based on two things, one being manufacturing, and the other based on agriculture. this bill does the things that it needs to do to ensure that foundation for our agricultural producers to help with that part of the economy. it also ensures that as those farmers go forward and dot things that they do in providing the food, nutrition, and fiber not only for america but the rest of the world, that americans, americans when they go to the grocery store, will get more for their dollar than

any other country as they seek to feed their families. we found agreement to clean up waste and abuse within many of the systems, including the food stamp system. we have given more money to food banks, which i think that is an extremely important -- making sure the most needy of america's citizens have a place to go and make sure that they can get the nutrition that they need. we have put some new policies in place and i'm confident that this bill is a move in the right direction where we've got those areas where we did not find the agreement, i'm confident we'll be able to come back an work on those. i'm proud to support this bill. mr. speaker, i yield the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. peterson: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to my colleague from minnesota, mr. walls -- walz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. mr. walz: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you to the chairman and ranking member for your incredible hard work. the folks of oklahoma and minnesota should be proud of the representative that they have

sent here. i'm proud of this piece of legislation. i stand in support of it. it's been two years. i feel like we have been at it most of our life. while i hear people pointing out problems, i'm certainly there. if we had each written this bill it would look different. i hear people say it's not perfect. we had a former colleague once who said, of course it's not perfect. if you want perfect, you'll get that in heaven. at times this place is closer to hell. this is a pretty good compromise we have come up with. it certainly does things, and i am proud to say it makes bold new investments in clean renewable american made energy. this is a tough decision. tough budgeting times and the commitment of this committee to make that happen i could not be prouder. it also takes bold steps moving the country forward on conservation measures. one piece in here protecting our native prairies in the midwest is fabulous. i want to thank the gentlelady from south dakota, miss glome, for her unwavering effort on this -- mrs. noem for her this.ring effort on

you can have all things, as the folks over at "ducks unlimited said" this is one of the best pieces of conservation legislation in decades to do that. we have struck balance. producing food, feeding the world, clothing the world, powering the world, at the same time providing that area to sportsmen and pristine beauty to our country. it can happen. as a veteran i'm proud we took a bold step in here to try to get returning veterans back on the land. average age of a farmer in this country is 57 years old. we need new folks on the land. that comes with high land prices and access to capital. i worked on some beginning farmer legislation. the chairman made sure that happened in here. it's going to work, it provides some of that access and keeps our family farms continuing on. there's things to point out that you're frustrated with. i understand that. but there's a lot of good in this bill. it's a compromise. we came together. we tried to find and strike those balances. we continue to feed those folks who need the safety net. we continue to make sure there

are producers -- have the certainty that they need and i have to till all across this country this morning producers woke up quietly, went about their business, feeding, fueling, powering america. we can say thank you by passing this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i'm happy now to yield to my colleague from connecticut for three minutes, ms. delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for three minutes. rather than producing a farm bill that meets our traditional responsibilities as a congress to support working families and farmers, this bill will do great damage to the nation's most vulnerable citizens. this bill slashes $8.6 billion from food stamps, our nation's most important anti-hunger program. this is in addition to the $11

billion already cut. and while it goes out of its way to reopen loopholes that benefit millionaires and billionaires. interestingly enough, this bill increases the deficit this year, and the congressional budget office has said that it doesn't save the $23 billion that it claims to save. this bill results in winners and losers. winners, wealthy farmers, and agribusinesses who will be able to pocket crop insurance subsidies and other government handouts beyond the already generous limits passed earlier by both the house and the senate. congressional budget office again said that increases spending on crop insurance by $5.7 billion. the senate passed a bipartisan amendment to reduce the level of federal premium support for crop insurance participants who make over $750,000, but the conference raised it to $900,000.

winners, against the express wishes of both houses, a loophole was opened which was closed in both the house and senate bills which allows farming enterprises to overcollect on commodity payments. winners. but who are the losers? and there are losers in the farm bill. the losers are the 850,000 low-income households all over america. 1.7 million americans who will lose 66 meals a month because of this cut to food stamps. who are we talking about? children who will go hungry and spend all the next day at school. they'll go to bed hungry, spend the next day at school, unable to concentrate because they are thinking about food. veterans, roughly 900,000 of whom receive food stamps and working families who will face an empty fridge, an annoying pain in their stomach for weeks

and weeks. seniors have to choose between food or warmth. whose health will deteriorate for want of sustenance. these are our own people we are consigning to this fate. hardworking people in our district and in our communities. if you vote for this bill, you will have to look them in the eye and tell them to go without food. that they have to endure hunger because we have to give more handouts to millionaires and billionaires. that is what this farm bill is about. make no mistake. it increases hunger rather than decreases hunger in america. it picks winners and losers rather than ensuring we are supporting those that grow and those that consume the food we produce in this nation of plenty . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from is recognized for an additional minute. ms. delauro: it picks winners and losers rather than ensuring

