the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. gracious god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. in this chamber where the people's house gathers, we pause to offer you gratitude for the gift of this land which

we live and for this great lakes which you have inspired and developing over so many years. continue to inspire the american people that through the difficulties of these days we might keep liberty and justice alive in our nation and in the world. give to us and all people a vivid sense of your presence that we may learn to understand each other, to respect each other, to work with each other, to live with each other and to do good to each other. so shall we make our nation great in goodness and good in its greatness. and as the members of this house return from a week of constituent visits, grant them wisdom and good will as they address the issues of days to come. 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. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson. mr. wilson: everyone, including our guests in the gallery, please join in. 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 now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. burgess: mr. speaker, i rise, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: mr. speaker, this is the affordable care act. yesterday marked the four-year anniversary of when it was

signed into law. we all knew, at least on the republican side of this house, that this thing was trouble when it was passed four years ago, but what no one could have predicted was the aggressive incompetence of the administration and the agencies during the implementation. and it's hurting average americans. i get comments from people back home on my facebook page literally every day. people telling me their stories of their health care plans being canceled, their premiums and deductibles going up and trusted access to family doctors being lost. rosie told me her premiums went up 62% last year. heidi's husband lost his job because his company was forced to downsize. and another had $9,000 out of pocket. one person put it best saying this affordable care act is simply not affordable. mr. speaker, americans deserve better. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, for the last four years, american families have watched as obamacare has destroyed jobs, increased insurance premiums and denied access to trusted medical professionals. you can't keep your doctor. from day one, the administration's not been honest with the law's effectiveness or its implementation. this unworkable, irresponsible law continues to plague families. we must work together to repeal and replace obamacare. house republicans know that commonsense solutions exist which will provide relief to those who have fallen victim to the president's countless broken promises. unfortunately, the administration and senate democrats have refused to work with us to make changes and restore health care decisions back to the american people, not to big government. as the open enrollment period

deadline approaches, leading to more hardship of families, medical professionals and small businesses, it is our duty to work together to change obamacare, which destroys jobs. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. tonight the statesville chamber of commerce will host its annual dinner and recognize the individuals, businesses and nonprofits that help make statesville, north carolina, thrive. unfortunately, our work here will keep me from joining them. as we recognize the great work local organizations like the statesville chamber do to help local businesses compete, we should remain focused on the task of keeping washington out of their way. we passed numerous bills in the house to cut through bureaucracy and get the government out of the way of job creators.

in the last week of february, the house passed one such bill, the unfunded mandates information and transparency act. it would require new federal rules and regulations to undergo a more complete and accurate cost analysis. with regulations estimated to impose over 87 million hours of paperwork on american businesses, i hope this bill passes the senate with the same bipartisan support it received in the house. i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? >> i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. there are a lot of heroes in society. they include moms and dads, doctors and nurses and stevers. and those who go above and beyond to help others at great risks to themselves. mr. messer: i want to recognize

three examples of such bravery today. latournae, daniel all u.p.s. employees, who helped risk their lives to help a stranger whose van slipped multiple times on an icy highway outside of indianapolis. the victim was stuck in their vehicle and their selfless actions helped keep her from harm. the beneficiary of their selfless act said, quote, the goodness of people in this world is so great and there are truly great people out there who we should appreciate, end quote. well said. today, or last week i had the opportunity to meet jim, david and duane. today i want to commend them for their bravery and thank them for reminding us what it truly means to be a hero. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject c-span. >> this is the conference report. 1053 pages, the report weighing 14 pounds. then this, a reconciliation bill. six months late. long,as 1186 pages

weighing 15 pounds. and the long-term continuing resolution. [applause] this one was two months late and it's 1057 pages long, weighing 14 pounds. that was a total of 43 pounds of paper and ink. new had three hours -- you had three hours to consider each and it took 300 people in my office of management and budget just to read the bills so that government would not shut down.

congress should not send another one of these. [applause] do, i will not sign it. >> more highlights from 35 years of house coverage on our facebook page. c-span, created by america's cable companies are to five years ago and brought to you today as a public service i your local cable and satellite provider.

sex have you ever heard of hydraulic fracturing? >> no. >> fracturing. >> what? what are the dangers posed to drinking water sources due to hydraulic fracturing? >> the epa has delayed studies until 2016. >> can we really wait that long, congress? >> the winners have been announced of this year's c-span student cam competition on "what is the most important issue congress should address this year"? you can see all of the winning

documentaries online at student cam.org. >> we at the federal trade commission have a dual mission, which is to protect american consumers and to promote competition. and we do that in a couple of different main ways. civilrst is that we are a law enforcement agency, so we bring lawsuits against companies that engage in unfair or deceptive acts or practices come or engage in unfair competition. we also engage in policy and research work to study industries and to promote best practices, and also to advocate for laws that we think are needed. and to your specific question, what i can tell you is that we are really interested in protecting consumers when it comes to the entirety of the mobile go system. by that i mean, we are what have to developers are engaging in, what , whatments are doing

operating systems in mobile app stores with device manufacturers and we make sure that american consumers are protected and that there is a competitive landscape. >> the role of the federal trade commission tonight on the communicators at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2. year, the european schaakent member traveled to iran to look at diplomacy. this is just over an hour. >> good morning. thank you for coming. we have a treat. we are lucky to have a member of european parliament who had an

interesting trip to iran. thank you from our sponsor that sponsors the iran task force. we focus on every aspect of iran that you can imagine. the issue of internet freedom is important. it is something that is frequently in the news. just this past weekend, the turkey prime minister has tried and failed to eliminate twitter. we are looking to hear more about how iran is managing the internet. in particular, how it is managing social media. we have with us marietje schaake. she is with the alliance of liberals and democrats for europe political group. she serves on the committee of foreign affairs where she focuses on neighborhood policy, turkey, human rights, with a specific focus on freedom of expression and iran.

she works on the digital agenda and the role of culture in the media in the european union's external actions. she focuses on intellectual property rights, the free flow of information, and the relation between trade and foreign affairs. she worked as an independent advisor to governments, diplomats, on issues of transatlantic communications, diversity, civil rights, and integration. welcome to the atlantic council. i am very glad you were able to be with us today. we only have an hour. i'm going to ask you to talk about the trip you took with the european parliament to iran. the first such trip by a european parliament delegation in several years. tell us what you found when it comes to the internet in iran.

>> thank you for hosting me. it is a pleasure to exchange with you my observations in our work in the european parliament. it is often different from how it is perceived in the united states. in order to obtain the best results, we should be working together in a complementary way, but in an independent way. thank you for making this meeting possible. i am in washington with the u.s. delegation on which i serve as well. we have meetings with members of congress starting this evening. they will be going till wednesday. the other delegation i serve on is the delegation for relations with iran. those typically focus on the parliaments in respective countries. it has been difficult for us to organize any kind of contact or delegation visits for a period of seven years.

i was involved with three attempts over the past five years to visit iran, which failed at the last minute because of the difficult relations that were there politically. after rouhani became the president, i am sure you have been following this new sense of opening and momentum. it allowed us to travel to tehran and i was able to stay as a tourist. it was a good combination of seeing the country outside of meeting rooms and outside of protocol and the official meetings were enlightening. we were a five-member delegation. four were women. i think that gave a strong signal without intending so. we were there to explore what openings were there beyond what has been agreed in the interim nuclear agreement.

i want to share a few observations and kickoff discussion with you. it was remarkable how much energy and how much of a sense of hope and optimism one got from the streets. i have never felt so welcomed in any country that i have visited. it was very clear that i was a visitor. there are not that many people from the outside. i look a little bit different, even with the headscarf that i was unfortunately forced to wear. everyone who caught my eyes said welcome to iran, where are you from? and by the way, often in excellent english. there was an awareness of the political situation. you mentioned restrictions to the internet. it is clear that most people know ways around these restrictions. we met a number of people walking down the street -- people were on a date who had met through facebook.

people who had heard word of our delegation on the internet. within hours of arrival, i was advised how to use a vpn to go around the censorship. when governments think they can restrict the liberties of their people, it perhaps only makes them smarter. in turkey, as soon as twitter was blocked, more people started taking to twitter in various ways. the sense of hope and optimism from ordinary iranians was remarkable. in the official meetings, it struck me how critical everybody was and how openly critical everybody was.

of ahmadinejad. there was a sense that -- had had wrecked the economy, destroyed the country. very strong words were used. stronger than i had anticipated. it was remarkable that in each and every meeting we had, we were criticized as europeans because there are some members of our parliament who meets with the mko and it was a clearly sensitive issue. no members of our delegation believed this group is a serious representative one way or another, there was real concern on the iranian about such meetings taking place. it became clear -- and we were mostly interacting with the parliament of iran -- the hardliners are quite comfortable. they are self-confident and often very critical.

if you heard their words vis-a-vis the president. it shows the fight between the hardliners. -- between reformers and the hardliners. we had the honor and pleasure to meet --. -- to meet a human rights lawyer . and a lot of people we saw believe she is a modern-day hero for continuing to defend juveniles on death row and others in difficult circumstances, despite the great price this had for her, costing her years of her freedom, being imprisoned and all of the restrictions, such as being banned from performing her profession for 20 years.

we met her in the greek embassy. it was a very short and sensitive meeting. we did not speak about -- it was off of the official radar -- we had awarded her -- i nominated her for the most important prize that the european parliament handout. it was a great opportunity to meet her. she had not been able to visit europe to take the prize. immediately, within hours after the meeting, hard-line media started quoting from the media. a huge discussion interrupted that would last for two weeks in the media. it was about whose fault it was that our delegation had had this meeting with this person. was it the parliament's responsibility, the ministry of

foreign affairs' responsibility. it is a discussion we have seen when catherine ashton visited iran and she met human rights defenders. it is a similar kind of discussion in the media about whose responsibility this was. it underlines the sensitivity of the topic of human rights. human rights are a priority and should remain a priority. we should be careful that there is not some sort of zero-sum equation only focusing on the nuclear issue and forgetting about the people that live in systematic and difficult repression, with the most severe cases being the large number of executions that take place despite the fact that there is a new president who speaks with much more openness and reform.

in our meetings with people, it was clear that the hardliners, who are appointed, still hold a strong voice and a strong position in iran and use this to disrupt the efforts. one of the other topics where this became very clear was about iran's role in syria and hezbollah. we looked at the new security -- the munich security conference where for ministers were asked about human rights. and they said, well, i'm focused on nuclear issue now. it shows which responsibilities

are with the government. and what influence they can have , and where the hardliners also , sucho maintain influence as iran's involvement with serious and human rights. that was the topic we discussed, but which was not as easy to get any kind of agreement or steps forward. a topic that was something that we want to pick up on, after the visit took place, what will happen with regards to iran and the role of europe after this year in afghanistan. there is concern among the iranian establishment about the rise of sunni terrorism in the middle east, but also questions about what will happen to afghanistan, how it may destabilize again, with millions

of afghani refugees living in iran and the problem of drug trafficking through iran with the destination of europe and other regions. many issues where we have mutual concern that we could look at. one of the opportunities may be in working together on finding this illicit drug trade while addressing the fact that most people who were executed in iran are executed for drug related charges. the eu will not and cannot cooperate in arresting people that would result in them receiving the death penalty. there is thinking among me iranian establishment about abolishing the penalty of death for drug-related crimes.

that was also said on the record if anyone wants to look at that. it presents a concrete and tangible opportunity for further discussion about changing that. in summing up, we went home with a few concrete points on our agenda. we want to try to open up a human rights dialogue with a special representative. hopefully, being able to visit iran soon. we have recommended -- there is an invitation to go to iran, but there is a bit of tension. the question is how that can be resolved. for us, putting human rights on the official agenda, continuing a discussion and not letting it be snowed under the political focus for the nuclear deal is essential.

it is essential that iran stays involved in finding solutions to the horrendous and gruesome war in syria. there has been a discussion that has been going on for quite a while. about afghanistan and the drugs smuggling and the death penalty as a result. there will be resources that need to be made available, but also the different ambassadors on the ground were in agreement that the e.u. can act more in unity as one voice instead of 28 different voices. given that we play such a key role in the nuclear negotiations and when it comes to the region and cultural ties, the many exchange students that we have, there are many issues that we

should and can better address as a european union as a whole. the e.u. should act more independently. we often see members being quite divided. there are sensitivities as a result of trade relations or other concerns. we see the european parliament increasingly taking an autonomous and forceful voice in the discussion. i hope we will continue that. have extended an invitation to the members of parliament of iran and hope they will visit us mid april and potentially we can further push open the very fragile window of opportunity. those of us that believe reforms will benefit the iranian people, we need to try to do everything we can to make that happen. we realize those who seek reform are not the only ones in power

in iran and that it is an uphill battle, but one that is worth pursuing. >> thank you. i neglected to thank the national iranian-american council, so let me do that. let me ask one question to get things going and we will open it up. you mentioned the u.n. special rapporteur for human rights. he came out another report where he talks about some pluses and the political prisoners that were released last fall. there are still something like 600 or more political prisoners in iran. why are the iranians so allergic to allowing him go?

there was a visit by a canadian special rapporteur -- is it just him or another person in that position, do you think they would allow a visit and can the e.u. be a bridge in that area? everyone in iran uses vpn, but did you ask officials why they use all of these filters when people find a way around it, when the foreign minister has his own twitter account, when the supreme leader has his own twitter account? do they find it ridiculous from blocking people who use it easily? >> on the position of the sensitivity, i think for iranians, no matter what political side they are or whether they are old or young,

whether they are students or politicians, the notion of the double standard being applied to their country is very widely shared. there's a sense that the west is unfair in almost every meeting there was a reference to other countries where women cannot drive. we are aware that human rights are not only a problem in iran, but we care about the situation of the iranians, so when we are in iran, we address those. the special rapporteur -- that is the sensitivity. perhaps that is why the high commissioner for human rights was invited. i do believe that the eu can play an important role in bridging that gap. i hope iranian officials will take us up on the suggestion to

send the eu special rapporteur to make initial contact. there was an opening for a dialogue, but the question from the iranian side, mostly coming from hard-liners, was that we do not apply preconditions that it is an open discussion and we should respect the difference in culture and in the constitution. that makes some topics, like the flight of -- very difficult. -- like the flight of the baha'i , for example, very difficult to discuss. when it comes to censorship and filtering the internet, it was part of the discussion. at one point, i wanted to point out the fact that i had asked parliamentary questions and the problems that sanctions cause iranians. i had hoped to show my

counterpart these questions, but my website is blocked in iran. that was a bit of a painful moment because i was confronted with the fact that my website was blocked. the website of the chair of the iran litigation was not. there seems to be some reason for that that i do not know. at least it is not a blanket ban on european parliament websites, or so it seems. i asked about this paradox, or tension between the supreme leader, be president, the foreign minister, and officials tweeting, sometimes officially -- sometimes very affectively about their ideas and wishes and many iranians being unable to see that. it is a lively debate in iran. censorship is not necessary and

in these discussions about twitter and the use of social media, there were differences of opinion. being engaged on social media also lets the genie out of the bottle. it is unsustainable if leaders go on these platforms to not allow the population, one day or another. we saw the most remarkable use of social media by the president when the struggle between hardliners and reformists came to the surface at the moment where he was about to address the nation on national television. this broadcasting was delayed for about an hour. this was probably to hamper his efforts in one way or another. in any case, the president himself took to twitter to say i do not know why, but i am being delayed in addressing the nation. in that case, it is clear that his audience was a national one.

it is national tv that was delayed. he wanted to address the situation. after he tweeted this, the delays were solved and he was able to give his address. what is important in this example, and another of other issues is that we need to remember that not everything that happens in iran immediately meets the eye. it is not immediately obvious or explicit. there are changes gradually happening below the surface. i believe that the population of iran, highly educated, tech savvy in many ways, many trained engineers and tech savvy after having lived on censorship and monitoring for such a long time, they will be an important force in making that change go forward.

>> thank you. let me open it up. wait for the microphone and introduce yourself. i see we have a card up. that is a great way to get my attention. please. >> thank you for your insights. my questions relate to trying to tie together crimean and the nuclear negotiations. if i had to wishes, one would be that we approve key tip, but harry reid is not listening. we probably have more problems here than we do elsewhere. also the nuclear agreements. how do you see t-tip and have you see crimea enhancing we stand on the nuclear issue. and to what degree do you think i'm emi have some beneficial implications for nato and the eu -- that crimea could have some

beneficial implications for nato and the eu? >> thank you. i am the spokesperson for my political group. ttip is the partnership where we are seeking to take away barriers in trade and look for more common standards. i think you are right to relate these issues. ttip has the potential to redefine the transatlantic relationship for the next generation. we should not forget that this relationship mostly leans on the shoulders of the world war ii generation. my parents were born in world war ii. the death of the notion that americans were liberators is

almost in explicit but very substantial. if you ask a younger generation, the average 20-year-old of today, liberator is not necessarily the word that comes to mind when they think of the united states. this generational change will be very significant and is often not a part of the discussions and i believe it should be. the trust between the u.s. and the eu and the public and how they see the u.s. has been damaged by the awareness of what the nsa has been doing and the fact that being an ally does not matter in terms of being a citizen and being under surveillance. that trust has been damaged. i believe there are quite a few people in foreign-policy circles who wish that crimea and the

crisis there will bring together the u.s. and eu to make them overcome these issues of trust. i believe this crisis forces americans and europeans to work together. it forces europeans to work together more effectively than they have. clearly, the euro crisis has overshadowed another crisis -- europe's position in the world. that is coming to the surface. what is the overarching issue when you look at the nuclear deal in crimea?

the role of russia. russia has already announced it may reconsider its own role vis-a-vis the nuclear deal. the pragmatic and cynical approach that russia takes prompts the u.s. and eu to take a longer leadership role. our relationship to turkey, which is also facing a huge crisis, to the forefront. this will turn out to be an opportunity to redefine the transatlantic relation in terms of crisis management and in a more substantial, meaningful way. also in terms of what it means to be a democracy. i think that is something that has to be here in the city and country first and foremost. it does affect our position of leadership. how critical can the u.s. be about internet? it has hurt the credibility of the united states.

>> [inaudible] >> the first question is capacity. we see budget cuts in terms of defense spending in every eu member state. we see a lack of coordination to be strategic and effective. crimea is a wake-up call and should be a wake-up call to make them more efficient. the secretary-general gave a talk at the brussels forum. he emphasized this. he used a very strong words towards russia. it should stick within the boundaries of international law and try not to go further in its aggression towards nato. >> they had two days of meetings last week in vienna which went well.

they made more progress. the concern is more on the sanctions front, whether the russians will be as scrupulous and continuing to apply the sanctions while this process goes forward. if they have to renew the interim agreement for another six months, will the russians keep the pressure on iran while this process goes forward? in terms of the deal that they are trying to reach, the russian said they had some ideas about how the iranians can modify their heavywater reactor so it will not be so proliferation-prone. they behaved very professionally. no difference whatsoever in the behavior in these talks. fingers crossed that it will not jeopardize the nuclear negotiations with iran. >> i want to address the broadening of the agenda issue.

for a number of years, some of us have advocated broadening the agenda beyond the nuclear issue, whether it be human rights, border issues, exchanges, so forth. when rouhani took over, -- everyone rejoiced. the window is open. we can broaden it. the consensus in washington is that at the nuclear deal falls through, we are in deep trouble. to put on rouhani the relief of activities is going to cause problems with conservatives. -- the responsibility of these other activities is going to cause problems with conservatives. we would like to see the agenda broadened, but the last thing we want to see happen is the negotiations fall through. i think they're going to have deep trouble dealing with the

conservatives without loading on all of these other issues which are obviously important, but i do not think the time is right. >> it only becomes problematic if you try to make them an interval part of the same deal. -- an integral part of the same deal. the difference between deq and the united states is clear. we have had thousands of exchange students, successfully participating in academic programs in european university programs. across the board, these are programs that are not contested or controversial. they are welcomed. there is openness on the part of the hard-liners to look for more exchanges, people to people exchanges. i do not think it has the same sensitivity as the nuclear deal.

in this city, these few of iran has been almost turned into a -- the view of iran has been almost turned into a domestic issue. it is very difficult after decades of strained relations, of very little official contact to have a sense of what is happening in the country. i can speak for myself. i have studied iran for the past five years as a member of european parliament. going there was still an eye-opener. to get a sense that it is much more modern, despite the pain of sanctions, the shops are full. it is more like istanbul then cairo. people speak english so well, how young and well-educated the population is. there are people living in the united states that can play very important roles.

the restrictions that these people feel have changed their view of relationships. it makes it more difficult for people to people contact. it is not easy for iranian-americans to go back to iran. i think they are a great asset for both the iranian authorities and the americans alike. >> i think you are missing my point. we have 7000 iranian students right here. most of them are graduate students. my organization has sponsored exchanges involving more than a thousand people. i am not talking about exchanges. i'm talking about human rights. how can you put the human rights burden on these liberals in iran and take away their credibility on the nuclear issue?

even in the exchange business, we have problems right now. a variety of internal problems. it was not talking about exchange. we are not going to try to expand right now, for sure. every visa we have to argue for. it is not a trivial issue. i was talking primarily about human rights and the more explosive border issues, the drug smuggling, the big-time issues. >> thank you for the clarification. i did perhaps misunderstand, although both are important. i agree that it is complicating to put the human rights burden only on the foreign minister and the president or at least the government. from their side, it is clear that is not in their hands. i am pointing to the ministers comment where he said it is not his priority or something he can

talk about. it is clear that judiciary plays a strong role in the human rights situation in iran. i do believe -- what i hope to bring across is that we should not make the nuclear deal as some kind of zero-sum. to make any kind of contact with iranians conditional with the next steps in the nuclear deal, for example. i am hoping that this momentum where there is more focus on iran, we can look at human rights on the top of the agenda. we look for opportunities to address common threats, like the rise of extremism. that is a conversation starter.

the drug smuggling, i mentioned. the agenda is much broader and we should look for a diverse set of -- and make it clear to -- a diverse set of -- a diverse set of interlocutors. it clear to domestic audiences who is responsible for what develops in iran. the hardliners in iran and the high numbers of executions are very much intended to undermine the efforts of the reformists. it is understood how sensitive human rights and the high level of executions are in europe and the united states alike. it hurts the president, who is considered to be ultimately responsible for all of these events taking place. >> the free leader is. he made some very unpleasant remarks on the holocaust last week. with all due respect, the image of iran in the world is important.

whether we get a nuclear deal, we cannot avoid the issues of human rights, even if we wanted to. it is not an accident that 80 political prisoners were released just before rouhani came to the general assembly last year. they are very well aware of how this plays in the international system. they have every right to defend their system and talk about double standards and talk about the number of prisoners in the united states. it is a conversation that has to be had. >> one more addition, similarly, how effective the representative can be.

