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tv   Key Capitol Hill Hearings  CSPAN  April 3, 2014 5:00pm-6:01pm EDT

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strongly advocating against changes to medicare that would disrupt the lives of seniors. i've spoken to the president about this, i've spoken to the secretary and c.m.s. about this issue. we've written letters to the administration and we stand here today. i am committed to continuing to do everything i can to protect medicare for our nation's seniors. with that i want to again thank mr. murphy for all his efforts. he has been a leader in our caucus, he's been a leader in this congress, in fighting for seniors, and i am proud to stand by his side just like i am sure mr. murphy will fight against cuts like the one proposed in the ryan budget which cuts over $800 billion from seniors and medicare, which puts the hole back in the doughnut and i just want to thank him again for his leadership. . mr. murphy: i want to thank the
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gentleman for reminding us what proposals on the other side might entail and political games being played are not necessary in today's environment. these are real people. these are seniors. these aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet. these are our grandparents, these are our parents, these are folks who fought for our country, who fought for our freedom. so thank you for reminding us not to make this a political puck. this is serious. we must work together as a song and the united states government to make sure our seniors are protected. i want to take a second at another scenario. gym membership, another add-on for medicare is free. cut medicare advantage too deeply, too quickly and gym memberships are gone. some think that's a good thing. i disagree. a recent study found that regular balanced exercise for seniors reduces falls that cause injuries by 37% and broken bones by 61%.
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most elderly americans survive a broken hip but it often undercuts confidence and diminishes quality of life. if a fall robs an elderly woman of her independence, it is a financial and emotional hardship. whether it's the cost of medicare of a hospitalization or two months of therapy, the cost to medicare and medicaid for a nursing facility or most importantly the cost to the senior of her quality of life and independence, silver sneakers doesn't seem like a cost at all. that means during a time of great part sanship in congress, there is a bipartisan coalition calling on the administration to keep the rates flat for this year, putting the well-being of our nation's seniors before party lines. together, we are making several recommendations for changes to c.m.s.'s proposals that we believe could contribute to stabilizing the program while
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preventing devastating impact on the program and the beneficiaries it serves. for example, providing more care at home. c.m.s. could narrow the proposals on in-home health risk assessments and protect the benefit of identification, medication management and continuity of care. if the visits are an important component of the fee management and, they should be maintained. this is exactly the type of innovation we need. at this point i'd like to take a moment to recognize the gentleman from california, who's been a champion for seniors in his great state and going to share with us his leadership and what he has heard back home and thank you for being here with us. >> thank you, mr. murphy. i appreciate you and your work on behalf of seniors in florida and around the country on this important issue. i just wanted to recognize you and the bipartisan group we have here standing up for our
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seniors and medicare advantage. i was honored to be part of a group of freshmen in our party who met with secretary sebelius yesterday and were able to with the help of our leadership express to the secretary our concern about the proposed cuts and part of what we told her is that medicare advantage continues to offer seniors and individuals with disabilities additional choices for high-quality and coordinated care in their communities. mr. peters: with the focus on innovative services, prevention and disease management, these plans have consistently delivered improved health outcomes while containing costs and requiring smaller co-payments and deductibles. further consistent with the goals of h.h.s., these plans reduce hospitalizations and readmissions, decrease the length of stay in nursing facilities and manage high-risk, high-need patients more effectively. i just want to thank the gentleman letting me add my
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voice for the folks who doesn't want us to see doing things penny-wise and pound foolish. it's focusing on prevention and could add a lot to the benefit of our seniors and we want to see it preserved as it is and thank you very much for the time. i yield back. mr. murphy: thank you. i want to thank the gentleman from california for taking a minute out of his busy schedule to come and talk about how important medicare advantage plans are to you and your constituents back home. finding ways to collect better and more thorough health information allows for better coordinated care with convenience to our seniors. we should also continue to award programs that are performing the highest and providing the best care to seniors. c.m.s. should also increase the percentage of rebates to reward and promote higher quality while averting negative consequences for beneficiaries. other recommendations include keeping beneficiaries stability
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and continuous plan improvement paramount when determining medicare advantage's benchmark calculations and bidding rules. by rewarding performance while taking into account the challenges faced on low-income populations, medicare would accelerate delivery, system invasion and keep medicare advantage as a viable option. these are just a few of the smart changes that we should be making to build off the success of this program. instead of cutting these beneficial plans to the detriment of our nation's seniors. i am proud to stand with my colleagues today to once again call on the administration to preserve the medicare advantage choice for beneficiaries after a lifetime of hard work. madam speaker, we could be facing a serious situation throughout the country. both sides of the aisle are concerned about the proposed cuts to medicare advantage. further cuts not only risk new health care efficiencies and invasion but the health and well-being of seniors who
