the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 1459 and pursuant to house resolution 524 i report the bill back to the house with sundry amendments adopted in he committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration the bill, h.r. 1459, and pursuant to house resolution 524 reports the bail tack -- the bill back to the house with sundry amendments adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the previous question is ordered. is a separate vote demanded on any amendment reported from the committee of the whole?

if not, the chair will put them engross. the question is on the adoption of the amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendments are agreed to. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the third reading. the clerk: a bill to ensure that the national environmental policy act of 1969 applies to the declaration of national monuments and for other urposes.

the speaker pro tempore: the ouse will come to order. the house will please be in order. the house will come to order so e may proceed. the house will not proceed until the house comes to order. please take your conversations off the floor.

for what purpose does the gentleman from west virginia rise? mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i have a motion at the dess can . the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the bill? mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i am opposed to the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman qualifies. the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. rahall of west virginia moves to recommit the bill, h.r. 1459, to the committee on natural resources with instructions to report the same back to the house for the with the following amendment. at the end of the bill, add the following new section. section 3, providing a wage increase for america's workers. this act shall not take effect until the hourly wage for the lowest 10 percent aisle of all workers for all codes reported by the labor of bureau statistics under the occupational employment statistics survey is no less than $10.10 an hour.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia is recognized for five minutes. mr. rahall: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill. it will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. if the seamed adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final pass and as amended. my amendment is quite simple. it raises the minimum -- >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. the house will please come to order. so we can proceed. the gentleman may proceed. mr. rahall: thank you, mr. speaker. my amendment is quite simple. it raises the minimum wage to $10.10. my amendment assures that america if you work hard you will not be forced to live in poverty. in this era of stagnant and falling wages, of a widening gap in inequality between the haves and the have-nots, we must ensure that the promise of

the american dream remains a reality for all americans. not just the wealthiest among us. we can't just say it. we have to act to make it possible. today the minimum wage is 22% below its peak level in the 1960's. it has not increased since july, 2009, when it reached $7.25 per hour. it has not been raised in five long years. it has not increased since the near bottom of the great recession, when working americans were walopped by the agreed and reckless behavior of the privileged and the life on wall street. we like to think that if you work hard, if you earn calloused hands, you can raise the heights of success in america. the reality is that by not raising the minimum wage, we are condoning, we are endorsing a pay cut for the very hard working americans that we speak about in such glowing terms whenever we talk about working

our way, working your way up the ladder. such double speak. makes a mockery of the american dream. this is the house of the people. not the house of the 1%. ours is a government of, to for and by the people -- of, for and by the people and not a government of, for and by the billionaires. at least not yet. heaven help us. as a representative of the people, we have a constitutional obligation to look after the interests of all of our citizens. but more fundamentally, we have a moral obligation to ensure that opportunity's available to all. and not reserved only for the most well to do among us. each and every year minimum wage workers face a pay cut as inflation eats away at their earnings. each and every year this house, the people's house, sits inactive. it sits silent. it sits shamefully moot. as the -- mute. as the house of the people, we have a moral obligation to do what we can to help boost the paychecks of hardworking

americans. there should be outrage. there should be contempt. for our inactivity on this issue. i'm talking about the 3.6 million american workers whose salaries are at or below the current minimum wage. more than 3/4 of whom are adults. nearly 2/3 of whom are female. more than 1/3 of whom are full-time workers and nearly 3/4 of whom have graduated from high school. these are real people, real people, mr. speaker, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, every day they must make hard choices. to provide for their families. every day they look to this body, this house of representatives, the house of the people, they look to us for help. and every day this body has nothing to say, nothing new to offer. introduced in 1938, the minimum wage has been increased 22 times by both republican and democratic congresses. it was even raised in the

hyperpartisan congress of the gingrich impeachment era, twice. twice. but it's not been raised in this congress, nor the last. that's more than shameful. it's immoral. in running against the do-nothing republican-controlled house of representatives in 1948, harry truman spoke of the gluttons of privilege, of cold men, of cunning men who were curiously deft of the voice of the people but who were also curiously able to hear even the slightest whisper from big business. >> mr. speaker, the house is ot in order. mr. rahall: here's the case where the government must be an advocate for the people and for the working men and women of this nation and for the forgotten man. as another great president once said, those at the bottom of the economic pyramid upon which everything else is built.

they promise -- vague promises of hope are not sufficient. economic excuses are not enough. we must act and we must act now and we can, vote for this amendment to increase the minimum wage for the working men and women of this country. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? mr. bishop: mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. bishop: may i first of all ask if the gentleman from west virginia has yielded back? ok. thank you. mr. speaker, i'm still having a difficult time trying to grasp the concept that my good friend, the gentleman from west virginia, would be opposed to such a brilliant bill in its current form in the first place. but with that i appreciate his efforts and his concepts

dealing with this. i just want to remind you of one element. if you pass this motion, you don't raise the minimum wage. and you don't bring about any of the consequences c.b.o. or other organizations talked about that concept. all this amendment does is delay the bill. it doesn't raise anything. it simply delays the bill. this bill, the underlying bill, tries to take an act that's 108 years old and modernize it so that the american people are given the right to be heard before the president takes his pen and signs his name to a piece of paper and a proclamation. this bill simply says let americans have the chance to talk about this before the president acts, like every other element of government has to do. with that i urge your rejection of this m.t.r. i urge you to favorably vote for pass and. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah has yielded

back all time. all time has expired on this motion. without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion to recommit. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. mr. rahall: mr. speaker, i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. -- those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this five-minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by a five-minute vote on pass and of h.r. 1459 if ordered and agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal if ordered. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house

proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this volt the yeas are 193, the nays are 227. the motion is not adopted.

the question is on the passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the gentleman -- for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise? >> on that, i request a -- mr. grijalva: on that, i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those in favor of a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by cbs sports division]

[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 222, the nays are 201. accordingly the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the

speaker's approval of the journal, which the chair will put de novo. the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. the chair lays before the house n enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 4275, an act 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: for what purpose does the gentleman

from tennessee rise? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to -- that when the house adjourns today it adjourns to meet at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentlelady from texas. ms. jackson lee: i was unavoidably detained during a prevents . 2824 the government waste and protecting coal mining jobs in america on the lowenthal amendment number one. if i had been present, i would have voted yes, i ask unanimous consent to place anymy vote in the appropriate place of the congressional record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady's request will appear in the record. ms. jackson lee: in addition, mr. speaker, on h.r. 3370, the homeowner insurance affordability act, i was

unavoidably detained with my constituents in my district and i would have wanted to have a resounding yes, i ask unanimous consent for this legislation will bring much needed relief to our constituents on the gulf coast. i ask that my vote of yes be placed in the record as at the appropriate place in the congressional record, i ask unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentlelady statement will appear in the record. s. jackson lee: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chairs lays before the house the following personal requests. he clerk: leaves of abscense requested for ms. delbene for today and the balance of the week. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches.