how much of an emphasis and risky if she was willing to take. how much leadership she was willing to show when it comes to issues like human rights. it is and should be her priority to keep the space for these negotiations healthy. that was a risky endeavor and one that she was limited in the political space that she sought to address the broader issues. it is on us to continue to address that agenda. >> if you have questions and one of those cards, just pick it up. >> i am jeffrey harris. we have a small european parliament office with the u.s.. in iran, the good guys, the bad

guys, the reformers, the hardliners -- are they assuming that the long-term agreement on iran's nuclear program is very likely or is it very, very shaky that is being dealt with? i am pretty sure that everybody concerned is aware of the political cycle and circumstance in the countries they are dealing with. they are aware of the opposition in the united states that considers the u.s. president rather weak. all the problems on the ukraine package and the criticisms from democrats over the agreement with iran. is this taken for granted that this is going to happen? within the congress, such delegations as the one that --

you have taken part in is viewed somewhat negatively or with a lack of complete understanding or appreciation within the congress. you have seen a model example of how the european parliament goes about this. it will go to delegation and iran, but on the condition that such meetings would take place. the same applies to china, cuba, north korea, whatever. i did not mean that these solve the problems. but it is clear that the parliamentarians are not going to forget about human rights. and let the interlocutors off the hook. >> it is not the way i would like to see it. it is clear by self identification how politicians see themselves as either more conservative or and categories -- as more conservative

or reformist and these categories are self identified. when we asked about the perspective of --. the signal was unfortunate. it was answered by saying we are sticking to our commitments. we do not think the west is. it is important that the west is going to be decoupled. we see the eu and the u.s. policy and we each play our role in order to be effective and to play our role in the partnership that we do have and in the common interest that we have. is important to talk about the role of the u.s. congress, how

it is perceived in iran. that is why i appreciate that we have this opportunity. we look at this differently in congress. and in the european parliament. our powers are different. that leads us to be in a very different role. the european parliament cannot apply sanctions itself. the way in which we went about it is to address the issues that we thought were important. we believe the u.s. is committed to its agreement in the interim nuclear deal and we highlighted that. we did not single out iran when addressing human rights. we do this to every country, including the united states. >> do you have a sense for people that there will be a comprehensive deal. in december, when you were there, we did not have an agreement on the implementation of the interim agreement.

which was reached in november. were you able to sense that there was a great deal of optimism and then they would move on to a long-term deal with it, or were they busy focusing on the fact that new names were added on to the old sanctions in the u.s.? >> they made it clear that they were -- on the interim deal. -- that they were committed to the interim deal. it is difficult to project too far into the future. basically looking toward the other. i see that in the eu, too. we are willing to -- we are aspiring to achieve a comprehensive deal, but it depends on the commitments. and the implementation by all at the table. this is something that you will hear spoken in washington, tehran, and brussels. >> one of the provisions of the interim agreement was that they were going to facilitate financial channels for humanitarian transactions, food,

medicine, student exchanges. i am hearing contradictory reports about this. has there been steps taken? are there european banks dealing with and processing these transactions so that iranians can get food, etc. >> it is my understanding that, especially the extraterritorial impact of the sanctions, for example the secondary impact of , the u.s. sanctions impedes european policy space. that restricts us in making our own policies because u.s. sanctions over role eu sanctions and restrict companies in doing business or create such risks for them that they are unwilling to take it. this is a topic that is difficult to discuss with the business community. it is my understanding that most banks are hesitant as to facilitate these financial transactions.

that is a mistake. sticking to our agreements goes for ourselves as well. if we lift sanctions, we have to make it implementable. there are ways that can be found, even if they cannot be done through commercial institutions, we could do it otherwise to make sure that we meet our part of the commitment. in particular, food and medicine reaching iranian people should be noncontroversial. i am happy that the eu has sought to consider the impact on the iranian population. that is not responsible for the nuclear program. they cannot even freely and fairly elected leaders that may well be. we have to keep them in mind, first and foremost, when we look at the impact of the sanctions, especially access to medicine --

it continues to be a big problem. we have to be very careful of what we do, how what we do at the drawing table and lyrical -- and in political discussions impacts people on the ground. >> would you like to say a few words? also, a few words about congress if you would like. wait for the microphone and introduce yourself. rex first of all, i want to applaud your efforts. this is so critical to parliament terriers -- parliamentarians and officials visiting a rant and examining the dialogue themselves. it is almost criminalized to engage iran. this is an important element of the entire discussion that we are having.

as far as addressing the human rights issue, i would be curious as to your insights. how can your efforts and other efforts bolster those in iran who seek to improve the human rights situation? president rouhani campaign on the promise of ending the environment in iran and addressing the social issues. at the same time, we see an incentive structure where hardliners, who seek to sabotage constructive engagement with the west, are almost incentivized to exploit human rights and commit these violations in an attempt to cut off these relations. has there been some thinking strategically about how to bolster those who seek to improve the human rights situation? this does tie to the medicine issue. is there a way to demonstrate that dialogue, compromise, engagement can beget benefits

for the iranian people. benefits from a reformists to short-circuit this incentive structure for hardliners. this is an example of the west using the nuclear negotiations to put more pressure on us -- is there a way to open up the medicine trade, the humanitarian tray, ease the sanctions in a way that demonstrates, no, the policies of engagement are benefiting the iranian people. >> the question is -- what are viable incentives for the hardliners? i am not sure the well-being of the iranian people is. there are too many people

benefiting from an economy that is flourishing in sanctions. it is not a clear-cut measure that has only one impact. it creates a great economy that is doing very well. another aspect of the aspect to medicine is the redistribution. it is not only the result of western sanctions that people have problem getting access to medicine. it has to be precise in how look at the issues. when you look at your question of empowering people and wrong, that is the key issue. i believe we should be focused.

a private sector could be helpful in counterbalancing the very few at the top who hold so many resources. to make it more of a distributed economy. when it comes to the promises to end of the securitized environment, the real challenge is that it is not always the letter of the law that matters, it is the implementation of the law. people gave me a great sense of less tangible securitized environment. the police that deals with closing is less present, the atmosphere in the street is much lighter than it used to be. without laws being changed, that can between within a second. with so many things forbidden, anything from having a satellite on your roof to using the internet to consuming our call to the way you wear your headscarf -- if you want to target an individual, there is something that you can find on him or her.

that insecurity, using these levers by judiciary government police, law enforcement, revolutionary guards, makes them a powerful and people so uncertain about where they stand. that is difficult for them. the response -- they speak for themselves about the impact it has on fueling a discussion about human rights in the country and even let the head of the european affairs committee say, what are we talking about? she is a free woman. why should we have this discussion? sometimes what seems controversial and a difficult conversation -- there are a

number of serious problems. i believe we can play a role in bringing those discussions to the surface and helping those in iran to find a way to address these issues. >> if i can ask -- she will not go to iran because she does not want to wear a headscarf. is that true? >> i have not heard about the headscarf. it is not pleasant to have no choice in whether to wear it or not. it gave me a lot of criticism at home. it is not easy being photographed in that position for explaining to my own constituents.i do think the value of traveling was much greater and it gave me a much deeper understanding of the position of women in iran who do not have this choice i daily

basis. i do not know whether she wants to wear a headscarf or not. what i suspect is the main reason that she does not want to undermine -- by going. >> it is a convenient excuse. i spoke a little bit -- there are 895 prisoners of conscience. this includes nearly 400 political activists, 300 people who were there because of their religious activities, more than 90 human rights defenders, 71 civic activist, 37 journalists and a 24 student activists. this is a large number. in terms of executions, at least 624 individuals were executed

and 213 who were executed for possession of drugs or for drug trafficking. if they're going to change their laws on capital punishment for a possession of a small amount of drugs, that would be a major step. >> we have to look at what is official and not official. when we ask, they say they are no political -- >> what about the two presidential candidates. when you ask about them, what do they say? >> some people said they personally hoped they would be released soon. >> it has now been four years that i have been under house

arrest. the dewey have any other questions from the assembled audience? ask another one then. that's on the question of the internet. you mentioned someone who was assigned to you told you had to get around restrictions? >> in my own experience, if you're in a hotel in iran, there are certain sites that are filtered and bought. recall, twitter was blocked in my hotel when i was there in august. the "washington post" was not blocked that the "new york times" was. when the government has an event they want to publicize, family setup, they unlock these sites to allow people to tweet and so on and publicize the event in real time. i don't know if you tried your devices and various places and

got different results. >> first of all, i only brought one clean device that had never been used or connected to my main account because i did not want to give an open invitation to the authorities to access all of those. that's the main problem. censorship is a serious problem and became very clear to me, just being there for 10 days, i felt very disconnected from global events. if you imagine what it means for the average iranian to not only live in a country which is systematically censored but news that is framed a certain way, conspiraciess of and limited views on the world, no access to information that others have, it's almost impossible to imagine the depth of an pact because the new york times and washington post are a .ubset of news outlets

but what's available to the average iranian or on the radio and television is really important. the monitoring through the internet is what puts people's lives in danger. the fact that there is such a centralized system where almost anything can be observed and people's devices can be accessed through the back doors in this technology by the authorities at any given moment. this, it is well documented, it has put people's lives at risk. as europeans and americans, we should look at what we can do there. sanctions are so heavy that almost nothing can be exported. but it can be exported? >> some sanctions have been lifted.

tracking and tracing and monitoring technology. thesean illusion to think technologies do not proliferate. availablee is still such technologies end up in the and we don'tians have a hand on developing them. more and more is coming from asia where there's no sanctions that we apply that are in place. there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to these roles. censorship and monitoring of people. theve learned a lot from case of iran and the solutions iranian people have found going around these technologies reminds us of how vital they are for people to connect to each other and to information. it is very important.

>> how many european ambassadors are resident in toronto? >> money. ?> residence >> i don't know what you mean. delegation?y have a over 20. you have maybe 20 outposts, but are there any european investors that spend most of their time in terror on question mark >> absolutely. dirt -- thehe dutch, the germans, austrians, the polls, the italians, spaniards, the portuguese -- i met over 20 ambassadors, but i'm not sure the exact number, which i'm happy to look up for you. it is a significant number.

we had a class full of ambassadors to brief and debrief us will stop i wish i had the pictures with me. the dutch have served consistently for years and it's not easy, but they do. >> can i ask about the european point of view? lordritish had just chris -- had just restored full relations. i think they were working on their missions which was trashed by the regime of years back. do you sense optimism among them? are they worried about whether rouhani is going to deliver? >> i think all of the above. they see that things are changing. dealthe interim nuclear

was a major hurdle without which we cannot reach the finish line. these first steps are very important. the broader agenda of exchanges and human rights and regional affairs, there are many topics of these ambassadors that others work on very actively. i think they actively welcomed our visit to take on the discussion with officials and citizens alike. sought had a major impact and helps them to continue their work but they are so close to the fire, they are not naïve. these are difficult challenges, but without addressing them and without trying come you can never solve them. i can convey where i hope there's a little more openness

of mines as well. >> at a perfect note on which to end. for coming here and telling us about your interesting trip to iran. [applause] >> the u.s. house is in recess until 4:00 this afternoon, when they will begin legislative business. there are nine bills under consideration today. one would allow taxpayer donations to typhoon relief in the philippines to count against

any 13 taxes. votes and would be held after 6:30 eastern. in today and also what are the key agenda items is debate on russian sanctions and aid to ukraine in the wake of russia's efforts to absorb the region. a key procedural vote comes up at 5:30. you can see the senate live on c-span2.nion network, >> this is the conference report. 1050 pages weighing 14 pounds. then this, a reconciliation bill , six months late. 1180 six pages long, weighing 15 pounds of stop the long-term continuing resolution

-- [laughter] [applause] this one was two months late and it is 1050 seven pages long, weighing 14 pounds. [laughter] that was a total of 43 pounds of paper ending. you have three hours to consider each. people, my 300 office of management and budget just to read the bill so the government wouldn't shut down. congress should not send another one of these. [applause]

no, and if you do, i will not sign it. highlights from 35 years of false coverage on our facebook page. c-span -- created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you today is a public service by your local cable and satellite provider. >> again, the u.s. house returns for legislative work at 4:00.

right now, a conversation the cost and process of closing excess military bases from today's "washington journal." >> "washington journal" continues. host: it is time for our weekly "your money" segment. you may remember back in february, defense secretary chuck hagel went before cameras to talk about a variety of issues but also talking about the funny 15 dod budget. he talked about finding ways to reduce costs, and part of that involves base closures. [video clip] achieve our fully goals for overhead reductions for not cutting unnecessary and costly infrastructure. for that reason, dod will ask congress for another round of base realignment closures in 2017. i am mindful that congress has to the requests of the past 2 years. but if congress continues to block these requests, even as they slice the overall budget,

we will have to consider every tool in our disposal to further reduce infrastructure. host: and helping us walk through the process of what are commissionac closings, brian lepore from the government accountability office, defense capabilities and management director. pleasure to be here. thank you for having me. host: these commissions, what are they? guest: the commission is an independent body that sits right in the middle of the process. you have a process where dod decides what basis it wants to close following some procedures. i in the middle you have this independent commission that will review the closure proposals, the realignment proposals, decide whether to approve them or reject them. the commission can add additional bases if it so chooses. then it presents it to the president, and at that point it goes back to the executive branch. but the independence of the commission is one of the key factors in the way it actually works. ultimately in making these

decisions it is about saving money? although 2005 was a little different, the rent we just finished. the secretary made clear -- promoting transformation, enhancing joint operation, matching infrastructure to the fore structure, a little bit of a euphemism -- a way to close races to save him -- close basis to save money. saving money was not necessarily the key point. host: how much did the process cost in 2005? guest: the commission estimated it would cost $21 billion to do the full set of recommendations that they approved. the actual cost exceeds $35 million, i merrily duty military construction on a number of the basis. -- a number of the bases. brac 2005, dod spent the majority of its recognitions on moving forces around as opposed

to just closing bases. dod proposed over 200 recommendations to the commission. the commission approved 182 of those. of those 182, only 23 major bases about 150 or so of the recognitions were something other than closing bases, and many of those were known not to be likely to save money at the time they were evaluated by the commission. host: so the dod comes up with a recommend to to the president or the commission recommends to the president? guest: the process has basically 7 steps and i think i can explain it relatively quickly. the way it works is that dod is -- assuming congress keeps the brac statue the way it has been and i suspect it will -- dod is required to do a for structure plan first. they are supposed to figure out what the threat environment looks like and what we will need for forces to respond to that. number two, they develop an infrastructure inventory.

we are to know what we have before they decide what they want to close. host: bases, etc. guest: number three, they are required to develop the selection criteria to decide which bases to close in which to realign. the gets published in federal register. they are required to do that, report -- required to take comments on it. anybody can comment on that. they use those 3 things -- for structure, infrastructure, and at selection criteria, and that point they present a recognitions to the commission. the commission reviews those three sets of criteria and will determine whether the secretary complied with the criteria or not and can make changes. that is the last step in the process where you can pick and choose. this is another key point of the independence of the commission. the commission will present its report to the president at that point -- and the president at that point has to accept or reject the list in its entirety. assuming he accepts it, it is presented to congress, and

similarly, congress has to accept or reject the entire list in its entirety. they cannot pick and choose. one more key point -- congress has a 45 days from the presidents amidst the report to congress to pass what is called a joint resolution of this appraisal -- joint resolution of disapproval. if they don't do that, it becomes binding. host: you can't take this often we can approve the rest -- he can take this off and we can approve the rest? guest: it is interesting to see how a member of congress u.s. military ace in his state or district, that is a lot of jobs. there could be 5000 jobs or more. a lot of jobs, a lot of economic activity. it is easy to see how a member of congress is going to want to be very protective of installation. that is why it went congress developed the process, to their credit, they did it in a way that attempted to take politics out of it. in theory. in fact, when the process

starts, every base in the united states is on the table. commissions, as they are known, that is the topic for our "your money" segment. if you have questions, he was her chance to ask brian lepore of the gal -- here is your chance to ask brian lepore of the gao. this point --t at well, first and foremost, this congress, are they likely to give the defense secretary his desire for these commissions?/ guest: that is the $64,000 question, as secretary hagel indicated. they asked for it in 2013 and 2015, congress declined to

approve it. they will ask for it in 2017. we will see. if you think about it, for the reasons i stated earlier, that is a difficult vote for a member of congress to take could went to authorize the background, if or have a base in your state district, that is on the table. it would be included in the defense authorization act comes of both armed services committees would have to agree to it -- so both armed services committees would have to agree to it. both houses of progress would have to approve it without stripping out the brac provisions. host: when the list is decided upon, is there -- i suppose at this point everybody would say -- is there a short list, so to speak, when you start these processes, with a bases that come up every time that serve as kind of a hotlist or target list, whatever you call it?

guest: it is a great guessing game. everybody who is interested in this and pays attention to the brac process tries to guess them is my days or something else's base going to be on the list -- is my base or somebody else possibly swing to be on the list? the weight it is written is very specific. bases to consider all the in the united states. at the beginning of the process, if it is in the united states, it is in theory available to be closed or realigned. host: are these just military, or are there civilian operations involved? guest: there can be civilian operations as tenets -- tenants of the isolation. -- of the installation. when i happens, the federal agency can make a decision whether it wishes to acquire a portion of the base and stay there, it may have to move.

it depends on what position will be made with respect to the reuse. host: brian lepore joining us. questions for you -- scott from arizona, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. host: you are on. i wanted to pedro, call on the italian line for that showed up later so i want to apologize for that. officer.ired literary i have worked civil service. anytime these brac decisions are delayed, what we are really doing is affecting the community regardless, because every military installation is a community within itself. it has its own infrastructure and law-enforcement. these are great economic power centers are brac made. universities can take over them, companies can create great

,owers of development technology. where we don't make the decision and we delay it, over time the services make decisions. at fort bragg they move aircraft runway -- the aircraft wing away from the 18th airborne corps. that affects everybody. things that should be done get s because theervice senators unelected officials won't go ahead and make a decision. you have a large family and you are downsized and they move out, guess what? you have a smaller home. host: thank you. guest: the color eggs and important point -- the caller nixon important point. when the base closes, that is a significant economic hit to the community. the one in new jersey that just ended,h brac

five thousand jobs moved to the aberdeen proving ground's. you have a net drain of 5000 positions in northern new jersey. on the other hand, it is a pretty extensive process embedded within the brac statue for her using installations. -- for reusing the installations. the community comes together in a sense this is what we are going to give it if you think about it,, those bases are like little towns. their housing and a school, a supermarket, commissary, department store. there may be laboratories, depending on what installation is. very valuable real property assets. to the extent that the local redevelopment authority and the community can come together and decide what it wants to do with that asset, it doesn't have to be the end of the world when the community loses its days. but it does require some forethought on the part of the community. host: any success stories other than that? guest: fort monmouth is under

redevelopment, but there already are. we have looked at this question a number of times, what happened to communities that lost their base. what we found even with respect 2005, the economic indicators and the communities surrounding the major bases that close, it is a mixed story. about half had an unemployment rate in 2011 lower than the national average. about half of them had annual per capita income higher than the natural average -- national average, despite the fact that the bases closed. the closing of the base in and of itself is not because of death. not -- not necessarily the kiss of death. host: retired military, florida. caller: i went through 2 rounds of base closure could i won't say which one it was. i have something very interesting, the local commanders there, they get involved very heavily in -- with

bases, they at our do a lot of service stuff for ere.people tha and they are heavily supportive of the people there, of course. but the congressman in the area, he put us in a real hard ,osition because, for example we needed a corrosion control anger for our aircraft -- corrosion control hangar for the aircraft we got the calls from the congressman -- hey, you still need that corrosion control hangar? any million-dollar project. of course we would like to have -- any million-dollar project. of course we would like to have it. but guess what, that was approved at the next day, attached to some bill that .ongress was passing

and now we have the a million-dollar project going on on the -- the 8 million-dollar project going on on the base which is probably due to close, although the brac process, it was announced, but it is probably 8, 10, 12 months away. host: with that story in mind, what would you like a guest to address? the power of the sky was meant to get things stuck into the base -- power of these congressman to get things stuck into the bases, and using the local base commanders instead of using the admiral or up the chain of command to get the thing approved. host: ok, caller, thanks. guest: the caller makes an interesting point. 2 points i would make about it. the first is that one of the things we find when we do our report last year on the impact of base closure on the local communities is that we talked to

the communities that surrounded 23 bases in the united states and one of the points the community leaders made is that sometimes as they got the installation back from dod, the commission -- condition of the facilities wasn't always couldoint where they reuse it without significant investment on their own. that would be state and local dollars and private dollars and in some cases it can be federal s, depending on the nature of the project. one of the things that the communities asked us to consider -- we made a recommendation on this -- is that once the decision is made to close the process, thee brac particular military department may wish to try and do some level of maintenance on the facility to maintain them in good working order. in truth, the caller makes an important point -- we want to be careful how much we invest because we may close the base, but if you also think about it, the base will get turned over to . local community

to the extent those facilities are in good working order, that has facilitated the reason the installation. -- the reuse of installation. indeed, it does exactly that. you are taking what was nontaxable, for local property tax purposes, you are taking it off the federal ownership and putting it into the local community. yes, to the extent you have private sector interest to take it, you get the interest from that. host: greg in north carolina. hi. caller: hi, how are you? host: fine, go ahead. caller: i could easily ditto the prior callers but nobody is talking about the 900-pound gorilla in the room. putin is proving that he is expansionist. syria is not resolved.

bush in days gone by -- we just had a war in iraq, and he fought a war on 2 fronts, going for afghanistan, fighting a war on a 2 fronts. nobody read "the art of war." 160e is probably about skirmishes going on in the world constantly. even if the united states decides to be isolationist, we would still need more military but what are we doing looking at a budget, the military budget? security,t homeland the patriot act, the national state registry. there is a lot of other things we can look at besides the military budget. host: to capitalize on greg's point, how would base closures affect the military readiness? guest: both good questions.

becomes a policy question, how much do we want to spend on the military. let me address the readiness question first. one of the things that the secretary of defense has been clear about is that to the extent that we continue to spend money to maintain and operate facilities that are accessed and needs, it can actually drain those resources -- that are excess to needs, it can actually drain those resources -- proper training, maintaining weapons systems to ensure that they are in good working order. it can even have an impact on routine deployment. the argument dod is making is that to the extent that we continue to maintain facilities we don't need, that can be a detriment to readiness on its own. caller's point, ultimately the question is going to come between the administration and the congress, how it should dod be? the army has made the decision that they will activate 10, teams. the process is underway right now.

overall the arm is reducing the force structure by 80000 and the marines are coming down by 20000 and that is a policy question that has been made. with thoserough force structure reductions, it is not inconceivable that we will start to create some excess capacity. that is a policy question that progress and the president would ultimately have to address. host: brian lepore from gao, talking about base closings. jack from indiana, republican line. caller: good morning could i have a question for the desperate given the current state of affairs between tigris and the administration and the reluctance of congress to pass brac legislation and the current administrations fondness for executive orders, how much good -- could the executive branch do with just executive orders and the authority vested within the

department of defense and the executive in administration? that's all. guest: that is a great question. het of the brac statue, what does is it gives the secretary of defense the authority to essentially on his signature make kosher and realignment decisions. however, it -- closure and realignment decisions. however, it was constrained in 1988 -- what they did prior to that time, in the 1970's, was change the statute to say that if the secondary chooses to do this him he has to notify congress -- if the secretary chooses to do this, yes to notify congress and he has to wait 60 days before he actually doesn't. afterctually happened is that version -- after that provision was put into the federal law, we didn't have anymore closures and that is hat led to the brac process. prior officials have said that

in testimony -- one that i testified at -- they made the point that they will use the authority state currently have .o the extent that they can what the secretary could do in the army and the navy could do is move forces from one base to another to essentially reduce the population of that base, but because the base wouldn't necessarily be closing under the be rac process, you would have a situation where you could lose their jobs without the local community gaining the asset. that actually happened in brac 2005. the navy proposed to close the brunswick naval air station in maine, and one at -- what the proposal was was to move the forces to the jacksonville station in florida but keep the base open. .he commission adjusted that the view of the commission was that it would be the worst of all worlds. the community would lose their jobs, but they won't gain the

assets. the commission adjusted the recommendation, fully within their authority, and brunswick naval station did close and there is a redevelopment project under way up there. --t: what is realignment may what does realignment mean? guest: it basically means change to the base itself. you may move one force off base but another force on base. example be aberdeen proving ground in maryland. when fort monmouth close, most of the positions moved to the aberdeen proving ground's. it was significant military construction, new jobs moved there. fort monmouth itself closed. does the process only affect the bases for military structures domestically? guest: the processes only for the domestic bases. it is an entirely different process.