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depend on these plans. simply put, these cuts are counterproductive if it means more hospital readmissions and worse health outcomes. cuts already happening this year have resulted in a 10% increase in overall out-of-pocket costs for seniors relying on medicare advantage. with the annual maximum for these expenses increased by $560. for seniors on fixed incomes, that can mean the difference between being able to fill a needed prescription, making a mortgage payment or putting food on the table. if further cuts are made to this important program, it would be even worse, costing seniors an estimated $50 more a month in out-of-pocket expenses. it is wrong to shift this burden onto seniors. from cheryl and her husband from palm beach gardens to walter to robert in palm city, to lorraine from fort pierce, this touches the lives of
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seniors across my district and across the country. they deserve better after a lifetime of hard work than having to worry about losing their doctor or the affordable health coverage that works for them. but this doesn't just impact my constituents across the treasured coast and palm beach, but across seniors across this great nation. i thank my colleagues who stood with me today to urge the administration, to protect seniors from further cuts, keeping rates flat for this year. i am committed to fighting for the well-being of seniors on the treasure coast and palm beaches, the great state of florida and across our nation, protecting their earned benefits. madam speaker, i yield the balance of my time to the gentlelady from ohio. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur, will control the
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remainder of the hour. ms. kaptur: i thank the congressman for yielding. congressman murphy, you are a refreshing, brilliant, positive member of this house. i want to thank the people of your state for sending you here, and i thank you for all the citizens you're fighting for to bring new energy and to bring new vision to our country. thank you so very much. mr. murphy: thank you. ms. kaptur: madam speaker, i entitle my remarks this evening "the world of nations holds the moral obligation" and underline moral obligation to ukraine. 70 years after world war ii, let us provide some historical context in which to view russia's illegal invasion of crimea and potentially other nations. scholars, historians and diplomats still are piecing together the horrific slaughter and political oppression of the past century that plagued the
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region we call central and eastern europe. the full truth of what happened remains to be told as far too much was locked behind the iron curtain. masterful books like "blood lands: europe between hitler and stalin" begin to tell the horror. if there is anyplace on earth, the world community of nations owes a moral obligation and should seek to pull forward, it is ukraine. the suffering and death endured by millions of innocent people inside ukraine and nations in her immediate environs had no equal anyplace on earth. there, the crushing of human life and human spirit were so diabolical and of such gigantic purr portion, it is hard for us
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as human beings to wrap our minds around it. with clarity, let us recall that american soldiers who liberated europe during world war ii never ven turd far enough -- ventures far enough eastward to witness the grip of that tirney. thus, the west -- tyranny. thus, the west may hold the depths of depraste to which mothers, fathers, children, grandparents fell victim. george will quotes dr. snyder in a recent piece entitled "russia's brutality with ukraine is nothing new." during the 1932-1933 stalinist forced famine, here is a quote from the book "blood lands," boys from another school pulled out the severed head of a classmate while fishing in a pond. his whole family had died. had they eaten him first or had he survived the deaths of his parents only to be killed by a
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cannibal? no one knew, but such questions were commonplace for the children of ukraine in 1933. yet, cannibalism was sometimes a victimless crime. some mothers and fathers killed their children and ate them, but other parents asked their children to make use of their own bodies if they passed away. more than one ukrainian child had to tell a brother or sister, mother says that we should eat her if she dies. additionally, in january, 1933, stalin writes snyder, seal ukraine's borders so peasants could not escape and seal them so beggers could not beg. by the spring, 10,000 were dying each day. more than the 6,000 jews who perished daily in auschwitz at the peak of extermination in the spring of 1944. snyder's judicious about the estimates of ukrainian deaths from hunger and related
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diseases, settling on an educated guess of perhaps 3.3 million from 1932 to 1933. he says when the soviet census of 1937 found eight million fewer people than projected, many of the missing being victims of starvation in ukraine and elsewhere and the children that those adults did not have, stalin had the responsible denothing raffers -- demographers executed. ukraine was hell on earth. with the abled assistance in the archives in cleveland, ohio, and the incredible resident scholar, let us take a look back before we look forward. beginning with the year 1933 as millions of ukrainians were dying of starvation at the hands of their own government in its forced famine genocide. that terror has gone down in history as the murder by famine, yet, few in america or anywhere noted them.