for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. thompson: and mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. he house will be in order. the house is not in order. please take your conversations to the well -- to the cloakroom or to the rear of the house. the gentleman may proceed. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i rise today to congratulate the pennsylvania state university nittany lion fencing team. on sunday, the team won their 13th ncaa championship which took place in columbus, ohio. beating out second place princeton university team which totaled 159 victories, the

nittany lions completed the compegs with 180 bout victories. a sophomore claimed the men's saber ncaa championship, becoming the 13th individual champion for the team. as a result of this title win, penn state fencing is now the winniest fencing team in the ncaa. mr. speaker, i want to offer my praise to those student athletes, along with the head coach, for their hard work and determination. the university and the happy valley community are extremely proud of your efforts and we congratulate you on another amazing season. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. s. jackson lee: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today to commemorate the 27th observance

of the national developmental disabilities awareness month and to add my respect and understanding that developmental disabilities may be visible or invisible and range from physical impairment that involve vision or mobility to those conditions that affect cognitive functions, related to how the brain processes information or how someone learns. i'm also actively involved in the dyslexia caucus. this disabilities include autism, hyperactivity disorder and other developmental delays have increased requiring more health in education services. i want to re-emphasize the need for access to education services but also to work. it is not a respective age. sometimes it because of accidents, illness, that people can become disabled but they are still deserving of the opportunity to work and access

the various assets this country has. it is important that we focus on language, focus on mobility and we provide the resources necessary. my salute to those who are supporting the improving of access for those suffering from developmental disabilities or experiencing it, we look forward to working together. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. talk about day to vinita carter. she was recognized for a cnn hero for her work in combating sex trafficking and is truly deserving of this recognition. r. paulsen: her group provides food, clothing and for those who are involved in sex trafficking.

breaking free have helped 6,000 women leave sex slavery. they often come from difficult home situations and are vulnerable to exploitation. for means of these, she is the first person -- for many of these, she is the first person they contact. her efforts should serve as a guide to how we can combat this traffic problem on a wider scale. congratulations, vinita carter, and thank you for positively impacting so many exploited women's lives and inspiring so many others and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. veasey: mr. speaker, i rise women celebrate the who have shaped our nation's history and those who continue to make a difference in our communities. women entrepreneurs are the fastest growing sector in the small business community. this month -- this month i launched a new initiative to

help better understand the challenges that constituents face in their jobs and daily lives by spending the day working as a baking assistant at del norte bakery, a successful owned, women-owned business and hispanic-owned business in dallas. rolled up my sleeves and made pan dolce along the sisters. i gained invaluable insight of some of the challenges that small, minority women-owned businesses face and what i can do as a member of congress to help. i hope by sharing their story i n inspire other women of having a business. when women succeeds, america succeeds. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one

minute. >> mr. speaker, it is with great pride and pleasure that i rise today to commemorate mr. houston wagner on the occasion of his 93rd birthday which he and his loved one celebrated march 17. mr. wagner is a proud warled war ii veteran. as a father of eight children, he worked for 30 years before retiring as a plant -- bag plant manager and starting his own small business, chatham auto mote tiff supplies in 1972. he retired for a second time in 1990. he now resides in jackson parish and enjoys hunting, fishing and is involved in the world war ii museum in new orleans. . ack alter: as his -- mr. mcalister: i ask you to join me in wishing mr. wagner a happy 93rd birthday. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield it's back. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor an outstanding institution of higher education in illinois, southern illinois university school of law celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. we spend our time here on the house floor discussing, debating and voting on laws which impact american citizens while the faculty and staff of s.i.u. law develop the next generation of great legal minds. mr. enyart: with humble beginnings in 1973, that first year began with 90 students and eight faculty members, s.i.u. law today is a nationally recognized institution with alumni practicing in 49 states and 11 countries. the school's 3,800 graduates include military general officers, over 90 state and federal judges and at least one

united states congressman. please join me in congratulating my alma mater, southern illinois university school of law. go, dogs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. gohmert: i seek to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. yesterday, i went over and heard the audio as the arguments before the supreme court were taking place. it was shocking to hear a supreme court justice ask paul clement why his client didn't just pay the tax and then they could have their religious ideas and religious beliefs. of course, he called it a penalty, as the statute called it. she said, well, the legislation called it a tax. she didn't even know that the

majority opinion said on page 15, it's a penalty because congress called it a penalty. 40 pages later, the majority called it a tax so they could uphold it. outrageous. pay your religion tax and then you can have your religious beliefs in america. where's it going to stop if we don't stop it now? i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california sook recognize -- seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to join my colleagues in calling for a vote on comprehensive immigration reform. we have bipartisan legislation that has the support of the american people and the votes needed to pass the house. our system has been broken for far too long. in my own district, there are heartwrenching stories of families who came here for a chance at the american dream only to have been torn apart and separated.

not only is comprehensive immigration reform morally right, it's the right thing to do for our economy. also, the congressional budget office this week found that passing h.r. 15 would reduce the deficit by $900 billion over the next two decades. the economic benefits are clear. now is the time to pass a fair immigration plan which provides a pathway to citizenship, reunites families and helps grow our economy. the senate passed immigration reform last year. now the house must act. we have the votes. let's do it now. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. kingston: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kingston: thank you, mr. speaker. here we go again. another change, another modification in obamacare. another deadline extended. i don't understand it. if there were such a clamor for

socialized medicine, why aren't people standing in droves to sign up for obamacare? i can tell you why. because it has not decreased their premium, it has not increased their quality and it has not increased access to health care. obamacare has been a failure. need to replace it with market-driven, patient-centered health care where the doctor and the patient are in charge of health care. we need to have health care that gives consumers options, health savings accounts so they have more choices and they can pocket whatever savings they create. we need to allow consumers to buy health care across state lines so there will be more competition. we need to allow small businesses to band together so they can get the economies of scale that large businesses get. and we need to push back on the frivolous lawsuits so that doctors aren't practicing

defensive medicine. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. kinks -- mr. kingston: mr. speaker, this is what we can do to help health care and have price goes down. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? mr. conyers: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. conyers: thank you, mr. speaker. members of the house, i am ntroducing a jazz appreciation month piece of legislation entitled the national jazz preservation education and promulgation act of 2014. and i ask unanimous consent that it be put in the record and reported under today's -- in today's congressional

record. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i was happy to see the president sign h.r. 3370, the homeowners flood insurance and affordability act. this bill is an important first step in addressing affordability in the national flood insurance program, but we have a long way to go to put solvency back in the system. we're working hard not only through the appropriations process but also with leadership and other members in coastal districts whose constituents have been victims of the rate increases brought about by biggert-waters. it had removal -- including removal of the dreaded sails trigger that would have devastated the housing and real estate markets in florida and other states, but perhaps most importantly where we were able to reassure fema of the

importance of the affordability study. mr. speaker, the next step is to find new ways to stabilize nfip and make flood insurance more affordable for all homeowners and small businesses. i will continue working with my colleagues in florida and across the country to put some stability back in this important system. thank you, mr. speaker and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. pocan is recognized as the designee of the minority leader. mr. pocan: i rise today on behalf of the progressive congressional caucus and we are here today to talk about the issue of fracturing, also known as fracking and the need to have more regulation on fracking to protect our environment, our groundwater, our air and the families who live around over