it isn't covered by the be ra -- by the brac statute. the dod gets in about an bilateral agreements with whatever country we are talking to. there are provisions in the treaty that gave installation to the local -- the host government to the specific example that goes way back in history, when a naval station closed in the philippines, there was a provision in the treaty that the base reverts to the philippine government. then there was part of a treaty that also specified who gets all of the equipment on the installation, and the way it worked was that anything that was removable, the navy could remove if it so chose. at its discretion, anything nonremovable had to stay on the installation. for those on the line who are active or retired military. he is in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: yeah, good morning. listen, i live in warrington,

and we had here in naval air station. back in world war ii, it was a milligram naval air station. it became a giant reserve training base could what i want to say is that i spent a lot of time on that base could i am an educator so i gave thousands of hours to helping dependent children with the reading, what not. iat i watched what -- when was there was the building of a new naval lodge, building of additions to the commissary. this is after they got pulled in the brac. what kind of stupidity is that? what kind of waste of my money is that? i will listen to you when i get off the phone because i want to hear this. [laughs] guest: the caller makes an interesting point, and it is somewhat analogous to one of the previous callers as well.

one of the things that the local communities want to do is they want to obtain access to the installation. it is real property, there is significant assets there. as we reported last year, one of the things communities reported to us often the facilities were not in good working order. making -- that the impact of making it harder to reason the facilities. that's how -- harder to reuse the facilities. they felt that to the extent that the facilities could be reused -- and expanded supermarket, for example -- it does at the impact, particularly supermarkets, of increasing local tax revenue, since the supermarket is typically going to be privately owned, assuming it gets reused. host: how long does it take to wind down a base? guest: 6 years. dod must finish the process 6 years from the date on which the

president committed the report to congress. closing a major military base is a really big deal. there are potentially hundreds of facilities, thousands of jobs . many of the units that are there will get relocated to other locations. it does take time to actually do that. conyers has specified that it will be a 6 your timeframe. -- congress has specified that it will be a 6-your timeframe. host: active military, britney. caller: actually, it is sydney. i am at fort hood in our base is pretty crowded. you start closing bases, you will start overcrowding bases that are already crowded. and with russia, what if war happens again and you need soldiers? you are degrading a losing force . how is it beneficial to reduce the force and the war happens and all of a sudden you need these mass bonuses to get people to sign back in? it doesn't make sense to

continue to close even more bases and we are unsure of what we're doing with russia and stuff. fort hood is one of the great growth bases in the united states. the caller diminishing point. -- the caller makes an interesting point could one of the key differences with brac we5 versus the other brac, were closing bases at the same time we were doing major contingency operations overseas. beginning in 2007, we increase the army and the marine corps with the grow the army and grow the marines initiative. finally, the dod budget was going up to it reached about $700 billion by 2011. at the same time, we closed 23 major bases. the caller's point was right on the market took a larger force structure and squeezed it into a

smaller number of -- the caller 's point was right on the market. we took a larger force structure and squeezed into a smaller number of bases. and 1995, when we did the first 4 rounds of brac, the cold war had just ended, the soviet union had collapsed. we were reaping the p7 and reducing the force structure -- we were reaping the piece dividend and reducing the force structure and we were not engaged in major overseas contingency operations. it was a lot easier to go ahead and close bases. betweenferent scenarios the first four rounds of the rac and 2005. host: as far as the commission itself, is it independent, and how does it maintain its independence? guest: the commission is independent. the president, in consultation with congress, appoints the commissioners. 8 otherman plus commissioners. they have the professional

staff. our agency, the government accountability office, contributes staff to assist the commission in their work. they will be a stable review that's what they will do is they will review the proposals and mother -- what they will do is they will review the proposals that dod submits and they can approve those as written or modified them, they can reject them, and they can actually add bases that dod do not propose for closure to it they are independent. once they bundle up the recommendations in a single report and submitted to the president. the commission can pick and choose among the recommendations which ones were proof or modify -- which ones to approve or modified. the president cannot do that. he must accept or reject in its entirety and congress must similarly accept or reject in entirety. host: georgia, retired military. caller: good morning. how are you doing, mr. lepore?

guest: very well. thank you for calling today. caller: i have a challenge towards your bras, the president of the united states and other people in washington, d.c. boss, a chr the president of the united states and other people in washington, d.c. instead of all this money going towards so-called obamacare am aware poor people and the uninsured and go there and get good health care -- being in the military, we are pretty doggone good, we have a lot of people out of work. why not in that situation around -- why not turn that situation around? guest: ultimately, the reason the installation will be up to the community and the local redevelopment authority. if the community and redevelopment authority wanted to do health care facilities, they could do that. that is probably a reasonable outcome, since many of the installations will have at least health clinics and they would have a base hospital.

you have the medical facilities already there. it is just a matter of if that is needed in the local community. does the community need another hospital or health care facilities? the concept of using some parts of the installation for health care is very possible. west joe in virginia, democrats' line. caller: i am a retired coal miner. not really into the military decision-making, but i think we spent too much on the military. my question, on the charleston, west virginia airlift wing, they were looked at during the 2000 closing, and they had a lot of force power in the u.s. senate by the name of senator robert bringing anded up lot more planes to this area, increasing the lift capacity and the importance of this. , the dod has signed some type of contract with the state of west virginia where

coal companies and land companies build 2 military airbases in the region of the blair mountain battlefield. i don't know if you are aware of miners921, 15,000 coal rose up to try to break the bondage of slavery and fought for the right to organize unions. they lost the battle until franklin roosevelt recognized the right for unions to exist. this was a major uprising, the second-largest civil uprising since the civil war -- host: so, caller, what would you like our guest to address, please? why are theywell, building 2 military airstrips on the second most important historical place in the united states? host: thanks, caller. guest: ultimately, the way dod will make decisions will come back to mission capability.

what do they think they need and where do they need it? one of the things that dod is required to do is to comply with environmental statutes and historical preservation statutes and that sort of thing could they will not put a base in the middle of a national park, for example, since they have to comply with the same environmental statutes that everybody else complies with. the decision on where to place the military base comes down to mission capability -- what is the mission of the unit and what do we think we need to be able to do and what is the best location for that. host: once decisions are made, is there a comment period from the public? guest: there is, although right now we are in what one these calling -- what omb is calling a freeze. the government is not a spending infrastructure began what has already been approved. but yes, the a look has an opportunity to participate in that. really, the way they would do that would be through the the national environmental policy act process.

it would potentially have a significant impact on the economy -- pardon me, on the environment. as a consequence, the dod would have to comply with the requirement to do the environmental impact statement or assessment. there's the public comment period that goes with that. host: if they decide they are on , can people in the community make the case to keep it open? guest: yes, they certainly can. when the commission does its work and evaluates the recommendations dod puts forward, there is a process by which the local community can petition the commission and explain why they think the dod decision should be overturned or not be approved. if you read the commission report, the commission actually publishes the objections of the community in the report. the user can even see that here is where the community setting here is the decision of the is someon and there transparency over how that played out. host: brian lepore from the

government accountability office to talk about base closings. david, south carolina, retired line. whatr: my question is does the government accountability office actually have to do with brac closings, considering the fact that secretary hagel wants to cut 10 brigades from the army? guest: we plate 2 roles -- great question -- we plate 2 roles in the brac process. first, we are an independent observer of the process itself, and we will monitor in near-real-time out dod develops the plan and the selection criteria and then the recommendations themselves. we report to the commission and congress. are in the legislative branch, not the executive branch, so we report on how dod develop that. -- did all of that. the second thing we do, we

monitor and limitation of the recommendations after they become binding in the last round , we reported annually on the costs and savings and a number of reviews of the individual recommendations as well. we monitor the development of the regulations and implementation of them. host: what kind of cost savings are we seeing? guest: cost savings of 2005 are $3.8 billion net annual recurring savings. it is the amount of money we save by having closed military base. for bracion overall two thousand five. because across about $35.1 billion -- because it cost about 35.1 billion dollars, we will not recoup the full investment until fiscal year 2018. we do believe that dod is achieving net annual recurring savings overall. the recommendations produced no savings -- some are discredited. -- some used quite a bit.

-- some produced quite a bit. host: were there any efforts in circumstances with the 2005 unforeseen any circumstances with the 2005 closings? guest: quite a bit. there were multiple recommendations tied together, and a series of steps that had worker at different installations along the way. the fort monmouth example is the best one we have, where they were closing fort monmouth, most of the job were moved to the aberdeen proving grounds in maryland could and there were ones that moved to fort lee, virginia. there was requirements to do new military construction, those got delayed, so the units could not leave maryland in a timely manner and that delayed the move from fort monmouth. there was a ripple effect that occurred. this was an unusual circumstance in brac 2005 and it comes about

because many of the recommendations were bundled and many of them were about something other than closing bases. in one sense it is easier to close the base, either it is closed or it is an come if you these forced transformation -- if you do these forced transformation kinds of things. host: bob is from aberdeen, maryland, on the republican line. myler: thank you for taking call. i have a comment -- you just brought it up about fort monmouth and aberdeen proving ground. this whole brac thing has just been a failure. i'm looking out my window here at rit 22. -- on route 22. they're planning on rewiding the road. my neighbors got ousted by eminent domain. the tax base -- their money is gone. a road for widening ar

commuters who are not coming to aberdeen to take them to aberdeen proving ground, which is not hiring. i had my friends moved to fort monmouth under brac. they are all laid off. we have 2000 houses in aberdeen under foreclosure. you were talking about the success story. where is the success? guest: the caller makes an important point. aberdeen is one of the growth -- there are 25 of them -- significant growth baseds during th -- basis to ring the pe -- bases during the period brac was underway. transportation, does the road network -- if there was public transportation, it is public transit commission to support the growth? -- sufficient to support the growth?

are there enough schools? water and sewer -- do we have enough capacity? there is a significant impact on those communities that grew under brac 2005. in addition, we were doing grow the army and were the marines and that had an impact. at the same time, overseas rebasing. that did generate a lot of pressure on the local installation, but also on the community that surrounds the installation. lepore, what should we watch for now that the secretary has called for these closings? what has been the response from the president and what should we be watching for, whether we see another round of closings are not? guest: whether we see another round is a decision for congress. they have not been inclined to authorize additional ones.

will be interesting to watch is to see whether or not the secretary exercises that authority that is constrained. in other words, it would be interesting to see whether they attempt to realign some of these installations using the secretary's pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules o >> there are nine bills on my calendar today, to -- including making tax deductible donations. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1228, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will read the report. the clerk: h.r. 1228, a bill to designate the facility of the

united states postal service packerland drive. the speaker pro tempore: the texas, mr. om farenthold will control 20 minutes. mr. farenthold: i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. 28, farenthold spks h.r. 5

would -- h.r. 1228 would -- corporal justin d. ross was killed in afghanistan. he was post hue mousely honored and promoted to corporal. he was the only casualty and the first of the unit. only 22 at the time of his death, corporal ross was posthumously awarded the bronze star, purple heart and eritorious service medals. he was a 2007 graduate of bayport high school and entered the army in 20110 -- 2011. his parent news he lowed being part of the mission in afghanistan. his unit had high praise for their fallen brother.

they said he was an outstanding soldier, loved being in the army and was loved by his fellow soldiers. he will be remembered by his family, friends, and fellow soldiers as a wonderful man, proud to serve his country. it's an honor and privilege to stand before the body today to honor the memory of a true american hero. i'm grateful for the service of corporal ross and for all who serve and protect us each and every day. i urge all members to join me in strong support of this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: thank you, madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection,. mr. clay: as a member of the house committee on government and -- -- government and oversight reform i'm pleased to join my colleagues in support of h.r. 1228 a bill to designate the postal facility at 300

packerland drive in green bay, wisconsin, as the corporal justin d. ross post office building. the measure before us was introduced on march 15, 2014, by my colleague, representative reid ribble of wisconsin. in accordance to committee requirement the bill before us is co-son spored by all members of the wisconsin delegation, h.r. 1228 was reported out of house oversight and government reform committee by unanimous consent on march 12, 2014. and at this time, madam speaker, would like to just thank the ross family for their son giving the ultimate sacrifice in serving this country. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. at this point, i would like to

yield such time as he may consume to my friend and colleague from wisconsin, mr. ribble. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ribble: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank the chairman, the gentleman from texas, i want to thank the gentleman from missouri for letting me come down here, for recognizing the sacrifice of the family from green bay, wisconsin, you know, this is always a difficult time. i can hear the emotion in the voices of my colleagues as they speak about justin and about corporate cross -- ross and his family and the sacrifice. i've got to tell you, madam speaker, there's probably nothing more difficult to do than to try to craft some speech, some words, some language here today that would honor corporal ross and his family in a way that is sufficient to the sacrifice that this family had. and you've already heard a little bit about corporate justin david ross, he was born on september 14, 1988, served in the army reserve, he was a member of the 863rd engineer

battalion of wisconsin new york warsaw, wisconsin, he was killed on march -- in wassau, wisconsin. the anniversary of his death is just two days from now, that will be three years since this family lost their son and this country lost a hero. corporal ross was the first service member from the eighth congressional district in wisconsin killed in the line of duty after i began my service here in 2011. he was killed 90 days after i was sworn. in he earned the purple heart, bronze star and other meritorious service awards. the committee on oversight and government reform passed this bill by voice vote without any objection. it wasal, as mentioned by the gentleman from missouri, supported by virtually every

member of the wisconsin house delegation. how do we go about honoring justin ross? how to we honor his mom and dad, ron and debbie? how do we honor his brothers? it's almost impossible to do system of we have a tendency to almost falsely believe that justin was about a chevron on a sleeve a medal on his chest or is a service ribbon he wore on his uniform. but those are the things that justin did and the accomplishments that justin had. they weren't really who justin was. justin, he did serve as a soldier in the army. and he did die in the line of duty. but half -- on behalf of his country, but he was more than that. imagine a family back in 1988, welcoming their son to this earth, picking him up, cradling him in their amples, not knowing they were cradling a hero they couldn't have possibly known 22 years ago what would have happened to their son. -- thank them or

for their sacrifice this means a lot to our country, it means a lot to our country, i'm sorry i'm shoked up but the loss that was there is significant, every single one, i know justin, hi dad was a pastor, his grandfather was a pastor and he lived under the teachings of those two men who taught him in the book of thess loanians -- of thessalonians to lead a quiet life. his friends mention how quiet, almost shy justin wasful he followed the teachings of the apostle pall paul -- apostle paul and the apostle paul said no greater love is there than to lay down your life for your friend. he not only laid down his life for his friends and comrades, he was doing a clearance mission. he was going in front of our troops clearing out i.e.d.'s and making the way safe. he gave his life so others

didn't have to. he gave his life for people that he loved. there was no greater love than this, we're taught by the apostle paul. jesus himself said to love your neighbor as yourself and justin did those things. all through his life he lived by the teachings of his faith. by what his grandfather taught him. what his dad taught him. what his mom taught him he lived those values out every single day. now i know that justin would want one thing because justin cared a lot about his comrades. he would be embarrassed to think that we were naming this post office in his name alone. there were four other soldiers that were killed in the eighth district of wisconsin and i want to remember them today as well because it's about them too. sergeant paul ateen from grobe, staff sergeant matthew hermanson rom appleton, staff sergeant

jordan bayer, all these soldiers gave their lives on behalf of this country. their brave and selfless service deserves to be remembered system of what do we do? we take the time and we say thank you. and then we play sn justin's name -- we blazon justin's name on a post office so when citizens of de pere, wisconsin, they see their hie hero's name and remember and that's what we should do today. with that, i yield back the remainder of my time and thank my colleagues for support ofing this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman reserves. mr. clay: i am prepared to close, i want to urge the passage of h.r. 12. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: thank you. i want to urge the passage of h.r. 1228 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker.

i'm moved by mr. ribble's speech, i'm moved by the sacrifices that men and women make every day serving this country. i do think nothing could be more appropriate than honoring the memory of corporal justin d. ross by naming the post office building in wisconsin, in de pere after him. i urge all my colleagues to join me in voting for this bill, h.r. 1228 and i'll yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1228 as amended? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair 2/3 -- >> madam speaker. i'd like to request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair 2/3 being in the affirmative the rules are suspended -- the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: i would like to request the yeas and nays.

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be pest poned. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. farenthold: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3060. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3060, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 232 southwest johnson avenue in burleson, texas, as the sergeant william moody post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold and the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, each will control 20 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i'd like to ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative day within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials in the bill -- on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. farenthold: h.r. 3060, introduced by the gentleman from texas, mr. roger williams, would designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 232 southwest johnson avenue in burleson, texas, as the sergeant william moody post office. as a fellow texan, i'm proud to join my colleague, mr. williams new york urging this body to name this postal facility in honor of sergeant william moody he went above and beyond the call of duty in both the u.s. army and the u.s. marine corps. he served two tours of duty in iraq while he was a marine and he was finishing his second and last tour of afghanistan with

the army when the taliban rocket attack on bagram air force base took his life on june 18 of 2013. william moody was a 30-year-old husband and four of three. madam speaker, i was particularly touched to read about the special homecoming surprise that sergeant moody had in store for his family. while deployed in afghanistan, he contacted the fire department in burleson and asked if he could sur vise his children by picking them up from school in a fire truck on the day of his return. of course the chief of the firefighters responded with a resounding yes to this request and they ex-complage -- and exchanged emails with sergeant moody, making plans for his return up until the afternoon of the day before his death. even in the midst of a war zen, sergeant moody's thoughts and hopes were back home in texas with his wife and children, demonstrating his deep dedication to family.

madam speaker madam speaker, his example and his love of his family should move, touch and inspeier all of us and should be an example -- inspire all of us and should be an example that we should all follow. he was a highly decorated soldier and marine, among his honors were an army commendation medal, combat ribbon, marine corps good conduct medal, a bronze star and a purple heart just to name a few. madam speaker, it's an honor to pay tribute before this body to a fellow texan who gave his life in defense of our country. i'm grateful to sergeant william moody for his service and i urge all members to join me in strong support of this bill. i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. clay: thank you, madam speaker. as a member of the committee on oversight and government reform, i'm pleased to join my

colleagues in the consideration of h.r. 3060, a bill to designate the facility of the u.s. postal service located at 232 southwest johnson avenue in burleson, texas, as the sergeant william moody post office building. this measure before us was introduced on august 2, 2013, by my colleague, representative roger williams of texas, in accordance with committee requirements. the bill is co-sponsored by all members of the texas delegation. h.r. 3060 was reported out of the committee by unanimous consent on march 12, 2014. let me say this. sergeant moody lived a remarkable life and he served his country in two capacities. first, as a u.s. marine.

and secondly, as a sergeant in the army. and, madam speaker, i ask that we pass this bill without reservation, to recognize the rvice of valor and life of sergeant william moody and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: madam speaker, at this point i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to my good friend and colleague, my fellow texan, mr. williams. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. williams: thank you to my colleagues for being here today. on june 17, 2013, decorated army sergeant william moody of burleson, texas, sent an email while he was serving his second tour of duty in afghanistan to local fire chief in his hometown. he wanted to plan a special coming-home surprise with the help of the fire department and pull up to his kids' school in a big fire engine. he was set to return some time in september, but the following day, on june 18, sergeant moody

and three other american soldiers were killed by indirect enemy fire at bagram air base. sergeant moody is truly a hometown hero. born and raised in burl sol -- burleson, texas, he joined the marines after graduating from burleson high school. he served two tours of duty in iraq and later joined the army where he deployed twice to afghanistan. throughout his years of service, sergeant moody's commendable service earned him numerous honors and service medals including the global war on terrorism service medal, a bronze star and purple heart. thanks to the city of burleson and with the leadership of the mayor and the burleson city council, today marks a huge victory in our joint efforts to pay tribute to sergeant moody's service and sacrifice by dedicating the burleson post office facility in honor of this hometown hero. later today the house will vote on a bill i was proud to introduce, h.r. 3060, to officially name the local post office facility after sergeant moody.

it will be one of the greatest honors of my life to support this bill. along with hundreds of my colleagues in congress. not only will the sergeant william moody post office building serve as a memorial for his wife and three children to charrish, it will honor all of our nation's veterans. the war on terror is far from over. there are countless attempts by hostile groups to bring us harm and destruction. that's why it is important to recognize the memory of our nation's heroes. in the words of ronald reagan, freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction. it must be fought for and defended by each new generation. i hope that future generations will be inspired to live and serve like sergeant william moody. he fought with courage, he served with integrity, and will be remembered forever. america does not give because it's rich. america is rich because it gives. and we are all proud that it gave us sergeant william moody.

may god bless our troops and may god bless texas and may god bless the united states of america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman reserves? mr. farenthold: at this it point we're prepared to close and i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: madam speaker, at this point we are also ready to close and i urge my colleagues to pass h.r. 3060, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i join with all of my texas colleagues and especially mr. williams in urging that we do honor sergeant william moody, by renaming the postal facility in burleson in his honor. i join with the remarks mr. williams made about the necessity to pay honor and tribute to those who make the ultimate sacrifice to this country. and i agree that actually naming the post office will serve as a memorial that perhapses will ease the pain, of the loss of sergeant -- par

-- perhaps will ease the pain, of the loss of sergeant moody's family. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 3060. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- the gentleman is recognized. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: i would ask for the yeas and nays on this vote. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 , further proceedings on this otion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. farenthold: madam speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1451. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of

the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1451, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 14 main street in brockport, new york, as the nicholas j. reid post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold, and the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. and ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. farenthold: madam speaker, h.r. 1451, introduced by the gentlelady from new york, ms. slaughter, would designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 14 main street in brockport, new york, as the staff sergeant nicholas j. reid post office.