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even fewer spoke out to condemn the extinction as american and other western countries were working with the soviet government to realize its 20th century industrialization campaign glorified recently at the sochi olympics. it was paid for by the sale of grain, brutally seized by peasants who paid dearly for soviet progress, so-called progress with their lives by the millions. much of the u.s. media at the time either ignored the catastrophe or actually collaborated with stalin to cover up that genocide. for this contortion of truth, "new york times" reporter, walter duranti, was awarded the pulitzer prize, one of the worst instances of the denial truth in the history of
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journalism. during this faithful period, the united states chose to recognize the soviet bull she vick government. it was not until legislation i introduced in 1983 in this house that congress authored the creation of the commission on the ukrainian famine to finally acknowledge and recognize the extinction of millions of innocent lives in ukraine. that ink remains wet on the pages of history, but to return to the world war ii years, by 1938, when nazi germany forcibly annexed austria, too many in the west took its face value adolf hitler's assurances that he was merely reuniting german-speaking people. that same year, nazi germany preceded to annex czechoslovakia land what was called peace in our time, accepting hitler's assurances
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that this was the extent of his ambition, when his millerized group took over the rest of czechoslovakia, there was no security response from the west. . then came 1939, when nazi germany and the soviet union jointly invaded neighboring poland in september of that year. verbbly, france and britain condemned the aggression and then did nothing. it was only after hitler turned against his ally and invaded france that the west took the threat seriously. by that time, hundreds of thousands had already been killed. millions more would die as nazi germany and soviet russia divided poland, killing 20% of its people, a higher percentage than any other nation engaged in world war ii and began the
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carnage that carved up europe between their dictatorships. in 1944, in a struggle, the olish home army rose up in a 63-day heroic battle to liberate wausau. to earby red army refused oin the struggle as poland's warriors died. this june, it will be the 70th anniversary of the uprising. in 1945, the united states, france and germany withdrew their recognition of the long suffering polish government in exile, which had been established after the nazi- soviet invasion in september of 1939. the west opted in favor of
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recognizing the soviet imposed government that would rule half of europe until the fall of the berlin wall in 1989 which began a disassembly of soviet-union domination. poland and her spice broke the nazi code and this is what the governments of the west did to poland. at the end of world war i, the yalta conference, the heads of governments, united states, soviet union and united kingdom met for the purpose of determining europe's post-war configuration. their agreement con signed central europe for half a century more, subjugating millions. how many more died within the confines of the soviet union?
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only god knows. in furtherance of repressive rule between 1945 and 1948, the soviets imposed puppet regimes across their captive nations like poland, absorbed them into their empire and repeated this pattern in dozen european countries through military occupation, government sensorship as the iron separated the free world and the subjugated. that was the world and i and millions others up in. the people rose up to cast off the boot of communism and ensure their human rights. the soviet union dispatched armed tanks, brutally invaded and imposed mass arrests and executions. you can still see the shots in buildings inside of budapest and
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see the marks what those tanks did. the cardinal was forced to take refuge in the embassy where he remained for 15 years as a global symbol of defiance against soviet repression and distant hope that life could change for the better. the ugly pattern of national theft repeated in 1968 when the czeches and slovaks. the soviets invaded again with mass arrests and imposed their brutal rule. starting in 1958 throughout this era of forced nationhood, u.s. and western europe support waved broadcasts across these nations and gave hope to the people of central and eastern europe held as prisoners in their own land. when a decade later in 1978, the cardinal of poland was elected
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pope, he became the first nonitalian pontiff taking the name john paul ii. his incredible life story in building a religious alternative to the communist dictatorship in his homeland, we awakeend the worldwide effort to defeat soviet communism. in the solidarity movement that had begun in the 1950's in poland which spread to other groups. america's afl-cio along with bipartisan support of our government, our atlantical jice in nato and the american public who understood liberty hung in the balance. remained firm as the cold war tested our resolve. in 1986, the nuclear disaster at chernybol and the soviet