half a million wells that are across the country and talk a little bit about global warming. the progressive caulk -- caucus has been at theefront and so much to do to stop the effects of global warming that are happening. climate change is real. one of the greatest trets we have to our country and climate. delncho2 increasing levels in our atmosphere if unchecked, they havee consequences. drought and hot weather are examples. for generations, those that come before us have ideals that they should leave others with a better life. this is an integral part of our american story. i joined the safe climate caucus

because i believe in leaving a safer environment for future generations, which is essential. that's why i'm here today to voice my support for commonsense legislation that will end unnecessary exemptions that protect the oil and gas industry from basic regulations and extend protections for our families and communities in all areas that affect global warming, but we want to talk about fracturing. i would like to first yield to a colleague of mine who is not only a great colleague of mine from the state of wisconsin, my home state, but someone who is a great poet in her own right and think we are going to be informed a little. i would like to yield to representative moore from the state of wisconsin. ms. moore: thank you so much for yielding the time, mr. pocan and

this is just a little short diddy and i'm very concerned as a person who lives in an inner city environment, i have become intensely aware of how environmental injustice affects the health and safety of our communities. so i just want to talk a little bit about fracking this evening. as we frack under intense pressure, we force a fish sure through the delicate veins and a black hole forms in the ground poisoning the valleys and streams of our spirit. man, don't you fear it? wrecking the ecosystem treking recklessly over black loam. man, don't you hear it, the harsh acid rain.

oh, but of course, the course priority of wealth over health strips ourl earth's fertility and reservoir of life, frack and crack, lost perhaps, for all eternity, alas, it's true, there is none so blind as he who will not see. and i yield back. mr. pocan: thank you so much representative moore for that, your poetry is appreciated on this floor and in our state of wisconsin. before i get to fracking, i just want to talk about one part of global warming that got attention back home but serves as a debate as we talk about on this floor of congress. when i spoke before on the floor of congress about the need to address global warming, one of the things i said, this is about six weeks ago, was that in wisconsin, ice fishermen are noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice-covered lakes.

now to the conservatives right in wisconsin, they decided to have a field day. there was a shock in milwaukee who decided to play up on this and say can you imagine in wisconsin where we had days that were minus 22 degrees, real temperature, minus 40 and 50 degrees with wind chills, how can we be talking about fewer days of ice cover. based on that experience, there is no global warming. that is a shock jock. they went with it and let it roll. but here's the reality, we are a planet that is warming. d that statement despite the volar vortex that gave us -- polar vortex that gave us the cold weather, intense swings in the weather that can produce that.

when the conservative movement went so hard to say there is no global warming. they are all climate change deniers, they decided to approach a group. they often take things that politicians say and determine where the truth is. sometimes in a commercial or a speech. they were asked to address that statement that i made ice fishermen are noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice-covered lakes. they rated that statement as true. and here's why. they said it's not just about this winter, it's about what's happened overall in winters in wisconsin and there is climatewisconsin.org dela is done by a number of professionals in the field in wisconsin and they have been tracking ice coverage in the lake in the madison going back

150 years. and you know what they found? quote, overall, the average null of days of ice cover on the madison lakes has decreased by 29 to 35 days over the past 150 years. not my words, these are scientists, people who work specifically in the field for measuring our lakes. so when people talk about climate change and they want to deny the fact the science that over 95% of scientist who work in this field clearly have said we have a climate that's changing because we have global warming, because of human activity. well, this is just one example where a simple one-minute speech on the floor talking about climate change became a shock jock material for a week to talk about j doesn't congressman pocan come home and see the weather. i get home every single

weekendment when we're not here, i'm in wisconsin. trust me, i would prefer to spend my time in the district talking to the people of the district that i represent. and i get back there. and yes, we had cold days. but to base everything on a few cold days, that's not science, that's rhetoric. and that is what politicfact found. we are seeing a serious climate change and when you test 150 years of ice coverage in the state of wisconsin, we now have 29 to 30 days of fewer days. i want to put that out there, why we are talking about this subject today. i would like to yield some time to my colleague, who is the co-chair of the progressive caucus, a great representative from the state of minnesota, representative keith ellison. mr. ellison: i do appreciate the gentleman for yielding.

you have been a voice for working americans all over this country and i thank the gentleman for your great work. our states are next to each other. we share a lot. so i'm really honored to be here with you today. let me start out, we are going to talk about fracking, but i want to set the stage for the conversation. we are in the united states house of representatives. and we have stagnant wages for 40 years, yet, we can't see a bill to raise the minimum wage on the house floor. we see that unemployment insurance has been stalled since december 28, 2013. r. pocan made this point abundantly clear and over two million people are now without that unemployment insurance support and yet we see no action on the house floor here. we see our infrastructure crumbling across the united states.

i myself come from a city where we saw a bridge on i-35 fall into the mississippi river. we have seen water mains break. we have seen problems with the grids, yet we see no action here on the house floor and of course, we all thought we were going to get some action on immigration reform. in fact, the speaker to his credit said, hey, i have some principles out there. let's talk about how we move forward. the senate has already moved forward. and yet no sooner than the speaker said he had some principles that he wanted to work on and he said we can't trust obama and so we can't have an immigration bill. it is outrageous how little substantive work we have done here on the floor of the house of representatives. no to immigration reform, no to all these key things that americans really need.

what is the idea here? what is the idea when we won't do anything other than igically charge -- politicically charge the bills to make a point? we are going to talk about fracking, but i asked the question, mr. speaker, when are we going to get to some real work around here. we cannot be in this house of representatives with the responsibilities to discharge the duties of the american people and we are completely unresponsive under this republican leadership to what the american people want. people are unemployed and need a raise and want a better life and we aren't doing anything to help it. in fact, the only time we care about nepa is if it's going to block monday youments that the president may want to decide to establish. every other time, it's a

job-killing regulation. total lingo and rhetoric and it's really a shame and i'm getting to the point, mr. speaker and i want to yield back to the gentleman some committee can begin talking about fracking, it's really getting frustrating and we know we are here of different political points of view. i'm a proud progressive liberal, absolutely, just like humphrey, l.b.j., martin luther king, all those guys, i admire them all and i'm not apologizing to be a progressive liberal but that doesn't stop me from talking to a conservative republican as long as we are both trying to solve the problem. they are not trying to solve anything. i'm happy to talk to republicans with their conservative views and hag will it out and meet somewhere in the middle and won't be everything we want, but

will do something. where are we at? no immigration, no. people are suffering, two million strong, no where. where we at on raising the minimum wage, which has been sliding as inflation goes up -- we have a lower minimum wage than we did since the 1950's when you adjust it for inflation. nothing. we are just not meeting the needs of the american people. ey have even tried to repeal affordable care act 53 times. we shut down the government for 16 days for the one purpose of stopping people from getting health care access and feels like we are in star wars, mr. speaker. so i just had to share those views and just share my thoughts that it is time, high time for us to get to work to stop this party of no business, to stop

this obstructionism and bring our values, different though they are, to this debate and come up with something to meet the needs of the american people. i yield back and we can talk fracking. thanks for letting me share my views. mr. pocan: thank you very much, mr. ellison. and i share your concern. i came to congress as a new member, thinking we were going to get some important work done for the country. i remember in history class, i believe it was congress of 1948 that got so little done, they were dubbed the do-nothing congress because they did nothing. that do-nothing congress passed 350 bills. that's it. our congress last year passed 62 bills. mr. ellison: would the gentleman yield? mr. pocan: absolutely. mr. ellison: if we were the do-nothing congress of 1948, that would be more activity than.