h.r. 1451 is co-sponsored by the entire new york delegation. army staff sergeant reid was born in brockport on april 2, 1986. he graduated from brockport high school in 2004 and enlisted in the army thereafter in 2006. he was serving his second tour of duty in afghanistan when suths attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. he tragically succumbed to his wounds in germany on december 13, 2012. he was only 26 years old. he leaves behind his loving parents, ken and dorgetty reid, his sister -- dorothy reid, his sister, susie. madam speaker, nicholas, who went by nick, enlisted as an explosives ordinance disposal technician. he knew the dangers of i.e.d.'s. he knew how many of our troops have been killed by these devices. how many have been wounded. and yet he chose this hazardous duty and ac selled at it and

showed great -- excelled at it and showed great courage can. nick reid is a true hero. it's my privilege to urge strong support for this bill, to honor his memory. and i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. clay: madam speaker, at this point i would like to ield my time, as much as she the to consume, to gentlewoman from beautiful district in upstate, new york, and our ranking member -- from upstate new york, and our ranking member -- ms. slaughter: it snose all the time, though. we've -- snose all the time, time, -- snows all the though, we've had about enough. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized. ms. slaughter: thank you, madam speaker.

as the previous speakers have said, on april 2, 1986, the reid family of brockport, new york, gave birth to a son named nicholas. for 26 years, nicholas lived a life of honor and duty and though he was taken from this earth far too soon, his was a life that should be remembered throughout time. just two years out of high school, nicholas signed up for the united states army in the midst of two wars. surely knowing that he would see the dangers of battle, but proudly volunteering to serve his country. nicholas way assigned to the 52rd ordinance company of the third ordinance battalion. nicholas served two tours of duty on the battlefields of afghanistan and faced some of the most dangerous situations ever encountered by the united states army, as an explosives ordinance disposal specialist. the most dangerous job there was. his frontline role, he repeatedly risked his life for the safety of his fellow soldiers and civilians alike. it was in this role that

nicholas suffered fatal injuries when an improvised explosive device detonated in a village in afghanistan, on december 9, 2012. 17 days later the town of brockport honored his life when his body returned home. we're here to make sure he receives the welcome home he deserves, as one community member who stood under gray skies to welcome staff sergeant nicholas j. reid home. today i rise to make permanent the debt of gratitude our nation owes to staff sergeant reid and his to his parents, ken and dorothy. with this legislation, the facility of the united states postal service located at 14 main street in brockport, new york, will be permanently designated as staff sergeant nicholas j. reid post office building. a recipient of the bronze star and purple heart, among

countless other medals of service, we can never fully repay nicholas or his family for their service to our country. but with this gesture we can ensure that future generations will know of the incredible life that staff sergeant reid lived, his honor, his sacrifice and pride in serving his hometown of brockport and the country that he defended. it is with immeasurable gratitude that i offer this legislation today and remember staff sergeant nicholas j. reid and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman reserves? mr. clay: the gentleman reserves, yeah. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: madam speaker, we're prepared to close so i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. clay: madam speaker, i'd just ask that we pass this bill without reservation, to recognize the sacrifice that nicholas j. reid, his family and loved ones have made for

the united states and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: madam speaker, i urge all members to join me in voting for passage of this bill, to honor nick. staff sergeant nicholas j. reid deserves a post office named after him and support naming the post office in brockport after him and again urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting it and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 1451. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. farenthold: madam speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1376.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1376, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 369 martin luther king jr. drive in jersey city, new jersey, as the judge shirley a. tolentino post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold, and the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself as much time i yield myself such time as i may consume and ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. h.r. 13 6, introduced bush 1376, introduced by

representative payne, would rename the united states postal service located at 369 martin luther king jr. drive in jersey city, new jersey, as the judge shirley a. tolentino post office building. judge tolentino graduated from , she snyder high school ascended -- attended seton hall where she was the only african-american in her class when she is received her j.d. degree in 1971. she also received a specialized masters of law degree in 1980. she was appointed to the superior court of the state of new jersey on january 11, 1984, she was the first female appointed to that position. she previously had been appointed as the first female to the jersey city municipal court in 1976 and in 1981 became the first female presiding judge of

the jersey city municipal court. one of her proudest accomplishments was serving on the coleman commission which became the new jersey task force on minorities as well as hairing the committee on minorities. she was a leader in many organizations including the urban league, the girl scouts and the delta sigma theta sorority. she served on the board of several academic institutions including her alma mater, st. elizabeth's. unfortunately, she passed away at the age of 67 in o2010. she's survived by her husband, two daughters and many beloved family an friends. judge tolentino was a pillar of her community and a strong role model for women and min of all ages.

i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting h.r. 1376 and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. clay: thank you, madam speaker. at this time, i would like to yield to my friend from new jersey, mr. payne, as much time as he would like to consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. payne: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to thank the gentleman from missouri and the gentleman from texas for giving me this opportunity to speak on a true hero in our community. ms. tolentino is someone that in new jersey was looked up to with great esteem and has led the way on many issues around women and minorities moving forward and showing that they had a rightful place at the table of power, had he ability to serve, and the

distinction to lead. my bill, i rise today in support of h.r. 1376 to name the post office facility located at 269 martin luther king drive in jerseyity, new jersey, after the ate honorable judge shirley a. tolentino. she was born in jersey city, raised with a and was a distinguished juror in hudson county for 26 years and was a african-american trail blazer for women as public servants in new jersey. she was a product of the local school system in jersey city where she was an honor student, graduating from snyder high school. she then earned a scholarship to attend the college of st. elizabeth in morristown, new jersey, graduating with a degree in latin with honors. to put herself through law

school, judge tolentino she worked as a high school latin and language teacher while attend seeington hall university school of law, graduating as the only african-american female in the class of 1971. after law school, she became deputy state attorney general in new jersey where she remained until she rose to the bench in new jersey, attending n.y.u. graduate school of law. while continuing to serve in the municipal court. in 1981, she continued to blaze a trail for others, becoming the first african-american presiding judge of jersey city's municipal court. but her successes didn't stop there. in 1984, when she was appointed governor thomas kain, judge tolentino became the first african-american woman to ascend

to the superior court of the state of new jersey. later she was appointed to the original coleman commission which would later be called the new jersey supreme court task force on minority. during her time on the commission, she became the chair of the subcommittee on juvenile justice and also served as the supreme court chair of criminal justice of minority defendants. with all her professional achievements she viewed her appointment and the time served on the commission as her greatest accomplishment. over the years, judge tolentino's career was highlighted by many firsts and she accomplished much during her years on and off the bench. as a member of the jersey city hudson county urban league, the hudson county girl scouts board, delta sigma theta sorority, hudson county c.y.o., visiting

homemakers of hudson county and a host of other local organizations, she was an integral part of her community. throughout her successes, judge tolentino always called jer sigh city home and actively participated in community service in the city that bore the name she was raised in. judge shirley tolentino passed on october 3 , 2010, and is survived by her husband and her children and grandchildren and it is not a coincidence that the post office to bear her name would be located on martin luther king boulevard there is no better way to acknowledge her exemplary achievements of judge tolentino and at the same time provide a permanent monument of the possibilities and hope of young women, african-americans and the citizens of jersey city. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill in honor

of her legacy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: we have no further speakers, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: i'm prepared to close, i want to urge the passage of h.r. 1376 to commemorate the life of judge tolentino and all her accomplishments and service to the jersey city community and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. the speaker pro tempore: thank you -- mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i join with my friends and colleagues across the aisle, mr. payne and mr. clay, in urging passage of h.r. 1376, designating the postal facility in new jersey to be named after judge tolentino and yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1376? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. farenthold: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1813 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1813 a bill to redesignate the facility of the united states postal service located at 162 northeast avenue in tallmadge, ohio, as the lance corporal daniel nathan deyarmin post office building. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold and the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. farnteholet: thank you, madam speaker.

-- mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. think jilt -- the gentleman is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. h.r. 1813 was introduced by the gentleman from ohio, mr. ryan, and would redesignate the facility of united states postal service located at 162 northeast avenue in tallmadge, ohio, as the lance corporal daniel nathan deyarmin jr. post office building. marine lance corporal daniel nathan deyamin jr. who went by nay chan -- nathan was born in akron ohio. his family moved to tallmadge when he was two years old and he grew up there. he was a 2002 graduate of

tallmadge high school. he served with the 25th marine reg meant 14rksth division. in march of 2005 he was deployed to iraq. sadly, just phi months later, he was killed on auling 1 -- august 1 by enemy small arms fire while conducting dismounted operations there. five other marines tied at his side. madam speaker, representative ryan's staff has shared with me that when nathan was asked why he wanted to join the military, he said he wanted a brother. he wanted to become a respectable, responsible, and productive american. he certainly achieved all of those goals. in the eyes of his family, friends, and fellow marines and his countrymen and those of us standing here today to honor his tremendous sacrifice, he is one of the most respected american this is body has had the great privilege of honoring. those brave men and women who put themselves in harm's way to defend our safety and freedom

deserve our honor, respect, and heartfelt gratitude. i ask my colleagues for their strong support of h.r. 1813 and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. clay: thank you. at this point, madam speaker, i would like to yield as much time as my friend from ohio would like to consume, mr. ryan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ryan: i thank the gentleman, i thank the gentleman from texas for his kind words as well. madam speaker, in the book of isiah -- isaiah, chapter 6, verse 8, then i heard the voice of the lord saying, whom shall i send? and i said, here i am. send me. and nate said, send me. when his country asked and he

was looking for a way to serve. he joined the marine corps. he was born on july 30, 1983, he was named after his father but they started calling him nate and they moved to tallimagine in our congressional -- tallmadge in our congressional district when he was 1 1/2 years old and lived there his whole life. his family said he was a home boy from tallmadge. he went to school there, played sport there is, then he joaned the marine corps as hi way of serving. but the interesting thing when you read about nate's life which is what we're celebrating here, is that he said, send me, from the very early stages of his life here on earth. when his great grandfather was 89 years old and bedridden, it

was little nate that jumped into the bed and started playing legos to engage his grandfather, great grandfather, to make him feel better. and they had this little game they would play where his grandfather would move his false teeth in and out of his mouth and little nate would try to go and grab the teeth. and a few years later when the great grandfather died, nate had an opportunity to pick whatever he wanted of his great grandfather's. and he picked the false teeth. i think that's the kind of spirit that nate brought to his family, to his friends, to the marine corps and to our country. you know, he would be drive do you think the road and on his way to school, and there would be someone who didn't have a driver's license with walking to school. nate was the kind of guy that stopped over and picked that person up, put them in the car and took them to school. nate said, send me. if someone was bullying someone

at school, and nate was there, nate was the guy who got in the middle of it and made sure that no one was bullied. he said, send me. and if a family was having trouble, nate would stop by the house, make sure everything was going ok. nate said, send me. and so now those of us who drive by this post office in tallmadge, ohio, we will look up and see nate's name and we will not only remember his name or his service but how his life challenges all of us in some way, shape, or form, every little interaction, say and answer the call, when we are asked, send me. i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: madam speaker, we're prepared to close and i

reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: madam speaker, i want to thank my friend from ohio for bringing this bill forward and i ask that we pass the underlying bill without reservation, to honor lance orporal deyarmin and his steadfast dedication to this country and i urge passage and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i urge this body to join the gentleman from ohio, mr. ryan, and me in supporting h.r. 1863, renaming the united states postal service facility at 162 tallmadge, nue in ohio, to name it the lance corporal daniel nathan deyarmin post office building and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 1813, as amended.

those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- the gentleman is recognized the. mr. farenthold: i'd like to ask -- the gentleman is recognized. mr. farenthold: i'd like to ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. farenthold: madam speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1036. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1036, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 103 center street west in eatonville, washington, as the national park ranger margaret anderson post office.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold, and the gentleman from missouri, mr. clay, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume and ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you very much, madam speaker. my honor to be up here speaking about a bill this one, h.r. 1036, introduced by the gentleman from washington, mr. reichert, that would designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 103 center street in west eaten vl, -- eatonville, washington, as the margaret anderson post office. unt rainier officer margaret anderson was fatally shot on january 1, 2012.

at approximately 10:30 in the morning, ranger anderson was at paradise, the park's most popular winter destination, when she reresponded to a radio call while she was welcoming visitors. the radio call asked her to set up a traffic block to intercept a vehicle that failed to stop at a checkpoint in the park. the driver of the vehicle then opened fire on ranger anderson and fled on foot into the woods. unknown to ranger anderson, the suspect was wanted in connection with a shooting the previous day in which four people were wounded. ms. anderson was an exceptional park range who are served the national park service for 12 years and worked at mount rainier for three years. she's survived by her husband, eric, who is also a mount rainier park ranger, and two children. margaret was only 34 years old at the time of her death. ranger anderson gave her life protecting park visitors and staff from a dangerous criminal.

paradise is a nag net for sleders, skiers -- magnet for sledders, skiers and families with small children. margaret's brave actions very possibly saved many lives that day. and she is to be commended and remembered as a hero. i urge all members to join me in strong support of this bill and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. clay: thank you, madam speaker. as a member of the committee on oversight and government reform i am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of h.r. 1036, a bill to designate the facility of the u.s. postal service located at 103 center street west in eatonville, washington, as the national park ranger margaret anderson post office. this measure before us was by oduced on march 7, 2013,

my colleague, representative david reichert, in accordance ith the requirements, the bill is co-sponsored by all members of the washington delegation. it was reported out of committee by unanimous consent on march 12, 2014. at this point, madam speaker, i will reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri reserves his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i would like to yield as much time as he may consume to my colleague from the state of washington, mr. reichert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. reichert: i thank the gentleman for yielding and, madam speaker, i think most of the members here know that i had a 33-year career in law enforcement prior to coming to the house of representatives. a little over nine years ago.

and during that time i lost a good -- good friends and partners in the line of duty. shot, stabbed. and they left behind families, husbands and wives and children. and those are memories that stick with me and i know the friends and partners i have in law enforcement forever. and the families never forget. and never recover. and on this day that's been mentioned by my colleagues, on ew year's day in the year 2012 . park ranger margaret anderson reresponded to a call. i mean, her job usually is to guide folks to the park and show them the scenery and talk about the trailways and the flowers and the trees that are growing on mount rainier. educate the young children. but all of a sudden she's called to duty, to switch gears, to put her life on the

line. and she showed up that day to block the road from this dangerous criminal who had already committed crimes in seattle and was on the loose and there was a manhunt that was conducted trying to find this person before he hurt or injured or killed anyone else. margaret anderson served the mount rainier park for about four years. she was a national park ranger for 12 years, her husband was serving with her on that very same day. he heard the call go out, officer down. and then realized it was his wife. we go about our days here in congress and we sometimes forget the men and women who guard this capitol, who guard our lives each and every day, and when we go home, there's men and women in uniform there protecting our families and our communities. and sometimes, madam speaker,

they lose their life. sometimes they put their life on the line and sometimes they don't come home. in this case, margaret anderson did not come home. she left her husband and her two children to grieve. but she saved lives that day. that's what we do. and it is an honor for me to be here today with this piece of legislation, h.r. 1036, that honors a brave resident of eatonville, washington. it's a little town nestled right at the foot of mount rainier with only 3,000 people. to name a post office after her i think would be a great honor, a great memorial, as one of the things that we can do where we can say we will never forget. thank you, margaret, for your

service. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. clay: madam speaker, in closing, i want to thank my colleague from washington state for bringing this bill and i ask that we pass this bill without reservation, to erson and margaret and her dedication to her family, the united states park service, and for paying the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, to ensure the safety and security of her fellow citizens. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. farenthold: thank you, madam speaker. i look to my colleagues here in the house of representatives and say, please join mr. reichert, mr. clay, the entire washington delegation and me in devoting to dess -- in voting to designate the united states postal service in eatonville,

washington, to honor a hero who gave her life protecting park patrons, to name that post office the national park ranger margaret anderson post office. please join me in voting yea on this important legislation. and i'll yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 1036. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. r what purpose does --

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 3771, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3771, a bill to accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the typhoon haiyan in the philippines. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly, and the gentleman from california, mr. thompson, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. kelly: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. kelly: madam speaker, i

applaud the efforts of my colleagues. this is a commonsense way of doing things. i don't think that many americans realize the total devastation that haiyan caused when it hit the philippines. when you look at the lost life, when you look at the displaced people, when you look at the number of people it totally affected. loss of life, we're talking about 6,200 people killed by this storm. 4.1 million displaced. and it affected over 14.1 million people. the purpose of this legislation is kind of common sense. it allows people up to april 15 to go ahead and make a contribution to try and stem the affects of those losses. it just makes sense. it's something we've always done as americans. and when we look at the special relationship we have with the philippines, i don't think we can really look too far beyond where our history -- what our history has been together as a people to understand that when times get tough, when things happen to other folks, and when we can step in and help them, that we always do. it's just who we are.

it's unique to america. and so i thank the gentleman for being -- bringing it forward. i think it makes sense to all of us. this is truly bipartisan. and at a time when most people think that this house of representatives can't do things as bipartisan, and doesn't act in the best for all people concerned, i think this surely does show. that by allowing americans up to april 15 of this year to be able to make a contribution to help ease the devastation in the philippines and still be 2013, use taxes from that's unique and that's something i think we should do. without too much further, i am going to reserve my time and my colleague, mr. thompson, from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, madam speaker. 3771, in support of h.r. and yield myself as much time as i shall consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. thompson: this bill allows taxpayers to treat charitable contributions in support of typhoon haiyan recovery efforts in the philippines made between the date of enact of this bill and april 15, 2014, as if they were made in the 2013 tax year. more than four months ago, on november 8, typhoon haiyan struck the philippines killing 6,000 people. destroying more than a million homeses, dess placing more than four million people and affecting 16 million people. following this disaster there was an outpouring of support from the people around our country. including a number of folks in my district, particularly members of the filipino -- filipino american community like the president of the philippine -- filipino community of my county. and members of the filipino american chamber of the county. many of my constituents have family members in the philippines that were affected

by this typhoon and they're trying to do everything possible to help them rewhether. . the united nations coordinated and prioritized assistance estimates that $788 million will be needed for humanitarian aid through november, 2014. sadly, only $369 million has been contributed to date. this bipartisan legislation, which i am proud to be part of with my colleague, mr. swalwell from california, representative heck from nevada and representative issa from california, will allow people to deduct qualifying charpteable contributions -- charitable contributions made after the enactment of this date and before april 15 to be used. the need is so great. identical legislation has

already been introduced and passed unanimously by the senate earlier this year. our country's relationships with the philippines runs very deep. in world war ii, 57,000 military philippine service members and 900,000 philippine civilians gave their lives in support of our allied forces. and the manila american cemetery holds 17,202 brave american and filipino troops killed during world war ii. the philippines sent 7,500 combat troops to the korean war and 2,000 troops to the vietnam war. they sent 200 medical personnel to assist in the gulf war and medics, engineers and other troops to assist in the iraq war. in the wake of hurricane katrina, they offered to send our country a 25-team member of aid workers and the philippine red cross donated money.

and they are our closest ally for the war on terror. americans don't sit on the sidelines. we help. our allies in the philippines are still working on their long-term rebuilding effort, and this bipartisan legislation will make sure that our committees are able to provide the help our friends need for this important phase of rebuilding. mr. speaker -- madam speaker, i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important piece of legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. kelly: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. >> madam speaker, i yield to the great leader on this effort, mr. swalwell from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is ecognized for six minutes.

mr. swalwell: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for leading the effort on your side of the aisle and also thank you to congressman thompson, my colleague from california, for helping move this through in the house. and i want to thank chairman camp, ranking member levin, majority leader cantor, democratic leader pelosi for helping me to get this important bill to the floor and also the lead co-sponsors, congressman heck as well as congressman issa who join congressman thompson and i in this effort as well as senator hirono in the senate for bog the important work over there. i rise today in support of h.r. 3771, the philippines charitable giving assistance act, which would incentivize americans to make charitable contributions to high foon haiyan relief now. -- typhoon haiyan relief now. it had sustained winds of almost 200 miles per hour, it was the strongest storm ever to make landfall and the results and devastating effect is obvious and necessary for

action today. sadly, the results were catastrophic to the philippines. according to that nation, 16 million people were affected, 4.1 million were displaced and over 62,000 perished. months after the disaster, help is still desperately needed. this includes the need for health care, food, clean water and shelter. the united nations developed a strategic response plan to coordinate and prioritize assistance from u.n. agencies, nongovernmental organizations, other international entities and the philippine's government. the u.n. has paid $788 million, and they estimate that much will be needed to accomplish the goals of the s.r.p. through october, 2014. of that amount that is estimated to be needed, only $369 million has been provided so far. now, while i know americans can do help -- can and will help anyone in need, we have a special relationship, as my colleague from california, pointed out with the

philippines. between 1898 and 1946, the philippines was part of the united states before becoming independent. there are 3.4 million filipino americans, including 454,000 living in the san francisco bay area alone. my san francisco bay congressional district has a rich and vibrant filipino community, from groups like filipino advocates to justice to leaders like father offry . ran from st. anne church many of the filipinos in my district, like many across the country, have friends or family , 4.1 million were displaced and over 62,000 perished. months after the disaster, help is still desperately needed. this includes the need for health care, food, clean water and shelter. the united nations developed a

strategic response plan to coordinate and prioritize assistance from u.n. agencies, nongovernmental organizations, other international entities and the philippine's government. the u.n. has paid $788 million, and they estimate that much will be needed to accomplish the goals of the s.r.p. through october, 2014. of that amount that is estimated to be needed, only $369 million has been provided so far. now, while i know americans can do help -- can and will help anyone in need, we have a special relationship, as my colleague from california, pointed out with the philippines. between 1898 and 1946, the philippines was part of the united states before becoming independent. there are 3.4 million filipino americans, including 454,000 living in the san francisco bay area alone. my san francisco bay congressional district has a rich and vibrant filipino community, from groups like filipino advocates to justice to leaders like father offry baran from st. anne church. many of the filipinos in my district, like many across the country, have friends or family still in the philippines. that's why it's so important that we do all we can to help. the values of our country call for us to care for people across the world. more often than not, that includes people we will never see or ever meet. but no one is invisible. people in my district are asking what they can do to help. h.r. 3771 empowers them to help. as amended, it's a bipartisan bill that would provide a temporary incentive for americans to contribute immediately to typhoon relief efforts. it would allow certain monetary charitable contributions made after the date of the bill, as signed, and before april 15, to be treated as if it was made in 2013. charitable contributions which qualify are monetary ones which are made to help persons fected in tax deductible donations. it can be deducted on a person's 2013 taxes which are covered by returns filed this year as opposed to ones filed for the 2014 tax year. by lowering a person's 2013 tax bill, which is due this year, the bill provides an incentive to act now for typhoon relief. this is important because the sooner that the aid comes and is provided, the sooner our friends in the philippines can recover. i should note this is important

in making a qualifying contribution. it doesn't matter if you've already filed your return this year. i encourage all members to support this bill. the senate already cleared legislation with identical text in s. 1821. it includes agreed that if h.r. 3771 passed in the same form the bill before us automatically would pass the senate and go right to the president's desk. and when the bill is passed and signed into law, as i hope it will be, i further want to ask all members and international aid organizations interested in fill fines' relief to let people know about it as soon as -- philippines' relief to let people know about it as soon as possible. time is of the essence. the people of the fill fines are not alone -- philippines are not alone. h.r. 3771 allows americans to play an important role in this effort, an effort we should all care about. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. kelly: madam speaker, continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for two minutes. mr. scott: thank you, madam speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 3771, the philippines charitable giving assistance act. s a democratic co-chair of the u.s.-philippines friendship caucus, i would like to thank those that came together to support this legislation. the united states and philippines had a very close relationship for more than 100 years. the gentleman from california has outlined the support in the military and the united states has been one of the philippines' top trading partners and one of the largest foreign investors. furthermore, there are over two million americans of filipino ancestry in the united states today. in light of the close friendship with the united states and the -- the united

states and philippines enjoy, it's more important that we rise to the occasion of supporting our friends in the philippines as they continue to recover from typhoon haiyan. st november, the typhoon raffshaged the philippine coast as the strongest storm. 16 million people affected, four million displaced, tens of thousands of lives were lost in the devastating storm. while the response to the united states and the international community has been strong and unified, more can obviously be done. the bill before us allows donations to be made to relief and recovery efforts directed to the philippines to be deducted from one's income taxes when filing a 2013 return rather than having to wait until 2014 to benefit on your taxes for the donation. it is a simple measure that provides a small incentive to encourage americans to continue to show their solidarity with those affected in the philippines. this bill is not unprecedented.