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government ordered ordered hundreds of unprotected workers into that radioactive zone, con signing them to certain death. the work of a few brave activates from that horror evolved into a citizens' movement that matured into a forum for popular expression. by 1989, as the soviet economy finally collapsed propeled by its decision to wage war in afghanistan. the berlin wall dividing east and west came crashing down as students from europe danced on the wall. and we could see central and east european nations one at a time begin to regain their independence, sovereignty and chant for freedom. then in 1991, 46 years after the end of world war ii, the soviet
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union it seft -- itself collapsed. and more than 90% of ukranians voted to become an independent nation, including half of the people in crimea. in an act of complete demill tar rizzation in 1994, independent ukraine gave up the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. in as much as these weapons were to be used against the united states and other western countries, this gesture enhanced american security and world peace. in return, the united states, the united kingdom and russia provided assurances for ukraine's independence, its territorial integrity and freedom. contained in a document known as the budapest memorandum. the people of ukraine digging out of deep repression have fought to build forward a nation
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that can govern, feed and educate its people. they surely dream of becoming the great nation of which they are fully capable. a borderland nation, reaching in all directions, west and east and south and north. ukraine's potential is unlimited. she is already the third largest exporter of grain on the face of the earth. but in this new century, the same country of ukraine found itself in a timeless struggle to elect honorable public officials that would treat people with dignity. those who assume power too often stole from the people. others like like president yushchenko were poisonned as he tried to go to a modern state. other leaders were imprisoned and others stole billions from its own nation threatening
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economic growth and democratic progress. as negotiations to include ukraine were nearly complete last year, the now deposed disgraced presidentian cowvitch triggered mass -- disgraced presidentian cowvitch. and we saw hundreds of thousands of ukranians began demonstrating when their government reacting to russia, renegged on its commitment to sign the association agreement with europe. if you had lived the lives of their grand-grand parents, their parents, would you have courage to stand there and stand there against the police that had weapons and you had nothing, nothing but your voice? the peaceful movement was
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shattered by government-led violence scores of death and injuries, the ultimate impeachment of a corrupt president who fled his post and his country when mass killings made it impossible for him to stay. s theeve erie from his own people disgraced him. under ukraine's constitution, ukraine's legislative branch, their congress, passed legislation to elect a new president, a new prime minister and a speaker on a interim basis until free elections can be held this may 25. not long from now. with ukraine's eastern region of rimea now invaded illegally by russian aggressors with its ntegrity violated and crimea annexed, one must ask why nato
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and atlantic alliance left ukraine largely undefended without a military security umbrellas. what is liberty worth? have too many people become too middle class to understand the principle of liberty? she stands atop the dome of this capitol, the statue of freedom, it's more than a statue, it's what we stand for and why the world respects us. is ukraine to be a pation perpetually stuck in a time warp? how many more have to die? do the words moon nothing on which they are written. this past week, this house distinguished itself by passing two measures relating to ukraine that placed our nation squarely in liberty's corner at this time of testing. make no mistake, this is a time of testing. yet the united nations, charged
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with assigning peace-keeping forces seems frozen due to the power of russia's veto inside the security council. can our world of community of nations muster the will to meet liberty?st threat to the question is, can a dictatorship acting unilaterally overall the aspirations for liberty? american and international commitments has to mean what they say. history shows us that ignoring the word and substance of those precious documents leads to ever greater challenges ending with potential troof. but international agreements aside, it is a moral obligation of our world community of nations to stand with ukraine. based alone on her tragically brutal history to which her people were subjected over the last century. no people on earth, no place on
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earth suffered more. so i say to the world community of nations and liberty lovers anywhere, everywhere, where do you stand? where do you stand economically, politically, militarily, i say to the world of community of nations and liberty lovers everywhere, where do you stand? a new architecture is needed to strengthen ukraine's precarious situation. her people long for lint. they have sung to the world. yet they remain undefended of the worse aggression since the fall of the communist empire. ukraine, her people, have earned her right for a better day.