we are the do-very-nothing congress. we are the do ain't not a thing. how many of those post offices and how many were bills -- how many were substantive pieces of legislation to imam prove the lives of americans. i would be surprised there was even half the 60 that we actually did pass. mr. pocan: it's hard to get a label to what you call what is worse than the do-nothing congress. i don't know what the label would be to establish to it, but it has been a highly unproductive congress. in january, i got in the elevator and i said we have been here for two weeks and haven't done anything. he said don't worry, it will get better in three, four years. i didn't come toll congress to wait three, four years.

whether we have discharge petitions now on raising the minimum wage that people can be lifted out of poverty who are working hard every single day playing by the rules trying to get by, by extending unemployment benefits to the millions of people in the country that lost those benefits including a constituent from my district who was my guest right here in this chamber for the state of the union. he was my guest and lost his benefits at the end december. was a steamfitter and played by the rules and because of not steppeding the emergency benefits, they are in dire financial straits. . they have their home up for sale because they don't want to be foreclosed on. this is the reality of congress not acting. today, we now have a discharge petition on immigration reform, something that will affect millions and millions of people

across this country. but this congress is not acting, and what we're going to talk about in just a little bit are five bills that affect fracking, fracturing, to make sure everyone can have cleaner air, cleaner water and that people can actually know what toxins are going in the ground when so many people live so close to these wells across the country. so there's more of an agenda that the progressive caucus is working on and that we're trying to put out there. again, i think the gentleman would be remiss if we didn't talk very briefly about the progressive caucus budget, the better off budget, to make sure that people are better off, to actually invest in infrastructure, to actually invest in r&d, to actually research in education and to get people back to work now. mr. ellison: all i want to say about the better off budget is that it will make americans better off. that's what the better off budget does. he better off budget top lines $8.8 million -- 8.8 million

jobs in three years. that's what we do by making infrastructure in education, in infrastructure, putting people back to work, making sure that public employees, teachers, police officers, people like that stay on the job. this is what the better obetter budget does. now, the republicans are going to come in here with a budget and they're going to brag about how much deficit reduction it does. we've already been reducing the deficit, by the way, significantly. but they're going to talk about what they have cut. they're going to say, we cut food stamps. we cut head start. we cut medical research. we cut research on alzheimer's and parkinson's and things like that. we cut a bunch of stuff. they're going to brag about how many people they left behind. and i think that the real thing is that as we invest in 8.8 million jobs, our better off budget actually has deficit reduction to the tune of about

$4 trillion in 10 years because as people are working, they're paying taxes and we are growing ourselves out of the debt and deficit picture. that is why even some conservative groups have said this is a good budget. because we're being responsible about the debt, not because we're pointing straight at it, but because we're pointing straight at putting people back to work. people are working. people are paying taxes and we're dealing with our fiscal picture. the better off budget is definitely worth people reading about. it's an awesome budget. few things i want to mention about the better off budget and we'll talk about some other time, we also require in our budget the amount of money going to our spy agencies, our intelligence agencies the top line be revealed, not the nuts and bolts and the guts of it but just in these days of n.s.a. spying and things like that, i think it's important to

have some budget accountability so that people really know. this is something we hope people will look at and feel that, you know, congress is actually exercising its proper role in doing oversight. and then the other thing is, there was a huge fight over chained c.p.i. there was that -- measure of inflation which literally cut benefits for people that are older americans, people who are on disability benefits and people who are on survivor benefits. it cut their benefit over time. cpie, another measure of inflation, actually enhances retirement benefit because it really reflects the real costs associated with making a living in the united states. and so we put cpie in our budget, which we believe is a far better measure of what's days going on in these of retirement insecurity brought about the decisions of

the republican caucus, it's important we really invest in making sure we have some retirement security. so those are just a few lines on the better off budget, but i do want to thank you for raising it. i yield back. mr. pocan: thank you, mr. ellison, for all of your leadership and co-chairing the progressive caucus. you know, one of the things that's in that budget, in addition to growing us out of the economic problems we've had in this country that we've slowly been rebounding out of, but we take away the subsidies to oil and gas companies which will save this country money we can invest in creating jobs but also deals directly with the issue at hand which is the issue of fracking. what is fracking? it's hydraulic fracturing or called fracking. it's a process of drilling by injecting fluid, which is a chemical-water-sand mix into the ground at a very high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside. that's the basic concept behind fracking. there are about half a million

active natural gas wells in the united states right now. but here's what's involved in the process that i think people don't really realize. every single gas well has an average of 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to the site and it takes one million to eight million gallons of water to complete each fracturing job. to run all the active wells in the u.s., that would be 72 trillion -- trillion with a t-r, trillion gallons of water and 360 billion gallons of chemicals that are used in this process. the water's brought in, it's mixed with sand and a chemical mix to create a fracturing fluid. now, one of the things i think that people don't realize is we don't know what's in that fracturing fluid because the companies say that it's proprietary. if they gave up that information, it's a secret sauce that they put together that allows them to do this, and if they disclose that

somehow a competitor could find out what it is. the problem is that also means you and i don't know what those toxic chemicals are. we have an idea in some cases what's used, but the exact mix, you don't know in any specific well. so you've got 40,000 gallons of chemicals used per fracturing with up to 600 chemicals in any fracking fluid which has got carcinogen. it is pressured into a drilled peline about 10,000 feet deep. it causes the nearby shale rock to crack causing fissures to allow natural gas to flow in the wells. the rest of the toxic mix is left in the ground and it's not biodegradable. also, during this process, methane gas and toxic chemicals

leach out of the system and contaminate our nearby groundwater. methane concentrations are 17 times higher in drinking water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells. you may remember, i believe "time" magazine had it, people in pennsylvania in some cases near wells have turned on their drinking water with a match and lit the drinking water on fire from what's been released into the groundwater from fracking wells. this contaminated well water has been used for drinking water, like i explained, in these nearby communities. and there have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water. in the end, the hydraulic fracking produces about 300,000 barrels of natural gas a day, but the price, as numerous,

environmental, health hazards that we have to deal with. i'd like to yield some time, if i could, to mr. ellison. mr. ellison: certainly. i think it's important that are the gentleman brings us to the conversation about fracking today. it's a lot of courage that you bring to this debate as well because the interests that are promoting fracking is powerful, wealthy energy companies and opposing them, you know, is something that i believe, you know, is something that -- not everybody would do, but i think raising real questions about how this is affecting the health and the environment are critical. you know, i was -- i had the occasion of talking with a number of people in my office who came and told me really amazing stories about what their experiences with fracking. you know, one gentleman, you know, actually told me a story -- the lighting of the

the fire coming out of the faucet in the sink. another told me a story about how his cows drank the water that was contaminated with the fracking fluid and those cows died. another individual told me how when they made complaints about it there was just a lack of responsiveness. and these are folks before they came to my office, i didn't know them, but, you know, they a ed to talk to me about problem with common concern. i said, sure, share with me what you know, and what that he shared with me caused me to do some research. the process and particularly the fluid that's used is not something that is -- that we can know. i think you're talking about injecting fluid into the ground that is causing the natural gas to come up and yet it has proprietary protections. now, how can we safeguard the public interest if we don't even know what's in that stuff?