congress recently acted to support a similar effort after the earthquake in haiti in 2010. the bill simply speeds up the proseansd encourages folks to donate now when the relief is most needed. i urge my colleagues to support this important bill so our friends in the philippines will have all of the resources they need to continue during the path of recovery. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. kelly: madam speaker, we have no further speakers so at this time i would yield to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. thompson: madam speaker, we have no further speakers. i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, madam speaker. mr. kelly, thank you for your help and assistance on this. as we've already discussed, typhoon haiyan has been absolutely devastating. it hurt tremendous numbers of

people and hurt communities, and we really need to do everything we can to make sure that americans can do what we do so well and that's help our allies and our friends. this bill does that. this bill, as you pointed out, mr. kelly, is common sense. it's been done before. there's precedent. and there's a nation of our allies and our friends who are waiting for our help. i would urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote in favor of this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. kelly: thank you, madam speaker. and, mr. thompson, mr. swalwell, thank you so much for bringing this forward. again, i'd just like to point out the uniqueness and exceptional country we live in. there is -- we are the first responders anytime there's any kind of crisis or tragedy anywhere in the world. and i think it just points out uniquely how we are so

exceptional in a world right now that seems to be torn apart and seems to be upside down in almost every measure. so to be able to be here with you, to take a look at our friends in the philippines and understand the deaf take they've gone through and say we're just doing something that makes sense. this is not a republican issue or democrat issue. it's simply an american issue once again, american hearts have always pulled together anytime anyone has needed us. there swalwell -- i don't know if people realize you just arrived here and for you to do this and push this legislation through -- mr. thompson, thank you so much and our colleagues in the senate -- so i strongly urge our colleagues to push forward on h.r. 3771. i think it's unique at this time for us to get this done. i yield back, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3771, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 4275. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4275, a bill to amend the employee retirement

income security act of 1974, and the internal revenue code of 1986, to provide for cooperative and small employer charity pension plans. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. brooks, and the gentleman from california, mr. miller, will each control 20 minutes. the chair realizes the gentlewoman from indiana. mrs. brooks: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on h.r. 4275. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. brooks: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. brooks: thank you, mr. speaker. 4275, in support of h.r. the cooperative and small employer charity pension flexibility act. madam speaker, like most members of this body, i meet with charities, schools and cooperatives throughout my district on a routine basis when i'm back home in indiana. i often ask them what

washington can do to facilitate their mission or ask about the obstacles that they face when trying to serve their communities. to my surprise, frequently over this past year, their answers revolve around the uncertainty and the burden of their pension funding requirements. this was somewhat of a shock to me but i soon found out that some charities and cooperatives are actually shutting down summer camps, cutting back on services to the community or raising prices just to meet their pension obligations. and for what? to protect the pension benefit guarantee cooperation? because their plans are unsustainable or underfunded? no. it's because they'll soon be lumped into more onerous funding requirements found in the pension protection act. known as the p.p.a. and are making decisions today that reflect that assumption. in fact, congress has already exempted these organizations and found that multiple employer cooperative and

charity plans have unique missions, limited participation and sufficient precautionary safeguards and that by design pose little risk that they will be unable to pay benefits in the future. unfortunately this exemption is set to expire soon. and will require pension providers to unnecessarily overfund their plans rather than using those funds to support the services to our communities. if this were allowed to happen, the results could be catastrophic. for instance, in my home state of indiana, rural electric cooperatives alone could be forced to needlessly increase their pension contributions up 50%, costing them $12.7 million a year and adversely affecting over 1,800 employees, in indiana alone. now, it's no secret that the p.b. -- pbgc is facing significant problems that require a comprehensive solution. and i applaud dr. roe and chairman kline and ranking member miller for your

leadership on this issue. the bill, however, only affects 30 plans and just over 127,000 active employees and the very design of the plan shelters the pbgc from almost all risk. however, without this bill, some christian schools or some united way chapters across the nation will be forced to meet costly regulations directed toward at-risk single employer plans. madam speaker, forcing charities to overfund their already solvent plans is not only wrong, but from an actuarial standpoint, but from a moral one as well. for instance, do we really want our jewish federation as i cross the united states, they don't need to needlessly overfund their pensions, when that money could be spent of providing urgent support for jews in the ukraine or possibly helping holocaust survivors age with dignity.

these are the types of consequences that are going to take place if we don't pass this bill. and subjecting rural telecom companies to p.p.a. rules and enforce -- and force them to shift from critical services and hurt their ability to provide pension benefits to their current workers. our bill injects certainty and sensibility into the multiple employer pension world by simply allowing plans that are already exempted from the p.p.a. the flexibility to stay excluded permanently or elect into the p.p.a. structure if they wish to do so. that's why it's called flexibility. this bill helps cooperatives, schools and charities do what they do best. provide quality services that enrich our communities and our lives. this is something that government cannot do and it's something we need to do to help facilitate. i urge all of our colleagues to support the cooperative and small employer charity pensions flexibility act and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. miller: i thank the gentlewoman and i ask unanimous nsent to revise and extend and i want to thank the chairman of the committee for bringing this bill to the floor and for congresswoman brooks' explanation of this legislation, the cooperative and small employer charity pension flexibility act. as she has detained -- detailed, this is a small species of legislation but a very important piece of legislation to the existence of these plans. and also to the priorities of the nonprofits that are supported -- that support those plans and the work that they do in our communities. and what has become clear is hat the -- that we need this congressional action because the temporary exemption is going to expire and that would cause the hardship that congresswoman brooks has laid out. without these changes, these

plans known as c secretary plans will be forced to -- csec plans will be forced to comply with funding rules that maun small employers will -- that many small employers will be unable to provide those pension benefits. this ensures that charities and cooperative associations will continue to provide quality pension benefits to their employees by implementing pension funding rules that reflect the unique design of their plans. h.r. 4275 is supported by a wide variety of charitable organizations from across the country, including the united way, worldwide and girl scouts of america and many others and i would urge our colleagues to support this legislation so we can make sure these plans can continue to provide the benefits for their employees and provide the services to their communities and with that i would i guess yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentlelady from indiana is recognized. mrs. brooks: i yield however

much time he might choose to consume to the gentleman from minnesota. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. mr. kline: i thank the gentlelady. i thank the speaker. madam speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 4275, i want to thank my colleague, representative susan brooks, for sponsoring the legislation, for her work on this important issue, and my friend and colleague, mr. miller, for his strong support. in recent years, congress provided a limited number of charities and eligible cooperatives temporary exemption from federal pension requirements. our intent was to offer relief to those who faced unsustainable pension obligations. it is now time to provide the certainty and flexibility necessary to plan for the future. without that certainty, important organizations such as the girl scouts of minnesota and wisconsin river valleys would have to cut back services and support fewer young women. without that certainty, farmers would face the prospect of raising food and dairy prices to help make ends meet. without that certainty, religious charities would be hampered in their ability to serve local communities and without that certainty, madam speaker, utility companies

providing electricity to homes and businesses would have to consider raising rates just to meet their pension obligations. that is precisely the reality we now confront. we have a duty to enact responsible rules that provide certainty and protect the pension benefits of workers and retirees. the bill before us today is an attempt to do just that. this bill will provide certain multiple employer pension plans greater flexibility to manage their obligations in way that supports the goods and services the participants need to deliver. again, i want to thank my friend and colleague for her leadership on this issue and urge my colleagues to support the legislation and yealed yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time -- and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from indiana is recognized. mrs. brooks: i yield myself the remainder of my time. i would like to thank my colleagued -- distinguished colleague from wisconsin, mr. kind, for co-leading this important effort with me. he has worked tirelessly in championing and raising awareness about this issue. without his work, we would not

be here today and i thank him for his passion and his expertise on this difficult subject. congress faces many difficult challenges. but the fact that we can come together in a bipartisan way to craft solutions for our country should be the norm and not the exception for this body. i hope this will set an example for what we can accomplish when we put partisan bickering aside. i know there are other pressing issues we can work on together to move our nation forward. in closing i would encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense bill that will save taxpayers money, enhance communities across america and encourages coops and so many charities to continue to provide their employees with the economic security and retirement. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 3275. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the

bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1rk the chair declares the house in recess a senate lawmakers are

discussing a bill providing sanctions against russia, i keep vote on a measure is scheduled to start in about five minutes from now at about 5:30 p.m. eastern. that bill includes a provision which iscture the imf not including a pending house built. c-span2.ee it live on we are going to take you live to hearing on the president police budget request. congressman bishop right now. >> you are right. we will do everything in our power to not let that have happened again as long as we are

all here. i confirmed with the board and it is a fluid situation. people will view things how they view them but i agree with you that was not an optimum way to handle it. comprehensivee cohesive messages. i agree with you. just thecided that house would not be placed on lockdown, just the senate and the capital? i think your point is well taken. i won't debate it. i was conferring with the house edd the senate and season law enforcement professionals. people saw things differently

but i think at the end of the day we need to be on the same conclusion regardless of what that conclusion is. i agree with you. >> i don't have a specific update on the legal suit. i can have our attorneys provide whatever -- there has not been a lot of movement other than the result -- there is less people on the suit because people have dropped away. i can give you a specific off-line, written update on that. let me state to the record like i did last time, we don't stand for discrimination. we are a very diverse agency. we have outstanding men and women. i wouldn't stand for it as police chief nor will our command staff.

>> you said you had a new human resources director. >> yes, about a month before i was hired, we hired an outstanding human resources director. >> are there any vacancies in the high rank of the capitol police? have you been keeping statistical data on the hiring of women and minorities? are there vacancies? >> most of the vacancies have been filled but we are in the hiring process. we are a very diverse agency. over 30% african-american and 18% female. up thedo you square hirings within the department? you have 30% of your management

people that are african-american? >> no, sir. not yet, but we are working in that direction. >> you will provide us with -- >> yes. >> i would think there would be some movement or some discussions to try to resolve it. of the capitolrs police that come to my office and say that they are concerned that it has not been resolved. the subcommittee, i certainly want to make sure that we do everything that we can and make sure that the terms reviewed -- will do such an important job for all of us in an environment that is

free of discrimination. >> absolutely. >> one of the ongoing concerns result ofe had as a our colleague. a number of security improvements that we were asked to make and we were given put a call for security. cuts and everybody was faced with the sequester. to reduce our staff at these positions. yet at the same time, we were requested to employ certain security concerns to address the security concerns. of example, the assessment

what my district officers -- my flagship office. it was on the first floor of the office building. another location without an option because we cannot afford to move. -- we have been raising it at each one of our polices is the capitol -- would a fund, which i understand the senate has, allocated -- a senate has a fund of his advocate would -- that is allocated over a number of district offices. to that forsimilar house members -- even though the allocation may not be that great

at the discretion of the capitol that not beuld helpful for providing more security for members and their constituents in these offices? >> i don't know if i could speak to the pertinent. s. is we taketell you very seriously the safety of you and your members and your staff whether it is here or at your home office. we do that is part of our job. securitye glad to do survey as you know. we have training members to go across the country and do that. >> they have done an excellent job. the one thinking to assess our offices, i thought did a tremendous job. opened infice that we has excellentnk security, better than any of the

other offices we had. that was based on his recommendations and our floorplan. we were most appreciative of that but it still cost money and we have two other district offices. i am sure there are other members, not just me, other offices acrossve the country that are exposed to the risks of not adequate resources and if there were was for security people to utilize and that is an egregious risk. i would think -- i continue to raise the issue and i would beat it to death -- it would make for a better environment security wise for all the members.

>> thank you. it has been my observation that you and your staff has done extraordinary work. i have watched him with other individuals and he seemed to be depression with him as well -- professional with him as well. i'm going to go out on a limb and it seems to be the sense of this committee that we need to have more access during rush hour in the morning. you will look at that and you will find a way to do that? >> we will definitely look at it. >> you will look at it. >> we will do everything we can to relieve those issues. >> thank you. i think that is important. if you can't, it will be proper to come back and explain why not and see if we can help you because i think that is what people are concerned with. -- i'm goingto say

to come to something that will take a little more time. weretober, many of us insecure. i'm sure it was difficult for the officers involved in the shooting and i know you must've examined and evaluated what happened there. can you share with us some of the lessons you learn from that incident that may be helpful to avoiding something like that in the future? >> we all hope that something like that never happens here. locationse of the top in the country for various kinds of threats as far as a target. is still under criminal investigation with the use of force aspect. analyzingtely began other aspects of some of our

policies as it relates -- a number of policies and perimeter security concepts. as well as communication issues. those are probably three areas that we have been focusing on without fully elaborating given the nature of what we are dealing with. >> knowing we can't talk about that and it wouldn't be appropriate, do you sense we are in a better position now to handle a situation like that and maybe have a different outcome than a year ago? >> yes, sir, i do. >> recognizing that it is a high stressrld in a situation like that is unpredictable and the opposite is do the best that they can. idon't want them to take that am finding fault but we want to look at it and see if there are lessons that we can learn to prevent something like that. the last thing i want to talk

about is retention issue for you. do you know what percentage of your new hires are still on the force five years later? >> we do have that data. i don't have it specifically in front of me but turnover has not been much of a problem for us recently. some say that turnover is a function of how the economy is somewhere else but that is why it is so important for us to get the rent -- the right kind of police officers. we are a little bit -- reducing urban policing but we do a lot of homeland security and fixed posts enforcement. we do a lot of intelligent work. we have a protection detail. we are a large police department that has a little bit of everything like many federal agencies. we need to hire people that type of agency

they are joining so they don't get frustrated later on. we want to make sure they make the best choice. turnover is not much of a problem right now we hope that continues. ofthat would be a reflection your agency having fairly highbrow. -- high morale. >> i would like to think so. what we have been doing is working very hard in that regard because that means something to us. if you are going to be a good company, you want to take care of your people and have good morale. we meet every two to three weeks. they have instant access to me, the assistant chief, to others. they can e-mail me or call me directly and we have been at lunch several times in the last couple of months. we have set up a problem-solving approach with them where we

don't want to give -- view each other as adversaries but it does take a while to build some trust and communication. i think we have come a long way in that regard. >> thank you for coming. access, access, access. mr. chairman. >> thank you. i think you should be congratulated for being the only person that could actually unify the congress around an issue. [laughter] so congratulations. the longest distance starts with the first step. access, we agree. i want to ask you one more question as a follow-up about the shooting on october 3. i know the litigation so i'm not going to get into asking you about details because of the ongoing investigation and litigation.

there was a deep concern expressed on the part of some officers that in the midst of the radioent, monitor asian project is not fully online. the radio were not able to communicate. that was obviously deeply disturbing and we were always told that even though we had a system that was not fully operable, there were adjustments that can be made so that agency to agency like the capitol police and the secret service learned of the incident and that was possible. prior to the new radios, were the ones used during the october incident capable of communicating with radios used by the secret service? >> yes. we have enhanced inoperability right now because --

>> what about the radio that were used? >> there are a couple ways for them to do that. we have a radio system that allows the secret service to communicate with us. they are emergency challenges -- channels that existed before as well. >> you hear those same concerns that there was not an ability to the capitol police radio to communicate with the secret service radio? >> i didn't. is that it was very quick and very fluid set of circumstances. technologyo say that is not critical but when something only last a number of minutes, there is no instant solution. we now have much better operability and we have gone

above and beyond that. we have provided our radios to the secret service and park police. we have a ring down phone that has been placed in our command center. better, critically enhanced operability with the new system. >> that wouldn't be an issue. >> it should not be. i will say interoperability works better during a planned event. that is an obvious statement but if you talk - - >> critical is when you have an event. >> it is. -- all ofesn't mean us don't understand this that well is that you are not going to have 1000 officers on one channel in 20 different apartments. -- different departments. we are in a much better place than we were before and taken

steps to move that forward. and your officers for your service. >> thank you. >> any other members have additional questions? >> i do. speaking, werey you happy with the conduct and the outcome of the shooting that was referenced? >> i am never happy when someone dies. still awaiting the criminal review of this specific conduct as relates to the officers. we do an internal administrative give you. we have separated out the other aspect that we need to review as an agency. chief, let me ask another logistical issue that has come

to my attention personally but the attention of whole lotta members. . there is a back about the lights when you're leaving in the evening. my excellent staff has done an analysis here. quicker.bably they found that the light at c minutes even though there is very little traffic, if any. the the light to turn onto southeast expressway is 24 seconds so that is the basic reason why the traffic backs up and why you need to have officers out there in the evening directing traffic because of the backups. the problem is this

misallocation of the single timing -- at one point, washington and a 2nd street was 29 seconds. it has now been changed. rather than putting an officer out there, perhaps a call to d.c. if they run the lights, just to ask them if they wouldn't portion the lights based on traffic demand would alleviate the need for the officer out there on washington street. >> we can certainly look into that. in your initial question, i want to elaborate. obviously, that is a tragic event when anyone dies. that review of the officer's conduct is a long ongoing process, but i have to say they are putting their lives on the line at the make split-second decisions.

it is easy for anyone of us to sit here and second-guess them. even case law does not really allow for that. applied in our policies will be applied. some people say given the fact that she was unarmed -- you didn't know at the time and there was a baby in the car that perhaps shooting at the tires would've been more effective than shooting at her body. opinionsare a lot of out there but most of them are wrong or uneducated. >> before i close, i would like about this access issue to get back to us about what we will do to change that. away't think that is going and we have put additional personnel which i know you are

bringing on. bring a serious look and some direct feedback on what we can do. when members arriving into this and their staff are running into of anecdotal lot evidence that suggest there is a problem. we want to work with you and see what we can do to address that problem. if you would do that, i would appreciate it. get well. we hope you get to feeling better. i want to echo -- we appreciate it very much the quality of the men and women that you lead and the quality of service we received from them. the wonderful job they do for us and the american people in protecting this place and making sure people can visit it safely and conveniently. we know we asked a lot out of you. we know we get a lot back more. think you very much. -- thank you very much. the hearing is adjourned.

>> the votes on bills debated today including a measure that would allow people to make tax-deductible donations through april 15.

we will have votes and general speeches at 6:30 p.m. eastern time here on c-span. lawmakers are in the middle of a key vote in providing sanctions against russia. that senate bill includes a provision to restructure the international monetary fund which is not included in the bill being considered at the house for tomorrow. the new york times writes the obama administration considers the package a key to helping ukraine by versant economic decline -- diverse its economic decline. republicans say the imf should be stricter in the bill. you can see are coverage live right now on c-span2.

dual mission which is to protect american consumers and to promote competition. we do that in a couple of different ways. a civilt is that we are law-enforcement agency to we bring lawsuits against companies that engage in unfair or deceptive acts or practices. we also engage in policy and research work on the industries and to promote best practices and to also advocate for laws that we think are needed. as to your specific question, what i can tell you is that we in protecting consumers when it comes to the entirety of the mobile ecosystem. i mean that we are interested in

what developers are amazing and, what platforms are doing, operating systems. stores, device manufacturers so we ensure that american consumers are protected and there was a competitive landscape. >> the role of the federal trade commission, tonight on the communicators at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> john brief reporters on a number of issues including russian intervention in crimea, afghanistan, and the missing malaysian aircraft. >> ouch. that hurt. i don't have any specific announcements and set say there-- except to will be a meeting this afternoon. today's session is focused

primarily on military professionalism and on having a discussion that fosters ideas for how we as an institution can continue in sharing that her factionalism -- that professionalism. the secretary valleys the perspectives of its leadership team. he is taking advantage of this opportunity today. he will continue to make this a priority in the weeks and months ahead. a are going to be releasing short public service announcement on this issue that both here and chairman dempsey made together as one of a number of ways he intends to directly communicate about his expectations. the video will be available on our website. military professionalism remains a topic of discussion every week at his routine meetings with the chairman and other leaders. i believe we will have an announcement very soon on his selection of a senior advisor for military professionalism. i went not have an announcement on that today.

the secretary said it himself that ethics and character of the foundation of an institution and society. they should be emphasized at every level of command. he and his leadership team remain committed to that. i will take your questions. ago, you mentioned that the russian forces in crimea is around 20,000. correct me if i am wrong. you still believe the number is the same now? >> i have nothing to indicate that it is different than that. week, i would ask the russian ministry of defense to speak to their true competition in crimea. >> the number is still around 20,000? >> i do want to be speaking for the russian ministry of defense.

i have decided to the poor their troops into crimea. they should speak for what they have repaired what they are doing. -- there and what they are doing. >> the navy was going to do an investigation into the events that were taking place in charlestown. do have an update on where that is and where we can expect any conclusions? where the number and people -- of people involved still the same? >> i don't have a specific update. i do understand the essential work is complete with the -- but the investigation is now in the staffing process to the train of command -- chain of command. i just don't know. >> do have an update on the black box? when will we reach the box? >> i can so you that this

afternoon, a couple of hours ago locator aspinger well as an autonomous underwater flown out of jfk airport. just a couple of hours ago -- and they will arrive sometime tomorrow. there will be a small number of people going along with them. i think there are two on the flight and another eight folks will be spying separately -- flying separately to prepare the equipment. i want to emphasize something at the top. year, while incredibly useful, is being sent because of a physics problem. we don't have a debris field that we can look for. we don't have anything to indicate where the aircraft is

or even that it is down at the bottom of the ocean. the admiral made it very -- made a wise decision to move the equipment should a debris field be found. if we think we can get close to where the black box may be, he made a decision to get that gear there now. it will be a lot easier to get it on station. >> the question of the malaysian so far? >> i talked about this last week and secretary hagel spoke of his malaysian counterpart and the minister did ask for some undersea surveillance equipment. we ate knowledge that -- acknowledge that. that is what the admiral is doing right now but i think it is very important for everyone to understand it is being sent there to be a need and right now

there is no need. we don't have a debris field. separate piece of equipment -- the bluefin 21? vehicle --rwater this is an underwater, unmanned vehicle that has side scanning sonar and what we call a multi beam echo sounder. -- it will bey useful should there be a debris field or there should be some kind of underwater objects that we believe need to be researched. or to use sonar to try to ascertain what it is. it is only going to be valuable if you know you have something down there that is worth going to take a closer look at. >> it works secondly from the

pain locator -- ping locator? it is designed specifically -- it is a highly sensitive listening to find -- device lackned to hone into the box. does that answer your question? but i wantof gear, to stress again this is just to have been there close by in case they are needed. >> do you have to be on a navy ship with the unmanned vehicle to operate it? anthey are looking at using australian commercial ship called the seahorse standard that would be used to embarq this equipment and tow the locator and operate it from the seahorse standard. it is not th have to be

deployed on a warship. the navy helped with the titanic a number of years ago. how deep can this bluefin 21 go? ofthey can operate at depths and we will edit that for the transcript -- [laughter] and it operates at a speed at about 4.5 knots. of 25 hours, but at a slower speed of three knots. >> [indiscernible] >> that is right. in order for this technology to be useful, you have to have an identified area on the sea bottom you want to take a look at. you have to be able to give it

parameters, and we are just not there. ukraine, the sees e first cavalry division has been certified. is there any action going through the training center, is there any thought of sending that as one of these signs of u.s. commitment to europe? >> i do not know. i do not have that level of granularity. you are right the first wave combat team from the first forlry division is a sign the nato response force for funny 14, the mission they have been training for for over a year, and they are still scheduled to deploy in support of that on time. in june. exercises

that is when the exercises are scheduled. i will leave it at that right now. i am not aware of any changes to their plans or schedules as a result of what is going on in ukraine. >> [indiscernible] can you respond to that? the prime minister said -- [indiscernible] to know of this before? >> i do not that leaders in the pentagon were aware of that. this is the malaysians' investigation. whatever analyst is a are using to make these conclusions, i will leave to them. for our part, a continues to be one of support for the search mission. we have two aircraft that are

searching there. one to the northern section, one to the southern, and admiral making this decision. that is the level of our participation. regionch efforts in this [indiscernible] do i think the navy is going to step up? changes toow of any our support mission. we are focused on six winky winged aircraft. no immediate changes on the horizon that i see from the navy perspective. missions, inscue over timehey change based on the conditions and the information that investigators accrue. we will see. >> thank you. i want to follow up.