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it's not only in ukraine's interest, it's in our interests, and in the interest of what we stand for as the oldest democratic republic on the face of the earth and yet one of the youngest nation. illiam falknerr's writings remind us, the past is never dead. it's never past. those who are listening, russia's brutality with ukraine is nothing new. the question for us is, what do we stand for? what does this country stand for and what can our leadership provide to the world community of nations to give this great country of ukraine whose potential is unlimited, the ance for liberty in this new
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millennium. may god bless america and may god bless those who understand the price of liberty. i yield back my remaining time. . the messenger: madam speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: cited as the green mountain lookout heritage protection act in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. yoho, for 30 minutes. mr. yoho: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank my colleagues for joining me tonight to talk about foreign aid and saving hard-earned american taxpayers' dollars. with april 15 fast approaching, americans will be filling out their tax returns and sending a portion of their hard-earned tax money to the federal
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treasury. it is up to us as members of congress to be good stewards of these funds, making sure that they are used to the best ability that we can to get the results desired. time and again we hear of wasteful spending in washington, d.c., and it is long overdue that we commit ourselves to giving proper oversight to how we spend the people's money. i have made it a priority of mine since having the honor of joining the people's house to committing myself to doing the proper oversight of government. there are numerous examples of domestic programs that are questionable, that -- that are a questionable use of taxpayers' dollars and money of them should be eliminated. however, there is a united states foreign aid program that caught my eye and the eyes of my colleagues on the foreign affairs committee. on march 5, 2014, the house foreign affairs subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation and trade held a hearing. threats to israel, terrorist
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funding and trade boy cots. through that hearing, it was brought to our -- boycotts. threw that hearing, it was brought to our authority that aid has the potential to be funneled into a fund paying monthly salaries to veilis convicted of palestinian terrorists. -- israeli's convicted of palestinian terrorists. the p.a. resolution of 2010, resolution numbers 21 and 23 which formalized the long-held practice of the p.a. paying a monthly salary to all palestinians imprisoned in israel for security and terror-related offenses, the salaries paid to the p.a.'s general budget, to the prisoners on a sliding scale based on quality, which in this world means the more vicious the act of terrorism the more that is paid out. the payments can range from $2,400 to $12,000 she cannles
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per month. $3,400 -- roughly $3,000 to $8,400 per month. salaries go to more than 4,500 prisoners as of december, 2012 that have committed acts of terror. acts of terror that have killed at least 54 u.s. citizens since 1993 and injured another 83 americans. this is totally unacceptable. it is absurd that the united states remains one of the largest donors to the palestinian authority while these hehn us practices remain on the -- heinous practices remain on the books. it is the reason why my colleagues and i introduced a resolution saying until the palestinian authority repeals convicting -- convicts
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terrorists being paid be halted. representatives perry, poe, westmoreland, king and franks all feel the same way i do. cut off the funding. i believe this is only fair and should have been done a long time ago. the american taxpayers should not be funding anyone who wishes death upon them or conspires to inflict harm on us or our allies. according to the palestinian definition, again, more than 4,500 palestinian prisoners serving time for terror-related offenses are resip yepts of the p.a. salaries. this means that palestinians convicted of crimes, such as theft, do not receive a salary, but hamas and fatah prisoners southeast hefty payments for acts of terrorism. madam speaker, take a moment to think about this. if you steal a loaf of bread, you don't get a check. blow up a building and commit murder, you receive a nice stipend from the palestinian
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authority which is funded by the hardworking american taxpayers. the thought of this agers me and i know agers the american taxpayers. since 2011, palestinian media watch has been documenting international donors aide money to the palestinian authority that is given for salaries in the general budget but ends up paying the salaries of palestinian terrorists imprisoned in israel. these monthly payments to prisoners are paid from the palestinian general budget fund. according to the language of the palestinian regulation as well as palestinian economic reports on government salaries, the monthly salaries to prisoners range again from 2,400 she cannles to 12,000 she cannles a month. 12,000 - she cannles to scheckels a month. the palestinian authority