and if nothing in there is harmful, why don't they want to share what's in that stuff? you know, at the end of the day, there are stories of regular citizens cropping up all over this country about dead farm animals, toxic drinking water, fire coming out of the water faucet and all sorts of things. it's happened to people who thought they could, you know, lead a good life, trying to farm, trying to live in rural america and yet the answers just are not coming for them. so i remain very concerned. i believe we do have a public interest in knowing much more about this process. and, you know, a few years ago, mr. speaker, you know, we were sort of sold that natural gas was going to be the answer to get off petroleum, but what we didn't know is all the health hazards that were involved with trying to make that conversion.

it is absolutely essential that we, as the american people, get to the bottom of the health risks associated with all of the ingredients of fracking. you know, we've had people -- these folks that came to my office, mr. speaker, made complaints about skin irritation, nasal irritation, eye problems, chronic issues. they talked about, as i said, farm animals and other sorts of issues that they have lost, and it's just something that i think is crying out for real answers. and if congress does not stand up and say, look, we've got to figure out how this -- what the environmental and health impacts of fracking are on our citizens, then who's not going to? europe has already asked tough questions about how fracking works. europe said, wait a minute, we need to learn more about this. in some areas the practice has been banned. so i really believe this is an

appalling situation, calling out for answers and it is our public duty to get those answers. so i yield back to the gentleman. appreciate the time to talk disclosure, my discussions with people about fracking. one talked about the frequency of earthquakes near the fracking area. what he tried to figure out -- when he asked questions about, is the fracking causing the earthquakes, because you were fracking there wasn't no earthquakes, he really was stonewalled and didn't get any answers. it makes sense that you're doing something to disrupt the ground, you're shooting a substance in the ground causing these sort of issues like tremendousors in the earth and then this farm -- tremendousers in the earth and then this -- tremor in the earth and then this farmer couldn't get much responsiveness. again, this is something i remain concerned about and look

forward to people facebooking, tweeting, writing regular old emails and snail mails telling their stories about what they're going through so we can make a case that true, real investigation needs to take place and we can actually look out to the public interest. i yield back. oke poke again, thank you, -- mr. pocan: there are not just concerned citizens, there was a recent investigation done by the weather channel that found numerous violations on current sites. one they found for example, the state of texas, that they know almost nothing about the pollution that one of these shale drilling wells causes. thousands of texas oil and gas facilities are allowed to self-audit, meaning they don't have to report them to the state. they talk about pollution

complaints and they said in another study in the u.k. and pennsylvania, they looked at multiple wells in pennsylvania to determine the rate of well failures and found that one-third of a data set of 3,500 wells were reported for environmental violations between 2008 and 2011. while we have special exemptions in clean water, clean air laws for this process, we are finding severe violations by groups like the weather channel, hardly someone who is bias to look at these facilities. when you look at the list of chemicals that some of the known 600 chemicals that goes into these mixes and look at the actual effects, the color on here, you have chemicals that have problems, respiratory, brain and nervous system, immune system, kidney, cardio vast clue, developmental, reproductive. this is the type of effects that

can happen from the chemicals that we aren't allowed to know that are happening. and i think one of the most telling parts of this is that 15.3 million people in this country live within a mile of one of these wells that have been drilled since the year 2000. people who live near wells who don't have the public information that they need to know. one of the things that this caucus, the progressive caucus has worked on, members of our caucus, five bills that have been called the frack pack that address concerns that we have on the regulation of this. we aren't saying going to stop this completely. don't proceed until you know what you are doing and make sure we provide clean air, clean water and notification requirement that we actually no what you are doing before you proceed. i would like to go over those bills if i could. i would like to give you an idea

of some of the bills out there. e bill by representative degette is called the frack act, that build would close the so-called halliburton loophole and it also -- it protects the companies for drilling for natural gas and disclosing those chemicals that normally would be required by our clean water laws. it under the safe drinking water act, let's make sure our water is safe. second, it would make sure that all fracking operations would be required to disclose to the state and public the fracking chemical cocktail intended for use prior, prior to the commencement of any operation, not after your water is set on fire, not after your cows are

sick or your families has problems but prior. and finally, if a medical emergency should arise, any fracking operation would be required to disclose the formula of any compounds utilized. a pretty basic set of ideas to make sure you have the information to know. there's four other bills. another bill is the breathe act introduced by representative cartwright and representative polis. that would close the loopholes of the clean air act that exempt gas and oil industries. the bill would require that toxic emissions of multiple-related small sources be aggregated to determine total emissions and make sure all fracking operations that release pollutants including benzine.

another bill is the clean air act which has been introduced by representative cartwright and representative huffman from the state of california. this would protect the public a loopholeby closing that prevents regulation of harmful waste associated with natural gas production and particularly with fracking and other compounds. the next bill is the pressure act again by representative cartwright, this would close the loophole in the clean water act permits that tain are necessary. treat them like everybody else so we know what is going on in the process. and also makes oil and gas companies play by the same rules that apply to other industries and conducts the basic study to further make sure that we

understand what they're using. and the final bill that's part of the frack pack is a bill called the shared act by representative schakowsky and would protection for public health by requiring water testing before fracking begins and it would help document any drinking water contamination within a mile radius of a site operation. none of these are crazy ideas saying we are closing every operation because we don't like it, but saying let's make sure they follow the law when it comes to our clean water and our clean air and we know what toxic compounds are being put into the groundwater since we know so much is left there especially when you live nearby. those are simple bills that we put out there that we are hoping this body will take up because it's important that we provide those safeguards. i would like to yield to mr.

ellison. mr. ellison: i appreciate the gentleman going overall those bills which will bring about transparency, accountability, disclosure, all things that are basic fairness issues in the united states, we pride ourselves on having due process and fairness and accountability. and i think every one of those bills -- has a lot of merit and should be carefully considered, because they'll allow americans to make decisions about whether this is a process, this hydraulic fracking is something that we need to continue -- let it happen as it happens now. you know, there even an idea in economics in which if you make the money, you need to pay the costs, right? if you are going to internalize the profits, you should internalize the costs of what you are doing.