does they you as have any independent information to confirm there were no survivors of the flight? >> no. on that, on this question, is there information you have shared with the malaysian government that they have not announced yet? of.nothing that i am aware hav even if i was aware of something, i would not want to get ahead of relation authorities. i am not trained to be cute. we set this before. we are being as open and innsparent as we can be, keeping with the great complexity and enormity of the as well as the area, with the needs of the malaysian government and what they have asked us to provide. we're doing this to meet their needs. >> do you think they have been

transparent? >> yes. box, the battery is going to die within 14 days. after that is the u.s. going to do it delete or assist to find the location of the black box? >> not that i am aware of. malaysians a aircraft, this was the malaysian government's mission and in investigation. i do not see any u.s. role to take it over, particularly not after the black box expires. >> to reduce the 13 days -- >> i am sorry. >> how urgent it is to find the black box? shares the urgency. i want to remind this is not just about the united states or the united states may she -- navy.

there are 26 nations involved in the search effort. everybody is picking -- pitching in to meet the needs of the malaysian government, and let's not forget we have more than 200 families that are grieving right now. they just got some stark news today from the malaysian government, honest news, bitter news no doubt, but they are grieving. the whole world grieves with them and we should not be forgetting that. an update on the situation on the eastern ukrainian border and the russian military presence, and has anything happened since the secretary last spoke to his russian counterpart that could call into question the commitment of not moving into ukraine? it is for the is russian ministry of defense to speak to their movements, and their composition, and their

size. not for us. number two, they continue to have forces arrayed and amaased to the east and south of ukraine. the medication with the russian minister of defense -- our last communication with the russian minister of defense -- they made it clear that they are therefore exercises only, they will not cross into ukraine and not take any aggressive action. they said last week that they are going to live up to that word. voiced itse house concerns this morning about the aggression of russian troops. that makeany signs you think of the possibility of -- >> thanks for the question. maybe i did not deal with this the way i should have.

i have seen nothing, there is no indication that would alleviate our worries of what their intentions could be. what it comes down to, from a military perspective, to capability and intent. from what we know, they certainly have the capability if they wanted to cross into ukraine. sufficienthe force, force inside and composition to do that. it is the intent. defenseian minister of made clear their intent was to conduct spring exercises, that they would not cross the border and they would not take aggressive action, and that is our expectation. and ukraine's request for military aid? >> we are still reviewing the entire list for military assistance. we are moving forward on getting

some rations to the ukrainian armed forces. cases will be shortly sent to ukraine, will be delivered to the international --ce key sing center peacekeeping center. it will take three to five days to get it there. we are looking at the rest of the request. is on the nonlethal side of those requests. that three to five days -- towe are moving out today finish all the paperwork on it and move them on their way. i would expect before the end of the week. is there any reaction to

ukraine's decision to pull their remaining troops from crimea? how does that change the situation? the rations, is that particular assistance designed to affect thatne with crimea, or is related to the tumble that happened before -- >> the rations? >> yeah. >> they asked for it. one of the items on the list of materials that they were asking the united states for was rations. we are meeting that request that they asked for. i will let them speak for why that specific need. i am sorry, and your other question was -- >> the remaining troops. not second-guess decisions of ukrainian

commanders in crimea to their installations or their vessels. that is a decision they made on the spot. would not be second-guessing it from washington, d.c., but it certainly reinforces what we have seen for more than a week now, which is that the russian forces are in operational control of crimea. this is a way to more simplified -- solidify that control, and they continue to do that. yeah. what is your reaction to president karzai's reaction to russian annexing crimea, after the nato countries remained fighting in afghanistan, and president karzai is saying they

are fighting and historical wrong? >> i will let president karzai speak. ands clearly not helpful, while he is entitled to his opinion, it is our opinion in the united states and i believe i can speak for us as a nato thater, the alliance, russia is absolutely in violation of international obligations, violating the territorial integrity of ukraine, and we continue to call for their removal of troops from crimea. >> two satellite detections of debris in the south indian ocean, and the u.s. has one of the largest election of spy satellites around. we have not reported anything.

does that indicate a gap in our coverage, that we do not have coverage in that part of the world? >> i would not make that assumption, otto. leery of discussing similar capabilities in that regard from the podium, as you might understand. we have been to the degree we have been able to share ery with theag government of malaysia. of [indiscernible] do you have any [indiscernible] that south korea is conducting military exercises scheduled for next month? >> scheduled changes to announce? no. as theyrams continue

should. i will not speak to the motivation of the north for launching these missiles. we are seeing these reports, and we call on them to not take provocative actions. this does nothing to help stability in the region. the exercises we are conducting, they do. >> no changes? >> no changes i am aware of. justin? >> thank you. so do you have the announcement you want to make on troops in the central african republic? >> you have seen press coverage. cv22ave employed four c130's to uganda to support the army effort in

and around uganda and to support the air transport requirements of the african union regional task force. they will be there for a time. troops,e aircraft and support troops, that are based out of djibouti. they will be conducting periodic toployments to uganda u support this mission. >> why the reason for this decision now? >> you are looking for a specific impetus, and i cannot give you that. this is a nation we have been connected now for about a year, the support-is mission. air support has been a consistent request i the african union. we are in a position to provide that airlift for a while, and we

will do it. this is in keeping with the mission goals at large. >> the rotation, like -- >> it is safe to say that these willaft, these crews probably redeploy back over time. i do not want to get into specific periods of time now for obvious reasons, but they probably will not be on the ground for very long, but they will be back. they will be back while they are forward deployed. >> special forces -- how long will they be -- >> as i understand it, they are part of this package that is in andso they will come they will go back again as well. >> a number there? maintenanceew personnel with the aircraft and about 100 special operations forces as well, in advising and assist passive these.

forces are the ones that are already there are there? >> yes, and again, advise and assist. >> 100 more? >> i am sorry. and the the aircraft 100 that were already there, special operations forces. cv22's. >> question -- for the afghan government issued a statement today saying pakistani intelligence services were involved on the attack on the syrian hotel. does the united states government have anything on that ? >> i have nothing to share with you on that today. ok, thanks everybody. >> the house will be back

shortly for votes, including a vote that will allow people to make tax-deductible donations through april 15 to help victims of a recent typhoon. now i look at how states compared and the insurance prices under the affordable care act. this is from this morning's "washington journal." host: joining me, thank you for joining us, brianna ehley. does it matter where you live in terms of the price you pay for the affordable care act? guest: it does. more than one reason. the cost of premiums and as well as how well your state exchange is working, is it easier and

harder to enroll, it definitely matters where you are. it is a simple econ 101 thing. where your market is depends on your health providers and hospitals in your area. that drives competition down. if you only have one hospital or provider in the area, you will pay a lot more than other states. >> when it comes to expensive, the most expensive places to get health care, kaiser health news put together a thing provided by your publication. if you live in colorado springs, colorado, you will pay a monthly premium of $483. southwest georgia, $461. talk a little bit about those prices and what factors into them? especially in those areas of the country. >> a couple of factors play into it. the biggest one is the market. you have towns like aspen.

in that region, there are just four providers in the area. you are paying more. there is less competition. when you go to denver, they have double the amount of providers and double the amount of plans. people in denver pay $200 less for premiums on average. the kaiser study, they are looking at silver plans for a 40-year-old male. that is how they broke it down. silver is the standard plan under obamacare, so there are four metal plans, and silver is kind of the medium one most people are going with right now. that is how they did the study. in georgia, it is interesting. the southern region of georgia. not only do they have one provider, one house system dominating the area, like 83% of the market is run by the house center, but also, the population, whether they tend to

be an unhealthy population, that drives prices as well. in that region, one out of three people are obese. the health of the population really drives the cost as well. it is mostly the market. >> it does not pay a respecter as to what parts of the country. the south, the east, the west, those factor in, but not as much. >> yes, it really depends. you have the minneapolis area, which has four major providers and a lot of health care systems, a lot of providers and hospitals, and that drives the prices down. the population tends to be a healthier population. it is known for being one of the healthiest populations in the country. so they are paying significantly less. >> the difference, $154, $164 and if you live in montana,

$166. >> right. going back to minneapolis, it is interesting. it does not really matter the proximity across the border in wisconsin. they are paying almost twice as much. it really depends on what they have to offer as far as the health care system. host: i should've said minnesota instead of montana. >> the prices on the exchanges tend to be lower. the premium prices tend to be lower than employer-based plans. when you look at deductibles, they are a lot higher. your out of pocket costs tend to be higher. there was an out-of-pocket study that shows deductibles on some plants tend to be 40% higher. >> does it matter if it is federally run or state run or a combination?

does it matter as far as who runs it and what cost you will pay? is there a connection? >> no, it is across the board. host: as people experience this as far as what they are paying, what is important to know as we approach the deadline? >> if you do not have coverage after march 31, you will be subject to a penalty of $95 or 1% of your income, whatever is greater. that is what folks are wrestling with right now. is it worth it and can i squeeze in my budget? the majority of people want health coverage and it comes down to whether they can afford it or not, so some people are looking at their budgets and thinking, should i go for the penalty right now, whatever is best for the bottom line. host: we should have talked about the prices you saw. guest: it depends on what your household income is.

the kaiser family foundation has a good calculator, so you can go in if you are 100 to 400% of the poverty line, then you will qualify for subsidies. 83% of total enrollees right now have qualified for subsidies. you can go in on either on the website or on kaiser's calculator and check out what if anything you would qualify for. >> brianna covers health policy and talking about cost when it comes to who pays what and living in the united states, if you have questions for her -- first call for you is from

oklahoma. it will be our republican line, good morning. you're on. please go ahead. caller: i was trying to get in on the last segment. host: do you have any questions about the affordable care act? caller: no. my insurance went up. my deductible went up. my medication went up. everything went up. i was going to say, last time, newt gingrich is the one that got the democrats and republicans all of their subsidies. host: that was the last segment, we will move on. this is john, new jersey, independent line. caller: good morning. i wonder if she can comment on the extent of federal subsidies

to people paying these various premiums? i am seeing young people reporting that they are paying $75 a month for the policy. to what extent the federal subsidies reducing these costs? guest: it depends on what their income is. subsidies could be as little as $20, to higher. it depends on how much they are earning. they could go to the kaiser family subsidy health calculator and figure out what they would actually receive. >> if you look at some -- host: if you look at some information, when it comes to not only exchanges, but when it comes to the next caller from

missouri, 74,000 individuals have participated in the marketplace plan out of the potential 657,000 people who could apply for the plan. it is 11% participation rate. what does that tell you as far as participation rates go? if you're talking about -- i would suggest it is outreach. caller: i have a question. if your state that it's not expand medicaid, does that make the premiums in the state of missouri higher? guest: no. caller: it does not have an effect on that? guest: no. host: why? guest: if you are talking about premiums on individual plants, that should not have an effect on it.

virginia,enton, democrats line. caller: thank you. i have been a proponent of the affordable care act, and i also cannot afford to sign up on it. for qualify with subsidies my family. i have an individual family policy with a local provider in virginia. ongoingof on gearing -- costs, the plan offered to me through healthcare.gov in virginia, would cost me higher deductibles and higher co-pays. i want to promote everybody to sign on, especially young people, and we need to do a better job of educating the population who are not already involved in the medical community. i cannot afford to take the risk tpo plan to an hmo

plan while facing all these medical issues. there is a gap here for people who already are in the process of being heavy users of the medical facilities and communities but who cannot really afford to roll the dice and take advantage of the potential savings. host: what kind of money are we talking? caller: i am currently paying close to $1400 for a family individual policy. a ppo with about a $1500 deductible. >> "washington journal" airs live every morning at 7:00. in the following order, h.r. 3060 and h.r. 1813. the unfinished business is the

vote on the motion of the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3060 on which the the nd nays were ordered clerk will -- were ordered. the clerk will report the title. the clerk: h.r. 1813, a bill to , a bill to . 3060 designate the u.s. postal facility in burleson, texas, as the sefrpblt william moody post office building. the speaker pro tempore: members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this ote, the yeas are --

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 397, the nays re zero.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 398, nays are zero. the rules are suspended and bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the house please come to order. all members take conversations off the floor. all members clear the well and clear the aisles, please take a eat. all members, please, cease

conversations, clear the aisles. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from washington seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . >> this past saturday morning a devastating natural disaster truck washington state where a hillside collapsed wiping out an ntire neighborhood. ms. delbene: the scale of damage and loss caused by this disaster is truly devastating. after spending time there, i'm inspired by the spirit of courage and cooperation by everyone in these communities. i've seen the brafery of our first responders who have risked their own lives to save others and continue to do so

selflessly. as sedge and rescue efforts continue, tonight, i ask my colleagues and those around the country to keep the victims, their families and all those affected by this tragedy in your thoughts and prayers. prk, my colleagues from the washington delegation and i ask the house to observe a moment of silence to honor all of those we have lost. the speaker pro tempore: the house will now observe a moment of silence. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is on the motion of the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1813 as amended on which the

yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 813, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 162 northeast avenue in tallmadge, ohio, as the lance corporal daniel nay chan deyarmin post office building. the speaker pro tempore: members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 393, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection, the title is amended.

the speaker pro tempore: all members cease conversations, remove themselves from the aisle or remove themselves from the well. he house will come to order. the house will come to order. please take all conversations from the floor of the house. please clear the aisles. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2391. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2391, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service cated at 5323 highway n in cottleville, missouri, as lance corporal philip vinnedge post office. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. will eachhe gentleman

control 20 minutes this echair recognizes the gentleman from california but asks the gentleman to suspend. the house will please come to order. please clear the aisles on both sides. please cease conversation. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. issa: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. issa: mr. speaker, it's my privilege to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from missouri, the author of the bill, ms. wagner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for as much time as she may consume. ms. wagner: i thank the chairman. mr. speaker, today i rise in honor of a great american hero. on october 13, 2010, missouri's

second district lost a fearless young man when lance corporal philip vinnedge made the ultimate sacrifice her his country while serving value yently in operation en during free tom in afghanistan he first decided to join the military at the age of 10, after witnessing the tragic events of september 11, and after graduating from francis howell central high school in 2009, philip enlisted in the united states marine corps. to those who knew philip, his devotion those country, through service and sacrifice, come as no surprise. he was always determined to protect families and friends and was respected -- was a respected leader of humble and quiet, a kind nature, never sought accolades or recognition for his accomplishments. at the end of the day, he was happy just reaching his own personal goals while serving and protecting the country that he

loved. in addition to his military service, phillip was an outstanding person he always sought exciting adventures and new opportunities, from being an a boy scout, a wrestler a welder, a sky diver, among many other great and terrific things. there was no challenge philip would back down from. it is for these fearless and courageous service like philip that we are able to know we are protected and allow us to enjoy freedom and liberty here at home. philip will be greatly missed by all who knew him but most of all, his family. s parents, david and julie vinnedge and his brothers corey and jason. despite their grief, the vinnedges continue to work hard to remember him. philip always wanted to buy and

restore a 1950's pickup truck. since he never had the chance, 1951 chevy bought a and dedicated it to him and other fallen marines. the scenes on the truck represent scenes from his life. they use it to help toys for to thes and the tragedy assistance program for survivors. . we owe him a priceless debt that we will never be able to fully repay. therefore the least i can do as a representative of the united states congress, it is my honor to sponsor h.r. 2391, a bill that names the cottleville post office after such a genuine, honest and great young man. and immortalizing a hero who gave up his life serving a nation he absolutely loved. i am proud that this legislation will allow the

inspiring story of phillip to continue to be told to missouri's second district for a long, long time to come. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of h.r. 2391, a bill to designate the facility of the united states stal service located at 5223 ohio n in cottleville, missouri, as the lance corporal phillip vinnedge post office. the measure before us was introduced on june 14, 2013, by my colleague, representative

ann wagner. in accordance with the committee's requirements, the bill before us is co-sponsored by all members of the missouri delegation. h.r. 2391 was reported out of the committee by unanimous consent on march 12, 2014. after graduating from the ohio central high school in 2009, phillip attended the lewis and clark technical school for two years. described as loving life and the challenges it presented, it is no surprise that phillip enlisted in the united states marine corps. phillip vinnedge was assigned to the battalion's third battle ian -- battalion expeditionary force in california. in september, 2010, lance corporal vinnedge's unit was deployed to afghanistan. only a month later he was

tragically killed on october 13 , 2010, as his unit was conducting combat operations in the helmand province region. while he will always be remembered as a marine who proudly served his country, those who know him best will forever remember him for his courageous and competitive spirit. lance corporal vinnedge leaves behind his loving parents, dave and julia vinnedge, two brothers, corey and jason. lance corporal vinnedge is the recipient of the purple heart, combat action ribbon, national defense service medal, and the global war on terrorism service medal. mr. speaker, i ask that we pass this bill to show honor and appreciation to one of our fallen heroes and reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois reserves. the gentleman from california. >> i thank you, mr. speaker. i'd inquire whether the other side has any further speakers? mr. davis: no further speakers. mr. issa: i'm prepared to close when you're ready. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to comment just briefly. first of all, lance corporal phillip vinnedge is among the very first postal namings of the year. no postal namings have occurred this entire congress except these we are considering today for our fallen heroes. it has become clear that the public understands the importance of honoring those who have served in afghanistan and iraq and so we do so today on behalf of the several fallen heroes. this particular lance corporal,

in addition to being from missouri, deployed from camp pendleton in my district with ary irst marine expedition force. a unit that has seen, as a percentage, the greatest amount of losses of any units in the theater in afghanistan or iraq. the sacrifice of our marines in this conflict in afghanistan, with not a single body of water around it, says a great deal about the new marines. and lance corporal vinnedge enlisted, he knew he was joining a force that wasn't waiting for a war in a water landing craft but had already been and fought with great distinction in afghanistan, in addition to iraq. he went there to serve his country and he paid the highest cost. that is far too often what is happening around the world.

but on behalf of the marines of camp pendleton, we have great pride in his service, his commitment and we're pleased to urge all members to vote for the passage of the naming of this post office after one of our heroes of this decade. with that i urge support and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. all time for debate has ended. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2391. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to speak to the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

mr. scalise: mr. speaker, -- >> mr. speaker, jobs, health care and health insurance and the first amendment were all on the line this week when the supreme court hears about the threats posed by the obama administration's h.l.s. mandate. the question is simply this. mr. fleming: can the government use the threat of crippling fines to force the owners of a business to violate their own deeply held beliefs? two family-owned businesses that already provide good health coverage for their employees believe they should not be forced to pay for drugs and devices that are potentially life ending. but the obama administration, which has waived or delayed other obamacare mandates, has fought for its h.h.s. mandates all the way to the supreme court. if the administration gets its way, the good jobs and the health insurance these businesses have provided may be lost. and religious freedom will be assaulted. the first amendment protects

the freedom of americans to live and work according to their beliefs and the supreme court must uphold that freedom. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? without objection. the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. frankel: mr. speaker, tomorrow's a big day for the women of this country. the united states supreme court will hear an argument in a case called hobby lobby vs. sebelius. the affordable care act mandates that employer-provided health care cover all forms of contraception at no cost. however, hobby lobby, a for-profit corporation, contends that its religious beliefs prohibit it from providing full coverage. i respectfully suggest, mr. speaker, that what is at stake

is not the religious freedom of a corporation but the life and liberty and ability to pursue happiness by our daughters, our sisters, and our mothers. there is no more crucial right for women and their families than the ability for women to be in control of their own bodies. the decision to use birth control is a conversation for a woman and her physician, not a woman and her boss. tomorrow is a big day for the women of this country. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. poe: ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the russian bear has roared. bully putin has gobbled up the strategic crimea. he world -- the bear eyes more

sovereign land as prey. we should not forget that while the west watched, k.g.b. colonel putin invaded georgia and stole 1/3 of that nation. the russians have never left. now the persistent pesky putin is still hungry and he wants more. will it be the ukraine? belarus? or our nato ally estonia? this is cold war ii. t has begun. let us loosen thes into around the neck of the ewe -- the noose around the neck of the ukraine. sell them our oversupply of natural gas. expedite the permits, development and delivery of u.s. natural gas. send the word over there that the gas is coming, the gas is coming. let the napoleon of siberia know he's bitten off more than he can chew by starting cold war ii. and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. garcia: mr. speaker, last week marked one month, one month since lopez was unjustly arrested in venezuela for his role in demonstrations against the ineptitude of the venezuelan government. mr. lopez is one of the best known prisoners in venezuela but he's not the only one. 121 people remain behind bars, over 2,000 have been detained, while the democratic protests continue. but despite these arrests, despite the hundreds of injured, dozens killed, the demonstrations continue. the voices of reform will not be silenced. every day the venezuelan people

are fighting for freedom, pleading for a better future, demanding their basic rights. while much of our attention has been focused on the events in the ukraine and russia, few nations represent or are more closely tied to our national interest than venezuela. the time for america to act is coming. i yield back the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i rise tonight to congratulate a dear friend and an incredibly kind and compassionate woman, hanna falick, the president of women's international zionist organization, wizo, u.s.a. this wednesday, march 26, hanna will be honored as this year's wizard galea with a prestigious

light of philanthropy award for her outstanding contributions to securing israel's future. through her time, effort and generosity, hanna has helped wizo secure the needs of vulnerable israelis through assistance, education and empowerment so that they too can realize the hope of a better tomorrow. her philanthropic endeavors are motivated business her deep democratic the jewish state of israel and have helped improve the lives of so many children, women and elderly israelis. i can't think of anyone more deserving of this award than hanna falick and i only regret that i cannot be there in person to congratulate this good friend of israel, this good friend of the united states. congratulations to hanna. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. davis: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to pay tribute to

reverend cleve mentor, a member of my community who passed away a few days ago. reverend he was pastor of the new mount vernon missionary baptist church and also was a great gospel singer, along with three of his friends, were known fondly as the four heavyweights and it didn't mean anything to do with size. i express condolences to his family and church and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, president obama on friday signed to law h.r. 4076, the home hauting emergency assistance and transportation act, or heat act.