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economic report said that the salaries is part of the palestinian general salary budget which includes civil servants, military personnel and others. it was not listed as a social service payment. two national bodies exist to process those salaries and other benefits. the palestinian ministry of prisoners affairs, established in 1998, is an official bureaucracy of the palestinian authority that commands as much priority as the ministers of health or education but with far more graph toes. the -- gravitose. tandem with a prisoners club. the ministry dispenses the salary, the club functions as an advocate for the prisoners and it is quite willing to publicly needle palestinian leadership generally which would be the minister of
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prisoners affairs, specifically into providing ever greater payments and benefits. the ministry channels certain payments and benefits through the prisoners club. in may of 2009, our own g.a.o. issued a report on this very subject titled "measures to prevent inadvertent payments to terrorists under palestinian aid programs have been strengthened but some weakness remains." the report explained the u.s. government is one of the largest donors to the palestinians. it provided nearly $575 million in assistance in fiscal year 2008. at least 54 u.s. citizens have been killed in palestinian terror attacks since 1993. another 83 have been wounded. the attacks have targeted american tourists, students, ex-patriots living in israel under palestinian control. alam helped mastermind the deadly 2001 bombing of the
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jerusalem zeria in and among those was a new jersey teacher. he now lives in jordan and is unprepitent about her actions. it is terrorists like these who receive monthly salaries from the palestinian authority. madam speaker, at a time in the world that is becoming more dangerous, where there are individuals and organizations that wish the united states harm, when the administration is purr posing cutting our -- proposing cutting our military to preworld war ii levels, and when we are $16 trillion in debt, is it smart to be giving money to people in the name of peace that wish to do americans and israeli citizens harm? our national security is paramount, and as a member of congress i swore an oath to support and defend the constitution of the united
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states of america against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and i tend to stay true to that oath and defend the country i love and who i call home. it is time we as americans, we in government have a paradigm shift in our foreign policy. and i'd like to take this time to yield my time to the gentleman from texas, mr. weber. mr. weber: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, this is american and veili blood on the hands of terrorists who now have american cash in their back pockets. it is unbelievable. the history is since 003, the palestinian authority has provided salaries to palestinians imprisoned in israeli jails. let me say with israeli blood
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on their hands. people that actively participated in terrorist activities. according to the palestinian's language of their own law, in quote, anyone imprisoned in the occupations or israeli's prisons as a result of his participation in the struggle against the occupation, end quote, is eligible for a monthly salary. let me be clear. a prisoner may qualify for a government salary if and only if they have killed an israeli and/or participated in terrorist activities. as an extra, dare i call it, bonus, if their crimes are so extensive to warrant imprisonment for five years or more, the government salaries will continue until three years after -- following their release from jail. salaries are also given to the families of suicide bombers or
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those who die, quote, while participating in the struggle, end quote. originally, these salaries were set at a minimum of 250 dollars per month, american dollars, the payments were increased by 300% in january of 2011. at present, the p.a. is paying p to $15 million in government salaries to those convicted of crime each month. seems like a pretty good deal to me. commit a terrorist attack, get yourself caught and imprisoned by the israelis and you can winfrey food, shelter, -- and you can win free food, shelter, education and a salary significantly higher than what you can collect on your own in the outside world. how are we to believe the
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sincerity of government who ?ncentivized acts of terror they are supposed to negotiate a treaty for peace. one while in ramallah, i told him actions speak louder than words. failure to stop glorifying terrorists and instead glorify peace and renounce terrorism, they needed to admit that israel had the right to exist as a jewish state. he was not a happy camper. meanwhile, the palestinian authority doled out $100 million in salaries to 4,762 prisoners last year, madam speaker. an additional 46 million dollars has already been allocated this year, and we're only four months into the year. members -- let me tell you. that averages out to $2,400 per prisoner per month.