so if you are going to make a lemonade stand, then you should buy the lemons and get the water and put whatever sweatner you have, clean up after yourself after you make the lemons and deal with problems that you cause in the sale of your lemonade. when it comes to fracking, the profits are absolutely internalized, but the cost is forced on everyone else. how is that good free economics to say we are going to keep the money we make by getting this natural gas but we are not going to clean up after ourselves, not going to tell everybody what we're doing, even though it affects them. there's just something very unfair about the way fracking is being done right now. i think these set of bills, the frack pack and the special order are really important. and again, i urge people, mr.

speaker, to let their voices be heard, you know, because we were told that this is the clean energy future, fracking, natural gas, much cleaner than petroleum. and it is. it is still a fossil fuel, though. and still social and economic and environmental and health costs as a result of the way we get this natural gas. and i just want to say and unfortunately i do have to go to another meeting, but i want to say, mr. speaker that there are other ways to power our world. let us have a real conversation about investing in renewable energy, in zero waste, in living in societies that have more transit options, more walkable so we use less, make our buildings much more fuel efficient. one of the sad days in washington was when president

ronald reagan took down the solar panels that jimmy carter had put up on the white house. that was too bad. that was unfortunate that that decision was made, because what we should have been doing -- think about if from the 1970's, we had been moving aggressively into renewables. think about the world we would live in if we truly had recycling, composting, reuse. think about the world we would live in now. right now, according to the scientists, we put so much co2 into the atmosphere that we are changing the climate and so, who knows if the action that we take now will be enough. we better take that action. we dare not avoid taking that action. but i just think to myself that these things like fracking, they are not the only answer. oil and gas exploration are not the only answers.

there are other things we can do to power our world and i urge us to do it. and i just want to wrap up by saying, too, that when we think about what we are going to use our tax dollars to subsidize, we are subsidizing the fossil fuel industry. bernie sanders and i worked on a bill, we have documented up to 110 billion worth of subsidies to oil and gas industries. six times the subsidy that goes to renewable energy sources, solar, wind and it's high time we start investing in the wind and sun and other forms of technology that can help us power our world that don't have hese ugly costly expensive

expenses. so i have to ask the gentleman for his -- excuse me now, but thank you for doing this very important special order on raising questions around fracking. >> thank you, representative ellison for all the work you do with the progressive caucus. this is the special order tonight to talk about why we need to have safer practices around hydraulic fracturing or fracking in this country. for the 15.3 million people that live within a mile of the wells, for everyone who has to eventually have the effects of the environment and the health pollutants that are put out by this, there are bills produced in this body to make sure we can regulate and make sure they aren't exempt from clean air and clean water protection and disclose the toxins that are used so we can make sure that this process is safer, healthier and better for everyone. and with that, mr. speaker, i

would like to add, with 30 seconds, as a reminder to everyone, it's important on march 31 is the deadline for signing up for the affordable care act. there have been extensions. if you tried to do it and can't get it done, there has been an extension of time, you need to do it by march 31. my colleagues are going to be talking about that in a little bit but take advantage of that while they have time in the remaining week. with that, i yield back the remapeder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. castro, for 30 minutes. mr. castro: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. castro: today we are here to talk about the affordable care

act, some of its milestones and benefits to the people of the united states and the critiques that have come up over the last few years and few months. the affordable care act has succeeded in doing a few things. the united states has been the wealthiest nation on earth. however, millions and millions of americans have been unable to get health care insurance. many folks have suffered a very long time either themselves or family members, not being able to see the doctor when they need to, being kicked off of insurance, college students have gone out insurance for years because they could no longer stay on their parents' plan. the affordable care act has done several things. and there was a discussion earlier on the floor during the lunch hour and there was a question raised about -- by one of the republican members and his question was, what has the affordable care act done? there are several concrete things that it has done for the

united states. the first is that three million students have been able to stay on their parents' plans. the average age where students were kicked off before was 19. under the affordable care act, millions of college students can now stay on until the age of 26. we know this number, five million people so far and growing have signed up for health care insurance through the ex chakes. five million americans and that number continues to grow as some of the busiest days for the health care web site, for the call-in number have been over the last few weeks. . also 4.4 million americans have been covered but medicaid expansion. we can talk about the fact that some states decided not to expand medicaid so millions of peep, including my home state of texas have not been able, low-income americans, most of

these are people who are going to work every day, working hard to support themselves and their family members, who are still low income americans but because the state governments have not expanded medicaid in many states, they have not been able to get covered so we're going to talk about that then another issue i want to talk a little bit about is something that is very significant for millions and millions of americans and that is mental health parity with physical health. for years, we tried in state legislatures, i know i tried in texas and people across the united states have tried to make sure that mental health issues are covered by insurance in the same way that you would cover a broken arm or broken leg or cancer even. millions of americans suffer from anxiety, from depression, from a slew of mental health issues and previously they were unable to get covered. those are some of the issues we'll talk about this evening and right now i'd like to yield to my good friend, congressman

gene green from texas. mr. green: first of all, i thank the -- my colleague from san antonio, we are both texans and we know the problems. you served a lot of years in the state legislature, and i did too, and frankly a lot of our problems, i think could have been dealt with if texas would have expanded medicaid. we're actually giving back money to the federal government and not covering children and families in our community because of that frankly, even with the problems of the rollout of the affordable care act, i know some states that have done a great job, kentucky, california, some states haven't. but i would think if texas did their own exchange, we could be the ones making those decisions. and i think particularly with the medicaid expansion. but i appreciate you asking for the special order tonight because we're coming up to the deadline of march 31. in fact, i have to do a commercial first. a lot of us have done these events on how people can sign up

for the affordable care act. i have one we're sponsoring this saturday at harris county department of education building at 6300 irvington boulevard in our district and i'm partnering with some of your former colleagues, state representatives, our relatively new state senator sylvia gonzalez. we're doing that this saturday from 9:00 to 1:00, where people can come in and sign up. the success, though is if the website was down for two month bus we've seen just a huge number of people signing up and five million as of last week and we -- i hear on monday of this week they had one million contacts, both by phone and to the website. so there's a need out there for the affordable care act. it's landmark health care reform. i was on the committee, the subcommittee and the committee to help draft part of it, the energy and commerce committee, we did nights and days of

drafting amendments, and we had both bipartisan amendments that were adopted, including one of them on mental health that congressman murphy from pennsylvania and i worked out to expand mental health coverage. of course we live in a bicameral congress and sometimes the senate doesn't always do what we would like to do on the house side but that's the nature of it. the affordable care act is expanding health care access. you mentioned some of the successes that we have. i know as a state legislator, i would have loved to have a state law that requires insurance companies to pay 0% of their premiums they receive back as benefits. i don't know of any state that does that i would have loved to have that in texas. so someone who pays a premium, insurance premium, whether it's employer health care or individual health care policy, they could be guaranteed that 80% of their premium will come back in benefits. that's what the federal law. is we hear our republican colleagues say, they still haven't come up with an alternative to the affordable care act because they can't. that's one of the successes