we are supporting those that grow and those that consume the food that we produce in this nation of plenty, which is what farm bills have been about in the past. and i have negotiated nutrition titles in farm bills. this is a farm bill that undermines the health and the well-being of the most vulnerable in our society. i urge my colleagues to vote no and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the chair will receive a message. marc: mr. speaker, a message from the president of the united states. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i am directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: mr. speaker, i would like to yield one minute to the

gentleman from illinois who has worked extremely diligently on this bill for its entire process , mr. davis. one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for one minute. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to chairman lucas for the leadership he's shown in getting this conference report to the floor. i rise in strong support of this conference committee report. it is a commonsense piece of legislation p that deals with things such as overregulation. that is a silent job killer that this administration is implementing through our agricultural industry. i'm proud many of the provisions that i helped craft are in this final farm bill to reduce that opportunity for the -- for this administration to continue to kill jobs in this country. we see some commonsense reforms to the snap program. our goal should be to get people off of snap and into jobs. mr. speaker, this bill, this bill is a lesson in fiscal

responsibility. it is one of the single most -- one of the single largest cuts in mandatory spending that this congress has done which is putting our country on a path to complete fiscal responsibility. these are some of the decision that is we need to make. most of those cuts are in the agricultural side. we need to understand that this is a commonsense piece of legislation that's going to continue to reduce our deficit in this country, put us on a path to paying down our national debt, and, and putting excellent long-term farm policy in place for years to come. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. peterson: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to a former member of the committee, mr. walsh from vermont. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from vermont is recognized for one minute. mr. walsh: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to submit my full statement. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection, so ordered. the gentleman is recognized. mr. walsh: in some cases we spend far too much -- mr. welch: in some cases we spend far too much needlessly and some cases we spend far too little unwisely. but a five-year farm bill is absolutely crucial to america. it is crucial to vermont dairy farmers. this bill takes three important steps for dairy farmers from vermont and throughout the country. it creates a modern day insurance program which protects farmers against the wild swings in feed prices which are totally out of their control. two, it protects taxpayers as well as farmers by limiting insurance to a farmer's base production. three, finally, it gives usda the tools to intervene if dairy prices drop dramatically. mr. speaker, with its false and imperfections, america does need a new farm bill. agriculture is changing all

around us. local food is a growing sector in my state. the organic sector is booming and people are much more aware of their food and farms. this farm bill invests in local foods, provides insurance to small farmers, and puts organic farming on a strong footing for the future. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from minnesota reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for one minute. mr. mcgovern: i want my colleagues to understand why those of us who are opposing this bill because of the snap cuts are so concerned. on november 1 when the moneys ran out, all 47 million people on snap received a cut. for an average family of three that was about a $30 reduction per month which is a lot of money when you're struggling to put food on the table. quite frankly the snap benefit in and of itself is nod at quit. people end up going to food banks anyway. if this bill passes, for over 800,000 families, well over a million people, for the average family of three, an additional

$90 cut will go into effect. that's $120. i don't know where they are going to make that up. i don't know where they are going to get help. we can say let the states pick it up. well, the states aren't rushing to pick anything up. let the charities pick it up. read the newspaper last week, "new york times," all of our food banks are at capacity. they can't do it. so what's going to happen to these people? in the united states of america the richest country in the history of the world, we ought to all pledge that nobody, and i mean nobody, ought to go hungry. that's when this fight is about. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: might i inquire how much time the three of us have? it the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota has 8 1/2 minutes. the gentleman -- 6 1/2 minutes. mr. lucas: how much time? the speaker pro tempore: 11 1/2

minutes. mr. lucas: i wish to yield to the gentlelady from the da coatas who understands the diversity of weather, understands the challenges that producers half for a minute and a half, the gentlelady mrs. noem. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from south dakota is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mrs. noem: i thank the chairman for yielding and leadership on the farm bill and also ranking member peterson for all of his hard work and diligence in finding some common ground on a bill that's under -- been under negotiations for far too long. i'm so happy to be standing here with all of our members and colleagues to -- from the farm bill conference committee, which was honored to be a part of, an also everyone else who is supporting this bill, it is extremely bipartisan. it's taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, but i'm proud of the fact we have a product in front of us that's not only good for producers, it's good for consumers, it secures our food supply into the future which is one of the safest in the world. we make reforms, we save billions of tax dollars, it's accountable to the taxpayer in this country. we conserve