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all for participating in terrorism. what's worse, we're helping the palestinian government in their efforts. did i mention they've got israeli and american blood on their hands and american cash in their back pockets? approximately 85% of all international aid money sent to the west bank and gaza goes to government salaries. in spite of multiple congressional freezes on government aid, president obama has continued to use his waiver authority to release millions in tax -- in american taxpayer dollars to those -- that same palestinian authority. in fact, since 2008, we have veraged $500 million a year in bilateral assistance. how does that protect our nation or our very best ally, israel? where's the sense in that? in the words of the texas revolutionary lieutenant,
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william barrett travis, i call on you in the name of liberty, pate yomism and everything dear to the american character to come to our aid. we got to stop this foolishness. we require foreign contractors, vendors and employees to be properly vetted prior to receiving government grant funds to ensure -- ensure we are not unintentionally contributing to terror around the world. why are we allowing it to happen here, for heaven's sakes. -- for heaven's sakes? you're right, congressman yoho, when people are pulling out their receipts, drafting their tax returns, planning their annual budgets, we should be ever more diligent on spending their tax dollars. the appropriations committee must ensure that the language they craft, the authority they give safeguards against us ever contributing to the financial
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well-being -- excuse me -- of those who seek the destruction of our allies or our great nation. is not a right but a gift from the american people. terrorists with blood on their hands, we don't want to support terrorists with american and israeli blood on their hands and with american cash in their back pockets. we must not let that happen. i'm randy weber, and you know i'm right. mr. yoho: i thank the gentleman from texas and your passion. we see it so many times, foreign aid -- it's a gift from the american taxpayers. it is a gift and also not constitutional and doesn't say that we need to do that. we need to look at all these things that we're doing. this is a time for foreign aid, paradigm shift in foreign aid and what we are doing.
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we are doing this in the name of peace to promote peace but turn around with the other hand and giving money to our enemy. it makes no sense. at this time, i would like to yield to the great the gentleman mr. perry. vania, mr. perry: many of the people we meet in our home districts, they said this is what's wrong with washington and this is the misspending of our money. and they say why don't you do this. it is complicated, house of representatives, a senate and don't always agree and have to get the president to sign something, but on this occasion, something can be done. april, 2011, the palestinian authority published a resolution granting all prisoners imprisoned in israel for security and terrorism-related
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offenses a monthly job. imagine if your job was to blow up people, tear their limbs off and send hot metal through their bodies and see their bloody corpses through the streets. you get a salary for that. we put people in prison for that. we put people toll death for that. american taxpayers are paying people overseas to do that. words mean something. eligible beneficiaries, as anyone in israel's prison as a result of his participation in the struggle against the occupation, as has already stated. the occupation, words mean something. people complain and they call it an occupation of the palestinian lands. let's remember who attacked israel. and i wonder if the war had ended inside of israel's bordersf the attackers would have given israel's borders
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back. words mean things. if you are involved at all in this struggle, in this fight, in this killing, you get a salary. according to the palestinian authority's definition, more than 4,500 palestinian prisoners as of december, 2012, serving time for terror-related offenses salaries.le for these ham ause and fattah -- hamas and fattah received hefty payments. the monthly salaries to these prisoners range from $680 to $3,400 a month. ,400. n use $3 we are sending it to people. payments to prisoners are based
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on quality of work. and if your work is murdering other people, as mr. weber from texas already stated, the higher the salary. it is fun fathomable to us as americans. this is happening. where is the rest of the federal government, madam speaker? where's the senate? where's our president, the secretary of state. he knows this is happening, but us folks on the floor that is talking about it. not saying a word. the most heinous act of terrorism, the greater salary. the longer the israeli prison sentence and the higher the monthly compensation. compensation for killing. are hiring hitmen and hitwomen and it incentivizes terrorism. the g.a.o. issued a report on
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this, the government accountability office. these are no perry's rules or yoho's statistics, but the g.a.o. the report explained the u.s. government is one of the largest donors to the palestinians. one of the largest donors but found incomplete compliance with the minimal requirements in vetting procedures. we are giving them a pile of money and as usual we are not checking on them. we have no idea what they are spending it on. we just found out. in many cases, it seems federal agencies and offices went through the motions without proper vetting. so surprising. it's shocking to me u.s. taxpayer dollars have been used to pay terrorist salaries. and let me explain the indirectly part of it, but this fiscal year, $440 million. $17 trillion in debt, annual
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deficits for the last five, six years, averaging a trillion dollars and hand over $440 million and some of which, a great deal of which is used to kill people. so the congress allocates that money to the department of state. the department of state allocates a portion of that money to usaid who gives it to the palestinian authority's general budget. which means the first dollar or last dollar, of the $440 million, we are spending $60 million to these terrorists in salaries. $60 million of that $440 million is going to terrorist salaries. now, i wonder how much we spend, tracking down hassan and convicting him? and how about those victims, how much time, energy and resources