having heard from so many constituents facing problems with home heating shortages, i'm a proud co-sponsor of this bill. on february 5, 2014, the u.s. department of transportation issued temporary emergency declarations to allow tank truck ormente orrs delivering propane nd other fuels to drive longer hours. even though spring is officially upon it, the demand for home heating fuel remains high as communities across the country continue to endure below average temperatures. the heat act extends the provisions until may 31, 2014. i'm pleased the senate followed the house and took immediate action on this measure that will get fuel to those who need it most. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek

recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. . tonko: i rise to recognize matthew from new york, he's one of two winning kids selected by the epilepsy foundation of new york to represent all children with epilepsy in the coming year. and matt.on of edie he was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was only 1/2 years old. after months of bravely battling the disease he became seizure free and to this day remain sosms his courage, positive attitude and lyely spirit give strength to his schoolmates, his

teachers, his sister, his parents and me. this evening, i salute his bravery and courage as well as the strength of his entire family. as a winning kid, he'll help others fight seizures and work to find a cure. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, did you know that today, each american farmer feeds more than 144 people? in 1960, that same farmer fed only 25 people. clearly american agriculture is doing more and doing it better. if the world population continues to grow, there'll be even greater demand for food produced in the united states. mr. harris: tomorrow marks the 44th anniversary of national agriculture day, sponsored by the agriculture council of america. it represents a nationwide

effort to educate americans in classrooms and communities across the country on the importance of family farmers, their contribution to the nation's agriculture heritage and legacy and how it impacts each of us for the better. farming and agriculture are a economy. of our in our state it totals $2.3 million of steals -- sales. poultry supports 24,000 jobs. as we recognize the efforts of hardworking american families tomorrow, please be sure to take the time on national agriculture day to thank a farmer. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and rhett let's -- revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, in my district in pennsylvania, the newtown bypass will be renamed on april 22 obrian s. gregg memorial

highway in honor of a newtown borough police officer who lost his life in the line of duty. he was 45 a husband and father. throughout a police career that began in 2003, officer gregg demonstrated his dedication to the newtown community and its residents. with his earnest and daily commitment to their protection. always professional in the performance of his duties, officer gregg was a familiar and friendly face in the borough. his presence and his service is missed. now as we recognize the great act sice -- sacrifice made by officer gregg and his family, we are also grateful as a wider community for the commitment we see reflected in the daily work of police officers and first responders every. where i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. benishek of

michigan today and form and ms. roybal-allard of california for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from new york, mr. -- from nevada, mr. horsford, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. horsford: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask thamsen -- unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject matter of our special order hour. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. horsford: this month is women's history month and the congressional black caucus is pleased to come during this special order hour to bring attention to the important issues that particularly face women this month. but we shouldn't be fighting for equality just one month out of the year. it's a constant effort and we

are here tonight to encourage everyone to get engaged in making equality a reality. as president obama made clear during his state of the union address, when women succeed, america succeeds. so tonight, we, the congressional black caucus gather to discuss the ways in which we can help women succeed rather than continuing to turn back the clock on women's rights. i'm pleased to start this hour with our chairwoman of the congressional black caucus, the person who brings these issues forward each and every day on behalf of her constituents in ohio and on behalf of constituents all across america, the gentlelady from ohio, representative fudge. ms. fudge: thank you so very much. i thank you for yielding. i want to thank congressman jeffries and horsford for organizing this special order hour to celebrate women's history month. throughout the month of march,

we highlight the important role women have played and continue to play in our nation's history. a role too often overlooked. my home state of ohio has had a dynamic group of women who have changed the face of the state and of this country. there are countless areas influenced by women, including access to education and participation in our country's democracy. ohio women have made great strides from breaking down barriers. in fact, the first woman to run for president of the united states was from hypo. ms. victoria c. woodall was a writer and women's rights activist. she ran in 18 2 with the ablistist frederick douglass as her running -- running mate. while there has yet to be a woman elected president, the numb of women in elected office has grown over the years, however, the rate of growth has

been at a less than desirable pace. while we make up 50% of the nation's populace, we are only 25% of the u.s. house of representatives. african-american women often face compounded discrimination because of our race and gender. as a result many of our firsts are more recent. in 1971, ellen c. walker -- ellen walker craig-jones was the first african-american woman elected mayor by a popular vote for an american municipality, leading urban crest, ohio. the first african-american congress wam to represent ohio was my fred and -- friend and predecessor stephanie tubbs-jones elected in 1988. while i could go on to detail the important firsts of more women of ohio, and what they have accomplished, there is a better way. and it is legislation.

i'm a co-spon or of h.r. 863rk the commission to study the potential creation of national women's history museum act. it would be the first museum to place a national spotlight on the many contributions women have made over the course of our country's history. more accurately, it is an opportunity to have a permanent flice acknowledge and to celebrate women who have shaped our history and will shape our future. women continue to lead national dialogues on critical issues and to advance policies and politics in ways that move this nation forward. including groundbreaking legislation like the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. when we are at the decision making table, we make the discussions more representative of our population while bringing a unique perspective which expands the conversation. that is why i will continue to support legislation that will amplify our voices and improve

the quality of life for women across our nation by increasing the minimum wage, investing in quality early childhood education, protecting reproductive rights and increasing access to high quality stem education. as we celebrate women's history month, let's be mindful of the progress we have made and the work that still needs to be done. because when women succeed, america succeeds. i yield back. mr. horsford: thank you to the chairwoman of the congressional black caucus and for your dynamic leadership on behalf -- as the chair of the congressional black caucus. it has been my honor to serve with you this legislative congressional session and look forward to the many achievements ahead on behalf of the congressional black caucus. mr. speaker, so much of the focus tonight is on the history that women contribute to our great nation. and we have many dynamic women

who served in our delegation in the house of representatives and it's part of that representation that ensures that these issues that are important to women as they are important to all americans are brought forward. and we have none other than a champion for women in her district and the northern part of california but also around the world, she is someone who needs no introduction because she brings so much experience and education and knowledge to these issues, i'd like to yield now to the gentlelady from california, representative barbara lee. ms. lee: thank you very much. let me first thank you, representative horsford, for once again, yourself and congressman jeffries, for organizing the congressional black caucus' special order. you've really shown tremendous leadership and consistency and have been working so hard on behalf of not only your constituents but for the entire country and especially for the

c.b.c. let me just thank, and i want to say, while she's here, our phenomenal chair, congresswoman marcia fudge, for her leadership of the congressional black caucus. as we celebrate women's history and trail blazing women, we celebrate them for their courage, character, and commitment. that's our 2014 women's history month theme. and so i am so proud we have a chairwoman who exhibits all three of these characteristics and thank you for standing strong and for leading the congressional black caucus on so, so many fronts. thank you and congratulations. let me just say that i agree with congressman horsford when you say each month, each day, really we should celebrate women's history. in march, when we, again, take a moment to recognize really the triumph of women throughout the course of history and to mark how far we've come, but also to recognize that there is much

work to be done, now let me just start by mentioning my phenomenal and beautiful 89-year-old mother, mildred, who is of course my role model. she raised three girls in segregated el paso, texas, until desegregation, and at one point worked three jobs to help take care of her family. we lived in a multigenerational household and until his death, was her father, w.c. parrish, my grandfather's, primary caregiver while working and taking care of her girls. she taught me at an early age that girls and women are born equal to boys and men. and to never forget that and to always fight for equality and justice. that was a given in our household. so i would not be where i am had it not been for my mother. and also for many incredible fighters like my mother that came before myself in the public

arena. and i'd like to take a moment to honor three women in addition to my mother, in particular, whose shoulders we stand on. leslie coleman, dr. dorothy height and of course shirley chisholm. bessie coleman refused to take no for an answer. though she dreamed of becoming a pilot new york flight school in the united states would accept her simply because she was a woman and because she was black. so she refused to take no for an answer, she enrolled in flight school in france and became the only woman and the only person of color in her class in paris. . she soon became the first american of any race to hold an international pilot license. several weeks ago a portion of the airport drive at the oakland international airport in my district was renamed the bessy coleman drive. it was such an inspiration to be part of this dedication

ceremony because she of course was from or worked in oakland and really went to many of her classes and learned a lot about piloting in oakland, california. another great woman who refused to take no for an answer was our beloved, the great dr. dorothy hyde. let me say how fortuitous it is that today is dr. hyde's birthday. she was a bold and brilliant african-american woman who blazed many trails and opened many doors to the american dream for women and people of color. from her stewardship as the national president of delta sigma cant ma theta -- theta sorority which i nomar shah fudge and congress -- which i know marcia fudge and congresswoman beatty are members of, dorothy led the council of negro women for 41 years. 41 years. nd more than 60 years at the w

-- ywca. she dedicated her life to achieving racial quality and securing women's rights -- equality and securing women's rights. she was especially committed to empowering women and girls and worked to ensure that black women's issues were equally addressed. she was also dedicated to helping women work towards full employment, pay and education. and i remember when dr. hyde turned, i believe it was 90 years old. members of the congressional black caucus, we honored her here on capitol hill with a luncheon. and she really gave us more background and knowledge and information during that luncheon as to how those following behind her needed to really focus on the fact that, yes, when women succeed, america succeeds. and dorothy was a true leader for all women, not only in our own country, but throughout the world. in the 1970's, women's history month was a little more than an idea. as this idea was taking

formation, shirley chisholm, a founding member of the congressional black caucus, had only recently made history by becoming the first african-american woman elected to congress. i was a student at mills college in the early 19 0s when mrs. chisholm again -- 1970's when mrs. chisholm became the first american woman and first african-american to run for the presidential nomination. although she did not win, her campaign inspired thousands, myself included, to use their voices and to speak up through the ballot box and she blazed a trail for of course our nation's first great president, president barack obama. throughout her congressional career, the unbought and unbossed mrs. chisholm continued her fight against discrimination in all forms and championed issues for women and their families. she was a strong voice for domestic workers and led the fight to give them the right to a minimum wage. this was way back in the day. still struggling and fighting

for many of those issues. congresswoman shirley chisholm was instrumental along with the first asian-pacific american, our beloved congresswoman patsy mink, in passing title 9, which prohibblets discrimination -- prohibits discrimination in the funding of education programs. she was a fierce advocate for the affordable child care act. there's no doubt that the 16 african-american women in congress today are truly standing on the strong, strong shoulders of congresswoman shirley chisholm. i am pleased that we were finally, after years of trying, able to secure a postage stamp in her honor. just last month i was joined by leader pelosi in my district for the west coast unveiling of the united states postal service's black heritage stamp as a small token of our thanks and congressman jeffries, clarke and rangel had the privilege to unveil the beautiful stamp in shirley chisholm's former district in

brooklyn, new york. so 101 years after women marched in washington, d.c., for the right to vote, women are still fighting to break down barriers. it's really a disgrace that in 2014, despite making up 50% of our work force, women still make 77 cents for every $1 a man makes on average. even worse, african-american women are making only 64 cents and la tinas, only 55 -- latinas, only 55 cents of every $1 a white man makes. the point is, working women are paid less than the same work as men. this is wrong and it's discriminatory. what's more, child care remains unaffordable. quality, affordable education remains out of the reach of far too many women and pregnancy discrimination continues. again, simply unacceptable. that's why the democratic women of the house, including the women of the c.b.c., under the leadership of nancy pelosi and donna edwards, doris matsui,

and rosa delauro, have launched, when women succeeds, america succeeds, and are championing an economic agenda for women and families, one which our president supports. finally, let me just quote from my dear friend, our beloved shirley chisholm. she once said, i want to be remembered as a woman who dared, who dared to be a catalyst for change. there's no doubt that she was. as we honor heroines like my mother, shirley chisholm and so many others, so many in our districts who fight each and every day, with little resources, to make our communities better, let us remember that, yes, when women succeed, america succeeds. but also, as i said at the united nations very recently on the commission of status of women, when women succeeds, the world becomes a more just and a more equitable place. thank you, again, and thank you for your leadership.

>> thank you to the gentlelady from california. thank you for that great historical overview and perspective and for bringing those profound remarks to the floor this evening. horse i'd also like to recognize -- mr. horsford: i'd also like to recognize my dynamic colleague. we've had a great honor and privilege to get to know each other as freshman this congressional session, she is the gentlelady from ohio, she brings so much talent and perspective, energy and focus to the issues that she works on here in the house of representatives on behalf of her constituents and those around the country, i'd like to yield now to the gentlelady from ohio, representative joyce beatty. mrs. beatty: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to my colleagues. i'd like to thank mr. horsford and mr. jeffries for hosting the congressional black caucus' important discussion on celebrating women's history month. as we honor so many women who

have shaped our history, let us also celebrate those who make process in today's times. certainly you will hear throughout this hour, when women succeed, america succeeds. what an honor it was, mr. speaker, to hear our president of these united states say it before an audience of millions of people in his state of the union address. and more importantly than him saying it is how it was received. people received it in the spirit that he said it. you know why, mr. speaker? because when women succeed, america succeeds. and certainly as you have heard in 1987, congress declared march to be national women's history month. giving the nation the chance to salute the 12 -- 12 -- to

salute the 12 blazers who paved the way for so many of us to have the rights that we have today. mr. speaker, national women's history month gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the groundbreakers of the past, thank the her wins of today -- heroines of today and irspeier -- and inspire the leaders of the future. it's a reminder that if we believe in ourselves, we can really make a difference. it reminds us of women like rosa parks, the mother of the modern civil rights movement. or the woman known for "i shall unbossed."ught and yes, mr. speaker, shirley chisholm, who ran for president and was the first african-american woman elected to congress. and, yes, dorothy hyde, who if still living would have celebrated just this week her

102nd birthday. and there are so many more women we could talk about. women of the past or today, as you've heard, our very own congressional black caucus chairwoman, marcia fudge from the great state of ohio. others are unknown outside of their own families and communities. people like my grandmother and my great aunt and my 90-year-old mother who lives today and sets a great example not only for her three daughters but for women across this nation. however, all of them are a part of our history and their currently and dedication have helped to sustain the american spirit. these pioneers and heroins have brought down barriers and created new opportunities. we have now witnessed the first

african-american woman secretary of state. the first female speaker of the united states house of representatives, a woman that i get to sit with on a weekly basis, a woman that set an example. yes, that is congresswoman nancy pelosi. and there are now a record number of women serving in congress with 20 women now serving in the senate and 82 women serving in the house of representatives. however, all -- although women have made great strides, there's much more to do. we continue to face discrimination in the workplace, we have a higher risk of sexual assault and an earnings gap that will cost the average woman hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of her working lifetime. an average woman still makes 77

cents for every $1 made by men. and the gap is even wider for black women. black women on an average earn only 64 cents for every $1 earned by white men. in addition, women-owned businesses continue to lag behind male-owned businesses. the average revenue of women-owned businesses is only 27% of the average revenue by male-owned businesses. in response to these and other challenges, women currently are facing, as in july 23, house democrats unveiled when women succeed, america succeeds. an economic agenda for women and families. this platform addresses the need to ensure that women get equal pay for equal work. it helps to ensure work and

family balance by allowing working parents to support their families and care for their children. so many of us in this chamber understand that. it also recognizes that expanding educational opportunities, increasing job training and investing in women entrepreneurs is essential for women's success in our economy. federal investments have continued to help ensure economic opportunities for women and girls. for example, earning a college degree remains one of the surest pathways to the middle class. women with a bachelor's degree earn more than 80% more than those with a high school degree. today more than 11 million women are pursuing a postsecondary education and average graduation rates for women succeed their male

counterparts. but we certain lino everyone will not go to -- certainly know everyone will not go to college and that's ok. so we have to continue to fight to make sure that there is a place for women in work force development, in higher education, in the home or whatever work they choose to do. women in stem fields make on an average 33% more than women in nonstem fields. and certainly we know technology and innovation in stem, science, technology, engineering and math is a way of the future. so let me just say to my colleagues, thank you for hosting this evening on women's history month. thank you for honoring women and to all of the women, the mother, the sisters, the aunts, the girlfriends who are watching us, remember, when women succeed, america

succeeds. thank you. mr. horsford: thank you. i thank the gentlelady from ohio, representative joyce beatty, for those illuminating topics that were covered and for highlighting all the various ways both historically and currently that women make a huge impact in our society, in the home, in the workplace, in education and throughout all aspects of life. . thank you for your ongoing contributions to these important issues. and i'm so proud to be joined here by my co-anchor of this hour, representative from new york, representative jeffries. i also want to highlight in addition to the national leaders and women who have run for ffice, whether here in the

house of representatives, in the senate or as president, we also ave many unsung women who toil every day but make a huge impact. it's fitting during women's ruby month, i yield to duncan. she is the per son fix of the word fight. someone we can learn from. her history is a lesson in never giving up and staring down the sector of inequality. nothing was ever handed to her, but much was taken. her life began in the middle of the great depression. but where she grew up in rural louisiana, people were already poor for a long time. ruby had three brothers and a sister. all but one passing from accidents or illnesses and lost

her parents before she was four and spent most of her youth living with relatives. the school she attended, a school for black children, was located in a church miles from home. there was no transportation. she walked every day until she left school after the ninth grade for full-time work, well, actually, it was more than full-time work. for years she was a wait tress making $9.50 a week. that's right. 9.50 a week. over 80 hours a week. when she heard her aunt in las vegas was making $40 for similar work, she moved there. when she arrived, she realized her aunt was sharing a community wash house with others. she discovered a defacto seeing

. gree ated system blacks were not welcome on the las vegas strip hotels. there were colored sections designated in movie theaters. still miss ruby duncan survived. and did day work as a made and in 1959, she work as a hoe tell .aid and was -- hoe hole maid for a while her only income for herself and children was the aid to dependent children grant that she received from the state welfare system. and like those struggling today, she did not rest. she was not lazy. she worked, she searched for work and was hired in the pan y in one of the strip hotels in las vegas.

she learned she could no longer do the heavy work she was doing. when a state program was cut, she contacted by a group of mothers to protest substandard grants from the nevada legislature. she marred and spoke at a hearing with no prior public speaking experience and she did it for those who were struggling. someone had to stand up for what was right. after mrs. duncan's trip to carson city, she was elected president of the clark county welfare rights organization. as president, she led the nationally publicized 1971 marries on the las vegas strip, protesting the purge of thousands of needy nevada families from programs designed to help the poor and allowed to help keep their heads above

water. she has fought to provide basic necessities to families in need, food, shelter, health services and education. her organization that she created, operation life, has had an impact on health screening centers, libraries, food programs for women, infants and children, health care and the list goes on. she represents hope. in a country plagued by inequality and discrimination of the worst forms, ruby fought and won many battles that affect the lives of so many in nevada and across this nation today. but not everyone wins their battle with poverty. for so many, circumstances beyond their control take over their lives. for many born poor, they stay poor. for many born just above the poverty line, they enter a cycle

living paycheck to paycheck. the poor are not poor because of a weak character. many are poor because no one ever gave them a chance. but people like ruby duncan that i'm here to represent, the people who had less than a hand up, but they still per see verdict. she is strong and she is an inspiration to me and someone i want to recognize on this women's history month. congratulations to miss ruby duncan. i would like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from new york, always great to be here with you to bring this hour of power of information to the constituents throughout the united states who are listening and i thank you for your friendship, for always working hard for including me and it's great to serve with you in this

113th congress. i yield to my good friend, the gentleman from new york, mr. jeffries. mr. jeffries: i thank the distinguished gentleman, representative horsford, for his tremendous leadership for anchoring this special order and the advocacy that you have provided to the people of the congressional district you so ably serve back home in nevada and people across this country. it has been an honor and privilege to serve as a co-anchor during this c.b.c., this hour of power, where for 60 minutes, members of the congressional black caucus have the opportunity to speak to the american people about an issue of great relevance. today as you have heard, we stand here on the floor of the house of representatives to celebrate the role that women

ve played throughout the tapestry of the american people to the beginning of the republic to where we stand right now in 2014. representative barbara lee spoke moments earlier about the women's history month theme involving courage, character and commitment. and as i reflected upon that theme, several individuals came to mind. certainly when it comes to courage, i think no one meets that threshold in american history, perhaps more than the great harriet tubman, conducting of the underground railroad, someone who displayed tremendous courage throughout her time here in this country. she was known for having a bible in one hand and a gun in the

other. harriet tub han freed herself herself bman freed from slavery. after settling in new york state, she could have gone on and try to live out a life with relative tranquility, having escaped the harshness of human subjew gation in the southern part of -- subju gation. she went back down south an additional 19 times and freed more than 200 black saves, risking her life, her well-being of freedom each and every time she crossed that mason-dixon line to try and liberate those

who were subjected to slavery in this country. what's interesting about that life story and the courage that harriet tubman displayed, the selflessness and the sacrifice as this prominent conductor on the underground railroad, stations exist in the district and i currently represent, what was tremendous about harriet tubman is that later on in life, she was asked about her heroics, the sacrifice, the courage, the willingness to risk life and limb to free others after she had already liberated herself and made an observation that has always stuck with me. she said, i could have freed more if they only knew that they

were slaves. i could have freed more if they only knew that they were slaves. suggests to me that sometimes that people who find themselves in life in a certain station and notwithstanding the talents or the ability the fact that someone has put before them the path for success, the opportunity to move forward in pursuit of the american dream that there is something that constrains them and keeps them standing in place. i have always looked to those words of harriet tubman and the great heroism that she displayed as a source of tremendous inspiration and something that should inspire black, white, men, women, older and younger

women, courage, character and commitment. in terms of cower ageness, you couldn't find someone who had that in greater abundance than harriet tubman. i stand here stood proud of the fact that i represent many of the neighborhoods that congresswoman chisholm represented in this congress. she became the first african-american woman ever elected to the house of representatives. served seven terms, 14 distinguished years. she retired in 1982, at which point, there were parts of her district that were subsequently represented by congressman ed towns, who served for 30 years in the congress and who i had

the opportunity to replace and other parts of her district subsequently represented by congressman major owens, who served for 26 years and who congresswoman clarke represented. and for a great while, there was a tremendous debate as to held chisholm'sof shirley seat. she was such a tremendous member of the house that it takes two members of congress to replace her. i proudly acknowledge that i erve in one of the two shirley chisholm's seats. of course when she gets elected in 1968, there were some folks in this chamber not used to seeing an african-american woman with very prominent hair, who was coming into this chamber and

tradition says that she was assigned by the speaker then to the agricultural committee as a punitive measure, because obviously in this urban district that she represented, seems to a lot of folks that appointment to the agricultural committee would not necessarily be the committee of relevant jurisdiction for the issues that she was elected to congress to fight for. t shirley chisholm took that assignment and quickly recognized that while in this country, you have surplus and abundance of food and you had a lot of hungry folks, many of whom lived in the district she represented. she began to work on expanding

the food stamp program and championed, in fact, increasing supplemental nutritional assistance to at-risk expectant mothers and helped lead the charge in the house of representatives for the women, infants and children supplemental nutritional assistance program. she partnered with then-senator bob dole, who was over on the other side of this capitol. she took what was meant as a punitive assignment and turned it into for the people she represented as well as those across the country. from a character and a commitment standpoint, she demonstrated again that there's portunity in the face of adversity. that's what she did here on the floor of the house of

representatives. . in the shirley chisholm state office building that i was proud to have authored the legislation when i was in the new york state assembly, that transformed that king's county state office building into one named on behalf of congresswoman shirley chisholm. we stand on the shoulders of a lot of giants, but i certainly acknowledge that i'm standing on the shoulders of representative shirley chisholm, as so many folks are all across the city, the state of new york and certainly this country. she inspired generations of people to believe what was possible. talking to one of the women who in the 1970's began to work

closely with congresswoman chisholm, and she explained to me that shirley chisholm was such a force of penalty that her group of young women who in the 1970's she would work closely with, that they were called shirley chisholm and the chisettes. sounds to me like a motown group but these were transformative individuals. shirley chisholm and -- chisholm and the csihsettes who believed even back then, when women succeed, america succeeds, and understood that there is still work that needed to be done to shatter the glass ceilings that had been erected all across this country. and shirley chisholm did just that, in 1972 when she ran for the democratic nomination for the united states presidency. and what i find fascinate something that her theme at that point was catalyst for change.