there. there's a lot of successes, some of that law is actually republican ideas that have been built up over the last 20 or 30 years, saying how can we cover the uninsured in our country. >> congressman, once upon a time, these were the ideas of the heritage foundation. this was a conservative movement, conserve ideas, about how folks would take individual responsibility because as you know, being in harris county, our large hospital systems end up with millions of dollars in uncompensated care every year. mr. green: our harris county hospital district is our catchment but not all counties in the state of texas have the option to have a hospital district. but even in our area i have a district that's one of the highest in the country of people who work who don't get insurance through their employer. that's why the affordable care act is important. in our district we have 261,000 people, estimated, who would have opportunity to get health

care through the affordable care act. and we're hoping to sign them up. we started in november and we've had these workshops literally all over our district in partnership with lots of different groups. the affordable care act, particularly in our district, we have one of the highest in the country of people who are uninsured. it's essential people know that the financial assistance is available under the affordable care act that can lower their health care costs. in fact, nearly six of the 10 uninsured people will find that they can find health coverage for $100 or less a month. like i said this saturday, we're having a forum this forum is a great opportunity for people to come an learn about health care options. because health care insurance is important. our country, after world war ii, made a decision, the country we rebuilt in western reyupe -- in western europe had government run insurance. canada had government run insurance. our country decided to go with

employer-based insurance and that worked well until about 10 years ago where we saw employers dropping that coverage. at one time in our country 80% of the people who work had insurance through their employer. now it's below 60%. the affordable care act we're seeing increases with that. even a small business can be eligible through subsidies to cover their employees under the affordable care act. like i said, as a member of the energy and commerce committee, i'm proud of us passing something. it's not perfect and -- but it's a step in the right direction. i would hope that this congress and maybe a future congress will say, ok, let's see what's wrong with the affordable care act, like we've had to go back and fix medicare on a number of occasions. nobody wants to apoll lish medicare. it's one of the greatest legislation ever passed. and i would hope that over the years we'll poinled the

affordable care act -- we'll build on the affordable care act . i appreciate your leadership tonight on this and i know i have a colleague from my class who is up next from california and so -- but i appreciate it and thank you for your time. mr. castro: thank you, congressman. a few things you pointed out that i think are especially note worthy. the first is, there is no perfect bill that we pass here and especially the larger the bill is the more you'll have to come back and change it and tweak it and that's what you've seen with the affordable care act. so there's no surprise that we're going to have to have some changes to it. now quite frankly, there have been some changes in deadlines. there have been some other changes. americans rightly ask, well, why is the president, why is the administration, doing that? it's very simple. last year, for example, congress passed the least amount of legislation in record of any

year on record. the president is taking action to improve the law because the congress will not or cannot. so you know, somebody has to be doing something here in washington and unfortunately in the house of representatives, we have hit a standstill. so the administration is making sure, listening to americans and making the changes that are necessary. but no bill is ever going to be perfect. social security was deeply criticized when it was enacted. medicare for several years was deeply criticized when it was enacted system of this is no surprise. americans in previous generations have seen this before, have lived through this before, and this program has been a successful one, will be even more successful as we go forward and we'll continue to talk a bit about some of the benefits to millions of americans. before i yield to my colleague from california, lucille roybal-allard, immaterial to point out that there are a few ways people can get more information and sign.

-- and sign up. we have been talking a lot about the website and asking folks to go online through there's also traditional methods, we have the website, healthcare.gov, by mail, you can download an application and send it in my bail -- by mail. you can go in person. 1-800-318-2596. i floast been a lot of em-- i know there's been a lot of emphasis on the website but there are other ways. i was at an enrollment fair on saturday, there was a woman who looked to be between 55 and 60, quite honestly, she was a bit baffled by having to get on the computer, even though she was being assisted. she asked, is there another way to do it without using the computer? and the answer is, question, there are traditional methods. i want to yield now to ms. roybal-allard from los angeles. ms. roybal-allard: i thank the

gentleman for yielding and i want to thank him for organizing tonight's special order on the affordable care act which is helping to make health care affordable for millions across the nation. luckily, california is one of the state this is a has a plan, has bought into the affordable care act and as a result, thousands of californians are now benefiting from what we call in california the covered california, is the a.c.a. plan there. and by enrolling in the affordable care act, parents and children no longer have to endure illnesses or painful injuries because they can't afford a doctor. parents don't have to worry about their children getting a preventable illness because they can't afford to have them vaccinated or treated far chronic, preventable disease and why? because under the a.c.a.'s many immunizations and preventive services are free. seniors and adults are also eligible for free preventive

services, including annual check-ups, annual mammograms, prostate cancer screenings and immunization. and young adult, including 435,000 young californians, don't have to worry about being a burden on their family if they get sick or are in a -- in an accident because they can remain on their parents' insurance until age 26 and get affordable insurance after that. also, a critical fact is that under the affordable care act, no one can be denied health care coverage because of a pre-existing condition. the a.c.a. is a wonderful opportunity, as you've pointed out, for uninsured americans to get the health care that they need to improve the quality of life for themselves and for that of their family. and i'd like to just give one example of that, and that is a

constituent of mine by the name of roberto rivas, in his mid 20's, he's a constituent from the city of bell. on december 21, 2013, he arrived at 6:00 a.m. to enroll in a health insurance plan before going to work at k.f.c. where he is not offered any health insurance. he is also a full-time student at trade tech studying chemistry and he would like to use his education to study proteins and to research viruses such as hepatitis and other infectious diseases. until the age of 21, along with his 10-year-old sister, he was covered by his mother under medical. when he turned 21, he was no longer eligible for medi-cal and was left completely without any health insurance whatsoever. when shortly after he began suffering a breathing problem,

he went to a doctor and found out that he had pneumonia. later, after being treated for that knew moan ark he received a medical -- for that pneumonia, he received a medical billion for -- bill for $4,463. he had no insurance to cover that and asked for charity care services to help cover his expenses but was denied that request. robert said, and i quote, as a minimum wage worker, and a full-time student, it's hard to get health insurance. thanks to obamacare, now i can go to school and not stress about getting sick and ending up in the hospital. i'm calling everybody in my family to tell them i'm enrolled in health care and that they need to come out and get covered too. robert rivas was also astounded by the service, the friendly faces and the applause he received when he enrolled and he

said, to know so many people actually care about me getting health insurance is great. so this is just one example of the millions of americans who are benefiting from what we call obamacare or the affordable care act and i'm hoping that more californians who have not applied and americans across the country who are uninsured and can benefit greatly by enrolling in health care, that they don't miss out. there are only five days left until the enrollment deadline of march 31, i hope that today, they will visit healthcare.gov or use any of the service this is a you have already outlined to -- services that you have already outlined to enroll in health care for themselves and their family. i yield back. mr. castro: thank you, congresswoman. what a powerful story you have

told. i'm glad to hear california has done such an incredible job making health care available to its constituents and residents. you mentioned something significant, republicans have tried to repeal the affordable care act 51 times and we make no bones about it, there are a lot of americans, a decent number of americans who agree who say repeal it. but let's understand, if your argument is repeal it, then understand exactly what you are repealing. first, there's no plan that has been offered by the other side, no alternative. also, if you repeal it, what you're saying now is, you are going to again to allow insurance companies kick off cancer patients because they hit a lifetime limit, that you are not going to allow recent