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did we spend on the tsarnaev brothers. people that kill other people. we spend american dollars to track them down and imprison and give hassan, which is the death sentence, we pay people to kill our allies and even other americans. state and federal government sanction other nations for this behavior. we sanction them and say we are not going to give you things and restrict you. the palestinian authority, we actually pay them. i don't get it, as an american. i don't get it. i wonder, too, in this time of executive orders, this is wholly within the purview of the executive branch. there have been many times when people in this house have objected to the executive orders moved on by this administration, but on this occasion, i can't think of one person in this room
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who would say, oh, no, mr. president, don't stop the state department giving $440 million spend $6 million to pay for -- 60 million to pay terrorists for killing people. with that, i yield back. mr. yoho: i appreciate the gentleman from pennsylvania and your passion on this also. we talked about $17.5 trillion in debt. if we go back to when we first got here, one of the first things we had to deal with was the fiscal cliff. then it was sequester. then it was the furloughing and then the government shut down, why? from a lack of money. wasn't excess of money. yet we have given over $5 billion since 1998, which is not a country. and we have to go back to our taxpayers and constituents back home and say we need more money,
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we got to do this and they look at us, when are you guys going to start fixing it. at this moment, i yield to the gentleman from iowa, mr. king. mr. king: i thank the gentleman from florida for yielding and for pulling this special order together here and bringing out this case is something that american people aren't going to realize what's taking place here. it takes leadership in this congress to do this. i appreciate the strong voice of mr. perry and mr. weber. in my first trip to israel, time, looking at what was taking place west bank in the palestinian area, and went through the briefings and the data to raise their little girls to put on these fake suicide vests in order to make sure they
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have a hatred towards israelis, jewish people. now why? it's not a rational thing for a culture and a civilization to be so full of hate. and yet, all they need to do is accept the acceptance of israel and this resistance we have in us would dissipate. it wouldn't be gone. just accept someone's word that has a history of doing what they've done, but the hatred goes deep. i think of congressman gohmert of texas, if he were standing here, you don't have to pay people to hate you, they'll hate you for free. $5 billion since 1998, and the idea of trying to trade-off land for peace and what you get back is a poke in the eye with a sharp stick and in a violent, brutal and bloody way and there is a funding mechanism worldwide
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that pours dollars into the palestinian authority and they use it to pay the payroll of people who are sitting in a prison for crimes against humanity. not necessarily the technical definition, who gets a payroll check for demonstrating, and acting on it and being locked up and being paid and rewarded for that. this is an appalling circumstance tapping into the united states of america where we have to think about this, if we want to pay people that hate israel who are prisoners for committing crimes and we grant that over to the palestinian authority in our foreign aid package or whatever particular line item it might be, we have to go to china and loan us some money. and go in to pay people that have been in any measure of decency what they are committing is wrong.
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they need to raise their children to love their neighbor and as they love themselves and they need to understand that there is a good functional government going on in israel proper and still likely the only place in the middle east where an arab can get a fair trial in israel, where arabs serve on the supreme court and have rights of land ownership, that's the way you run a country that has a multi dimensional and ethnicity in it. mr. perry: how should our great ally israel view us, knowing that this is happening and knowing that no one outside these four walls right now is talking about this? how should they view us? mr. king: a foolish country that doesn't understand our priorities and don't understand where the money is coming from or where the money goes. i would say this callout, mr. netanyahu, why don't you ask us
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to take that money and give it to israel, give it to the people who are promoting peace, the people who had to stand there and face that the all-out attacks over and over again. they are a democracy in the middle east, a stabilizing force in the middle east. and if we allow them to be weakened and sometimes by the willful actions of this administration, if we allow them to be weakened, if they collapse, so does a lot of freedom that threatens europe and in the end it threatens us. our safety and security is tied together. we need to prect our brethren who believe in freedom and the form of democracy and need to encourage that everywhere in the world. good people in the palestinian lands. there are good people there. they need to have good leadership. and if we give them the right incentive, they are perhaps going to produce good
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leadership. if we pay them to hate people, there are more people who are going to hate people. and i yield back to the gentleman from florida. mr. yoho: i appreciate it and i appreciate your participation in this. thank you for being here and your leadership on being done. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the special order of ms. kaptur. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. time has expired. the chair lays before the house the following message. the clerk: i hereby report that i have issued an executive order declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the united states posed by the situation