-- fascinating is that her theme at that point was catalyst for change. catalyst for change. because she was that catalyst for a whole lot of things that were to have occurred decade after decade, when she made that first run for office. as has been mentioned on the floor of the house of representatives, many could argue that there would not be a president barack obama had shirley chisholm not taken that bold step forward in 1972. we have a whole lot of things, of course, that still need to be addressed and i look forward to dealing with some of those issues, as has been pointed out , women simply make 77 cents for every $1 that a man makes in america. and that hurts our overall economic puckett pift -- productivity because 40% of the households in this country, women are the predominant,

primary bread winner. so we have some economic issues to work out, to continue the work that had been done by so many in this country, shirley chisholm included. and i look forward to continuing that discussion with congressman steven horsford. mr. horsford: i thank the gentleman from new york and thank you for that very insightful background on your district and the leadership of the district that speaks to why there is so much impact that comes from representatives from your district, in the area, in the neighborhoods that you represent. so i know that you cannot fully fill those shoes, but you are doing your part in bringing forward the message that so many others carried and that we follow now on their shoulders. so thank you for that historical perspective. and we do want to cover, in addition to the historical perspective that women offer in

this country, the house democrats also have a legendive agenda -- legislative agenda that focuses on when women succeed, america succeeds. it's an economic agenda for women. and it's one that was created by the women in the house democratic caucus that is sponsored and supported by men. and as a man, i support this economic agenda for women because as a husband and a father, i want for every woman what i want for my own wife and my daughter. as a brother and a son, i want for other women what i want for my two sisters and my mother. and so this economic agenda for women focuses on a number of areas. the first of course is equal pay for equal work. it is appalling, mr. speaker, -- mr. speaker, that in the year 2014, we are still struggling to pay women the wages that they deserve.

they are still not receiving equal pay for equal work. that on its face is wrong. women in my home state of nevada are paid about 85 cents or every $1 paid to men. and while that is better than the 77 cent national average, we still have a long, long way to go. as my colleagues have already explained, african-american women and latinas, this pay gap is even larger. african-american women on average earn only 64 cents and latinas on average earn only 55 cents for every $1 earned by non-hispanic men. in my home state of nevada, the pay gap between men and women is on average $6,316 per year. now, that's real money. and it makes a real impact in the lives of families.

nevada women lose approximately $2 billion per year because of this wage gap. now, what can $6,316 pay for for families in my home state of nevada? $6,316 is about 46 more weeks of food. $6,316 per year is four more months of mortgage and utility payments. $6,316 per year is seven months of rent. $6,316 per year is an gallons of ,681 gas. so if we thought that the wage gap was just some rhetoric that was being talked about out there, all you have to look at is the real impact of lost

economic benefits to women. and if we closed the wage gap between men and women, we could cut the poverty rate in half for working women and their families. it is the right thing to do, to treat people equally, to pay them equal pay for equal work, and that's why 125,000 households in nevada who are headed by women expect this congress to support the paycheck fairness act, invest in job training and educational opportunities and make sure that we protect pregnant workers from discrimination in the workplace. now, another area that we have to address is raising the minimum wage. and giving america a raise. mr. speaker, low-income workers continue to struggle to provide for their families while the rich continue to make record profits in the millions.

it's important to remember who earns the minimum wage in our country. they're women, women make up the majority of low-income workers. in fact, nearly 2/3 of minimum wage workers are women. these are our mothers, they're our sisters and our daughters. can we really expect for women to provide for their families when they are making the minimum wage? nd let's talk about what $7.25 really means as a national wage for women. that's $14,500 a year. can people really survive on $14,500 a year? particularly more than a majority now of women who are the head of their household, the primary bread winners, can they provide for themselves and their families on $14,500 a year?

that's why house democrats in this economic agenda for women, when women succeed, america succeeds, we understand that by lifting the federal minimum that if it were adjusted for inflation, compared to what it was in the 1960's, it would be well past time, mr. speaker, to address this pay gap for women. in addition to increasing the minimum wage, to help one in three adult women who are currently living in poverty or on the brink of it, this would help lift those women out of poverty, helping 30 million americans see an increase in their wage, a million americans being lifted out of poverty. these are the real impacts and the benefits on the economic agenda for women. i'd like to yield to my colleague, mr. jeffries, to

elaborate further on these points, and then i can close us out. mr. jeffries: i just want to thank my distinguished colleague for this comprehensive presentation as it relates to the economic trauma that many women find themselves in, given the pay disparities that continue to exist in america. mr. speaker, the president came to the house of representatives earlier this year, to deliver his state of the union address, and pointed out the fact that women, of course, make 77 cents for every $1 that a man makes and indicated the outrageousness of that in modern-day america. it's a moral outrage. and for that reason alone we should seek corrective action by moving forward with the paycheck fairness act here in the congress. but aside from it being a moral

outrage, as congressman horsford has pointed out, it has economic consequences. cause 40 company% of households -- because 40% of households in america are headed by women as -- as the primary bread winners, that if you have such a significant portion of households led economically by individuals who are receiving disparity pay -- can disparate pay, you are hurting american families. now, one of the ways in which we can remedy this situation, of course, is to move forward with h.r. 1010, the minimum wage increase legislation authored in the house of representatives by congressman george miller, co-sponsored of course by congressman horsford, myself and many other democratic members of the house of representatives. we are of the view that both

america needs a raise and women in america need a raise. 66% of minimum wage earners in his country are women. now, the minimum wage in america right now, the floor that's set by congress, $7.25 an hour, means that someone can can work 40 hours a week, each and every week throughout the still fall work and below the federal poverty line in attempting to raise a family. that's disgraceful. the classic definition of working poor, and it should not exist. i thought the american ideal was that if you get up for work , you work hard, you punch the clock, that at the end of the day, there should be a pathway

toward meaningful success in the congress text of the american dream. -- in the context of the american dream. right now we have a minimum wage that keeps individuals trapped in poverty. and the overwhelming majority of those individuals are women in america. and so when we talk about an agenda that we've put forth, when women succeed, america succeeds, that's not just hyperbole or something designed to make folks feel good, it's an economic reality. and that's why we're so committed to that agenda. we're committed to making sure that child care in america is affordable. because of the fact that so ny women thankfully are part of the work force, but as a result of their participation n the work force, need to find

affordable, quality child care for their children. that's one of the things that we as house democrats continue to try and put forth and we're just hopeful that our friends on the other side of the aisle will realize that moving forward with an agenda that uplifts women in america, honors the great contributions of women in this country decade after decade, century after century, from the founding of the republic, but more significantly will empower women and in doing so empower america to continue to forge forward into the future as the greatest nation in the world. and so i'm thankful to my colleague for his leadership tonight in connection with this special order and look forward o continuing the work on the

progressive congressional black caucus agenda for women, for men, for america and for our future. mr. horsford: may i inquire as to how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has five minutes remaining. mr. horsford: and as we come to a close to just highlight some of the major reasons why the congressional black caucus along with the house democrats believe if we are going to honor the role of women, we need to honor them through equal pay and honor them through an economic aagenda aver that supports their needs and needs of their families and as our colleagues laid out, women now make up half, 47% of the general work force and some 62% of the minimum-wage

workforce, which is up from about 30% from the 1950's. 12% of the workers have access to paid family leave and fewer than 40% have access to personal medical leave through employer-provided short-term disability insurance. in addition to giving women equal pay for equal work, for increasing the minimum wage is providing family balance by allowing women to be able to take off when necessary to care for a loved one without losing their earnings and a paycheck. laws providing medical leave allow workers to earn a portion of their pay while they take time away from work to address serious health conditions, including a pregnancy, to care for a family member with a

serious health condition and to care for a newborn, newly adopted child or newly-placed foster child. we should be encouraging healthy families and our colleagues on the other side talk about family values. you won't pass legislation that allows workers to spend time ofh their families what time family value is that. over the average lifetime of a woman by the age of 65, they will have lost $431,000 because of the earnings gap. that is something that the house democrats along with the congressional black caucus are working to address. we have legislation, when women succeed, america succeeds. the agenda we laid out here tonight that would close this

earnings gap and provide women the support they need, helping their family and helping our economy as a whole. in closing, when we talk about women's history month, we hope it will resonate in this chamber and in the halls here in washington that the decisions that we make impact the lives of all of our constituents. and it's time that women have a fair shot to the full opportunity that this country has to offer and it starts by providing them with the earnings that they deserve. this is good not only for that woman and her future, but it's good for the family as a whole. as i said earlier, i want for every woman what i want for my wife and daughter, to be able to have the same opportunities and to be treated the same way as a

man is treated in this country. i want for every woman what i want for my two sisters and my mother to pursue their dreams and to be paid the same for pursuing that dream. so these are the issues that we have laid out tonight, mr. speaker. we look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues on the other side. we would like to thank our chairwoman of the congressional black caucus, representative fudge and others who spoke tonight. when women succeed, america succeeds. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 201, the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. hartzler is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mrs. hartzler: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to

include extraneous rarks on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. hartzler: i would like to share the tale of two garages, the american dream and the threat to that american dream. you know, the first garage is down in oklahoma. nd it's owned by david and his wife barbara. and in 197 , david and barbara borrowed $600 and they began making picture frames in their garage. they had a dream. they said people may want to buy pre-made frames. and we can do that. they enlisted their two sons and they began building those picture frames. and then they opened up a retail location. actually, it was 300 square feet in size and started selling

those picture frames and it was very, very successful. and now their dream has just lossomed into 556 stores in 41 states and 70 more are scheduled to open this year. they have now what started out in a garage with just david and barbara and their two sons, 16,000 full-time employees and many of us have been there called hobby lobby and expanded to all kinds of art and decorating supplies and their headquarters is located down the street from that garage in oklahoma city. the other garage is over in pennsylvania. and it's owned by norman elizabeth. they have three sons, norman, anthony and kevin. and in 1964, they, too, had a

dream and they started in their garage making high quality doors and wood components for kitchen cabinets. they said let's do it and started working hard and expanding and from their modest beginning go from a small garage in lancaster county, they have grown to be an industry leader for kitchen cabinets. they have five facilities, located in the united states, in three states, pennsylvania, north carolina and washington. and what started out as five family members, they now have 950 full-time employees. it is truly an encouraging sign that the american dream is alive and well. and something else these two garages and these two families, david and barbara and norman and elizabeth have in come, they

care for not only their customers and having a high-quality product but also care about their employees. they both have provided high quality benefits to their employees and providing health care for years as well as other benefits. but, you know, sadly to say, both of these businesses, both of these families are in trouble. and these businesses are in jeopardy in having to close, not because of the economy. hobby lobby is planning to open 70 more stores. people want their products of the it's not because of any other reason other than sadly the government. the government is threatening these american businesses, what we need more of that are providing good jobs and providing health care. they are in jeopardy of closing

because our government passed and our representatives passed the president's health takeover law and part of that was a mandate that said if you provide health insurance for your employees, you have to include a -- abortion-inducing drugs. doesn't matter that you have a good policy, you have to do that. and if you don't, you are going to be fined, not a little bit, but a lot. i have a poster that shows the injustice of this mandate. two numbers here. 36,500, 2000. here's the situation for these two families. the obamacare law says that if you don't provide health care for your employees, we are going to fine you $2,000 an employee. but, if you do provide health insurance for your employees, just don't include the

abortion-inducing drugs, we are going to fine you $36,000 500. where is the justice in that? where is the common sense? i'm from missouri and we are the show-me state. show me how this makes any sense at all. this is the situation that faces the hahn and green family. they are providing their health insurance coverage. and due to their beliefs, they believe all life is valuable and don't want to pay for potentially life-ending drugs and because of that our government is going to fine them this amount of money, $36,000 500 per employee which sadly could put both businesses out of work. and we have tens of thousands of people out of work because of

this government takeover of health care. it is wrong. we have a long standing tradition in this country of following something here. it's in the constitution. amazing little document but you know the very first amendment to the constitution establishing our rights is that -- lays out the importance of religious liberty. it says congress shall make no law establishing the establishment of religion. our country has upheld religious freedom and the right to exercise and live according to your beliefs. there are examples everywhere where we have done this before up until this point. employees have been able to take off on sundays or religious holidays. cross is a religious symbol that has been respected.

certain special activity restrictions like kokher foods have been honored. not working certain foods. honored people's belief regarding religious beliefs. that is our religious right to live free. pilgrims came to this country. why? so they could have religious freedom. it is the foundation our country has been built on, and yet, it is being jeopardized, trampled on and attacked by the affordable care act. now tomorrow, the u.s. cream court is going to hear the case of these two american families and see if they can be forced by their government to go against their religious moral

objections. this is a historic moment. it's one that will vice president ramifications forever in our country. what do we stand for? what will we allow our government to do and inflict on our lives. it's why we are here tonight to share the concerns we have as we stand up for the people that we represent and for what our founders started this country on and why we want to stand for future generations to protect those freedoms that those who have gone before us, stood up and fought for us, for our generation. and we hope and pray that the supreme court will uphold the constitution and will not jeopardize it or trample on it. so i thank my colleagues for coming tonight and i would like

to ask my friend, bob latta, to share his thoughts on this very important historic moment. mr. latta: i thank the gentlelady for hosting this special order tonight and i appreciate you recognizing mes as speaking tonight. tomorrow the supreme court will begin hearing oral arguments in both the sebelius vs. hobby lobby and the wood specialties vs. sebelius cases, challenging the constitutionality of the obamacare h.h.s. mandate. i am hopeful that the court will recognize and acknowledge that the mandate unquestionably infringes upon americans' rights of conscience and the

freedom to live and work according to one's faith and religious beliefs. this obamacare mandate wrongfully forlses american citizens to choose between their -- forces american citizens to choose between their conscience or face oppressive fines. it will undoubtedly destroy family-owned businesses across this great country. equally alarming is that this mandate will drive employers to stop offering health insurance coverage to their employees altogether to escape the encroaching hands of government that is coercing individuals to violate their fundamental freedoms. we have to remember, this is occurring at a time when obamacare is cutting millions of jobs and forcing hardworking taxpayers from full-time jobs to part-time jocks -- part-time jobs. this is unacceptable and completely contrary to the that drigs of our country and the principles of -- that drigses of our country and the principle -- traditions of our country and the principles of our democratic government.

thank you, mr. speaker, and i again thank the gentlelady for yielding. i yield back. >> thank you, representative latta. i thought you brought up a great point, many points there, but certainly how employees can lose coverage. with this. that's something i hasn't mentioned. but that's very true. they have health insurance now, these two families are offering it, but an option they could have is just to drop coverage completely. how is that helpful to these hardworking americans who are working there? so, thank you for your points. ms. hartzler: i really appreciate that. now i'd like to turn to my friend from michigan, representative bentivolio. mr. bentvolio: thank you very much. i'd like to thank the gentlelady for giving me this opportunity, mr. speaker. i along with 71 of my colleagues have signed on to the brief in support of hobby lobby. we must fight for religious

freedom. in responding to the hobby lobby case, the president has acknowledged how critical religious liberty is to our freedom. i couldn't agree more. there is a reason why the bill of rights prioritizes our right to religious freedom. our founders knew that people could never be free if they could not worship in a manner they found appropriate. sadly, obamacare takes away that right by forcing americans to participate in the practice they are morally opposed to. obamacare is more about forcing americans to follow a certain dagma rather than promoting -- dogma rather than promoting a healthy society. tomorrow the supreme court will hear the advocates for religious liberty pitted against the voice in support of government moralism. from pressey vs. ferguson, to roe vs. wade, to the obamacare

ruling, we have seen how a handful of judges can take away our natural rights. i pray the supreme court will rule on the side of american liberty. the supreme court must back the first amendment, the foundation of our nation rests upon it. thank you and i yield back the remainder of my time. ms. hartzler: thank you, representative. well said. foundational. principle. religious liberty. thank you very much for that. now i turn to my friend and colleague from minnesota, representative michele bachmann, to share her thoughts on this historic moment. mrs. bachmann: i want to thank the gentlelady from missouri for hosting this important discussion because nothing quite frankly could be more important and more basic to every american than standing on the principle of our first amendment rights of speech and religious expression. you know, it was very interesting, just can the week

before last we had an expert on james madison speaking to us. and he wrote a book about madison. madison is the author of our first amendment. and we had the document in madison's own hand writing where he had his first amendment. james madison crossed out the word full toleration when it came to religious liberties and instead he inserted not just belief but also the free exercise, the acting of our beliefs. this is what america's about. we're standing here in the well of the house of representatives, the most important forum for freedom of speech in the world, and just beyond the double doors of this chamber lies the rotunda, and in the rotunda is a painting of the pilgrims and the pilgrims are on their knees before they come to the united states. it's the embarkation of the

pilgrims. they have open before them the copy of the bible. the geneva bible. turned to the new testament. and why was it that the pilgrims came to the united states? they searched for religious freedom and toleration and one thing that the bill -- that will be before the supreme court tomorrow addresses is this issue. will toleration be a two-way street? i think it is. toleration should not be just the government enforce coercion of government's beliefs on every american, because that's what's happening in a family business. for the green family with hobby lobby, or the hahn family. it's the government enforcing -- forcing its beliefs down the throats of two family-owned businesses. and what's at stake is not just the rights of the people who own the business, what about the rights of those who work in

the business, the employees? because they also have moral rights and protections. these businesses pay very good wages and they offer very good benefits to their employees. so here's what we're looking at. either the business pays over $36,000 a year per employee for the price of standing up for their moral beliefs or they have to give up health insurance altogether for their employees and pay the government ads 2,000 fine for a $2,000 fine per employee. who, i ask you, benefits? that's dealing with a case that's coming before the court tomorrow. but an even more fundamental issue is at stake and it's this. here we are, representatives of the united states congress, and we're having to fight president obama on whether or not we can retain our constitutional

rights and liberties. that's what's at stake. we're standing here for the constitution. we're standing here for every man and every woman in the united states that grease with those rights -- agrees with those rights and this is a discussion worth having. i thank the speaker, i thank the gentlelady from missouri. tomorrow's an extremely important day and thank god for all the wonderful members of congress here that are standing up for these important issues. they are not negotiable. they are not for sale at any price. and i yield back. ms. hartzler: thank you, representative bachmann. that is so well said. and i thank god for members here as well who are standing up for our religious freedoms and i thought you said it so well in that, is toleration going to be a two-way street? or are we going to allow this government to impose its will, its morals on the rest of us? so, thank you for sharing. now, i turn to my fellow friend

from missouri, representative ann wagner, i want to thank you for coming and look forward to hearing what you've got to share tonight. mrs. wagner: i thank the gentlewoman from missouri, my home state, our home state of missouri, the show-me state, for yielding and for hosting these special orders. there is no greater defender or champion for faith or for family or for freedom than congresswoman vicky hafertsler -- congresswoman vicky hartzler. mr. speaker, i rise today to protect the conscience of the american people. since taking office in january of last year, i've heard from countless constituents on how the government is abusing their individual freedoms under obamacare. over and over again. i recently heard from my constituent george, a central narron from louisiana -- seminaryian from st. louis county, he notes that, when the administration is asking catholic hospitals and nonprofits to do is in direct opposition to our catholic beliefs. he writes to me, mrs. wagner, i

ask you to please stand up for us. we are being persecuted and unjustly forced to comply with procedures that are in conflict with our own beliefs. as george articulated, the united states federal government is currently discriminating against its citizens of faith in this country. one of this country's founding principles is the freedom to worship without interference by the federal government. our forefathers did not flee from oppressive nations, build a country on liberties and emblaze them in the bill of rights just for this administration to trample on them over and over again. yet, the rule issued by the administration under obamacare does just that. this administration now mandates that religious nonprofits and businesses must provide health care benefits that go against their fundamental beliefs. if businesses and nonprofits do not comply with this mandate, they are penalized with

crippling figures that the gentlewoman from missouri has talked about. these fines can go up to $100 per day per employee. this means that if a business decides to provide health care but does not comply with the mandate, they can owe up to $36,500 for one employee per year. this is in comparison to the $2,000 they could owe for not providing any health insurance, any health insurance for that same employee at all. mr. speaker, not only does this not make any sense, it is discrimination by the federal government and it is wrong. this mandate puts the jobs, the livelihoods and health care of millions of americans at risk it. forces those who stand up for their conscience to choose between paying detrimental finals that could -- fines that could shut down their business or dropping health care coverage, as has been discussed before, completify for their

employees altogether. mr. speaker, -- completely for their employees altogether. mr. speaker, i ask you, should the federal government be able to tell the "st. louis post dispatch" what they can and cannot print? should the federal government tell my neighbors in ballwin, missouri, what they can and cannot say about their government leaders? should the federal government tell george, the seminarian, from st. louis kts, what he can and cannot preach? mr. speaker, while in many parts of the world governments control the press, prohibit freedom of speech and only allow for certain beliefs, that cannot be the case in the united states of america. we will not idly stand by and watch this administration strip away our freedom. i will continue to fight on behalf of the constituents of missouri and all the american people to keep this the land of the free. i thank you and i yield back.

ms. hartzler: thank you, ann. that was great and it really goes back to people like george. the individuals who are having their liberties violated and it is wrong and it's just chilling what he said. are we going to allow this government to discriminate against citizens of faith? we don't want that to happen. that's why we're here. thank you for coming, for your comments. now we turn to someone who knows personally one of these families, that started their business in a garage, followed the american dream, succeeded, providing jobs, but now that's in jeopardy. i want to turn to my friend, reptsive james lankford from oklahoma, to give us your insights here on this moment of history. mr. lankford: i thank the gentlelady for hosting not only this conversation but for standing up for liberty a over -- over and over again. i've seen you on this floor over and over again, speaking out for what's right in our nation. so i very much appreciate that. you know, when a family runs their business by the principles of their faith,