ollege grauds to stay on their parents' health insurance. hospital bills have been the number one reason for personal bankruptcy. people would run out of insurance money. they have to take out of their savings to pay their hospital bills and then they can no longer make a mortgage payment, car payment. they couldn't help their kids go college and essentially became broke. you have to accept and be up front about the kind of future that you are inviting which is a travel back to the past. and so i have been surprised in my time here that republicans have tried to repeal this law here 51 times. and what's more surprising, there is no alternative plan to the affordable care act. and that's why in the surveys, you see over 60% of americans

that say yeah, i may have an issue with it, i didn't like the way the web site was done, but i don't want it repealed. i want it improved. unfortunately on the other side of the aisle, the strategy has not been to improve this thing and work with us to make it better. and like i said, any big law, whether it is mortgages, financial services, any big law is going to require tweaks and changes. so i hope they will listen to the voice of america cans and take a different tact. and with that, i yield to my riend from california. mr. cardenas: thank you so much, mr. speaker and my good friend from san antonio, texas, congressman castro, you are absolutely right. to go back away from the affordable care act means to go back to the old system and the

is not the good old systems. people's income does not go up that high fast. people's opportunities to find ways doesn't go up that fast. those were not the good old days. the best days are yet to come. and what we have seen here is an opportunity or tried opportunity to sabotage the affordable care act. and yes, the rollout could have happened better but the bottom line is the good days are yet to come. they are here now. the past are not the good old days. i thank you for this opportunity to speak. what we are talking about here is high-quality affordable health care which was something that was denied and out of reach for so many seniors and families

in my district in the sfern valley. one in three people in my district were uninsured but california is giving people the opportunity to purchase affordable plans that will give them the care they need when they get sick and the preventative services they will need. while the rollout hasn't been perfect, covercalifornia has been the simple, straightforward way to enroll. i feel bad for states that have denied them the opportunity to experience good, affordable health care. last week, covercalifornia announced they enrolled over one million people. that's in california along. the critical work has helped hundreds of thousands of california families and seniors and businesses to gain access to health care that was once denied to them for too long.

my staff and i have been working along side to work to cover. there are several work shops for the affordable care act and will reach 30 events by this weekend. this is where families learn about the options available to them under the new health care law including learning about insurance policies that can be purchased through covercalifornia, which has been successful in getting folks enrolled. more than 500 families have taken advantage of these work shops in my districts. can you imagine if every single one of the 435 congressional members helped people get enrolled? that would be millions upon millions of american families that would be enrolled. in the last week before the deadline, every representative should take this opportunity to do the same job we have been able to do in my district.

we should help families sign up. the day will come very soon when the truth will overcome the lies that have been scaring so many people. billions of dollars have been spent scaring people from people trying to enroll in the address forwardable care act. i have met with parents who have come to workshops to sign up and they have inchingseyite and fear. but moments later, their fears go away when they find out they now have affordable, reliable health care. people with mild asthma that were once denied health care can no longer discriminated against and they can breathe easy knowing they can now see a doctor and get the medicines that they need just to breathe. i met with a gentleman who was sitting there with his wife and daughter, the sole income earner for that family. with $an hour he manages to feed

a family of three and he was worried he couldn't maybe $50 a month. when the person turned the computer around and showed him s ellgict, he almost came to tears realizing that they can now have health care. this is serious business, but america, it's time that you sign up for affordable health care. just try it. don't worry, be happy. sign up for the insurance you deserve. thank you very much. and i yield back. >> thank you for all of your work and you raise a great point which is folks will often see the sticker price of the insurance on the exchanges -- mr. castro: i and many members of congress bought our insurance off the exchanges. we were asked are you going to buy oklahoma? yes. and i saved money. but folks should save money,

what kind of subsidy they get because it's meant to make insurance affordable. with that, i yield to the congresswoman from new mexico. ms. lujan grisham: thank you for calling us to talk about this important issue for our families. when i was running the new mexico department of aging i remember a tragic call from a family of a 60-year-old woman who had fallen and broken her hip. she was in a hospital in albuquerque. hospitals are required to provide stabilizing emergency treatment and even surgery if it's required. unfortunately, this 60-year-old woman didn't have insurance and she was rolled out of the hospital in a wheelchair without the required surgery for her hip fracture. if the affordable care act was in place when this happened,

this 60-year-old woman could have provided her health insurance card to someone at the hospital and the hospital would have stabilized her hip, performed the surgery and then provided follow-up rehabilitation care. this would allow this woman to walk again. the required stabilization is critical for successful recovery injury.particular hip and the long-term consequences of not receiving the care are significant. quite frankly, she never would have walked again without that surgery. thankfully her case, the hole community came together to gather enough money to pay for her treatment. and she would have been able to receive treatment without the scare and the subsequent fundraising by her family in that instance. people across the country face situations like this every

single day. that's why it's critical we tell our friends and neighbors they only have five days left to enroll in health insurance through the marketplace. five days. there is no time to waste. and like many of my colleagues, i have been working with groups in my district and participating in enrollment events to assist the people of new mexico to enroll. two of my constituents signed up for bronze plans through the exchange last fall. they make $24 a year between them and have qualified for $612 in subsidies, which covers the cost of the bronze plan. but thousands more are still eligible. new mexico has the third highest uninsured of any state before it went into effect this year. in the hispanic community, more than 25 percent are uninsured and more than that are

underinsured. more than 360,000 in new mexico are still eligible for enrollment. by enrolling in a plan you don't have to risk injury or lifetime of debt. by having access to primary care your family can stay healthier longer. i thank you very much. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. castro: we only have a few minutes left and i would like to yield to congressman lloyd doggett from texas. dog dog i thank you for -- mr. doggett: and i thank you for yielding and some people think this law has been repealed. this is an opportunity that is there for the next five days. get beyond all the political chatter, turn to a group like the american cancer society or the american diabetes association and look at the information that is there and then go to one of the many

enrollment fairs we are having across san antonio this weekend. one up in austin that is going to go 24 hours straight. these are opportunities to get out and do this. i know you had a successful enrollment fair in san antonio, i had one in progressive hall and one of our colleagues had ne at palo alto. . mr. castro: thank you for your work. thank you for helping to pass it and since then, making sure that people get onto the a.c.a. mr. doggett: we can improve this but main thing for our families to get out there now and increasingly folks are realizing as you pointed out with so many efforts to repeal, that the only alternative they offer is nothing-care.

mr. castro: with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair will recognize a motion to adjourn. mr. castro: mr. speaker, i make a motion to adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it, the motion is adopted. accordingly,

leader reid capitulated to republican plan this is a he drop plans to change the i.m.f. system of funding. this is something democrats wanted to see done far while. it's something the treasury department and obama administration had been pushing for. it was a bit of a showdown and house speaker john boehner said basically, there is no way this is getting to the president's desk with that -- with that provision in it. mitch mcconnel in the senate said the same thing. >> you tweeted earlier in the week saying majority leader reid cited secretary kerry